Page 6 of Teach Me How To Fly

ANNALISE

Icovered my mouth in shock when I saw Maksen being shot. I was aware that my father was a ruthless man, but his expressionless face as he pulled the trigger shocked me beyond my imagination. He didn’t even care about Maksen.

My insides hurt so bad it made me curl and wrap my hands around my body. He shot him, but I felt it as if he shot me too.

The blood was spreading on his beige pants and it scared me that he had already lost too much blood. My father didn’t do anything though. He continued to scream at him and it made me angry that I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

My heart ached for him now and I knew that if I went outside, I would have made the entire situation even worse. So I stayed at the window, looking at Maksen and trying to refrain myself from yelling at my father to stop and help him.

But on Maksen’s face I couldn’t see anything but numbness. He looked like he didn’t just have his right leg shot and a pool of blood formed at his feet. It frightened me that he didn’t show any sign of pain on his face.

I’ve never seen him this way before.

I sighed when he started walking towards my father, ready to find out how severe the limp caused by the bullet would be. But it seemed like no bullet had ever got through his leg. He was moving his feet like nothing happened.

I didn’t even realize when my heart skipped a beat because the moment he stopped in front of my father, I felt like he was going to do something he might regret later.

I knew they were violent men and they were doing awful things, but I wasn’t ever put in the situation to watch them in action. Because of what happened today, I was going to hate my father forever. He shot the only man who was loyal to him; the man whom I thought he considered his son.

I ran my fingers through my hair strands as Maksen entered the house and I let out a harsh breath. I started moving around my room, feeling my heart beating even faster than a few moments ago. I wanted to burst out of the room and go to him. I wanted to take care of him.

Did he ever let someone take care of him?

My intrusive thoughts weren’t something I needed right now, but I couldn’t control them.

Then I remembered that he must’ve been heading to a bathroom, and one of the bathrooms in this house was right beside my room. We didn’t have any on the ground floor, so he had to come to this one.

I took a deep breath and slowly made my way to the door. I moved the knob and opened it, taking a quick look in the hallway, waiting for him to appear. I heard him talking from the ground floor and Olivia’s yell reminded me how wounded he actually was.

The tears appeared behind my eyes, threatening to roll down my cheeks at any moment, but I didn’t let them. I didn’t want to cry. I needed to be strong, even though my soul was hurting.

I took deep breaths in an effort to calm myself down, but it didn’t work. I only ended up clutching at the edge of my dress to find some comfort.

His harsh breath was the only sound that caught my attention as soon as he put his foot on the wooden floor.

“Maksen,” I whispered, hoping that I wouldn’t be heard by anyone but him.

He raised his gaze at me and this time, he wasn’t the same Maksen I was used to. His jaw clenched with a neutral expression as he pinned me with a steely glare, sending shivers down my spine.

I knew he wanted to keep this side of him away from me. I needed to get past the barrier he just put between us because he needed help. He was injured and there was no one to take care of his wound.

“Let me help you,” I whispered as I stepped towards him, looking around the hall to make sure there was no one seeing us.

At the moment I stopped in front of him and drove my hand to his, he gripped my wrist and the pain that followed made me bite my inner cheek. I looked at him and I saw nothing but a blank stare.

How could he be so cold with me? I didn’t see him like this. Not ever in my life.

I knew he despised asking for help, but he needed me right now.

“Go back to your room, Annalise,” he instructed between gritted teeth, without weakening his grip.

The pain he was causing me didn’t matter. “You’re bleeding,” I added.

“I don’t need your help,” he quickly said and his words stung my heart like sharp steel blades. “Go to your room. Now,” he commanded again, but this time, his eyes burned me entirely.

The tears didn’t take long to roll down my cheeks and before he let my wrist free, I looked him in the eyes, hoping to see any sign of emotion. But there was just an empty void.

My heart shrunk and the heaviness in my body warned me that I needed to be alone. The sound of the bathroom’s door closing in front of me woke me up to reality.

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