Bullied Once, Loved Twice

Chapter 13 - Who can I trust?

Liam slowly opened his eyes, and pain shot through him like a brick to the face. He quickly sat up with sweat on his forehead, looking around scared before frowning. Where was he?

"Liam..?" A familiar voice echoed through the room, causing his head to jerk in that direction. Narcia was there, standing by the open window. The moonlight shined through the room. It made her skin look so pretty. He shook his head at the thought, looking at the blanket that covered his legs. He slowly lifted it up, his eyes widening as he saw a hand-made casting. It wasn't a dream.

"You fell pretty hard down the stairs..." She said calmly as she looked outside, her arms crossed nonchalantly.

"W-What..?"

"At school, you fell down the stairs. You don't remember?" She said while biting the inside of her lips. She hated lying to him.

"No... No, that's not right. That's... But..." He said as he put a hand on the back of his head. The memories were still very blurry in his head.

"It's okay, I know it must be confusing... You were pretty delirious." She said as Liam's eyes widened. Had he completely hallucinated everything!? He pulled his hand from behind his head, looking down at it with horror. Had his mind tormented him because of the words Matheo had told him?

"You also scraped yourself pretty bad on your fall... I took care of your bandage for it." She said as she played a bit with her hair, a blush coming on her cheek as Liam blushed a bit back. He slowly lay back down on the bed, putting his hand on his forehead.

Thank god it was just a dream...

He chuckled to himself a bit, closing his eyes. He could remember how soft the wolf he had layed on was. What color was its fur again?

"Liam..? Are you okay?" She asked, slowly walking to him as he shivered. He chuckled dryly.

"Yeah, I just nearly lost my mind after taking a quick trip down the stairs..." He said as she looked down with guilt, hating that she made him feel ridiculous when his feelings we're true and valid. She slowly sat on the bed, putting her hand on his that layed beside him.

"You had a severe fever, Liam... You weren't losing your mind. I promise." She said with a gentle smile before he ripped his hand away from her, looking at the wall on the other side. She sighed and stood up, walking towards the door to walk out.

"Did I break your set...?" He asked as she frowned, turning to look at him as he turned to face her.

"What?"

"Your bowls... The set you brought me to eat... Did I break them when I fell?" He said as she turned towards the door, her face flushed red. That's why he had come to school that day. It had all been to bring her stuff back. She gripped her chest, placing a reminder in her head to go back to that house to collect her things.

"No... You didn't." Was all she said as she opened the door, walking out and shutting it behind herself. Liam sighed in relief as he looked at the ceiling, glad he had at least fulfilled his original mission.

-

"Did he buy it..?"

"Huh?" Narcia looked up confused at Matheo.

"Did he buy it? The whole story?" He asked as she sighed and looked at the door with sadness. She wasn't fully sure. Either way, she felt really bad for lying.

"I'm not really sure... But I think so." She said as Matheo sighed and nodded. It had already been 2 weeks since Liam was found. The school was told the same story as Liam, so for his safety, they had agreed that he stayed safely there until he recovered instead of the dormitory.