Pattern

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty Five

// Prudence //

I spent the following week in hospital, recovering, and during that week a lot of things happened. I guess when you've just survived kidnapping and attempted murder, life isn't going to be boring.

My friends visited daily, with food and school gossip, as well as good wishes from the class. On first seeing me, I was overloaded with hugs, screaming and even a few tears. And it wasn't just me who had cried. 

Avery stayed most of the time, until I made him go to school on Wednesday. He still came back, and slept beside me every night. I guess I should have seen it as weird, but it soon became a comfort. When my dad had to go to work, or was asleep, I could always turn to him,

My dad stayed mostly too, who was incredibly awkward when he tried to comfort me and help me come to terms with the 'traumatic event' I had gone through. Every day when he tried to get deep, he sounded like he was quoting a book on post traumatic stress disorder, which I was fairly sure I hadn't developed.

Until I woke up screaming on Thursday morning, and it took a lot of hugging to stop the tears from flowing.

On that same Thursday, Howard came to visit. My friends all rose defensively, except for Avery, who held out his hand.

Howard shook it.

And I'd known really, though I hadn't asked, how they'd found me in time. Despite being unsure, Howard had told Avery where I was. He'd pretty much saved my life.

He had approached me with Minstrels, handed them over and then apologised.

I'd thanked him for doing the right thing, and eaten the Minstrels.

It was now Saturday, and I was finally going home.

The doctors said I should be fine, but gave me painkillers in case I thanked them all, just to let them know I was actually grateful they'd saved my life.

Everyone went home with me, like we were going to hold a big party, but in reality I was just planning to sleep. We all sat around in the living room, cracking terrible jokes, and eventually I excused myself, too tired to smile at them all and pretend everything was okay.

Madi followed me upstairs, and sat on my bed, looking at me expectantly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I replied. "Just tired."

"No, you're not," She murmured. "How could you possibly be fine?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Madi. Please just let me sleep."

She sighed, as I curled into a ball on my bed.

"You're going to have to talk about it soon, Prudy. I know you don't want to, but you can't hold this in forever."

"I know," I muttered.

She got up and walked towards the door.

"Will I send Avery up?"

"No!" I said quickly, and she giggled, then left.

I took so long to fall asleep, and I lay there, thinking. I hated thinking now, because my mind could so easily think about things I didn't want to think about.

Eventually I fell asleep.

--

I woke up crying, and there was no-one around to comfort me. It was morning, and there were birds chirping, so I wiped the tears away and got up, and had some breakfast.

My dad came down while I was eating, smiled at me, and asked how I was.

"Fine," I replied, as per usual. "A bit sore, but you know, that's expected."

"You don't have to go back to school tomorrow," He said. "Whenever you're ready."

"Thanks," I nodded, shoving Cornflakes into my mouth. I didn't know what I was going to do, when I was going to go back to school. I didn't really know much at the moment, except that the mystery was solved, but I hadn't solved it. I knew that I was alive, and that was a good thing. I knew that he had been arrested, but for some reason, I was still terrified of him. His face lingered at the back of my mind, and the scissors, and all the blood and the pain. I would have loved to do nothing more than build a bridge and get over it, but it seemed impossible. And I hated it, really.

I watched TV all day, crappy reality to serious drama. However, once CSI came on, I had to turn it off. And that annoyed me more, because I loved CSI. 

Avery called around three, and I plastered a smile on my face. I let him in, even though I wanted to sleep again. I'd done nothing, but I was so tired. 

"I brought ice-cream," He grinned. "Again."

"Yay," I smiled. "Do you want to watch a movie? I'm doing nothing here."

"A movie sounds cool," He agreed. 

"Comedy, please, I'm in no mood to deal with anything dramatic."

"I think you've had enough drama for at least a decade."

"Yeah..." I gazed at our DVD collection, pondering, while Avery tried to open the ice-cream tub. "Can.. um.."

He looked at me. "Can we what?"

"Can we watch a Disney movie?" I asked, sounding like a desperate five year old.

He blinked, then laughed. "Of course! I haven't seen one in ages!"

And that was how me and Avery Watts ended up lying on my sofa, sharing a tub of ice-cream and watching The Little Mermaid.

And like it always seemed to be lately, he cheered me up a lot more than I'd thought I could be cheered up. 

I reminded myself not to tell Madi that I had accidentally fallen asleep on him.

But when I woke up, it was eight o'clock, and I had a blanket over me, but Avery was gone. I wondered if he'd gotten bored and left - I wasn't much fun when I was snoring, but my dad appeared and told me he'd kicked Avery out after discovering the two of us asleep on his couch.

I guess I didn't blame him, he was doing what any dad would do, even though Avery had been the one to carry me out of the basement in which I'd almost bled to death, and also the one to tell my father the address. Saving me had been a group effort, but he'd played the biggest role. I just hoped they'd accept each other soon, because, honestly, I wanted Avery around as much as I could. 

I guess I needed him now.

--

I know this is kindof a crappy chapter, I'm having a hard time updating due to busy times -_-

But this could very well be the second last chapter of Pattern @o@