Fly or Fall

Chapter Nineteen

"You can go in," Salena said.

Andy stepped through the threshold first with Anna behind him. The infirmary was a rectangular shaped room with a coffered ceiling and a granite floor. One wall was lined with framed arched windows and across from it were five beds. Both twins stepped towards the only occupied bed. Layla looked up as they neared.

"Andy," a sob worked through her and she stretched a hand for him. "Anna," she stretched her other hand for her.

An IV stuck out of her right arm and Andy tried not to cringe as he settled next to her on the bed. He never liked hospitals. The aseptic smell of carbolic acid or the distracting smell of wilting flowers always made him want to gag. The last time he was in a hospital was three years ago when Anna used to do gymnastics and she had a fractured clavicle. He'd been so terrified watching her on a hospital bed, barely able to move but she'd smiled and he felt better. This was worse, aunt Layla didn't smile, she cried and his heart broke.

He wanted to hug her but was too afraid he'd hurt her. She had a nasty bruise around her left eye which was swollen, her nose had been broken and reset, the flesh around it looked tender and she had a cut over her bottom lip, it was covered in dried blood. He knew she had a broken rib and other injuries he couldn't see. He was afraid he'd hurt her if he breathed too close to her.

"I'm so happy the both of you are safe," Layla said in between sobs. "I was so worried about you."

"About us?" Anna made a sound between a scoff and a sob. "We're fine, but you're..." her voice trailed as she rubbed circles around the back of Layla's hand.

Layla smiled through her tears. "I'm fine. I'm happy. I have the two of you in front of me and that's all I could wish for right now." She pulled the both of them into a group hug. "I've missed you so much."

"We missed you too," Anna said and Andy nodded.

Layla finally let go of them and wiped away her tears. "Tell me," she said, "what have the two of you been up to."

Andy shook his head. "Nothing important," he said tugging at his left ear. "What happened..." he hesitated. He wasn't sure if it was right to ask but he wanted to know. They'd spent all this time worried and imagining all these terrible things the Wythynians could be doing to her. He needed to know what they'd done. "What happened to you?"

She smiled but there was something wrong with it. Her eyes looked vacant for a moment and her lips twitched in obvious discomfort. "Let's not talk about that right now," she said and tugged at his hair. "I see you still haven't cut it."

Andy shrugged. "I think I actually like it like this."

She cupped her hand against his cheek. Her hand was cold but he didn't flinch. It was so nice to have her close again. So nice to know she was alive. He decided for now that would be enough. He wouldn't push her. "We went to a roof party," he said.

She raised a brow. "Oh really," she said then turned to Anna. "Now I definitely need to know what you have on him. Two parties in a month. That should be impossible."

Anna raised her hands. "I swear I had nothing to do with it," she said with a smile. "He agreed to go without any convincing or begging."

Andy rubbed the back of his neck. "I was trying to be more adventurous."

"Aw," Anna cooed as she pinched his cheek.

"But it didn't go so well," he added. "I'm never trying that again."

Anna frowned. "You can't say that."

"I can," he deadpanned, "and I just did."

"Okay, admittedly the roof party was a little crazy—"