Cage

17.

Cage's POV

With my arm around Alex, I listen to her smooth voice as she reads to me. I focus on every word that comes out of her soft, pink lips.

She glances up at me to see if I'm still listening, and I quickly look away, acting like I'm focusing on the story and not on her.

When she asked if I care about her, I couldn't say that I did. Sure, she is beautiful, but I will never care about her. Beauty is only skin deep, and I'm not going to let myself feel anything for a murderer who is due to be killed.

That would be setting myself up for pain.

I have already lost the one person I cared about. I didn't tell Alex about it because it's not something I like to share. If I spend even a second thinking about it, remembering that there was nothing I could do to save him, it would tear me apart.

I didn't mean to hurt her by saying I don't care about her. I just don't want to play with her feelings and lead her on when there is no chance of anything happening between us.

"Cage, are you still listening?" she asks.

"Yeah, sorry."

"You're said you're dyslexic right? How come you haven't finished a book but you've graduated from school?"

"I have a type of dyslexia called Rapid Automatic Naming Dyslexia which makes it harder to read words and numbers. I managed to get through school because of tuition, but it's always taken so long to get through books that I've never finished one," I explain.

She nods and hands the book over to me, taking the torch from my grip and shining it on the pages. "Then you should read to me. I don't care if it takes long. You've got to finish the book. It'll help you."

I remove my arm from around her and shift my body so I can hold the book and read. Alex shifts as well and keeps the light on the page. I start from the first page and begin reading, focusing hard on each word.

Alex leans her head against my arm and unconsciously places her free hand on my thigh, making it even harder to concentrate.

After getting through two chapters, I start to feel tired and notice that Alex is getting even colder. I get up and put the book on the shelf under her basin and then climb back into the sad excuse of a bed.

I lie down and she follows suit. I pull the blanket over our bodies and pull her closer to me, wrapping both my arms around her to keep her warm. She nuzzles her face into my shoulder.

"You're so warm," she whispers, her hand grabbing a fist of my shirt and pulling me even closer to her.

The tips of her fingers lightly brush against my bare skin and I shiver. Possibly because of the cold or because— No, definitely the cold.

Our bodies are fitted together, pressed so close that every inch of her body moulds perfectly with mine. It's like she was made to fit right here, against me.

After a while of silence, I feel her breathing slow and her grip on my shirt loosens. She's sleeping.

I sigh and close my eyes, my mind drifting to the words that she wrote in my notebook. I told her that I didn't read it, but I lied. I'm dyslexic, but I can still read. I was curious to see what she wrote.

It was definitely not what I had expected. Most of it was her rambling on about how scared she feels in here. She also wrote some things about me, mostly about our kiss but it didn't really make sense.

She was talking about 'our first kiss', in the nurses office, and how much it hurt. I don't really know what that meant but I can't ask because she doesn't know I read it.

The part that got to me the most was when she wrote about her parents. From what she wrote, I assume they died, but I'm not sure how or when.

The way she worded things broke my heart. She said that she has felt alone her entire life and has never felt like anyone cared about her. I have felt that way for so long even though my parents are alive, so I can't imagine how it would feel without them.

Sure, my parents were not around a lot but they were still kind and they cared a little.

Most of the people in this place have had really bad lives. It's usually circumstance and bad upbringings that cause people grow up to do bad things. I don't know what Alex has had to go through, but I wish I could have protected her.

I wish pain didn't exist. I wish I did things differently when I was younger. I wish the world was equal and fair. I wish a lot of things, but most of them will never happen.

Alex shifts and turns away from me, then she starts tossing and turning quite a lot. She stops, faces me and becomes still. Then, with her eyes still closed, she slides her hand onto my face. Her thumb goes down and traces along my bottom lip.

"Cage," she whispers and smiles in her sleep. That puts a smile on my face.

"Cage," she whispers again, but her voice sounds different; scared. She shifts away and her arms fly up to block herself from me. "Stop. Please. It hurts." Her breathing starts to get shaky and her eyes fly open.

When she sees me, she lets out a small scream and falls off the bed.

0•0•0•0•0

I've fallen off my bed but only because someone pushed me. Ugh, siblings.

Qotd: have you ever fallen off your bed?

T w i t t e r : xPineappleGirlx
I n s t a g r a m : laylaawrites
Y o u t u b e : xThePineappleGirlx

Lots of love and jelly tots - xThePineappleGirlx