"Oh my God." Whatever I'd imagined, it certainly wasn't that. "Oh my God."
"I know."
He goes on to explain how he dug Thalia out of the wreckage himself. He would have taken her to the hospital himself had her father not come home. "He wouldn't let me touch her," he tells me, his head in his hands. "He wouldn't let me do anything. I could have helped. I could have healed her, but he wouldn't let me. He wouldn't let me see her, either. I had to sneak around, going in when I knew he wasn't there."
"How long was she unconscious for?"
"Four days, 6 hours and twenty-three minutes."
"And she has absolutely no idea who you are?"
He shakes his head. "No. I was there when she woke up. Me and her father, we were fighting. I can understand where he's coming from, really, I can. His son is dead, his daughter close to dead and his wife in a coma after killing his son and trying to kill his daughter. It's not even about my being a vampire anymore, he's trying to protect her from everything. She told me he was overprotective before…he'll never let her out of the house again." He rubs his hands over his face. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week. I'm sure he has, otherwise he'd be bleeding, but still. "I just wanted to see her, just once. I needed to tell her…I just needed to make sure she was alright. Anyway, she woke up. Perhaps we were too loud," he smiles ruefully, "she woke up, but she wasn't really there. She could barely speak."
Her father managed to throw him out at that point, he tells me. Of course they did. I can't imagine that his kind are at all welcome in hospitals. Her father was never going to be a fan of Godric. Perhaps if he'd discovered Thalia's relationship with him under different circumstances, he may have come around eventually, but now…
"What happened then?"
I wait until I'm positive that her father has left the hospital. He's reluctant to even leave the room, but he has three other children to take care of, and even he has to admit that there's not much that he can do for her when she's sleeping. Or pretending to sleep, as I find out when I creep into the room and shut the door behind me.
"I know you!"
I turn to find her pushing herself up into a sitting position. She looks pale and tired, which is hardly surprising. There's a long, thin cut that runs the length of her cheekbone. She's got a black eye and a bandage covering a more serious abrasion on her head. Her arms are covered in bruises and cuts, though they seem to have escaped the worst of the damage.
"I thought you were sleeping."
"I was!" She insists indignantly. I smile. "Well, I was pretending to. I wanted my dad to go away. He won't leave me alone! I mean, I wouldn't mind but he just sort of sits there. He doesn't talk to me. I don't see why he can't send Ethan to come sit with me instead."
Wait, what? "Ethan?"
"My brother. He'd be way more interesting company, believe me. Anyway," she smiles, "I know you. I remember you!"
Clearly there's something wrong here. Something that I've not been made aware of. Something that I'm not quite getting yet. "Do you?" I say slowly.
"Yeah, you were here when I woke up. You were fighting with my dad. Are you a doctor or something? You don't look like a doctor."
She has no idea who I am. Or that her brother is dead. She has no idea. It explains why her father is so reluctant to leave her alone, and why he won't talk to her. She's going to have questions about how and why she's in the hospital, and what is he supposed to tell her? How does he even begin to tell her that her step-mother tried to kill her and succeeded in killing her brother? She's already had to go through it once, and now she's been given a temporary reprieve. A respite of sorts.
I shouldn't be here. I can't be here. I have to walk away. This is the clean slate that she needs. She can start over, rebuild her life. Without me to tear it down. There's no way that her father will ever let me see her again, anyway.
Walk away, I tell myself. Walk away. But I can't. I can't physically bring myself to turn and walk out of the room. To shut the door behind me, to close it on the past year.
She's staring at me, waiting for an answer. She must think me strange. I have to go. I have to. I clear my throat awkwardly. "No, I'm not a doctor. I'm…nobody. I'm nobody. I hope you feel better soon." I turn my back and leave the room. The door seems to close with a resounding thud. There's a finality to it. An ending.
"So that's it? You're just…over?"
"What else can we be?" He grimaces. "She doesn't even know who I am."
"She doesn't know who I am either, but I'm not walking away. She's my friend."
"That's…that's different!" He says in exasperation. "Her life isn't at risk when she's with you. She's not going to be tortured for associating with you. Her father hasn't threatened to decapitate you if you come within ten miles of her."
"What if she does remember you? She could remember at any moment."
"I'll be long gone by that time."
"She'll come looking for you."
He smiles sadly. "She won't find me." He says. I almost ask what he means, but I stop myself. I don't want to know.
"So what am I supposed to do? Do you want me to tell her about you?"
"NO."
"What if she remembers?"
"Then she remembers. End of. Like I said, I'll be long gone. I won't be able to hurt her anymore." He sighs heavily and stands up. "It's been nice knowing you, Aimee." He takes one last look at the door that stands between Thalia and himself. It's just a door, but, even to me, it seems like a hundred square metres of solid concrete. "Look after her." He gives me a parting smile before starting to walk away. He only gets a few feet before turning back hesitantly. "If she remembers," he says slowly, "tell her I'm sorry."
"Godric, wait." I stand up, ready to grab him and force him through that door, to at least give her a proper goodbye, but he's already gone.
