A Life Of 'Shine - Lem Fike

35

"What happened to you?" Nora asked, supporting a nearly unconscious Kieran as he awkwardly rested against the female; struggling to walk the shortest of distances.

The male winced as Nora placed her hand on his side, either from a still sensitive wound or a broken rib. Quickly, Nora moved her hand away from that spot, gently placing it in another location that would be good enough for her to help support him without any additional discomfort.

"O-O'Driscoll's. I managed to l-lose them and-." He let out a choked sob, thinking back to that torture was too much for him in this state and Nora wasn't going to push him any further, instead briefly moving her hand up to run through his hair then moving it back to where it was before.

"It's okay, Kieran. You don't gotta tell me anythin' if you don't feel comfortable." She whispered helping him to sit down on a bench they placed around the campfire. Cripps, who was annoyed that his sleep had to be postponed, handed the boy a water canteen. Kieran took it without hesitation, drinking as much as he could in one sitting before passing back the nearly empty canteen.

"Thank you.. I-I heard talkin' and headed over, didn't expect to find you here." He said, already starting to sound a lot less raspy than he had previously, she nodded gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I was gonna go to the gang's hideout tomorrow, do you want me to tell 'em you're here?" At Nora's simple request Kieran panicked, frantically shaking his head no in refusal.

"I-I don't want 'em to know. Not yet, they'll think I betrayed them!" He cried, beginning to sob as fear consumed him. Quickly, Nora had wrapped her arms back around the trembling Male; holding him close. She gently rubbed his back, soothing him as he cried into her shoulder.

"I won't tell, don't worry." She reassured, holding him close to her. "For now, Kieran, rest." She said, standing up before helping him to his feet once more. He fell against her, barely able to catch himself before Nora was able to stop him from collapsing to the floor.

"Stay in my tent for now. It's warm and out of the wind." She spoke in hushed tones, walking him over to where she had planned to sleep moments before. He was hesitant in laying down on the cot, but being to weak to argue or push away from the female to find his own place to sleep meant he would have to lay there for now.

Nora helped him lie so he was comfortable, stealing an additional pillow from James' tent to give the male. As soon as Kieran found a new comfortable position he had fallen asleep quickly, already out of consciousness before Nora even had a chance to ask him if the arrangement of pillows was good enough.

"Poor kid. What happened to him?" Cripps, being the curious soul he was, asked from behind the female.

"A lot. I'll tell you in the mornin' for now, sleep. Sorry to have woken you." There was no need to apologise but she felt obligated to do so, afterall sleep was a luxury that rarely came.

Cripps glady took up the female's offer, returning to his bedroll for the night. Nora having given Kieran her own sleeping space was left with very few options on where to sleep; instead she opted for screwing up one of her jackets and using that as a pillow, sleeping on the dirt just outside of the tent to keep close to Kieran incase he needed her.

Sleep was harder than usual, but Nora managed, waking up at the first crack of daylight which meant she got a few more hours of sleep than the usual. When she did wake up that morning she had expected Kieran to already be awake, but by noon he was still out cold if it wasn't for the steady breathing and the occasional movement from him Nora would have thought him dead.

Since waking up Nora had taken to sitting just outside the tent, her book in hand as she read over the pages. "He woke up briefly. Cryin' was a job to get him to calm down." Cripps explained, pointing his pinky finger at the sleeping male.