Page 89 of Left In The Dark

“Honestly . . . I don’t know where to start.”

He takes the spare mask from my hand, rolling his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m still standing here and asking this but . . . how about you start from the damn beginning, huh?”

“I fucked up, R. I fucked up bad.”

“I can see that.”

“I wanted to teach him a lesson, and I thought . . . fuck . . .” I shuffle around. “I don’t know what I thought.”

“Doesn’t look like much thinking was done here if you ask me. Did you do this to him?”

“No. He did it to himself. He jumped off the loft. I removed the ladder to make it impossible for him to get down and break a window.”

“Not impossible enough, clearly.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think he was going to do something like this.”

“Alright, alright.” He lifts his hands in the air. “Exactly what do you want me to do about it?”

“You’re a nurse and you work in the ER, so I figured you knew about resetting broken bones.”

“Woah, what? You can’t be serious.” He backs up. “I’m not a doctor. That’s beyond my expertise.”

“Please, R,” I say desperately. “I need you. You know I hardly ask for anything, and you watch doctors do this stuff all the time.”

“This isn’t just anything, asshole.” His voice rises. He looks down at the ground, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can . . . I guess I can see what I can do. But then what?” His eyes hook on mine.

“I . . . I’m going to let him go.”

A muscle in his cheek ticks. “And how the hell are you going to do that? You really think they won’t find out who took him? What if he leads them back to you? What if . . .” He shakes his head, shoving on the mask. “You know what. Never mind. I don’t want to know any more. Let’s just get this over with.”

Blake’s baby blues reach for me as he looks around, shaking his head. “I’m not back in the house. I thought . . . that’s where I go to get better.”

I frown, leaning over his mattress as I crouch lower to the ground. “You can’t go into the house right now.”

“Is your roommate back?”

“They will be tomorrow. You’ll be okay in here. I’ll check on you often.”

His face contorts and he looks down his body, slightly lifting one of his legs. “What is that?”

“It’s the best we could do with what we have. When my roommate is gone, I’ll order you something better, but for now it’ll do the trick.”

He reaches down with a bandaged hand, stroking one of the wooden trimmings. There’s tape keeping both legs aligned so his bones won’t heal crooked. “How am I supposed to get around?”

“I don’t know. I guess you don’t. Not until I can get up here. At least you won’t be taking any more tumbles if you can’t move.”

He does a sweep with his eyes and then keeps them on the ceiling. “This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

“What wasn’t?” I lift his blanket.

Tears roll down his cheeks. “I wasn’t supposed to stay in here.”

“What were you trying to do? Did you really think you’d be able to get down safely without a ladder?”

His eyes shut, pushing out more tears. “I wanted to be back with you and . . . and—”

My chest caves. “You thought if you hurt yourself, I’d bring you back to the room?”