Tonight The World Dies

Chapter 26: Brian

The next morning I was awoken by the sound of my phone vibrating and ringing next to my ear. Letting out a frustrated groan, I fumbled around blindly with my hand until I found my phone before bringing it round to my fuzzy vision in order to read the caller ID.

And with some difficulty, I finally managed to make out the name:

Zacky.

"What's up?" I asked groggily as I placed the phone to my ear. Avery let out a muffled groan beside me before she shifted, pulling the covers further over her head. I raised my eyebrow in mild amusement before I listened to the answer on the other end of the line.

"Hey, erm, Tegan was wondering if Avery was up to being visited today?" Zacky asked nervously into the phone. "Did I wake you?" He added.

"Yeah." I groaned, running my hand over my face before turning to check the time; it was half nine in the morning. "And I don't know," I added, answering Zacky's first question, "she's, well, sort of asleep...hang on." I put the speaker on mute before turning to Avery. "Avery, are you awake?" I asked. After a moment of silence, Avery removed the covers from her head before peering at me suspiciously.

"No." She answered, bringing a hand up to massage the side of her temple in an attempt to awaken her idle brain. "Who is it?" She eventually asked.

"Zacky, Tegan wants to know if you're up to being visited today?" I asked, relying the question that Zacky had asked me.

Avery blinked lethargically a few times, obviously thinking over the proposal carefully before she answered. "I guess." She finally said with a small nod.

I gave her a smile before I took the phone off mute and held it back to my ear. "Yeah, sure." I said to Zacky. "What time shall we expect you here?"

Zacky let out a sigh in thought. "About eleven? Gives you a few hours in order to get up."

"Sounds good to me," I agreed, "text me when you leave."

"Will do." Zacky confirmed before he hung up.

I placed my phone back down on the side before I rolled over, my eyes interlocking with Avery's. She now lay on her side with her hand slid underneath the side of her head.

"Well, I guess we better get up," I suggested, "Zacky and Tegan will be here in about two hours."

"I'm gonna need a shower." Avery said, chewing on her lip as she thought. "I'll need you to wash my back."

"I can do that." I said, a sinister smile etching across my lips. Avery rolled her eyes in disappointment but the smile that she wore across her lips said something otherwise. "Come on," I said, pushing my body out from the bed before walking round to Avery's side and offering her my hands, "let's get you up."

"Yessir." Avery mockingly answered, giving me a salute before pushing the duvet back before carefully manoeuvring her legs round. Considering she'd been lying in bed for the past eight hours, it took her a little longer for her to get up: her body was stiff and her stomach even tighter.

"Are you sure you'll be okay to have Tegan and Zacky over?" I asked, gently placing my hand on her stomach. I could feel the stitches underneath her shirt material and I silently cringed to myself. It was my fault she had those, and it was my fault she'd now have a large scar running down her abdomen - like she needed another scar to add to the ones she already had. I hadn't taken any notice of the stitches when I'd got her dressed into these clothes yesterday since I'd been standing behind her as she'd changed at the hospital.