I jerked backwards, a small yelp passing through my lips.
In seconds, I was sitting up, back against the headboard. My heart raced. Heck, the thumping could probably be heard by the man who seemed to be just as startled as I was.
“Sorry,” Ryker whispered, running a hand through his hair. His brown eyes bounced around the room for a moment before landing back on me. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
I sat frozen, not sure if I was to stay where I was or not.
“I’ll…uh, meet you in the kitchen.” With that, he turned as if the room was on fire.
It took a few minutes to get my terror under control. Another full minute before I got my body to leave the bed. A few more seconds to get my hands to release their death hold on the blanket, which I couldn’t remember wrapping around myself.
By the time I finished in the bathroom and made my way to the kitchen, dread clouded everything around me.
I was sure I’d done something I wasn’t supposed to.
Keeping my head down, I fiddled with my fingers in front of my stomach. I stood just at the edge of the kitchen, debating whether I should flee and hide somewhere or stay and deal with whatever came my way.
I jerked when Ryker’s voice reached me. It was soft, like he was talking to a scared, abused puppy. “Have you eaten anything since you arrived?”
I shook my head slightly.
He let out a deep sigh. I held my breath, waiting. “I’m going to make you something. While you eat. You’re skin and bones, Emery.”
I glanced up, not expecting that.
“Have a seat. Is oatmeal okay?”
I nodded, my voice lost. I sat at the small island.
Moments later, a bowl of oatmeal was placed in front of me, followed by two of my three pills I was to take daily.
“You’ve been here for three days, Emery,” Ryker sighed. “Eat.”
I nibbled at the oatmeal, slowly letting the food hit my stomach. In reality, I was starving, but that was something I was used to. As I ate, Ryker wrote something down on a piece of paper. I kept him in my line of sight without really looking at him.
By the time the bowl was empty, he was finished with whatever it was that he was writing.
“Pills.”
My turn to sigh. I let my shoulders drop before swallowing them. I didn’t see the point. Wasn’t it my punishment to hurt?
“I know you don’t want me here,” Ryker started after I sat the water back down on the counter. At his statement, which was truer than anything else, I forgot where I was for a moment. I lifted my eyes to his.
It was the first time I’d really taken him in. His brown eyes held something I had started to see a lot in the past month from doctors and nurses, and even the police who talked to me. Something I didn’t know what to name.
The slight dusting of gray around his temples made him look more approachable than he truly was. No one was ever nice for long with me.
“Here’s a schedule for when you are to take your meds and eat food. What you do between those times is up to you. Breakfast by nine, lunch by one, and dinner by seven. Small snacks between.”
Ryker slid a lined piece of paper with times and what meal at certain points in the day. The writing was neat, easy to read, even with a simple glance.
“Why?”
I waited for the blow across my face, clenching my eyes shut tight. When it never came, I peeked one eye open, finding Ryker’s sad face. He hadn’t moved.
“I have a feeling that you won’t take care of yourself unless it’s laid out in front of you.”
I dropped my eyes, knowing he was right.
