Flores :: Carlos Sainz

Veintiséis

04:02

"What day is it?"

"Tues- Wednesday."

—

06:00

"Who is the king of the Netherlands?"

"Wim-Lex."

"Who?"

"Willem-Alexander."

—

08:04

"What is your middle name?"

"I don't have a middle name. You're terrible at asking questions."

A smile curved on Carlos' face. She was definitely not a morning person. "How's the headache?"

"Hmm," she hummed. "My face hurts."

"Do you want a painkiller?"

"Yes."

Carlos got out of bed and walked to the living room. The hospital gave Eleanor a couple of painkillers. He grabbed her bag and grabbed the painkillers. When he walked back to the living room, he had a quick glance outside. It was a sunny day already. "Here," he said and sat down on the bed again. He grabbed the glass of water from her nightstand.

Eleanor sat up and groaned. "Now my head hurts," she mumbled. "Fucking hell," she breathed and took in the pill with a sip of water. "God, ew."

He softly chuckled. He scanned her face. The bedroom was dimmed, but light enough to see the contours of her face. It looked swollen, puffy, even though there were bandages on her face. "Are you going back to sleep?"

"Yeah." She laid down again and let out a deep breath.

"Okay, I will check on you in two hours. Sleep well."

❁

"Hallo?" Eleanor covered her eyes with her arm. Her eyes remained closed. She didn't move a millimetre in bed. She managed to keep her phone between her shoulder and ear.

"Hey, you didn't respond to my messages. You didn't let me know if you were home. Just checking," the voice of Bibi filled her ear.

"Oh, yeah. Everything is fine now."

"So you're home?"

"Not exactly."

"O."

"Long story short, I had a stop at the hospital and I'm at Carlos' now."

It was silence on the other side of the line. "Why? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Kinda, I think."

"Eleanor, you're scaring me. I'm going to FaceTime you," Bibi worriedly said and started to FaceTime Eleanor.

She answered the call, but figured all she showed was a black screen. "Godverdomme," Eleanor groaned when she sat up. She let out a deep breath and waited a couple of seconds before she would make her next movement. She turned on the light on the nightstand, squeezing her eyes closed.

"Jezusmina."

Eleanor opened her eyes, well, her eye. She looked at herself on her phone. "I can't open my left eye," she said. It stayed silent. The left half of her face was swollen, probably because of the smack she had made. "Oh, my god," she whispered and moved her phone closer to her face to inspect it more. The bandages didn't move.