Watched Over

Chapter 19: Bruises

Caleb's eyes split open, making me lean forward straight away to grab his hand.

"How do you feel?" I ask him slowly and clearly.

"Terrible,"He winces in pain.

"Take it easy," I instruct. "Your ribs are fractured, healing takes six weeks, but you can go home to heal after a while if you want to. The doctor put you on narcotics, but if you move or attempt to get up the pain will definitely shoot back-"

"Why am I cold?" He asks.

"You have an ice pack against your rib cage, to prevent swelling," I gently place my hand on top of the ice pack, to indicate where it sits on him.

Out of all the guys on that field, why did it have to be Caleb that got hurt?

He lays there silently, contemplating the situation. A tear streams down his face, terrified of being restricted from particular things. I lean in even closer, combing his hair with my fingers.
"Other than the ribs, your not to bad. Your bruises are fine compared to mine," I inform trying to comfort him.

I only realise what I said, when he looks over at me with confusion set in his expression. "How did you get bruises?" He asks, curious about my recent remark.

"It's a long story..." I reply softly.

"That's good, you'll be able to distract me," he encourages me to continue.
Right when I'm about to start my hesitant sentence, the nurse comes in wanting to adjust certain things and replace his ice pack.

"You should probably leave miss, he needs some sleep," the nurse says, directly at me. I nod in reply, before she leaves the room.

"I better go," I kiss Caleb on the forehead heading towards the door.

"But you were going to tell me something about your bruises," he reminds me.

"You heard the nurse, you need sleep," I say, emphasising the word sleep.

"I can't go to sleep with this amount of pain," he announces, trying to convince me to come back to his side.

"There's some sleeping pills on your bed side table, I'll come back tomorrow," I exit the room, leaning up against the closed door trying to regather my breathe.
◈◈◈

"Is he ok?" Ruby asks, while following me out the hospital doors with Natalie.

"No, his ribs are pretty bad."

"Can I go in and see him?" Ruby looks towards the hospital doors, in which we just exited.

I shake my head, "sadly the nurse wants him to go to sleep, so the process is quicker for him."

"I hate this," Natalie begins, "I hate how everything is just crashing down and we have no warning what so ever." Her aggressively wild expression makes me worried for her.

"What else happened Natalie," Ruby places her hand on her shoulder, as I watch intently.

"I'm sorry, it's nothing," she says, stepping away.

"It's something and we all know it," Ruby looks at me as I come closer.

"Whatever it is Natalie, you can tell us," I convince her, with my daring eyes.

"It's my parents, their getting a divorce. My father doesn't want this kind of life with my mother and I, so he cheated in order to break it off with my mum," Natalie tries to control her heart race, but her anger breaks through.

"We're so sorry Na-" Ruby and I start.

"Don't be, it's not your fault," she announces sharply. "I just really need to leave right now before I start crying," she quivers, clenching her hands together. "I'll see you on Monday."

Natalie quickly walks away, making Ruby and I unsure of what to do.

"I didn't see that coming," Ruby says, and I nod in response.

"She's right though, everything is crashing down and it's not fair. What did we ever do?" I ask.

"I don't know, we just need to support them both right now. They need us," Ruby says.

"I agree," I pull in Ruby for a hug, needing one desperately after all the stress.
◈◈◈
Something came over me, and I didn't know what it was, but I was sick and tired of not making things clear, so I just went for it.

"Mum, we need to talk," I shout, while walking through our front door.

"Yes honey," her voice echoes from the kitchen.

As I walk in the room, she prepares dinner, glancing up at me every five seconds.

"You made it clear that you left me-"

"Honey, I told you. I was young, and I was afraid that I was never going to get out of there, so I ran. If I brought you with me, he would of suspected that I wasn't dead. He would've tried to come find me, with the massive infatuation he has for me," she cuts me off with her speech.

"I can't forgive you, it's to hard. You have to make up for the sixteen years I was trapped in that prison," I inform sharply.

"Yes, I'm happy to do that."

"Good, because there's no other way your getting out of this," I clench my fists, controlling my crazy emotions by being civilised. "But I want to be happy with you, I want to be a family. I don't want our past to split us apart, because I feel like we could be stronger together. You made mistakes, but I love you and nothing can change that. It doesn't mean I'll forgive you though. You're stepping on thin ice, and if you break it, I don't know if we will be able to recover from that."

"Honey... Lily, do you really think we can be family again?" She asks hesitantly, slicing the cucumbers perfectly.

"If we really put our minds to it mum, any things possible," I glance up at her delighted face, pleased that she gets another chance at life with her own daughter.

•••
Authors Note:
*I apologise for the short chapter, the next one will be longer.
*Lily is finally trying to fix things with her mother, but do you think it will all work out?
*Over 800 views, thank you!

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