Chapter 11: Arianna

I woke up to a bright light shining in my face. Opening my eyes I looked around the familiar room. I was back at the cabin. The last thing I remember was Elijah carrying me to the limousine. How did I get in the king size bed? Holy crap I was in the king bed. Where was Elijah then? I looked around the room and I found him. He was dead asleep in my bed against the wall. His snores echoed through the room.

Throwing the covers off of my, and examining my leg. It was bruised and swollen. The black stitches were risen. Surrounded by reddish sensitive skin. Running a finger along the stitches I winced. Examining my arm, it looked identical to my leg. Swollen, bruised, and sensitive.

I tried to get out of bed. Standing up was a bad idea. My knees immediately buckled, causing me to fall to the ground with a large bang. A sharp pain shot up and down my body, starting at my leg. It made me feel nauseous, as I winced. Footsteps came running up to me. Slowly I looked up at the person standing in front of me.

Elijah was standing in front of me, his arms crossed. Glaring at me.

"Really?," he asked, his voice full of disappointment. I gave him my best apologetic smile. He just rolled his eyes and sighed. Picking me up and placing me in the bed. He walked over to the closet and pulled out a pair of crutches. Handing them to me. I gave him a smile back.

"Why do you have crutches here?," I asked. He walked toward the door and on his way out said,

"Come down when you're ready," he said, leaving the door open.

"You're just going to leave me here!?," I yelled after him.

"Yep!," he yelled back.

"You asshole!," I yelled back. I heard a chuckle come from the other room, and someone descending the stairs.

Trying to stand up again. Leaning on the support of the crutches. Placing the top of the crutch in my under arm. I started to make my way to the stairs. The feeling of the crutches were all to fimilary. I hate crutches. The last time I used them was after my father's car accident. I was on crutches for a few weeks while my legs were healing from the crash. I had fractured some bone during the crash. So i knew to say the least i know how to use crutches.

Making my way down and into the kitchen. The smell of fresh pancakes and bacon filled the air. Crew was cooking bacon on the stove, while Genna was flipping pancakes. Elijah was sitting at the kitchen island drinking fresh coffee. Hubbleing up to him. I hit him on the shin with the foot of my crutch.

"Ooww! What the hell was that for?," he said, holding back his frustration.

"How dare you leave me upstairs. Why would you assume I knew how to use crutches?," I asked sarcastically. He rolled his eyes and chuckled a little.

"You two are getting along quite well today," Genna said with a smile on her face. While she was flipping pancakes. "Arianna, I made your favorite!,".

"Really?!. Chocolate chip pancakes, with fresh blueberries and bacon," I said excitedly.

"Jeez, you are so needed," Elijah said with a hint of sarcasm. I hit him in the shin again. He winced. Crew started to laugh.

"Why did you give her crutches? Now for the next few weeks she will have a weapon with her. You best watch your mouth," Crew said, still laughing. Genna put a plate in front of me. The plate had two pancakes on it. On the left sat a handful of blueberries, and on the right sat two pieces of bacon.

I started to cut up the pancakes. Elijah watched me out of the conner of his eye.

"What?," I asked Elijah.

"No syrup, no butter," he said, confused.

"I don't like tree blood, and butter makes the pancakes soggy," I said, shoving pancakes in my mouth.

"You animal. I can't even look at you any more," he said sarcastically with a little laugh. Crew started to chuckle while flipping some bacon. Scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"The makeup crew is coming at three. To help you girls to get ready," Crew said. The room fell silent. No one said anything for a few minutes.

Crew finally broke the silence.

"Elijah, do you want any breakfast?," Crew asked looking at Elijah.

"Sure," Elijah responded, scrolling through his phone. Genna placed a plate in front of him. Putting down his coffee, put a lot of syrup on his pancakes, and started to eat. Genna came over and sat on my right. Her plate stacked high with pancakes and blueberries. No bacon sight. She hates pork products. Crew sat down on her left. We all ate in silence.

When I finished I placed my plate in the sink and went up stairs. Grabbing a pair of shorts and a hoodie out of the dress, I head for the shower. Opening the glass door of the shower was hard on crutches. The water was cold as I let it run over my hand. It slowly grew warmer. Turning around I started to undress. Placing my used clothes in a corner of the room. The room started to fill with steam. On one leg i hubbled to the shower and climbed in.

The water was hot as it ran down my head and down to my back. I could feel my wet hair brushing on the small of my back. The water hurt running over my wounds, but I fought through it. Pouring shampoo into my hand, and shrubbing it into my scalp. My head is still aching from yesterday. When that man hit me in the face. Once the shampoo was out I added conditioner. While the conditioner was sitting in my hair I washed my aching body. I had so many bruises on my legs and arms. Rinsing the rest of the conditioner out, I struggle to exit the shower.

Hobbling over to the foggy mirror. With a shaky hand I wiped off the mirror. An unrecognizable face stared back at me. The person staring back was deathly pale. She had a black eye. With a swollen bump next to her eye. She had a busted lip that was also a little puffy. Her wet brown hair framed her face. Brushing the hair back to better examine her neck. I noticed there were bruises in the shape of large hands around her neck. I knew the person staring back at me was me, but I just did not want to admit it.

Pulling my wet hair back in front of my chest, I turned around. Looking at my back in the mirror was so depressing. There were bruises dotted everywhere leading all the way down to my legs. A silent tear slid down my face. A knock came at the door,

"Are you okay in there?," a man's voice asked, coming from the other side.

"Yeah. Who is it?," I asked back, whipping away the tears.

"Elijah," the voice responded.

"Okay. I will be done soon," I said back. I could hear footsteps walking away. Slowly growing quieter.

Once I was done getting dressed I hobbled out of the bathroom. Putting tenni shoes on and heading down to the lake. The forest was oddly quiet. There was loud rustling coming from my right. My whole body went tense. My heart quickened its pace. My breathing grew faster as the noise got louder. A bunny came bolting out from under a bush. A small scream came out from my lungs and then stopped as fast as it came. That was so stupid a bunny made my scream, but the rustling continued. Bailey came flying out of the same bush the bunny did. Her nose glued to the ground and her tail wagging in the air. As she tracked the bunny.

"Bailey!," I shouted after her. Her head popped up and she came trotting up to me. Sitting at my feet. She looked up at me and a smile of a pant crossed her face. "Do you want to go swimming?," I asked her. She answered with a bark of excitement and she bolted down to the lake.

When I finally reached the lake Bailey was already in the water. She swam back to the dock. Running down the dock she jumped into the water. Scanning the side of the path I found a stick. Picking it up, I called for Bailey. She swam back to the dock and ran up to me. Throwing the stick into the water for her. I made my way to the end of the dock and sat down. Taking off my tennis shoes I placed my feet into the cool water. Bailey came running up to me and shoved the wet stick in my face. Ripping the stick away from her I threw it again. This pattern repeated until Bailey became tired. Dropping the stick she laid her sopping wet body down next to me.

We sat there. Bailey snored, while I watched the beauty of the lake. Dragon flies hovered around over the lake. Darting back and forth in a zig-zag pattern. Every once and a while a fish would jump up trying to catch the flying bugs. I never saw one catch a bug. Little wripples brushed up on my legs. I could see and feel little minnows nibbling on my feet. Birds swooped down at the water in the distance. The pencil reeds on the bank swished back and forth. Making little rattling sounds as they swayed.

It was so peaceful down here. It could almost make someone forget the bad events in their life, but the key word was almost. The events of last night still haunted me. The sounds of people's screams. The sound of gunshots replayed themselves in my head. The pain from the bullets hitting flared back to life. Tears started to roll down my face. I held back the sobs for a long time, but they eventually broke free. The sobs made my whole body ache with the pain from the past twenty-four hours. The look in the man's eyes after I stabbed him. The pure shock as blood came squirting from his neck. The sound of his body hitting the floor echoed through my head.

"I killed a man," I whispered a sob, making the words shake. "Holy shit. I killed someone,"

"You kill someone to save yourself," a voice said behind me. Turning around sapphire blue eyes greeted me. Elijah's face was full of concern as he approached me. A glass of water clasped in one hand and his other hand formed into a fist. Bailey jumped up and ran to him. Her tail wagged in excitement.

He walked past the dog and sat next to me. He handed me a glass of water.

"You forgot to take your medication this morning," he said, holding out his hand.

"Medication for what?," I asked with curiosity filling my mind.

"Really. It's for the pain," he said. I looked at the little white pill in his hand. I took the pill from him. Looked at it for a second and threw it in the lake. "What the hell was that for!?," he yelled.

"I'd rather die before taking pain killers again," I said anger filled my voice.

"Again?," he asked, looking right at me. His blue eyes wide with shock and concern.

"Nothing," I said, looking at my feet in the water. He just shrugged his shoulders. Standing up he left me, heading back up to the house.