Somehow, I don't even care that I just got my arm hacked off. Maybe the reality of it hasn't hit me yet, but the only thing bugging me so far is how much it huuuurrrrtttsss.

But seeing Odette smile real smiles and burst into random Broadway songs in the spaces of silence that naturally come with conversation is lifting my spirits. Maybe we can move on from all
of these... Honestly, traumatic events and find ourselves happy again.

I'm not even sure how long Odette's been here but the time is flying. I haven't even seen the doctor expect for the time she peeked in a while ago. She literally opened the door a crack, noticed Odette singing some song from Phantom of the Opera, smiled to herself and left.

"How's Ayana?" I suddenly ask.

Odette stops twirling around and twists to see me. She walks over nervously and sits on my right hand side.

"I don't know. I don't if she knows about her mom and all..."

"How the heck are we going to tell her?" I sigh, shaking my head.

"That's the thing, Chris, I really, really don't know how we could even get her to understand if we tried!" she exclaims, exasperated.

"Hey," I say gently as I Imd myself reaching over and grabbing her hand. "At least... At least Ayana's not in that slave camp any more."

She rolls her eyes. "She left with a ton of scars..."

She tries not to let her tears spill over and succeeds to this time. For this reason, I almost feel bad for pushing the subject.

"Did you want to talk about what happened that night when they split us up? Are you going to be ok?"

Odette sighs and shakes her head. "There were a lot emotions that day. Humankind at its worst... They beat Ayana up pretty bad and tried to-"

A lump in her throat stops her from going on and she shakes her head. "Never mind; there's nothing to be done about it now. It happened."

"What?" I push, shifting uncomfortably at the thought of what could've happened.

"Let's just say we had to lie still and play dead so these men wouldn't... Ummm..."

I breath in sharply and squeeze her hand a little more. Her cheeks suddenly flush and I'm not sure why.

"Don't worry," I soothe her. "It's gonna be ok, we're all gonna be ok."

"That's not true, Chris, look what happened to you!" she suddenly bursts, sitting up so she's not leaning against the back of the bed anymore. She doesn't let go of my hand though...

"Odette, I'm honest to God fine I- I'm
not even-"

"Don't lie to my face, Christopher," she spits in a way that half makes me want to laugh.

With a sigh she leans back against the wooden headboard.

"Why'd you do it, Chris?" she whispers, knitting her brows together curiously.

There's a long pause where I debate how to answer that question. When she turns her head to give me a look that asks, 'are you ever going to answer?' I just say,

"Never mind why I did it."

She doesn't hesitate to argue.

"No, Chris, why? Just why? Please. Just tell me."

I sigh deeply. My head rolls along with my eyes and I stare straight at her.

"Cause Ayana seemed to want to protect him. And I wasn't about to let her lose someone else," I shrug like its no big deal.

She smiles and scoffs a little. "You're crazy."

"Awww, but you love me," I tease.

She scoffs again and rolls her eyes. Then she focuses them back on me and sings, "Do Iiiii loooove you? For twenty five years I've washed your clothes! Something... Something..." she trails off as she can't remember the words (a rare moment).

Then she just repeats the line, "Do
I looooooove you?"

And my heart nearly stops as I think I catch a hint of something deeper behind her playful eyes.

She looks away and rests her head on my shoulder, her fingers still delicately intertwined with mine.

"Hey," I whisper.

I try to find the words I want to say but they're lost in my brain by now.

"Um. Odette?" a gentle voice calls from the doorway.

Odette's head flys off my shoulder so fast that she rams it right into my chin, sending a shock wave through my mouth.

"Oh my," she mumbles, looking from me to the girl in the doorway, who, by now, I've figured out, is Jillian.

I unhook my hand from Odette's and raise it to my mouth, chuckling.

"Ok, ummm..."

"Dude what the-"

Odette's head is still flying back and forth as she tries to figure out who to address first.

"I- Uh- Jillian, what are you doing here? How did you get here and- Uh- Whhhyyy????"

Jillian giggles a little. Then she studies the door post like its the most interesting thing in the world, running her finger along the cracks.

"We were all beginning to worry about you two again and so we found someone to take us to the hospital."

"Ugh, Jill, I told you I'd be right back."

"It's the middle of the night already! You've been here forever."

"Well gee, sorry," Odette grouches.

I smile, despite myself. Everything is a reason to argue isn't it?

Odette lets out another puff of air and rests on my shoulder again.

"Tell me you didn't leave Ayana by herself?" she begs, closing her eyes like she's praying.

"She's... She's with us," Jillian says.

"Ugh," Odette sighs. "Ok. That's good."

Jillian clicks her tongue a couple times. "Can I let the parents in?" she asks.

"Uh-"

"Can we just meet them out there?" I ask, hoping the fact that I'm not in a hospital bed will make my whole arm situation more bearable for my mom...?

Somehow?

Jillian shrugs and says, "Ok if they're letting you loose soon enough, I guess that's fine."

I assume she'll leave after that but she just stands there and smiles slyly at the two of us.

"What?" I ask, with a curious smile as Odette adjusts herself so she can see her a little better.

Jillian just keeps smiling for a moment, mischief dancing in her eyes. Then she licks her top lip before sticking her tongue back in her mouth and looking is up and down again.

This is starting to creep me out.

Finally she speaks. All she says is, "I won't say I told you so."

Odette sits up quickly muttering, "Oh my goodness gracious."

As Jillian starts giggling like a lunatic, Odette grabs the pillow out from under me and chucks it and her.

Jillian sprints out of the doorway, still laughing hysterically and seeming rather pleased with herself.

Odette groans and then looks back at me.

"Ignore her."

I smile and nod and a beat passes before Odette quietly goes, "Oh," and runs to grab my pillow.

"Here ya go," she says, holding it out to me.

"Thanks," I laugh but before I can grab it, she bops me over the head with it.

I shake my head as a low laugh starts building up in me.

Yeah. Things are going to be ok.