My Personal Hell by D. Richardson (easy to read books for adults list txt) 📕

“Ailith, what’s going on? Are you okay?” I could hear her heavy breathing, and I was starting to smell blood.

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not fine, what happened.” She sighed.

“Of all times to be difficult you choose now,” she mumbled, clearly not intending for me to hear. “Alex, can you give me a hand?” she called. Alex rushed passed me before I could even open my mouth. Next thing I know he lifted her up into his arms and headed down the hall with the rest of them on his heels.

He took her to what looked like an old enormous supply closet. A long stainless steel table took up the middle of the small room. A stool sat next to it, with the walls lined with gauze and a separate table covered in various medical equipment. Alex was a medic, in the human world he rode in an ambulance, and helped out at the hospital. In the pack he was a combat medic. It looked like he had fashioned the room as an emergency room without all of the staff.

He laid her out on the table as Bastion turned on the light. Her face was pale as she closed her eyes against the sudden glare. She was wearing an all leather outfit. It looked like leather armor, she even had various knives and blades that were attached to the top. She grimaced when Alex touched her side. I got a closer look moving Jake out of my way. It looked like she had been shot in the side.

“There’s no exit wound,” he muttered. From the corner of my eye I watched Bastion take Jake outside, closing the door behind them. Alex looked up, meeting my eyes. “I’m going to need you to hold her still, I have to dig the bullet out.”

“Jen’s gonna kill me for getting a bullet hole in this, she worked really hard on it,” she muttered between grimaces of pain.

“Don’t worry about it, she made a spare just in case something happened to this one,” Dalton said as he took her hand, using his upper arm to hold her shoulder to the table. Jacob crossed her legs at the ankles and used his upper body to hold them still. That left me one spot. I grabbed her hand, leaning down on her shoulder the same way Dalton was.

“Are you sure about the painkillers?” Alex asked her while he prepared some vice grips and plenty of gauze. She nodded.

“Yeah, I can’t afford to be anything but coherent,” she replied.

“What if you get a fever? You won’t be much good to anyone,” he warned.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. That’s why Jake is here isn’t it?”

“Alright, if you’re sure,” he said, and then set to work.

It took more pressure to hold her still than I had anticipated. Her entire body seized while he was digging around. It wasn’t exactly her side that was wounded, but closer to her hip. He had to lower her pants and cut part of her top to get a clear view of the wound.

She never cried out, but silent tears ran down her cheeks. Eventually I had to help him staunch the blood flow since I was on his side of the table. At one point I put my hand flat on her chest because her back had arched.

“Pin her down!” Alex yelled, he had the vice grips at least two inches deep in her flesh. Her heart was beating erratically, her breathing was too quick. But then it was done, I heard the clink of metal hitting metal, and looked down to see the bullet sitting in a small metal dish. After that it was quiet. He stitched her up and wrapped her wound, putting her pants back in their proper place.

I backed up when Dalton let go of her, but I waited for Alex to get done washing her blood off his hands in the small sink. After she was able to take a deep breath, things were quiet, no one really knowing what to say. Until she sat up and maneuvered off the table.

“You’ve got a tighter grip than Jacob,” Dalton muttered, grinning over at her. Jacob punched him in the shoulder, but gave her a gentle nudge.

“Welcome to the family. You’re never a true member until you get hurt.” After that they both left. Alex stood there surveying her for a moment while I stood in the corner. Finally, he nodded, as though saying his job was done, and then walked out, leaving us alone.

I looked at my hands, they had blood on them. Her blood. I turned to the sink, scrubbing unnecessarily hard. I could hear her breathing behind me, still leaning against the table. When I was done, and using a towel to dry my hands she spoke.

“Sadler…” I cut her off.

“I don’t care.”

“What?”

“I don’t care what you were doing, I don’t want to know.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

“Never again,” I muttered.

“What?” she asked again. I leaned against that damn metal table and looked her in the eye. She looked tired, and hurt.

“Never make me do that again.” She met my eyes for several moments, before she finally nodded. I walked out with her right behind me.

“Someone’s going to have to look after her tonight,” Alex was saying as he counted out pills that were in a bottle.

“She can’t go home?” Jake asked, pulling out his phone.

“No, there’s still a chance that she could end up with a healing fever. She needs to be watched closely tonight.”

“Okay, I’ll text mom so she can cover for her,” Jake answered, punching some buttons on his phone.

“So who’s babysitting tonight?” Bastion asked.

“Hey!” Ailith snapped and most of them jumped, guilt written all over their faces. They hadn’t seen her standing behind me.

“What he meant to say was, whose willing to stay up all night?” Dalton said slowly, obviously reaching for words as he spoke.

“As much as I would love to have a house guest, me and Sandra had plans for when I got home,” Alex muttered.

“I can take care of her,” Dalton said with a grin and wink meant only for Ailith, though she just gave him a sarcastic grimace in return.

“She’ll stay at my place,” I interjected, with a healthy glare for Dalton. He, Jacob, Nevin, Macon, and Justin all shared a large house. And it wasn’t that I didn’t trust any of them with an injured female. I simply didn’t trust them with Ailith.

“If you’re sure,” Bastion replied, a grin I didn’t understand showing on his face. Alex leaned over and tried to hand Ailith the bottle of pills.

“Take two of these every four hours tonight. And then as needed for the pain after that. It may take a week or so for that to heal.” She stared at the bottle in his hands, but didn’t reach for it.

“That’s not necessary,” she said as she shook her head. I reached over and grabbed the bottle.

“She’ll take them,” I glared down at her for good measure, but she only rolled her eyes.

“You were supposed to be back an hour earlier,” Bastion said, eyeing her closely, everyone went quiet.

“Yeah, I know, there were complications. But I got what I needed,” she answered and he nodded. After that everyone just kind of left. Most of them gave a small parting wave, which she returned. But after they were gone she leaned against the counter to take the pressure off of her side.

“Come on, let’s get you somewhere you can relax.” She nodded, but halted at the door.

“What about my car? My clothes are in it.”

“I’ll come get it tomorrow, you can wear something of mine for tonight,” I answered and held the door open for her. She nodded reluctantly as she limped passed me.

After only ten minutes in the car she was squirming with discomfort. But yet again she didn’t utter a sound. I finally got her up to my loft and she was ready to collapse. I settled her down on the couch and got her a glass of water. She tried to push the pills away when I handed them to her. But I stood my ground. I wasn’t kidding when I said she would take them. I’d shove them down her throat if I had too. After a few silent minutes of pouting she finally took them.

I grabbed a pair of sweat pants and large shirt and directed her into the bedroom. It was the only room besides the bathroom that had a door, and she slid it closed while she changed. Though she didn’t shut it completely.

Just to be clear, I am not a peeping tom. I was merely making sure that she didn’t need any help. But all I saw was her back. Scars ran the course of her skin, white as snow compared to her dark complexion. They had to have been deep wounds to have scarred her. Even though each one came with it’s own horror, I found them to be undeniably beautiful. Her hair, as she let it down, flowed to reach the middle of her back, covering the intricate markings. Then she slipped my shirt on over her head before taking her pants off. I couldn’t see anything but her legs, which I had seen more of when she danced.

I had just sat back when I heard the door open. She padded in on sock covered feet and stood there awkwardly for a moment. I would have helped her out if I knew what she was wanting.

“Um, where do you want me to sleep. I’m really tired,” her voice was low, as though she didn’t want to disturb anything.

“Go ahead and take the bed, I’ll sleep on the couch,” I answered, but she shook her head.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know.” It seemed like such a simple answer to me, but after a moment she just shrugged and went back into the bedroom, again almost closing the door.

I went to a small closet and pulled out the extra pillow and blanket that I kept for unplanned situations. I leaned back on the couch and just sat there staring at nothing. I didn’t traditionally invite anyone to my loft. It was my own private place, somewhere I went to get away from people. But strangely I didn’t mind her presence.

I had to get up twice in the middle of the night to give her the meds. Both times she struggled with taking them, but only because the healing fever set in after all. She moaned and tossed and turned no matter how hard I tried to get her to stay still. She just couldn’t stop. I laid awake the entire night listening to her.

Her fever didn’t break until noon. But at eight my sister showed up to say high. She had been coming to visit me whenever she got an excuse to leave town. I tried to get her to leave but she brushed past me, just as Ailith groaned.

“Sadler, what’s going on?” At least she asked before just heading in there. Of course, she didn’t wait for my answer before doing so. She stood there long enough to get a good look at the obviously injured female in my bed. Then I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out. “What’s wrong with her?” she asked, sitting down slowly on my couch, shoving the pillow and blanket to the side.

“She was hurt. I’m just keeping an eye on her until her fever goes down.”

“What happened?” I wasn’t sure exactly how much I could say, so I opted for the minimum.

“She went to get something, and things went wrong. She’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” I couldn’t help my smile. She was showing an awful lot of concern for a girl she barely knew.

“Yes, I’m sure.” After that the visit went smoothly. Well, as smoothly as it can when there was someone in pain in the next room. I coaxed Ailith into taking some more of her meds, and after