Grave Digger

Chapter 22- Recover

Juni

I sat with Sam and Opala listening, to Sam as he talked on the phone with his father. Sam holding the phone to his ear as he listened to Joaquin. His hand rubbing his forehead as he sat hunched over in my kitchen. Opala sitting next to him but looking up at me every few seconds. I could barely meet her eyes now.

I stood away from them as I poured myself a glass of orange juice.

"How long has she been out?"

I try to listen in but I can't. Eventually the call ends and Sam lets his head fall to the table with a thud.

"They made her eat the flower Durroe genetically altered. She ate it as soon as she got there, so far she's had several seizures,"

"Goddess!" Opala gasps.

"Her blood pressure his through the roof, she has a high fever and they can't stop the bleeding." He groans hiding his face in his arms. His whole body shaking, as I can only hear the sound of his harsh breathing.

"But she's not dead." I say calmly. Holding on tightly to the cup in my hands as I try to keep my heart steady. "She's alive, and fighting this thing, so there's a chance."

"They said she's been like this for days!" Sam shouts. "Why-why didn't she wait? Why didn't she say anything first before leaving!" He stands from the kitchen bench and stomps out to the living room leaving me alone with Opala.

She walks over, my eyes lingering in the sophistication in her walk, the sway of her hips. She was so mature all the time, she seemed like she knew everything. Yesterday proved that she was just as clueless about this as me.

"Hey." She whispers lowly.

"Hi." I reply unwilling to look up.

She'll trap me with those eyes. She will, I know it.

"Can we talk?"

"We're talking."

"Juni!"

"Opala." I respond back, not even bothering to drink the juice I just poured. Staring at the glass emotionless, as she leans in over the counter.

"Juni, I'm sorry."

"I never asked you to apologize, Opala. There's nothing to apologize for. It's in the past. It's done, right?" I look up just then, seeing her eyes pour into me like liquor, my knees weaken.

She is beautiful.

"There is nothing. I didn't make the right choices back then, I knew you were hurting, and I thought all the wrong things! I thought-" her hands come up rubbing her forehead as she panted to herself. "I overlooked you, and betrayed you, which is a shame to every Lycan."

"Don't be ashamed." I close my eyes, squeezing them hard to fight back the tears. "Maybe you think I hate you, but I don't. I can't."

She sighs as she reaches for my hand but I flinch back, something in me unwilling to accept her touch.

"But I really want to hurt you, in the same way." I breathe out, the words sound filthy as I say them. "I want your guts to twist and hurt the same mine did, I want you to be plagued constantly by memories of me with someone else. I want you to feel it all, that way you'll understand what you did to me."

"Y-you don't mean that." She stuttered.

"I do. The pain was too real, Opala. I'll never be able to forget that for as long as I live." I sniffle, the mucus seeping from my nose using my sleeve to wipe it away. "Thing is I also know, I don't have the guts to do that to you, because I know precisely just how much it hurts." I couldn't help the bitter laugh that left me. Images of Opala smiling as she entered the room I shared with my brother, flashing through my head as the very familiar twisting feeling in my stomach returns. Moving up my chest the more I thought about it.