Taken • cth

five | a new beginning

lots of time skips in this chapter, just a warning in advance. also this is mildly unedited because of the length so forgive me

word count: 9785

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Arrow wakes up the next morning with a pounding headache and a sickening feeling in her torso. She doesn't remember much at all from the night before, it's all flashes of pain and blood and nausea. She rolls over with some difficulty, using her arms to properly sit up, and looks around to find that Calum is gone.

Panic erupts in her chest. Robin. Out of everything she remembers from last night, that word is crystal clear. What happened after he whispered that word is a blur, but she doesn't care. She has to find him. She has to.

"Calum!" She half shouts, scrambling to her feet. She immediately falls back down again, pain shooting through her thighs, arms and legs. The sunlight is hurting her eyes. She struggles to get up again. "Calum!"

Just when Arrow is limping to the edge of the woods line, the boy appears, carrying a plastic shopping bag with a piece of what looks like chicken resting between his lips. He stops in his tracks at the sight of her, an expression of concern working its way onto his tan features.

"Bow, you're awake." Calum says, swallowing the meat in his mouth. "Sorry, I thought you would still be asleep. I gathered up what money I could find in my bag and the area and went to buy a first aid kit, and ended up having enough for a cheap rotisserie chicken." He holds up the bag. "Want some?"

Her stomach growls at the thought of chicken, but she ignores the question. "I thought he took you."

His expression drops, and he sighs. "I knew I should have waited until you woke up. I'm sorry."

He walks over and sits down in front of the now only smoking fire, setting down the bag and pulling out a plastic container with the meat in it. She just stares at him, letting the tight knot worry in her stomach untie itself with each passing second. Her head is still pounding. "What happened last night?" 

Calum turns around to look at her, the concern back on his face. "Come sit down and I'll tell you. You don't look so good."

Arrow does sit down, but with a good three feet of space between her and the olive-skinned boy. She doesn't understand why he's acting so casual about this. She wraps her arms around herself protectively, waiting for him to speak.

"Right after I said robin," he starts, pulling out another plastic container with a red cross on it. "You just kinda shoved your head into your knees and didn't respond in any other way. I decided there really wasn't anything to do but the same thing, but I snuck one glance at the thing before I did and it was deadass fifteen feet away. I saw almost every feature of it. I thought my eyes were gonna fall out of my head at the pain."

She nods, her eyebrows furrowed, waiting for him to continue.

"When he finally left, which took fifteen thousand times as long as usual, I stood up and made sure everything was where it was supposed to be. You didn't move at all, and I figured you were asleep so I let you be. I woke up this morning to get the stuff because with the puddle of blood forming on the ground, it looked like you were gonna need it."

He doesn't look like he's going to say anything else, so Arrow takes a deep breath and sighs. "I must have passed out. Thank you, by the way."