Poisons Of Fear

Chapter 11

Haley groaned when she woke up.  She had slept for twelve hours straight, which the nurses assured Leo was normal.  He rarely left her side, except to go to the bathroom.  His brothers offered to take over a few times, but Leo didn't want to leave her side.  He wanted to be there when she woke up.  

When she opened her eyes, she did not know who she expected to see by her side.  She hoped it would be one of her family members, that they had all been a bad dream.  She scanned her room from the closed door to the monitors she was attached to, to the strange boy sitting in the chair beside her.  

He was a younger Japanese man, wearing old black Converse, a plain grey T-shirt, and blue jeans.  His hair was highly groomed, a bit longer on top of his head than on the sides.  Haley furrowed her eyebrows.  "Who are you?" 

Leonardo stood up, over Haley.  "It's me, Haley.  It's Leo," He said as he clicked a button on his watch to turn off the illusion momentarily.  He then turned it back on.  "Donnie made it so I could come to stay with you." 

"Oh..." Haley said, relaxing into the pillows.  

"How are you feeling?" Leo said as he moved a strip of Haley's bangs to the side of her face.  "Are you in pain?" 

Haley sighed as she closed her eyes for a second.  "A little, but it's not too bad.  It's so cold in here..." She said looking up at Leo.  

"I know," Leo said quietly.  "I wish I could bring my blanket here for you to use, but they won't let me bring anything like that in.  They don't want your burns to get infected." 

"How much longer until I can get out of here?" Haley asked quietly.  "I... I can't afford the hospital." 

Leonardo sat back down, moving his chair from the foot of the bed to the head of the bed.  "Donnie has actually been doing some research, and he did find that your parents had taken out life insurance policies for themselves.  You could pay for it with that." 

Tears started to form in Haley's eyes.  "Do you know how the fire started?  It all happened so fast..." 

"The police said it was arson that started the fire, but the building was so full of things that caught fire that it just fed quickly and got out of control.  They found a purple dragon spray painted in front of the building on the sidewalk," Leonardo said as he moved his hand into hers.  

Haley didn't say anything.  She looked away from Leo, not wanting him to see the tears fall down her cheeks.  But, she didn't move her hand away from Leo's instead she squeezed it a bit harder.  

**********

A few hours later, Haley was sitting up in bed, watching some reruns of an old sitcom on TV.  She had convinced Leo to go home for a bit to relax and rest.  After all, he had been in the hospital with her for a long time.  During that time, she had managed to get ahold of her dance studio and her school.  

The dance studio did not say much, except that they thought it would be best for her to just re-enroll in the dance company next fall.  Haley's school, however, said they would be happy to collect her work from class if someone would come to pick them up from her, that way she wouldn't fall behind.  That eased Haley's mind a little.

Her nurses had brought her some food, which was honestly worse than the cafeteria food at her school.  Nothing had flavor to her, and she didn't have much of an appetite, to begin with.  She simply pushed her tray away before leaning back into the lumpy pillows behind her.   

Just as she managed to get comfortable, Leo walked into the room again, with his watch on of course.  He smiled.  Haley noticed a leather bag strapped across his body.  "Hey." 

Haley barely smiled back.  "I thought you were going to stay home and relax for a bit." 

Leonardo smiled.  "I did.  I ate some decent food, had a small workout and training session, showered, gathered some stuff for you, and then came back here."  

"What do you mean you got stuff for me?" Haley said looking confused.  "I thought you couldn't bring stuff in here." 

"This isn't blankets or clothes, so I think it should be fine," He said as he set the bag on the foot of her bed.  "I brought you some decent food that Mikey cooked tonight for dinner, and a few books." 

Haley's eyes widened.  "You didn't have to bring me anything." 

Leo smiled.  "I wanted to.  Plus, I was talking to the guys about how awful the food was and how you weren't eating a lot.  Then, Donnie went on this whole rant about how burn victims need a lot of calories to heal the burns because the body is literally trying to make new skin.  That's when Mikey started making dinner so big it could have fed an army.  And Raph and I went to the bookstore because I figured you would get tired of watching TV all day." 

"That's really sweet.  Thank you," She said as she lifted the books to read the summaries on the back.  When she finished, she looked at Leo.  "What did Mikey make for dinner?" 

Leo smiled as he opened it and handed it to her.  "Chicken stirfry and rice noodle soup." 

When Leo handed it to Haley, it smelled so good.  The smell alone seemed to make her appetite increase immediately.  It warmed her chest as she took the first bite of the chicken and rice combo.  "This is amazing!" 

Leo nodded.  "I told Mikey you would have preferred barbeque, but we didn't have all the ingredients on hand for that,"  He said with a laugh. 

Haley looked up at him and rolled her eyes.  "Unfortunately for you, I don't fit into that stereotype.  I hate barbeque," She said before taking a sip of her soup. 

"I'll believe it when I see it," Leo said with a smile as he scooted closer to Haley, opening his own container of dinner.  

Both ate the rest of the meal in silence, watching the TV that had been on the entire time, just enjoying each other's company.