Just a Little Death

Chapter Twelve: Spring Flowers

The car rolled to a stop and I opened my eyes. Ruthie and Pete had remained silent for the whole ride and I assumed it was their own way of giving me space. I opened the door and stepped out of the car. Aeron and Kaleb came running out of the house, down the steps, coming to a halt in front of me. Aeron took my elbow to help steady me up the steps.

"She needs some major patching up. Aeron, get her on the couch. Kaleb, get her some water and some food. Now." Pete slammed his car door shut.

With help, I wobbled my way into the living room and Aeron helped me lay down on the couch.

"No, no, stop." I put an arm out before I could lay flat. "You can patch me up sitting up."

Aeron's gaze went to my shredded shirt. "No, I can't, you need to lay down."

"No, I can't. Please." I shook my head. "I just...I'm not okay with that."

Ruthie came over and sat down where my head would have been. She pulled a pillow on to her lap. "Please, it'll be easier for him to work if you're laying down."

I bit my lip and tried to push the panic away. There were no chains, no cuffs, but my breathing hitched and my heart sped up. Sweat ran over my palms and I wiped them nervously on my blood stained pants. Aeron grabbed one of my hands.

"You are safe here. We won't let you get hurt." He squeezed my hand. "We take care of our own."

I bobbed my head and lay down. Ruthie ran her hand through my hair with a calming motion. I met her gaze and sighed. "I screwed up, so much."

"We all make mistakes." She touched my forehead. "And we learn from them and move on."

Not like this though. My stomach churned and I closed my eyes. "The party, the reason you couldn't find me is because Lust was blocking you. I had no idea that he was a Sin, I ignored any of the signs I saw and I screwed up." I clenched my fist.

Aeron walked away from the couch, disappearing from my sight, but Kaleb appeared with water. I sat up a bit to take a drink and then lay back down in Ruthie's lap. "I'm only getting glimpses of what happened. Something extremely screwed up happened and I can't pull out the details."

"They will come." She promised.

Aeron reappeared. "It looks like they were trying to kill you, but you've got a lot of small damage too."

Pete looked over the back of the couch. "Blood loss alone should have set in and killed you after the first wound. Unless it was done right before we found you. That second one is deep enough that the blade must have hit your bone."

"I'm lucky to be alive." I muttered. "I get it. Start patching them up so they can heal right."

Ruthie grabbed my hand as Aeron started stitching together my open wounds. The pain was nothing compared to what caused them. He took his time, making sure each stitch was tight enough and that all the blood was cleaned up as it leaked out. He pulled away when he was done. "Luckily the ones on your face are healing already. There might be a faint scar, but that's better than losing an eye."

I hadn't thought about that when Lucile had swiped me across my face. I touched a hand to my face and sighed. "So where are we now? Have we found the seals?"

"No, we've tried a few more places, but nothing promising. No leads like the one that the Hag offered." Ruthie let go of the hand she was holding and I slowly sat up and shifted so I could lean against the back of the couch.

"I want to go see my dad." A weight sat in my stomach at the words. "After that we need to keep moving forward."

Pete came around the couch holding a plate with a sandwich. "We're going to start slowly, I'm sure you're starving."