A deafening slam awoke me from my peaceful slumber, the sound recoiling off the surrounding walls. The clamour signalled the mood of a certain someone in the house, one that he'd presented for the time we'd been here. He had been silent for the past two days, apart from his persistent door slamming, and it concerned me slightly. I had racked my brain trying to find an explanation because I knew he wouldn't give me one but after having come up with nothing, I had begun to ignore him and his sour mood.
Sighing, I lifted myself up from the comfort of my duvet, allowing the cold air to invade my senses. My walking had been improving and I was walking well without the aid of my crutches, despite the pain still throbbing in my rib area. I was near to certain that I should be going for a follow up appointment in an upcoming week, but I doubted that was an option considering the circumstances. The fact we were in a completely different country being a main reason.
Tiredly, I got myself ready, having been deprived of large sums of sleep over the past few days. The images that had haunted my mind every time my eyes fell heavy and closed left me staring blankly at the ceiling above, my entire body exhausted but forcing itself to fight against sleep. This wasn't helped by the fact that I was forced to do the same thing during the day, with the activities in the apartment limited, leaving me and my thoughts to persistently battle among one another.
I needed some air, a chance to go out and let my body breathe in the mild air, so I swiftly made my way downstairs anticipating my departure. Upon crossing the hallway, I caught sight, of Luke, who sat perched by the oversized bureau in my father's office. His eye brows were furrowed, his hands rifling through a collection of papers, as he scanned and marked certain pages. He soon caught sight of my presence, his eyes sharply flinging up to meet my curious gaze before they scanned my attire, taking note of my coat and bag.
His frown deepened, "Don't even think about going out."
"Luke," I sighed. "I'm not spending all day inside again, it's driving me up the wall."
"Go sit out on your balcony or something," he dismissed, wavering his hand as he spoke in a harsh tone. "You can't go out."
"Do you not realise that I'm going whether you approve or not? This isn't a detention centre, you don't control me."
"No, but I have a duty of care," he said. "I can't let you go wandering around again, you know that."
"You wouldn't have to go protecting me if I knew who the hell I was running from."
He laughed unhumorously, "You have no idea what we're up against do you? Did the whole 'you need to move to the other side of the world' thing not spell it out properly enough to you? These people want you dead Adelaide, and they won't stop until they do. I'm here for a reason, to keep you safe, so don't make my job fifty times harder by not listening. Being careless is just going to end with you, to put it bluntly, dead on your ass. When is that going to finally click in that pretty little head of yours?"
I had very little to respond to his outburst, with the few words I managed to accumulate not making it past my lips in fear of sparking further anger from the boy in front of me. He combed his hand through his hair in irritation before hastily pulling his body away from the desk, catching the jacket on its back in the process.
"You can have an hour or two," he asserted, stalking toward the door, turning around to usher me along once he reached it. "I have to get back to finish that shit for your dad."
We ambled along in silence for a while, my mind being certain that any comment I made would aggravate Luke further, who had already had to sacrifice some of his time due to my desire to go out. His feet paced ahead of mine, leading the way toward the city centre, but after a while, they stilled, allowing my body chance to catch up with his towering figure.
