Obsessed(56)
“Elise.”
Panting, I abruptly stopped and spun around.
Adrian stood outside the door with his arms out to me. He stared at the axe and then at my face. “Hey,” he said softly. “Hey, Elise.”
Where had he even come from? He was in his uniform, so…what, had he been called? Had I created that much of a frenzy? Was he going to arrest me? For what? He had nothing on me. I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Down the hallway behind him stood Mom. She was in her robe, her arms crossed, looking at me with startled eyes; it was the most emotion I’d seen in her since Dad died.
I blinked rapidly, feeling the fog surrounding me slowly drift. What happened exactly? How long had I been at it?
“Hey,” Adrian said again, forcing me to look back at him. He inched nearer. “How about we put down that axe?”
I shook. “I…It was Dad’s axe. It’s mine now.”
“Yeah, okay, well, how about we put it down?”
“I don’t want to put it down.”
“You’re causing a lot of havoc, Elise.”
“I’m remodelling my brother’s room.”
He looked at me like I’d lost it. I had. “Okay, El, you’re remodelling your brother’s room, but you’re…being very loud. We’ve had a number of calls.”
“Am I disturbing the peace?”
“More like concerning the residents.”
I rolled my eyes. “Believe me, nobody is concerned. I’m sure they’re eating their popcorn right now.”
He inched nearer again. “Okay, how about you hand me that axe?”
“I’m not going to swing it at you, Adrian.”
He sighed. “I’m more worried about you.”
“You shouldn’t be.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“My heart is bleeding, yes.”
“No, El, you’re bleeding.”
I followed his eyes to my hands and gasped, dropping the axe instantly at the sight of blood dripping down my arm. I opened my hand and stared at a thick, long gash in the middle of my palm. I didn’t even feel it. How the fuck was that possible? I didn’t –
“FUCK!” I shrieked, the pain suddenly setting in. I looked at my bloody hand and then at Adrian, and then back at my hand again. “I’m bleeding, Adrian!”
“I know.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”
“I drove him away! I drove him away and I don’t know what I did. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t stop.”
“Hey.” He was already in front of me, kicking away the axe.
“I drove him away, Adrian. He left me. I wasn’t worth it. He didn’t care. He never even glanced back. Not one glance.”
His arms wrapped around me and he pulled me to him, forcing my head against his chest. “It’s okay,” he told me. “Everything will be alright.”
His warmth invaded my senses, and it calmed me instantly. I gripped his shirt with my good hand. A thousand emotions flooded me, but pain surfaced stronger than all the others. Pain in losing two of the men in my life I loved. I broke down again. Tears had become the norm. This sadness was a cloud that followed me wherever I went. The only difference was Adrian was there to tell me it was going to be okay.
It was the perfect lie.
19.
Elise
Adrian took me to the hospital and didn’t leave my side until I was called in. They sat me down on a hospital bed and closed the curtain so I was left alone. The nurse came around minutes later and wrapped my hand up and then asked me if I needed anything for the pain.
“Alcohol,” I told her, deadpan.
She just stood here, smiling and then not smiling when she didn’t know if I was joking or not. “Um, what?”
“For the pain,” I explained.
“Well, alcohol isn’t on the hospital menu, Elise,” she explained, like I was a fucking moron. Clearly she thought I was unhinged, probably had heard all about my meltdown from a friend of a nosey friend. News travelled fast around these shitty parts.
“I was joking,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
She nodded. “Of course you were.”
“I don’t want anything.”
I liked the pain and didn’t want to numb it just yet.
She smiled nicely and left me alone. It felt like eons sitting there, listening to the hustle and bustle outside the curtain. I heard a man – clearly intoxicated out of his fucking mind – lose his shit before he started singing Christmas tunes. I heard Jingle Bells about four hundred goddamn times until a nurse came around.
“Sir, did you pee yourself?”
“I facken did what da want,” he cursed.