Keditha's Destiny

Chapter Nine

"Hey wake up." Donnie slaps me in the face.

I swat his hand away, sitting up. "When did you get here?"

"Like an hour ago."

I let out a frustrated sigh, swinging my leg over the side of my bed. "Louis was supposed to tell me when you guys got back." I say grumpily.

"Yeah but he wanted you to sleep, so he didn't."

I roll my eyes. Of course. "How's Richard?" I ask him.

"The bullet barely missed his heart. He's stable right now, but I'm not sure if he'll make it yet." He tells me.

"And Athena?"

Donnie sighs. "Gosh, just kiss her already." He mumbles. He sits next to me, lying on his back. "I don't know, I haven't talked to her. Do you want to talk to her?"

"What? Why would I want to talk to her?" I ask him.

Donnie smiles, hoping up from the bed. "I should go check on Richard, I'll let you know when he's up if you want to talk with him."

He leaves and I take this time to change out my bloodstained clothes. I grab a button down shirt and a black vest to go with it.

"Julian?" A soft voice asks.

I look up, seeing Athena at the entrance of my room. "Need something princess?" I ask.

Her eyes narrow slightly at the nickname. "I just want to thank you. For helping my father."

"Don't thank me. Thank Donnie, he's the medic." I tell her.

"I-I know and I did. I just thought... Never mind." She murmurs, turning to leave.

"Hey, can I ask a question?"

She looks at me, raising an eyebrow. "Depends." She cautiously moves into my room.

"Why did Hollister take you? Did your father owe him a debt?" I ask.

She glares at me. "My father would never do business with Hollister. How dare you!" She snaps.

"Then your mother then?" I ask.

"My mother's dead."

"I know that." I look in my mirror, I still had my black eye and my nose was lightly bruised, though it didn't hurt anymore. "She still could've made a deal when she was still alive. I mean she died like what? Three years ago?"

Athena doesn't reply. I look at her. She was sitting on my bed, arms crossed and lost in thought. "My mother would never!" She finally snaps.

"I'm just saying, your parents are capable of more than you think."

"You're only saying that because your parents didn't hide the fact that they were murderous psychopaths."

I sigh. "At least my parents didn't coddle me from the real world." I tell her.

"At least my parents loved me." She snaps, jumping up from the bed.

I glare at her. Her eyes widen slightly as she attempts to step back but bumps into the bed. "Well, maybe my parents would have more time to love me if they were alive." I tell her calmly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-"

I cut her off. "No it's fine. You had such a perfect life, I'm sure you don't understand the concept of this mess called my life."

“Who hit you?” Athena asks me, after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

“Is it really that important?” I ask, turning to leave the room but she grabs my sleeve.

“I would like to know.”

I step towards, staring her down. “Why? So you can thank them?” I ask.

She shrinks back, suddenly afraid. “You’re right, it’s not important."

I raise my arm to block her path as she tries to leave the room. “Kenny did it.”

She looks up at me. “Why?”

“Because I killed someone.” She stiffens and her face paled.

Something catches my eye causing me to raise an eyebrow. I gently grab her shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” she suddenly snaps, raising her hand. I grab her wrist before she can slap me.

“Relax, I was just checking something.” I spin her so her back was facing me, and brushed her hair off her neck. There was a small deep cut that was bleeding heavily.
“When did you cut yourself?” I ask her.

“What?”

“Your neck is bleeding.”

She gently touches her neck, gasping when she sees the blood covering her hand. "I didn't know."

I sigh. "I'll go get Donnie."

I leave my room to go find him. Donnie was in the living room, annoying the living daylights out of Louis.

"Donnie for the last time, leave me alone." Louis snaps,

"I just want to learn how to play." Donnie says.

"It's just cards, it isn't rocket science which you somehow know." Louis starts puting his game away.

"Hey Donnie, Athena has a cut on her neck. Can you look at it?" I ask.

Donnie gasps, dramatically turning towards me. "What did you do?" He asks.

"Nothing, I think she must've been nicked my a bullet." I tell him.

He sighs, getting up from his seat. "I guess I could." He follows me back into my room. "Alright darling, show me the pain that ails you."

Athena narrows her eyes, but still brushes her hair back over her shoulder to show him the cut.

Donnie nods, humming slightly. "Yeah okay, you're fine. But you'll need a couple stitches. Let me go get what I need."

A concerned look crosses her face when Donnie leaves the room. "You okay?" I ask her.

"Couldn't I just go to a hospital? I mean this going to hurt more isn't it?" She asks. She squeezes her eyes shut, shuddering.

I study her, hesitantly reaching to grab her hand. "You can squeeze my hand if that helps." I mumble, looking away.

She looks at me, giving me a confused look.

"Hey Julian! You better get in here!" Donnie yells from the room Richard was resting in.

Athena and I exchange a look. I leave my room, heading into Louis's old room, Athena right in my heels. Richard was coughing up blood and Donnie was standing over him applying pressure to his wound.

"I checked his wound and it had started to bleed again. I don't know if I can get it to stop." Donnie tells me.

"Papa!" Athena says, darting to his side.

Richard looks at me. "I need to tell you something about your parents." He tells me, coughing throughout the sentence.

"No papa, you need to save your breath. I'm sure Julian can wait." She turns to me and I nod.

"How good is waiting if I'm dead? He needs to hear this now."

I move towards the bed. "Okay, I'm listening."

Richard coughs. "Your parents...there was something about them, the bodies. Your parents...they're..." Richard coughs again, blooding spilling from his mouth. His head leans back on the pillow, his eyes closing slowly.

Athena shakes him. "Papa? Papa! Don't leave me!" She says desperately.

"Julian get her out of here." Donnie instructs.

I nod. I grab Athena's hand, tugging it gently. She doesn't say anything, instead just follows me out of the room.

I shut the door behind. "Hey, he'll be alright. You-" Athena cuts me off, surprising me as she wraps her arms around my waist, sobbing into my chest.

I look down at her, hesitantly wrapping my arms around her, patting her back. "It's going to be fine." I mumble.