Murder Yours Truly

"Reality"

For a while, we sat there in silence. Alex's voice was back again. The real voice that I've come to know personally. It was raspy and gentle and speaking only to me. What's real...? My eyes burned at the sight of the man in front of me, holding my cheek with closed eyes. The bright lights that were built into the metal ceiling were dim. I remember now, I know where I am... depression followed that thought. I'm not home. I sat up a bit and tried to grip my sore head. Large, soft hands held me down. I groaned at the pain instead. Alex made a soft, relieved sigh and slowly picked me up. How long has he been... hovering over me? I breathed slowly and waited for the nausia to stop. Pressure all around my body came back to me in sync with my adjusting eyes.

It hurts.

More than just the cuts that I forgot about; my heart was numb and throbbing. It hurt inside. Alex was holding me close to his chest; his heartbeat was going faster than I thought possible. His warmth was a refreshing feeling somehow. "Alex..?" my chin was resting against his shoulder as I whispered his name to myself. He only tightened his grip around me a little to those words. "Finally," he whispered back, his soft voice that sounded tired from shouting so much was shaky and desperate, "You were out for so long. Leon didn't even know what to make of it."

Leon and Zack were standing beside the couch, baffled. As they should be. We all had no clue what was happening. Leon made a twitch and a hesitating movement every now and again. Zack knew better than to interrupt this time; he stopped Leon from doing something disturbing with his doctoral instincts . "Leon," Alex's voice vibrated against the nape of my neck, "she's coming back to my room." Leon didn't say anything. He was standing there, staring at us in terrified awe. "Alex," I tried to reason with him while remembering how little power I really had. "I'm still... I can't move." He didn't move an inch in response. He stayed there, giving all of his warmth to me. His tough, heavy arms wrapped around my back and his soft head rested cautiously against my shoulder. Our breaths synced up eventually. Slow and steady did our chests press against each other.

It doesn't hurt anymore.

It took him some time. Once my body recognized Alex's reluctance to move, I gave in and melted into his arms. That comfortable, warm feeling Alex gave me was so cleansing. Alex finally began to loosen his grip... and was oddly depressing in how he moved away so soon. Zack and Leon started animating themselves by looking at the ceiling, and practically, not-so-suspiciously whistling away from us. They acted like they were trained; without a word being spoke, the two backed out of the room. Leon went first and Zack was a close second. "Kate," his head picked up and brushed against mine. The sight I saw once he was in full view was...

His eyes were a plain shade of blue, the shines were gone. His skin was lacking in what smooth color it used to hold. Now, every now and then, a smear of orange-brown or a dot of dark red polkadotted his shirt. The only thing that stayed intact was his soft, black hair and the sad smile he always showed me so effortlessly. "Don't ever do that again," he said with the voice of a broken man. "What happened?" I worridly asked him.

An instinct of mine took over. This person in front of me holds every inch of my future in his hands. My smile was gentile for him and as genuine as I could make it. I started to fidget a little, "Hey..." I took a hand up to his moist eyes and pushed back his lacy, dark hair. His eyes were stuck in mine, the colors finally settling back in, washing over his petrified eyes like a fresh watercolor painting.

"Do you think it'd all be better off that way, Kate?"

I hadn't been paying it much attention. Things were going through my head so fast, questions were being asked but never answered... but Alex and I were staring right into each others eyes. Mine were darting between his two. Those monochromatic blue eyes were calm and steady. Looking straight into mine, he smiled dearly and sighed, making a feint, singular laugh.

"You," I started, sounding more like the Kate I've grown to know. The hallucinogenic state I found myself earlier was kicked out of my mind. "You slammed a bat into my arm," I said aloud. Alex's comfortable body language suddenly popped back up. His shoulders squared and stiffened, his hands flinched, and his breathing sharpened. His eyes blinked a few times and turned back to their usual narrow, focused gaze. He was, for lack of a better word, flabbergasted.