𝑬𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆：𝐴 𝐿𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑖 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

Chapter Twelve

                                       •Harumi•

At around what feels like early in the morning, I awake to find my knife wound hurting. It feels almost as if it was burning. I squeeze my eyes tight, shifting my position, hoping to ease the pain. Lloyd stirs in his sleep, and takes my hand into his. I smile. I immediately stop moving trying not to awaken him. I stare up at the dark ceiling and sigh. The events of yesterday replay in my head. How could that have happened? It was all so terrifying. I shudder at the memory of being thrown and the knife slicing my skin. I never want to experience that again. I'm very lucky I only needed stitches. It could have been a lot worse.

My mind starts to wander to my stitches. I carefully slide my hand down by my side, lifting up my hoodie slowly. I run my hand over the injury, feeling each stitch with my fingers. I start to count them. I reach fifteen. Fifteen. Fifteen?!

I start breathing faster. I count them again. Yep, fifteen. My hands start to shake. The thought that I got stitches is enough to make me feel like I am going to throw up.

Lloyd starts to stir again in his sleep because my hand is shaking his. I quickly pull it away and he opens his eyes looking confused.

"Rumi? What's going on?" He says groggily, looking down at my shaking hands.

"Lloyd I got fifteen stitches!" I say with my eyes wide. My hands and face have broken into a cold sweat.

"I think I'm going to-." I say as my face drains of its color. Lloyd snaps into action, grabbing the vomit bowl from the nightstand next to the hospital bed. I quickly sit up, throwing up the contents of my stomach into the bowl. Lloyd holds my hair back, trying to keep it away from the bowl.

Once I finish emptying everything in my stomach, I lay my head back on the pillows behind me, breathing rapidly. Lloyd pushed my damp bangs away from my eyes. At this point, Nya has awoken from the chair she was sleeping in.

"What happened?" She asks sleepily looking at us.

"Well, Rumi decided to count her stitches, and finding out that there are fifteen, she threw up." Lloyd says looking at Nya and then at me.

"I guess she is still pretty out of it from the pain medicine." Nya says looking at me who is lying back trying not to throw up again. "I'll go get the nurse."

Nya walks out of the room, and Lloyd turns to look at me once again.

"How are your stitches feeling? Do they hurt?"

"Yeah." I reply quietly with my head still laying back and my eyes squeezed shut. "That's what woke me up."

Lloyd nods. "Would you like some water Rumi?" He says reaching over to the nightstand and grabbing a bottle of it.

I nod, starting to sit up again. Lloyd places his hand around my back, helping me in doing so.

"Just like old times." I say jokingly with a sheepish smile, as I remember when Lloyd stayed by my side the entire time I was recovering from the building collapse.

Lloyd laughs, bringing the water bottle to my lips and helping me take a sip. I lie back down, and focus on thinking about my injury.