The Revelation #2

“Lee…” he said sounding more desperate.
“You want to help me, walk out that door and never come back. When you decide I’m trustworthy, you know where to find me.”
The door opened and Maria’s chirpy voice came in. “We’re home…Lee!” She rushed to Lee, bumping her as she came to a stop, making the pain even worse.
“Oww! Maria!”
“I’m sorry!”
“What’s going on?” Lee didn’t look up. Ann was standing behind her.
Ash spoke, his voice desperate. “I think she pulled her shoulder again, but she won’t let me help.”
“Ann, please make him leave.” Lee’s voice was cool and shaky; tears were flowing down her cheeks and onto the kitchen floor.
She didn’t ask Lee any questions; her voice was direct but concerned. “Ash, please leave, I’ll call you when she cools off.”
“If you do, I’ll choke you with the phone code. He knows what he has to do!”
Ash stood up and disappeared from Lee’s line of sight. When she heard the door close she knew he had left, and may not come back. She sobbed; she’d lost someone else. The pain in her chest felt far worse than that in her shoulder.
“Lee, do you want to tell us what happened?”

* * * *

They were on the couch, the pain in her shoulder had died down after a few hours, but the other was still there. She was regretting that she had thrown the meds away. They would have numbed more than just her arm. Her eyes were swollen and red. She had been crying for a while, regretting her decision, she wanted him back, whether or not he wanted to trust her, she didn’t care anymore, he loved her and she loved him, the rest could all go to hell. She opened her eyes and looked at Maria.
“I gave him an ultimatum.” The word felt like hot coal on her tongue.
“What do you mean?” Maria stroked her hair back and wiped the fresh flow of tears from her cheek.
“I’ve been sharing a bed with a stranger, and I couldn’t do it anymore. Though right now, I couldn’t care less what or who he is. I just want him back.” Lee could feel a sob creep up her throat.
“Is that why he threw the chair into our TV?” It was Ann who asked, pointing past Lee. She turned and looked. The TV was broken on the floor with the chair on top of it.
“I did that.” Lee massaged the new swelling on her shoulder, not paying much attention to the broken TV on the floor.
“What! You threw a chair from the kitchen into our living room!” Ann sounded amazed and amused.
“How do you think I pulled my shoulder?” Lee spoke, her mind still on Ash.
Maria shook her head. “That’s impossible, that distance with that shoulder. Are you covering up for Ash?”
“No. And our apartment is an open space, it’s not so impossible.”
“If you were on speed it’s not,” Ann muttered.
“So what’s going to happen between the two of you?” Maria spoke again, even more concerned than before. Lee knew that answer but she wasn’t quite ready to admit it to herself. She stood up and headed to her room. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to school.”
“You have permission to stay home until finals.” Ann turned to face her.
She knew that, but she didn’t want to stay home, she needed a distraction. “I need to speak to my teacher. I’ll be back early.”
“Okay, but I’m driving you.”
She didn’t want to fight her on it; she wasn’t really giving her a choice. Lee nodded and went into her room. She came back out fully dressed and sat on the couch with the girls. They were discussing something, whatever it was it looked pretty serious. Before she could say anything, the doorbell rang. Ann stood up to get it.
“Yes, how may I help you?” Ann looked at the woman, refraining from making fun of her leather cat suit.
“You can’t. But she can.” The woman at the door pushed past Ann, went round the couch and stood in front of Lee.
“Listen you bitch! Get out before I throw you out!” Ann was pissed, but the woman just kept staring at Lee. Lee cringed back at the lethal gaze she gave her. If eyes could kill she would be dead.
“Listen to me very carefully, if you value your life, you’ll stay away from Ash. He’s mine. And another thing, if you so much as breathe a word of this to him, I’ll kill you exactly the way your family was slaughtered, do we understand each other!” She walked out, banging the door behind her.
Lee couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think. It wasn’t the threat that was suffocating her; it was the fact that she said her family was slaughtered, not burned slaughtered. Lee grabbed at her chest, struggling to breathe.
“Lee, are you okay?” Maria was all over her, she was worried, scared.
“Did you hear what she said…slaughtered not burned—”
“Lee. Focus. Are you okay?” Maria turned Lee’s face with her hands and starred into her eyes.
“My family died in a fire, why would she say that?” the words were rolling out of Lee.
“I’m calling Ash.” Ann reached for the phone, Lee held her hand back, she couldn’t find her voice so she shook her head. “That woman just threatened you!”
Maria hugged Lee tight. “Ann, give her time to recover, then she’ll decide what to do. In the meantime get her some water.”