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LEO
I didn't sleepat all last night. I wanted to ask her every question I could think of, but I had to stop myself. She's so scared, and I don't know why. I know bringing her here last night was a big thing to do, but I knew I couldn’t walk away from her, the pull she has on me is too strong and I couldn’t walk away after seeing how she lives.
I searched for her name on the internet, hoping that I would find something, but Hope is a name that came up a lot. So now I’m thinking about what else I can do to find out something about her. It would help if I had her last name.
Opening the door to her bedroom, I stop and observe her. I'm not usually stopped in my tracks, but again I’m stopped by this girl, never in my life have I felt so angry. Walking over, I kneel beside her.
Why the fuck is she sleeping on the floor and without a cover on her when there's a bed right next to her? Taking in a deep breath to calm myself, I pay attention to her face; she looks so innocent, like sleeping beauty. I reach out to touch her face to wake her up, but she gasps in shock, her nightmare woke her, and she sees my hand and moves away from me quickly, bowing her face so I can't see her again.
“I have breakfast ready,” I say standing up and taking a step away from her. Normally I’m a man that knows what I want, but with her, I have no idea what to do. “I’ll be in the dining area.” Leaving her bedroom, I head down the stairs towards the table in the dining room. I called Jackson to see if he found the man that I want to talk to tonight and he told me that once he was ready and all set up he would call me.
Sitting at the table, I wait for Hope to come down the stairs. It’s not long before she enters; she’s so quiet I didn’t even hear the door open or close. She stands until I tell her to take a seat then she pulls out a chair and sits a few seats away from me. I watch as she sits up straight, her eyes on the plate, her hand coming up to the fork shaking the whole time.
"Coffee?" I ask her, and she shakes her head; well I think she did as it was the slightest movement I've ever seen. She looks like she needs to eat, so I made scrambled eggs and toast. She stops for a second then puts some egg on her fork and puts it to her mouth. Happy that she’s eating, I start on my own breakfast.
I watch her again as she pushes the plate away and she sits there staring at the table. She’s only had one forkful of food. Did I make a mistake by bringing her here? Or has she always been like this?
"What's your last name?" I ask. I looked at her tablets last night and it only had her first name on there, now that got me asking more questions as there was no way you can get any tablets without a surname, and I plan on finding out about that too.
By tonight I want to know more about her; I want to know where her parents are, where she went to school. I want to know as much as I can. "Do you need any more medication? Do you need to see a doctor? I have a friend that works at the children's hospital, she could come see you." Hope shifts a little in her chair, and I know that she doesn't want that. "Can I take your medication to her and see what she says?" Nothing, but this is the only thing I can think of doing that might help me with what's wrong with her and how I can help her. The person who works in the children's hospital isn't actually my friend, it's my mother, and I know she won't say anything to anyone if I asked her not to.
I’m getting no answers from Hope. “I have to go to work, make yourself at home.” I pick up her plate and walk out of the room and into the kitchen where I place everything in the sink. Without saying anything I go to her room and take a picture of all her medication and then leave for work.
I called my mom asking her to come to the office with Dad as I want to talk to her about something. I would've gone there, but I have to read some of the contracts over for the new projects we're taking on.
Grabbing the phone, I dial Jackson's number. "Please tell me you've got a toy for me to play with?" I ask him before he can even say hello to me. I need to let out this tension I'm feeling.
"I do, and this one is a little more of an asshole than we're used to. How are things going with Hope?"
"They're not. She won't talk, she won't look at me and she had one forkful of breakfast this morning. A part of me thinks I did the wrong thing by bringing her to my place," I tell him. If there's anyone that would tell me I fucked up, it would be him.
“I agree that there’s something not right. Something happened to her, but it’s not your responsibility to look after her. I mean she was doing fine without your help.”
“Would you believe me if I said that when her eyes met mine for the shortest second, they told me—”
"Stop with the bullshit," Jackson cuts me off, and his tone has a little more harshness to it. "I don't know what's going on in your head, but listen to me, she looks more broken than you and I put together. So, if this is some fucked up game that you're playing and you want to break what is left of her then, let her go," he shouts down the phone to me.
“I can’t.” I almost whisper the words.
“Then you have to figure out what you’re doing. I’ll text you the place to meet.” He hangs up.
Leaning back in my chair, I think about Jackson's words; maybe he's right, and I do need to let her go before I do anything to hurt her more. What am I doing? She won't talk to me or look at me, but the one thing I know is when I'm around her the air is different. It's not the heavy black air I breathe every day. It's clean and calm and I want it to stay.
I hear the door to my office open, and I turn in my chair. "Hello, Mother." I get up and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for coming. Dad in a meeting?" I ask. Dad has back to back meetings for the next two days with some of the companies we own abroad.
“Yes and you wanted to see me, so I came this morning. You sounded different on the phone. Did you call that girl I was talking about?”
I can't help but smile at my mother's question. "No, and I don't plan on it either." I walk back over to my table to grab my cell. "I want to know what these medications are taken for." I hand over the phone, and she looks at me for a moment before looking at the screen.
I watch my mom flip through the images. “Without seeing the person, I can’t say one hundred percent, but it looks like they’re for Lupus. Medications to treat a rash, joints, build the immune system and pain medication as they get a lot of pain sometimes.” As she passes the phone back to me, I can already see the worry on her face.
“It’s not me, it’s a friend. Will they survive this? Are there other treatments that they can have?”
“Leo, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, I just want to know,” I tell her. I was already prepared for the questions, as my mother is one that needs to know everything I’m doing. “I just want to know if I can help them.”
“They can live a normal life if they keep taking their medication. Their immune system seems to be the main problem, so making sure they are warm in the winter will be a good start.”
