Here There be Witches

Untitled Part 16

"Don't you dare, ever do that again."

Anara buried her face deeper into his shoulder.

When they both finally calmed down Anara wanted so badly to bring her knees to her chest, but she couldn't even sit up yet. "How are you feeling?"

"...Better." The wound hardly hurt anymore. Even the self loathing and guilt had almost all gone away when she remembered he loved her. "If I take the bandages off is there gonna be a chunk missing?"

Stein didn't seem to know whether she was joking or not. She didn't either. "No, but you'll have a pretty big scar..."

In her pain killer induced delirium she snorted a chuckle. "Well hey, I'll fit in better with the family won't I? I'm guessing since you brought food that the it didn't fuck up my internal organs?"

"It did, actually, but thankfully organ donors exist. Your stomach and everything on the left isn't technically yours." She was half expecting it but the realization still hit her like a truck.The strange feeling of complete stillness tingled across her skin. Everything she knew about severe injury recovery flew out of her brain. How long would it take her to go back to normal? She'd still be able to eat her favorite foods right? Is this going to mess up my magic? "Listen, kid," She snapped herself out of her thoughts and turned to look at the man squeezing her hand. "I'm glad you can be so...casual about this; I'm glad to see you bounce back at least a little already, but there were a lot of people who were really afraid for you. I was really afraid for you. So just--I don't know. Be careful. You don't have to force yourself into your usual mind space or routine. Take recovery time seriously. I may have let you be a bit reckless when your ACL was torn because the stagnation was horrible to you, but this time I'll be having none of that. We're moving you back to the lab tomorrow morning if you can sit up, but afterwards you might as well be chained to your bed. This is nonnegotiable." She knew it would suck to Hell not being able to even walk around the house, but what he said about people being worried for her was like finding a campfire in a cave in the midst of a snowstorm. People didn't hate her for not being good enough.

"Alright." She smiled to herself. She never thought she would see this much love from Stein, especially not so directly. She still wished the circumstances weren't what brought it out, but it felt good. She sat there for a moment, squeezing her dad's hand.

"Um...Kid was here...when I woke up." The possible implications of that finally processed and she found herself blushing.

Stein's eyes slid down to the floor, then back to her with a peculiar expression. "He waited here all night for you. And last night as well. The girls had to bring him dinner." Anara's heart fluttered. A small silence. "Your friend Hero did as well. He's not the child of the Grim Reaper, so I made him go to class, but they were both insistent on staying until you woke up." Her dad raised his eyebrow in a look that said, "there's a problem here, what are you going to do about it?" It made her feel like being close to both boys was somehow a bad idea. She didn't understand why not. Maybe she just wasn't thinking clearly.

"That doesn't really answer my question..."

"You didn't ask a question. I think you need to go back to sleep."

"NOOoooooo! I am so done with sleeping for a while! In fact, I don't think I ever want to sleep again!"

"Oh you'll go to sleep alright, even if I have to knock you out myself!"

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Stein stayed with her late into the night, and helped her sit up and move around in her very limited space as much as she could without hurting herself. Eventually they both dozed off, but pain quickly brought her back. She desperately wished she could reach the ibuprofen, but it was on the table by her uneaten food all the way on the other side of Stein. Her dad had looked so worn and exhausted earlier that she would never dream of waking him up. She decided she should work on her endurance anyway, in case something like that ever happened again. She needed to be able to protect her friends. She needed to be able to protect herself. It felt like the punishment she deserved.

Before she could dive to deeply back into the nightmarish chasm of inhibition and fear, a knock sounded at the door so soft she thought she might have imagined it. Even if she had she needed some company, something to distract her from the greedy hands of depressive thoughts. "Come in...?" She expected she was just going crazy, and no one would turn the knob, but after a moment to her surprise the door creaked open, painfully loud in the night's silence.

"I-" Kid looked mildly surprised to even be here. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, not at all, I actually needed someone to talk to. Ah--but--if you're just here for something else, please don't feel obligated to stay." How far did he come to get to the school this late? She suddenly felt guilty for assuming he came all this way just for her.

"I'm here for you." His face and voice were now sure. "...I couldn't sleep...I know I saw you wake up but...I needed to know if you were really okay." He came to sit on the other side of the bed. There was no chair, but at her nod he let himself onto the edge of the mattress. As it moved pain tolerance went out the window and she took in a sharp breath. Kid jumped up again, stammering panicked apologies.

"It's fine! It's fine, it's fine. I'm so sorry, could you grab that bottle? The one behind Dad?"

He whipped his head around to where she talked about and quickly but carefully maneuvered himself around the older man. It seemed to have shaken him out of whatever semblance of a certain attitude he had before, and he flitted around awkwardly by the side of the bed while she swallowed the pills. "Don't apologize, you're hurt, that was my fault, I shouldn't have done that."

"Hey, you can sit down again. I'm fine, really it just--" She realized she didn't know how to finish. "Haha, ow, ya know? I'm fine." I don't think I've ever used the word "fine" so many times. She mentally cringed.

"...Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, feeling just peachy. Please sit." He lowered himself even slower than last time, looking like he would hold himself responsible if she suddenly shattered for no reason.

"Are you--how do--do you--umm--" It was strange to see him like this.

She took his hand a squeezed, feeling a bit too tired again for a smile though. "I'm feeling better than this morning that's for sure. Thanks for being here when I woke up. If you hadn't I would probably have to stay here quite a bit longer."

"Glad I could help. And I'm glad you're doing better."

"Hey, are you alright? Did something happen?"

His new expression made her think he thought she was crazy. Finally, Kid took a shaky breath. "Did something--!?! Yes 'something' happened Anara! You happened! When they brought you back you were covered in blood! There was so much and it was dripping everywhere, I couldn't even tell if you were breathing-" I think your'e the one having trouble breathing. "-even professor Stein and Blackstar were panicking, I thought--we all thought--!" You had died. He didn't have to say it. She could feel his hands shaking horribly.

She had no idea what to say to that. Every moment that dragged on without giving him some kind of reassurance felt torturous to them both. I'm sorry.

"...I'm not going anywhere. I promise."