Memories | TMR | Two

2:8

The Scorch.

Daniel does not give any care to the three people still stood in the hallway as he charges into the room to see Adeline.

The room itself is small, with nothing but a bed in the corner to the left, and a simple armchair on the right, directly opposite the doorway. A plain, cream painted oak table sits in between the two, the surface of it filled with various pills and ointments, a lamp positioned nearer the back, and a thin wire trailing down behind the back of it. The floorboards are covered with a dark brown carpet tile, as a clear - but failed - attempt at concealing the various blood spatters that embedded within the fabric, but the walls are bright, making the space feel larger, and the atmosphere lighter.

A steady and cooling breeze flutters down from an open window in the slightly slanted ceiling, and a thick beam of sunlight barges through the gap, smacking against Adeline's face and illuminating every crinkle and blemish on her skin. Almost the entirety of her body has been covered loosely by a thin white sheet, from her shoulders to her toes, keeping her injuries hidden and away from curious eyes.

The young boy just stands there for a moment, in the middle of the room while his eyes remain focused on the silhouette of Adeline, watching the comforting rises and falls of her chest. He did not want to shift from that spot.

She looks too... fragile. As though all it would take is one swift gust of wind to flurry over her body for her to break, to shatter into a million pieces. And yet, she looked normal. So different to the battered and bloody version of her that he had seen earlier, hauntingly pale and covered in dirt, grime and blood mixed with saliva from the Crank looming over her.

She looks far much more like Adeline now. It is clear that Lily had gone above and beyond to ensure the young girl was comfortable and clean. Her entire face has been washed up and stitched, with the only indication of her fight being that of a small scratch below her eye, and that barely-there scar down the right side of her face from Richie.

At the mere sight of her, Daniel cannot help the way his cheeks puff out, and how his stomach has ascended to his throat as a wave of nausea crashes through his body.

Not at her, of course, no. But, rather, the day as a whole.

Each argument, each Crank, him leaving her, the attack. It all comes crashing back into his brain, like thick waves slamming into a rocky shore. Bubbles of water bursting and rumbling up the edge before doubling over and rolling back into the depths of the ocean.

Witnessing the way her eyes flickered closed, and having to feel her body becoming heavy and limp in his arms.

He is overjoyed that Adeline is still alive, there is no doubt about it, and he feels immensely grateful to the two doctors who have done so much to make that so, but it does not deviate from the fact that the entire situation could have been avoided.

If he had not left.

"What's wrong?" the deep, but gentle voice of Travis rings out from the other side of the room, and as Daniel glances over to the sound, he immediately spots the boy stood at the doorway, leaning against the frame with one ankle crossed over the other, and both his hands wedged into his pockets. ''She's alive, she's gonna be fine.''

''I didn't think she was gonna be'' Daniel mumbles softly, widening his lids slightly and inhaling a breath as he attempts to stop his voice from wavering, and his eyes from watering. ''In the car, when she closed her eyes and her breathing went all weird and shallow, I thought she was-''

He cuts himself off for a moment, turning his head away from Travis, dragging his hands up to his face and roughly rubbing the balls of his palms into his eye sockets. ''I'm fine'' he assures, twitching his head from side to side in order to shake the ill-thoughts from his brain, ''I'm okay. I'm fine.''