Every Breath You Take

4

"Mmmm." A small noise escapes my mouth as I turn over, squeezing my eyes shut as I ease into consciousness.

I flutter my eyes open rather slowly, sensitive to the light peeking through the sheer curtains in my cabin bedroom.

"What the..." I mumble to myself, eyes fully adjusted to the light and taking in my familiar surroundings as I quickly come to the conclusion that I was tucked into my own bed.

I run a hand over my face out of confusion, startled when I feel a warm substance on my hand after it grazes my nose.

Dropping my fingers into my line of vision, a dark crimson liquid can be seen on them, causing my confused state to only get bigger.

The last thing I remember is hitting the floor at school, so how did I end up back at my house?

"You want the TV back?" I hear my dad's voice ask from the other room, "then I want this fixed by the time I'm back from work, got it?"

The TV back? Something fixed?

"Fixed." El's small voice repeats.

I swing my legs off of the side of my bed, bracing myself to stand up because I was half expecting to pass out again.

I wonder if my dad knows what happened to me.

I inhale a deep breath, pushing myself onto my feet. Luckily, the pain in my head has eased up a ton, and I don't feel the before effects of a fainting spell, just a deep thirsty feeling that I need to quench.

I patter over to the door of my bedroom slowly, latching onto the knob and twisting it open. Both El and my father snap their head's in my direction as I exit the room.

"Awake." El smiles.

"How are you feeling?" My dad rushes over to me, placing his hands on either side of my face and searching it frantically with his eyes.

It's then that I notice a boarded up window in the living room, a few more planks laid out on the floor along with my dad's handy-man tools. The TV is also unplugged, and removed from it's usual spot in front of the sofa.

"I'm... okay." I look up at him, "what's going on? What happened?"

"El and I," my dad sighs, "we got into a bit of a scuffle yesterday."

"Because..."

"She went to the school to see Mike." He grunts bitterly.

"El!" I look at her, exiting my dad's arms, "why would you do that."

"To see Mike." She replies.

"You could've gotten hurt." I scold, and she frowns.

"They didn't see me."

"It doesn't matter, El." I sigh, placing my hands on her shoulders, "we're keeping you here to keep you safe, we love you."

"Love," she gives me a small smile, "I love you, too."

I feel my heart soften up a bit, wondering if I was a little too harsh as I wrap my arms around her in a tight embrace.

"How is your pain?" She asks.

I look back at my dad, "my pain?"

"You passed out yesterday at school." My dad sighs, "that boy, Harrington, he drove you to the hospital and you were in and out of consciousness."

Steve.

Oh, Steve.

Suddenly, I feel awful for running away from him yesterday when he was just trying to check on me.