I woke up feeling well rested again. It felt like I was asleep the rest of the day. I turned to find Vincent seated beside my bed. He looked tired, the first few buttons of his shirt undone.
There was still some brightness in the room, which meant I hadn't slept the whole day.
"Woah", I broke the silence so he knew I was awake. " You look...", I trailed off with a little chuckle.
"I'm not the one that passed out. How do you feel?", he asked tiredly.
" Good. I feel good....", then it all came back to me. "..you... Oh my God Are you hurt? I thought he killed you", I said, sitting up quickly more awake.
" I'm fine. You really don't feel anything? Pain? Headache?", asked Vincent.
"No but..", I paused to make sense of the whole thing. And when I failed, " wait, why were you even home at that time of the day?"
"If I hadn't come in when I did.. God knows what would've happened to you. Who was he and what did he want with you?", Vincent asked in a more alert tone.
" I.. I don't know. He just appears"
"Appears? You mean this wasn't the first time"
"It sounds crazy but that's because it is. Can we go back to why you were at my house at that time? ", I pressed
" Your mom had a wedding to attend in Hawaii on short notice. And your Dad had urgent business in Italy..."
"So they sent you to babysit?", I asked almost irritated
" Babysit?", he asked surprised at my question
"If they're gone, you have a few days or even weeks off. So.. I get why you came in the morning. I just don't understand why you were here", I heard how ungrateful I sounded and quickly added "..... and thank God you were, earlier today".
" I need a drink", he said as he got up from his chair.
As he rose to his feet, he bent forward slightly, holding his left side. I heard a faint grunt as he turned towards the door.
I got off my bed quickly to offer support. Instead, he pulled my hand away and attempted to do it alone.
I was furious, and running out of ideas. I had to do something instead of just watch. Then I thought to call 911. But that's when it hit me. He didn't call 911 when he thought I died.
"So.. You didn't think to call 911? What if I had a bleed inside or something", I asked wide-eyed.
"Relax, you only passed out. Don't get all excited", he replied.
I watched him struggle for a whole minute, then went to hold him again for support. This time I grabbed the other side of his shirt so it wasn't easy for him to get away.
We managed to get downstairs and he sat on the couch. Pulling his head back, he shut his eyes and exhaled loudly. I went into the kitchen and came back with two bottles of water.
"Here", I nudged his arm as I offered him a bottle.
His eyes opened, but his head was still back.
" Water? I asked for a drink", he complained, his voice husky.
As I retracted my hand I murmured
"Or, you could say thank you Monica. And then just don't drink the water", more to myself, but loud enough that he could hear.
After a few minutes, he was still in that position with his eyes closed. Anyone would think he was asleep. Or hope that he was.
" I'm calling 911", I announced, rising from the chair.
I felt a hand grab my arm, pulling me back down. Looking over my shoulder, I saw his eyes were still closed, his head back. Then I felt his grip on my arm weaken, as he let out a grunt.
I wondered why he didn't want the ambulance. I decided to take a look.. You know, to be sure he didn't have to go to the hospital.
Kneeling beside him, I carefully unbuttoned his shirt to take a look. On his left side, there was a map of collected blood. It was horrible; scary. At the sight of this I gasped, putting both hands over my mouth. Then came the pool of tears in my eyes.
Vincent sat up and turned to me, then to his injury, and back to me. He rolled his eyes and sighed, and began buttoning up his shirt.
"Look, Monica. It's not that bad okay?", he assured
But I was too worried. I felt like it was my fault. I thought, what if he died? Or got damaged or something. Without a word, I got up to use the phone in the room. As I pulled out the receiver, it got snatched and smashed back into the phone on the wall.
I turned around and Vincent was only a few inches behind me, with a stern look on his face.
" I said it's not that bad", he repeated.
He put his right hand on the wall, and with his left he held his side. But I was mostly sandwiched by him and the wall. For a moment I couldn't find my voice. His eyes kept digging into mine, before a small groan from him knocked me out of it.
"What? You have a death wish? Well that's really fine by me", I said, slipping out from the space on his left. After I gave a little distance I turned back to him. He turned around.
" Just don't die here. I don't want to have to answer for that. I don't need that kind of drama right now", I said with my eyes on everything but his.
He looked shocked for a second, then scoffed. He lifted a finger and opened his mouth to say something. Then he put it back and looked away with raised eyebrows.
"Okay", he turned back. " I'll wait till I get home tomorrow before any business of dying "
"What? What do you mean tomorrow?", I asked with a fake grin, while folding my arms across my chest.
He walked back to the sofa and lay down on it, with one leg on the floor, and the other up on it. He put an arm behind his head and closed his eyes. All this time, I just could not believe him.
" What do you think you're doing?", the grin disappeared. When he didn't answer, "You're not sleeping over", I said with another fake grin. Still no reply.
I scoffed, " my friends have never slept over. And you think you're going to? A.. Man? No way. You are leaving right now. I'm not going to spend the rest of the day with you here...."
"Why not?", he asked suddenly.
" What?"
"Why not?", his eyes were now open. He turned his head toward me. My breathing was a bit fast.
"Because.. You're a man..."
"A man who tried to save you earlier, from a stranger.. Possibly a serial killer that might return to finish what he started?", he said with a straight face.
He turned back, closed his eyes and sighed. And I realised he was right.
" I won't get in your way if you don't get in mine", he said finally, before nodding off.
I ran to my room and searched to be sure Keiron didn't come back. Then I locked everywhere, grabbed my phone and went back down.
I was more aware of the dangers after Vincent explained. And even more scared. I mean, I didn't want to die. I just turned eighteen, and had many more years with millions of hours left... With the right choices of course.
I sat on a different chair as Vincent, and checked my phone. I got a few texts from my parents and Liam. I missed his calls too.
His texts read:
Liam: Hey, Mon. I tried calling, but you didn't pick up. I hope you're alright. Call me when you see this.
Liam: Hey, again, are you like all dead and a ghost now? Coz you better not be at my house watching me. My pen just fell from the table, just checking if that was you. 😂
Liam: Mon, seriously, call me. I'm worried. Lay is worried too. She says to give you kisses.
I smiled after reading. After a while I typed:
Mon: Hey, sorry for not picking up. I was dealing with a lot so I dumped my phone somewhere. And I didn't mean. To make you worry.
But I thought about it and decided to change it:
Mon: Wow, and I thought being an invisible ghost would make it hard to pin things on me. The pen had it coming though. By the way, people aren't worried about ghosts, they're just scared of them😂 (p.s this is not a thing now)
And I tapped 'send'. I caught myself smiling again. It felt good that someone was worried about me, and genuinely. I mean, maybe people do that, but you just don't believe all of them. This one I believed. I thanked God and the universe for not leaving me friendless.
After playing on my phone for a while, I dropped it and looked around for what to do. Vincent was still asleep. It was almost dinner time so I decided to make something.
Vincent woke up as I set the food down on the table in the living room. There were two plates of spaghetti, and two glasses of juice in a tray.
I'd tried to make them like Ateema showed me. Plus it's what I could make for dinner what the groceries left in the house, since we mostly ate take-out. It was either that or pancakes. I never heard of pancakes for dinner.
Vincent sat up, surprised at the food. His eyes narrowed and he let out a sigh. Then he got up and carried a plate and a glass and sat on the floor beside the sofa. Setting the glass down, be grabbed his fork and took a bite.
I had a whole speech prepared about how it was my first time. And how I hoped he liked it and how much work went into it. But he just ate without a word.
I was surprised to see him on the floor. I expected him to look up after the first bite; probably disgusted by the food. And then give a whole lecture before offering to take me out to eat. But he took another, and then another.
I gave up and just started eating. It wasn't bad. I noticed how he sat on the floor. I moved to the floor. It was easier since we weren't eating at the table.
I watched him eat, mostly, so I ate slowly. He looked comfortable, and even got sauce on his chin a few times which he wiped with the back of his hand. I liked watching him.
"What?", he asked with a fork full of spaghetti in his hand. He caught me watching him.
I was shocked for a second, but then I decided I didn't have the energy to feel embarrassed. So I sighed, and just smiled.
" I'm just wondering why you're sitting on the floor ", I replied, with eyes on my plate.
I could feel him looking at me for a minute.
" I don't know. I just wanted to get comfortable I guess. I didn't want to struggle with the food since we're eating out here", he answered, and proceeded to finishing his food.
When he was done, I still had half a plate full, but I was full. He drank a little juice and turned to me. I was looking at my glass in my hand, but I felt him looking at me.
"What?", I asked. Taking a sip, I turned to him. He smiled and put his glass down.
" Well um... You made this?"
"Yeah.. And before you say anything.. It was my first time so if you could.. You know what? Maybe don't say anything at all. I would appreciate it", I rambled. He smiled and looked away.
" Well... I was just going to say it was... ", he looked back, " it was really good. Also, thank you for dinner", he drank some more from his glass.
"Really?", I asked, like I didn't eat it too. " I mean, you're welcome", I was still a bit excited inside that he liked the food.
"How did you learn?", he leaned back and crossed one leg over the other.
" Ateema... She uh... She used to show me. You know, while she cooked and cleaned. She never actually let me do it, but she always explained when I was around", I explained with a smile.
It was weird that the grumpy Vincent was now a different person. I guess he was just hungry. Maybe the thing I saw wasn't so bad after all.
He listened to me ramble about the different dishes I learned and some other stuff. Afterwards I cleared the plates.
He got a call on his phone which went on for a while. I wondered if he was talking to my parents. If he did tell them about it, then they would definitely blow up my phone. I didn't think about it too much.
When he was done, he walked back into the living room.
"You should turn in, I'm going to sleep down here", he said, referring to the sofa.
He lay down again, but this time with both legs up on the sofa. I just stood there, watching him. It felt weirdly, nice. I admired his features; his neatly trimmed facial hair, eye brows, eyes....
" I know you're still there. I can smell you", he said without opening his eyes. His voice, calm but deep.
I knew I was being creepy so, I walked up to my room. I didn't bother with a shower, and got into bed. But then, I couldn't sleep. I over thought every little sound, breeze, or light flash. I was so paranoid. I couldn't even imagine, if I had succeeded in making him leave.
I came downstairs, carrying a blanket. I wanted to do something since I couldn't sleep. When I got to him, he was already asleep. I put the blanket over his body gently. After that, I realised I didn't want to sleep in my room.
I got a second blanket and tucked myself in on a different sofa. I felt so much better and soon I was dreaming again.
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