Unbreakable➳ Lahey [book 2]

Everything Will Be Okay

"Why isn't she healing?"

"I know we don't know what she is but-"

Daire struggled to open her eyes. Her lids were heavy with what felt like sleep or perhaps sedatives, she wasn't sure.

"You know about her scars, don't you?" A voice asked.

The other voices murmured, talking over one another. Each one stating some variation of acknowledgment.

"She's not healing because she doesn't want to," the voice closest to Daire said.

Isaac, the voice belonged to Isaac.

"You mean to say that it's psychological? She's preventing herself from healing because she doesn't want to?" Another voice asked, this one was feminine but Daire couldn't tell who.

"Scars are important to her, they serve as a touchstone. She doesn't want to forget what happened." Daire felt a weight on her hand as Isaac talked, slowly sleep began to pull her back under. The last thing she heard before it claimed her again were three words, full of confidence.

"She'll be fine."

☽

The next time Daire regained consciousness, she was able to open her eyes. She glanced at her surroundings, concluding that she was in fact in a hospital room. Next, she slowly sat up, rolled her shoulders, and arched her back, testing her injury. Gasping at the sharp pain as she moved, the phenom immediately woke one of the boys sleeping in her hospital room.

"You're awake."

Daire turned to the boy who now sat up in a chair pulled next to her bed. His curly hair was a mess from sleep and his clothes were rumpled but clean. He had changed since their fight against her grandfather and the kanima.

"How long was I out?" Daire asked.

Isaac rubbed some sleep out of his eyes, "about a day, after you passed out we rushed you to the hospital. You needed stitches since you weren't healing on your own." Isaac paused and glanced at Daire's shoulder, where her newly stitched-up wound started. "Mrs. McCall said that there wasn't any permanent damage though, so you'll be fine."

Daire nodded and then gestured to the other boys who were passed out together in varying uncomfortable positions in her little hospital room. "How long have they been here?"

Isaac followed her gaze and chuckled a little under his breath, "since you were admitted, they refused to leave your side."

Daire's lips tugged into a smile as she watched Stiles and Scott snore. They were propped up on one another, laying haphazardly on a tiny and uncomfortable couch. They may be idiots but they were the closest thing she had to a family now, and damn did she love those fools.

"And you?" Daire asked, turning her gaze back to Isaac, "have you stayed as long as them?"

Isaac's ears tinged pink, "I have."

"Thank you."

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" Isaac asked.

Daire raised an eyebrow, "what do you mean?"

Isaac's gaze was set on her shoulder, "you pushed me out of the way. You got hurt instead of me, you should've just let her stab me."

Daire grasped Isaac's hand and his eyes immediately met hers.

"I do not regret what I did and I would do it again in a heartbeat."

Daire held Isaac's gaze and gave his hand a comforting squeeze. Isaac dropped his head and stared down at his lap.