A Heart's Thoughts

Day 17

"And, how is she?"

Anthony stood up from his chair the moment Eden got out of the room, but was met with disappointment when Eden shook his head.

"I've seen many severely injured people, but this is probably my first time to see such an abused body. She had a few broken ribs and internal bleedings, as well as a concussion. She had several deep cuts on her body as well, and while I've tried my best, I'm afraid some of them will leave scars."

Anthony cursed under his breath as he put a hand on his head, deep in thought.

"Has she said anything yet?"

Eden shook his head once again, "she didn't even open her eyes, despite being awake. I'm not sure if she's too scared or tired, or if she was just ignoring me. I can't take the memory from her yet either, in case she found out about something while she was away. I'm afraid there's not much we can do but wait for her to talk."

"Can I go see her?"

"Anthony, all the healing I've done so far is only from the inside to get all severe injuries taken care of before they become a real danger, but her body still looks the same from the outside. She isn't aware of the pain anymore, but that doesn't mean she won't feel it afterwards if you happen to touch one of her injuries, so be careful. I'm warning you, it's not a pretty sight."

"I know."

Anthony pushed past is friend and walked into the dimly lit room where they'd put Cecilia to rest. Her old clothes were ripped and bloodied on the ground, and the table next to her bed was covered with bloodied cloths. When his gaze finally landed on Cecilia, he took a sharp breath. A few wounds were covered by Eden, but everything else was still visible. From what he could see, almost her whole body seemed to be a shade of yellow, purple or red. Cecilia had her eyes closed, but he could see her eyelids move when he sat on the chair next to the bed and gently placed his hand on top of hers.

"Hey, Cecilia, it's me."

Silence.

"Are you feeling a bit better? Eden told me you can't feel the pain for now. It must be a relief, right?"

He was met by silence once again and he could feel tears well up in his eyes as he lowered his head, "I'm so sorry, Cecilia. If I hadn't left everything in your hands after involving you, we could've proceeded much faster and we would've been able to avoid this. I can't tell you enough how sorry I am, and I don't even want you to forgive me but please, say something, anything!"

Anthony's voice got louder near the end as his throat tightened from trying to hold back his tears, but Cecilia didn't answer, or even show a sign of having heard him at all. Anthony let out a shaky breath and he lift his head to look at her and he smiled softly, "I'm sorry for being so ignorant all this time. I had to read through your diary a bit to see if we could find out about your location. You were aware of everything from the very moment we met, yet I so foolishly tried to lie to you and push you away. You always tried to help but I didn't want to recognize your efforts. I really am an idiot."

Cecilia didn't speak and Anthony stood up, his hand still resting on hers as he spoke, "forget it, you don't have to talk. I'm just glad you're save now. You can take your time opening up again, but until then, I won't stop loving you. If you don't like it, you should hurry up and say something about it."

Anthony smiled a little and started to walk away, but Cecilia grabbed hold of his finger and he turned to look at her in surprise. He saw a few tears escaping her eyes and she finally opened her mouth, "don't go."

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Anthony with tears in her eyes, "please don't leave me here alone."

Anthony looked dumbfounded at her for a moment before regaining his composure and he sat back down as he intertwined his hand with hers and pressed a kiss on the back of her hand.