Tiny Crown

Chapter 24

Even once she had stopped crying, Emilia had to give herself some more time. Mostly out of the fear that she'd end up crying in front of him and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She wasn't sure if she should bother going downstairs again.

There were two soft knocks on the door.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice didn't quite sound right, probably from the crying. She realised she probably didn't look great.
"Your medication, how many do you take?" he asked.
Emilia stood up and pulled the door open. "One," she said as she noticed he had a bottle of water for her and the box of tablets in one hand. He held out the water and she took it from him. He then opened the box and popped one of the tablets out of its foil packaging and handed it to her.

She swallowed the tablet and then took a sip of water. "Thank you," she said. He was going to control all of her medication. Maybe he was worried she would try to overdose. She had thought of it during those seventeen days but she thankfully didn't have any to take.

"Are you alright?" he asked.
Emilia shrugged. She wasn't sure. "I don't know, I still want to go home."
"I know," he said softly.
Emilia looked up at him. "The next time I leave," she said. "Would you let me leave?"
"As long as Nathan or my mother isn't there... yes," he said, nodding. "I'm probably going to be in prison at some point anyway. I... I deserve it, I think." Emilia wasn't sure how to react to that. She just nodded.

It was quiet for a moment and then Evan moved the topic of the conversation onto dinner, apparently she had been in the room for a few hours. Compared to all of the other days, the day was one of the nicer ones. She ate nice food and stood outside for a while. Evan didn't hold her hand this time. They watched one of the John Green movies before Emilia headed up to sleep in the room. Evan stayed awake.

Sleeping was irritating, whatever she did, she couldn't get comfortable. Emilia was tired the next morning. Evan watched her take her tablet after breakfast and then she ended up reading the book she had started several weeks prior while he worked.

After eating dinner, Emilia stood outside again. It was warm and the air was still fresh and clean. She turned to look at Evan who stood in the doorway.
"How did you break your phone?" she asked. "I've been wondering for a while why it's so cracked."
"When I get pins and needles in my hands, sometimes it means I drop things and I've dropped my phone a fair few times," he explained as he leaned against the door frame. Emilia hummed and nodded. That answer made sense to her.

"You know, thinking back to Oak Park High, and your accident. There's no way you could have fallen down three flights of stairs on accident," she said bluntly. "I had a lot of time to think in that room, there isn't any way."
Evan bit his lip. "I know there isn't. But there weren't any cameras and I didn't remember and still don't and no one's going to admit to it."
Emilia frowned. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I'm sorry your aunt was such a bitch too."
"She's gone now, it's fine," he said, taking a deep breath after he said it. Emilia just nodded.

"Is she out here?" asked Emilia. 'Here' meant the forest and she hoped he understood what she was trying to ask. Evan's gaze moved away from her and then he nodded.
"Yes, she is."
"And no one's found where she is?"
He shook his head. "No."

"I wish you had a better family, mostly that you had a better mother," she said quietly, looking away from him. Emilia hoped that she hadn't offended him. "My mom's ill and has every reason to be a bad parent, she didn't want me, raised me alone and then discovered she had cancer. And yet, she's still a brilliant mom. I wish you had a better one, maybe none of what happened to you would have happened."
"I wish that too." Evan took a step backwards, inside the house and Emilia followed.