A white light was the first thing I saw and next was the silhouette beside me. I blinked hard and slowly before I looked around.
An old TV hung in the corner and not long from it on its left side was a window. It exposed a few houses and trees together with a road. In the corner was a chair placed, which looked like it had been moved many times. It had a long tear on the left side and seemed older than some of the other things in the room. The walls was a simple cream color and dustless with a sent of chemicals. Over the door, a white clock hung and shined in the sun. There was no decoration or anything to make it warm and welcoming.
I looked to my sides and saw the machines. What?
I tried to sit up, but with no luck. "Argh." I sighed and leaned back again while listening to the creaking of the bed.
"You're awake." I looked to my right and saw Anthony standing from his chair and smiling down at me. "How are you feeling?"
What was the hell happening? I glanced around and reached up to touch my forehead. How did I end up here?
As my time awake rose and my memories slowly came flowing back, my eyes widened.
"How did I end up here?" I asked and looked back up at Anthony who had tilted his head.
"I brought you here when you literally collapsed in my arms." He said it all with a small smile on his face and with a relaxed expression. However, the bags under his eyes told me he had been up for hours and the weird hair indicated that he had been doing something.
"Was I heavy?"
"Huh?" He scratched his neck. "Heavy? Why would you ask about that when you know, you're laying in a freaking hospital?"
I fell silent and looked down at my hands. "Sorry."
"Why are you saying sorry again?" He laid his hand on the bed and leaned forward. "You need to stop that."
Though I listened to his words carefully, I could not make any reason out of them. Saying sorry was a polite thing to do; a normal thing to do. And just because he didn't want me to say it, didn't mean I needed to stop it.
His warm hand clamped down at my wrist and made me peek up at him. "Now, tell me how you are feeling."
I drew in a deep breath as his eyes cast a spell upon me.
My stomach still hurt and my head didn't feel well either, but otherwise, nothing felt odd. "I'm fine... just a bit pain, that's all."
He smiled a half smile and looked down at his hand on my wrist. "Who did this to you?" he asked and caught my eyes again.
I looked away. "No one. I fell."
"Again? I don't believe you." He tightened the grip on my wrist, but not enough so it hurt.
I sighed. "It's true."
"Then how could you be injured like that and be bleeding so much that it even spilled all over me? And what about the marks on your body? They didn't come from a fa-"
"Nina Watson?" A nurse came walking in, unknowingly sawing me from Anthony's questions.
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'm thrilled that you're awake and well." She walked up close. "So, can you tell me precisely how you are feeling." She found a pen and notebook from her pocket.
"My stomach hurts and my head is kind of spinning." She nodded her head and wrote down fast.
She looked up. "Anything else?"
"No."
She smiled and looked over at Anthony. "Sir, I would like to have a word with Miss Watson alone for a moment," she said.
Anthony glanced down at me before nodding to the nurse and silently leaving the room. The tension grew a little as the nurse walked over to sit in the same chair Anthony had sit in only a couple of minutes ago.
"So, my name is Eve Brown and if it's alright with you I would like to ask you a couple of questions."
I nodded as an answer and laid my hand on my other wrist. The same Anthony had held before. It was still warm from his touch.
"Okay, good." She briskly looked down at her papers. "Not long ago you broke your leg, am I right?"
"Yes, it was Monday."
"Okay, the journal from then tells me that as the nurse examined your X-rays, a lot of old injuries was discovered and also the fact that none of them was treated. Care to explain to me why."
I gulped. "We didn't think it was serious enough and then we didn't have the money either."
"Okay, but that's not all. When the doctors examinated you and treated your wounds last night, they discovered a lot of old injuries around your body."
"I'm very clumsy," I told her with a fake smile while trying to laugh it off.
She looked down at her papers. "I'm sorry, but these injuries have not all been caused by a fall or accident, but by a human." She caught my eyes and held them in an intense stare. "So tell me, Miss Watson, has these injuries occurred by someone abusing you or have you been in a fight of some kind?"
I glanced up at the clock and tightened my grip on my wrist. Sweat formed in my palms and rubbed off on the bed sheets. "No. I fell." I excessively swallowed hard as I fidgeted with my hands.
The nurse tightened her smile and shook her head. "I can only help if you tell me the truth," she said and laid down her papers on her lap, leaning forwards. "Let me help you."
"I'm already telling the truth! I fell on my way home since it was very dark," I lied and spun my fingers around the sheets.
"Okay then." She stood up from the chair. "Everything seems to be fine. I'll give you some medication and then you are free to go. Your friend has already made sure all the practical things are done, so you don't have to fill any papers." Her smile was pleasing, so I nodded and moved further under the sheets.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
She nodded towards me before leaving the room and closing the door after her, leaving me alone in the odd room.
I really didn't get to be alone before Anthony came storming in. "What did she say?"
"Just asked me about my injuries and told me about some kind of medication. She didn't say what kind though." He nodded with grace and sat in the chair beside me. "She also told me that I could go home as soon as my medication is ready."
"That's good." I sharply looked up as he spun his fingers around mine and smiled warmly like thousands of strings of light. I looked into his deep eyes and deeply hoped my cheeks wouldn't heat up. His hand was very warm in mine and held them very lightly, as if he was afraid to bream them. "Let's get you out from here."
I only nodded as an answer and only saw a blur as we left the hospital with my medication and a few good tips for taking care of me. Anthony had a smile on his lips the whole time, which was one of the reasons I really didn't know what was happening, but also the fact that he really was here and in some kind of way cared for me.
His eyes showed a concern only my brother had shown before. He lightly placed an arm under my arm to help me walk to the car. My crutches were probably at his place or something and we hadn't asked for new ones at the hospital.
We both settled into the familiar car and as he drove my eyelids got heavy and my head leaned against the window, looking over the landscape.
"Thank you," I murmured and looked over at him. His eyes were focused on the road in front, but his lips curled up into a smirk.
"No problem, princess, just be more careful next time." He took a quick glance at me, before returning his eyes on the road. "However, I still don't believe you fell. And you have ignored me since Monday, what's happening with that?"
I sighed and looked out the window. "Sorry."
"To hell with sorry!" He stopped the car roughly, but luckily for me, I didn't flicker forward. He shifted his gaze to me. "What's happening, Nina?"
"Nothing!" I yelled, feeling the breaking point of my self-control. "Why can't you just accept that? Nothing is happening!"
"Well, I don't believe you!"
The tension in the car rose as we both kept silent and stared into each other's eyes. I couldn't find words to describe my feelings nor my situation and he was the last person I needed to explain anything to anyway. He would never understand my situation.
I couldn't take the silence anymore.
"Then don't believe me! I really don't care any longer, 'cause I can't do this anymore. I can't do you anymore! Since you've come into my life everything has been like hell! I were fine without you in my life and I'm going to go back to that again, so stay away from me!"
Though it was my own words, they brought tears to my eyes. It was mostly because it wasn't true. I needed him in some sick way, but I just couldn't let it happen. It would be selfish and stupid. He didn't care for me and he would only hurt me in the long run.
He tore his eyes away, gazing through the front window. He slammed his hands down on the wheel, "damn it."
My sobs where the only sound there could be heard in the car and as they put a blanket around me, they irritated Anthony since his grip on the wheel tightened. "What the fuck happened to you? And don't you dare say nothing!"
His eyes turned to me and my protecting blanket vanished into thin air. I drew in a deep breath and blinked.
"A lot of things happened to me, Anthony. Things you'll never understand and things you need to keep your nose out off. My past is my past and you need to understand that. You may think that I need your help or I'm your little charity project but I have survived my whole life without you and I can keep on surviving without you.
I'm grateful for what you have done, but I don't need you. Go back to your family and spend time together with them. You don't know how lucky you are to have them. You are a good person somewhere inside, Anthony, and I'm only going to poison you and lock the goodness away forever. If I was you, I would get as far away from me as possible and never return. I'm no good for myself or for others. I'm worthless."
He only shook his head at my speech. "Nice speech, Watson, but I ain't giving up so easily."
...
You just gotta love Anthony...