From Foes to Flames

From Foes to Flame-part 18

Chapter 18

Matao

I opened the passenger door and waited for Adeline to get in, she walks over to me and stands still for a moment. I give her a confused look and she wraps her arms around me and pulls me in close. I don't even hesitate to hug her back, my body fills with heat and my cheeks turn pink. I close my eyes and squeeze her tighter. Her head turns against my head, so she is facing the house and quickly pulls away from me. I look towards the house as she climbs into the car, and I can see her dad staring out the window with a cold look on his face. I close the car door and walk around the car to the driver's side; I get in and start backing out as her dad still stares. He doesn't break eye contact with me the whole time and it seriously scared me. I look over at Adeline while I m driving and her head is turned to the window trying to hide her face. "I can see you smiling" she tilts her head downwards trying to block my view.

"What smile?" She giggles and pulls her knees up to her chest.   

I glance at the road before looking back at her and using my index finger to tilt her face back towards mine "that smile" she blushes and tries her beautiful smile. Her smile becomes bigger, and she looks down trying to hide that she can't control it. Gosh I love that. Sometimes I wish she would just hug me forever and never let me go, there's something about the way she feels that makes me fluttery inside. It takes about 20 minutes to get home because there is no traffic and Adeline fell asleep five minutes into the drive.

When I pull into the driveway all the lights are off, Adelines still asleep so I turn off the car and walk around to the passenger side. I open the door and say her name quietly, but she doesn't respond so I pick her up bridal style. And she stirs before leaning her head against me, thankfully the door was unlocked so I twisted around a bit and used my elbow to push the handle down. I carry her up the stairs into my bedroom trying not to trip on anything but when I get to my bedroom, I accidentally hit her head on the door frame, I hear her groan before she goes back to sleep. I lay her on the bed and slide in next to her, her hair has fallen softly over her face, so I brush it away gently, I stare at her for a few minutes. I take in her features before I roll away from her and go to sleep.

I wake up in the middle of the night and my bed is empty, panic washes over me. This cant be happening again, kidnapped. Again! I really cant protect her can i? I get up and check that my windows are locked, then I rush downstairs and check all the doors as well. River and mum keep their windows locked and the rest of the house is locked so she has to be inside. I check all the rooms downstairs before I go upstairs. I check dads office, River's bedroom, and mum's bedroom before I make my way to the bathroom. I try to turn the handle but its locked, the window in there has a fly screen that doesn't come off so she must still be in there. "Adeline?" I called out. I waited for a minute but there was no response "Adeline? Are you in there? Can I come in?" I called out again, I waited for another minute before trying to open the door again. I waited for a minute before I heard her groan and the door unlock. I immediately opened the door, and I could see Adeline walking back to the wall, she slid down and curled herself into a ball against the wall as I walked over to her. I crouched down and tried to tilt her head up so I could see her but she stated my hand away and rested her forehead against her knees. "Adeline, are you ok?" I asked quietly.

"I'm fine, go to bed"she replied in a muffled voice. Her voice sounded croaky and weak. I tried to get her to look at me again and she let me this time, her face was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot. She had her messy hair tied into a low ponytail and she had mascara running down her cheeks. I panicked and started asking multiple questions without giving her any time to reply.

I sighed and asked her again "whats wrong".

This time she took a deep breath before responding "I think I have a fever, its fine, its not that bad".

"It is that bad, your clothes are soaked in sweat" I lift her up and walk her to bed "I'm going to get you some medicine, but you need to go to bed first".

"Ok" she says croakily "sorry I scared you, I look terrible, and I didn't want to wake you up". She gets into bed, and I pull the doona up over her.

"It's ok, I'll be right back" she nods, and I get some paracetamol and water for her. I get her to take the medicine and climb back in bed with her. I wait for her to go to sleep before I roll over and check the time. 5:36 am. I slowly climb out of bed scared that I would wake her up and pull some clothes out of my closet. I get dressed and go downstairs, no one is out of bed yet, so I decide to pull out my gym equipment. I take my equipment through the glass doors out to the concrete area in the back yard. I lift a series of weights for about half an hour before Adeline comes downstairs. The wall is glass so she can see everything I'm doing; I panic for a moment about the thought that she is watching me but then I continue. Her face is still pale, and her hair is a mess, she changed her clothes, but she still looked terrible. She walks into the kitchen and comes back with some food, she still hasn't seen me, so I keep working out. She sits down at the table and looks up and me, she almost chokes on her cereal when she sees me. Maybe I do want her to see me.