The Awakening

Chapter Three

When I finally wake I can see familiar faces staring back at me. My body feels like I just fell off a cliff, but when I open my mouth to speak, words are able to come out.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't let that happen to you," I tell them, and they smile at me.
"Don't you ever take a hit for us again," Emma warns me, but I only smile back.
"How long have I been sleeping?" I ask them, trying to sit up, but laying back down when my eyes start to go dark.
"Well, not sure about us, but you have been out for at least two days," Kate answers, her smile fading to a frown. I nod and try to get up a second time, but Sophie pushes me back down.
"No, you lay here, and I'll get you something to eat." I obey her because really, it's four against one, so I'm not going anywhere. Sophie comes back with a ham sandwich and a glass of water. I prop my head up and eat it quickly after realizing my hunger. When I manage to get a good look around the room I am shocked to see that I am not lying in a stuffy prison cell with iron bars, and a cold hard floor, but instead a find a homelike area. The walls are a light lavender colour, but instead of drywall, they are lined with screens like the one in the torture room that turned into a TV. I lay on the bottom of one of the three bunk beds that line the back wall in the room. To my right is a white couch that sits in front of another television. The couch is a huge horseshoe, filled with small pillows that are every shade of purple I could imagine. Behind the couch is a small, grey table with exactly five grey chairs. I guess they got tired of purple. Next to the table is a kitchen with a working stove, dishwasher, fridge, and other appliances. The countertops are a white, and grey marble, with a purple backsplash that makes the solid white cabinets pop out. Across from the kitchen is another room, which Emma tells me is a bathroom. The last thing I notice apart from the dark hardwood floors is a wall lined with storage and a metal table just a short ways away from it. The place is beautiful, but I still can't wrap my head around why we were put in such a nice place after being so badly hurt. I guess we are going to be here for a while. I put my aching arms behind my head, gently positioning it, so it's comfortable.
"Why'd you do it?" Emma asks me, with tears in her eyes. She would never let them fall, but I can tell she is angry, and upset with me, perhaps maybe scared.
"Woah, hey, it's all right. What's the matter?" My voice is full of concern as I move my hands from behind my head, and take one of hers. She pushes the water in her eyes back into her skull but doesn't pull her hand away. She never cries, but she still gets concerned.
"Why did you take those hits for us? Why did you walk down those stairs, and put yourself in front of that gun? Why are you here? You didn't have to be. He only took me after all, and maybe if I had,-" I interrupt her.
"Emma, this is not your fault, so don't even think it," I tell her, but she doesn't look up at me. "I am here because I chose to be. I took those hits because you are my best friend, and I love you, and because I made you a promise a long time ago, and I will no go back on that promise," I say this, and she finally smiles. It feels nice to see the warmth in it after she has been glaring at me for the past ten minutes. It is true after all, all of it. I remember making that promise with her. Technically it didn't involve being kidnapped, or tortured, but I would say it falls into a similar category.

It all started when we were walking downtown, talking on the sidewalk. We must have been talking about a movie, or something because the topic ended up being what we would do if we had a bad run-in with the police. We joked about dying our hair, lasering off our fingerprints, wearing contacts. Even where we would go, what we would need, and how we would get there. Neither of us was planning on doing anything of the sort, but accidents do happen, and it was a fun conversation nonetheless.
"I would do it you know," I start to tell her. "Run away with you if you needed me to, no matter what. Even if I wasn't part of any of it."
"I would too, for you I mean," she replies.
"Okay, how about I promise to always be with you, and at your side as long as you tell me, truthfully, what the flip you did as soon as possible," I laugh, but meaning every word.
"Deal, and vice versa," she answers, and we continue to walk down the sidewalk, changing the subject entirely, never thinking our promise would ever need to be filled, but it was. The promise we made only took a couple seconds to leave our mouths, but we will never forget it. That was the promise that brings me here now, stuck in a room with my best friend, in a place neither of us can escape.