Sweet Blood
Awake And Unafraid
*back in Maia’s POV*
I felt the life streaming back into me; I felt the scratchiness of the hospital blankets, the cool air, the heat and sweat of a hand in mine. I slightly opened my eyes, there was a blinding light. I shut them tight. Whoever was holding my hand noticed,
“Maia? Are you awake?” it was dark and rough, like they hadn’t had a decent sleep in days. I turned my head, I had a feeling about who it was, I squinted. The light wasn’t as bright, so I opened my eyes all the way. It was just the person I hoped and thought I would see, Gerard, I smiled and nodded.
His face lit up.
“Oh thank god,” he yelled, pulling me into a hug, “I was so scared.” He whispered into my ear. I could have sworn that I felt a tear fall onto my shoulder.
“Calm down, I’m okay now,” I whispered back, I smiled and moved my hand down his back. I felt him shudder.
“You expect me to calm down! You scared me so much and now you say calm down?” he yelled at me, it was the first time I had heard him raise his voice at anything, it scared me.
“No need to raise your voice at me, it’s not my fault my sugar spiked, I can’t completely control it.” I scoffed. I gave him a hurt look and turned my back to him.
“I’m so sorry Maia, I didn’t mean to yell at you, its just it would kill me to know if you got hurt and I didn’t do enough to help. I care for you too much to let anything happen.” He had sat down next to me. His arms over my shoulders, he smelled like he hadn’t showered in three days. He was moving his hands over to my hips; I went to grab them when I realized one of them had a bandage on it, when I had stopped my movement he gave me a curious expression, I didn’t know why I had blood soaked gauze on my hands. Then he held his hand out, a bloody razor lay in the palm. I winced; I must have still been holding it when I passed out.
“How long?” I asked,
“How long what?” was his confused response.
“How long have you been cutting?” I said, the pain in my voice was evident, I could feel tears pooling in the corner of my eyes. The light in his eyes faded it made me feel so horrible to know such a beautiful creature did such horrid things to himself, “About 7 years now. I tried to stop, but I just couldn’t, when my mom found out, she brought me to a doctor who gave me several anti-depressants. If anything tampers with my emotions, they don’t work,” he looked down to the ground in shame.
It was silent I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t think I couldn’t function; we just sat there on my hospital bed.
I moved my hand to his chin I pulled lightly, silently begging for him to face me. He did so; he looked me straight in the eyes,
“Gerard, you have too much to live for to do that sort of shit. You have friends, family and, well you have me.” I said, he didn’t take his eyes off of mine. He gave a half smile, like he knew something I didn’t. He spoke softly.
“Those kids you saw me with weren’t my friends; I was just paying them to lay off my little brother. I haven’t got any family other than him anymore. My dad drank and did a lot of drugs, one night he got into an argument with my mom, he hit her, hard, he tied her to a chair and doused her in gasoline, he spilled the rest around the house, than he dropped a match, the house went up in flames, my little brother, Mikey, was headed for bed, I was supposed to be doing so too, but I was listening in on my parents as usual, I ran as fast as I could to get him, we escaped, barely, he constantly, get teased because he has no parents and beaten when he talks back, which he always does, so I pay off the bullies with the money we have left over from everything else which isn’t a lot. We lived with my grandma for a long time but a year ago she passed away, it crushed us both, we get along with the money she left us, and everything else too. We were the only family she had left. She was the only family we had. And want to remember.” He stopped tears streaming down his face,
“Gerard, there’s nothing I can do to change what happened in the past, but now you have one more person in you life, me, and I promise, to the best of my ability to be there for you as long as I can.”
He looked at me and smiled.
“Maia I-“yet again he was cut off, not by the doctor.
“Well Miss.Halcyone, you gave us quite a scare, you really should be more careful with your sugar. We brought your levels back down; let’s try to keep it that way. Other than that, you are free to go home.”
Blah, blah, blah was all I heard; it was the second time I had been in a literal sugar coma, this year, apparently that’s bad in the world of medical science. I sat up in my bed; Gerard helped me get off of it. He pretty much carried me to his car. My legs were really weak from being unused for so long, he opened my door for me and helped me climb in. He even had to help me with my seat belt; I still had a wrap around my arm. We drove in silence most of the way, until he decided to break it.
“So Maia, where do you live?” I had to think of something, I wasn’t a very good liar.
“Well, I was supposed to start school a few days ago, but then my mom kicked me out, she always hated me, constantly called me a freak, and beat me,” I could feel tears start to roll down my face. Then the car jerked and he pulled over.
“So then where are you staying?”
I started with the truth I had to end with it...
“At a crappy little hotel near the school, I hate it, but it’s all I can afford.”
He gasped, he stared at me then pulled me close, in a tight embrace, it felt so perfect the way I fit in his arms.
“Well, as I said before, me and Mikey live in my grandma’s old house. It’s pretty big, and a bit lonely. You can come stay with us if you want. It’s a lot safer than staying in a hotel”
I could feel the tears stopping and a smile formed on my face.
“Really? I would love to Gerard.” I pulled my head back a bit so that I was facing him. He smiled back, and stared into my eyes. That’s when I remembered they were still red, it made me laugh. He started to move forward a little bit. This is it; he’s going to kiss me the thought of it made my heart beat faster than before.
Then our lips collided, it was short and sweet. He pulled back.
“So where is this little hotel?” he asked.
I smiled and told him where to go. When we arrived he shuddered.
“You actually sleep in this place?” he asked, he sounded disgusted.
“Yeah, scary thought isn’t it?” He laughed, at me when I said that.
“C’mon the less time we have to stay in there the better.”
We ran in together, I grabbed my bags and my things from the fridge.
After I had checked out he grabbed my bags from me and put them in the trunk of his car.
About ten minutes later he pulled into the driveway of a huge house, it looked like a castle.
It was right along a stream, I gasped.
“This, is where you live?”
I felt the life streaming back into me; I felt the scratchiness of the hospital blankets, the cool air, the heat and sweat of a hand in mine. I slightly opened my eyes, there was a blinding light. I shut them tight. Whoever was holding my hand noticed,
“Maia? Are you awake?” it was dark and rough, like they hadn’t had a decent sleep in days. I turned my head, I had a feeling about who it was, I squinted. The light wasn’t as bright, so I opened my eyes all the way. It was just the person I hoped and thought I would see, Gerard, I smiled and nodded.
His face lit up.
“Oh thank god,” he yelled, pulling me into a hug, “I was so scared.” He whispered into my ear. I could have sworn that I felt a tear fall onto my shoulder.
“Calm down, I’m okay now,” I whispered back, I smiled and moved my hand down his back. I felt him shudder.
“You expect me to calm down! You scared me so much and now you say calm down?” he yelled at me, it was the first time I had heard him raise his voice at anything, it scared me.
“No need to raise your voice at me, it’s not my fault my sugar spiked, I can’t completely control it.” I scoffed. I gave him a hurt look and turned my back to him.
“I’m so sorry Maia, I didn’t mean to yell at you, its just it would kill me to know if you got hurt and I didn’t do enough to help. I care for you too much to let anything happen.” He had sat down next to me. His arms over my shoulders, he smelled like he hadn’t showered in three days. He was moving his hands over to my hips; I went to grab them when I realized one of them had a bandage on it, when I had stopped my movement he gave me a curious expression, I didn’t know why I had blood soaked gauze on my hands. Then he held his hand out, a bloody razor lay in the palm. I winced; I must have still been holding it when I passed out.
“How long?” I asked,
“How long what?” was his confused response.
“How long have you been cutting?” I said, the pain in my voice was evident, I could feel tears pooling in the corner of my eyes. The light in his eyes faded it made me feel so horrible to know such a beautiful creature did such horrid things to himself, “About 7 years now. I tried to stop, but I just couldn’t, when my mom found out, she brought me to a doctor who gave me several anti-depressants. If anything tampers with my emotions, they don’t work,” he looked down to the ground in shame.
It was silent I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t think I couldn’t function; we just sat there on my hospital bed.
I moved my hand to his chin I pulled lightly, silently begging for him to face me. He did so; he looked me straight in the eyes,
“Gerard, you have too much to live for to do that sort of shit. You have friends, family and, well you have me.” I said, he didn’t take his eyes off of mine. He gave a half smile, like he knew something I didn’t. He spoke softly.
“Those kids you saw me with weren’t my friends; I was just paying them to lay off my little brother. I haven’t got any family other than him anymore. My dad drank and did a lot of drugs, one night he got into an argument with my mom, he hit her, hard, he tied her to a chair and doused her in gasoline, he spilled the rest around the house, than he dropped a match, the house went up in flames, my little brother, Mikey, was headed for bed, I was supposed to be doing so too, but I was listening in on my parents as usual, I ran as fast as I could to get him, we escaped, barely, he constantly, get teased because he has no parents and beaten when he talks back, which he always does, so I pay off the bullies with the money we have left over from everything else which isn’t a lot. We lived with my grandma for a long time but a year ago she passed away, it crushed us both, we get along with the money she left us, and everything else too. We were the only family she had left. She was the only family we had. And want to remember.” He stopped tears streaming down his face,
“Gerard, there’s nothing I can do to change what happened in the past, but now you have one more person in you life, me, and I promise, to the best of my ability to be there for you as long as I can.”
He looked at me and smiled.
“Maia I-“yet again he was cut off, not by the doctor.
“Well Miss.Halcyone, you gave us quite a scare, you really should be more careful with your sugar. We brought your levels back down; let’s try to keep it that way. Other than that, you are free to go home.”
Blah, blah, blah was all I heard; it was the second time I had been in a literal sugar coma, this year, apparently that’s bad in the world of medical science. I sat up in my bed; Gerard helped me get off of it. He pretty much carried me to his car. My legs were really weak from being unused for so long, he opened my door for me and helped me climb in. He even had to help me with my seat belt; I still had a wrap around my arm. We drove in silence most of the way, until he decided to break it.
“So Maia, where do you live?” I had to think of something, I wasn’t a very good liar.
“Well, I was supposed to start school a few days ago, but then my mom kicked me out, she always hated me, constantly called me a freak, and beat me,” I could feel tears start to roll down my face. Then the car jerked and he pulled over.
“So then where are you staying?”
I started with the truth I had to end with it...
“At a crappy little hotel near the school, I hate it, but it’s all I can afford.”
He gasped, he stared at me then pulled me close, in a tight embrace, it felt so perfect the way I fit in his arms.
“Well, as I said before, me and Mikey live in my grandma’s old house. It’s pretty big, and a bit lonely. You can come stay with us if you want. It’s a lot safer than staying in a hotel”
I could feel the tears stopping and a smile formed on my face.
“Really? I would love to Gerard.” I pulled my head back a bit so that I was facing him. He smiled back, and stared into my eyes. That’s when I remembered they were still red, it made me laugh. He started to move forward a little bit. This is it; he’s going to kiss me the thought of it made my heart beat faster than before.
Then our lips collided, it was short and sweet. He pulled back.
“So where is this little hotel?” he asked.
I smiled and told him where to go. When we arrived he shuddered.
“You actually sleep in this place?” he asked, he sounded disgusted.
“Yeah, scary thought isn’t it?” He laughed, at me when I said that.
“C’mon the less time we have to stay in there the better.”
We ran in together, I grabbed my bags and my things from the fridge.
After I had checked out he grabbed my bags from me and put them in the trunk of his car.
About ten minutes later he pulled into the driveway of a huge house, it looked like a castle.
It was right along a stream, I gasped.
“This, is where you live?”