The Frozen Heart

Chapter 12- In Hospital

Aspen's POV:
I'm sitting on the chair next to her bed, holding her hand tightly, watching for movement in her face. Any sign to show she's alive. "Harper, don't do this to me!" I whisper, my voice cracking, "Don't die on me, please..." My voice fades as tears begin to drip down my cheeks. I drop her hand and pull away, I stand up suddenly and the chair clatters over. "I can't take this anymore!" I scream, grabbing the chair and throwing at the wall. I run my hands through my hair in despair, remembering the way her hands used to feel in it, how she felt against me, her smell. I stop and my heart rate begins to slow, I take a deep breath and glance at Harper. She's laying on the bed, her eyes closed. I can see the beginning of a bruise on her left eye, a small cut on her neck. I kneel down at the end of the bed on the floor, my forehead resting against the foot of the bed. The cold metal feels good against my burning skin, my eyes flutter closed and a memory comes into picture. It's my birth... "Oh, doesn't he look sweet?" My mother says, as she smiles at me. "Yes, and he'll make a great King one day." My father beams at me proudly. I gasp and my eyes snap open, I shake my head in an attempt to rid myself of the memory. I feel tears forming in my eyes, but I angrily wipe them away. "No, no, no!" I cry, hitting my head against the metal bed frame, "I refuse to cry for my lying parents!" I ignore the pain in my head as I punch the bed frame, I turn my head to the ceiling, "Do you here me?!" I yelled, "I will not cry for you!!" I slumped on the floor, and pull my knees up and bury my face in them. I start to sob and I suddenly feel a shaky hand over mine, I look up and see a tear stained face, "H-Harper?" I struggle out, she smiles weakly. "Y-yeah." She says, "W-where am I?" She replies, shakily. "At a hospital. In Paris. You, you were kidnapped." I pause, not knowing whether to carry on, "By my father. You took him on in a fight, I got there just as you killed him. You passed out so I took you here, you were badly wounded." She looks at me confused for a second then I see a flicker of recognition cross her face, "Yes," she says, slowly, "I remember. What he told me, was it true?" "Don't believe anything he told you." I reply, flatly. He didn't, tell... Her... My... Secret... Did he? No, he can't have. No! "He told me that, you were a monster. And you killed him because he threatened to tell everyone." Her voice trails off. I stiffen, breathing stops and I swallow, she notices. "So, is it?" She asks, her voice wavering and I know if I don't get her back on that bed she will pass out. I pick her up carefully, cradling her in my arms, "What are you doing?" She says weakly. I pull back the covers with one hand and lay her down on the bed, I hesitate for a second before climbing over her. "Aspen, is it true?" I lean down but she weakly pushes my chest, "I need to know." I grab her hands and hold them above her head, "Aspen?" She squeaks. A smile plays on my lips as I lean down, "It's OK." I say, our lips centimetres apart. I brush mine against hers lightly, and she blushes. I press my lips against hers, drawing her in. I break away to mutter to her, "If I was a monster, do you think I'd be doing this?" Before she can answer, I plunge back into the kiss, smiling slightly. I tangle my hand in her hair, and with the other I slide it up her back pulling her up into a seating position gently. She runs her hands through my hair, tugging lightly on the ends, she knows how much I love that. I grab one of her hands and place it over my heart, it's beating rapidly, "This is the effect you have on me, Harper." I say, her eyes widen and I kiss her again. She tugs off my shirt, dropping it onto the chair. She breaks away and kisses my chest lightly, she looks up and stares into my eyes. I hold her chin as I kiss her lightly on her nose, she leans back down but suddenly the door opens. She jerks up in shock as a nurse walks in. She smiles at us both, obviously used to seeing this before. "Hello Mr Aster," she says, smiling at me knowingly, "The tests on your Miss Harper will be taking place soon just so you know, in about half an hour." "Tests?!" I say, alarmed. "Just routine tests to make sure her organs and blood pressure are OK." She says, reassuringly. "Ah right. OK." I say. She leaves a information booklet on the bedside table, before smiling at us once more before leaving the room, closing the door behind her. I turn back to Harper, still kneeling, with my hands and legs on either side of her. She pales slightly, and I suppress a laugh. I grab the duvet from behind my and pull it over us, like a private tent. "Aspen?" She giggles, "What are you doing?" "I don't know," I laugh back, "But I need to tell you something." She nods, her voice turning serious, "You, you don't really believe anything my father told you... Do you?" I ask. She swallows before shaking her head vigorously, "No! Of course not!" I breath a sigh of relief, and smile at her. Suddenly she tilts her head up and kisses my neck, I freeze and my breath hitches as she bites my neck softly. "What are you, a vampire?" I snort with laughter, and she laughs into my neck. "No." She laughs. "But I am!" I say, before pouncing on her. Placing my hands on her waist, I make sure she can't move. "I want to suck your blood!" I say, as I bite my lip to suppress the laughter threatening to escape. She shrieks and try's to get away, but I grip her waist firmly. "Oh no you don't!" I cry, flipping her over gently so she's laying on top of my, her head on my chest. She giggles softly, and wrapping her arms around me, snuggles into my chest. I place my hands interlocking on her lower back, pulling her closer to me. I bury my face in her hair, inhaling the scent I missed. Our moment is interrupted as the nurse comes back in, saying the tests are commencing. "Excuse me, Mr Aster?" She says, I pull the duvet off my head and glare at her, "The tests will he happening shortly, so you need to bring Miss Harper through to the reception." I growl under my breath, and Harper grabs my arm and squeezes it tightly to shut me up. She forces a smile onto her face, "Thank you." She says through gritted teeth, "We'll be there soon." The nurse nods at us sullenly, before silently leaving the room. Harper glares at me, "I'd like to go now. Please." She says, crossing her arms and avoiding my eyes. I glare at the floor and stand up suddenly; grabbing my shirt, I tug it on. "Course. Let's go." I huffed. Harper stood up timidly and slipped her feet into the slippers by the side of the bed. She walked ahead of me, I could tell she was mad at me, so I just stayed quiet. She turned into the reception and registered herself, I was staring at a poster before she grabbed my arm and pushed me towards the desk. She gestured towards the paperwork, "You need to sign it." She said. I nodded and my hand hovered above the signature box. Uh, what do I write? I turned to Harper and gave her a look, she understood and mouthed, "Just your first and last name." I nodded slightly and wrote it quickly, without looking back. The receptionist picked it up between finger and thumb, as though it was contaminated and gave us a piercing glare. "Sit down in the waiting area." She pushed the paper back to me, "Take this. Your name will be called then go with the doctor." She turned back to her computer before tapping away at her keyboard. I opened my mouth to say something, before I was dragged away by Harper. She pushed me into a seat in the waiting room where there were a few other people, including two girls who kept looking at me. One of them got up and strolled over to me, my mouth went dry. "What's your name cutie?" She smirked, winking slightly. I squirmed uncomfortably, but Harper answered for me. "My boyfriend's name is Aster." She said, putting emphasis on the my. The girl's face dropped, before she forced a smile onto her face, "OK, it was nice talking to you," she paused before speaking again, "Aster. I hope I see you again." She went back, whilst I sat there awkwardly under the glare of them both. "Harper Steele?" A voice called, but I wasn't listening. I was too busy daydreaming, "Miss Steele?" The voice called again, I jerked out of my dream to see Harper glaring at me. I looked around panicked and stood up suddenly, tripping over my chair. The girls snickered as I recovered myself; embarrassed, I gave the Harper the papers. Her face softened slightly and she gave me a small smile, she leant to me and whispered into my ear. "It'll be OK, Aspen." She whispered, before softly biting the top of my ear. She slipped her hand into mine and we walked behind the doctor. She opened a door to a room and gestured Harper to go inside. Harper turned to me and I couldn't contain myself. I grabbed her waist and pulled her up onto her tiptoes and passionately kissed her. "Miss Steele?" The doctor said again, a slight humour in her voice. And I knew I had to let her go, "I love you, Harper." I whispered, and I felt a tear drip onto my cheek. "Hey," she said, wiping it away, "It'll be OK." She kissed me once more before turning away from me and walking into the room. The door closed behind her, and I just stared at it in silence. I allowed the silent tears to fall as I sat in a chair facing the room, as I held her jumper close to me. I buried my face in it and immediately felt better. It'll all be OK, it'll be OK.