ENZO
I waited with Lia till her ride came, then rode alone to Massimo's Sanctuary. A small farm located in the countryside, I had rented it out for the evening for Lia and me to just interact with the animals, and ride the horses. But now it looks as though I will be doing that solo, I'm not too upset by it I'm confident I'll still have a good time surrounded by animals, but I still feel that darkness creeping its way back into me, wrapping its fingers around my neck and squeezing.
I try to recenter my thoughts because I don't want to spook the horses with my bad vibes. When my car arrives at the small picturesque farm, I feel the hand of darkness start to loosen. Maybe this is exactly what I needed. I step out and meet the owner by the stables as instructed, I want to go riding on the trails for a while, it always helps me clear my mind. The owner Massimo, lets me choose which horse I want to ride, he says all but one are available, that there's one whose ill-tempered with strangers. I pick the beautiful black Andalusian horse, he seems to take a liking to me, and I like that, his name is Nightmare. How ironic.
I saddle nightmare up, and head out, feeling a level of serenity alone, that I haven't experienced in a long while. Away from the school, my teachers, peers, and people who know me as the golden boy, and expect me to be the golden boy. No expectations, no need to pretend, just the country air, beautiful views, and the world going by me in a blur as we speed through the trails. Only stopping to take in the scenery, and allow Nightmare to rest. The darkness's grasp can't reach me here, I feel free.
The sun sets, so I take Nightmare back to the stables, unsaddle him, and let him rest in his stall. I hear someone singing to the animals, and when I walk outside I see a female farmhand playing with the foals, I immediately recognize that the farmhand is Nova. She has the wrist splint, that she had on during math class still. I've never seen her be so happy, there are small glimpses, moments when she's clearly in pain but her smile is big and wide, revealing dimples on each cheek. She looks so free, I don't want to disturb her, so I head inside and let Massimo know that Nightmare is back and in his stall. Massimo is watching her from the window and I stand next to him.
"She's got a beautiful soul that one, such a good kid." He says watching her like a proud father. I don't know much about her parents, besides them being important people from another country, no one does, and in a school where everyone's parents are either someone famous, dangerous, influential or all of the above, that is highly unusual.
"Is she your daughter?" I ask, noticing they do have small things in common.
"No, I was never fortunate enough to have a daughter of my own, I had a step daughter but my wife and I separated so I don't see her anymore ," he laughs sadly.
"If I had I doubt I could have raised her to be as sweet as that one over there, I've never met someone let alone a teenager who was so gentle, with so much patience, and kindness for other living beings. I'd be lucky to have a daughter like that, I have the patience of a toddler. Don't tell her that though, she spooks as easily as the horses" He jokes.
Just then one of the foals tries to nuzzle against Nova's neck, and it puts her off balance, she lands on her back and cries out in pain.
Massimo is there instantaneously, and before I can stop myself I run to her too.
"I thought I told you to take it easy Nova, I don't want you getting hurt helping me, you can take time off if you need to." He really does treat her as his own daughter.
"Are you okay??" I ask, genuinely concerned because the cry was filled with pure pain.
She hasn't said anything, tears just fill in her eyes, as her face turns red then blue, "Nova you have to breathe, even if it hurts you have to breathe hun." Massimo tells her.
"What's going on?" I feel like an idiot, but I'm not understanding what's wrong, or where she's hurt besides her wrist. But no one answers me, Massimo keeps telling her she has to breathe, and she keeps getting bluer, tears streaming down her face, her eyes not focusing and fluttering open and shut.
"Enzo, go in the office get the first aid kit, stop in the kitchen grab some ice, and meet me in the living room! Please!" He turns his attention back to Nova.
"Come on Nova, you gotta breathe, now I'm going to pick you up and carry you inside if I'm right about your injury then this will hurt" I do as he says still hearing him talk to her as he picks her up. When he enters the living room Nova is entirely unconscious in his arms, breathing now that she wasn't awake to feel the pain.
"Pull out the sofa for me? I need to see what's going on here." When I finish, he places her on the sofa and her shirt rises a little above her hip. My heart stops when I see it, bruises, big bruises some in the shape of handprints.
"What the fuck?" I grab Massimo who was digging through the first aid kit looking for smelling salts to wake her up.
He turns around and drops the container, his face contorting in anger as he reaches and lifts her shirt higher. She's covered in bruises, her ribs are the worst though, they're practically entirely black and blue. I'm in shock, I can't do anything but stare at her. Massimo's anger seems to simmer into sadness.
He sighs," I thought it might be something like this, I didn't imagine it'd be this bad but there's no way her ribs aren't broken. No one falls on their back and reacts like that unless they broke their back or their ribs."
He shakes his head," You're from the same school right? Do you know each other? Do you know anything about this? What causing the bruises? Is someone doing this to her? Because I just don't get it, she's such a gentle soul, she's so small and so so.." He trails off tears coming to his eyes as he looks at her. It's strange to witness the heartbreak of a man who is better described as a macho man, it feels like I am intruding on a scene that I shouldn't be apart of.
He starts to put ice on her ribs," Her wrist too," I tell him. She looked like she was being tortured when using it in class today, so odds are it is injured like her ribs. He takes the splint off and there's more bruising and some swelling. It's undeniable that someone did this to her, as a bruise on her wrist in the shape of large handprints, someone held it down, using enough force to bruise.
"Hey kid you can head out, I'm going to take her to the hospital and get these ribs checked out by a doctor, I know you paid for more time but I'm gonna need to shut down while I go so I can offer you a refund for the day," I don't want to leave her but know that this isn't my place, and she wouldn't want me here.
"Yeah uh it might be better if you don't tell her I was here, we aren't exactly close, and she would feel uncomfortable knowing I was here. But Uh, I can drop you guys off at the hospital if you don't want to wait for an ambulance? I also don't need a refund, I want to help as much as I can so I can drive you, if that's helpful?" I offer.
"You know what yeah, that'd be better, sn ambulance out here takes forever, and I won't tell her you were here if that's what you want." He agrees, picking the small girl up.
"But let us take my car, if we're going with your story I'll need transportation after to explain how we got there."
I nod, grab the keys from the office, and get on the road.
It takes me an hour and thirty minutes to drive to the nearest hospital because I sped the whole way here, I'm surprised she hasn't woken up, but it's probably better that she hasn't.
When we get there I part ways and call a driver to take me back to the school. I can't stop thinking about what happened, who caused those bruises.
NOVA
I wake up in unfamiliar surroundings, the lights are bright, the walls are white, and it smells sterile. I realize I'm in a hospital and the monitor starts beeping rapidly as I panic.
"Hey, you're awake, it's okay, calm down you're in the hospital, I took you here after you passed out." It's Massimo, his voice is sympathetic. I can't look at him, because I don't know what he knows, and I don't want to answer any questions.
I can't be here, so I start to get up and feel the pull of the IVs in my arm, I realize my left wrist is in a cast, and my side is tender but I don't feel any pain. Massimo stops me from pulling the IV out.
"Woah you need to stay put you have four broken ribs, one punctured your lung which was why you had so much difficulty breathing, it was only a partial collapse though, so they inserted a catheter between your ribs to relieve some of the air thats causing the pressure and difficulty breathing. Uhm your wrist isn't broken, but the bone in your wrist is bruised, so they put a cast on it, the cast can come off in a few weeks if it heals nicely. You could also have a mild concussion, but they wouldn't know for sure till you were awake. They gave you some pain medicine so you feel more comfortable." He doesn't ask me where the injuries came from and for that I am grateful, but it is clear that he has some discomfort in the situation.
"T-thank you for going out of your way for me but I can't stay here. I-I have to go back to school." I try to get up again and he sighs.
"You can't go back yet, the doctors are discharging you to your parents in a few hours after some observation once they take the catheter out, but they recommend keeping you home from school for at least a week, maybe two of taking it easy. Your folks are on their way here right now." He says it so simply as if this is the right thing but I only feel more panic at the thought of being home.
I mentally curse the monitor that reveals my heartbeat increasing and lay back down. I stare up at the ceiling feeling tears come to my eyes, a large knot forming in my stomach thinking of how much trouble I am going to be in when my parents take me home.
"You know, I know I'm 'just your boss' but if you ever want to talk about things, I'll listen. I care about your well-being, okay?" It's unfamiliar but I trust him, I believe his words.
"Thank you," I feel the pain medicine making me drowsy and yawn, the pull of sleep threatening to overcome me. I close my heavy eyelids.
Massimo chuckles, "Get some rest sweet girl, you'll be home before you know it."
That was the last thing I heard before giving in to the pull, and it was being home that I worried about.