Page 6 of Created in Chaos
“Stay awake, I’ll only be a minute.”
“Will you tell me what happened? I don’t like not knowing.” Nova requests as Lucian reaches the door.
His back stiffens, but his head drops forward. “I don’t have all the details yet.”
“But you’ll tell me something,” she pushes.
“What I can.” Lucian steps out the door, and Nova blows out a long breath.
He’s telling the truth about not knowing much. We’ve been in this room for the better part of two days with our security team looking into what happened at school. Neither of us wanted to leave her, but I don’t think our team is as effective at getting answers as we would be.
“Nox.” She says my name softly, as if she doesn’t want to wake me if I’m still sleeping.
“Yeah?” My voice is gruff with exhaustion. It was only Lucian dislodging my head from his leg that woke me. I don’t sleep well, so when I crash, I really crash.
“Why don’t I remember what happened?”
“You have a concussion.” I sit up with a groan. This couch is hard as fuck and too small. The beeping of her monitors picks up a little, and there’s a noticeable shift in her breathing, like she’s starting to panic.
“It’s dark…in here.” Her voice is so soft.
“It’s okay. Do you want me to turn on the light?” I rise to walk over to the bed.
“No, that’s too bright, it hurts my eyes, but I feel fuzzy and everything…” She bites her bottom lip as if she doesn’t want to continue.
“Everything what?” I prompt.
“Hurts,” she whispers, almost like she’s ashamed.
“Do you want me to get the nurse?” I lift my hand to touch her, but I hesitate when I realize I don’t know if I’m going to make her pain worse.
“No. I don’t want to be alone in here,” she says quickly through her accelerated breathing. She was okay speaking to Lucian just a few seconds ago, but she seems more upset now. “I don’t mean to be a chicken.”
“You’re not a chicken. It’s okay to be scared.” Damn, I wish I could hug her right now.
“Don’t tell him,” she says quickly, and I know she’s referring to my brother. “He’ll make fun of me.”
That answers why she seemed okay when she was talking with him. She’s worried about letting him see her vulnerable. “He wouldn’t make fun of you, Nova,” I tell her, but when the door opens and my brother returns, she peers up at me with wide, pleading eyes, and I drop it for now.
“You good?” Lucian asks her, wondering why I’m hovering over the bed.
“Yes.” Nova averts her eyes, causing Lucian to look over at me for insight into her reaction.
I shake my head, telling him not now, and he gives her a drink instead.
“Open up,” he instructs.
She tries to hide the wince when she lifts her head and opens her jaw, but we both see the skin around her eyes crinkle when she squints in pain. When she’s done, she licks her split lip and cautiously returns her head to the pillow. Her eyes close, and she looks utterly exhausted. I want to let her fall back asleep, but I don’t at the same time. She slept for two days, and there was a point when I wasn’t even sure she would wake up. What if she doesn’t next time?
Before I can say anything to make sure she stays awake, Nova jerks as if she already fell back asleep and woke herself up. Her eyes pop open, and she looks around as if she’s confused again. “Gosh,” she whispers roughly.
“You should rest.” Lucian doesn’t seem to have any problem touching her, because he strokes his fingers over the side of her face without bruising.
“I don’t want to go back to sleep,” she says.
“Why not? You’re tired,” he reasons. I think it’s because he doesn’t want to tell her what happened, not that I blame him. I don’t want to talk about it either.
“It’s hard to wake up.” Under her breath, as if she’s speaking to herself, she adds, “No more dreams.”