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He raised the corner of his mouth and gave her a friendly grin to make things better. “Don’t worry, babe! If you had lost me,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “Then I would have still come back to you, but as a ghost. Picture me sneaking about your apartment and frightening the heck out of you every once in a while.
Lena’s brow twitched, which was something she often did when she was about to get angry or laugh.
She hit his good arm hard with her lips pressed against the grin.
“Not funny,” she remarked while pretending to frown.
“Ah, but it was so bloody scary when I took you and Lola to see that horror movie. What was the name?” He stopped to think for a second.
“I didn’t scream like Lola!” she yelled back, her eyes angry and her smile wide.
“I beg to differ,” he said quietly.
She hadn’t really yelled; she had only gasped in amazement every time the ghost had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Damien would still make fun of him, though. It was still a surprise how he knew and leaned in every time she gasped and whispered, “Scared?” in her ear.
“Besides,” Damien said with a sigh, leaning back a little deeper onto the cushion. “A psychic in my hometown told me that I would die by drowning in the water, not by getting shot or something.”
Lena made a face. “A psychic?”
Damien clicked his tongue. “Just a strange gypsy woman my mom knows. Mom has a crazy group of friends, and you wouldn’t believe how out of the ordinary things get when I go home for a party or dinner.”
Lena was prepared to ask more about the psychic, the drowning, and her mother’s strange parties. A charming frown that showed both fear and interest appeared on her brow. But then a staff member brought hospital food.
Damien made a frown at that, and Lena laughed and said, “Oh hell, it’s your turn to eat the good food now.”
Kellen sniffed as the cold wind blew dust into his nose. His eyes shot skyward, and just as he had thought, there were clouds.
What went wrong with this city, with Velden?
People here would get rained on out of nowhere, no matter what time of year it was. In Brooklyn, it didn’t rain like this. Rain was only allowed in certain seasons. People would know what to expect and how to get ready for it. On the other side, Velden was more like a place where things happened that you didn’t anticipate, like grunts in the sky, clouds getting darker, damp trickles down your shoulder, a strong chilly air, and the sense of being caught off guard and frantically looking for shade.
Kellen shuddered and had goosebumps on his arms when the first drip hit his right cheek. He had never had this response before.
He took a few steps back, then turned around and ran up the steps and into the hospital building. He didn’t stop till the gentle rain ended.
The police officer who was with him was a few steps behind.
The officer took off his hat and shook it hard to get the stray drips of water off. “A police car will patrol past her apartment building every half hour,” he continued.
Kellen took a step back since he didn’t want to get wet.
But why was his throat growing so dry?
Kellen frowned and said, “That doesn’t sound like a good enough security measure to me.”  “What if she gets hurt in those thirty minutes?”
The officer responded, “We checked the security of her apartment, and it seems good enough. There are CCTV cameras and a security guard sitting just inside the entrance on the ground floor.”  “Look, if you still think we’re not doing enough, then please, by all means, hire a bodyguard from one of those professional detective and security companies.”
Kellen’s lips were squeezed together tightly. The notion made his skin crawl and his stomach slump in shame. He couldn’t take care of the lady he loved anymore, and he couldn’t get the things he needed to protect her anymore, either.
His condition was like a disability, and the painful awareness was like a heavy weight on his shoulders, dragging him down all the time.
Once upon a time, he had everything, and for the most part, he didn’t appreciate all that money. He now knew what it was like to be virtually broke.
But it wasn’t like a middle-class man couldn’t save his girlfriend; it was just a lot harder.
Every fight becomes like trying to stop a tsunami without money.
Kellen was learning the hard way.
The officer had told him that they were finally going to question the senior Arthur. They trusted Kellen’s screams more after the shooting.
Kellen sat down on a stretcher that was close to the wall next to the cantina after the cop departed. He stared blankly at the escalators that never stopped moving. The rain outside the hospital’s glass front had increased up speed, and it gave him chills that were more than just a bodily reaction. His arms were still covered with goosebumps, and his crazy mind told him that he would never be the same again.
Kellen was so buried in his thoughts, or lack of them, once that sudden urge hit him that he didn’t even realize that an hour had gone by. He didn’t care about time, and every day, he learned that there was joy in this. This…  He just sat there, doing nothing and letting his thoughts go wherever they wanted, not caring about the world that was spinning around him.
He just came back to his senses when he smelled Lena’s familiar perfume and saw her. He looked up and saw her coming toward him. He focused on her face, which was inclined to the side, and saw that the area beneath her eyes was dark. He hadn’t seen the brightness in her face since he had seen her at the orphanage until she heard him play the guitar.
Kellen inquired, “How’s he?” when she stopped in front of him.
“Okay, now he has to stay here tonight. The doctors want to make sure he doesn’t get a fever or an infection.”
They stood there for an entire minute without saying a word, staring out the glass in front of the hospital at the rain outside.
Kellen turned away first, flinching. Lena, on the other hand, still looked to be in some kind of haze.
“You should go back to your hotel now.” She didn’t seem to be too lost in reality, though. You can’t always trust what you see.
He responded, “You should also go back to your apartment.”
Lena nodded.
Visitor hours were finished; therefore, she wouldn’t be able to see Damien until tomorrow. But he was scheduled to be released tomorrow morning, so…  Lena was going to be here for sure, and it was certain that she would take Damien home with her.
Kellen let out a sigh.
Lena agreed to let him take her home, which was a relief for him because he had thought she would say no and was ready to fight for her as much as he could. But he didn’t need to. He could tell when she let her tiredness show on her face by looking at her out of the corner of his eye. That made sense. She was too tired to resist just now.
They spotted Lola at the hospital’s front stairs, soaked like a stray cat in the rain that was becoming worse. They, too, tried to take her home with them, but this one had enough power left to snap and claim she was great where she was and needed to stay there. Things like that.
Lena didn’t let Lola sit, of course, so the girl wouldn’t get seizures because it was too chilly.
Lena had said, “Then I’m going to sit here with you until you stop wanting this craziness.” The threat worked effectively.
Kellen understood that Lena would die for her friends. In the past, that part of her made him envious, but now that the worst was done, he viewed it in a manner that made him feel proud.
Some adjustments are meant to happen a bit too late.
“It doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Lena remarked, her voice getting weaker. Lola was a very silent creature who was tightly attached to Lena’s elbow. Lena didn’t know who was supporting who.
Kellen grumbled and looked blank. “Why? Because you think it will be weird to have your ex-husband stay at your house for a night?”
Lena said, “I’m surprised how well you can read my mind, Kellen.” She was being sarcastic, and she knew that both of them were hurting each other with the interchange.
Before, Kellen had stopped before his hotel and ordered the two women to wait in the car while he ran away without providing Lena any kind of response when she asked what was going on. Not long after, he came out with a lot of baggage in his hands. A hotel employee followed him with more bags and suitcases, which they put in the trunk of the car.
Kellen had just said, “I’ve just checked out,” in response to Lena’s perplexed look.
“Don’t worry,” he said when he saw that she was worried. “I only want to stay the night at your place. I’ll leave tomorrow.”
“Excuse me! I don’t remember asking you to spend the night.” Lena had moved up in the backseat while Kellen pulled off into the road.