OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

045. What You Never Had

I wake up in Melia's tower; I can see why the walls are a warm gold, it's a nice way to wake up. Where's Rosaleen?

Melia turns, smiling when she sees I'm awake. "How are you feeling?" she says gently, helping me sit up.

"Um... pretty good," I say. My head throbs. "I have a headache, and I'm a little sore, but... it's not that bad."

She reaches for a Bottle of Youth on the counter. "Drink some water," she says. "You'll feel better soon."

I nod, twisting its cap open. "Is... How's Rosaleen? And what happened to the girl?"

"Rosaleen stayed for a long time; it's 10 p.m. right now, and she only left because Glimmer and Jae dragged her to dinner." Melia hums, wiping down the counter. "And Skylar insisted on waiting for you to wake up, so we didn't do anything with her yet."

Skylar, huh? "Why?"

"She felt bad, I think." Melia pauses. "We didn't tell her about fading, but she's smart. She—"

"Smart for a human?"

Melia hesitates. "No, she's just... smart." She laughs a little. "Elves can be kind of pretentious, don't you think? I wonder if humans are just as smart as we are."

There's a silence; I yawn. "Maybe," I admit.

Melia smiles, patting my hand. "Go back to sleep, okay?" She takes my Bottle of Youth, putting it on the nightstand. "Rosaleen'll be here when you wake up."

"Mkay." I lay down, feeling my eyes close. "Thank you."

"No problem, Dex."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I have a nightmare.

I have to choose between Rosaleen and my family, and when I try to choose them both, the ground beneath my feet dissipate, and I start falling.

And then it happens again, and again, and again.

Sometimes I'd choose my family, but then Rosaleen would cry out in pain, and the scene would restart. And if I choose Rosaleen, there are gunshots and my family disappears.

I wake up about an hour later.

Rosaleen's sitting by me, and I feel myself smile.

"Rosaleen?"

She blinks, then she smiles, and it's filled with a suffocating relief. "Dex."

Rosaleen helps me sit up, her touch lingering. "Are you okay?" she asks.

I nod. "I'm okay."

She watches me, and I know she's trying to figure out if I'm lying. But when she realizes I'm telling the truth, she lets out a breath. "You're okay."

Rosaleen reaches out to wipe a tear from my cheek; I didn't even realize it was there. "Did... Did you have a bad dream?"

I smile, and it's tired. "It's okay," I say. You're here now.

She doesn't press. She squeezes my hand, and she's constantly smiling; I guess she's happy I woke up. "Okay." She laughs. "Okay. You scared me for a second."

"I know." I smile, sheepish. "Sorry about that. I wasn't able to spread my concentration evenly, it was going too fast."

Rosaleen shakes her head. "Don't apologize. I'm just happy you're okay."

We sit there and talk for a bit, and after a while, I try to stand. I'm sore, but I think I'm pretty much back to normal, and... I guess I'm glad.

After a few hours, Glimmer and Jaelynn come in and take her and Melia to play Monopoly (but with teams) with them.