“I love you, Hayles,” he whispers. “Always have, always will.” He kisses me on the lips, and I completely melt into him. I’m finally whole again.
“Try and remember,” Aisley’s voice chimes in.
I frown and can’t focus on anything for a moment. A gunshot fills my ears and wetness sprays over me.
Xavier holds a fist to his chest. I wipe at my face and look down at my hands. Blood—Xavier!
Before I can look back, I’m floating towards a giant set of doors. “Xavier!” I scream, and the door slams.
* * *
My eyes shoot open. I look around taking in the beige walls and the ordinary decor; a flower with fresh white roses sits on the nightstand on my left. I sit up and feel a sharp pain in my gut. I grab at my stomach and feel a bump where the pain hurts worse. I must have really gotten hurt for them to wrap this much gauze on. What happened to me?
I try and remember how I got here, where Aisley was and Xavier—a pull in my chest almost makes me fall out of bed. He’s not here. Is he dead? I can’t remember.
The light switches on in the room and burns my eyes. I shield them and blink several times before I regain my vision.
“Sorry about that Ms. Henderson,” a nurse says. “Looks like you got some good resting time in.”
“Yeah—”
“Here are your vitamins,” she says handing me a small cup with pills.
“Um, thanks,” I respond. She hands me a cup with water, and I swallow them down. “Where’s Aisley?”
“Your daughter’s at school,” the nurse responds.
“What?” My daughter? I guess we had to be a family to get in.
“Your daughter, Aisley?” the nurse says marking something down on her notepad. “Do you remember how you got here?”
“Xavier,” I say.
“No honey, I mean here,” she smiles. “You were stabbed.”
“By the cannibals—”
The nurse’s lips purse up into a straight line. “We call them something different, but for lack of a better term.” She writes something else down and underlines it. “How’s the morning sickness?”
“Are you all right?” Xavier’s voice echoes from somewhere. I look around wildly to see if he’s hiding somewhere in the room.
“What’s the matter Ms. Henderson?” the nurse asks taking hold of my hand.
I flinch at her touch. “I thought—” I start looking around again. “I thought I heard someone else in here.”
“Nope. Just you and me,” the nurse smiles. She looks down at her notepad and circles several things. “Now, how’s the morning sickness?”
“Is it morning now?” I ask.
“No,” the nurse laughs.
“Well I guess I don’t have morning sickness then,” I respond. This nurse’s cheery disposition is really starting to tick me off. “Was I sick before or something?”
“Well of course,” she responds.
I try and remember before I got here. Before I got to this moment with the fake nurse and the white flowers. I remember shooting that man who was going to kill Aisley. I was really sick that morning, but I just assumed it was food poisoning. Maybe she’s asking me now because of the stab wound or something. “I’m just going to listen,” the nurse says placing the stethoscope’s earbuds in.
I nod my head. I try to remember what happened after Xavier brought me here. But everything is so confusing. My head throbs when I even try to think about anything before I woke up here. Maybe it’s like what happened to me with Cassie. Post traumatic stress disorder—but that would mean he’s dead.
Well, not necessarily. It could be from the months running in the woods. But what if my nightmare was the truth? No—he couldn’t have been shot. He’s smarter than that.
The nurse lifts my blanket and presses the stethoscope to my stomach. I swat her hand away. “What are you doing?”
“Checking the heartbeat?” the nurse says.
I frown, “Of what? My stomach?”
The nurse laughs but stops when I scowl at her. “Hun, you’re pregnant.”
Liked Burn Our Houses Down?
Check out these other works by Kelsey D. Garmendia?
From The Burn Our Houses Down Series:
If I Lose
Painted Red (Coming Soon)
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Disenchanted
Burn Our Houses Down [Book One] Page 17