Last Sacrifice | #Wattys2018

Chapter Eleven

'Your finally getting discharged. In just 24 hours.' Her fingers grazed his bare chest as she unwrapped the heavy bandages from his torso.

'That's a shame. I was actually starting to like it here.' His gaze remained locked onto her eyes, they would skim his body in quick glances and that made Adam feel more inclined towards her shy nature.

'Almost there.' She breathed as she disposed of the bandages and reached for a tub of antiseptic cream.

'You know,' Adam propped himself on the bed with his elbow, he felt much lighter knowing that those bandages were finally off. His body still ached in pain but he couldn't care less. 'People don't really need medicine to get better. I think the right people are remedies enough.'

'Meaning?' Hayat threw the end of her scarf away from her arm, it kept falling off her shoulder and it started to irritate her. For some reason, the smallest of things were starting to irritate her nowadays.

'Meaning, you just need the right people in your life for you to get cured from your illness. Support and- and love.' His eyes moved to where she was applying cream on her fingertips. He lay back down, unsure whether she was listening or not.

'Uh-huh.' She followed the delicate contour of his abs with her dainty fingertips, rubbing equal amounts of cream, evenly.

He shuddered when her fingers trailed down the sides of his torso. His body stiffened under her soft touch and she glanced up at him, realising she should really finish up.

She tried to remove her hand from his torso but he fastened his hand around hers before she could move away. He felt her small hand in his tremble and he set her hand back onto that area. He wanted to feel it again. He loved the way her hands felt on him, it fuelled him with ecstasy and he was wholly addicted to that feeling.

'Adam,' Her voice was firm and she briskly pulled her hand away from his soft grasp. 'That's all done now.'

'I'm sorry.' He propped himself up on the bed, and pulled a blue t-shirt over his body. 'It's just a comfort to know that someone actually cares for you.'

He looked away from her and out the window, his dark brown hair was tousled and his angular jaw still prominent under a coat of thick stubble.

'I couldn't live anymore after I lost him,' Hayat sat on the leather seat next to his bedside, she said nothing, allowing him to talk instead. 'He was only ten years old when a tour bus hit him at night.'

She noticed the way he was consumed by those dark memories and his eyes began watering.

'He was the baby of the family. He carried this happiness in our hearts, we were all so content. We were a happy family of five, you see, everything seemed so perfect. Except, one day changed everything,' His smile faltered and his palms fisted so much so that his knuckles had began to turn a pale white. 'It was the night of Eid, when he was gifted a bicycle from our parents.'

'All the other kids had it, and he wanted to fit in, just like everyone else. He wanted to try it out, and he wanted me to come with him, he had that ounce of fear in him but I brushed him off. I was at a party that night, and the amount of alcohol I drank made me lose my senses.' His voice was low and he never averted his gaze from that window.

'It was all my fault. Adil took the bike and he went out, and that's when he swerved onto the road and the bus hit him with force.' Tears began streaming down his face as he seemed to remember every image of Adil's lifeless body.