From Grief We grew (Only On Wattpad)

Chapter 56 Teagan

Someone whispers something into my ears. I try to move my hand but realize someone is holding it. I carefully open my eyes and blink. I see a black mop of curls and two hands holding mine. His face is buried in my hand so I can’t see him. I try to move my other hand and I feel a sharp pain on my side. My hand caresses the bandage over my skin as the uneventful incident plays in my head. Who was it?
 
   “You're awake?” He looks at me and rubs his eyes. I notice the tear stains on his cheeks. I smile and nod. “You’re awake!” He exclaims this time as if to reconfirm. He takes me by surprise when he grabs my face and kisses me. “You scared me so much,” he whispers and continues to kiss me. I find myself crying and kissing back. “Gosh, I missed you,” I breathed out.
 
   Lucah goes outside and a doctor comes in. He talks to me and asks me how I’m feeling. Then he checks my wound. He let me know that it’s not very deep and that I can leave in the morning but I'll have to come every day for dressing. I nod to everything. I look at the clock in the room. 12.12. Wait… isn’t today 1st? I blush upon realizing that I got kissed on New years.
 
   The Doctor goes out and after a few minutes, Hayden comes in with Lucah. Hayden walks over to me and holds my hand. “How are you doing big T?” I nod and whisper, “I'm alright-“ The door opens stopping me mid-sentence. A nurse walks in wearing a mask. He looks at Lucah and says, ”You wanted to talk to me?” Lucah nods and gestures for him to go outside.
 
   He takes a step but then stops. The nurse looks at me and then at Hayden. “Wait. I know you!” he points at me as he pulls down his mask to reveal his face which seems familiar. I’ve seen him somewhere mmm. I wonder, where have I seen this green eyes guy?
 
   “Of course you do idiot. That’s my girlfriend,” Lucah scolds. Hayden looks at me and smiles. I bite my bottom lip trying not to blush.
 
   “No. No. Like before. When Lucah showed me your picture, I swore you look familiar.” He removes his head mask as he talks as if to reveal his full identity. His straight blonde hair floods out. He presses it down letting it fall to one side of his face. Oh! It’s Paul! I remember Lucah telling me Paul is a nurse.
 
   “Her parents. Even more familiar. Then I look at you,” he points at Hayden making me frown. “I know you too.” He looks back at me. “Aren't you that girl that filled his brother's room with paintings?” his words rob all the air out of my lungs. I look at him as pieces slowly start falling into place. No. No. No.
 
   “Wow did you draw this?” I was startled by the voice. I turned around to see a nurse walking in with blue scrubs. He wasn’t looking at me but at the 15 pages of paintings that I had stuck on the wall. I stood there silently looking at him and back at Zayden that lay motionless on the bed. “You really shouldn’t be in here, you know?” he finally looked at me. I wanted to yell at him and tell him he was useless. The hospital can’t do shit. But these paintings of Zayden's favourite things could save him. However, I didn’t yell. He had such a friendly smile like Zayden's that it only made me fall to my knees and sob.
 
   “This girl snuck into the ward of her friend that passed away. She was so fast. The doctors left only for a few minutes but she managed to glue 15 paintings, some of them were sketches- Random stuff. A scent bottle, you know that chocolate cube print bottle that was trending a few years ago. Watermelon. Paint brushes and whatnot all. I walked into the room and caught her in the act. I must add though I’ve never seen anything like that. Can’t believe I forgot her face,” Paul talks with excitement in his eyes.
 
   I clench the sheet. Am I in the same hospital he died at? I look at Hayden and he nods as if he read my mind. Lucah looks at me with an unreadable expression. “T-those were his favourite things,” I manage to say. “We made sure to bury him with all those drawings,” Hayden adds. My nails were now digging into my skin. I wanted everyone to leave.
 
   “How are you? Both of you? How’s your family coping?” Paul asks.
 
   “We are managing,” Hayden replies. I stay quiet. I guess Lucah must have sensed my uneasiness because he pats Paul on the shoulder and says, “Okay I’ll introduce you both properly later. Let her rest now. Let us talk outside.”
 
   I look at Hayden “W-what room number is this?”
 
   “Don't worry you are not on the second floor.”
 
   I sigh. He pats my shoulder and then leaves behind them. I don’t get to be with my thoughts however because immediately my mum bursts into the room and starts enquiring about me. Later, the doctor comes with Paul and checks on me again. After that, I end up falling asleep again.

***

When I wake up, I find myself with my parents. My throat burns as I try to speak so they give me some water. I ask them where Lucah is worried he might have left. But they tell me he’s outside talking to the cops. “He stayed here all night. Refused to leave your side even for a minute. He made us go home instead,” My dad informs and I sigh.
 
   The door opens and I hear his voice, “Mrs. Larson I already told you everything there is to know. She needs rest.” The police officer that’s dealing with Avery's case walks in along with her assistant Garry. “Good morning Ms. Jones. How are you feeling?” she greets me with a pleasant smile.
 
   “I'm fine. Pain is only there when I move.”
 
   She nods. “If you don’t mind. Can we talk a little?”
 
   “Officer is this necessary?” my dad asks.
 
   “Dada it’s fine. Yes, Mrs. Larson go ahead.” She asks me about what happened and I retell the story. “They both were in it together. The guy fighting with Lucah had hazel eyes. That’s all I saw. His skin looked pale. His hair and face were covered. The guy who attacked me, I didn’t see his face.” She nods and looks at Garry who scribbled in his notepad.

   My eyes travel down to the dress I’m wearing. I look at my mum. “Where is the jeans pant I was wearing?”
 
   “I packed it.”
 
   “Give it to me.”

   She hands it to me and I slip my hand into the pocket of my jeans. I grin feeling the strands of hair I collected. I carefully pull it out and show it to the cops. “I managed to pull his hair,” I say proudly. Mrs. Larson looks at Garry and he takes a small ziplock bag from his pocket. He opens it and I put it in. “Acting in situations like this takes wit and courage. Keep it up Ms. Jones,” Mrs. Larson praises making me blush.
 
   “Not sure if you are aware or not but your friends came to the station a few hours ago and Ms. Dawson confessed about what happened.”
 
   I gasp. “W-what do you mean confessed?"
 
   “Ms. Smith met with Ms. Dawson last night and threatened her apparently. Said if Ms. Dawson doesn't withdraw the search for her child, she will hurt Mr. Fenwick next.” I stare at the cop in disbelief. Wow, she’s more cruel than we thought. “We’ll run some tests with the sample you gave. I’ll get going now. Thanks for your cooperation.” She tips her hat and leaves.
 
   I look at my parents. “Did you know about this?”
 
   “We need to leave. C'mon,” my mum says ignoring my question. She takes the jeans from me and puts it away.
 
   “Mum! Answer me! Where are Bea and Hayden? Did you know about this?” I look at both of them. They nod. “D-don't you dare kick them out!” I exclaim, already knowing what’s running through their mind.
 
   “They left. When we went home around 3, we found a letter. We didn’t tell them to leave. They came to the hospital after work. Then Bea got a call and Hayden went searching for her. After that, they didn’t come back.”
 
   No. No. They must be blaming themselves. “What was in the letter?”
 
   “Teagan, we don’t have time. We have to leave,” my dad says impatiently. “You can read the damn thing on your way to Lucah's house.”
 
   “Lucah’s house?” I frown.
 
   “Oh, we forgot to tell you-“ Lucah cuts in, “Come stay with me, Teagan. Paul will do the dressing for your wound every day. It would be easier that way. He already made arrangements, you can stay in his room too.”
 
   How will I make things better if I go back to him? I open my mouth to protest. To say I don’t want to be a burden. But then I remember his words in the escape room. “I want to be there for you and help you get through all this pain T. Together. But you just won’t let me.” I stop myself and look at him. His eyes seem to say 'Let me take care of you'.  So I tell myself, I pushed him away enough. I nod. “Okay.”

   He smiles so wide upon hearing my reply and it makes me want to kiss him but instead, I just smile too.