Sixty-Four- Nox

A Chapter by Sophie

Chapter 64

Nox

“So I'm gonna head over to Ray's.” I say after Briar-Rose and Air hang up.

“Okay, see you later.” Jasper says, picking up a book. He actually reads a lot, he's a 'jock' apparently (I've been watching a lot of TV to see how high school works) but he's also pretty smart. I head down the stairs and out the door and walk to Ray's house. It's not a long walk. I ring the doorbell and wait until her mom opens the door.

“Hi Nox!” She greets me, enveloping me in a hug.

“Hi.” I smile.

“Go on up.”

“Thanks.” I say and head up the stairs. I knock on her bedroom door.

“Come in.” She says. I open the door. “Hey!” A grin lights up her face, but distorted by the scar.

“Hey, how have you been?” I ask, sitting down next to her in her bed.

“Pretty good, watch this.” She says, looking down at her left arm. Her fingers close slowly in a fist and then her middle finger rises up. “I can still give people the finger!” She says excitedly, letting her hand relax.

“That's great.” I laugh.

“Oh, and my vision got a lot better, like over night, stand over there and hold up some fingers.” She says, pointing across the room. She covers her right eye with her right hand and I hold up my thumb, my middle finger, and my pinky.

“Three fingers, thumb, pinky and middle.” She says confidently.

“Awesome.” I smile, sitting back on her bed.

“Do we have to do physical therapy? Can we just... talk?” She asks.

“Can you talk while wiggling your toes?” I retaliate.

“Nox the caregiver, never thought I'd see the day.” She mutters, rolling her eyes but moving her toes. I lean back against the headboard like she's sitting and hold her hand. She looks at it.

“Can you feel that?” I ask after a minute.

“Yeah, its nice. Warm.” She murmurs, leaning against my shoulder.

“I thought I lost you.” I say.

“You'll never lose me, never.” She says firmly, “Never.”

“I'd love to believe that, you know.” I whisper, then ask, “Why didn't you tell the others you knew I was on Malum's side?”

“I asked myself the same thing for the longest time, you know. I think its because, subconsciously, I knew you were doubting it. It was like, I saw something change when you first looked into my eyes. Does that sound conceited?” She laughs nervously.

“No, not at all. It's true, though. I fell in love with you that instant, as much as I hated it then.” I chuckle.

“That long?” She asks.

“Yeah.”

“I still can't forgive myself, for what I did.” She sniffs. “I'll probably carry it with me my whole life.”

“There's a lot of things all of us are going to always look back on and cringe about, we're all pretty- well- fucked up, but that's our destiny. This was how it was meant to happen, I suppose. Like someone wrote a script of our lives, and we're just the actors.”

“Nox the caregiver and philosopher, weird.” She laughs. We sit there silently for a while, just watching her toes wiggle.

If someone had told me a month ago, I'd be sitting here with a girl who I'm in love with, I probably would have, well, killed them. 'Cause that's how I was raised, I suppose. But now, it's probably my favorite thing to do.

“Nox?” Ray asks, breaking my reverie.

“Yeah?”

“I have to pee.” She laughs.

“Up we go.” I say, standing up and helping her to her feet. She leans on me heavily for support, but we make it to the bathroom.

“I've got it from here, thanks.” She laughs, shooing me out of the bathroom.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yes, I'm sure.” She laughs, waving her right hand at me and twitching her left hand's fingers. I walk out of the bathroom, closing the door and standing outside, waiting for her to be done so I can help her back. After a minute I hear a crash and then, “Ah, f**k.”

“Ray? You okay?” I ask, turning to the door and resting my hand on the door knob, ready to go in if she needs me.

“Yeah, I'm fine, hold on.” She answers, there's a smile in her voice. Weird. I nearly scream when the knob turns, startling me. Ray walks out.

“You're... walking.”

“I didn't sleep at all last night working on it. My vision was repairing really fast, and I figured that's because it had constant use, so I paced all night.” She walks by me to her room, limping quite a bit and holding onto the wall, but still walking.

“Hold on!” I say, excited. I take out my new phone and go to video camera. “Okay, walk back to me.” I say, grinning like a fool. I watch through the phone as she turns and walks toward me. I aim the camera so we're both in the picture and she gives me a quick kiss and turns around and walks back to the other end of the hallway. I send the video to everyone. I pace with her excitedly awaiting replies, first is Marina:

Oh my god! That's awesome! I'm so happy!

All the replies are of that nature.

“I'm gonna let go of the wall.” She informs me as we continue pacing. She let's her hand fall, holding it out for balance though as she takes a tentative step forward, and then another, and another, until she's walking down the hall, her arm down at her side. She still has a major limp, but she's walking.

She laughs, watching her feet. She walks faster, and faster until she's sort of running at me. She hugs me with her good arm and I kiss her, smiling against her lips.

“You two are so cute!” Her mom says from the stairs where she's been watching.

“Mom!” Ray whines, hiding her face with her hand. I laugh but I'm equally as embarrassed.

“I wonder if your kids will have blonde hair or black hair...”

“Mooom!” Ray yells again, turning bright pink. Her mom laughs an evil laugh and walks back downstairs, “Just remember I love you!”

“The feeling isn't mutual at the moment!” She yells back, laughing though. “Sorry about her.” She whispers.

“No problem, it's cute.” I smile.

“No, it's embarrassing.”

“How 'bout embarrassingly cute?” I compromise.

“Deal.” She smiles and then yawns a huge yawn.

“So you didn't sleep at all?” I tease. I take her arm and walk her to her room where she collapses on the bed, the high of walking gone replaced only with exhaustion. She crawls under the covers and is asleep as soon as she stops moving. I pull the covers up to her chin, kiss her cheek, and head downstairs.

“Bye, Nox!” Her mom calls, and her dad grunts from the couch, not as happy with my existence.

“Bye, see you tomorrow.” I wave and walk out the door. I walk back to Jasper's with a slight smile on my face.

prev chapter