blinding; an e. o'connor short story

chapter vi; all ends well

"Loѕт ιɴ тнe ғoɢ, тнeѕe нollow нιllѕ
Blood rυɴɴιɴɢ нoт, ɴιɢнт cнιllѕ
Wιтнoυт yoυr love I'll вe
So loɴɢ αɴd loѕт, αre yoυ мιѕѕιɴɢ мe

Iѕ ιт тoo lαтe тo coмe oɴ нoмe?
Are αll тнoѕe вrιdɢeѕ ɴow old ѕтoɴe?
Iѕ ιт тoo lαтe тo coмe oɴ нoмe?
Cαɴ тнe cιтy ғorɢιve, I нeαr ιтѕ ѕαd ѕoɴɢ"
- Loɴɢ & Loѕт вy Floreɴce + Tнe Mαcнιɴe

Saturday, 21st December 1963 | Tuesday, 3rd September 1940

"Victor's dead," Emma announced quietly, her head held low, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

Enoch's arms trembled around me but he wouldn't allow himself to cry or look sad. His face was wiped blank, his eyes not bright anymore, but dark and expressionless. I was too shocked to do anything. I lay paralyzed in Enoch's arms, the only movement indicated by the trembling of his arms. Partially, I believe, it must have been due to the blood loss as well. Bronwyn had let out a cry, run over to her dead brother's body and slumped over him, crying her eyes out with loud sobs. Horace was wiping his subtle tears away with a hankerchief, as was Miss Peregrine. Millard seemed to be crying as well, drops of water in the middle of the air with seemingly no source. My breathing had become short and rapid, no one dared to speak a word. Seconds after my breathing had started becoming shallow, my head began to pound and Enoch's skin began to feel much warmer against mine. He looked down at me, his empty eyes filling with emotion again.

"We need to get Robyn back to the house immediately. She's lost too much blood!"

Miss Peregrine was quick to take action and helped Enoch bring me into a stable position in which they began carrying me through the forest. In the distance I could her both of their voices talking to me continuously, begging me not to fall asleep. My surroundings started getting more and more blurry and the voices around me faded. By the time they had reached the house I was staring straight up at the night sky. I was so tired by then. Finally, when they set me down on something inside the house, I closed my eyes.

***

"Robyn, open your eyes! We need you here! Hell, I need you here! Don't you dare leave me," I shouted in panic. Miss Peregrine and I had set her down on the table in the dining room, which Horace and Emma had freed of any decoration. Millard had rushed to get our medical supplies while Bronwyn had gone to set Victor down on one of the sofas.

"Mr O'Connor, I will need you to stitch the wound on her throat. Otherwise she will proceed loosing blood until she'll eventually die and I am not willing to loose two wards in one night."

I nodded cooperatively and proceeded to clean the wound on her throat. After most of the blood was gone a long clean, deep cut was revealed. Millard handed me the needle and thread while Emma hooked her to an IV bag and a blood bag labeled 'O negative'. The stitching was done in a matter of minutes and I wrapped to wound in gauze, making sure to apply pressure to it. After that it was only a question of time until she would wake up again. If she would ever wake up again. But I didn't want to think of that right now. For now I only wanted to hope.

Thursday, 2nd January 1964 | Tuesday, 3rd September 1940

My eyes fluttered open and I woke up to a room I hadn't been in before. I scanned my surrounding for anything familiar, which to my surprise turned out to be Enoch sitting beside my bed on a chair. The second our eyes locked, a smile spread on his lips and he let out a relieved breath.

"I was scared you wouldn't wake up again," he told me in a quiet voice.

"Well, I can't leave you alone with all the others, can I?" I whispered, my voice still adjusting to being used after not having been used for some time.