Sunlight Through Unveiled Eyes

Dreamless Sleeper

The last few days have been the worst of my life. I spent all of my free time here, in the hospital, sitting at Aideen's bedside. My time was mostly spent crying and talking to her, but after the third day of no response, I got desperate. At that time, her bruises really started to show up. Her shoulder, which had a large splotch before, was now engulfed in purples, blacks, sick yellows, and blues. The swelling in her face had gone down, leaving her with only a slash to her sickly face. At least she was recognizable now. I often found myself praying, something I'd never do if I wasn't this desperate. As I predicted, there was never a response. The staff all knew me by name by now, and had even set up the bed beside Aideen's for me, since they were never full. Much to my frustration, Theo always dragged me home every night. 

It's been eight days since the accident. Theo finally stopped apologizing every ten minutes, and he's sent the boys to my home every morning to retrieve the daily products to sell. I was very grateful for my friend. I haven't forgiven him for what he did, but I couldn't stay angry at him, as he'd apologized upwards of a thousand times. Everyone was very sympathetic. Iliana had come with me the first few days with the girls, (leaving Lilith outside of course) but on the fourth day when she left, she told me that she couldn't stand to see her daughter this way anymore. 

"Lukai, darling... I know that something is going on between you two that I don't know. I don't pretend to understand what you two have, but I want you to know that I love you very much, and you're already like my own second daughter. I'll have the girls at my house until your mother gets home.: My eyes stung with tears as I pulled her into a hug, which she gently received in her special, wonderful way. After she had left and I had hugged the girls, Theo came with Aragon. After I explained what Ili had said, he begrudgingly allowed me to stay, but only after he forced me to eat the food he had made for me. He departed from me with a kiss to the forehead, and the promise to return tomorrow. 

So here I sat, in the same chair I had sat in every day for the past eight days. Despite being under Theo's watchful eye and Iliana's worried glances, I hadn't eaten unless they were shoving the food down my throat, and in the four days I had slept in the hospital, I'd gotten maybe eight hours of sleep. Most of my nights were spent quietly crying or whispering to her, begging her to wake up. This morning had been a particularly hard one, and I had barely been able to rouse myself out of my stiff bed. I was currently sitting with one of her healing hands in both of mine, speaking to her softly. I focused on the steady rise and fall of her chest, telling myself that she could hear me, though I knew she couldn't. 

"Aideen, please come back to me. I can't stand this anymore. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to bring myself to smile. You were always the reason to smile, and now you're here. And I can't save you." I choked back a sob and laid my head on the familiar quilt Ili had brought from her room. I inhaled deeply, smiling bitterly as the soft scent of her room filled my nose. I saw us, a month ago, laying on her bed in a tangle of happiness. Laughing with each other, completely oblivious of the horrifying events that laid in our futures. Blissfully entranced with the kiss of each other, feeling the world melt away around us. A sob broke through my lips, and I slowly but surely fell asleep there, my brain breaking from the emotional and physical exhaustion. 

I came back into consciousness to the soft feeling of a hand running through my hair. I leaned into the touch, content and sleep-stuffed, unknowing as to where I was or why. The hand felt familiar, and I welcomed the touch as the layers of sleep slowly shed off of me. My eyebrows furrowed as my memory slowly returned, and as the last piece clicked into place, my eyes shot open. I felt the hand hesitate, and my head shot up, tears welling up in my eyes. 

"Sorry Lukai, I didn't mean to scare you," said a deep, mature voice. I whipped my head around, eyes landing on the familiar face of Theo. A startled cry jumped from my lips as I slowly turned to lay my eyes on the ever sleeping figure of my love. Pain so deep ripped through my chest, and it was all I could do to not let it slice through my body and take over me. Instead, I turned back to Theo, wiping the tears that had formed in my eyes. I took a shaky breath and forced a smile, noticing that the light in the room had dimmed, the sky through the windows streaking in light purples and reds as the sun made its final descent over the land.