Page 56 of Love and War

Grabbing the paperwork from the side table she flipped to the first page before handing it over to me.

“You know her name and birthdate,” she stated, tapping the paper with a pen before handing it over to me.

Aziza Iris Sinclair. March 8th, 2000.

“Holly showed up at her house, and they fought. Aziza doesn’t know

much about self-defense, but I tried to teach her here and there. She knows the basics to get by, but Holly, well, she went crazy and shoved her down the stairs.”

I was moments from snapping the pen in my hand.

“She broke her hip, fractured her wrist, and had a serious concussion.”

The pen snapped in my hand; ink went everywhere. Blood dripped down mixing into the ink.

“If I’m going to tell you everything, I need you to not break anything else.” Rolling her eyes, she flagged down a nurse to bring us another set of insurance paperwork and some things to clean up.

At this rate, I barely contained my rage.

“She spent almost a whole year in physical therapy. But because of the way she landed, and the way her hip had shattered, she struggles with it, though she tries to hide it. It’s always going to bother her, and because of that she hasn’t danced.”

“But she does.” I was confused, I’d seen her dance. Haven’t I?

Fuck.

I wanted to smack myself because I haven’t. Sure, she was teaching the kids, but she wasn’t actually doing much. There was no movement like I’ve seen before.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.

“She hasn’t danced since then, Killian. Not that I’ve seen.”

In five years, my girl hasn’t danced. Hasn’t been herself. It was then I realized, it was my fault. I was the real reason she wasn’t herself.

It was my fault.

25

Aziza

Pain.

All I felt was pain, and it was everywhere.

I want to roll over on my side, and my back aches as if I was thrown off a flight of stairs once again.

I wanted to open my eyes, but everything was painful. Everything was sluggish.

Something sharp stuck into the side of my neck. I tried to hiss. But whatever I was stuck with was making me sleepy again.

Another wave of darkness crashed over me.

***

Darkness was the only thing I saw. My eyes were heavy. I didn’t want to sleep though. I caught a hint of woody smoke, and mint.

Killian.

I wanted to speak. My mouth twitched, yet refused to open.

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