Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I don't own The Tribe. Kinda wish I did but that's another story.
It was past midday when Lex woke and crept down to the room they had placed Rose in. Amber looked up when he walked in.
"Is she?" he slowly moved closer.
"She's been badly beaten and stabbed. We patched her up the best we could but she has a fever. If...when she wakes up she should be ok."
He nodded and stared at her with sad eyes. He shook his head and turned his attention back to Amber. "You should get some rest."
"Someone needs to stay with her."
"I will. Go rest. See your baby."
Amber nodded and stood leaving the room.
Lex took the now empty seat at Rose's bedside. She was deathly pale; a thin sheen of sweat covered her face. He took the rag out of the bucket of water on the small table near by and whipped gently at her forehead. With the heavy coat gone, he could see the angry looking stab wound in her shoulder and the dark purple bruises creeping up from the neckline of her tank top.
He leaned foreword toward the bed. "Well, Rosey, what's gonna happen now?"
She slept on silently in response to his question.
"Me either." He was quiet a moment. "I really have missed you. Some days I really wish I would have gone looking for you. Can't redo everything we regret can we? I hope you decide to stay for awhile at least. I'd be nice to have someone to really talk to again. I think you'd like it here. Everyone's pretty ok. There's a few that can be a little crazy at times but for the most part it's good." He sighed watching her steady breathing for a moment. "Please wake up, Rosey." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek before assuming his silent vigil.
Salene was reading in the café when Amber came in. She gathered her lunch and took a seat at the table across from her. There was a quiet moment before Salene began to speak.
"Is that girl...?"
"She's still unconscious. She has a high fever."
"Do you have any idea what happened?"
"Not a clue. She was stabbed in the shoulder. That seems fairly fresh. She looks like she took a real beating too."
"You don't think Lex had anything to do with this, do you?"
"No, I think he just found her."
"Pride talked to him earlier. He's really worried about Lex."
"Things aren't going well with Siva are they?"
"No. I think this is gonna make it even worse."
"Obviously."
They stopped talking quickly when Jay entered the room and sat at the table resting on the smooth surface. "If you were talking about Siva," he said without raising his head, "don't stop on my account."
"Bad day?" Amber watched him sympathetically.
"This morning, after everything settled down, we just got back to sleep when Siva storms in yelling about Lex." He raised his head and looked at them. "This isn't the 1st time either. All hours of the night, whenever they argue she comes to Ebony. You know, sometimes, I wish we could keep Java in the mall just so Siva'd have someone else to bother."
"Is it really that bad? I mean, I know last night they got loud." Salene shrugged, "Pride only said something because they woke the babies."
"I think it's worse than we know."
"Siva?" the room was dark as Ebony slowly crept in. She could see the outline of the bed and the large lump in it. "You awake?"
"Yeah." She sniffled and looked back at the doorway.
Ebony shook her head and crossed the room taking a seat on the bed. "You need to stop doing this to yourself." She slowly began to push the hair from Siva's face and stroked her head gently. "No guy is worth all this. Lex least of all."
"I know. I just... I," she sighed and buried her face in the pillows. "I don't even know if I love him anymore."
"Then why are you doing this? You're miserable. Cut him loose, you'll be happier for it."
"It's just... I trusted him. I thought he loved me."
"He probably did once."
"I wish I knew what he was thinking."
Ebony sighed. "Oh, Siva, I don't know what else to say to you." She sat silently and stroked her sister's head as she began to cry again in earnest.
Comments, Criticisms, etc??