Crazed Minds | ✔️

thirty one

"I'll admit that I'm afraid."
-Plastic Taste, Joji
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I wince as the nurse prods at my jaw with a wet towel to clear the dried blood from staining my skin. Alec is waiting beside the bed which I'm perched on the end of, arms folded across his broad chest. His eyes are distant, like he's somewhere far away from here.

My bed is a few down from Jasper's, but he was asleep when I arrived and I don't want to wake him to tell him what happened. And he'll worry when he sees the purple bruise spread across my jaw like spilled paint.

Naomi is further down the infirmary, being tended to more closely by many more nurses. I don't want to see her just yet. It'll hurt too much.

The nurse drops the towel onto the nightstand and hands me an ice-pack, all the while shaking her head disapprovingly, before hurrying away to tend to what I assume is Naomi's bed.

Once we're out of earshot of anyone else, Alec sits beside me and stares at his feet. When he doesn't speak, I mumble quietly, "Are you afraid of me?"

Alec looks up and meets my cautious gaze, replying confidently, "No." Pause. "I'm afraid that I can't protect you from these voices."

I put my hand onto his cheek, a lump building in my throat when I say, "Alec, you can't protect me from them. It's all in my head. Literally."

He stands up rather defiantly, and mumbles, "I can try."

A new nurse approaches us and smiles gently, before asking, "Olivia and Alec?"

We nod.

"Your friend, Jasper, is being discharged. Would you mind helping him to his dorm?" she asks kindly.

"Sure," I say, dropping my ice-pack onto the bed behind me. It wasn't helping much anyway.

We head over to Jasper's bed to see he's sitting on the edge with his leg propped up, tying the shoelace of his sneaker. He's not in hospital gowns anymore- he's wearing dark grey jeans and a black shirt.

When he sees me approaching, he smiles. But as I get closer, he frowns, probably noticing the bruise on my jaw. He stands and rushes over to me, cupping my face in his hands as he frantically scans his eyes across my jaw. "I thought I told you not to get hurt."

"It was kind of difficult when I had an entire bull charging at me," I reply dryly, worming my way out of his hands.

He turns his anger to Alec and snaps, "You were supposed to be looking after her. One job: protect Olivia. How did you let this happen?"

Alec has an unreadable expression on his face, like he either doesn't want anyone to know how he feels about this, or doesn't actually know how to feel about it. Either way, his face doesn't give anything away. "No interferences allowed in fights. It's the rules."

"So some stupid rules mean more to you than her?" Jasper snaps.

"It's okay, Jasper," I say, trying to nudge him away from his advance on Alec. He doesn't budge.

"Of course they don't."

"When you love someone, you'd break all the rules if it means they're okay," Jasper says loudly, catching the attention of many people around. My eyes widen as I realise what he just said, but he barely notices.