I Trusted You
(Day 43: Sunday Morning)
When Mal gets inside the dorm Evie sits her down on her bed, "Thank you for getting her up here."
Lonnie replies, "You're welcome." but she hesitates to leave. "You know, she had a lot of salt… I tried giving her some water, but she just threw up."
Evie turns around and raises her eyebrows at her, "You gave Mal water? What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that salt causes dehydration," she sternly states.
"Mal doesn't drink water," Evie worriedly responds. "She gets enough of it the way it is just through food and stuff. How much did you give her?"
"Just one glass." She frowns, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Evie lets out of breath of relief, "One glass. That… hopefully it's fine."
"She still had a lot of salt," Lonnie reminds her. "Maybe we should get her to the hospital."
Evie nearly laughs, "And what's the hospital going to do with a part dragon? Give her water like you tried to?" She stays quiet. "I can take care of her. Just leave."
Lonnie hesitates to say, "Okay."
When Lonnie turns around Evie remembers, "Wait." and then she stops. "If you really want to help us, then you will forget what you saw today." Lonnie doesn't speak, merely heading out the door and closing it behind her.
"Hey." Evie sits down on Mal's bed and touches her arm, "How are you doing?"
Mal opens her eyes, "Maybe a little better." but after another second she shakes her head. "I'm still broken. My eyes won't work."
"You mean, your hypnotism?" Evie clarifies.
"Yeah."
Evie moves her fingers an inch and then eyes Mal's arm, "Your skin is really dry. Let me get some lotion."
"No. Don't." Evie turns back to her. "It's supposed to be dry."
Evie slightly nods, "Alright. Is there anything I can do for you? It's breakfast time. I could get you some milk and bacon."
"No," Mal shuts her eyes for a minute. "I still feel a little nauseous."
"Okay." Evie says, and then there's a knock at the door.
When Evie stands Mal grabs hold of her, "Don't leave me."
"Mal," she sadly replies. "I need to answer the door." With that, Mal lets go, and then Evie heads for the door; however, she narrows her eyes at the sight of him, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it's just," Ben begins, before he rubs his hands together. "You see, I had this weird dream last night. Actually… I'm not sure if it was a dream or not." Evie gives him a look of disbelief. "Is Mal here? Can I talk to her?"
"No," Evie sternly states. "You can't."
"Please," he pleads. "I need to know if what happened really happened or not."
"Why?" Evie crosses her arms. "What do you think happened?"
"I don't know," Ben frustrates. "One minute I was holding her, and in the next— she was just gone… But then the dream, in it she said she felt like she was in danger?" He sadly looks at her, "I don't know what happened."
"Wait. You were holding her?" Evie sidetracks.
"Please, just tell me she's okay."
Evie stares at him for a moment as she clutches onto the doorframe, "I'm sorry. I can't tell you that." Ben's mouth drops, and Evie steps into the hallway before shutting the door. "She's sick. And it's your fault."
"What?" Ben slowly processes.
"You were supposed to watch her," Evie angrily explains.
"We were asleep," he tries to defend.
Evie laughs, "What if someone had gone into your room with a gun? Would you have been awake then, or would you have been just lying dead while Mal deals with it by herself?"
It takes a moment for Ben to answer, "I don't know."
Evie glares at him, "I trusted you with her."
"I know," he quickly says.
She doesn't let him explain, "I let you have her for one night— one night— and then she goes off and does this."
"Does what?" Ben asks.
Evie huffs, "Wouldn't you like to know."
"I'm her boyfriend," Ben nearly shouts. "I deserve to know what's going on with her."
"Well, then," Evie partly smiles, "you should have been there when she needed you, shouldn't you have?" He lets out a sad breath. "I trusted you with her. I told you to be there when she needs you, and you betrayed us."
"It's not like that," Ben denies.
"No," Evie puts a hand up. "You're not worming your way out of this one."
"Just let me explain."
She huffs, "Okay. Tell me. What excuse could you possibly have to not take care of your girlfriend? What could you possibly say to make this better?" Ben opens his mouth, but no words come out. "Well? I'm waiting."
"I—" I took something. "I—" I was knocked out. He places a hand to his head for a moment, before he looks at her. "I just couldn't wake up."
"You just couldn't wake up." Evie laughs, "That's your excuse?"
Ben is quiet for a minute, "Yes. I suppose it is." He watches as Evie steps back away from him, opens the door up, and moves inside.
She shakes her head at him, "You need to find a better excuse." before she shuts the door on him.
When Ben turns around he sees Audrey. "Trouble in paradise?"
He frowns, "I think I really messed up." She steps towards him, but then he steps back, "This doesn't change anything. I'm still going to help her." before walking away from her.
- Sorry if the ending seems a little abrupt, but I ran out of room. What do you think? Should I leave as is where Ben walks away that soon, or do you want me to add another page where he would have more of a conversation with Audrey? After all, this chapter is a little shorter than they have been lately... Although, if the conversation with Audrey were to be longer, I'm not sure what exactly I could do with it. I feel like them talking about how he messed up would be awkward, and you would think that with everything that's going on they probably wouldn't be talking anyway... I could also just take out the last two lines and have it end with the door being shut on him, if you want, but I felt like since the argument happened in the hallway that at least someone should comment on it. (Isn't that just the most horrible thing in movies? You see these people having these fights or talking about all these secret things in front of other people, and 90% of the time they're not even paranoid that someone will hear and no one ever seems to notice it.)