A Friend To The Elements

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

"Get them off me! Get them off me!"

Her screams were the first thing I heard followed by feeling the blankets flail around us. She kicked harder as the blankets wrapped around her legs. There was just enough light coming from the bathroom to see tears streaming down her flushed face as she yelled.

All signs of sleep were instantly gone as I bolted across the room to flip on the light. She squinted slightly but continued to push the blankets away. I placed my hand on her arm trying to stop the flailing so I could understand what was on her.

Then I pulled the blanket off but found nothing. Her kicks subsided allowing me to guide her into the chair that I still had set up from dinner. The bed was free of anything that could have been on her. I even checked underneath the frame along with around the room in case her kicking sent whatever it was flying across the room.

Her knees were pulled up to her chest while she tried to catch her breath. Her wide eyes darted from one side of the room to the next as if she was trying to take in where she was and what was happening. After thoroughly examining the room, I crouched onto my knees in front of her chair and took her hands in mine.

"What's going on?" I clenched my teeth attempting to swallow the growl in my throat, but by the way her body tensed even more, I knew at least she had heard it.

I turned my head to see Josh standing in the door frame. Apparently, he didn't even take the time to put on a shirt.

Lily looked from me then back at him unsure what to do. I stood up, conveniently blocking his view of her. "Just a nightmare. You can leave."

He stepped further into the room. My hands balled into fists while I curled my toes into the carpet, forcing my body not to lunge at him.

He stepped to the side to get closer to her. Her small fingers that still held tightly to one of my hands dropped away. She whimpered slightly to pull herself out of the chair and step around me to Josh. My stomach dropped.

The rational side of me was gone. The understanding of going through a traumatic life event was washed away with pain and hurt.

I nodded to myself before making my way to the door. "I will leave then. I would hate to stand in the way of you two."

I could see her hand reaching out to grab my arm, but I was quicker. Josh glanced between the two of us as if once again he couldn't understand why I would be so furious.

To an extent it was low of me. I wouldn't say I was proud of the little episode, but I also couldn't say I felt like I was in the wrong. It was easy enough to slide my boots on my bare feet and grab the truck keys. Josh didn't make an effort to follow me, and I knew Lily wasn't able to make it down those steps. It wasn't like she called out to me though either.

After shoving the key in the ignition, I knew I couldn't go too far. We had been apart too long and the pull in my chest was already bordering on painful. If I didn't move though she would know. She would feel me being close by just as much as I felt her. Something about that felt unfair. That she could step around me to him, but still have the comfort of knowing I am here.

I backed out of the driveway and pulled just far enough down the road that the bond was weakened. A knot formed in my stomach, but a little bit of the pain dissipated. I could still clearly see the light in her room from my street parking spot and despite it being four in the morning no shadow walked in front of any of the windows and the lights remained on the rest of the morning.

My phone didn't buzz, and nobody walked out of the house to see where I had gone. To have speculations about Josh being picked over me was tough. To see it confirmed was even worse.