Chapter Four
Thirty minutes later Liz dragged herself up the ladder to her balcany, through the window and onto her bed. She felt so weak. Every muscle ached and she felt the burns eating into her skin. Sleeping was the last thing she could do right then. She had to keep her mind off what happened.
Dragging herself to her feet once more Liz grabbed some loose sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt and walked into her bathroom. Placing her clothes down, she took Michael's clothes off, turnign the bathroom light off as she did so. She couldnt face seeing the damage yet. She just couldnt. She was silently thankful that the sun wasnt up yet otherwise she wouldnt have had a choice. She was disgusted enough with herself for letting it get to that stage anyway. Max was dangerous. She should've known that.
Liz ran the shower, making it as hot as possible, as she basically threw herself into the spray. The scalding water hit her body and she was overwhelmed with pain. The water irritated every cut and bruise, and made the burns feel so hot the she thought she was burning up from the inside out. Maybe she was.
Liz stayed under the water until it turned ice cold. She reached over and turned it off. Drying her now numb body, she dressed not so carefully in the clothes she brought in. The scalding water had drained away any remaining energy she had, so as Liz lay down on her bed, shaking from the heat in her body, that felt like ice running through her veins she passed out pleading with her mind to let her rest in peace. But she had no such luck and once again the terrors flashed across her closed eyelids with no sign of stopping.
Michael climbed the ladder to Liz room as he had several times before. He'd woken up shortly after she had left that morning to find some of his clothes missing. He'd worried about her all night and the she'd up and dissapeared. He considered calling Max or Maria, thinking they were closer to her, and might be better able to help her, but had decided that Liz needed to be the one to tell them.
Jumping onto her balcany he was relieved when he saw her body lying across her bed. He looked at her in wonder. In less than 24 hours she had gone from somebody with fire and spirit to someone who looked frail and scared. He just wanted to tell her that it was ok. But how could he do that when he didnt even know who had destroyed the person she had been?
She appeared to be sleeping reasonably soundly so Michael sat down on her balcany near the window. He didn't want to alarm her with his presence but he needed to make sure she was alright and if she needed anything, he'd be there to look after her.
As he looked over the awakening town of Roswell NM he couldn't help asking nobody and everyone all at once Why? Why did Liz have to go through that too?