Broken

Chapter 14: For the Love of Kratos (KL)

As I walked in the room, a slender woman with black hair was expressing her concern to Raine. She looked up at me and shot me a weak smile.

    "Hi there."

    "Hi," I replied weakly. The woman continued her conversation as I looked over to the lab table. Kratos was there, unconscious and pale as a ghost. A sudden gasp escaped my lips, startling both the women.

    Raine's eyes filled with anger as her head turned to look at me. "What? You're shocked he's like this? This never happened to him before. Maybe it's just you. Maybe you're the one doing this to him."

    The black haired woman looked at her, "Raine-"

    " No, Lily, it's true. Ever since she arrived Kratos hasn't been the same."

    "What are you talking about? I didn't do a thing to him!"

    The black haired lady looked over at me, " Don't worry about it," she then glared over at Raine, "and you, you need to stop it. We don't need all of this unnecessary conflict."

    Raine angrily bit her lip and stormed out of the room, to which Lily rolled her eyes.

Averting her attention from Raine to me, Lily quickly changed the subject and her demeanor. "Hi, I'm Lily. You must be KL. Nice to meet you," she smiled, illuminating her bright blue eyes.

    "Oh, so you're Lily! Taj was just telling me about you."

    "Oh, he was?" She said while playfully squinting her eyes.

    "It was nothing bad, I promise," I said, giggling. "He was just telling me that we share a name. My name is Kitara-Lily but I prefer KL. It's just easier."

    She smiled, "Yeah, KL is so much easier to pronounce. It's cool that we have a common name though."

    "Yeah," I said, glancing over at Kratos again. Lily seemed to notice this because she spoke up.

    "Kratos will be fine. He just needs some time to heal. His vitals seem to be stable, so I wouldn't worry."

    Then suddenly, I felt a knot form in my stomach. I looked up at Lily. "Do you really think that I could be doing this to him?"

    She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No."

    I sighed. "I just feel horrible." I walked over to his unconscious body, moving a piece of his shaggy brown hair out of his face. Just seeing him here like this made me realize that I cared for this boy much more than I could ever admit to myself. This knot of sadness formed in my stomach and traveled all the way up to the lump in my throat. I felt as though all of the wind had been knocked out of me, and yet between all of this I still got butterflies at the thought of him waking up and looking at me with his dazzling blue eyes. I bit my lip to contain the tears that I was struggling to hold back.

    Glancing behind me, I saw Lily stare at me with an expression of understanding. Yet, I had no clue what was running through her head.

    "Lily, what happens if he doesn't wake up?" Near the end of my sentence, my words faded to a mere whisper.

    "He will. Just give it some time."

    "But what if Raine was right...?"

    Lily smiled, "She has no idea what she's saying. She just seems on edge-more on edge- than usual. I would just ignore it."

    " I don't think she likes me."

    "Why do you say that?" Lily asked, moving her head to the side in a questioning matter.