He Came Through the Window

Part 4

I stirred under the covers at the feeling of my bed shaking. The springs squeaked under me, causing my consciousness to return and my eyes to reluctantly open. My body tensed and my breath caught in my throat at the feeling of a hand on mine. After a second I rolled over and breathed a sigh of relief. I knew that touch. I rolled over on my back and smiled when I saw Holland leaning over me, sitting near my feet and holding my hand in his, running his thumb over my veins.

"Did I scare you?" He asked, concern filling his voice as his blue eyes glowed in the moonlit darkness. "Your window was open."

"I know," I said, sitting up and detangling my hair with my fingertips. Holland was smiling and tightening his grasp on my hand. Just that smile was enough to make me blush and my thoughts spin. "I left it like that on purpose. It's beautiful outside, no reason to shut the window."

His expression softened as he touched a thumb to my cheek. "The night's not the only beautiful thing I'm seeing."

A giggled escaped me as I crawled across the bed and let him pull me into his lap. "What time is it?"

"A little after midnight."

"You're early!" I exclaimed, looking up at him and grinning. "Normally you don't show up 'til like one."

He shrugged and rested his chin on my head, tightening his arms around me. "My boss let me out early. I only worked six hours today."

"That's good."

"Mhmm." He sighed and dug his face into my hair, running his fingers in it before looking forward again. "I talked to India during my break. She sounded a little better today, a little more peppy."

"Good." I looked up at his expression. It was hard but worried, fear reflecting in his eyes. "Have you seen her lately?"

Holland shook his head and moved us so he was leaning against the wall with me on his lap. A deep sigh was breathed in my ear. "I'm off tomorrow, that's when I'll see her. It's been three days since I last went down there. My mom went and said India is looking a bit stronger."

"She's been fighting for a long time," I found myself musing with the image of Holland's beautiful little sister. She looked just like her brother, but with hazel eyes instead of blue ones. Little fingernails were always painted with sparkly colors, and she always knew how to smile whenever she wanted.

"Her birthday's coming up soon," Holland told me. His voice was filled with tension, as were the muscles he had wrapped around me. "She told me today she wants this art set with glitter paint." He chuckled at the mention of it. "And a new hat, it has to be purple. That's her new favorite color."

I listened as Holland's tone relaxed as he recalled India's high points rather than her setbacks. She was a rollarcoaster, especially in those last six months. A smile spread across my face as I pictured the two of them, laughing together and acting like the close siblings they were. I remembered one of the time's I had accompanied Holland to the hospital, and we sprinted down the hallways of the children's ward with India on Holland's back.

"Do you think she'll be able to come home before New Year's?" I asked him, running my fingers over his on both hands.

He shrugged and cleared his throat. I couldn't see his expression from my angle, but I expected it to be hardened again. "We hope so," he finally answered, his voice cracking a little. "I've missed tripping over her toys in the hallway all the time and nearly breaking my neck. It's been two months since there's been a doll out of her closet and somewhere it's not supposed to be."

India had been suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for the past two years, since she was eight years old. I remembered Holland telling me, about two months after we met, that when I came over to his house, his little sister wouldn't have any hair. When I first met India she ran up and embraced me with all the force her weak muscles could handle. She had wrapped her arms around me so tightly that Holland had to pry her from me. She was wearing a white, knit cap with a smiley face printed on it over her little, bald head, a head that was once covered by what Holland described as "long, really long, brown hair that she always forgot to brush."