Divided

Chapter 12

                                                    CAT's P.O.V.

I have friends. Caelum friends. At least I think so. Phillie trust me. Max's skeptical, but Sarah trusts me too. She's a really good person. I still can't believe how much she encouraged me.

"You must stay strong. You must recover. Then, you'll fight. We'll fight, and we'll win."- she said before she left.

After she left I could see by Max's behavior that they've argued. Maybe that's because of me. I don't want it to be because of me. I don't want to be a reason of someone's argument. As soon as I get better I'll leave. I can see that Max isn't very welcoming.

After a few hours I decided to talk with Max. He was in kitchen so I gathered some strength to get to the kitchen. He was washing the dishes after we ate.

"Do you need some help?"- I tried to start a conversation.

"Are you serious? Go to bed."- he looked at me shaking his head.

"I'm fine."- I said- "Was that your girlfriend?"

"No."- he looked away.

"I saw how you looked at her."- I smiled.

"So?"- he continued.

"You like her."- I said.

"Yeah, I do."- he said -" Why am I telling you this?"

"How could I know? Listen... If I'm making any kind of problem between you and Sarah, I'll go." - I told him.

"That's not.... It's me. You can stay. When you get better you may leave. If you leave now your wound can open and then cause bleeding and a bunch of other problems. Long story short, if you leave you'll die."- he said while drying the plates.

"Okay. I'll just go and take a shower."- I said and turned back.

"Be careful."- he said and looked at me.

"What's that?"- he asked curiously.

I looked at my back. He mut've thought about that large scar on my back sticking out of my white dress.

"Oh, that's nothing."- I tried to look careless, but I knew it used to hurt so bad.

"Cat, you don't need to pretend."- Max said.

"When I was working at the mine, a rock fell off and scratched my back. It formed a scar."- I said.

"Does it hurt?"- he asked.

"No, not anymore."- I answered.

I went under the shower. For the first time in my life I could take a shower with warm water. It was relaxing and refreshing. Again I could see brown water going down the drain. This time it was mixed with some blood. Sarah has some really nice clothes. I wore a simple blue tee shirt and blue jeans. When I came back in the living room there was a pillow and blanket on the couch. I laid down and fell asleep.

This morning I woke up with pain in my stomach. I uncovered my blanket and saw a spot of blood on T-shirt. The stitches broke. Wound is bleeding again.

"Max!"- I shouted.

He came in immediately. Shocked he approached me.

"Phillie get the thread and needle again!"- he shouted and picked up the towel from the table. He started cleaning the blood.

Phillie came in carrying thread and needle. Max started sewing the wound again. I groaned. It hurt again. After a few minutes he was done.

"You shouldn't have took that shower yesterday. Now you must rest and take care."- he said.

After one hour I went in the kitchen. He was there.

"Are you hungry?"- Max asked me.

"I'd lie if I say I'm not."- I smiled.

"You really don't listen. I told you to rest, you could've just called me. I'd come."- he said.

"I think I'll be okay."- I said.

"What are you making?"- I asked.

"I'm not making anything."- Max answered -"Look in the fridge."

I opened the fridge and a bomb of colors popped in my eyes. So many different ingredients. Some things I've never heard off.

"Wow! So many options."- I said.

"You can choose anything you want."- Max said.

"I really don't know. I'd like to try everything."- I was thrilled.

"Then let's try everything."- he smiled.

"Really?"- I asked.

"Seriously."- he answered.

So, he started cooking every recipe he had. I tried to help but he'd always object telling me that I have to rest. Phillie helped him too. Blueberry pancakes, french toast, crumbled eggs, waffles... Soon kitchen smelled like the sweetest dreams. Then we all sat at the table and started eating. A little bit of everything. The french toast was the most wanted. We almost fought over the last piece of it.

"You are an amazing cook."- I smiled.

"What about me?"- Phillie asked.

"Oh, without you he couldn't reach that success."- I smiled at him.

I've never seen Max like that. He was laughing and smiling. Most of the time he's unhappy and tense, but now he really relaxed. I think he enjoyed this afternoon.

Fortunately next day I woke up without the pains I felt the day before. The house felt empty. I entered the kitchen and there was Phillie sitting at the table playing with some sand.

"Good morning Phillie. Where's Max?"- I asked curiously.

"'Morning Cat. Max is in the woods. He's practicing his archery skills."- he said.

So that's why he had a bow and an arrow back in the woods the first time we saw each other. He's practicing archery.

"If you're hungry he left you some boiled eggs on the kitchen counter."- Phillie said.

I picked up my plate and ate the eggs. Feeling a little bored I decided to meet Max in the woods.

"I'm going to see Max, are you coming?"- I asked.

"Someone has to watch the house, but you take care. We don't want your wound opened again."- Phillie said.

"Sure."- I smiled.

It wasn't really hard to find the way to the woods. There's a path that leads you, you just need to follow it. So I went down the path and as I was going deeper into the woods, the wooden boards started to appear on the trees. Soon I've found Max shooting arrows in those boards.