Chapter 6. Drift away

Eric

"I didn't catch your name—" I started to say when she slammed my car door in my face and walked briskly to the young man who was with another young man. One of the two guys suddenly lifted her off the ground and twirled her around. I knew she was in pain, I could tell from the way sweat lined her forehead. She kept tapping his shoulders as she yelled for him to put her down. He did as she demanded but not before giving her a wet kiss on her forehead. The familiarity between the two made me want to get out of the car and rip the idiot's hand now hanging lazily off her right shoulder.

Was I jealous?

Why?

I didn't bother analysing why I felt jealous when the person in question wasn't even my girlfriend. To avoid doing as I imagined, I pulled out from the spot and drove away, pushing thoughts of this strange woman and her hold on me away.

~

Nadia

"I am telling you, Nadia. I am not in any trouble. That guy was just a friend. He needs a place to play and I was thinking of taking him to the bar. Speaking of trouble, you should have seen me when the Ajz came to pick a fight with me and my boys at the bar."

Joseph adamantly refused to let me walk the few blocks to our bakery by myself. He proceeded to exhaust me with the story of his latest street fight with some boys from a gang of drug peddlers, giving me details that I didn't request. To protect myself before I could end up visualizing cut body parts—or worse, blood — I blocked out most of his words, increasing my pace so we could get to the part where he would be forced to go away once I had gotten to the bakery. In my hurry to navigate the busy street and get home, a man who was also in a hurry slammed into me, causing me to wince loudly as I instantly clutched my right side. Joseph was by my side immediately, calling my name repeatedly with a worried frown on his slightly scarred face. He turned to chase after the man who hadn't stopped to apologise, but I grabbed his hands, wincing more when I felt a soul-searing pain from the tiny movement. I was suddenly grateful for his presence.

"Nadia!" He called but I couldn't respond because of the pain. I was taking in quick breaths through my open mouth.

'You need to have that checked out. Internal bleeding is real.'

Mr Vanhelsing had told me again on our way to his car, but I had declined, not wanting to get close to the hospital anytime soon. Now, here I was holding my side like it was where my heart resided. Joseph didn't waste time carrying me in his arms and running the remaining distance to the bakery. He yanked open the door and yelled for my mother. She rushed out with a napkin in between her hands. The napkin fell to the ground and her eyes went wide when she saw us, tears pooling in her brown eyes.

"What in gods name happened to you?!" She acted immediately by first ordering Joseph to follow her into the office. "Joseph, go get Bob at Victor's place!"

Gently, he placed me on the pull-out couch before running to go get pops from the repair shop a few blocks away. If father wasn't going anywhere far, he never took his phone along.

Mother didn't waste any time as she rolled the huge sweatshirt I had on. A loud gasp escaped her red lips as she caught sight of my bruised flesh. I knew what she was seeing. I had seen it myself and it wasn't a pretty sight.

"What did you get yourself involved in, girl? What's all this about?" She cried, her salty tears dropping on my throbbing flesh. Feeling better now that I had my body on the soft bed, I sat up so I could give her a reassuring hug.

"I'll be fine. It is nothing severe, just a bit of a bruise that would heal in no time."

"Don't say that. You won't cover this one, darling. We are going to the hospital." She rose from the couch and walked to her phone, ignoring all my pleas not to take me to that hospital.

~

Eric

"He's awake!" Amelia ran towards me with a relieved grin, having no care for the watchful eyes of the nurses and doctors nearby. I opened my arms and wrapped them around her body, taking in her unchanging rosewater scent. I looked across and found Jake. He also had his version of my sister's smile on. The heaviness in my chest suddenly dissolved and I felt lighter.

He is okay

Together, we went into the spacious hospital room and found my father and Lyra seated, watching the doctors as they checked Justin. He was so focused on the physicians that he didn't notice us as we entered the room. Lyra jumped up when she laid eyes on me, a slow smile spreading across her face which was surprisingly devoid of makeup. She looked younger than thirty six.

If I didn't know how she truly was, the concern etched on her face would have fooled me.

"I and your father came as soon as we were told he was awake. Where were you?" She demanded, her eyes roaming my body. The instinctive rise of my left brow had her quickly amending her statement. "We were waiting for you."

Father used the opportunity to jump into the weird-as-hell conversation. As usual, he didn't see or notice anything strange about Lyra's behaviour. "Yes, we were. Especially after you promised us you'll stay behind. How irresponsible of you to leave him alone at a crucial moment in his life."

From the corner of my eye, I saw my sister plead with me to remain calm and not say anything to defend myself. Our corner went quiet, but the energy was tensed. In response, I fisted my hands to prevent myself from saying things I knew I would regret, especially with the strangers in the room. We wouldn't want the papers to have anything else to report.

"Why are your knuckles bruised?" Lyra suddenly asked, pointing at my hand like a five-year-old.

Everyone except those preoccupied with my brother stared at my hands. I turned my head to the side and cursed silently, wondering why Lyra had it in for me today. Trust father to overreact like I was kid in high school.

"You left your brother to go and fight?" He said through clenched teeth, his veins throbbing visibly by his left temple. Amelia's pleading be damned, I opened my mouth to give him an answer I knew would widen the gap between us when Justin's loud, panicked voice filled the room, sending dread down my spine.

"I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs!" He said struggling violently with the doctor and the residents who were trying to hold him down. "Stop trying to hold me down! You're suffocating me! I need my legs!" He glanced at me with eyes full of agony. "Bro! Do something! I can't feel my legs. Get me, Nadia! I need Nadia! Eric, Father, please get me, Nadia."

My heart broke as I watched him cry while struggling with everyone.