Beware of the Neighborhood.

28 - tying all the loose ends

Finally two days later I was all packed and ready to go home. Mom was home already, apparently she had to make some arrangements before I returned and dad was just busy settling up all the paper work. As I sat on my bed waiting for dad to return I thought of all the previous day's events.

The previous day, immediately after I discovered that I could walk on my own without support, I had headed to Kevin's room. Finally after trotting up and down the hallway on first floor, and after entering the wrong room twice, I located his room and knocked once, to check if he was awake.

"Come in" I heard him say and immediately my heart seemed to flutter in my chest. I opened the door and peaked inside. Kevin was seated on the bed, leaning back against a pile of pillows. There was something so casual in the way he sat that it was fascinating to look at. He sat as if he didn't have a care in the world. As if waking up on hospital beds after a possibly fatal fight was just another Saturday night thing to do. His hair was still disheveled and there was a bandage across his forehead. He sat with his big bulky headphones on and a big book balanced on his knees.

As I stepped in the room I realized that he was wearing the hospital t-shirt and trousers which were apparently as size too big for him, I supposed this was the first time I had ever seen him wear a t-shirt, for till now ever since we had met he wore nothing but Shirts. Finally my eyes rested on his foot, which was wrapped up in white plaster, on which someone had scrawled in big block letters the word ANDY...I immediately recognized that to be Jason's handwriting...I knew I should never have let him watch toy story with me.

Just then Kevin looked up as I came into the room. His eyes lightened up but he didn't say anything as I approached his bed.

Somehow my heart had begun to pound again, the silence felt scary but I didn't dare break it. There was just so much I wanted to tell but I just didn't know where to start from. And apparently he was thinking the same thing since he too didn't say anything, his green eyes in those bright arc lamps seemed greener and they followed me as I reached the foot of his bed and grabbed the footboard tentatively for support.

"Finally" he said at last, then with a smirk he added "last I heard there were about two cops waiting outside your door to question you, did you talk to them or did you...you know... knocked them out too with hospital equipment and hurried over here?" he asked softly, with a glint in his eyes.

I stifled a smile and moved to sit down on the bed next to him, one reason was that I wanted to be on the same level as him and the other reason was I was afraid that if I stood in front of him for too long, he might notice my legs shaking.

"Kev, I was so worried about you...I...I had this...dream or nightmare or whatever it was, but it felt so real! I...I thought something bad had happened to you and that I was too late..." I trailed off, a lump forming in my throat.

He sighed and set his book aside. "I know...I heard." He said and waved at his foot "but as you can see, the only bad thing happened is that I won't be able to play soccer for a while...but otherwise apart from that I am fine now...plenty of rest they said, nothing else...soon I'll be fit as a horse!" he smiled.

I hesitated for a moment but then slowly reached for his hand and blushed as our fingers intertwined.

"I didn't want to hurt you Kev. I really didn't mean to" my voice shook and came out as almost a whisper. "I'm sorry" I said as he opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off saying,

"I never meant to hurt you. Ever! I mean, I don't know what was wrong with me, I guess I wasn't thinking straight. I never should have gone into that wretched house. I hurt my parent, my brother. Now you! I just feel so stupid for...well...everything. You know that your father warned me to stay away from you, don't you? Maybe I should have...and then again, when we were in the house and you risked your own life to distract Dexter so that I could escape? I didn't really know what I was thinking when I ran into my house, I had to lure Dexter away from you, but I didn't know if that plan would work or not, I could only guess. Kevin you must believe me, you can never imagine how awful it was to risk your life like that. It was awful to know that you could have died and that too because of my stupid plan! And now look.