Beautiful Lives

Chapter 11

            

Chapter 11 – Demons (Imagine Dragons)

I slept for most of the afternoon after my accident in gym class, only dragging myself out of bed once my mom came home, so that nobody would suspect anything was wrong. If Ryder noticed anything was wrong, he didn't say anything – not that I really expected him to with everything that happened between us recently. I picked at my food, still not feeling great enough to eat much. Luckily, my mother had come from an amazing day at work, so she chattered her way through dinner, and didn't pay as close attention to my health as she usually did.

I escaped as quickly as I could, and shut the door tightly behind me, as I collapsed onto my bed, ready to sleep for as many hours as I had in between the current time, and the start of school. I rolled onto my back, and sharply gasped, as shockwaves of pain rocketed up my spine.

I sat up, a heavy feeling of dread starting in the pit of my stomach. I pushed myself off of the bed, and dragged my feet over to the mirror. I was immediately struck by my appearance – I looked gaunt and pale, almost like a corpse. I took a deep breath, and moved my shaking hands to the hem of my shirt, lifting it ever so slightly, so I could see my lower back. Almost instantly, tears sprung in my eyes, and I felt my chest tightening. Because there, lining my back, were the familiar bruises – the trademark of a dead person walking.

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I should have gone straight to my mom – that was the logical solution. Obviously, she would have been worried, but she would have handled it with the gentle urgency that only a mother can quite nail. But, I also knew that once she found out, I'd be rushed off to the doctor, and would possibly receive the news I'd been dreading for nearly five years, which was something I wasn't ready for in the slightest.  So, instead of making the trek downstairs to find her, I found myself crossing the hall and knocking on my brother's door.

Almost a full minute passed before I heard Ryder shifting around on his bed, and he finally grunted something that sounded like "come in", so I pushed the door open, and stepped into his room. He was sprawled across his bedspread, his laptop open on his chest. He glanced over at me, and rolled his eyes, making no effort to sit up and talk to me.

"What?" he snapped. My heart started to pound – Ryder was one of the most important people in my life, and I'd somehow managed to forget that, just because I was angry with him for trying to protect me. If my health were in decline, I was going to need his support, and I'd quite possibly lost it forever, all because he was trying to be the older brother I'd always needed and loved.

I couldn't find the words to explain the situation, so I folded my arms tightly across my chest, and focused on taking slow, deep breaths, to block out that realization that tears were forming in my eyes, and threatening to spill over at any second.

"You okay?" Ryder's voice took on a softer tone, and he pushed his laptop off of his chest, sitting up to assess the situation. "Lexi what happened? Is it Nate?"

That was what did it – we'd been fighting for days, and he'd been trying to make a point of the fact that he didn't want to deal with my heart being broken. But, even though that was exactly what he was mad about, he put it all aside the second he realized something was wrong, and became exactly the person I needed to him to be. Guilt, relief, and overwhelming terror took over me, and I burst into tears, walking straight into his open arms.

"I'll kill him, what did he do?" Ryder asked, holding onto me like we'd never been closer. Through my sobs, I shook my head.

"It's not Nate," I sniffed, trying to get ahold of myself.