Emperor of Annihilation

SIX

she was kind.

🦢

TW: Brief Mention of Child Porngraphy.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE HERE TWENTY FOUR SEVEN, you know? I'm fine." I tell Autumn, who's sitting at the end of the cot. She refused to leave even after I reminded her that class is still going on and said my health was first. Her words shocked me. Autumn hates skipping classes more than anything.

"I want to be here." She said and lifted the spoon full of porridge to my lips. "Now, open." And I do, hesitantly. She didn't trust my hands enough to trust me to feed myself, so she insisted that she do it.

"When am I granted discharge?" I asked the question that's been weighing on my mind since the moment I woke up.

She pulls back, setting the spoon on the round bowl on the bedside counter. She sighs. "When you're feeling okay."

"I feel fine." I told her.

"You don't look fine." She countered.

I'm tempted to tell her that she doesn't know how I feel, but then that'd be a lie because Autumn knows me better than I know myself sometimes, So I opted to stay silent, lowering my head.

As much as I love Autumn with my whole chest and wouldn't trade the world for her, a part of me secretly hoped to wake up to Ezekiel's face again. His messy curls and even messier attire.

Being close to me disgusted him that much he just left. I shouldn't complain. The air felt suffocating when he's around, without him here I could finally breathe.

It's been three days since I fell into a coma and I still haven't recovered fully. I can't enter the washroom without breaking down, remembering what's engraved in my body forever.

"Carebear!"

I look up from my fidgeting fingers just in time to see Atticus fling himself at me. His arms wrapped around my waist and I winced.

He's pulled off of me by a fuming Autumn. "Can't you see she's not fully recovered yet?" She says, jabbing her finger at his forehead.

Atticus slaps a hand over his forehead. pouting his lips. He looks at me before he's engulfing me in a hug again. "Save me from this meanie, Carebear."

I laugh, even though I meant to smile, then caress his head into my arms. "I'm not as weak as you think I am, Autumn." I tell her, cradling Atticus in my chest.

Her expression softens as her brows go down. "I know, Clem and I'm sorry. I just don't want you to exhaust yourself."

I smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, Autumn. I mean it."

She nods and sits back down, seemingly letting the conversion go, though I'm pretty sure doubt fills her head because she won't stop bouncing her leg.

Five more days pass until I'm finally discharged and sent back to live in my dorm. I haven't seen Ezekiel yet, the reason being because he never visited again after the first day. "What's this?" I asked, eyes widening but not in fear, more like confusion.