Chapter 13:
Knives slumped into the chair by Eliana's bed and closed his eyes. She lay sleeping off the sedative the doctor had given her a brace over her right arm, made up of a band that was fastened around her chest, it had a strap that held the arm in place across her chest and one that went over her shoulder holding it up, her hair trimmed back to the shoulder, due the fact it had been coated in blood. It looked awful at the moment, having been cut off with a pair of surgical scissors by the doctor as he removed the bullets and had screwed the bone together. It had been close according to Vash. A few inches to the right and she'd be missing and arm. Vash however was not best pleased with Knives at this point.
On their return to the house roughly two days after her being shot, After putting he sedated Ellie to bed, Vash had confronted Knives about his training her, and the fact that it had been kept from him, this had preceded a large argument which ended in Vash saying 'Just stay away till I know what I should do about you teaching her, because there has to be a reason why you were doing it behind my back'. However less than five hours later he asked Knives to watch her, in case she woke and needed something like food or water. He sighed and picked up the book on her nightstand, given to her four odd months ago. He opened it to the page to the one the small tassel like bookmark was on and began to read.
:Note: think up something to go here:
He looked up when he heard the covers shift. She was beginning to turn in her sleep. Reaching over he rested his right hand firmly on her left shoulder, stopping her from turning over. As he moved his hand away, she began to mumble in her sleep.
"Momma, where are you Momma. Please don't let me get hurt again Momma." He looked down at her and rested the book back on the table and flicked off the light. He thought she might be waking soon. The fact that she was talking in her sleep meant the sedative was wearing off. Outside the wind began to howl as it neared midnight and a sand storm was beginning to take form. He was proved right about the sedative few minutes later when a piercing scream emerged from her lips followed by.
"Momma!." She sat bold upright, Eyes wide open. Then cast a frightened glance around the room. Then learned forward a little and began to cry.
"I want my mom." Knives looked at the weeping girl uncertain for a minute then looked towards the door he started to get up.
"I'll go get Vash."
"No, Please... I don't... I don't wanna be alone." He shifted the chair closer to the bed, almost so it was touching, so they could see each other clearly in the dark and sat down.
"What were you dreaming about?"
"That man, the guy who shot me, It was like I was little and running to Mom for help." She answered dejected.
"I see." There was silence for a moment. And both of them heard the wind batter the windows as it swirled around outside. He shift the chair back and leaned back, propping his foot against the frame of the bed for support.
"How's the book?"
"Its okay, Kind of confusing in places. So I had to read re-read bits." He nodded.
"Its quite confusing on the first read. Till you take into account the double morality of the characters all." She looked at him puzzled.
"Its hard to explain, just don't take everything Jude says a true, that's a common mistake when reading books or stories written in the first person, people tend to believe everything the character says." She still looked puzzled.
"You'll get it eventually, believe me."
"Yeah I guess."
"What did they do?"
"Huh?"
"Your shoulder what did they do it?"
"The doctors told me they took out a bullet from the bone and one from just above it. The one that hit the bone broke it. They had to put five screws in." He nodded.
"That will take a while to heal, and longer to get back full motion. Bullet wounds like that are complicated. Its much easier if they just go straight in and out again."
"Yeah." Again a there was a moment of silence where they could here the wind. Knives got up from his chair and walked the doors that led out the balcony However despite them being shut small piles of sand had form around the cracks at the bottom of the door. He pulled the two window shutters across and put the clip that held them together down. Then turned on the small table lamp nearby, a shallow light filled the room, making tall and twisted shadows.
"Its going to be a long night."
"Yeah. That storm sounds fierce." She tried to shift to get up but she was still woozy from the sedative, she tipped a little, but grabbed the headboard to keep herself from falling over. She carefully tried to shift back to her original position, but found it hard to lay down, and adjust the covers too.
"Knives?" He walked back and sat down.
"Yeah?"
"Could you, Y'know help me?." He nodded and gently placed one hand on her back and pushed her down slowly. His hand brushing her roughly cut hair as he moved it away. He then picked up the cover and handed it too her.
"God, I'm helpless."
"You'll get better." He heard begin to cry again.
"I was stupid to even try to learn to be like you and Vash. I'm useless, like she said I was. I just wanna lie here, and do nothing. I cant be a pain if I do that." He sat there looking at her.
"What! You said I'm a freak, My Mom's effectively dead, my friends probably don't want to see me, I'm alone. I've got nobody. Nothing to live for." She wept.
"Sometimes it feels that way, like the whole world is this miserable awful place that isn't worth being in. And maybe it is. Sometimes it's hard to see the good things. But we keep going anyway, and there has to be something out there worth going on for." She rolled onto a left her side and brought her legs up to her chest, as the lights flickered and disappeared. Knives looked around and got up.
"Shit, the powers out." He looked down at her, shriving a little even under the thick cover.
"I'll be back in a minute okay."
"Sure." She stuttered. He left the room and headed down the corridor and took a right, it was dark, as the storm outside clouded any light the moons would cast down, but he didn't need it. He automatically knew where everything was, he reached out and grabbed the doorknob on the door to his room. Entering the room he went to desk draw and opened it, taking out a box matches placed there for an occasion such as this, he struck one and the room filled with a dim light. He reached over and picked up a candle, set on a small metal dish with a small handle on the side so it could be picked up. He headed back down the and into her room. The dull light illuminating barley half of it and casting even more strange and twisted shadows than the eclectic one had done. He put the candle down on the beside cabinet and sat down in his chair again.
"What happens now?" He didn't answer for a moment.
"We wait till it storm dies down enough for me and Vash to go out and start the generator."
"How long will that be." She stuttered shriving at little. He got up and walked across the room, he took a couple of steps into the darkness at the edge of the candle light and then, to her, seemed to mingle with the shadows as he walked to the back of the room and knelt down. There was a click, a prolonged squeak and rustle of material, followed by a dull thud. He emerged from shadows that seemed to be closing in on her carrying a large checked blanket, He sat down and laid it gently over her.
"Is that better?"
"Yeah, a lot."
"Good, Your going to be susceptible to disease while that wound is open, so you best be careful."
"Okay." She shifted onto her back again, finding it the easiest position to lay in. While he resumed leaning back, foot resting on the bed frame for support.
"Will they stop, the nightmare's and flashbacks."
"Yes after a while, its perfectly normal. For years I got shot I did. I could see his face every time I closed my eyes to sleep."
"Who shot you?"
"Actually it was Vash."
"Vash? you're kidding."
"Nope. Let's just say there was a period of time when we were...estranged." She paused for a moment, and looked over as the wind rattled the windows and shutters.
"Guess you wont be going to the generator any time soon huh?"
"Doesn't look like it." He looked over his shoulder towards the shutters too. "it'll die down soon enough, maybe another three hours or so. You should try sleeping again. You need all you can get at the moment."
"I still can't believe Vash shot you. Wow."
"Well, I was pointing two guns at him at the time, that probably had something to do with it." She smiled a little
"I'm serious."
"I know, just the way you said it was funny." He smiled a little.
"Do you want anything?"
"Some water would be nice. If your offering?"
"I'll be back soon." He left the room and she heard his footsteps fade away as he went down the stairs. She laid her head back onto the soft pillows and closed her eyes as the wind roared outside. After a few minutes she drifted off into sleep.