Aaron
"Aaron, wake up!"
I jolted awake as someone shook me. I opened my eyes and stared into the bright blue eyes of Bella Davis.
"Freckles? What are you doing here?" I said in a daze.
She rolled her eyes. "I came for the notes and brought you soup, remember?" she said.
Oh yeah. I remember now.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"For about an hour. I guess you were exhausted and weak from your fever. Get up; you need to eat," she ordered.
"Wait...an hour!! What were you doing this whole time? Why didn't you leave?" I asked.
"I was going to leave, but I saw the condition of your room, so I had to do something about it," she said seriously.
I looked around my room for the first time. It was so clean and organized. She cleaned my entire room.
"You didn't have to do that, but thank you," I smiled.
She brought out a bowl of soup and placed it in front of me. "Have some. It will make you feel better," she ordered.
I grabbed her arm and made her sit on the bed. "Feed me," I said.
"Aaron! You are not a kid. You can feed yourself," she protested.
"But...I'm sick. If you don't feed me, I won't eat. I'll just sit here and starve. Then die off of cold," I said.
"Oh my god, you are so dramatic," she giggled.
"I'm serious. I want you to stay and take care of me." I grinned.
She hesitated. "Aaron...you know I said yes to going out with Damien. We can't keep doing this," and said.
"We are not doing anything. You are taking care of your sick friend," I argued.
"You are not acting like my friend. You are flirting with me!" she protested quickly.
"Listen, Freckles. You are the one who came here alone and started to touch my naked body!" I exclaimed.
"I'm not touching....ugh, you are impossible!" she groaned in frustration. "And stop calling me Freckles. I'm self-conscious about them enough already."
I looked at her with surprise. "Self-conscious? But why? I love them. They are like sprinkles of sunshine," I said and smiled.
She froze up all of a sudden and looked at me with surprise. Her eyes started to tear up. Huh? What did I do this time?
"What's the matter? Did I say something wrong?" I was confused.
"You...why did you say that?" she sniffled. Tears started to fall on her cheeks.
"Say what? About your freckles? That's a compliment. Why are you crying, weirdo?" I reached out and wiped her tears.
"It's nothing. I should go," she said and tried to get up, but I wrapped her into a bear hug and pulled her down under me, practically burying her with my body.
"Aaron! You are crushing me, let go!" she protested.
"Nope," I said.
She didn't say anything else and just let me hug her.
"Did what I said remind you of him?" I asked. She nodded against my chest. "I am sorry," I whispered.
"No, I am sorry. I should tell you about him," she said quietly.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," I said as I gently. What kind of scars did that guy leave her?
"No, I want to. Elijah was my best friend before I moved here. We were inseparable. He was my first kiss," she paused. I didn't say anything and waited for her to finish.
"When I turned 15, on the way to school, someone kidnapped us," she said.
"What!" I exclaimed. I was not expecting her to say something like that. "That's horrible," I said.
Tears streamed down her cheeks again, and she nodded. "It was one of my dad's employees he fired, so he took us for revenge and to extort money from him. I was the only one who was supposed to be kidnapped, but Elijah happened to be with me at the time."
I took her in my arms again as she was shaking. "Shh...you don't need to talk about this," I stroked her hair.
"No, let me. He locked us up in a dark room at an abandoned building. We had no idea for how long. The man came back and told us that my dad wasn't negotiating, so he would take his revenge another way. Then he...he tried to rape me," she whispered.
"Bella..." I looked at her with shock. Who knew she'd go through something like that at such a young age?
"Elijah intervened and pried that guy off of me. But the guy was much bigger and stronger, so he beat him. He kept hitting him," Bella shuddered at the memory. "I tried to stop him, but he threw me against the wall and kept beating Elijah until he was bloody and unconscious." she paused for a moment, then continued.
"I somehow got up and went to the next room, where I found a metal rod. I ran back to the room and hit the guy in the head as hard as I could, so he finally let Elijah go. After the guy was unconscious, I went to check on Elijah, but he wasn't breathing," Bella stopped and started to sob.
"Did he die?" I asked quietly.
Bella nodded. "It was all my fault!" she cried suddenly.
"What? Don't be ridiculous. You were kidnapped!" I exclaimed.
"If I walked to school alone, that guy would have kidnapped me alone. And Elijah would still be alive," she sobbed.
"Stop blaming yourself. It was that guy's fault, not yours," I cupped her cheeks. "What happened to him? The kidnapper?" I asked.
"I found my cell phone and called the police. They came and arrested him and took us to the hospital, but it was too late for Elijah. I started to have hallucinations and nightmares because of the trauma, so my parents admitted me to a mental hospital. Then, after I got out, they sent me here so I would stay away from everything that reminded me of him." she stopped talking and looked at me.
"Then I saw you at school, and I thought I saw a ghost. You look just like him but older. I became obsessed," she looked away. "I am sorry for that."
I gave in to my urges again and kissed her.
"Don't date, Damien," I whispered after I broke off the kiss.
"I don't want to be with you. I came here because I was supposed to forget him remember? I can't if I keep looking at your face," she pushed me off and ran out the door.
That hurt me a little as I didn't have a choice. It wasn't like I could just change the way I looked.
I will make her forget him; then she will only think of me, I promised myself.