Something blossoming

Chapter 23: Lost

Chapter 23:

Shadows danced behind my eyelids while a hum of harmonies graced my ears.

I was slowly dropping, heavier and heavier into my body until I felt like I was made of cement, unable to move my new felt body.
As the moments passed the harmonies became louder, a deep drum and violin conversing, becoming increasingly frantic like a lover's quarrel. Until they were interrupted by a shrill flute. No not a flute, mom. Mom?

These weren't instruments and this wasn't a serenade. People were talking. My mom and who? I couldn't make out the other voices. I didn't get a chance to ponder it any longer as a door slammed shut and the voices sessed.

Despite my heavy state, my eyelids fluttered open. But I shut them immediately from the blinding light. After a few more blinks I was able to open them fully. A white ceiling is what I was faced with. When I looked around it appeared I was in my room. However, it felt more surreal and exposed. It was then I noticed machines to my right. Wires connecting to what I assumed was my body. It was hospital machinery. But why were they here, in my room?

I heard a shuffle at my feet and tried to push myself up far enough to see what it was. However, the second I moved pain shot through me and I fell right back down. Urg.

"Aurora? Are you awake?" Came a voice, the drum in my symphony. Kane.

Now I really wanted to sit up, to look at him. I missed him. No matter how much I wanted that darkness, a still afterlife. It didn't have him. I needed him.

Just then he came into view, leaning over my near paralyzed body. A choked sob left my mouth at the sight. I missed him. I missed him so much. I wasn't even sure how long it's been since I saw him but even a minute was a minute too long.

"Oh baby.." he cooed down at me. He leaned closer pressing a kiss on my forehead. Warming my body. "I was so worried about you. So so worried. When we found you, you were nearly dead." He stated gravely. A haunted look passed over his eyes.

"Wha-What happened?" I croaked out. Fuck I need some water, my throat felt like sandpaper. As if reading my mind Kane handed me a glass of water. Bringing his arm behind my back to help slowly lift, and prop me up against my headboard.

"You were in an accident. Y-you must have escaped or something because you weren't at the crash site. We searched hours for you in the nearby woods until one of my men found you bleeding to death." He near whispered. Turning away from me "Angel. You looked so hurt. Your legs and feet were mangled and dirty. Face covered in blood that ran into your hair matting it. And your stomach" he sucked in a breath appearing to be reliving the scene in his head. "There was so much blood baby" He turned back to me, eyes red, cheeks stained with old tear trails and wet with new ones. Dark circles lay below his eyes. If I hadn't known better It almost appeared he had a black eye. His hair was disheveled and his white button-up was wrinkled and misplaced.

"I thought I'd lost you" He finished after some time. The look on his face made my heart sink. I couldn't help the guilt I felt for scaring him, hurting him so bad. Kane was always a well-put-together man. He always wore a stone mask to conceal even his strongest of emotions and deepest of thoughts. But here he was, sat in front of me, with his heart on his sleeve.

And so I cried. For him and me. It didn't take long to feel the warmth of his body wrapped around me. I barely registered him picking me up and sitting me across his lap like a small child. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face into his chest and let go.

I cried because I hurt Kane, I scared him and I never wanted him to feel like that again. I wish I had been stronger, fought harder and maybe we wouldn't be here. As my thoughts reeled and my mind drifted, memories started flashing across my brain.

Hitting my head on the car's roof, glass shattering, and men screaming.

Running through the woods, legs stinging with sharp bites from the branches and bushes.

Thundering footsteps behind me and treats full of promise falling behind.

Killing, so much blood. Blood dripped down my hands, splattered on my face, seeping out of my wounds.

Pain, unbearable pain. My whole body hurt. Then and now.

I cried and cried until I couldn't breathe and I felt the darkness seeping in. But I welcomed it. Anything to get away from it all. The familiarity of the darkness brought comfort to my racing heart.

~~~~~~~~~~

And that's how the days went. I woke up screaming, crying, covered in sweat, and Kane racing in to hold me till I tired myself out. My days were spent crying or staring off into space. I couldn't eat, I could barely move. I was frozen in place, unmoving. Stuck in my memories and thoughts.

But it wasn't just the accident. The crash and chase brought up memories that I tried too hard to bury. Memories of before, years ago. Memories of him and what I endured at his hands. The pain and the loneliness. It was becoming too much.

Kane was here, but he wasn't. I pushed him away, he couldn't understand. He didn't understand. I know he was trying but it felt superficial, it felt like pity and a chore for him.

I awoke from another nightmare. Shooting up in my bed sweating, clawing at my neck. I couldn't breathe. Another anxiety attack induced by my dreams, nightmares. I shook and I sobbed until it faded into a whimper.

Wrapping my arms around my legs and rocking myself. Held myself because no one else would. Kane wasn't here, he didn't rush in. Meaning either I didn't scream or he was on his sleep break, down in the worker's wing.

I couldn't do this anymore, the crying, screaming. Suffering in the darkness. It may be selfish but I needed someone, I needed Kane in the darkness with me, to help me fight it off. Tell me it'll be okay even if it was a lie. Maybe it didn't matter if he understood my pain or not. Maybe all that mattered was he was here. He loved me and he lent me his strength. It wasn't until now I realized how badly I needed that strength.

I hopped out of bed wincing slightly at my recovering wounds. The one on my stomach had been stitched up and for the most part, healed over, but it left an ugly puffy pink scar down the left side of my stomach. Another scar to add to my collection. I was also showcasing a scar across my brow down to my temple nearly missing my eye. It kinda looked badass.

I padded across my room, slipping on my bunny slippers, and cracked my door open. No guards. Which meant they were sleeping. So I snuck out, creeping past my sister's room and down the main stairs.

My family stopped checking up on me after the first day I was conscious. It wasn't much of a surprise, they were too busy focusing on hiring new guards and remodeling the house which was near destroyed in the attack. My mom was having a little too much fun, taking the opportunity to redesign most of the house. I guess something good came out of my suffering.

I made my way down the worker's wing. The halls were quiet and eerie. With the lack of guards, it wasn't so lively anymore. Occasionally I would pass a room with light shining through the cracks of the doors, but other than that it was quiet. I had taken this route many times before the attack to sneak and see Kane if he couldn't sleep in my room.

When I approached his room I slowly opened the door. Of course, he didn't lock it. I suppose a man like him, with his physique and skills, didn't need to worry about intruders.

There he lay in all his shirtless glory, spread across his small bed looking like the god he was. I couldn't help but pause as my breath faltered and my heart stuttered. This man was truly breathtaking.

The moonlight flooding through the window cascaded and caressed his exposed abdomen, accentuating his muscles. The sight made me forget my nightmare, the reason I came here. Now all I could think about was him. His warmth, his touch. All of him. I needed him.

Y'all gotta let me know- can you see the pictures I post as like a header or no? Cuz I see them in my edit mode, but not when I view my story as a reader so-