Split

Consciousness

When I opened my eyes I could see the sun coming up behind the curtains and I rubbed my head. I had a lump above my eye and I winced as I ran my fingers over it. When I remembered what had happened, I realised that I was lucky to have opened my eyes at all... why wasn't I dead?
I sat up and my ribs cried out at the movement, so I leaned against the wall for support. I could hear movement outside the door and I wondered if the beast was coming back to finish me off. I could hear my uneven breaths echo around the room.

It was a few seconds later that the door burst open and I cowered against the wall.
Someone knelt next to me and I felt a hand on my back, making me jump.
"Hey, are you okay?" The familiar voice sounded like heaven and I looked up at Dennis.
"Oh, your eye!" He put is fingers to my face lightly, snatching his hand away when I flinched at his touch.
He didn't have a shirt on and was only wearing boxer shorts with a noticeable amount of blood on them. I glanced warily at the rest of the blood that was covering his torso.
He glanced down at himself as well before his face began to quiver. It began with his eyebrows but soon his jaw was clenching, trying so hard not to freak out. I watched helplessly as he struggled to keep a straight face until he looked down. I put a feeble hand on his shoulder and he covered his eyes with a hand, a sob jolting his body, "I'm so sorry, I tried to get him to stop... I tried..."

"I know," I croaked, putting my other arm out to hug him and he sunk to the floor with me. I hissed as pressure was put on my ribs and he went to move away a little, but I pulled him back, "what are we going to do?"
Dennis didn't say anything, probably trying to focus on keeping himself from crying.
"Hey, I know you would have stopped him if you could," I tried to reassure him and he looked up at me, tears about to overflow from his pained eyes.

"I can't even protect you."

I didn't have a response... he couldn't protect me... not from the beast anyway. I just looked at him sadly and his head fell again, closing his eyes, "I thought all this was over... I thought he'd stop... and now... now I'm back where I started..."

"Come on, let's get you in the shower," I went to stand and winced.

"No, no, you're hurt, don't stand up," He held me steady, meaning to help me back to the floor.

"I'm going to need to stand up sometime, aren't I?" I got to my feet with difficulty, Dennis holding my arms, and I sighed, "come on."
I walked to the bathroom to get him cleaned up, knowing how awful he felt last time. He took off his underwear and I threw them straight in the bin-he didn't need a reminder of tonight.
He stepped in the shower and turned on the water, watching me as I sat on the lid of the toilet.
"What happened tonight?" I asked quietly and he leaned forward, his forearm against the wall.

"I don't know... I was given the light and was walking through town like this... I have no idea how I got there or why I had the light..."

"Did the beast give you the light?"

"I don't know... why would he give me the light?"

"Maybe he wanted to get back at me?"

"I don't think he's that type... it's more likely that Hedwig had the light back and chose me because he thinks I'm stronger..." He scoffed, "he thinks too much of me..."

"He doesn't, you are strong, Dennis..."

He laughed without amusement and shook his head, "I think you should stay at your old house until we figure this out."

"What? No! I want to be here for you guys!"

"Casey, please, he could have killed you, and then what use would you be for us? Huh? You can't do anything to help us, you'll just get hurt. You need to go."

"I won't do it. I won't leave you."

"We all think you should..." he said reluctantly.

I was offended that they'd all been talking behind my back, but I knew he was only saying this to get me to go, "I don't care."

"Casey, please," He looked at me with pleading eyes, stepping out of the shower and towards me. I looked up at his dripping face, "please just do this for me," he knelt next to me and took my hands, "please, please, I can't lose you, I can't," He was becoming frantic and I took his face in my hands and stroked his cheeks with my thumbs.

"You won't lose me."

"You don't understand," He held my arms, "He will kill you next time, please, Casey, I can't see you go through this, I can't, it's hurting me! I can't watch!"

I ignored my screaming ribs and leaned down to hug him. He gripped me tighter than he intended and let the sobs take over. I don't think he liked crying in front of people, so the cries were strained as he tried to stop. I rubbed his back to try and comfort him, I knew what he wanted but I couldn't bring myself to leave them... I didn't know if I could do that to them... I had to stay and help, didn't I?