Tonight The World Dies

Chapter 25: Avery

After Brian left I ended up finding some reruns of NCIS playing on the television. I think I ended up watching about two and a half episodes before I finally succumbed to the pull of sleep, and the next time that I awoke, Brian was walking in through the front door with a brown bag full of food in his hand.

"Hey," I tiredly greeted, lifting a hand up to rub at my weary eyes, "did you get everything?" I asked, watching as Brian made his way into the living room before sitting down on the couch beside me.

"Yeah." Brian nodded, he leant forward, unraveling the bag and allowing the smell of freshly cooked food to waft in my direction. My stomach immediately responded with a growl, reminding me that I hadn't eaten anything since the dinner last night. "I'm guessing you're hungry then?" Brian chuckled as he handed me a box of Chinese food.

"I am." I answered, laughing a little. I placed the box beside me before I gently pushed myself up to rest against the back of the couch. It took a lot more effort than I thought, but I eventually got there. "I'm guessing we're going to need a new car?" I asked as I flipped open the box to reveal the soft noodles and mango chicken inside.

"Yeah, it was..." Brian paused and shook his head, "Avery, I'm so sorry." He said, turning to face me, his dark chocolate eyes full of sorrow.

A sigh escaped my lips. How could he blame himself? It would never have happened if I hadn't been unfaithful to him.

"You have nothing to apologise for, Brian." I answered, giving him a weak smile. "I deserved what I got: it's called karma."

Brian frowned.

"It doesn't matter what you did, no one deserves this." He replied, sitting back into the couch as he began to pick at his food. Now it was my turn to frown. I watched him for a few seconds before another waft from my food reached up to my nose, reminding me of the good food I had in front of me.

I pushed any niggling thoughts to the back of my head and tucked in.

Surprisingly, doing the simple tasks of eating and going to the toilet, had me exhausted. Dr. Ericsson had warned that I'd feel tired for the next few weeks, but I didn't expect it to be to this extent. I eased myself back onto the couch beside Brian and leant my head back, closing my eyes. I desperately wanted to know what was going on in Brian's head: to know what he was thinking, feeling. But he'd made it pretty clear he didn't want to know, not until he wanted to. It felt like torture not knowing. I could see in his eyes that he was aching emotionally, but I had no idea if that was down to him feeling guilt toward causing the car accident or toward the notion that I'd betrayed him.

A hand brushing against my arm caused me to reopen my eyes and seek out its owner. Brian sat closer to me, lazily slouched into the back of the couch and his eyes fixated on me.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, his soft brown eyes laced with concern.

"Exhausted." I mumbled, barely finding the energy within me to answer him. Brian motioned to me to lean into him, and I immediately did, allowing his warm arms to envelope me in a hug. My hand came up to rest on his chest as I inhaled his scent, appreciating every moment I had with him as I knew my days were probably numbered that would enable me to get this close to him and take in his unique scent - it had always baffled me, how something as simple as someone's smell could mean the world to you. It didn't matter that we had this big house, and all the clothes we could ever want and comfy furniture and a huge-ass TV with channels on demand. Without Brian, none of this would matter; it wouldn't be a home and it certainly wouldn't be mine.

"When was the last time you took your pills?" Brian questioned, his voice soft, gently dragging me back out from my thoughts.