𝓑𝓮 𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓮𝓷𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓲𝓽 𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓽𝓼.

A couple of days later I'm sitting on the cold hospital bed, my legs dangling off the edge. Riona, Albert, Elle, and Jade, who's holding a wheelchair, are standing in a semicircle, waiting.

"You ready?" Jade asks, stepping forward with the wheelchair. I nod in reply. He puts both of his hands on my waist, and Albert steps forward and takes my hands in his. The little tingles dancing on my skin from his touch get a little gasp out of me. Needless to say, I still haven't gotten used to them. Jade gives me a little countdown and, putting most of my weight on Albert, I stand up on my good leg. Jade's hands stay on my waist, not supporting my weight, but still there, just in case I lose my balance.

My sock-clad foot touches the floor as I squeeze Albert's hand, but my eyes widen when I accidentally let my broken foot touch the floor. And guess what, my broken tibia doesn't like that very much. A sharp pain runs up my leg and I wince. I nearly crush Albert's hand but his face is still soft with a motivational smile. Jade's hands tighten around my waist. I turn on my heel, plopping myself unceremoniously in the chair. I let out a sigh of relief as soon as I'm sitting down.

Jade pushes my wheelchair out of the gigantic room and along the corridor. The slight noise of the wheels of the chair fills the atmosphere, and in a couple of minutes, we're out of the hospital and in front of Albert's white BMW.

Dude just loves to flex.

Jade helps me into the car. He basically just carries me bridal style and sits me in the back of the car. I make myself comfortable as Elle gets in the passenger seat. Riona went to the dorms earlier today and got some of my stuff for me, so Jade and Riona are putting all my stuff inside.

"You guys get in too, I'll drop you both at the college later," Albert says, Jade and Riona sliding into the back seat.

Alberts settles himself into the driver's seat and starts the car as I rest my head against the cold surface of the window, careful of my injury, gazing at the buildings passing by. I feel my eyes starting to close as I watch the repetitive scenery. Whatever they gave me in the name of medicine is definitely having its effect on me.

My body jerking forward indicates to me that we have reached the house. I move my head away from the window and tilt my head upwards to look at the tall building ahead of me.

"Take her things, I'll help her," Albert states and steps out of the car. Jade steps out too and takes the wheelchair out. Riona and Elle take me and their things inside to her home. Eventually Albert opens the door from my side and looks at me. "Ready?" he asks. I nod. He picks me up bridal style, in a similar way Jade did. My hands grip his biceps and I feel his muscles tense against my hands but relax a few moments later. He slowly lowers me into the chair.

"There you go," Albert mutters. Albert pushes my wheelchair into the building and into the elevator. Private elevator, might I add. He presses a few buttons as I look at my reflection in the reflective surface of the elevator door.

My skin is extremely pale, probably just a shade darker than the white gauze. My eyes are sunken and have bags under them. My eyes... my eyes are green. My eyes widen to the size of saucers. I didn't pay attention to this, but Albert definitely noticed. I mean, he was in the hospital with me for two days, of course he noticed.

I glance at Albert, who is already looking at me through the reflection on the door. He takes in my widened eyes with a hint of fear. I have a feeling that he knows why I'm so riled up, but he doesn't react in any way, shape, or form. His expression remains as neutral as ever as he scans my scared face. After a few minutes the elevator dings, telling us that we have reached our desired floor.

Albert tears his eyes away from mine. Jade pushes my chair ahead and follows Albert out of the elevator. He leads us down a beige carpeted corridor and stops in front of a black door. He pushes it open and Riona comes into my line of sight. My eyes then travel to the view of the house behind her. It's extremely classy, with a grey and black theme in general. The L-shaped couch is looking as comfortable as anything with a glass table in front of it. There's an elegant centrepiece on the glass table, which just adds to the aesthetic of the house.

Jade pushes my chair through the living room and my eyes catch sight of an equally as elegant kitchen and dining room. It had the same color scheme. He then wheels me through the corridors, which all have grey textured walls. All I'm going to say is that whoever designed this house is seriously in love with grey and black.

Riona motions for Jade to follow him, and he pushes my chair along with him. I decide to ditch the chair as we go inside the room. Jade takes the chair outside as I stand with Albert's help. The sparks appear as soon as Albert takes my hand but I hop inside the room, careful of my leg and to not let anything touch my stomach.

My jaw drops as soon as I enter. The walls are a soft grey color, and there's a closet on the same wall as the door. The wall parallel to the closet has a window that covers the whole wall. The bed is pushed against the wall perpendicular to the window, and it looks... cushiony? I don't even know. Never experienced this luxury, never going to experience it after I'm healed.

The bed is a dark grey with bedding of the same shade. There are a lot of throw pillows of the same colour scheme. There's a humongous television on the wall parallel to the bed, and a cozy-looking armchair pushed in the corner diagonal to the bed, near the window. There are lamps hanging from the ceiling just above the side table, and the heavy grey curtains hanging by the window prevent the bright morning sunlight from coming inside.

"It's not much, but yeah, this is your room," Riona says.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I ask her, wide-eyed and eyebrows ridden up. "There's a freaking television in this room, and you say that it's not much?"

"If you think this is extra, then you should see Albert's penthouse. I bet his mansion will send you into cardiac arrest," she laughs.

"You people are so extra, even in the littlest of things," I say and they both shrug in unison.

"If you walk along the closet there's a door in that little section, that's the washroom," Riona instructs.

"Okay, I think that's enough standing for one day, you should lay down." I nod and slowly hop over to the bed, Albert by my side, helping me. He assists me with getting in the bed and under the covers. As soon as my butt touches the mattress, I'm a gone case. It's so soft, it's like I'm on a cloud. Albert rearranges the pillows so that I'm comfortable and I put my head on one, observing how it flattens in whatever area my head is in. Still, everything in this room screams expensive. Riona puts my things in the closet and exits the room, leaving me alone with Albert.

"Comfy, yeah?" he asks.

"Mhmm," I make a content sound as my eyes get droopy.

"My mom will be here but you can call me if you want anything, mkay? I put my number in your new phone," he says.

"My new phone?" I ask, struggling to keep my eyes open.

"Don't worry about it, just rest," he says as he pulls the comforter up to my neck and tucks me in. "I'll stop by later to check on you." I can only nod as I finally close my eyes and give up as the overwhelming urge to sleep overpowers me.

***

"Come on, Ari." Someone nudges me. "It's time to take your meds." I make a negative sound and turn on my side, but regret it instantly as pressure and weight falls on my injured foot. The person standing there helps me turn on my back, but my eyes shut on their own again afterwards.

"Hmm?" I ask, my eyes still closed.

"Your meds, Ari." A voice. One I recognize as Elle's. I realize I shouldn't throw a tantrum here, I'm already causing problems and troubling them, the least I could do is listen to whatever she says and do the work accordingly.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," I say. I open my eyes and sit up straight with Elle's help. She places a few pillows behind my back to make me more comfortable. I take the glass of water and tablets from her hand. Throwing the tablets in my mouth, I swallow them, taking a big gulp of the room temperature water. As soon as I'm done she takes the glass from my hand and places a tray of food in my lap with a smile.

"Eat up," she says.

"Thank you, Elle," I reply, genuine gratitude shining in my eyes as I look at her.

"For what?" she asks, the smile still on her face.

"For all of this. Staying away from home just to take care of me, allowing me into the house, feeding me, making sure I take my meds on time and all of that," I say. "You've done so many things, I can't even list them all." My vision starts to get a little blurry as tears gather themselves in my upper eyelash line.

"Oh, honey," she says as she wraps her arms around me. "You don't have to thank me, I'm sure if your mother was here, she would have done the same for Riona."

"Why don't I believe that?" I say and blink my tears back. My 'mother' wouldn't even acknowledge that I have a friend, but to be fair she wouldn't give up her nail appointment if I was lying on my deathbed. And that speaks a lot about her motherly instincts.

"Don't be like that, I'm sure she would've done the same," she says.

"You're too nice for your good," I say. "But, sure, there's no harm in believing she would've helped Riona."

"Now, should I put up something on the television for you? Or do you want to sleep more?"

"I'm definitely not sleeping more," I say as I rest my back against pillows.

"Okay then, I'll put up a show series for you," she says. "Now, I personally haven't seen this, so I don't know how it is, but I've seen Riona watch it on repeat. I think you'll like this." She presses a few buttons on the remote and puts Netflix on the television. She starts a show called Teen Wolf on it.

"Watch it for some time, have lunch, and then rest, all your friends are coming tonight for dinner, I'm sure they'll tire you out. So, it's best if you take a nap beforehand."

"Jade and Riona are coming?" I ask.

"Oh no sweetie, the whole group is coming. Darren, Luc, and Albert included," she says as she reaches for the door.

"Oh, ok." She's just slipping out of the room when my eyes fall on a shiny new phone on the side table with a little pink sticky note on it. I pick it up and read, 'Ari, you broke your phone in the accident, so I got you a new phone. Hope you like it :)'

"What is this?" I ask her. Clearly, with the medicine starting to work, I start feeling a little heavy headed and my question makes no sense but thankfully, Elle understands it.

"I don't know, I think Albert put it there," she says and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her.

***

I watched the first couple of episodes of Teen Wolf as I had lunch, after which I took a nap. I woke up about an hour later, and now I'm watching the next episodes of Teen Wolf once again. The show was great. Till now, it was following the story of a goofball named Stiles and a boy with an uneven jaw named Scott. Stiles was my favourite character so far. The story is based on supernatural creatures, and after the moment Scott was bitten, I was quite interested to know how things would work. It was crazy how they would shift into a wolf, not fully, but it still was awesome.

They healed at an insane speed, which I wished would happen with me right now. But I'm just human. Damn, I need to find a werewolf and ask him to bite me. I inwardly chuckle at my thoughts. There's no way all this was real. And if it was, it would be kind of cool to be one, not gonna lie.

"Ari, hey," Riona says as she enters with Jade. The door creaks a little as they both open it and come inside. Jade plops down on the bed as soon as he reaches me. He doesn't notice that my fractured leg is covered with the comforter and, unfortunately, jumps on my leg.

"Oh my God, Jade!" I shriek as he jumps. He quickly stands up as I clutch my leg in unbearable pain.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know you had your leg there," he says as he lightly touches it.

"Ouch, stop! Don't touch it, you idiot," I shout. A few tears escape my eyes as I try to calm my breathing and try not to think about the pain. I try to distract myself. Darren, Luc, Elle, and Albert enter the room, possibly after hearing my shrieks.

Luc pulls Jade away as Elle moves the comforter from my legs. She pries my hand away as she gently examines it. I wince before she even touches the cast. I scrunch my eyes closed as she very carefully and slowly rests her hand on my legs.

"You're going to be fine, it's nothing bad," she says, "I'll get you some painkillers." I smile at her gratefully as she pulls out a first aid box from the drawer under the side table and gives me an off white-ish pill. Luc pours a glass of water from the jug kept on a shelf near the television. He hands it to me and I thank him. I swallow the pill and wash it down with a couple of sips of the water. Elle takes the glass from my hand and exits the room.

I look over at everyone standing in front of me, and my eyes are instantly drawn towards Albert, who is intently glaring at Jade. Jade is, well, he's successfully ignoring him. My attention shifts when Luc and Darren step forward.

"Here, get well soon," Luc says as Darren hands me bouquets and a gift. I peek into the bag and see a red and blue box. My jaw drops.

"Is that?" I ask, but I stop myself short.

"Oh yeah, it is." A nintendo switch, a brand new nintendo switch. How fucking rich are they? A nintendo switch is not a get well soon gift. Well, it isn't in my world.

"I can't take this, I-" I start but I'm cut off by Luc.

"Come on, it's just a gift. We all brought this together to keep you busy during the house arrest," Luc explains.

"Excuse me, mister, what do you mean house arrest?" Elle asks, appearing in the room. Luc flinches a little but puts on an innocent expression as soon as he hears Elle's voice and turns to look at her.

"Uh, you know, Elle, just spending some time with your amazing self," Luc replies, buttering her up.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she says and turns to us. "Dinner will be ready in ten, make sure you wrap this all up and be there."

"Oh, and this too," Albert says, handing me another bag. This one is black. "Open it."

My jaw drops again when I see what's inside. In the bag are the first edition copies of the Lord of Rings trilogy, Lolita, and Live and Let Die.

"No way. There's no way," I mutter, shaking my head. "How?"

"My family is crazy for books, except for Riona of course." As soon the words leave Albert's mouth, a pillow moves and smacks him right in the face. Something between a gasp and chuckle escapes my mouth. Everyone around me starts laughing. I look at Riona, and she has a smug look on her face.

My eyes travel back to Albert. The pillow has fallen down but Albert's eyes are still closed. As if feeling my eyes on him, he snaps open his eyes with a certain fire to defeat Riona. "You're on," he mutters, taking a free pillow lying around and hitting her with it. In minutes my room is covered in feathers as Jade, Luc, and Darren join in. I'm a laughing mess, the pain in my leg long forgotten. Even the pain in my stomach due to laughing too much doesn't affect me. I'm happy. After so long I'm finally happy. I've found my people, people who actually give two shits about me and will care for me no matter what.

The happiness doesn't last long though. Luc throws a pillow at Jade, who was hovering above my injured leg so nothing hurts it. But as soon as Luc throws a pillow at him, he moves out of the way and the pillow straight up lands on my leg. I shout and everybody stops. Albert moves at an unbelievable speed and moves the pillow, not that I could've done that myself. I glare at Jade, and Albert glares at Luc. I narrow my eyes at Jade as he only gives me a sheepish smile.

Bloody wuss!

"Jade!" I shout again, and this time Elle appears in the doorway.

"I swear to God Jade, one more time and you're not entering this room again until her cast is off," she says, "And all of you, out." Everyone exits the room as per Elle's order. Albert stays back and sits at the foot of the bed, observing my plaster-clad leg.

"All means you too, Albert," Elle shouts from the dining room. Albert ignores her and wraps his gigantic hand around my leg, making me wince and jump a little.

"What are you doing?" I say, "Don't touch it!" He says nothing, just stares intently at it. He presses at a few places, but instead hurting like it should've, it brings relief. The pain subsides and I feel at peace once again. I look up at Albert, who is already looking at me.

"H-how?"

"I just know a few things about relieving pain," he says and leaves the room. Jade and Riona enter the room with their dinner and an extra plate for me. Both of them plop down on the bed and start eating. I look at them with my eyebrows lifted in question.

"Oh, we're going to sit here and eat so that you don't feel alone."

"Thanks," I say. They just shrug it off. I got myself some pretty amazing friends, and their concern for me is definitely showing as I sit in this house on bedrest. Halfway through the delicious dinner that Elle cooks, we hear someone shout.

"Where the fuck is she?" My blood immediately turns cold, and my alarmed eyes meet Jade and Riona's.

The fifth chapter! Yess! I really like how this chapter turned, though not much happened. But I hope you like it too!

What do we think of the mysterious shouting at the end? Any guesses? A little spoiler, we already know the person who's shouting. That's all I'm gonna say for now!

So, again, if you liked this chapter, please do vote and tell me in the comments which was your favourite part! And if you feel like it, give me a follow!

Stay Safe and see you with the next chapter!

Edited by the amazing @radiantbubble