Ascending

Chapter Thirteen

Swearing loudly as my door closes behind me I grab my right wrist and hold it to my chest. My hand is shaking and beginning to ache from punching Bobby.

I flick on the lights and look down at my knuckles. Examining them closely I swear again. In mere minutes my hand has already begun to swell and I can't move my fingers. 

"Kennedy?" I call out. "Hello?"

There is no reply. My room is empty, Kennedy is probably still downstairs helping clean up the mess left in the wake of wedding guests. Still holding my right-hand limp by the wrist I walk into the bathroom.

I turn the tap on and let cool water run down my hand. My skin is hot to the touch. I winch when I rotate my hand to fill my palm with the clear liquid. After letting my hand bask in the cold water I go to wipe it off.

As I'm wrapping the towel around the back of my hand pain shoots up and down my hand like hot wax was poured on my bones. I cry out, feeling tears prick at the corners of my eyes. I pull my hand close to my chest.

"Isn't today just great?" I mutter to myself as I walk out of the bathroom. 

Undressing poses another challenge. I'm unable to flex my right hand at all, so after it takes me four minutes to undo my zipper with my left hand I have to shimmy out of my dress while pushing it down with one hand. Which is entirely ineffective. 

After kicking off my shoes I stand in front of my closet in my undergarments. I select an oversized flannel nightshirt. 

As I slide the sleeves on I look down my front to realize my shirt has buttons. After groaning very loudly with my head thrown back I shake the sleeves from the tips of my fingers and slowly bend my pointer and middle fingers. 

It's slow going but I am able to fasten all of the buttons with minimal swearing and tears. 

"Not to pry, but is there any particular reason it just took you seven minutes to button your shirt?" Kennedy stands in my doorway with their head cocked. 

"See for yourself," I whimper. Holding out my hand Kennedy walks forward and takes it into their palm gently. 

"What did you do?" They whisper. 

"I punched my brother." Kennedy's head snaps up. "In the face." They drop my hand. "On his wedding day."

Kennedy turns around in a circle emitting a low murmur. "Oh my land, Emmalyne! You did what?"

"If you had heard what he's done you probably would have punched him too," I say defensively. "He messed up my trail. He made sure the Court was going to dismiss Logan. The bastard."

"But I thought you were-" Kennedy begins. 

I hold up my good hand stopping them short. "Logan was the best option in my, situation. I could've been happy with him, but now we'll never know. Because of Bobby."

"We can talk about him later," Kennedy says picking my hand back up. "I need to take a better look at this. Go sit down."

They point to my bed and I am forced to comply. I sit on top of the duvet with my legs folded beneath me as they rummage in the cabinet in my bathroom.

Coming back Kennedy grabs my hand and inspects it more closely. They go to bend my ring finger but I flinch back, air hissing through my teeth. 

"I'm sorry," Kennedy says quickly. "I don't think you have any fractures, but I want to tape your fingers just to make sure."

I reluctantly hold out my hand as Kennedy tears off a strip of white medical tape. They bind my pinkie and ring finger together. Once it's finished I can only move the top knuckle of my ring finger.