“Yeah, I’m here.” When he parted his eye, I moved in closer so he could see me. “Welcome back. Again.”
“Hard…to see you,” he muttered and pinched his eye closed. When he tried to look at me again, he frowned.
“Doctors said you might have some vision impairment. Don’t worry about that right now, okay? You want some more ice?”
He nodded weakly and I let go of his hand. I wanted to stay with him while he was awake, but he needed fresh ice. “I’ll be right back, I promise. Don’t go back to sleep ‘till I get back, okay?”
He parted his lips in response, but nothing came out except a raspy hard sound. I rushed to the ice machine with the bucket. I dumped the slush down the drain and filled the container with perfectly-formed, Danny-worthy cubes. I was back by his bedside in thirty seconds, happy to find him awake and alert. I fed a fresh cube into his mouth, and he sucked on it for a long while, making little whimpers of enjoyment.
“Other eye…doesn’t work,” he said, and tried to touch his right eye that was bandaged up, but he ended up connecting with the pillow instead. “Arm…finally works.”
“Yeah, you're all covered up. Too bad we didn’t realize how good you look dressed up as a mummy. Could have won all those Halloween costume contests.”
The faintest of smiles pulled at his lips. “Think…look like…roadkill?”
“Nah, you’re hot,” I said honestly.
“W-What happened?”
“Doctors mentioned possible memory loss too. You decided to moonlight as a superhero and had a run in with some fists.”And likely other objects, I added silently. The damage he’d suffered was the result of more than fists, but I wouldn’t tell him, and I wasn’t going to think about it right now, because that red curtain of rage was hanging over me by a thread.
He scrunched his face and whimpered.
I took his hand again, admiring the softness of his skin. It was fascinating to me, like touching a piece of artwork when I wasn’t supposed to. “Don’t worry about that right now, okay? Just rest and heal. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
A rush of breath left his lips, and he went back to sleep. It was probably for the best. I’d rather have him knocked out than awake and in constant pain. The thread snapped, a tsunami of red drowning everything out. As Danny slept, I entertained fantasies of all the things I wanted to do to the assholes who had hurt him. I’d never been a spontaneously violent person, but when push came to shove, I shoved back and hard, especially when it came to those I cared about. And Danny was on the top of that list. I’d be damned if those responsible were going to get away with this.
The hours ticked by. Mrs. B. awoke and made me take my own rest while she resumed keeping watch over Danny. I wanted to protest, except Danny’s fur baby needed to be fed and Ronnie couldn’t do it because she had to go to work in the morning. I didn’t want to leave him but conceded I needed general upkeep—and when Mrs. B. told you to do something, you did it if you knew what was good for you.
I retrieved Danny’s keys from Ronnie and headed to his apartment. The drive to his place on the northside of the city was frustrating and I couldn’t understand how he could live in a clusterfuck of traffic, noise, and smog. As long as I could remember, he’d always liked nature. But he’d been so excited when he signed his lease. He’d made me promise to come visit him in Chicago soon.I miss hanging out, was the last thing he’d said to me. I supposed he never imagined we would meet again under such circumstances.
When I was inside his apartment, I relieved myself in the bathroom with a sigh. It was easy neglecting my own needs because they didn’t seem important when Danny was fighting for his life. Now that I was in sight of a comfortable bed, my eyelids grew heavy, and my bones turned to the consistency of rubber. I needed a few hours of sleep on something other than a hard couch not made for people my size. I fed Danny’s scrawny cat, Biscuit, and petted him for a few minutes then watered Danny’s numerous houseplants before stepping into the shower.
I’d developed an obsession with Danny’s fancy soap for the singular reason it smelled likehim. I ran the bar of French-milled soap all over my body, imagining him using it. Next was a bottle of shampoo with a hint of peppermint which left a pleasant tingle on my scalp. A cheap bar of soap was enough to clean my body and wash my hair with, but using Danny’s top-of-the-line products made me feel like a savage.
When I’d left Springfield, I hadn’t thought about grabbing anything other than a change of clothes. But Danny had everything a guy could want. Even his shaving cream was expensive. I guessed his career had been good for him. The apartment was on the modest side in terms of size, but it was modern, and the conveniences were luxurious. I was glad he was comfortable with his new life away from me.
I regretted not moving to Chicago with him. After he’d graduated from college and started his new job last year, there was no excusenotto leave things behind in Springfield. I’d quietly struggled after he’d gone off to school and Mrs. B. had moved because their absence meant I was alone again. My mother had left me when I was very young and my father, well, he’d never been there at all. I hadn’t wanted to hold Danny back from his career, but instantly regretted not tagging along. I had always thought he would eventually ask me to move in with him, but he never did. Maybe if I’d been here I could have saved him. I supposed I had assumed he would eventually come back to me.
I fell into Danny’s freshly-made bed courtesy of Ronnie and let go of the stress that had been boiling. Even with clean sheets, I could smell Danny in the bed, in the air, as if his presence saturated everything with joy and warmth. Right now, the focus was Danny and his recovery. I could worry about vengeance later.
Sleep surprisingly came easy with his scent in my nose, and I fell into a deep blackness. It was only when Mrs. B. called to tell me the doctors wanted to have a discussion about Danny’s condition I realized I’d slept most of the night. Her words startled me into action, and I rushed to dress.
I fed and watered Biscuit, then raced back to the hospital. Mrs. B. was standing in the corner of the hospital room, her hand pressed to her mouth while several doctors poked and prodded Danny. He was complaining about being treated like an experiment but when he spotted me, he relaxed. A bunch more medical jargon was thrown around and Danny fell asleep in the middle of it, but the gist was they were looking to stuff his brain back into his skull soon.
I thought about all the medical procedures that had to happen for Danny’s recovery and vowed to give those assholes a taste of their own medicine.
CHAPTER FOUR
Danny
I’d floated in and out of darkness for what seemed like years. In reality, it had only been days.
Every time I awoke, Jere or my mother was there to guide me out of the sea of blackness. This time was different. This time, I was able to keep my head above water for more than a minute or two at a time.
“How’s the pain?” Jere inquired and raised the bed up.
“Head hurts. Chest hurts…Everythinghurts,” I managed, wincing as my ribs ached with every breath. A cinder block was sitting on my sternum, making it hard to breathe.
