The day seemed to drag on, making Mitchell uncomfortable. KayCee had an infatuation with the beautiful men, Lunaire had an infatuation with her, Elysia continued to sit in silence, only chiming in when needed, and Alexander continued to hover around Mitchell. With multiple conversations going on, Mitchell zoned in and out of each, catching random sentences.
"So, a four bedroom would be ideal, three bathroom for three hundred..."
"Elysia, do you need another book?"
"You're telling me nothing is going on with..."
"You know I can read the same stories a hundred times and still enjoy every moment..."
"Well, Alexander and Mitchell..."
Mitchell sighed, exhausted. She went to the kitchen, pulling a Chinese take-out menu off the fridge and started dialing the number listed. "I'm ordering out!" she called to all of her guests in the living room.
"Orange chicken and barbecue pork fried rice!" KayCee yelled back.
Lunaire popped into the kitchen, taking the menu from her hands, glancing through it. "Elysia will do the vegetarian combo, I'll take the shrimp combo, Alexander will eat what ever you pick. He isn't picky."
Mitchell repeated the request orders to the operator, adding on food for herself and what she assumed Alexander would like. "It'll be here in about an hour," she said softly as she walked into the living room. She looked around, noticing Alexander was missing. "Where did he run off to?"
"He had a very important errand," Elysia replied, flipping through his book.
She shrugged, walking over to the couch to sit by KayCee. "Very mysterious," KayCee mumbled.
"What is?" Mitchell asked her.
KayCee shrugged. "Earlier it seemed like you were nervous to be around him, now you look like a nervous wreck when he goes missing." She smiled over to Lunaire. "Pick anything good?"
"Shrimp!" he exclaimed with a goofy grin on his face. "It feels like it's been hundreds of years since I had it." He winked at Mitchell, who in turn slapped the palm of her hand to her forehead. Elysia chuckled in the corner, licking his fingertips before turning the page.
The conversations continued, and Mitchell continued to just wade in and out of them, feeling more and more tense as time went on and Alexander was still who knew where.
A loud knock at the door made the girls jump. Lunaire and Elysia had a curious expression on their faces. "Can't be the food already," Mitchell said as she began to open the door. A strong force opened the door so fast, Mitchell stumbled back landing on her bottom. By the time she looked up to see who it was, a large rabid looking dog was eye to eye with her, making a deep growling sound.
"Shit!" Lunaire yelled as he ran across the room. Mitchell put her arms up in front of her face as the dog lunged at her, tearing up her forearm before Lunaire could grab a hold of it. Mitchell let out a loud yelp, pulling back on her arm, trying to free herself from it's jaws.
Tears began streaming down her face as Lunaire tried to break the dog loose. The pain was so severe her yells went silent as she began to feel nauseous. Another voice began to yell, and by the time Mitchell could register who it was coming from she locked eyes with Alexander. He moved so quickly toward her he seemed to blur. In one swift motion he pushed Lunaire to the side as he grabbed the dog's body with one hand and head with the other, twisting it with such inhuman force it's neck immediately snapped and it's jaws released. Mitchell pulled her arm to her, cradling it with her good arm as Alexander snatched her up, bounding up the stairs into her room, heading straight to the bathroom. She could hear an abundance of footsteps racing up the stairs behind them.
"I stepped out for thirty God-damn minutes, Mitchell!" he yelled at her as he pulled her arm up closer to him, examining it.
Mitchell couldn't stop crying, and only cried harder when looking at the bite wounds covered in yellow-green, rancid dog saliva. The smell made her gag. Alexander quickly turned her to the toilet, holding her arm over the shower-tub and began washing it while she vomited into the toilet. He gently placed her arm on the ledge of the tub before getting up to raid the medicine cabinet.
"Mitchell!" KayCee cried out as she hurried to her friend's side. She looked over to her arm, wincing at the sight. She couldn't imagine the pain she was in right now. "You're gonna be okay!"
Alexander moved his way past her, nudging her to the side so he had more room to work. He used alcohol to clean the wounds, patting it as dry as he could before wrapping it in gauze. "KayCee, go tell Lunaire to get the medical kit. He will know which one," he said in a calm, firm voice. She nodded to him and went into the room. They could hear her talking to Lunaire, and his heavy footsteps as he ran out of the room. Alexander leaned his head next to Mitchell's, gently lifting her from the toilet. He took a towel off the dry bar, wiping the sweat, tears, and vomit from her face. "You're not dying. Not today, this is just the next phase" he said so quietly Mitchell almost missed it.
She leaned into him, sobbing as he wrapped his arms around her. Blood was quickly soaking through the gauze onto their clothes. Lunaire entered the bathroom, handing a large case to Alexander. "I'll hold her," he said as he gently pulled Mitchell from Alexander's chest. They sat on the floor, Lunaire wrapping his legs around hers and his arms across her chest, leaving her injured arm out for Alexander.
Alexander quickly unwrapped the gauze as he pulled a needle from the bag. He used his teeth to pull the cap off before inserting it in the center of the wound. Mitchell yelled, trying to pull free from them, but they were much stronger than she had imagined. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Alexander pulling out what seemed like a sewing kit from the bag. He began to stitch up the bite, causing Mitchell to violently convulse in pain. "I can't!" she yelled.
"Yes you can," Lunaire said as he tried to soothe her. "He is almost done, he's handled worse than this."
Alexander pulled a pair of scissors from the bag, cutting the thread after tightening the stitches. Mitchell's vision began to spin, and the last thing she could fully make out was Alexander's sad eyes before blacking out.
Mitchell gasped for air as she quickly sat up. She looked around the room, trying to fully remember everything that had happened before passing out. A weight on her legs was keeping her from standing up, and when she looked down, she saw Alexander. His head was on her thigh, arms wrapped around her legs. Her good arm was rested on him. His head slowly turned toward her as he rolled onto his back. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
Mitchell gently touched her bandaging, wincing. "Horrible."
Alexander sat up next to her, reaching over her to grab two plastic Tupperware style plates off of her end table. He sat one in her lap, the other in his. "You need to eat before you take any antibiotics," he said softly as he shook a bottle of pills. He opened his tray moving the food around with his fork. He glanced over to Mitchell and sighed.
"What was that, Alexander?" she asked him as she tried to pry the lid off her plate. After failing to open her food, he reached over and lifted the lid for her, placing it to the side.
"The Wild Beast," he replied as he picked the vegetables from his tray and set them to the side. "The next step closer to your demise."
Mitchell teared up, sniffling as she began to prod at her food. She slowly began to eat, hesitant over the fact that she still felt sick to her stomach. Only this time it wasn't from the attack, it was from fear. Alexander sighed, moving their food to the side before pulling her down into his lap. He gently stroked her hair as she cried, her body shaking. She wrapped her arms around his waist, careful how she placed her arm. "You will be okay," he said in a low, calm voice. "I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you. Not again..."
The door creaked open, Lunaire and KayCee peeking in. "Is she okay?" they asked in unison. Elysia slowly worked past them, feeling his way over to her.
"She will be," he replied as he finally reached the bed. "Better the arm than the face," he half joked to her as he sat next to them.
Mitchell looked up to Elysia, trying to stop her crying. "Is that what happened to you?" she asked him as she put her hand on his cheek.
Elysia smiled as he placed his hand over hers. "Mauled by a wild animal, like you, but I didn't have Alexander there to stop it."
Alexander nodded his head slowly as he gently moved Mitchell off of his lap, retreating to the other side of the room. KayCee swiftly took his place, Lunaire followed behind her as they all began to reassure Mitchell that she would get better soon. "Luckily for you Alexander was a military medic, I guess," KayCee said as she soothed her best friend. She looked over her friend's arm, noticing nothing was bleeding through. "A damn good one! Nice job, Alex! Ely told me all about you being a bad-ass!"
He scoffed. "Alexander."
KayCee rolled her eyes "Alexander."
Everyone in the room began to chuckle, not sure if it was appropriate to laugh. Mitchell wiped a tear from her eye and smiled, happy to be surrounded by people who cared for her in a way she was never used to. It was odd for her, being from such a large family and never knowing this feeling until now with one close friend and three partial strangers. "Thank you, everyone," she said as she scanned the room, taking in all of their smiling faces and Alexander's annoyed expression. "I think it is safe to say I am forever a cat lady, no dogs!"
The room erupted in laughter, to the point even Alexander smiled for a brief second. Alexander pushed the door open wider, extending his arm out. "Okay everyone, she needs rest. Get out," he said sternly.
KayCee shot him a dirty look while she hugged Mitchell. "As much as he is starting to annoy me, I'll agree with him this one time." She walked over to the door, Lunaire and Elysia following close behind. As each of them stepped out, they patted Alexander on the shoulder and gave him thanks.
Alexander closed the door behind him and got back into the bed with Mitchell. He looked her over, taking in her ragged appearance, before looking over himself. Blood stains soaked into both of their shirts and droplets on their pants. Vomit and dog slobber added a neon yellow tinge to the deep maroon of the blood. He frowned, clearly unhappy with the aftermath of the whole ordeal. He rose back to his feet and moved to the closet, pulling out new clothes for Mitchell off the hangers and a new outfit for himself from a bag on the floor. He nudged the door shut with his foot before bringing the clean garments to the bed. In one quick motion, he pulled his blood stained shirt off and tossed it to the side. Mitchell turned her head quickly away from him.
"You'll have to get over it eventually," he scoffed at her, clearly annoyed. He unbuttoned his pants, slightly shaking them off while pulling them down and tossed them to the side as well. He quickly pulled on a dark pair of sweatpants before he took a seat next to Mitchell.
Mitchell turned her back to him before attempting to pull her shirt off. She struggled, having no strength mixed with severe pain with the one arm. She winced as she tried to get her arm out of the shirt before attempting to pull it over her head. Alexander sighed and pulled her shirt off for her. "What are you doing?!" she gasped.
"Just shut up," he said back to her, this time with a more gentle tone as he assisted her out of her clothes. He helped her into the pajamas he pulled from the closet before she turned back to him.
Mitchell sat in silence, looking over at her food, stomach growling. She reached over for her food, placing it in her lap as she inhaled the scent of it. "Thank you," she whispered.
Alexander chuckled at her as he began to eat his food as well. "Are you thanking me or the food?" He smirked as he went back to separating the vegetables from the meat and rice.
"Depends if you decided to sneak a peek or not," Mitchell replied with a mouth full of food and a dirty look in her eyes. Between the hunger and fear she was a mess, but Alexander seemed like the only thing that could hold her together at the moment, and she didn't want to leave herself vulnerable because of it.
He looked at her, genuine concern and hurt in his eyes. "Do you truly see me as that kind of person?" he asked her. His eyes locked with hers for a few moments before he turned away, leaning back onto a pillow as he half ate his food.
Mitchell rested her fork on her tray as she covered her mouth when she swallowed. "I didn't mean it like that, it was supposed to be a joke, but I don't think I'm ready for that after all of this."
Alexander shrugged his shoulders as he placed his plate on the bed next to him, lifting his arms behind his head as he relaxed back. His long hair hung over his torso, leaving glimpses of his bare chest. The more Mitchell looked, the more she noticed how bad it really was. It seemed as if every muscle he had scars across it, some looked newer than others, but they were all old enough to be fully healed. "For someone making jokes about naked or partially naked bodies being seen, you sure like to look when it isn't you," he replied back to her in condescending tone.
Mitchell had instant regret, feeling bad for her comments toward him. Hurting his feelings after him caring for her wounds was not fair for him. "You have a lot of scars, can you blame me? I'm sorry," she said lowly. She couldn't turn to look at him, ashamed.
"It's fine," he replied after a few moments of silence. He went back to picking at his food and sulking. He avoided eye contact with Mitchell as he ate.
"Alexander..." Mitchell sighed, reaching over to him. She placed her hand over his, gripping it tightly. "It's not fine. I don't know what's wrong with me, I just know I'm overwhelmed. I shouldn't take it out on you."
He dropped his fork, turning his wrist to hold her hand. "Don't let death turn you into an ass. I don't want to regret any of this."
Mitchell laced her fingers through his as she leaned against his shoulder. He let out a sigh, pulling her closer to him. Alexander moved her against his chest and put his arm across her shoulder, using his other hand to pull out the case of cigarettes. He handed her one and took one for himself, lighting them both. The sat in silence together, smoking their cigarettes and ashing into the mostly empty food trays. Silence was exactly what Mitchell needed after how the week had started off, so she finally felt at peace.
Alexander cleared his throat causing Mitchell to look up to him. He was focused on the wall as he spoke. "This is as far as this will go," he said to her.
"This is all I need right now," she whispered to herself.
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