The Selection (Where the King is Nice)

Chapter 21

A/N:
7 Chapters left! (Unless Specified)

(America's POV)
I feel May tugging at my shoulder.
"Come on, Ames! Come. On!" She brings me to a garden. But not just any garden, no. It was the garden in the palace.
"How did you get here?" I ask her.
"I have my ways," she says, smirking. May then picks a red rose from a bush.
"It matches your hair," she says, laughing gleefully. Just then, I hear screaming and shouting.
"REBELS!" I yell to my sister. She freezes and doesn't move a muscle.
"May. We. Need. To. Go. Now."I grab her hand and we race out of the gardens. Then I hear a blood-curling scream. My sister's body goes limp and she falls to the ground. I see the blood start to surround her in a puddle. Pain courses through my veins.
"May!" I sob.
"Please, please, please don't die! I need you here." I bury my face in her shoulder while tears fall down my face. Suddenly, a strong pair of arms grabs me.
"GET OFF ME!" I shriek at whoever is holding me. It's a rebel. I see Maxon running toward me in the distance.
"America! AMERICA!" But the rebel sees him and snarls,
"You haven't listened to us all these years. Now you have to watch your loved one die!" Maxon shrieks and I wait for the impeding blow. The rebel shoots a bullet at me and it hits my back. I instantly collapse near my sister.
"May," I croak.
"I love you." My vision starts to fade and there's black spots surrounding everything I look at. I hear someone screaming my name, telling me not to die, but I'm too far gone to know who it is.

"Miss! MISS! Wake up! It was just a nightmare!" I wake up gasping for air.
"You're alright, miss. We've treated all of your rebel wounds." I look down at myself and see a lot of bandages. There is a dull throbbing from everything, but I don't notice it. Because then I remember it; my dream.
"May! Is she ok?"
"She's at your house, fine as usual. Why do you ask, miss?" The nurse asked me.
"Nightmare," I grumble.
"Ok, well, it's time to bring you lunch. I'll be back." I wonder how long I was out. The rebels did give me pretty severe wounds. Then, I hear a light knock on the door.
"America, are you awake?" The voice asks me.
"Yes," I say. Maxon peeks his head in and then looks like he wants to explode with happiness.
"AMERICA!" He shrieks,
"You're ok!!!!" I laugh out loud at his expression. It felt so good to laugh since I'd been in pain for so long. Maxon comes over to my bedside and squeezes my hand.
"I'm so, so, so sorry this had to happen to you. I didn't even realize you had stopped following us the day you were kidnapped. I just assumed that you were being quiet because you wanted to put all of your energy into running. I assumed so very, very wrong.
"As the days past and the time you had been with the rebels got longer, I missed you more and more. The painful feeling of knowing that you were hurting was unbearable. I was going insane. When the 2 week mark hit, I was literally in insanity. Most days, I never left my room.
"I love you so, so much America and I will never stop. My heart throbs with the thought of you in pain, it swells when you smile. I am so honored to just know you, let alone have the chance to love you. So I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, SO glad you are safe." After Maxon gives his super long speech, I say,
"Quite the speech you gave there." He laughs and starts to say something but I pull him in and press my lips to his for a well deserved kiss. It'd felt like forever since I'd last kissed him, with the rebels and all. Every time I kissed Aspen, he kissed desperately, like he was afraid someone was going to cut us off. But with Maxon- well, it's so much different. He kisses me passionately, yet still lovingly. Even after all this time, sparks still flew when we kissed. And then I realized-
I'd kissed him, not the other way around. Was that even legal? He slowly pulls away and I can feel the smile on his lips.
"I-I'm s-sorry. I don-" But Maxon cuts me off and says,
"Shh, America, you can kiss me and I can kiss you. I want this to be a normal relationship, not a weird one because of all the Selection rules." I look at him gratefully.
"I don't think the nurses are going to let me out of the hospital yet, though," I tell him.
"I'll still visit you. A lot. Like, every hour." I laugh heartily. He's something else.
"That's quite obsessive, don't you think?" He pretend to think it over but then eventually says,
"I can't help it. I have this problem with staying away from you. And don't expect me to start," he says jokingly. I'm about to say something stubborn in retort, but a nurse cuts us off.
"Prince Maxon, sir, you are requested in the dining hall." He looks over at me and says,
"See you.. in an hour." I try to hold in my laughter but it's too hard. The nurse raises her eyebrows humorously and it makes me laugh harder. After about 5 minutes, I stop laughing and the nurse takes all the tests.
"It looks like you're good. Go easy on the arm and the jaw, though." Suddenly, I get excited.
"Does this mean I can leave?"
"No, not yet.. But I think you'll be able to surprise everyone at breakfast tomorrow."
"YES!" I yell,
"Now I'm looking forward to breakfast." The nurse walks out of the room. There's nothing else to do for the rest of the day except wait for Maxon, so I guess the only thing I can really do is get some rest so I heal faster.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
(7 Hours Later-8 pm)
I look over at the clock. Crap! Maxon probably came a few hours ago and I was asleep.
"Maxon?" I whisper into the darkness. Obviously, he's not there, but it's worth a shot. Suddenly, the door creaks open. Whoever opened the door probably assumed I was asleep because they were tiptoeing quietly. The light was off, so that probably added to their assumption.
"She's asleep right now but will be awake soon." I hear a voice whisper.
"Ok, can I turn the lights on?" A familiar voice asks.
"If you'd like, sir." Ah, so it was Maxon. Or his father. But that was extremely unlikely. Those were the only people I know who were called 'sir.'
"America," Maxon? said softly.
"Mmm? Who is it?" I ask, barely above a whisper.
"Maxon... But wait you're awake!" He exclaimed. The lights were flicked on and I was blinded by light. I shielded my eyes from the brightness.
"America! Ever hour I visited you were asleep, so I would only stay for like 5 minutes or so each time." I so badly wanted to tell him about breakfast tomorrow, but I wanted it to be a surprise. The nurses all knew that it was going to be a surprise, too, so if Maxon ever asked them when I was getting out of the hospital, supposedly they had to tell him 5 days.
"Mealtimes are so boring when you aren't there!" Maxon complained.
"What did I ever do to make mealtime fun?" I asked, pretending to be suspicious,
"All I ever did was talk to Marlee and Kriss." Maxon continues to stare at me and then chortles loudly.
"Oh, it was fun to look at you because my eyes are attracted to you like a magnet. And then I would remember how much I love you." I snorted a little.
"And that is.. fun?" I asked, incredulously.
"Well, it is rather entertaining. When you're not there-Oh wait, when are you going to be back? Like, out of the hospital?" I grinned, remembering what the nurses said about the surprise and all.
"The nurses are telling me 5 weeks."
"WHAT?!?" I laugh so hard at his reaction.
"Just kidding, it was 5 days." Maxon sighs, obviously relived.
"That's better. Oh hey! I actually came down here to tell you something. We are having the Halloween Ball in a week and your family is coming." Wait, when did this happen? Probably when I was gone. But, I'm so excited because I'm going to see my family again!!!!
"Yes!! Was that based on our research?" He smiles and slightly nods. We talk for a little bit longer until it's around 9 pm, and then he's summoned by his parents.
"See you, America." He says.
"Bye." A weird thought then pops into my head. I wonder how Aspen felt when I was kidnapped, I thought. He must've been upset. But then again, he never visited me. I heard that while I was unconscious, Marlee, Maxon, Kriss, and the queen visited me. Not all together, but still. Aspen wasn't in that equation. After thinking about that for awhile, I fell asleep, excited to surprise everybody at breakfast tomorrow.

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