Two Steps North

Chapter 5

I feel like i'm falling. Falling from too high to know. My head pounds. There's a screaching noise in my that sounds like cars coming to a sudden hault. The voices are louder than ever. I try to move my body, but I fail. Instead I roll over and crash into the nightstand by the bed and to the floor. The bang is loud and helps me snap out of this hell.

Cecily's face down and delirious.  She slowly rolls over and sees blood on the white carpet. She reaches to her head and sure enough her gash is bleeding. She must've hit her head again. She leans up, but swings back down. 

She's weak, too weak to hardly move. She blinks at the ceiling and slowly drifts to sleep.

When she wakes, she's back on the bed. Leo sits in a large arm chair next to the bed. He squints at her then lets out a sigh of relief.

"I was going to call an ambulance."

"Thank god you didn't. I'm just fine." Leo shakes his head. He knows she's lying. She reaches up to touch her head and to her surprise there's a bandage wrapped around her head. She looks at Leo and he looks down.

"Thank...thank you." Cecily is surprised by his kindness. He must really mean wht he said earlier about her being like his sister.

"Oh..um. Sorry about the huge blood stain. I tried to get up to clean it and.." Leo smiles and shakes his head.

"It's okay." Leo looks down again. The silence is awkward. Leo breaks it.

"So...so why does this keep happening? To you I mean..these..episodes. They're scary, that's all." Leo smiles a tiny bit, but Cecily's face is blank. She shakes her head and shrugs.

"I guess it's from the car accident. I wasn't really that hurt though. So...I really don't know. Maybe it's just because my dad has problems and..." Cecily stutters and to her surprise begins to cry.

"What's wrong?" Leo grabs Cecily's hand and forces her to look at him. Her eyes are watery and red.

"I just hate my dad." Leo looks surprsied, shocked almost. She laughs to lighten the mood, but it doesn't work.

"I'm sorry. I just...you wouldn't understand. He's been the cause of everything bad since I was little and I wouldn't be surprsied if his mental disorders brushed off on me when I was born." Leo shakes his head.

"I don't think that's what happened."

"Then what do you think it is?" This comes out harsher than she intended.

" I...maybe it's just stress." Cecily laughs. Leo smirks. They both sit there awkwardly and stare at each other. This is weird. Cecily isn't used to be nurtured, cared for...

"I'm sorry. I can't stay here. I have to check on my dad...I should really be at school..."

"Don't be ridiculous. You have to stay Cecily, it's too dangerous for you to be on your own. I promise I won't leave you again." Cecily wants to leave, but she would feel guilty especially after the generosity Leo has shown her.

"Okay, but...i'm gonna go home tonight. I have to." Leo nods.

"So...what classes do you have? What's your schedule? I know we're in two classes. Dwire and Olden's.." Leo's attempting to make small talk. He's doing a bad job, but Cecily goes with it anyways just to make him comfortable. They talk for hours about nothing special. Just casual talk.

Cecily falls asleep and wakes around midnight. Leo is asleep in the chair next to her. She find a pen and a sticky note and writes a thank you letter. She smiles at Leo and leaves his glorious home. She makes her way home on foot. When she walks in she expects it to be calm, but what she sees is worse than she could imagine.