Alright guys I wasn't really sure how this chapter turned out so please tell me and enjoy!
Chapter 7
Ari's P.O.V.
I was woken by a jolting shake from my shoulder, and when I opened my eyes I was shocked to see Max. What was she doing here? "Max?" I said in a helpless tone, I hated
how I sounded so vulnerable. She looked at me with a worried expression. "Ari, I know you're probably confused and maybe even angry with me, but let me attempt at
explaining." After she told me about, well everything, I didn't know what to say. She told me about the flock, about herself, about Fang, about Jeb, and she even told me
about her past experiences with me and the erasers. I sat there and listened intently the whole time, not saying a word. I nodded in understanding here and there, but that
was it. As she was nearing the end of her explanation my vision began to blur. I blinked furiously trying to fix my vision, but it didn't help at all. I was finally getting a chance
to hear Max talking to me in a nice and calm tone, and of course something had to ruin it. (In this case I couldn't look her in the eyes because I couldn't see out of mine.) I
didn't know if I was looking her in the eyes, but I sure was attempting to. "Ari, is something wrong?" she asked. "No, why do you ask?" I replied half-heartedly. "You're not
looking at me, your focusing and nodding at that tree." Yep, I knew I wasn't looking at her. When I didn't answer her, she came up close to me, and looked straight into my
eyes. "Ari seriously, talk." She said in a strong tone. "I need to know how I can help you." "I can tell you have an injury in your side, a knife in your shoulder, and I think your
wings are broken, but I can't be sure about anything without you actually telling me." I sighed. "Well, I'm not really sure what's wrong with me." I replied feeling stupid.
"Then to make things simple, where does it hurt?" Max asked. I wanted to say everywhere, but I knew she would ask me to be more specific. "Well, my shoulder hurts the
worst, then it would be my side, then my wings, then….." I paused in the middle of my sentence unable to breathe. "Ari?!" Max exclaimed. I gasped for air and began to
wheeze. I doubled over as Max ran up to me and grasped my uninjured shoulder. I continued to wheeze, then I started coughing uncontrollably. It was a mix of wheezing,
coughing, and gasping. I put my hand over my mouth and coughed twice as hard as I had been coughing. I coughed so much that my throat felt like it was on fire, but I
couldn't stop. I coughed for several minutes, while Max patted my back trying to help me stop. My hand felt strangely warm and wet. I didn't care though I was trying to stop
myself from coughing. In the middle of my cough attack, Max gasped and said, "Ari your hand is bleeding!" I couldn't look at my hand at the moment, but as soon as I could
at least slow down my coughing I would take a look at it. After several more minutes my coughing began to slow down, I could actually take a breath. I slowed down my
breathing and took a few deep breathes. Ok now I could look at my hand. I removed my hand from my mouth then I flipped it over, several drops of blood ran down my hand
and onto my arm, but there was no wound there. I looked at my hand thinking about what the heck just happened, when I remembered that I had thrown up blood earlier. I
wiped my bloody hand off my pants then touched my lips and examined my hand again. A fresh line of blood was on my hand where I had swiped it across my lips. Crap, not
again, but that time I didn't really throw it up, I coughed it up. "Um, Ari, is this the other thing you were going to tell me about?" Max asked. "Yeah." I replied. She tilted her
head in concentration, then when she had reached a solution to whatever she was thinking about, she looked at me. "I know this is going to seem weird, but I, um, need to
check something." "What do you mean?" I asked. "I thought about some reasons why you might be coughing up blood, and one of them was that your ribs may have crushed
your lungs, or it may have something to do with the knife puncture in your side." She said. "So what do you need me to do?" I asked feeling stupid once more. "I just need
you to lay down so I can feel your ribs." She said. "Um, ok." I said awkwardly. I put my right arm underneath me and slowly let myself down. Max walked over to me and
then sat on her knees. Then she lifted her hands and slowly lowered them onto my ribs, not putting any pressure on them. "Alright, I'm going to press on them a little so, you
may feel some pain." She said. She pressed on my ribs and slowly shifted from rib to rib. When she moved over to my left rib cage I felt a wave of pain wash over me. She
kept pressing on them as she had for my right side, until she looked at my face with concern again. I had closed my eyes, and I was struggling to breathe again. I felt
something trickle out of my mouth, but I still kept my eyes closed. "Ok, I think that's enough." She said. "I'm causing you too much pain." "No, it's ok, I've been through
worse." I told her, hoping she couldn't tell I was lying.
Max's P.O.V.
As I went down Ari's left ribcage, he tensed up and closed his eyes. This was his hurt side. When I pressed on the some of the ribs I could feel them move. They were broken
and that's why it hurt him. I looked up at his pained face, and noticed that there was blood running from his mouth. Well, maybe his ribs are crushing his lungs. "Ok, I think
that's enough." I said. "I'm causing you too much pain. I felt bad for hurting him more, but I had to check to see if my theory was correct. "No, it's ok, I've been through
worse." Ari said. "Ari, come on, I'm a pro at lying; you're going to have to do better than that to convince me." He didn't answer me; he just looked at the ground. "You
know, it's ok to admit you're not invincible." I said. "Yeah, I know but,…. I should be stronger than this." He said the last part in a whisper. "I'm an eraser after all." He said
looking at the ground. I felt really sorry for him. "Ari, you're just a kid, don't be so hard on yourself." "How can I not be!?" he growled. "My whole life has been a test; I don't
even have a life." "That's not true!" I retorted determined to change his view on things, but before I could say another word he said, "Think about it, and name one person
who would care if I was gone." I was speechless. Here I was trying to convince Ari, the little boy who was changed into an eraser, the boy who had no future, the boy who
was left behind. "Exactly." Ari said, his eyes full of hurt. "Nobody cares…" I couldn't believe this, I didn't know how torn up Ari was on the inside. "I care." I said. "No offense
Max, but how can you forgive me after everything I've done to you and your flock?" Ari said. "I can forgive you because you really didn't understand what you were doing." I
replied. "They turned you into an eraser and basically after that, they had you do all the dirty work." "Plus you probably didn't like us because we left with your father."
"Please Ari; just know in your heart that I really do forgive you." He didn't answer me but he looked at me with an expression that read, "I definitely deserve this." I sighed.
I'll definitely be trying to help him psychologically as well. He sighed then leaned back against a tree. "Hey are you hungry?" I asked feeling hungry myself. "Not really, I feel
really light headed and nauseous." He responded. "That's probably because you're hungry." I said with a smile. Then I walked over to the backpack I brought with me and
took out some crackers. "It's not much, but here." I said as I held them out in my hand for him to take. He shook his head. "No it's okay you go ahead, I don't feel like
eating." "You need to eat something, Ari." I said feeling very motherly for some reason. "Your body has a lot of healing to do, and you'll need energy too." I extended my arm
out further. He didn't take it and the rain was starting to make them soggy, so I walked over to him, took his uninjured hand, placed the crackers in it, closed his fingers
around them, then sat down next to him and ate mine. He looked shocked that I actually touched him, as if he were so repulsive that I couldn't stand him or something.
"What?" I asked. "Nothing." He quickly answered, then turned away from me. After a while I finished my crackers, and I got Ari to eat one. (It's a start) It was really late and
we needed some rest. Tomorrow I was going to try and fix up Ari's wounds. I had been looking up at the stars for a long time and now I was going to tell Ari to go to sleep.
"Ari." Silence. "Ari?" No answer. I turned in his direction and saw his silhouette against the tree. So now he was ignoring me? I sighed. Wait, I don't think he's ignoring me. I
walked quietly over to where he was leaning against the tree and waved my hand in front of his face a few times. He didn't move. Then I remembered how his eyes glowed in
the dark when you looked at them at a certain angle. There was no light coming from his eyes, and his breathing was slow and relaxed. He fell asleep. Poor Ari. He needs to
be lying down though; it would take a load off his side and his shoulder. I gently slid him off the tree and supported him until I gently placed him on the soft earth. He looked
so peaceful. I hope he's not in pain when he's sleeping. I laid down a few feet away from him and fell into a deep slumber.
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