Beyond Our Control

Chapter 42

 She doesn't recall falling asleep but this time when she wakes, she's not alone in the room like she thought she was.

A boy, a bit older than her, has a chair pulled over next to her bed, and he sits in it comfortably with a book in hand. So concentrated in reading, he doesn't even realize Kenna is awake, watching him with annoyance.

She really didn't need someone right next to her, this close, when she wakes. Especially someone she doesn't even know. Her frustrations grow and she takes in a deep breath.

"Um, who are you?" Her tone clearly showed her frustration.

The boy finally looks up. His eyes glow with a shade of green mixed in with deep brown, and his straight dark brown hair, almost black, falls near his eyes. His skin is pale but not the sick kind of pale, and he looks lean and tall, muscles built from years of working and helping his parents. And his face finishes perfectly with a dot of a mole right below his left eye. By all means, he was good looking, and something about his pale smooth skin makes Kenna's stomach knot together, reminding her once again of...Faye.

His lips crack into a wide grin as his mind finally registered that Kenna's awake. A true smile, so pure and loving, the one Kenna always tries to find on Faye.

He rests his book down, still smiling. "Kaiden. My father told me you wanted my company, and said that you liked to read too. He said we could talk about books, anything at this time." He holds out his book and shoves it toward Kenna, and she really wanted to push it back but she was trying to be nice and polite.

She uses her left hand since her right upper arm and shoulder is about fully covered by a white cast.

"Aircrafts and Ships." She reads the title out loud, her hand flipping to a random page where a weird looking kind of plane is. Long and big, and it looked inefficient and hard to control.

Kaiden leans close to see the page she's at, and he smiles widely again. "That's the type of planes people went on before aircraft and hover cars and ships were more efficient. I think that might have been a...2015 model. Things back then really sucked."

Kenna puts the book down and shoves it back to Kaiden.

"Look," she says. "I write, reading is alright to me too. And I said yes to your father because I didn't want to be rude. But right now, I just need some time alone, or, maybe I want to be alone forever. Can you just...leave?" Her voice has an edge to it that she really tried to hold in but couldn't.

She can't tell if Kaiden heard the edge to her voice or not, but if he did, he doesn't let on.

"The best way to deal with grief is to never deal with it alone. I'm keeping you company." He opens the book and starts reading again, staying exactly where he was.

The frustration in her grows, and now anger adds to it. Grief? What does he know about grief? Why isn't he sad at all? It's his own sister who is dead, and how is he so careless?

"Can you please just leave?" She asks again, her patience growing thin.

He doesn't look up from his book. "Sorry, can't do that."

"And why is that?"

"Well, because I can't let you deal with grief alone like I already said. And, this is a comfortable reading spot."

She looks over his broad shoulders to see the pulled up shades of the windows. The clouds float near them, and beautiful paradise looking islands pass by. The sight makes everything so overwhelming yet also it relaxes her anger just the slightest bit until Kaiden speaks again.