Don't Blink

January 2, 2014 | part three

 C   H   A   P   T   E   R   4

   “Why didn’t you tell me that the accident was a fire?”

 For a moment, the world stopped spinning, everything pausing except for Auralee and Jared who let out a shallow breath. And then everything surged forward, the world continuing where it left off, and Jared slumped down, his hands sliding down from her shoulders.

  He sighed, pulling out his phone, pressing a few buttons before holding it up to his ear, his eyes still locked on Auralee’s.

 “Yeah,” He answered whoever was on the phone. From the sound of the yelling, it was a very upset, Belle. “Yeah Belle, I’m-. Yeah, I’m okay, we’re okay. Y-you- yeah you guys should just go ahead, we’ll meet you guys there. Okay, okay, bye.” He hung up, letting out another breath of air as he focused his attention on Auralee whose face was still streaming with tears.

 He reached up, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “First of all, stop crying.” He said, his voice soothing as he grabbed her hand and started leading her down the corridor.

 Auralee’s frustration boiled, her cheeks heating up. She didn’t know why she was crying, she didn’t know why Jared wouldn’t tell her anything, she didn’t know where he was leading her, she didn’t know anything and it was frustrating to say the least.

   She pulled at Jared’s hand, trying to get him to stop. “Jared,” She snapped, yanking at his arm. “Jared, where are you taking me?”

  He stopped at the wishing fountain, gently pulling Auralee so she was sitting beside him, faced so that their knees were touching. “I just wanted to sit down so that we could talk,” He explained, his voice as calm as ever. “You must be tired from walking around all day.”

 Auralee’s frustration hit its peak, her head pounding from it. “Why didn’t you tell me Jared?” She tried again, roughly wiping her tears away. She hated that she was getting so emotional.

 Jared sighed. “Babe, it’s been one day since you’ve woken up from your coma and I’ve been trying to feed you as much information as possible without it all overflowing. You’re brain needs some time to adjust to waking up and it can’t do that with your mind being flooded with memories and information. It has to come gradually.”

  As he was talking, Auralee could feel the heat in her cheeks gradually fading away. The pounding in her head wouldn’t go away though.

 “I just want to remember everything.” She muttered, defeated as she looked down at her lap, her hair falling in her face. She was too embarrassed to look up at him; she realized that she had overreacted.

 “And you will remember everything,” He assured, his voice still so irritatingly soothing as he lifted her chin up so that she was looking at him. “in time. Everything takes time. Okay?”

  She nodded, chewing on her lip as she tried to come to terms with the fact. Jared had told her that she was very impatient, she knew what he was talking about. Every fiber in her body was itching for knowledge. She was itching to remember.

  She felt that even though it had been a day since she had woken up, there was so much that she knew but even more that she had to learn. She was even walking around and talking like a normal person which she was pretty sure wasn’t normal for a person who had just came out of a coma. She had so much energy. She wanted to move, to learn, to remember.

    “Okay,” she finally said, letting out a breath.

  His smile lit up his face. “Good, I don’t know what I’d do if you were mad at me.” He admitted.

 “Just one more thing.” She continued.

 He sent her a look and she smiled apologetically. “Sure, anything.” He said, his smile warm.

 Auralee’s smile disappeared, her eyes growing serious as she remembered the voice, begging for her to stop. “Who was in the fire with me?”

 Jared’s smile dropped, his eyes going a shade darker. “What do you mean? You were alone in your apartment when it happened.”

 She was shaking her head halfway through her sentence. “No, no there was someone there with me.” She stated stubbornly.

  “Aura! I love you!”

 “Was it you?” She questioned, her voice going an octave higher. “You were with me, weren’t you?”

  Jared shook his head, his eyes gravely serious. “No Aura, you were the only one in the fire,” She went to protest but he cut her off. “Think about it, I would be extremely hurt if I was in that fire. We were lucky to get you out in time. If I was there, I would’ve at least had burn marks or scars/ But no, I’m fine, and you’re fine.”

  Auralee looked down at her scar-less self, something dawning on her. “Why am I not hurt? The fire was really bad but I didn’t get hurt.” She pulled up her sleeves, looking for any marks, anything. “I was engulfed in flames!” She cried, looking up at him, her eyes crazed. “You were engulfed! You were begging me to stop!”

   People were stopping and staring but Auralee didn’t care. She wanted answers.

  “Auralee,” Jared snapped, grabbing her shoulders. She resisted his touch, scooting away from him. He grabbed her again, rougher this time. “Stop! Look at me!”

 His pupils suddenly dilated, seemingly engulfing the green. Auralee froze, her eyes dilating in return. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. All there was in the world was his eyes and his oh-so entrancing, voice.

  “Listen to me closely. There was no one else in the fire with you Auralee. You were making dinner and had left to answer the phone, forgetting that the stove was still on and a rag caught on fire. It was spreading too quickly and you were rushing around,”

  As he continued, Auralee could suddenly picture it all…

 “Crap, crap, crap, crap!” She cried out, struggling to put out the flames when her apron got caught on fire. She screamed as the flames nicked her hand. She was rushing over to the sink when she tripped, her head slamming into the counter.

  Everything went black.

 She took in a deep breath, nodding along to his words.

“Do you understand? There was no one in the fire but you.”

 Auralee nodded, her face blank. “Yes, I understand. I’m sorry for overreacting.”

 As she said that, everything zoned back into focus. She blinked and the world was in motion again, Jared’s eyes back to normal and the ever-present smile on his face. “It’s okay, I know you’ve been through a lot. You can trust me, you know.”

 Auralee nodded, a small smile on her face. Her head felt clear, her body hollow. She felt calm, happy. “With my life.” She answered truthfully.

  He grinned, caressing her cheek as he kissed her. She melted into the kiss, grabbing his shirt and yanking him forward, into her.

  His grin widened as he pulled away. “You know I love you right?”

  She nodded again, her answering smile lighting up her face.

 “Always.”

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Don't worry about the shortness peeps, after all, the next chapter will be updated tommorrow. Anything you don't like/find troubling so far? Comment down below  and vote if you feeling extra snazzy ;) (lol ignore my attempt at being cool)

Stay awesome <3333

~Mea