Fire on Fire

5. Some things are best left unspoken

Emma coughed loudly for the third time in a row, her lungs suffering the pain of it, her whole ribcage echoing that same ache. Her eyes were teary, she felt nauseous, but also hungry. She sat up, and it took a few moments for her head to stop spinning. When it did, she was finally able to take a look around. That wasn't her apartment ... where was she?

She squinted her eyes, trying to take in her surroundings, but nothing of what she saw looked familiar. For starters, she was on a bed, a really comfortable one. All around her, there were shelves filled to the brim with books. She could not think of any place that looked even the slightest bit like that one.

"It's my nana's bedroom." Alexander's voice startled her. When she looked up, Emma was surprised to see him standing there, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe, eyes fixated on her.

"What?" She asked, her voice weak and raspy.

He pulled off the doorframe, and went to sit at her side. "While you were asleep, there was a robbery, shots were fired, so now your building is a crime scene."

"Nothing unusual." She coughed, her throat feeling sore.

"But cops uncovered an underground network, so the building's been evacuated. Everybody had to leave."

Emma frowned. "I can't have slept through all that."

Alexander pressed his lips. "Ok ... maybe there was no robbery."

"You just arbitrarily brought me here while I was asleep, didn't you?" She grumbled. "How did you manage? Did you drug me?"

He laughed. "No, of course not, jeez. But you took some meds that knocked you off for a few hours, so it was kinda easy. Although I gotta say ... you're not as much of a featherweight as I thought." He feigned hurt, rubbing his back. "Man, I'm gonna feel sore for a while now."

"You should have left me there." Emma glared, then covered her mouth to cough, wincing when her ribcage echoed the pain in her chest. "You had no right to ..." she coughed again, "you had no right to just kidnap me and take me ... what's this place again?"

Alexander cracked a small smile, tucking her in when she lay down. "It's my grandmother's house, in Staten Island."

"Staten Island??" Emma gasped, only to then wince once again, bringing a hand to her chest. Even breathing felt painful.

"Relax, it's not that far away." He shrugged. "Just about 40 minutes by car."

"How am I ..." she coughed in her hand, "how am I supposed to get home?"

"The same way you came here?" Alexander chuckled. "Just get some rest, get better, and I'll ... take you home." He lied. There was no way in Hell he'd let her go back to that hovel. Had he not been there, a simple influenza might have gotten way worse because of the terrible conditions of her apartment.

Between one cough fit and the other, Emma arched an eyebrow, perusing him. "You're lying."

"Am I?" He feigned innocence. "You can stay here until you feel better, Nana won't mind."

"There's no need. I ..." Emma tried to sit up, but her bones felt weak, "I'm just gonna ..." she heaved a deep sigh, surrendering. "Okay." She finally conceded. "I will rest a bit and then ... call a taxi or something."

"Emma ..." Alexander sighed.

"I appreciate the help," she wheezed, "but I'll be fine on my own." Last thing she needed was to spend more time than due with him, or even meet his family. "What did you tell your grandmother anyway?"

"Huh?"

"Does ..." she bit on her lips, embarrassed, "does she know who I am?"

He cracked a small smile. "I just told her you're a friend."