Aw, the two newest reviews won me over. Here's my second chapter for the day. I'm glad so many of you like it.
Thank you Squirrel With A SugarRush and 2theleftx2 for those reviews!
I still don't own HOA. Dang.
Fabian's POV
I'm torn between getting Trudy in here and revealing the secret or just letting Nina stay in her state of unconsciousness. Damian and Ashley are doing the best they can to keep her breath from getting any shallower, but I can tell their efforts are fruitless. I noticed the look of terror in Ashley's eyes.
"Hey, Ash," Damian began, beating me to it.
Before, they wouldn't let me anywhere near Nina. I sneaked past them while they were temporarily distracted and sat down on the edge of her bed. Tears welled up in my eyes – she was barely breathing.
Damian glanced sideways at me, obviously thinking it over. He shrugged. "Why do you seem so jumpy?" he asked, turning back to Ashley.
Her eyes widened in fear. "What do you mean? I'm not jumpy. Maybe you're jumpy."
I was listening with half an ear. All my attention was on Nina, and why she wasn't breathing like she should. "Are you sure she's just unconscious and not dead?" I whispered, my voice shaking badly.
"She's still getting some air in her lungs," Damian answered. "But it is true that she should be getting more."
My sweet, beautiful Nina… my entire world would be incomplete without you… Please, please let me see what you see. My silent begging got me into whatever dream she was having now. Her gaze met mine, but before either of us could say anything, I heard: "Hearts of gold and minds of pure… your souls will save ours." And I saw Nina break down, gasping for air between sobs.
"Nina, look at me," I pleaded, knowing I would have to stop it. The riddle was the thing hurting her. I kneeled down and pulled her close to me. "Nins, how many times have I said I won't let anything hurt you?" I whispered.
She relaxed slightly, only to be choked by something invisible. When she stiffened again, she caught what little breath had been taken from her. "Fabian," she coughed. "How did… you get… here?" Each word pained her, making me feel hurt as well.
"I don't know, but you have to come back with me."
Her voice was soft when she murmured, "I'm going to die. I know it."
"No! You can't die. For one thing, you need to keep the Martin family alive. And for another, what am I supposed to do without you?"
"Fabes, I know you saved Joy. I forgive you for putting yourself through so much misery just to protect me. You still could've told me."
"I was going to…" The longer I gazed at her, the more I could see she was getting weaker by the moment. I needed her to stay alive, if not for me but for herself. "I know you won't die. You're a strong girl, Nins. You can fight this off."
"No, she can't," a quiet voice said behind me. "Somebody else can take it from her if she stays here long enough, but alone she can't get rid of it." I turned to see Joy. "You should probably know that my family and another dead family are fighting it out to see who will be saved. They're sending everything to you without realizing it."
Nina stared at her. "What do you mean?" she asked hoarsely.
Joy shook her head. "Do you want me to help or not?" I moved to block Nina when she stepped closer, shooting her a glare. "Fabes, your good intentions made me normal again. Well, as normal as I'll ever get. I'll still go a little insane sometimes, but that's to be expected." She looked at Nina. "Let me help her," she pleaded.
"How do I know you won't just kill her faster?"
"Do you want me to help or not?" she repeated.
Nina rested her hand on mine. "It's alright Fabian," she whispered. "I trust her. If you really had the best intentions when you saved her, some of that had to get through to her. I believe her."
My fingers entwined with hers. Joy placed her hand on Nina's forehead. "Yeah, this is bad," she remarked. "None of this would kill her, but it's doing some serious damage. Looks like someone forced her to get heart cancer and West Nile Disease combined. It can never be healed for whoever ends up with it. Their life would be cut short, unfortunately, but they'll survive for many more years." She sighed. "If you really trust me, give me both."
The next thing I know, Joy's collapsed beside us, and a tiny ray of sunlight shone down on Nina. Weird, I thought.
Damian jerked me away from Nina, bending over her. "Her breathing's almost normal," he announced.
Relief flooded me. Ashley was staring at me. "What did you do?"
"Saved Joy, who in turn saved Nina," I reported.
"Fabian."
I looked down at her. A smile made its way onto my face. "You really are okay," I whispered happily.
"Of course." She painfully sat up, leaning on me for support. "Joy took the illness away from me. All because we both trusted her." I stared into those gorgeous depths. She managed a tiny smile, her eyes never once leaving mine. "If you didn't rescue her from the fire, I might be dead right now."
"You do understand that I won't be able to leave you for the next couple days, right?"
Damian interrupted. "Sorry to break up this touching reunion," he began. "What's Trudy going to think if you're with Nina day and night? Especially the night part?"
"I'm going to say that Nina passed out, and that because I want to be a good boyfriend I want to stay with her. She knows about me sneaking up here to stop the nightmares, and she agreed not to say anything else about it if I stayed in the makeshift bed. That's exactly what I'm going to do."
Ashley shooed him from the room. "Leave them alone," I heard her say before the door closed behind them.
"You really think Trudy is going to let you stay here?" Nina questioned.
I shook my head. "Nope, but I'm going to anyway."
"What's with the new bad boy kind of attitude?" she teased.
I shrugged, kissing her forehead. "Get some sleep. I'll bring up your supper later." She settled back on her pillow and closed her eyes. "I won't let anything else get to you," I promised quietly. My life is so strange, I thought as she fell asleep. But at least I have you, my precious Nina. Hopefully nothing can change that. I carefully stood up so I wouldn't disturb her. Ashley came in and sat on her bed. "Come get me if she needs me, okay?"
"Don't worry, I will."
Supper passed by without a food fight, surprisingly. Like I said, I brought Nina her share of the food. Trudy did agree to me sleeping in her room. The rest of the night went uneventful.
Please review. I wanted to get a calm essence before I added a little more action in here, so tell me if I succeeded.
Reviews: 30 (current: 22)
I will still update tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you can slack off the reviews, people. Okay? We good here? I'll come back tomorrow; bye for now.
