Try Me

Eight

The past

"What kind of virus is HIV? Retrovirus? Yeah, that's it." Ezra made a quick annotation in her textbook before flipping to the next page. "Development of AIDS a-"

"Do we have to talk about something so depressing while we're together?" Ezra sighed, putting her book aside to look down at her lap. He smiled at her, squinting his eyes slightly to block out the sun. He was handsome, so handsome and she loved him.

"What do you mean depressing? You need to be studying this too, our final exam is in a couple weeks." He huffed, stretching his hand upwards to pinch her cheeks together. He laughed, the side of his eyes crinkling due to his large smile as flickers of golden delight glimmered in his green eyes.

"Nathan." Ezra whined when he pulled her back to lay on the grass, forcing her books aside. He held her close in his arms, her head now on his chest. She could hear the soft rhthym of his heartbeat. A soothing sound, comforting, assuring, and providing a pecular sense of security.

"Close your eyes precious, enjoy the sun for once. The books will be still there in an hour." Ezra scoffed, hitting his chest lightly but doing as he said regardless. He looked at her with a fond smile, lowering his head slightly to kiss her forehead before bringing her closer to his chest. "I love you, Ezra, you're my other half."

"Don't be ridiculous." She responded, eyes closed as she snuggled further into him.

"I'm serious, you're my one and only."

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered, voice lowering as the warm of the sun and the sound of Nathan's steady heart lulled her to sleep. "I love you more." She responded, feeling herself give into fatigue. Nathan brushed her hair aside, before gently shaking her awake.

"This isn't real." He said sorrowfully, his touch becoming lighter and lighter as he faded away. "Ezra, wake up!"

Her eyes shot open. She stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling, her hands feeling around at the unfamiliar bedding. A memory, she had gotten lost in a memory of a time that was long ago to escape the pain of what she was going through in the present. Her eyes were swollen from the amount she had cried, voice hoarse and practically non-existant from screaming. She must have done something truly terribly in her past life, she must have. She couldn't think of any rational reason for her to be going through what she was. She raised her bandaged hand. She was a fool to have thought that everything was over after escaping from his car. She turned to her side, mind wondering what her next move would be. The door was locked, she had already tried to open it all night. There was no other way out, except for the window, but that pretty much meant death. She sat up suddenly, looking at the window as if it were a tempting offer. She got up, walking towards it slowly, and just as she reached for the handle, someone cleared their throat behind her.

"You should have breakfast." It was a middle -aged woman, she had on a simple gray dress and white apron, from which Ezra could assume that she was some sort of a housekeeper. She looked at the tray of food in the woman's hands and her stomach growled, she hadn't eaten since breakfast the previous day. A part of her felt like she was supposed to go on some sort of a hungerstrike and ignore the food as some sort of a protest. However, she was too rational for that. Yoongi had already tried to kill her, he had threatened her and hurt her, something as petty as a hunger strike wouldn't move him. She had to be smarter than that if she wanted to get back to the life she knew. Silently, she took the tray from the lady and sat on the bed. It wasn't anything extraordinary but compared to her usual student breakfast of oatmeal or a yakult; the omelet rolls, rice, soup and sausages seemed luxurious. Sonny would have loved this meaL She grabbed her chopsticks, picking up a sausage and placing it in her mouth. Damn, why did it have to taste good? She stopped eating, looking up slowly to see the woman was still standing.