Charlie's Angel

52

The pale light of the rising sun filtered through the large window to my right. The window itself took up the majority of the wall, overlooking the full-to-capacity parking lot below. We were about five stories up, and the bright, billowing clouds looked low enough for me to reach up and run my fingertips along the bellies of them. In the sun rays, you could see the little dust specks flying around without interruption.

I blinked my eyes a few times to get the crusty shit out of my view, and some type of groan escaped my dry throat as I yawned to wake myself up all the way. I was careful not to move too much and not make much noise so I wouldn't wake Charlie up.

She had spent all night crying, locking my body in her tight embrace as her emotions became too much for her. Her cries were desperate, pained, and it made the hair on my arms stand straight up in anxiousness.

I had to sing our song to her for hours, until she finally cried herself to sleep around two in the morning.

Now it was nine in the morning, and she was still sleeping like a rock on my chest.

Normally, visitors aren't supposed to spend the night with patients. But one look at her and the nurses allowed me to, for the sake of calming her down.

It's been three weeks since the accident, and things were starting to improve. Her memory was still a little hazy but bits and pieces were starting to come back to her; she knew her father was dead and her mom went away for a while, but she didn't know she had a daughter or that I was her boyfriend. Hell, she barely remembered Sam.

I was starting to win her over again, like Sam suggested. I was nervous at first, but I could feel her starting to open up to me. After all these years of her building this shell around herself and her thick wall to protect herself, I was finding my way around it like I had done before. I was gaining her trust back little by little, and I was more than happy about that. I even learned all new things about her that Sam probably didn't even know. I was falling in love with her all over again, and I hoped she felt the same.

Her lips were parted slightly against my bare chest while she slept peacefully. My steady heartbeat was her lullaby all through the night and her warmth had eased my mind enough to fall asleep right after her.

Shit, I had to pee but there was no way I could get from under her without waking her up.

Carefully, I lifted her wrist from around my neck and laid it down between us, starting to scoot my ass away from her. I squeezed my eyes shut when she shifted a little—and just my luck she was right back to where she was.

"Shit," I whispered. I really had to pee.

I tried again, this time scooting out from under her head first. I moved a pillow to where my torso was and unwrapped my arm from around her back slowly so she wouldn't notice.

When I was successfully up, I cracked some joints in my neck and fingers and walked swiftly to the bathroom that was connected to her room.

I took care of business and let out a satisfying sigh of relief, then trudged to the sink to wash my hands.

My tired eyes scanned over my face in the mirror slowly. My heart slowed all the way down at the man staring back at me. Nothing was the same about him. He looked like he had lived for a million years; his eyes were red and his cheekbones—which were already naturally high—were that much more prominent from the stress and lack of eating sufficient meals throughout the days. His eyes, which were once a nice honey-chocolate color, seemed to darken all the way to almost a lifeless-black. I once was able to see through my eyes—maybe that sounds crazy—but I could see into my mind and I only allowed Lauren, Momma, and Charlie do the same. But now there was nothing there; no hope, no comfort. All I could see was a wall; I couldn't see into myself anymore.