Chapter 2
"Hey Lia, how are you feeling?" Gon asked as the two came into the room with the two men from the night before. I smiled at my brothers before sinking back from the two men. I actually ended up closing my eyes because I was so scared that they were going to hurt me. The doctor, Mr. Paradinight, softly put his hand on my forehead, which felt good because I was burning up for some reason.
Dr. Paradinight sat on the edge of my bed and asked, "Ayla, you have a pretty high fever. I'll have the nurse give you something for it. How else are you feeling? Are you in any pain or discomfort?" I couldn't really talk because I was so weak. The nurse gave me a notebook that I could use to communicate. I wrote down how I felt, which was very poorly.
"Sorry, I'm too weak to talk. Everything hurts, it's hard to breathe and thinking is hard with the fever," I read my horrible shorthand, taking the small notebook from my hand. Dr. Paradinight frowned before placing his hand back on my forehead and taking my wrist.
"Gon, can you tell one of the nurses at the station to call the doctor over your sister's case? Killua, come sit with Ayla. Kurapika, I believe that Ayla has pneumonia," Dr. Paradinight said off to the side just as a nurse and Gon came into the room. The nurse didn't look happy until she caught sight of Dr. Paradinight and she looked scared.
"Who is the doctor in charge of my foster daughter's case?" Dr. Paradinight asked as a drunk man I knew very well came stumbling into the room. I let out a scream before grabbing onto both Killua and Gon and hiding them behind me to the best of my ability. Which wasn't a lot since my scream turned into a hacking cough until a bunch of phlegm came out of my mouth.
The man said, "You stupid girl, shut up." Then Dr. Paradinight punched him in the gut.
"Don't you dare talk to our foster daughter that way. You have been warned far too many times on how you talk to the children in your care. You will be reported to the hospital board, once and for all. Go get medicine for pneumonia. Kurapika, stay with the children; I'll be right back in a few minutes. Killua, Gon, and Ayla, sit tight," Dr. Paradinight said, his fist clenched tightly and held up in front of him. Then he turned around and left the room, while Detective Kuta rushed over to me and my brothers.
"Shh children, everything is alright. Everything is going to be fine. Ayla Love, you need to breathe, look at me. Love, you and your brothers are alright," Detective Kuta said, forcing me to look him in the eyes. It was then that I noticed that I wasn't breathing. First things first, I needed to take a deep breath and calm down. I had a hard time catching my breath, but I eventually got it back under control.
"You really think they are going to want you when they find out what you've done. You fuck slut, you are nothing compared to those of us…" the man said before Dr. Paradinight slapped him upside the head. I was crying with both of my brothers holding their hands over their ears, they knew that I didn't want them to know anything about what I did to protect them. My head was buried in detective Kuta's shoulder hiding my face and my past. My hand was over the Detective's heart to remind me to breathe or was it more of a comfort that I had long since forgotten after the death of my mom and Aunt Mito.
"I had to protect my brothers; they're children," I cried before coughing nonstop. My brothers were shocked, but they also knew that if anything, I always wanted to protect them. Detective Kuta just hugged me and was there for me as I suffered from what the man said. Eventually, I ended up explaining everything the man had said to Detective Kuta. I told him about several of my foster families making me do things, and if I didn't comply, they would have forced Gon and then eventually Killua to do it.
"I was the oldest, so it was my job to protect my younger brothers," I said crying to the man, I was having a hard time breathing and my vision was going black around the edges. Until I felt someone take my hand and hold it against their chest so that I could feel the person's heart rate. I started to calm down a little bit so that I could breathe and saw that it was Gon holding my hand to my own chest which was heaving with effort.
"Lia, it's okay; we understand that you were trying to protect us. But now, since you're sick, let me and Killua protect you," Gon said, moving the hand he had been holding to my chest so that I could feel his heartbeat. Then, Killua did the same with my other hand.
"Yeah, Lia, let us protect you now. You've protected us, so now your job is done," Killua said, squeezing my hand. After that, I don't remember what happened next very clearly, but I do know that they removed that horrible man from the room. For two days, I stayed in bed at the hospital with no one to talk to. I was surprised when, on the third day, a nurse led my brothers and Detective Kuta into the room.
"Hello Ayla," Detective Kuta said as he entered the room. I turned to the left and smiled slightly at the sight of Gon and Killua. The nurse quickly rushed to my side and raised the head of the bed while she whispered something unpleasant in my ear.
The nurse snarled, "Your filthy slut shouldn't be here receiving treatment for something like this. You should go die on the streets." Before I could respond, I grabbed her wrist and held on tight.
I rasped out loudly enough for Detective Kuta to hear me, "Say that to me again in front of my family." The nurse repeated what she had said earlier but stopped abruptly as Dr. Paradinight entered the room. It was too late though; he had heard everything she had said to me. This was the third time today that she had made those comments to me. I knew that she hadn't allowed my family to visit because she believed that I didn't belong there and didn't have any family.
Dr. Paradinight pointed to the door where the man was waiting outside. "The head of the department would like to talk with you," he said, smiling at me. The woman followed him out, and I felt sad that she was probably going to lose her job due to how she had treated a single patient.
"Ayla, that nurse has been treating several patients like that for months now and has been told multiple times that if she kept that up, she would lose her job. This was the final straw seeing as she kept a family from a child who is very sick right now," Dr. Paradinight said while sitting down next to me in a chair. While my brothers climbed up next to me on the bed. Before long, a different nurse came into the room with a tray of food which I hadn't seen since I blacked out two days ago."
"They had no record of Ayla eating anything the past three days. So, here's something for you to eat. I brought a little extra for you to share with your brothers." The second nurse said, laying the tray lightly across my lap. There were cookies for the three of us, but first I had to eat what I had in front of me. Which was some kind of vegetable soup and bread. I ate about half of my soup and all of my bread before giving my cookie to my brothers, seeing as I couldn't eat all of my food.
"Ayla, don't you want your cookie?" Detective Kuta asked, confused.
"I didn't finish all of my food, so I can't have a cookie," I said, watching as both Gon and Killua put down their cookies.
"Whose rule is that?" Dr. Paradinight asked, looking at us.
"Our last foster father he actually would beat us if we didn't finish the food that he gave us. Not that he gave us food more than once a month. If it wasn't for Lia always getting food with the small amount of money she got as tips," Gon explained to them. I looked angrily at the adults for telling my brothers what I had to do with those people to protect them.
"Lia, we know what you did. I remember you limping into the room while crying non-stop more than once. Me and Killua would often take care of you after you went to sleep," Gon said shyly, I was shocked about what I had just heard; but the look on Killua's face was enough to prove that everything was true.
"I thought I had hidden it from you two because I didn't want you to see me as filth for what I did to protect you both. I tried so hard to get a different job many times, but no one would hire a 12- to 14-year-old girl," I said crying into my hands. I had just started heaving with my cries when the second nurse came running in.
The nurse asked, "Should I call for help or something?" confused, until I started coughing. Gon quickly caught my hand and held it to his chest, while Killua did the same with my other hand. I started to calm down as the department head ran into the room, watching how my brothers seemed to have the situation under control before anyone else.
"The boys seem to have this under control, Director," Dr. Paradinight said to the man from before. "This is Ayla, our foster daughter, and her brothers, Gon and Killua."
"Hello children, I am the head of this department, Leorio here is our best doctor in this department and we are lucky to have him and now you three. I have been taking care of your older sister Ayla and no matter what we seem to try the last three days has had no effect. What is the trick you used?" the department head said surprising my brothers.
"Lia has always calmed down when she felt a heartbeat. But it works best if it's me or Killua, because she knows us. But we know that Lia can't come home just yet so if she has a fit like this, talk to her softly and at first hold your hand over Lia's heart before putting it to your own heart. But the fits are if she isn't breathing very well. Now Lia eats a cookie." Gon said handing me a cookie. I stared at the half-eaten bowl of soup before looking at the cookie in my brother's hand.
The nurse sat at the foot of my hospital bed so that we were at the same eye level. She told me, "You need to eat, Lia, but don't force yourself to eat everything on your plate. If you can't finish your soup, it doesn't mean you can't have your cookie. We actually encourage children to eat cookies with their meals."
"They are children," I said, pointing at my brothers with my forefingers. "A child is someone between the ages of 5 and 12. I turned 14 years old this year." I said, smiling at them. The pouts they both threw my way proved my point that they were still children.
"I count everyone under the age of 18 to be a child, I have many 18-year-olds that come in just because they are severely abused. We actually just lost two children yesterday a 17-year-old girl and her 18-year-old brother. The boy was the first to die from his injuries and then his little sister followed from hers. They actually came in the same day as you Lia." the nurse said sadly. I looked down at my lap before Gon grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze like he always did whenever I was struggling with whether or not to say something. I pulled up on the tank top I was currently wearing and had been wearing for the last four days or so to show them all the injuries that were most likely infected, and what was likely causing the fever and the cough, though again it might truly be pneumonia.
"Dear lord this is bad. You four are going to have to leave the room while we take care of this. Nurse get gauze and bandages." The department head said jumping into action. Half an hour and sixty stitches later I was getting ready to leave the hospital with strict rules of not lifting anything heavier than five pounds. And to return if my fever or cough got worse.
"Ayla sit up front the road to the house is really twisty and bumpy and the boys get pretty rough at times." Detective Kuta said opening the passenger side door while the boys climbed into the back seat with Detective Kuta in between them. The Detective was correct until I threw them a look that told them that 'they better stop or no story time tonight'. They immediately stopped their rough behavior.
"Lia, how were you able to make them stop?" the detective inquired.
"I just threw them a look that said they better stop or there would be no story time tonight. It was their favorite pastime at our last foster home; when we were locked in our small room for days at a time," I explained to them.
"If I had known that you boys liked story time, I would have read to you at night," Detective Kuta said to the boys, which made me laugh because he didn't understand that the stories came completely from my imagination.
"Those stories wouldn't be the same as Lia's. Hers are way cooler and more action-packed than any books out there. I wish Lia had written some of them down, because her stories are amazing." Killua said, crossing his arms behind his head. Before I was reunited with Gon, story time was the first way that I got Killua to open up to me.
"Both Gon and Killua love my dragon stories. And if you two behave, then I'll surprise you both with the new twists I've come up with," I said as we turned into the gated community that would become our home. I was surprised that the nice two-story house showed that they were a well-off family that wanted to share their wealth with children who didn't have much of anything.
"Boys, why don't you show your sister around the house?" Dr. Paradinight said as he unlocked the door. I followed the boys upstairs to their rooms, which had a bunk bed. Gon was on the top bunk while Killua took the bottom. I looked around to see where I would be sleeping, but there was nothing.
"Oh, Lia, do you want to see your room? Boys, why didn't you show your sister her room first before showing her your room?" Detective Kuta said as he came to the open door, making me jump because I had calmed down slightly.
"Come on Love, I'll show you to your room. It's right next door to the boys' room," Detective Kuta said as he waved his hand and showed me to the next room. I was surprised that the room was a light green with white trim, the bed was a beautiful painted gray with several bookcases around the room, one bookcase even had a built-in writing desk.
"Oh, wow, this is beautiful. And you chose my favorite color." I touched the smooth walls as I spoke.
"I'm glad you like it Love. Mine and Leorio's room is just at the end of the hallway. I hope that you might write down a few of your stories for us to also read." Detective Kuta said before leaving me to look over my new room. I quickly pulled out the tape recorder and my headphones so that I could write down the last part of the story of the shy knight; each time I tell them a new part of the story I record it so that I can write it down within the next few days but today instead of stopping at the end of the recording I kept on writing everything that was coming to mind.
"Lia, it's time for dinner," Killua said, knocking on the slightly open doorframe. It had taken about fifteen minutes from when Killua told me it was time for dinner until Gon came into my room and removed my headphones, taking them out of my ears, and told me it was time for dinner, forcing me to put down my pen.
"Headphones again?" Killua asked as I followed Gon into the dining room. I shrugged my shoulders before realizing that my headphones were currently around my neck. I quickly took them off and placed them on the coffee table in the living room.
"Lia, did you write down the last part of 'The Shy Knight'?" Killua asked as we all sat down at the dining room table.
"More than just the last part, I wrote enough for three nights. If you and Dr. Paradinight wish to read 'The Shy Knight,' you can read it after story time tonight," I said, looking at the Detective and Dr. Paradinight.
"Lia, you can call us by our first names if you want?" Detective Kuta said looking at me from his seat next to Killua and Gon. I was on the other side of Killua while Dr. Paradinight was on the other side of Gon. I was mostly picking at my dinner at this point, but they weren't yelling or glaring, Detective Kuta and Dr. Paradinight weren't getting mad they were just talking to Gon and Killua. From where I sat, they looked like a normal family, I felt out of place right then until Killua looked over at me and handed me a piece of bread, with garlic butter.
"Thank you, Killua... um... can you pass the salt please?" I asked unsure of everything except for one thing; the soup definitely needed more salt. Gon and Killua started laughing at that, it was a well-known fact that because of all the cooking I did, I was pretty good at knowing when something was lacking in salt or not.
"Lia's tongue strikes again," Gon laughed through his words. It was good to see that my brothers could still laugh like they were young children, and it brought a smile to my face.
"The boys have told us all about your famous tongue Lia, so from everything you have tasted, is there anything that you could do to make the soup better?" Dr. Paradinight asked laughing with the boys.
"It needs more salt and something else because it's just meat and potatoes," I said, looking at the dish before me, offering my opinion on how to improve the dish with my knowledge of food. "I would add green beans or another vegetable. And make a milk broth instead of a clear broth to give it more flavor."
"Next time I let Leorio cook, why don't you help him Ayla? Or do you prefer to go by Lia?" Detective Kuta asked, looking at me.
"I don't care if you call me by my first name or if you call me by my nickname. And if you need me to cook any night, then I can," I said, taking a bite of the bread Killua had handed me, before adding the salt to the soup.
"No, me and Leorio will do the cooking, if you want to help one night just let one of us know. I am by no means going to make you do chores you don't like, just because you know how to cook doesn't mean that you like it." Detective Kuta said looking at me. I looked over at Killua to see him visibly avoiding my eyes, that was enough to tell me that he had told the Detective and Dr. Paradinight that I hated to cook because we were never allowed to eat what I had cooked.
"Thank you, Killua," I said as I moved closer to my brother. "So, what's for dessert?"
"Killua and Gon made cookies this morning with me before we went to see you. Killua and Gon said that your favorite cookies are peanut butter chocolate chip cookies," Detective Kuta said smiling at me. I looked over at Gon, surprised at this. The recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies was something that Aunt Mito used to make for me on special occasions.
"Thank you," I said, tears streaming down my face as the memories the cookies brought back overwhelmed me.
"Lia, are you all, right?" Detective Kuta asked as he stood up from his chair.
"Yeah, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies were something that our Aunt Mito made for special occasions. They bring back some very good memories," I said smiling, while wiping away the tears. Then Detective Kuta came over and gave me a hug.
"I'm glad that brings up happy memories Love. I hope that everything that happens to you from now on is full of happy memories that take away the sting of the bad times," Detective Kuta said hugging me from behind. His arms around my shoulders, it felt nice and warm in his embrace. Later that night after all three of us were ready for bed, I went into their room with my notebook.
I popped my head into the room and asked, "Are you ready for story time?" But they were both fast asleep. Gon had the covers kicked all over the place again, and Killua wasn't much better. I quickly moved to cover them both before tucking them in tighter so that they wouldn't kick the covers off again.
"Good night, Gon and Killua. I love you both," I said as I kissed each of their foreheads before going back to my room and picking up my pen and notebook and starting to write some more for 'The Shy Knight'. It was fifteen minutes later when Detective Kuta came into the room and turned the lights on and off, trying to get my attention.
"Lia, it's time for bed young lady. Put your book away and get ready for bed," Detective Kuta said, taking my pen from me after the fifth flick of the light switch. I took my headphones off and looked up at him.
"Can you please repeat that?" I asked, pulling the headphones down from my ears. "I couldn't hear you; I was just listening to some of my previous recordings for The Shy Knight."
Detective Kuta smiled at me as he said, "It's time for bed now. You need to put away your book and get ready for bed." I did as he said, putting my book and tape recorder on the nightstand next to my bed. Then Detective Kuta sat down and picked up my notebook.
"Is this the notebook where 'The Shy Knight' was written?" Detective Kuta asked as he looked over the old, falling-apart notebook.
"Yeah, it is. Four years ago, on my tenth birthday, this was the only thing I got from Gon, our foster parents. They said they would give me my present after the kendo tournament, but if you've read my file, then you know that I fainted during the tournament and social services came and took us away." I said, looking at the tape recorder on my nightstand. It was old, but very useful.
Detective Kuta leaned back on his hands and asked in surprise, "Do you like kendo?"
"No, I don't like cooking or kendo. I just have a natural talent for the sport. When one of our foster families discovered this natural talent, they forced me to take it up and I won many tournaments. However, never once did I enjoy doing it. I don't believe in fighting; if anything, the last time I used it was the night before our last foster father was arrested. I was restless and practicing kendo when he staggered into the living room from the bar. He saw me and grabbed me, trying to rape me. I took my wooden sword and hit him twice to make him release me. Then, he fell asleep on the couch that night." I said, staring at the ceiling light to hide the tears. Finally, I felt warm and safe when Detective Kuta moved next to me and gave me a hug.
"It's okay, Lia. How about you climb into bed, and I will tuck you in," Detective Kuta said as he pulled away from me. Quickly, I climbed into bed and curled up under my blankets. For the first time since I was six, I slept soundly and deeply. The next morning, I woke to my brothers jumping all over me.