He needed to lie down.
He needed some fresh air.
He needed to talk to his father.
****
"Rafe..." Liesel murmured softly, her voice sounded frail and far away, like she was hearing it through someone else's ears.
Something cold dabbed against her forehead, and she felt the need to open her eyes but couldn't seem to remember how.
"Rafe." She whispered once more; panic colouring her voice as she felt the overwhelming tug of darkness pulling at her, threatening to drown her in its never ending midst. She swam against the current, using her last depleting bits of strength as she pushed fervently at the barrier holding her inside this gloom.
"I'm here sweetheart," a far-off voice murmured. The voice calmed her, it sounded like an angel. She felt her body relax slowly.
"Sleep..." the angel whispered, and she felt something warm caress her cheek.
Leaning in to the source of the warmth, a small sigh escaped her lips she let the darkness engulf her once more, knowing she was safe with this guardian angel protecting her.
****
Liesel's violet eyes fluttered open slowly to the dark room. She had no idea where she was, except that she was extremely comfortable, hungry, and there was a dull aching pain coming from her stomach and cheek.
"Hello?" she croaked, her voice sounding hoarse and rough from lack of use.
"Shhh," a calming voice chastised her, a withered looking woman scuttled out of the gloom towards her with a steaming bowl in one hand.
"How are you feeling, my dear?" the ancient looking woman asked her, her voice crackly and sounding just as withered as her appearance. She raised a cool cloth to Liesel's forehead, dabbing at the sweat that had gathered there.
"Um," Liesel stared up in bewilderment at the old woman sitting beside her, "Who are you? Where am I? And... and how did I get here?"
The woman tsked at Liesel as she tried to sit up, rewarding her with a sharp stabbing pain in her stomach and she winced softly.
"What happened to me?" she groaned as she reluctantly fell back against the cushions.
"You're safe," the elderly woman told her as she propped up a pile of pillows for Liesel to sit up against, "You were attacked. Do you remember anything?"
Liesel thought back on the last things she remembered... She had picked her brother up from the airport as promised and they'd gone for a coffee to pass the time. She'd told him to go wait in the car while she went to the bakery a few streets away, wanting to surprise her mum with a cheesecake, her favourite. She remembered laughing with Edouard as he teased her, and how alive she felt as she'd skipped down the empty alleyway, a shortcut to the bakery...
A pale, scrawny face loomed into her mind and she gasped in shock as recognition washed over her.
"What happened?!" she cried, her eyes wide and fearful as she stared imploringly at the old woman.
"You were stabbed," she told her impassively, as if these things happened every day, "If Raphael hadn't been there --"
"Raphael?!" she yelped, but the woman only silenced her with a glare.
"He brought you here and I've been healing you. You've been out for over 24 hours." The woman finished, cackling softly under her breath as though she found something about that amusing.
