Fear Itself

I awoke the next morning to the feeling of a small plastic cup hitting me in the head. I blinked my eyes open and saw sunlight peeking through the blinds of the large window behind me. Then, I turned to see Avery awake in the hospital bed. He moved over, leaving a space on his side. He was weakly waving me over. I laughed a little and got on my feet, and I crawled into the bed with him.

“Well, Mumbles, I certainly hope you’re ready to apologize,” I huffed as I laid beside him. He sent me a tired, confused look. “For scaring the shit out of me, duh,” I explained. He huffed a little. “Shut up,” I commanded, narrowing my eyebrows. “I was given specific orders not to let you talk, and I don’t want them to throw me out because your stitches tore.”

“Princess—“ he croaked, but he stopped. He suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. I knew it was his voice, had to be. I just shook my head.

“Sh,” I hushed him. “Yeah, you sound different. Whatever. You’re still just Mumbles.” I settled against him and gently draped my arm over his stomach, thought maybe he would want that. I knew he wasn’t one for touching most of the time; it had taken him forever to even hug me back, but being cuddled always made me feel better I was scared, or nervous, or lonely. “Oh,” I exclaimed quietly, and I reached into the pocket of my jeans, removing a wallet I had stolen the same day I had stolen the fleece jacket that was now stained with Avery’s blood. I opened it and pulled out a wad of cash. “Here,” I said. “For your bills.” He just stared at me. “I’ve saved up everything you’ve given me, plus my winnings from the fight club for a ‘just in case.’ I think this qualifies.” His gaze didn’t waver, so I dropped it on his chest. “Will you please just take it? What in the world do I need that kind of cash for?”

Hesitantly, he took it and shoved it in his pocket. He tried to give me a nod, but he winced. I shook my head again. “No, Mumbles, don’t do that,” I told him. “We don’t need to talk, okay?” I didn’t wait for him to respond. I just settled back into him and closed my eyes, though I didn’t know if I would be able to fall back asleep. At least if I pretended, he might have stopped trying to talk, I reasoned.

“I saw a man walking out of the alley before I found you,” I told him quietly. “He was with three other people. Mumbles, did they do this to you?” I asked, and he just grunted a little. I took that was a yes; his expression didn’t say otherwise. “Mumbles, who was that?”

“Kennedy,” he rasped. I shot up, staring down at him in shock.

“Kennedy?” I exclaimed. “As in—“ I paused, lowered my voice to continue,”Commander Kennedy?” He just looked at me with an honest expression. “Mumbles,” I sighed. “Why would he want anything to do with you? Mumbles, did you do business with him?!” I nudged his shoulders. “You know, usually I’m okay with your ‘work,’ but that is just dumb, Mumbles.” Avery shook his head, whispering protests.

“Princess, no,” he muttered.

“You didn’t?” I asked, and he nodded a little. It was so subtle that he may as well have just blinked at me. “Was… was that the problem? Did come after me because you didn’t help him?”

“You,” Avery rasped.

“Me? He came after you because of me?” I blinked. That didn’t make any sense. Avery shook his head a little.

“No,” he grunted. “You next.” My eyes widened with an immediate sense of fear, but I furrowed my brows and shook my head.

“No,” I argued. “No, he wouldn’t. He won’t. He can’t.” I looked away for a moment before I settled back into the bed. “You wouldn’t let him.”

“Right,” Avery grunted. “I wouldn’t.”

Somehow, I fell asleep on him, even though we were squashed into the hospital bed. I managed to miss quite a lot, including an IV change and lunch, but Avery saved me whatever he didn’t feel like eating, so that was fine. Eventually, it got dark, and the nurses came in and changed his medicine again. It wasn’t long before he dozed off. I couldn’t blame him. I sat with him for a while, just in case he would wake up and need anything, but it was around 8 that a nurse came into the room.

“Visiting hours are over,” the nurse came in and told me. “It’s time to go.” Blinking, I met her gaze and shook my head a little.

“No,” I protested as politely as I could. “No, he’s my—“

“Mr. Fortier has no recorded children,” she interjected. “It’s time to go.” I watched her for a moment, and she folded her arms over her chest. “Sweetie, I’m asking you nicely. You can leave, or I can get security to make you.”

I glanced over to Avery, who was sleeping soundly, and sighed. A frown slipped onto my face. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m glad you didn’t die, Mumbles,” I whispered. “See you soon.” I slid off the bed with the nurse watching me all the while. I took his phone from my pocket and left it on his bed. I tried to avoid the nurse’s gaze, but she eyed me the whole way out and even followed me to the doors to make sure I didn’t try to come back in.

“Have a good night,” she called to me once I was outside.

“Yeah, you too,” I called back, but as soon as the doors were close and scuffed my foot against the ground and huffed, “Bitch.”

I was left to walk myself back to the tunnels (which thankfully, I knew how to get to on my own), unarmed, save for a switchblade, and alone.