Uncovering

/ˌənˈkəvər/

verb

discovering something previously unknown

My chin trembled as I struggled to keep my eyes focused on her motionless body. Without my guidance, my body traveled to her bedside, sitting next to her and taking her petite hand in mine. Everything felt surreal. All the aggression I had just taken out on the punching bag and my father was back. The bruises on her face were turning colors, only adding to my rage.

Just the thought of someone hurting her was enough to send me over the edge.

As my shoulders moved up and down in anger, my breathing heavy, I heard Michael's footsteps approach. I didn't look up, but judging by the noise in the room, I could tell he was sitting on the other side of Melissa's bed.

"I can't imagine what you are going through right now," his shaky voice began, taking in her appearance, her body wrapped in wires pumping necessary minerals into her bloodstream. "She didn't deserve this."

I let out a sigh, resting my head onto the bed, keeping her hand in mine tightly.

"Luke," Michael's voice started, concerned about my odd behavior. "You know that you don't have to be here right now. She would understand that you can't take seeing her like this."

I lifted my head from its position, running my hand over my hair, then my face. "I need to be here," I simply replied, my voice dull in tiredness and drained from stress.

Michael dropped the subject after that, letting me sit in silence, staring at her unmoving body. The room was eerily quiet, but neither of us knew what to say to the other, so we just listened to the beeping of the heart monitor.

I watched the line, not blinking my eyes in fear that her heart rate would plummet and I would lose the only person filling the void inside of me, the only person I allowed close to me, the person that had my heart in her palms, having the power to tear it apart despite her unconscious state. The only person I had let in after her.

I heard the door open and footsteps make their way toward me. When I turned around, I found the person I didn't want to see holding a paper towel to his bleeding nose.

"Lucas," his gruff voice spoke, sounding like nails on a chalkboard to me. "We need to talk."

I didn't respond but turned my chair back toward Lissa's body. A sigh was heard from the grey haired man.

"Luke," he stopped, swallowing an obvious lump in his throat, "it's about her."

He caught my attention with that simple statement. My chair was turned around in a split second, giving me a clear view of him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Michael looking at me and him with a confused look covering his face but obviously knowing not to interfere.

"What about her?" I asked skeptically, not trusting his motives.

He looked at Michael, not knowing if he should say what he was about to in front of him, but chose to anyways.

"The security tape caught the culprit," he said, nodding toward her bruises.

I was out of my chair and on my feet as quickly as possible. I turned toward Michael, silently telling him to watch her. He nodded at me, signalling me to go. With that, my father and I were out of the momentary hospital room and on our way to the meeting room.

"I found the tapes and thought you would want to see them first," he explained, trying to make a conversation with me.

I stayed silent, following closely behind him. He sighed, turning back around, giving up on speaking to me.

We kept walking down the hall in silence, the noise of people going to their rooms filling the hallways. My jaw clenched and unclenched as I desperately tried to keep my cool.

When we finally arrived at the meeting room, my father walked quickly over to the computer, not wasting any time to pull up the security cameras file. He paused and looked back at me before opening his mouth to speak.

"Luke, it is pretty bad," he told me, not pressing the play button so I can see who hurt Lissa.

"What are you waiting for?" I scowled at him harshly, still unforgiving as to what he said about 'eliminating' her from the picture if I got attached.

"Luke," he sighed again, still not clicking the mouse.

Without a second thought, I pushed him slightly to the side, clicking the play icon, and watching the horror unfold.

A blurry image of a human holding Melissa filled the screen. There was no audio, but even if there was, you would only hear the fist of the red haired male coming in contact with her body. From the slouch of her body, it was obvious that she was out cold and oblivious to the beating happening.

My stomach did flips as I realized who the person could be. But she was like a sister to Michael. How could he hurt her? It made no sense.

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat as I continued to watch. Finally, he stopped hitting her and stood back, observing his despicable work. The anger billowed in me as a smug grin erupted on the male's face. Then a detail I never noticed before caught my eye. This wasn't Michael.

His left arm was missing a 'to the moon' tattoo. I let out a sigh of both relief and extreme anger as I realized who it was. As if on cue, the one hurting the only person I cared about turned to the camera, giving it a thumbs up before leaving the hallway and disappearing off screen.

"I think we both know who that was Luke," my father's voice spoke suddenly as the feed ends.

I balled my fists, nodding my head in agreement.

It was the enemy's asset and our biggest weakness. Someone we had only heard of but knew never knew truly existing.

Michael's twin.

Melissa's POV

----------------------

Cloudiness filled my vision as I opened my eyes. When it finally cleared up, I was blinded with the light above me.

A groan emitted from my mouth as I rose my arms to block out the light. Where was I?

"Lissa?" a husky voice asked, sounding concerned. "Are you okay?"

I felt an arm on my shoulder, trying to calm me down. Acting on instinct, I retracted my arm and shifted my body on the other side of the hospital bed I was currently in, gritting my teeth from the pain of movement.

"Hey, calm down tiger," the voice joked, chuckling lightly.

I lifted my eyes to find a smiling red haired boy looking down on me with concern and joy in his eyes. My body acted for me, moving away from the person that looked identical to the person that had placed me in this bed.

"Lissa?" he asked again, scared he had done something to hurt me. "Are you okay? Do I need to get Luke?"

At the mention of his name, my subconscious took over and nodded furiously for me.

Where is he even? I wonder to myself. Shouldn't he be here?

"I'll get him for you Melissa," Michael said softly, walking towards the door without a moment of hesitation. It was clear my rejection had hurt him but it appeared that he understood my reasoning as he left the room.

I nodded at him slightly as he exited, letting myself relax when he was gone. My mind was racing as I laid back on the bed. They looked so much alike.

Flashes came back as I closed my eyes to rest.

"Where are those boys when you need them?" Michael's look alike taunted as he landed another blow on my stomach.

I coughed blood up as I leant up against the wall, wheezing from the lack of oxygen in my lungs.

"Where?" he screamed in my face as he leaned down to my level.

"Not here," I said lightly, barely having enough oxygen and blood to fend of the blurry vision trying to set in.

"Now," he smiled sinisterly at me, happy with my answer, "where are those files you stole from us?"

I looked at him blankly, not wanting to give up the paper files I managed to get out on the raid. He stood again with a smug look covering his previous happy expression.

Crack.

Another kick landed on my stomach. I gasped in pain; my first thought to place a hand where the crack came from, but that wasn't a good decision. I sucked in a ragged breath at the fiery pain shooting its way through my body from my ribs.

"Don't worry, I didn't break them," he assured me. "But I would like the location of those files."

I just stared up at him as black clouded the outer layer of my vision and started closing in until I couldn't see anything. His laugh began to fade out as I remembered the details of my blackout.

"Lissa," the familiar husky voice whispered in my ear, probably trying to wake me.

My eyes flew open, instantly alert. It was obvious by the shock on Luke's face that he wasn't expecting that as he took one step back.

"Where were you?" I asked him softly, still not having too much energy.

"Just checking up on some stuff," he responded ambiguously, but I knew what he was doing.

"You were looking at the footage weren't you?" I questioned him, keeping eye contact with him. When he didn't respond, I know I'm right. "It wasn't Michael. I know it wasn't. He didn't have a to the moon tattoo or an eyebrow piercing." At this Luke nodded understandingly as if he already knew this.

"I know, Lissa," he told me gently, leaning closer to me and taking my hand in his. His hand came up to my head, pushing stray strands out of the way and behind my ear.

All was silent but I was okay with that as long as he was here, that was all I needed.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, catching me off guard.

"What?" He shouldn't have been apologizing as he did nothing wrong.

"I promised myself I would take care of you," he let out in a defeated breath, "and I let you get hurt," he went on, his head now buried in his and my hands.

My face fell, feeling guilty that he felt this way. "Luke," I whispered, getting his attention as he lifted his head. "It's not your fault. Anyone could have been out there."

"But I should've rescued you," he stated, letting out a sigh of defeat. My brain processes this slowly before I began shaking my head furiously.

"Why? You would've been outside the bunker too then, and we would both be injured."

His fingers ran through his hair, something I had noticed he did when he was stressed or nervous. "Every girl needs a prince to save her every once and a while."

My hand came up to cup his cheek, physically forcing him to look at me. It was inconceivable that this man with such a large heart was so terribly damaged, yet I was entirely grateful for this at the same time.

"Although that is true," he laughed slightly before interrupting me.

"So, that means I'm right?" he asked in mock shock. I laughed at his attempt at a joke before gently clutching my burning ribs.

"Shut up," I playfully nudged him and rolled my eyes. "As I saying, before I was rudely interrupted," I overdramatically glared at him as he raised his hands in defense. "You can't protect me at all times."

"I can try," he mumbled.

I slightly blush at his cute state and sweet gestures. He was finally opening up to me. It was obvious that he was emotional underdeveloped, but while that was true, his heart contained so much love that he tried so freely to give.

"You can," I paused, "But it'll drive you insane. Think about it, you'll be worrying about my every move."

"I'm already insane though," he leaned closer to me, his lips lightly brushing mine. My face turned crimson at the miniscule contact.

"I'm insane about you."

EEEEEP!!!!!! Meluke feels!! Anyway, I hope you are enjoying the story and a reminder to vote and comment.

-Dani

Edited: 18 October 2016