Ted and Kat

Chapter 9

     I wanted to wake up slowly. I decided to try and not make it obvious when I woke up so I wouldn’t startle him. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the window bright with the morning. I was awake. I was alive! I knew he could do it!
     I then turned around to find an empty spot on the bed. I looked around and saw he wasn’t even in the room. I was more sad than mad, but I was intending to pester him the rest of the day about it.
     I was still debating whether to get out of bed whenever I saw the door handle turn. The door quietly opened and Ted was carrying a tray with a good looking breakfast on it, complete with a glass of juice and even a wildflower on it. He was being careful coming in so he didn’t see me until he was fully in the room and looked up at the bed. When he saw me awake, his mouth carved a small smile, standing there as if he was merely providing room service.
    I practically melted. I knew then that I was going to stay with him, whether he wanted me to or not.

“Good morning Kat.”

“Good morning” I smiled back at him as he came forward and handed me the tray. He sat down on his side of the bed, which was still made up.

“How was your night?” I asked slowly.

He still had a small smile on his face. “Very peaceful. You sleep so soundly.”

“You couldn’t go to sleep last night?”

“I don’t sleep. I have no need to.”

My eyes grew big. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s fine” he said, “and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“So you did stay all night? With- no problems?”

He leaned his head forward a little. “It doesn’t mean it won’t become harder in the future.”

“Let’s just celebrate what has happened now.” I gave him a reassuring smile and even dared to reach out my hand for his cheek. “You did it!”

     He froze when I touched him, but at least he didn’t leave. I took my hand off in case he felt pressured. I started eating my breakfast and tried to act as normal as possible. We finally discussed what we were going to do the rest of the day; he wanted to double check the garden before going to his lab. I was thinking about telling him that I could check the garden instead. I didn’t want him to be outside if I could help it. Then again, I didn’t want to seem overprotective, so I left it at that and said that I’ll clean the dishes.
     I was about to put away the tray and get out of bed, when he suddenly took my hand in his. Immediately my arm was flooded with heat even though his hand was stone cold. I looked up at him and noticed that his eyes were a little brighter. He started the sentence strong, but then it dwindled into nothing but a whisper: “Despite our circumstances, however you feel about it, I am glad you’re here.”

I squeezed his hand. “I am glad that I met you.”

     He nodded once, and then collected himself and left the room. There was a smile on my face the entire time I got dressed and went downstairs. I even started humming when I was cleaning the dishes.
     I was so spaced out that I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me. A hand was placed on my shoulder and it made me jump.

“Ted, you scared m-”

When I turned around, I didn’t see Ted, but Don and his group. My group.

     I almost pinched myself. I couldn’t believe they were here. My mind was racing: what do I say? How do I tell them what I discovered? What was the best way to introduce Ted? By the time I got my answers, they were almost done explaining how they found me.

“...reached a point where we found only your tracks in the woods so we tracked them here.”

I smiled. “Guys, I’m glad you found me! Cheryl, David, you’re here too! Are you feeling better?”

“Yes” they both said. “We decided to wait until we were all done with that virus before finding you. We’re so sorry it took so long.”

“No! No, it’s fine. I’m just glad all of you are here cause...wait, where’s Jonathan?”

After I said that, I heard a gunshot in the garden.

At that moment forward, everything to me had been slowed down almost to a grinding halt.

     Looking out of the glass doors, I saw Jonathan with his gun, chasing after Ted. He was running towards me.
     “We have a runner!” I heard Johnathan say, and the rest of the group pushed me out of the doorway. I fell, ever so slowly, to the ground, and turned my head back to see Ted running in the room. He tried to push them out of the way in order to get to me, but they didn’t budge. They already had their weapons out and began to stab him.
    The first jabs made him fall, and while he was being beaten, he never stopped looking at me. I felt frozen, paralyzed, helpless. I saw him mouth the word “Katherine” before they stabbed his head.