Mortalis || irwin

[ 19 ] 2014

[ 19 ] 2014

-

"I told Hazel and Jack we're leaving Sydney tomorrow and going into hiding."

-

During the middle of the night, after Harley had finally been able to fall sleep, Ashton disappeared from the hotel room. He had vanished into thin air and materialized in Sydney with one thing in mind. He returned to find out if Michael would really try to convince Jack to help Calum. 

Harley woke up minutes later alone in her bed, since she was a bit of a light sleeper. Her eyes looked around in the darkness as her eyes tried to adjust and she saw nothing. Her hands reached for Ashton in the dark, but he was gone. She was sure that whatever it was that he went to do, that it was something important and perhaps something that could help her and Calum. Ashton wouldn't just leave her alone without saying anything, especially when he knew how worried she was about Calum.

She was laid on her side, facing Calum's bed and her hand reached for the lamp on the night stand between the two beds. The IV drip that was hooked to his arm was running low, and he would need another one to help him regain all the fluids he had lost from all those days at the pier. It had to have been several days, but less than a week because he had avoided the high tide until the day they found him. 

Her mind thought back to when she had been caring for Michael after her grandmother had given her those chrysanthemum laced cookies. He drank chamomile tea and it made him feel better within a few days. It had been the same when Calum poisoned them all in order to get them out of the way and kill Jack for a while before bringing him back. Harley had never experienced anything more painful in her life, a searing pain that extended throughout her entire body ceaselessly. She felt as though her insides were on fire, exactly as Michael had described it. She could barely bare it. It was a feeling she never wanted to experience again.

She observed the boy in the opposite bed and came to the realization that Calum wouldn't be able to drink the liquid on his own, since he was unconscious. But perhaps, Harley thought, she could probably fill his IV drip bag with the tea and it would make him feel much better than the liquid he was currently receiving in his system. She had seen it work on her brother Michael, and it was worth a try.

She sat up in bed for a minute, debating whether or not to leave him alone in the hotel room, and then finally got on her feet. It would only be a few minutes to the lobby and then back. Harley grabbed her jacket off one of the chairs in the room and put it back on, it was probably chilly outside and she would need something to shield her from the cold midnight sea breeze. After taking one last glance at Calum to make sure he was okay, Harley left the room with the room key in her pocket. 

She had money to go to a store and buy some tea thanks to the credit card Arthur left her, but she thought she might not have the time or the bravery to do it. And she dreaded having to leave him for an extended period of time all on his own.

Instead she decided she would check the lobby first. 

Her room was a couple of minutes walk away from the lobby, and she passed various other rooms on her way, a pool, and even a sauna. Harley wrapped her arms around herself as she felt a night breeze shake her. They were near the beach after all, and temperatures by the beach were always lower than in the city.

She pushed the glass door open of the lobby and walked inside. It was a nicely heated area with couches to lounge on, a coffee table with magazines and newspapers to read, in the back was the reception area, and off to one side was a bar. Since it was the middle of the night going into a Monday morning, the bar was already closed, but on the bar table was a container labeled hot water, and next to it were tea bags, cups, sugar, and another container labeled coffee. Harley smiled politely at the woman at reception who smiled back at her and made her way to the bar area.