“We have to wait and see now. I’ll get the team in to lift him so we can change the sheets and clean him up. You should take a shower. You’re covered in blood,” he speaks matter-of-factly.
I look down at myself and, for the first time, notice the dark red, sticky stains all over my clothes.
“Don’t leave him alone. I’ll be quick, um…what’s your name?” I ask.
“Yaroslav,” the man says.
“Thank you, Yaroslav,” I smile tightly. He nods.
When I come back into the room a short while later, the bed has been completely remade. There is a pile of soiled blankets wrapped up in a mattress protector near the door.
I stare at it, in shock about everything that just happened and how fast it did. A man comes in. Not Yaroslav. “Sorry to intrude. I just came to get the last of it,” he says, grabbing the bundle of blankets and quickly leaving the room.
I walk over to Anton’s bedside, and his face is coated with perspiration again.
Yaroslav speaks from the doorway, giving me a fright. “Do you want me to stay with him?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll watch him,” I say without looking away from Anton. “Do I need to watch out for anything in particular?”
“Just…guide him through whatever darkness he’s in. We don’t know where his mind is lost right now.”
Biting my lip, I nod nervously. “Alright,” I mutter.
“I’m downstairs in the guard’s house if you need me.”
“Thank you, Yaroslav.”
“Thank you for bringing him home,” the man says sincerely, then leaves me alone with Anton.
You’re doing the right thing, Izabel. You can escape another time. But you would never have been able to face yourself in the mirror if you hadn’t helped him.
I hurry into the bathroom to get a washcloth and a bowl of cold water. Then I crawl onto the bed next to him and sit with my back against the headrest and his head on my lap as I gently wipe the sweat from his skin and touch cold water to his lips.
“It’ll be okay,” I whisper. “You’ll get through this. I’m right here with you, okay? Just listen to my voice.”
Chapter 9 - Anton
Sitting in the car, I knew that this was going to be a very bad experience. I’ve never felt pain like that in my life, and it was clear that it was only the beginning of whatever they had poisoned me with.
I remember her being snappy and rude. I remember the car moving.
And I remember thinking, I’m lucky if she doesn’t leave me on the side of the road and drive away.
Then everything went black as agony engulfed every nerve ending in my body.
I had a brief moment, waking up to the sensation that someone had their entire hand inside my body, feeling around in the knife wound, trying to rip me open even more as acid burned my insides.
Through the haze of pain, I saw her leaning over me and tried to grab her wrist to stop her from killing me.
But stronger hands pinned me down, and the pain became too much.
Nightmares taunted me, dragging me into darkness like I have never seen before. And in my dreams, the pain never left me.
I could feel the skin melting from my body.
I could feel the acid eating away at my insides.
But then, sometimes, her voice would pierce the thick shroud of darkness, and I would lift my head and take a breath of fresh air.
