Runaway

Chapter 8

Author's note:

Another warning: I'm not expert for leukemia and its consequences, so if there are any mistakes, I apologize in advance.

Enjoy it.

-

Nikki was a little frightened, looking at Daniel walking in circles on the hot sand of the beach they were surfing at. The man was visibly upset and she didn't blame him. She had just admitted to him that she knew more than she should about his life.

„Who told you?" he asked angrily, not looking into her eyes.

Nikki was silent for a few minutes.

„You did," she finally replied.

„Impossible!"

His eyes were wide open and he was astonished. She decided that it was finally time to explain exactly what happened that drunken night at the beach. She also told him how she found out about Sofia and her death. After this, the tall man's face was completely pale. He somewhat fell down to the sand, putting his head between his knees and taking deep breaths. The anxiety attack was now visibly clear. Nikki was scared to the bone. She immediately sat down next to him, her hand gently rubbing his back, trying to calm him down. And he calmed down soon, straightening again and taking another deep breath.

„Sanibel," he said, looking far at the creek, where a big tourist boat floated quietly.

„I'm sorry?" Nikki asked, not understanding.

Daniel looked at her, their eyes meeting. Nikki could see the amount of pain he was in. The pain she never had a chance to experience. And she was hoping she never will. Daniel wasn't just at a bad place. His girlfriend's death had completely destroyed him. Nikki started to wonder if in these two months she has spent here she had actually seen his true personality? Had she met Daniel, who existed before he had lost Sofia?

„I knew something was wrong from the beginning. I saw the bruises but I was sure they were here because of her clumsiness. I was sure Sofia would tell me if something was wrong. But she never did. Until one day, when she took me to Sanibel, the island near Florida, unannounced. That was our place, our safe haven. She took me there to tell me that she has leukemia," he explained, swallowing a lump. He was feeling a familiar roasting in his eyes...the arrival of tears. „I was so angry...really angry. I refused to accept that she was sick and told her to stop fooling around. She looked so hurt. Like I cheated on her or something like that. As if anyone would be joking about such a thing. Sofia really was sick. She was sick and I was..."

Daniel couldn't finish the sentence because his voice was breaking and tears were coming out of his blue eyes. He just bent his head, constantly rubbing his eyes as his body shook uncontrollably. Quiet sobs were leaving his mouth. Daniel was breaking down in every sense of the word.

The sight of a completely destroyed man was so painful that Nikki was afraid she would join him in crying. She grabbed his hand, clenching his palm firmly. She was afraid her was going to have a nervous breakdown. But he eventually pulled himself together.

„Anyway..." he started slowly, trying to calm his voice. „It was time to go to the hospital to get a treatment. I wanted to go with her, but she refused, causing countless fights. I won. I won the fight and went to the hospital with her just to find out that she wasn't telling me everything. I knew she had leukemia but Sofia never admitted to me how much her health was actually deteriorating and how bad her condition was."

As Daniel was talking, he could feel Nikki's gaze burning his face. The woman was intensely staring at him but he didn't have a strength to look up. He just stared at the ground. He had divulged the story of his life, once again experiencing painful images from his past in his head.