The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter twelve

  I didn’t hesitate to change the subject.

  “Can you get your mom- well- Aurora?” I asked. “You know, kinda in the middle of having a broken leg.”

  It was as if we both had finally realized that my bone was sticking out.

  “Oh, yeah. Okay.” he seemed be stammering over his words.

  He left me on his bed, which was very soft and comfortable, although the headboard was slightly jabbing into my back. I tried to reach behind me and pull up a pillow, but I couldn’t reach it in the position I was in.

  That was when Cyrus arrived with Aurora, who carried a splint, crutches, gauze, and the measly tube of ointment. When he saw my struggle with the pillow, he rushed to my side, and lifted the pillow behind my back.

  I looked at him curiously, caught off guard by his worry.

  Aurora began by squeezing out the contents of the ointment. There was very little. It hardly even began to cover the injury.

  “Is that all you have?”

  Aurora continued to squeeze the bottle, although nothing was there. “We haven’t gone on a raid for a long time… it’s the last tube.”

  She rubbed in what she could. My leg was very tender, and it hurt even to be brushed up against. So, throughout the whole process, I was biting my lip, squealing, shrieking, and even sweating. Anything to keep me from crying, really.

  After fifteen painstaking minutes of this, Cyrus grabbed my hand in his, and squeezed it every time I wanted to scream. It was more helpful than you’d think, actually.

  Aurora looked at the bone, obviously not schooled in medicine of any sort, and tried to put it back in place. Of course, this caused agonizing pain to shoot through me like no other. Realizing any attempt at this was futile, we ended up wrapping it up, but not too tightly.

  For some reason, I was still tired, and I went back to sleep.

  After I had waken for the second time that day, I painstakingly got up, not moving my leg, and stood onto the crutches. Cyrus had heard me stir and came to help. Apparently, it was time for dinner, and Aurora had invited me to join the family.

  I already was aware of the discomfort that would be at the dinner table. Aurora and Cyrus would most likely be the only ones who’d be talking to me.

  I hadn’t seen much of Kian, although I had a feeling he would side with Jensen. However, I wasn’t sure about Jensen’s standpoint anymore, either. I mean, when he had seen my leg, he looked remorseful. And on top of that, from what I could tell, Aurora had reprimanded him pretty harshly.

  I ungracefully clunked across the living room with Cyrus on my tail, and into the kitchen where a round table had been placed in the middle. It, like the rest of the house, was small. It didn’t even look like it would fit five people, but somehow, we managed it.

  We were the first to sit, aside from Aurora who had set the table and placed the food down. Once she had finished, she took off her apron and yelled, “Dinner!”

  It was almost instantaneous the way Jensen and Kian showed up. When they rounded the corner and looked at me, their faces turned sour. More so Kian’s than Jensen’s, whose face took up more of a melancholy approach to the sourness.

  They sat down next to each other, making sure they weren’t by me.

  So, I was in between Aurora and Cyrus, and Jensen and Kian sat closely to one another on the opposite end.

  That night’s meal was a wonderful stew, along with more of that cheesy pasta, broccoli, and veal.

  I chose not to speak unless spoken to, which lead to a quiet dinner. But, I had taken a liking to that creamy cheesy pasta, and couldn’t help but ask what it was called.

  “You’ve never heard of mac-n-cheese?” Kian wondered aloud.

  It was the first thing he’d said to me.

  “Is that what it’s called?” I said, while scarping down another mouthful of it. “Where did you get the recipe?”

  I was so busy indulging, I didn’t really address anyone in particular, so the question kind of hung in the air. When I looked around for a reply, everyone was looking at Jensen, who was obviously the one with the answer.

  “I found it on a scrap of paper in the woods one day.” he answered, not making eye contact.

  “Well it was a wonderful discovery.” I said, hoping to make him smile.

  When he didn’t even acknowledge my words, I just went back to not talking.

  The soundtrack of the rest of dinner was everyone’s obnoxious chewing.

  As soon as I was finished, I excused myself, and made sure to make a big deal about limping to my crutches which were leaned against the counter. Cyrus followed my lead, got up, and took me to his room.

  There, I practically collapsed on his bed.

  “I’m exhausted.” I huffed.

  “You better be. You’ll need rest if we have any hope of your leg healing.” he pointed to the wrappings as if it actually needed pointing out.

  He took a moment to smile at me before heading to the door. Once he was close to the threshold, he turned around and said, “Good night.”

  But before he could turn off the lights I said, “Where are you sleeping?”

  “The couch.”

  I didn’t want to argue about sleeping arrangements again.

  Plus, I thought the whole family would sleep better knowing I was behind a closed door and not five feet away from escape.

  So instead, I just said good night. Cyrus turned off the lights and left me to doze off.

  It was easier than I’d hoped.