Tiny Crown

Chapter 12

Her chest hurt. Her head hurt.

She took a deep breath before opening her eyes. She saw the doorway to the kitchen, though it was more of an arch and there weren’t actually any doors. There were pillows behind her back, propping her up a little.

“Are you awake?”

Evan.

“Yeah,” she whispered with a hoarse voice. “What…?”
“You fainted,” he said. “After you put the plate on the counter. I picked you up and put you on the couch.”
“Right…”
“I got you a bottle of water, if you want it,” he said, offering a smile. Emilia turned her head to look at him.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, shaking her head a little.

She jumped as Evan’s phone started buzzing. Sighing, Evan looked at his phone. His expression morphed into an emotionless mask.
“I have to take this,” he muttered as he stood up. “Don’t try to do much, I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Evan stood up, Emilia realised he had been kneeling next to the couch, and walked into the kitchen. As he answered his phone, he lifted it to his ear. Emilia listened to him. It seemed like a rather normal conversation about how he was doing but he seemed tense. His fingers tapped the kitchen counter as he listened to the other person talk.

“Nathan told you she’s here?” he asked sharply. Emilia had the feeling that she was now the topic of the conversation between Evan and whoever was on the other end of the phone. “She’s not, I don’t know why he’s said that.” Evan turned to look at her. “I know you both think that she’s here and I know you’re mad at me for ruining everything but I haven’t done anything. I can barely look after myself, let alone trying to deal with a teenage girl.”

He refrained from sighing and instead closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I have to go now,” he said before pulling his phone away from his ear and hanging up on whoever it was. His hand gripped the edge of the kitchen counter and he stood there for a moment, taking deep breaths.

Before walking back into the room and standing next to the couch Emilia was lying on, Evan muttered something to himself.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Who was that?” she asked, wondering if he’d tell her.
“My mother.”

It was like her stomach had plummeted downwards. He had just spoken to a woman who wanted her dead. And he had lied to said woman, who was also his mother, about Emilia’s current whereabouts.

“You lied to her.”
“Yes, I did,” he said, speaking softly. It was unlike how he had spoken to his mother and to Nathan.
“About me.”
“Yes,” he said. He knelt down next to her again. There wasn’t a hint of anger or annoyance in his voice. “I’ve told you, I don’t want her to hurt you.”

Emilia stared at him for a moment. He really seemed sincere about it and she had just watched him lie to his mother. Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her ribs ached as she sat up but there wasn’t any light-headedness.
“Are you alright?”
“I think so.” Emilia nodded a little.
“That’s good,” he said, nodding. It seemed like he was nodding more to himself than anything else. “Just… try not to do anything too…”
“Strenuous?” said Emilia. She could remember being told not to do anything too strenuous too often.
Evan nodded. “Yeah. That one.”

They just looked at each other and it was silent for a moment before Emilia decided to speak again.
“I don’t have any of my medication,” she said, looking away from him.
Evan sighed. “I don’t know how to help with that, I’m sorry.” Emilia squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She didn’t know how she was going to cope without it. She didn’t expect him to be able to help so why did she feel disappointed that he couldn’t. “Do you feel better, though?”
“Well, I don’t feel like I’m about to pass out again.”
Evan nodded. “Just… yeah, take it easy.”
“I will.”

Evan stood up and headed to the kitchen. The plate Emilia had brought down was on the side. Emilia watched him pick it up as she turned and put her feet on the floor. She stood up and slowly walked towards the kitchen. Evan’s finger was rubbing the edge of the plate and as she stood next to him, she understood why. It was chipped.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. He flinched and turned to look at her.
He shook his head. “It’s fine, I’ve broken a lot of plates. I can probably still use it, I just can’t serve my mother or Nathan anything on it.” She figured that was because they would complain.
Emilia hummed. “But still…”
“It was an accident, you didn’t mean it,” Evan said, maybe a little too quickly. Was it because she had startled him?

“Do you have to work today?” asked Emilia. Evan turned to look at her again and she could see him thinking.
“No, I don’t.”

Emilia nodded to herself and glanced away. Her eyes fixed on the plate which was still in his hands; she didn’t mean to break it. Internally, she was debating whether or not to ask him if she could go outside. She had struggled yesterday with being inside and watching the outside world through a window.

“You’re thinking,” he said. Her eyebrows raised as she looked back at him. and he smiled a little. “You look away when you’re thinking.”
“I do it when I’m anxious too,” she said, thinking back to her aunt. Her chest felt heavy as she looked up at him. “I just… I can’t deal with being inside all day.”
He looked down, there was a small frown on his lips. “I know it’s difficult, but you tried to run away.”

“Because you’re keeping me here,” she said, trying not to lash out at him and make him angry. “I won’t try to run away if you let me outside. You can stay with me and make sure or something. I just… I can’t deal with it.”
“I need to think.” He took a step back and put the plate in the sink. “I need to think about it.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’m going to go and read.”