Peripheral Vision | ✓ [NOW PUBLISHED AS HUNTINGTON AVENUE]

Chapter 34

C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y - F O U R

Zach's P.O.V. (continued)

"Hayleigh, you've been following me around for the past few hours," I noted as I sat down onto my bed, my guitar clutched gently in my hands. "Why is that?"

"I'm still a little scared over earlier..," Hayleigh admitted in response, sitting down next to me. Sure enough, she had a nervous expression on her face. "Can I stay in here with you..?"

I gave Hayleigh a reassuring smile as she looked at me with hope in her eyes. "Sure, why not," I replied as her face lit up. "But I thought you said I was boring," I joked.

"Sometimes," she corrected with a laugh. "I don't mind."

"Sure," I teased as I put my guitar across my lap.

"I wouldn't lie to my older brother," Hayleigh responded with a grin.

For the few hours that I've been home, she's referred to me as her brother more times than I can count, and it feels amazing that she thinks of me like that after all I've told her.

Since I've had my vision back for quite some time now, it's much easier to find my way around my guitar, and even easier to actually play it. It didn't take long for me to get adjusted to the feel of my guitar against my chest, and to put my fingers amongst the fret board.

As I had began to play, I instantly remembered my sensitive right hand as a twinge of pain seared through it. With a startled grunt, I abruptly stopped and removed my fingers from the frets.

"Why'd you stop?" inquired Hayleigh with a confused look. "It sounded good."

I set my guitar gently down on my bed and carefully opened and closed my right hand. "Thanks, Hayleigh, but my hand's a little sore right now."

"Why?" she asked further with a concerned tone as she stared down at my heavily bruised knuckles. "How'd you do that?"

"It's not a big deal, Hayleigh," I replied, not wanting to tell her that I smashed a window open with it. "Don't worry about it."

"It sure looks like a big deal," she retorted while pointing down at my hand, which pretty much looked like it had gone through a blender. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Not really," I lied, not wanting her to be concerned. It really did hurt. It felt like a knife had been stabbed through it, but I wasn't about to say that out loud. "Nothing to worry about."

"Okay," Hayleigh reluctantly responded, twiddling her thumbs in her lap.

I let out a quiet sigh, hesitantly unwrapping the bandage from around my hand. At an instant, I noticed several large cuts and bruises along the spot where the bandage had covered. There was quite a lot of dried blood across most of the top of my hand, and I winced a little.

"I'll be back in a minute," I stated, referring to the fact I was going to clean off my beat up knuckles.

Hayleigh nodded as I exited the room and headed for the bathroom. Carefully, I turned on the sink and ran lukewarm water over the irritated cuts. I have to admit, the water stung more than anything. I can't imagine how bad it would be if I accidentally got soap in them.

The water in the sink turned from clear to red by the time I was finished cleaning up everything. I carefully grabbed a towel, not a white one since I'd get blood all over it, and gently wrapped it around my hand, dabbing the cuts dry as lightly as I could. I winced every time the towel touched my hand