Author: Amanda Perry
Category: Fantasy
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/amanda-perry/page,18,463864-burning_roses.html
The hospital room door opens, and I glance up as a man in his late forties wearing a white coat enters my room. My heart immediately picks up speed, uncomfortable in a strange doctor’s presence. This isn’t the same doctor I had earlier when everyone else was here with me. I don’t know who this doctor is, but I don’t care either. With my family gone, I want to be left alone. Having a stranger in my room, even a doctor, makes me feel vulnerable.
“Good afternoon, Miss Storm,” the doctor says in a cheery tone. “I’m Doctor Andrews, just here to check you over.”
As the doctor strolls closer to my bed, the door opens again, and a nurse walks into the room. The male nurse gains my full attention. He doesn’t appear as friendly as the doctor. He steps toward me, and my throat closes up. Something about the nurse triggers warning bells deep within me. He isn’t safe. I need to get away from him, or he’ll hurt me.
“Miss Storm?” the doctor says when I don’t respond to him.
“P-P-Please, go a-a-away,” I stutter, addressing the nurse.
“Miss Storm, this will only take a moment,” the doctor insists, confused.
The nurse sneers at me. “What’s her problem?”
My body continues to react in a negative way to the nurse. I can’t stop shaking or stop the tears from freely falling. The nurse comes closer to me, and without conscious thought, I open my mouth and scream. Something about him is wrong.
“Nurse,” the doctor says, his tone full of warning. “Please step away from the patient and be more considerate. She’s obviously in distress. I’m going to get a sedative. Don’t touch her, but try to calm her while I’m gone.”
“Yes, doctor,” the nurse answers, standing a few feet away from my bed.
As soon as the door closes, the nurse rushes to my bedside and drops his face close to mine, roughly grabbing my chin. “Samael has been wanting to see you.”
I try to push him away. The waves of evil and darkness radiate off the man, making me nauseous.
When I try to yell for help, he quickly covers my mouth with his free hand. “Shut up, or I will slit your throat.”
Believing his threat, I stop moving.
He slowly removes his hand when he’s sure I won’t yell. “Samael will be glad to know you’re still alive. I hope you don’t mind.” Wickedly, he runs his hand along my cheek and laughs darkly when I flinch. “We’ll be paying you a lot more visits now. We wouldn’t want you to get lonely in that empty bed, now would we? The things I would do to you if I could… Unfortunately, your step-daddy insisted he do the honors himself. He said to ask if you liked his gifts?”
As the door opens, the nurse quickly backs away the doctor returns. My heart monitor goes crazy as the pain in my chest increases, and I idly wonder if this is what dying feels like. Maybe I’m having a heart attack.
“Okay, Miss Storm,” the doctor murmurs quietly, coming back to my bedside. “This is a mild sedative and will help you calm down.”
I shake my head, not wanting any medication.
He ignores me, fiddling with the syringe. When he lifts the IV, I do the only thing I can to try and stop him. I focus on the water line in the room and build the water pressure quickly until the pipe bursts, and the room floods instantly. However, my efforts don’t stop the doctor from emptying the syringe into the IV line as the nurse in the corner slips through the door quickly.
“What the hell?” The doctor jumps back from the flooding water.
The world turns fuzzy while the doctor yells for some assistance. I become light-headed and am only vaguely aware of the door being swung open and my father and Cassie rushing in. I watch in a haze as Cassie silently takes over control of the flooding water while glaring at the doctor.
She practically steams from the ears as she yells at him, “What the hell did you do to her?”
“What happened in here? Is Riley alright?” Dad yells at the same time.
I fight through the fatigue, shocked to find them here asking about me.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Dr. Andrews sputters to my dad, shaken and confused. “The water line must have burst. We’ll get it fixed as soon as possible. I’ll have her room changed right away.”
“Why does she look like that?” Dad gestures to me. When he looks back to the doctor, he sees the syringe in his hand and turns bright red. “What did you give her?”
“She was panicking, sir,” Dr. Andrews explains. “I thought if I sedated her—”
“You obviously did not think.” My normally calm father yanks the doctor away from my bedside. “You will not give my child medication without my permission.”
My vision blurs in, and out and my ability to focus dwindles.
“You ignored my express orders to have no one enter this room while I was gone, and you gave my child unauthorized medication. You’re lucky the whole room didn’t explode. If you only knew…” My dad doesn’t finish his thought before he pushes the doctor toward the door. “Get out of here before I do something I’ll regret.”
Cassie, who had been busy subtly stopping the water from gushing into the room, ends her efforts as the doctor leaves. She hurries to my side and pushes my hair off my forehead.
“Oh, Riley…” She frowns as her concerned eyes land on mine.
Her face comes in and out of focus, but I try to give her a smile. I can’t believe she’s still here after everything I’ve done. The room fades, and my eyes close without my permission. I’m unable to fight the drug coursing through my veins.
“Don’t let…” I try to get out my concern for the nurse, but my voice gives out.
“Don’t what, Riley?” My father takes my other hand. “Tell me, and I promise, whatever it is, I’ll take care of it.”
“Stop him…hurt me…don’t let…him in,” I force out before I give in and let my consciousness fade.
Cassie squeezes my hand. “Who, Ri? Who hurt you?”
The door crashes against the wall, and I jump in surprise, though my eyes refuse to open.
“Riley!”
I swear I hear Caleb’s voice call to me, but I know it can’t be him. He doesn’t want me anymore.
I’m done.
“Caleb?” I whisper as I fall into darkness.
Chapter 22
When I open my eyes, the sun shines through the window, and I know at least a day has passed. I blink a few times to clear my vision then search around the room. My mouth feels like I’ve been chewing on cotton, and my head is heavy and full. It takes a lot longer to get my mind to focus than it should.
“Good morning, dear,” a cheery female voice says. I jerk my head in her direction. “I’m your nurse, I’m just taking your vitals. How are you feeling?”
Physically, I’m in pain, but nothing I can’t manage. I blink at her, not sure how to answer her question. I attempt to sit up, but a sharp ache in my side prevents it. I reach my hand down in surprise and feel a bandage stuck to me. I bend to inspect it, and every bad part of the past however many days flashes across my vision—the mall, the attack, Cassie getting hurt, and Caleb. My eyes fill with tears and I turn away. Caleb.
“Are you feeling better than yesterday?” Cassie’s voice rings out, bringing my attention to the corner of the room.
She sits with a fashion magazine in her hand. She appears angry, so I simply nod to avoid upsetting her further. When I notice the deep purple bruise on her forehead, a lump forms in my throat. I should have stopped her from getting hurt.
I don’t think she or the nurse care about my emotional problems, so I turn away from them and continue to search the room for any signs Caleb came back. My father sleeps in a chair in the corner of the room, and it stuns me to see him there. Does he still care about me? He should hate me, but maybe he doesn’t.
“Now that you’re awake, I’m going to grab the doctor,” the nurse tells me before leaving the room.
My dad stirs when the door clicks shut. He opens his eyes and looks straight to me. Seeing me awake, he jumps to his feet quickl
y.
“Hey, kiddo.” He rushes to my side and takes my hand in his. “I’m so glad you’re awake. I was worried about you. I think you gave me at least ten gray hairs in the last twenty-four hours.”
I appreciate his attempt at a joke, though I can barely smile at him.
When I don’t respond, he sighs and drops the jokes. “You’re going to be just fine, Riley. The doctor said if you were feeling good today and were able to answer some questions, he would let you go home. Are you feeling any better today?”
“Ri, I’ll be right back. I’m going to let Leanne and Jaxon know you’re awake.” Cassie heads out of the room.
The fact she doesn’t mention Caleb isn’t lost on me.
My father’s attention never leaves me as he patiently waits for me to respond.
I shrug slightly, wiping at the tears in my eyes. “I guess,” I croak. I dig deep and find the courage to voice my curiosity. “Is…C-Cal… Is h-h-he here?”
Dad’s face turns a concerning shade of purple, and he grits out, “He’s not here. He won’t be coming around you anymore.”
I stare at him blankly as his words bounce around my still fuzzy head. Never see him again? It’s all the confirmation I need. Caleb really is done with me. Why did I ever think he would love someone as pathetic as me? He finally found a way to be free of me, and I can’t blame him for taking it. It was the final straw in the list of reasons why I’m not worth his time.
I couldn’t even protect his sister when I needed to. My best friend and I couldn’t prevent her from getting hurt. I’m nothing but a hindrance to him, and he finally realized it. He finally had enough like I always knew he would.
As I curl onto my side, I’m vaguely aware of my father talking to me. A doctor enters the room, asking how I feel and the reason for me leaving the other day. I don’t answer them; I have nothing to say right now.
My chest gives a tight squeeze as I continue to imagine my world without Caleb. Thinking of him moving on and finding his true soul mate knocks the air from my lungs. What if he continues to come around to visit Jaxon and Cassie, or worse, brings a new girl over? How could I survive that? He must know the connection he felt for me was a fluke. He can clearly fight it, which means it isn’t real.
“Riley!” Cassie’s voice right in my ear snaps me out of my thoughts. I don’t remember her coming back into the room. “Answer the damn doctor’s questions so we can get your butt home.”
Surprised Cassie cares if I come home or not, I look over to the doctor, unsure what he asked me.
Luckily, he takes pity and repeats his questions.
I give him all of the answers I know he wants. I feel fine, nothing hurts, I’m ready to go home, and so on. I keep my answers short—it takes too much energy and concentration to focus on his questions, and I just want to lie down and sleep.
“Why did you leave the hospital yesterday?” he asks, though based on his demeanor, he doesn’t care about my answer.
I stare blankly at him, trying to think of an answer that will make him go away.
“I was looking for Cassie and got lost.” It’s a sorry excuse, but one the doctor seems to accept. Maybe because he’s afraid my dad will yell at him again, or maybe he just wants me out of his care.
When he’s satisfied I’m of sound mind and physically healing alright, he allows the police to interview me.
Two cops with pot bellies and balding heads step into the room. They could almost pass as twins if not for the full foot of height difference and the mustache on the shorter cop.
“Ms. Storm, can you please tell us what you remember? Cassie gave us her account, and we now need yours.”
The last thing I want to do is relive everything, but I know they need the information. “We were going to the car, we’d parked in the back of the mall because we wanted privacy.”
The taller of the two officers cocks a brow. “Privacy from what?”
I shift uncomfortably at his accusatory tone, whimpering at the pain it causes. “We were supposed to have a girls’ day. We wanted to prevent Jaxon and Ca— We wanted to prevent our brothers from following us and ruining our girls’ day like they had the previous day. It wasn’t entirely secluded where we parked, just less populated. I didn’t think it would be completely empty when we left…”
The shorter officer with the mustache motions for me to continue when I pause. “We heard a cry for help and wanted to make sure no one was in trouble. Cassie was ahead of me. When she got close to the loading dock, one of the men jumped out and hit her in the head. She lost consciousness and fell to the ground.”
Cassie stands abruptly, spinning to face away from me. I’m forcing her to hear about how I failed her. It can’t be pleasant for her.
“Ms. Storm?”
I turn back to the police and their expectant stares, then drop my eyes to my hands. “I didn’t have a chance to run or anything. They grabbed me and while one of them, his name was A-A-Adam, held me, the other, S-S-Steve, tried to go back for Cassie. I yelled for him to stop, but they just hit me to stop me from making any noise.”
My eyes dart to Cassie’s back, silently pleading with her to believe me. “I kept fighting them, trying to keep their attention off Cassie because she couldn’t fight back. I thought if I could just get away and find help, then I could stop them from hurting her… hurting both of us.”
“How did you get the stab wound, Ms. Storm?” The taller cop’s tone softens significantly.
My eyes never leave Cassie’s back in the hopes she’ll turn around and tell me she doesn’t hate me anymore. “I h-h-hit him and got away. I tried to run, but they caught me. He threw me down and sat on me. When I struggled to get free, he pulled out a knife. They were talking about being on drugs, so I think he couldn’t focus enough to stab me in the stomach, where he was aiming. He only got my side.”
“When did they leave?” the shorter officer asks.
I shrug. “They were angry, and they kept hitting me over and over. Eventually, someone opened the back door, yelled for them to leave me alone, and told them the police were coming. I don’t remember much after that, but I know they promised they’d get us next time.”
“Well, we are going to do our best to catch these guys and ensure this doesn’t happen to you or someone else again,” they promise. “We’ll leave you for now, but we’ll be following up in a few days. Take care of yourself.”
The officers leave, and the doctor quickly gives me instructions to rest and take it easy for a few days, then exits the room in a flash after signing my discharge papers.
Leanne brings me clothes and helps me into them. Dad and Jaxon show up with a wheelchair, and I don’t have the energy to try to deny it.
“Hey, sis.” Jaxon gives me a gentle hug. “You feeling okay?”
I blink at him silently. We haven’t talked since everything happened. After an awkward moment, he shakes his head and gives me a sad smile. Shouldn’t he be throwing me out the window or at least cursing me?
“That’s a dumb question, I guess.” He helps me into the chair.
Leanne places a soft hand on my shoulder as Jaxon starts to wheel me out of the room. “I’m glad you’re okay, honey. Let’s get you home.”
They quickly get me bundled in a blanket in the car. Jaxon and Cassie sit on either side of me in the back while Dad drives, and Leanne sits in the passenger seat. I don’t say a word to them the whole way, too lost in my heartache to even wonder what they may be thinking.
Once home, Dad helps me up the stairs. Walking toward the room Caleb and I share, I peek inside to find the bed untouched and empty. The stuffed tiger from Caleb sits on the bed, sad and lonely. I want to pick it up and cuddle it.
My dad takes hold of my arm gently and stops me from going inside.
“This way, Riley,” he tells me softly, pointing to my old room.
I quickly realize I’m no longer sharing the same room as Caleb, and I’m not welcome in there. I refuse to dwell on it as we make ou
r way to my room, and my dad tells me to rest and call if I need anything.
While I yearn for a long, hot shower, the bandage make it too difficult right now, so I curl up in my bed instead, surrounded by my kitten and my stuffed animals. Rose curls up to my side and purrs softly against me, trying to comfort me as I silently cry into my pillow.
I make a sudden and rash decision to sneak into Caleb’s room and steal the tiger from his bed. Once safely back in my room, I cuddle it close and realize it still smells like him. As pathetic as it is, I can’t stop myself from putting it to my nose and inhaling deeply as I fall into a fitful sleep.
Leanne comes in at some point during the day, waking me to ask if I want dinner, which I decline with a shake of my head. Later, Cassie pops in to ask if I want to watch a movie or to hang out, and again, I decline with a shake of my head. Jaxon and Dad stop by, but I pretend to be asleep as I hear them debate if they should wake me to see if I want chocolate or ice cream. I don’t want anything except for them to leave me be.
But that isn’t entirely true. I want Caleb, but that’s not possible. As I wallow in my misery later in the night, my door opens. I hold still and feign sleep to avoid talking to anyone. I know they’re only trying to be nice, but I can’t handle talking right now.
Once the person closes the door, I hear talking on the other side.
“Mark, I think this is a mistake.” Leanne tries to stay quiet, but I can understand her easily in the silence of my room.
“You weren’t there, Leanne. You didn’t hear her and see how scared she was. I won’t let it happen again,” Dad whisper-shouts.
“Mark! Look at her,” Leanne insists, struggling to stay quiet. “You know what will happen next. Imagine if that was me. Would you be all right with that? This is hurting her more than anything else. Something needs to be done.”