Forlot: Return of the Monster Protector - Book Eleven

Chapter Fifteen

Not much later, I found myself lying on the couch. There was an ice pack on top of my forehead and a couple of tissues up my nose. Blood was spilling out of my nose and seeping onto the tissues.

I was waiting for my boyfriend Stanley. He had helped me to the couch and reassured me that he would be right back with the first aid kit, and now here I was. All alone in the living room. Tossing and moaning.

All the mental and physical pain that I endured in the first book did not compare to how I felt now.

I was tossing and turning, trying to get my body comfortable, but every time that I made even the slightest move like wiggling my pinky finger, the pain only got worse.

I was desperate for Stanley to return with the first aid kit. I prayed that I would be okay. That the headache would disappear and that my poor nose would heal.

Also, I really wanted some company. I had hoped that my sister, Scarlett, would keep me company, but she never did come to my side. I think that it was because she could not bear to look at me in the state that I was.

I did not blame her. I would not want to see me in this condition either.

Just as I had decided to take a nap and tried falling to sleep, I heard footsteps slapping against the carpeted floor of the living room. I wanted to move my head and see if it was who I thought that it was, but my headache was keeping me down, like it was ordering me to stay put. Or else.

The sounds of the footsteps came to a halt, and a person was standing next to the couch. Next to me. I could tell from the corner of my eye.

"Margie, I am back," Stanley said. "And I have the first aid kit."

He perched himself on the arm of the couch that my head was closest to and set the kit in his lap. Click! Click! He undid the latches and lifted up the lid.

"I heard you moaning while I was in the kitchen and searching for the kit," he said. "I do not suppose that you are feeling any better."

"The same," I told him. "Ow!" Even when I talked, it hurt!

It was not hard to tell that my boyfriend was upset. It was how he said everything.

"Is the ice pack that I gave you helping your headache even a little?"

"Yes. No." I shrugged. "Honestly, I do not know. My nose hurts so much that I feel nothing but pain."

He pulled out a roll of that special tape that doctors and nurses use on their patients and began unraveling it. "I am sorry. Deeply sorry, Margie. None of this should have happened."

"It is not your fault, Stanley. How were you supposed to know that she would punch me?"

"Have you forgotten that she tried to take your life? And yes. It is my fault. Well, partly."

Rip! He ripped a long piece of tape off the roll and held it over my face.

"Be as still as possible. This might hurt a bit."

"Ow. Ow, ow, ow."

Slowly and carefully, Stanley wrapped the tape around my nose. When he was finished, it felt like that my nose was stuffed. Like I had the common cold. Also, it was still hurting.

He leaned down and planted a kiss on my cheek. I could not help but smile. It was just what I needed.

"It is both my and Mr. Hawk's fault," he stated as he picked up one of my braids and stroked it. "I should have distanced you from Margaret. I know that she is not right in the head. Yet...I did not do anything."

I felt bad that my boyfriend was blaming himself for me getting hurt by his ex-girlfriend. "Look, Stanley. I am not saying that I wish to have a broken nose, but Margaret has to get used to me. And...if it means that she has to throw words or punches or kicks at me, then so be it. She has to get used to me sooner or later."

"But I cannot let you suffer because of her. You had nothing to do with it."

"You, Mr. Hawk, and the others assumed that she was gone from your lives. How were you supposed to know that she would return?"

"Yeah, but—"

"It is clear that she is only doing this to scare me and drive me out of here. Well, you know what? I am not going anywhere. This mansion is my and Scarlett's home. You guys are our family."

As soon as I was done with my short yet motivational speech, the front door to the mansion opened. The hinges on the door made creaking noises.

"I will go see who is here, Margie" Stanley said. He started leaving the room.

I did not want to be lonely again. I was also curious who had entered our home. Finding the strength within me, I pushed myself off the couch and onto my feet. The ice pack slipped off my forehead and fell to the floor with a wet, smacking sound.

Smack!

Stanley heard it and spun around. His eyes widened when he saw me standing up. He rushed to my side.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. "Get back on that couch. You need to rest."

I was about to respond when there were loud, deafening cries nearby.

We glanced at each other before racing to where they were coming from, which was the hallway. We got there, and I could not believe it.

Two people were in the hall. One was Margaret. The other was Nigel.

Margaret was squeezing his arm, and tears were trickling down Nigel's face.

"She is my mother. Not yours!" Margaret screamed.