Death Wish

Chapter 39: Inevitable Happily Ever After

It's two weeks into May and almost the end of the school year. The doctor decided to keep me in the hospital for a week due to my injuries and the teachers have been sending me work so I can keep up. Broken leg or not, I'm going to hobble across the stage, shake the principal's hand, and grab my diploma.

I leave the hospital with a nurse pushing me to Ms. Gharfures's car, the teacher whose helping out at Myklyn's cafe, who so generously offered to drive me home. We sit in silence the way to my house and after she helps me in the house and makes sure that everything's okay, she leaves with a stern warning to call if I ever need help. I laugh and shoo her out the door, trying to stand, only to realize that I can't. This will take a lot of getting used to.

I wheel my way around the house, moving things out of the way to make room for my wide, cumbersome wheelchair. I wheel into the kitchen and grab a small snack before going back to the living room to carefully transfer myself on the couch. I settle in for a long night of catching up on the tv shows I fell behind on.

...

When the sun comes out, I'm still awake and alert. I guess the insomnia came back. Being with Lorenzo actually made me sleep, but now that I'm alone again, I don't sleep. I actually am half as caught up on all my tv shows and I'm proud of that. Today is also Sunday so I get to watch more tv and pig out.

I'm about to start an episode of The Flash when I hear a knocking at the door. Curious, I move from my spot on the couch, my behind numb from sitting for so long, and wheel over to the door. I can't see through the peephole and I get even more frustrated at everything that's happened. I hope Lyzander and Thibault are rotting in a jail cell right now. They deserve it. Waksren, not so much. He did torture me but he also saved me and turned himself in. That reminds me. I need to visit him. I haven't thanked him yet. Getting so lost in my thoughts, I forget that I'm supposed to answer the door. I reach for the doorknob but freeze when I hear the person's voice.

"Linnea? It's me. I know you're there. Please open the door," Lorenzo pleads.

I feel my eyes narrow into slits at the sound of his smooth, baritone voice and wheel back into the living room. Starting the episode of the Flash, I turn it up just enough so I can't hear his voice.

...

When I wheel out of my house on Monday to school, I nearly scream when I see a person on my porch swing. They're sprawled across the cushions and sleeping. Lorenzo. He wakes up when he hears my wheelchair and rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

"You stayed here all night?"

"Well, yeah. I needed to talk to you and you can't stay in your house forever."

I roll my eyes and realize the situation I have. We don't have a ramp for our stairs and because of my broken arm, I can barely even wheel straight, let alone use crutches. I can feel Lorenzo's stare as he watches me stare at the porch, trying to figure out what to do.

He quietly asks, "Do you want me to bring down the wheelchair for you?"

I want to decline. I really do. But I can't. I need to get back to normal and normal includes going back to school. Lorenzo sets me down on the porch swing and I blush at our close proximity. He carries the chair down the stairs.

"Thanks," I whisper as he places me in the seat.

"You never have to thank me."

I don't respond and continue wheeling down the path. He easily keeps pace with me and I nearly scream. Just because he helped me doesn't forgive him. He used me.

"You're going to wheel all the way to school, during school, and back?"

I ignore him and pause to grab my phone and plug in my earbuds to listen to music. As fast as I can go, Lorenzo still keeps pace with me because I'm not very fast with my wheelchair. Or anything. We walk and hobble like that, me on on my wheelchair, listening to music and ignoring him, and Lorenzo silent and walking along. He oh so graciously pulls open the door and I call feel the stares and whispers as we enter.