The car that hit me was at a low speed: I was rather lucky. I only had a bandage around my left knee as it had lightly twisted in my fall and a band-aid on my forehead. Since it still hurt and I needed to learn how to walk with crutches, I had a hospital bed and some visitors. I smiled when the first one arrived, Adam, who held me tight in his arms like I was about to fall from a cliff. He was obviously more shocked than I was. His face was stern and he clenched his fists.
"I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."
"Stop it. It's useless to say that."
"You could have died!"
"I know-"
I remembered Z-dam's look.
"Did they find him?"
Adam shook his head.
"He ran away when the ambulance arrived. The cops are looking for him. But since he doesn't have a name and he looks like me, it won't be easy."
"I knew it. Make sure they don't arrest you when you get out." I said and smirked.
However, he didn't reply.
"That bastard's life is gone." he repeated between his gritted teeth.
"Don't call him that. It sounds like you're insulting yourself."
"He's not me, stop saying that! I'm not like him. I never will again."
As he said that, he held my hand and rolled his thumb in my palm. I smiled at him but he then took his head in his hands and tensed.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry." he said with his eyes tight shut.
He held still for a second, hissing. Then the fit seemed to stop.
"Don't tell me it's nothing! Tell me what it is!"
"I don't know." he admitted. "It's happened before but it's gotten worse recently. It's not throbbing like a migraine. It's something else. I feel like it's attacking me deeper than that."
I remained silent.
"You do know what it is—don't you?"
He turned his head at me, ready to contradict me, then bowed his head in defeat.
"Z-dam is doing this to you." I went on.
He nodded and raised his head to smile at me and hold my hand again.
"It doesn't matter. No matter what he does to attack me, the most important is that he doesn't harm you."
I tried to lean forward to kiss him when I heard a knock on the door and we both turned. The nurse came in.
"You've got one more visitor. After that, I'll come back for your reeducation."
"Alright, thank you."
She left. Adam looked at me with a small smile.
"I guess I'll have to go, then."
"No, stay a little longer," I said, keeping my hand in his. "I don't care; you'll have to carry me for the rest of your life!"
"I think it would be better if you could stand on both of your legs. Bye, my princess."
"I love you."
"I love you too." he said and kissed me on the lips.
He headed towards the door and with me keeping my eyes on him, smiling, until he opened it to face Viviane, smiling much less.
"Hi, Adam."
She didn't give him the time to reply and came into my room with firm steps until she was in front of my bed, facing me.
"I'll leave you both alone." Adam said in an undertone and left.
He too must have felt that Viviane was not in the mood for playing ladies-in-waiting. After Adam closed had closed the door, she finally decided to start talking.
"I know what you did. I can't believe I bought your bullshit "evil twin" story—Helen called me. There's a page missing in one of her books. You're completely insane."
I didn't flinch, even though I knew it would be useless to play around with her from now on.
"What the hell were you thinking?" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "To use a magic spell nowadays when you've never done anything like this—are you out of your mind or something? And the "Prince Charming" spell? Is that why Adam changed so much from one year to the other? You bewitched him?"
"Enchanted him." I corrected her.
She took my joke as a provocation and her blue eyes, usually so kind, turned ice cold grey, glaring.
"You haven't changed. For the 6 years I've known you, I've never read you so clearly.— You don't care about love, you never did. All you care about is you and you alone with that fake love. You love yourself through him. You like to be taken care of and treated like a queen. Actually, you're still acting like you were 15."
"And you always act like you're 220 years ahead of us all, puny humans." I replied with a contemptuous smirk. "You always knew when to give me a lesson when you had to, always learned yours better than everyone else. You're perfect, you're beautiful, you're smart— You and your "reincarnation" title can fuck off. I'll stay with my misery and my perfect boyfriend."
"I don't know what you're getting into with all that, but you're getting in headlong. And I don't like it."
"If that's what you think then get out."
She didn't budge.
"Get out! " I yelled. "Get the fuck out of here!"
In the end, she left, walking towards my door as quietly as if she hadn't heard me and not without letting me see her disappointed face one last time. Finally, my best friend opened the door and went away. There I was, left on my own, lost in the middle of the empty bedroom with a leg twisted by my boyfriend's dark side that I rejected. My only external support had just gone through the door.
When the nurse arrived, I was sobbing, one knee pressed against me and the other one dangling out of the bed pathetically.
