50 Days Before 18^th Birthday

Two weeks.

What?

How could it have been over two weeks since my last memory?

“I…. I don’t understand.”

“There was an incident at school on the second. You were attacked by another student and she…she….”

Mom is crying.

Everyone is so upset.

Barnaby and Brutus haven’t even spoken.

Usually, they’ve insulted me or made a crude joke by now.

What happened?

I look to Mags.

He’ll tell me.

But he isn’t looking at me.

“She is a Siren, and she used her manipulation power on you cub.” Dad finally steps in, his voice tense, like he is holding back his emotions, “she told you to get lost with her powers, so you walked into the woods, in the snow, in only a t-shirt and you wouldn’t have been in the right mind to shift. If the risk of hypothermia wasn’t bad enough you clearly had no concept of where you were walking and…. And you feel down a ravine in the mountain. If the wolves hadn’t found you when they did….”

He doesn’t have to finish his sentence.

Everyone in the room knows.

“Your left leg was broken in several places, plus your right arm and clavicle. With everything that you’re body went through, well, we’re just happy you’re awake now.” Mom finishes off for Dad.

The air is tense.

I look down at my lap.

Fuck.

I don’t even know what to say.

So much trouble.

Because of me.

My eyes are burning.

I don’t even try to stop the tears.

It’s all too much.

They’re all staring.

Stop.

Stop staring.

Stop looking.

STOP.

PLEASE.

“Can you all give us a few minutes?”

I don’t even look up as I listen to everyone, but Mom leave the room.

 “Oh my sweet cub.”

Her arms are carefully going around me.

She moves my head, so it is resting on her shoulder.

“This isn’t your fault cub. What that girl did, it wasn’t anyone’s fault but hers. She is being severely punished for what she has done, and we are going to pull you from school for the rest of the semester. You can go back after Christmas break. Once you have had time to heal. Physically and mentally.”

Taking me out of school?

For almost 2 months?

I looked at her, shocked.

“It’s for the best Cub. You need time to recover, and your father and I don’t want you to have to navigate the school with only 2 working limbs. You’ll have to be in a wheelchair because with your arm you can’t use crutches and you wont even be able to push it yourself. Please, your father and I will feel better if we know you are safe at home until you are back to your full health.”

I just nod.

I know if I go to school like this, I will only be a burden to whoever has to help me.

Most likely Indy.

I’ve already caused so much trouble.

I should just go along with it for now.

“Now, since you’re awake, lets get you cleaned up a little. I’ll get a nurse, we can get you over to the shower and get your hair washed and you can brush your teeth before all your friends from school show up.”

Goddess a shower sounds…..

Friends from school?

I look at her very confused.

She doesn’t notice at first as she is pressing on the call button by my bed and texting at the same time.

Guess I have to ask.

“Who?”

“Those nice friends of yours Cub. The boy from the hockey team? There are quite a few of them who have stopped by everyday after school to see if you’re awake and spend some time here. They are all very nice boys. We’ll have to make sure to have them over while you’re not going to school.”

Oh.

Wow.

They came to see me.

I’m so overwhelmed by this I don’t even fight as my mother and a few nurses help me to get even cleaner.

Without the hospital gown on I can see the bruises and scratches over my body, there are several deep gashes that had been stitched up as well.

It was so much.

So overwhelming.

The gaps in my memory.

Seeing the effects on my body of something that I don’t remember.

I’ve never not remembered.

I don’t know how to react.

They don’t try to put me back in a robe.

I don’t let them.

So, they get a pair of basketball shorts on me.

I think they are Magnus’s.

He must have had a gym bag here.

We don’t bother with a shirt.

Too much hassle with my cast and sling.

By the time they get me back into the bed, I’m exhausted.

And the door bursts open again.

The bang is loud in the room.

“LG!!!”

Gabe’s excited voice brings a slight smile to my face.

They really are my friends.

Archer has to grab him to make sure the excitable boy doesn’t launch himself onto me for a hug.

I smile at the two before my eyes find the other boy to enter the room.

Nuka is quiet.

He’s never quiet.

He looks tired.

The bags under his eyes are prominent and his beautiful skin tone is pale.

“Nuka? Are you ok?”

The taller boy looks at me with those chocolate eyes and he looks so sad.

I motion him over to the bed.

Gesturing for him to sit down.

“What’s wrong?”

I’m worried.

Nuka is rarely quiet.

He talks almost as much as Gabe does.

Nuka just shrugs.

I pull on him with my uninjured hand and get him to settle down where Magnus was before.

He automatically puts his arm over my shoulders like he always does.

I hope this helps.

I don’t know why but it helps me.

I feel calmer.

Less worried about everything that lead up to me being in the hospital.

“We were just worried about you LG and we feel bad.” Gabe answers my question instead of Nuka.

Why would they feel bad?

I look between their faces, trying to understand.

I think Archer can tell I’m confused.

“That girl went after you because we’ve been spending time with you, and we didn’t protect you.” Archer looks at Nuka intensely, “We are NOT sorry that we became your friend, and NOTHING is going to change that. But we are sorry that someone went after you because of us.”

I just shake my head.

They are doing what I did.

What I know Indy is doing too.

Hiding out in the woods.

Blaming ourselves.  

“It’s her fault, not ours.” I whisper intensely, looking at Nuka till those dark chocolate eyes meet mine, “Not yours.”

There it is.

The smile.

And I smile back.

Leaning my head on his shoulder.

Feeling exhausted.

I haven’t even been awake that long.

Then I realize.

If I’m out of school, it wont just affect me.

The tutoring.

Nuka.

“Mom and Dad are pulling me out of school for two months.”

I can feel Nuka tense beside me.

I feel bad.

I don’t want to stop our tutoring.

It’s the only guaranteed time I get with him.

I don’t want to lose my friend.

I need to suggest something else.

Maybe.

Maybe he’d be ok with something else.

“You could come over to my house, for our tutoring sessions, if you want?”

I glance at Nuka’s face.

He’s smiling at me.

Goddess.

That smile.