Tiny Crown

Chapter 19

Emilia sat on the counter in the kitchen, staring out of the window, while Evan cooked them food for dinner. Looking over at him, Emilia watched as he clenched and unclenched his fist.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s nothing,” he said dismissively, shaking his head. Clearly, it wasn’t nothing. “It’s just pins and needles.”
“Pins and needles?” she repeated. Emilia hadn’t seen him lying on it or anything like that.
“I just get it sometimes,” he said.

“Side effect of the…” she trailed off, “the accident?”
He nodded. “Yes, it’s nerve damage, caused by some brain damage, I think.”
Emilia just nodded. It did seem like his brain was a bit screwed, to say the least. “Mine wasn’t bad enough to cause brain damage, was it?”
“No, I don’t think so,” said Evan as he turned back to his cooking. “But I’m not a doctor, you’d have to go to a hospital and see a doctor to know that.”
“I can’t though,” she said quietly. It was an unsettling thought, that something could be wrong with her brain and she wouldn’t know.

“How long would I have to stay here?” she asked. “I can’t just stay here forever, can I?”
“I don’t know,” said Evan. “She isn’t going to stop trying to hurt you. She keeps calling me, telling me she’s coming over. So while you were in your room, I headed over to Amy’s a few times. She can’t be mad at me for that because Amy’s pregnant.”
“What if… what if one of us gets hurt, badly hurt?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. He shrugged. “I hope that doesn’t happen.”

Emilia just nodded. He had no idea what he was doing or what he was going to do if one of them got hurt. That was a little worrying.

“I want to go home,” she said softly, hugging her knees to her chest.
“I know,” said Evan. He glanced at her before returning to his cooking. “I wish I could let you go home. But that would end with me in jail and I… I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if she hurt you.”
“If I stay here for long enough, you’ll hurt me,” said Emilia. More than he already had, at least. She was already scared of him and she had been locked in the same room for seventeen days with nothing to do. “At least, I’m scared you’ll get angry at me and that might lead to you hurting me.”

Evan stopped and turned to look at her, a frown on his face.
“I’m sorry,” he said. It seemed like he was being honest. But he had lied to Nathan and his mother, what was stopping him from lying to her? “I don’t want to hurt you, I don’t mean to.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I mean it,” said Evan without hesitating. Emilia just nodded before resting her head between her knees. There was an odd sort of numbness and a general heavy feeling in her chest and stomach.

“I figured you could go outside later,” he said as he grabbed two plates from the cupboard. Emilia couldn’t deny how nice it smelt and her stomach rumbled. “After dinner, before it gets dark.”
She lifted her head to look at him, he hadn’t turned back to look at her. “Really?”
“Yeah,” he said while putting the food onto plates. “Yeah, if you want.”
“Yes,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Dinner is ready now.”