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229.11.23
Hayleen had really underestimated how difficult it would be to get back home without arousing suspicion after what had happened. To say that it was difficult for her to walk was to belittle the situation. In fact, she still didn't understand how she had managed to avoid falling when she launched herself at Gally in their last kiss. Luckily for her, she really hadn't had to put up with a lot of walking.
She ran into her father just as they were leaving the boys' rooms and when she mentioned that her stomach hurt, a bad excuse she came up with to justify her walking so slowly and strangely, Randall decided it was best to go to her mother's house to rest and recover. In reality, it was not so easy to convince him that they did not need to visit the WICKED doctors and that she had simply disliked something she ate. Her father seemed to think she was dying and had a look of absolute concern and anguish that made her feel guilty for lying to him, knowing how hypochondriac and exaggerated he was.
During the entire time it took her to get home, she tried to contain the panic that she felt about what she had not been able to prevent from happening. A telepathic bond had formed between her and Gally, of that she was sure. She had felt a strong sense of fury pushing through her mind that had vanished the moment he closed his eyes. She was sure he had done it on purpose to distract her from her attempts to get him away from the cell phone and punish her for trying to get away from them again. Somehow she still knew he was there, it was like a thread pulling their minds together even though he was unconscious. She wasn't just enduring the physical pain and anguish from having taken one step closer to fulfilling her unwanted destiny, but she was also struggling with a growing sense of pain that she couldn't really determine where it was coming from. Maybe it was physical, mental or emotional, or maybe it was all at once. The truth is that it became more and more unbearable the further away from Gally she was. All her was suffering to return with him but she never would, no matter how much her body punished her for it.
By the time she got home she could barely hold back the tears, and when she closed the door behind her, looking at her mom who was waiting anxiously for her, she couldn't take it anymore. Her legs ceased to support the weight of her body, as barely been doing since she left the bed, and collapsed on the floor sobbing, hugging herself as if she could hold the pain inside. She really didn't know why she was crying, because one of them had touched her despite her attempts to push him away and she could still feel the ghost of him inside her and his hands on her skin, for the certainty that she had touched the sky and she couldn't return to ever do it again, before only coexisted with that empty feeling inside but now she knew what it was to be complete, or because he was gone. She was sure that his memory had already been erased, since she felt as if a door had closed between their minds, the thread that united them was stuck between the door making them unable to feel each other. It was as if he was dead. She was probably screaming for all that and more.
The bond had existed for an hour at most but she felt as if she had lost a part of herself that had been forever. Hayleen felt like her soul was being torn into a thousand pieces. Maybe that was the best way to describe it.
Ladena hurriedly threw herself towards her daughter, tormented by the painful screams that came from her and how her body was shaking. It seemed that she was being torn apart from the inside out. In fact, it seemed that she was trying to hold together with how strong she hugged herself. Her mother knelt beside her on the floor and held her tightly against her trying to comfort her but not knowing exactly how to help. If Lyn had looked at her at that momento, instead of just trying to cling to her mother desperate for a containment of the pain that would not happen, she would have seen how she also cried anguished to see her baby in so much suffering.
After a while Ladena tried to obtain information about what happened but her daughter could not get out of whatever it was that distressed her so much. Finally, she resigned and with the help of one of the guards who watched their house, them placed her on the bed. It was when she tried to put her pajamas on that she was able to get a kind of response. Hayleen's body was stained but certainly not from physical violence towards her. It was very obvious from the hand marked on her hip and the love bites that adorned much of her body what had happened. And it was also more than clear that it had not been an assault by anyone because whoever did it had removed the protective scarf and left her with multiple bruises on her neck and clavicle that certainly seemed more intense and frequent near a certain name.
Ladena didn't understand what had gone wrong and how Ava Paige's son, who was supposed to be locked in the maze today, had managed to find her daughter and do that to her.
The reality is that the days that followed were some of the most difficult and she found herself crying in anguish for her baby at different times of the day.
Hayleen seemed not to hear or understand anything about the outside world. She was locked inside her mind with her pain and her mother had barely been able to get her to feed and bathe after the second day, but she did it like an automaton, probably unaware that she was doing it. The screaming stopped only when her body was too exhausted to continue and she passed out.
Finally, very slowly, as the weeks went by she got better. At first she stopped screaming, and began to cry silently when she was conscious. Next the crying stopped, leaving only the shell of a person rather than Hayleen. If anyone asked Ladena, she would say that after so long with visible signs of her suffering, her daughter's blank, catatonic gaze was even worse than the heartbreaking sobs.
Ladena was seriously considering that perhaps she had been wrong to keep her away from her soulmates. Perhaps it was best to give up and take her daughter to Thomas, the only one of them who had not yet entered the maze. It wasn't the future she wanted for her baby and the world but he sure could help and lift her out of her shell. After all, what could be worse than how her daughter is now?
Until finally one day when her mother was about to call and tell the truth to Randall, a glimmer of life returned to the eyes of Hayleen.
-He's gone -was just a whisper even looking at nothing that his mother hardly Heard-. I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop it. He sealed the bond-she said louder now, looking at Ladena with tears in her eyes.
Ladena rushed to hug her unable to believe that her daughter was really speaking to her after so long.
- Lyn, baby, it's okay. It wasn't your fault -her mother assured her desperate to keep her anchored to the outside world and never lose her again.
-I should have run when I realized where that doctor was going, maybe they would have caught me but there is also the possibility that not. Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore. I made sure that no one knows about me and that he does not remember me. The bond is shattered -she said firmly to her mother with a raspy voice, although it seemed that she was trying to tell it to herself- He is gone-the fire in her eyes had disappeared again and now Ladena was seeing once more the ghost of what the last few weeks had been, the raw pain in her eyes made her want to cry too.
-Everything will be fine, Lyn. Everything is going to be fine -she answered, hugging her to keep her together and repeating it over and over again until it became true or one of them believed it.
As it turned out, Hayleen was once again aware of what was going on around her. Although she was still devastated, little by little she tried to regain her normality. Her mother informed her of the time she has lost and she seemed surprised at how much time had happened. The truth is, Lyn felt absolutely guilty for putting her mother through such tough weeks. To her it had felt like an eternity overwhelmed with pain but when she was able to say something to her mother, she thought it was only a few minutes, like when someone has a nightmare that seems endless and it turns out they only slept for half an hour.
They were eating popcorn watching a movie on the couch to distract themselves when something caught her eye on the screen and made her turn pale. Hands shaking violently, she froze the image of the laughing baby and asked again how long she had been unconscious.
-I think you should tell Aunt Alessa to come -she informed her mother with a shaking voice-. Urgently she needs to make me a blood test.
Ladena was quick to call her friend, she trusted her daughter to know when she was really needed and it seemed urgent, she had never seen Hayleen so nervous. Dr. Alessa lived right next to them. The complex they lived in contained several heavily guarded and protected apartments that had been made possible by the influential politician and wealthy businesswoman. Only she had decided who lived in that place and of course her best friend had a secure home.
Lyn's aunt arrived quickly, it was unusual for them to call her about something medical. She had paid a visit a few weeks ago to check on her niece and try to help her desperate mother but there was nothing she could do. After that, she had merely acted as moral support, so when she read the message she feared the worst.
-I think I'm pregnant -Hayleen whispered, clasping her hands nervously without looking anyone in the eye.
-Any symptoms? -asked Alessa trying to be professional, even though she was heartbroken for that poor girl.
-No, but...-she paused, swallowing hard and staring distressedly at the screen that still showed the baby-. Mom told me how long I was gone and I should have bled a long time ago but I did not, it only anticipates or delays two or three days and this is much more than that-she looked very uncomfortable as she explained to her aunt what was happening- . He wanted... -she tried to add but her voice broke and she covered her face with her hands trying to contain the sobs, unable to finish the sentence.
Her mother hugged her knowing that she needed support at that moment, even though she was furious with that boy and with fate, and devastated for her poor baby.
Dr. Allesa was quick to draw blood and analyze it to obtain an accurate result, although it was not really necessary in this situation. All three knew that the result was going to be positive, not only because of Hayleen's delay but also because of what they knew from her previous investigation of how her niece's body worked and what would happen to any of them. They were absolutely compatible, there was no way it would be negative.