I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling when I heard the ringing. I rolled over to see Zak’s contact picture flashing on the screen of my laptop as he called me. Sitting up, I ran my fingers through my tangled hair, and answered the video call.
Waving at him as he answered, I saw his brief smile before it dropped and morphed into a look of concern. It occurred to me as I caught a glimpse of myself in the upper corner of the screen that I had a deep cut and bruise on my face that came with an explanation I didn’t want to give.
I cringed.
Here we go…
”What happened to your face?” He signed fervently.
”Why are you hurt?”
”Calm down,” I signed back. ”It’s just a cut.”
He gave me an exasperated look.
”How did you get it?”
I bit my lip before sighing.
“I got hit in the face with an iron stick.”
Zak closed his eyes and I knew he was probably counting up to ten and back down again.
”Who hit you in the face?” He asked
I shrugged and he rolled his eyes.
“Was it an accident?” I slowly shook my head with hesitation and his eyes widened.
“Why would someone hit you on purpose?”He asked, his hands flailing quickly.
”Look,” I signed slowly. ”Things are weird here. Really weird.”
This only seemed to annoy him more.
”You’re being vague,” he signed
”Someone broke in, okay?” I said. “I was the first person the guy saw and I tried to defend myself and got hurt in the process. It was nothing more and nothing less than that.”
Zak just shook his head. “I tried to warn you that it was a bad idea to go,” he signed.
”And now you’ve been hurt. Can you please just come home?”
I bit the inside of my cheek as I shook my head in disbelief. Zak was someone who had colored inside the lines his whole life. He was smart and cautious and, most importantly, predictable.
Anytime anything was just slightly out of his comfort zone, he backed out. Being adventurous and bold meant risking happiness and comfort to Zak, which was a point we disagreed on constantly.
Because of this, I knew he was going to try and talk me out of staying; this wasn’t the first time he had done so. Whenever we first arrived, I had texted Zak to let him know I was safe. He proceeded to offer to buy me a plane ticket home and asked me if I was sure.
“I’m going to find Grandpa before I come home, I had told him. And I told him this again this time,” at which point he drew in a deep breath.
”You’re being reckless,” he signed.
”But you’re a grown woman, you can do what you want.”
I nodded, agreeing with him on both points.
”Are you closer to finding him?” He asked.
I nodded.
”I think so. Have you heard from Mom and Dad?” I asked him.
He shook his head. ”They’re not home, so I’m assuming they’re still working things out over there,” he signed.
I nodded.
That was good news and meant that I had plenty of time to work with.
”Let me know when they come home,’ I told him. ‘If they ask—”
“Tell then that you’re with friends in Minnesota,” he signed, cutting me off. “I know, we’ve been through this!”
I smiled.
”Just making sure you remembered,” I signed, winking.
He shook his head, still unsure of everything.
“I have to get back to work,” he signed.
”Let me know if I can help with anything.”
I assured him that I would and threw up the sign for ”I love you” before we both ended the video call.
When the call window closed, I was looking at a blank page which was supposed to be a seven-thousand word essay on the pre-operational stages of cognitive development.
It was due in a week and I hadn’t started on it.
I rubbed my eyes which burned from staring at the screen for so long. The curtains were drawn over the windows, leaving the room dark except for the blue glow of the laptop’s screen.
I had been lying there for God knows how long, trying to outline the essay. But, every time I closed my eyes to think, I felt Cain’s breath on my lips and his nose brushing against mine.
I closed the laptop and sat up on the bed.
Not only was I having a hard time trying to process why he hadn’t kissed me, but I was trying to process why he had wanted to in the first place and why the hell I was sleeping in his bedroom.
Cain and I had known each other for less than twenty-four hours when Jai gave me the room. Although there had certainly been an initial attraction between us, I would never have thought Cain would have given up his room for me.
If he really liked me, which I was led to believe he did seeing as I was sleeping in his room, I was confused as to why he passed up the opportunity to kiss me. It had been two days since that night and I hadn’t seen Cain since then.
This was partially because I stayed locked in my room, but even then, he hadn’t come to bring me dinner like he had been doing. It was delivered by the same, shy boy who brought me lunch without making a sound.
As I sat on the bed with my legs crossed, my elbows resting on my knees, and my head held in the palm of my hands, I thought long and hard about what Zak had said.
Maybe it was best if I went home.
A knock sounded at the door, startling me out of my daze and I got off the bed and walked over to open it.
Daniel stood beside the doorway, leaning against the wall.
“I’m here to make sure you’re still alive,” he said.
I let out a breathy laugh as he pushed past me into the room.
“Did someone send you?” I asked him, following him inside the room.
“If by someone you mean Cain, the answer’s no.” he said as he walked over to the windows.
Oh my God, does he know? I thought in a panic.
“I came on my own terms,” he said. “We’ve already established that I don’t do much around here because Cain is a do-it-himself kinda guy, and I was tired of talking to myself and twiddling my thumbs.”
He threw back the curtain and I groaned as my eyes adjusted to the light.
“What time is it?” I asked him.
“Nearly dinner time,” he said, looking at his watch, “which means the sun is about to set.” I walked over to where he stood and looked out the window. Sure enough, the sun was setting behind the mountains off in the distance.
Daniel looked at me and winced.
“Does that still hurt?” He asked me, pointing at the cut on my cheekbone.
I shook my head as I reached up to touch it gingerly. I had been letting it breath for a few hours, but I needed to put a bandage back over it.
“You look kind of like Rocky,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said sarcastically.
I had a huge bruise that nearly covered the side of my face and my cheek was still somewhat swollen.
“A good kind of Rocky,” he assured me quickly. “Like Rocky after he fought Drago, not Rocky after he fought Apollo.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. My stomach growled and I put my hand over it.
“Hungry?” He asked, hearing it.
I nodded.
“Good, me too. Put on some real clothes and we’ll go get something to eat.”
I looked down at my gym shorts and t-shirt and sighed before going into the bathroom to change.
“Better?” I asked, exiting the bathroom in a long-sleeve tunic and leggings.
He laughed “You still look like you’re going to bed, but I guess it’s temperature appropriate.”
I put on slippers and we walked out of the bedroom to find something to eat.
“So how’s your head?” He asked me.
I nodded. “It’s okay,” I said. “I still get pretty bad headaches and it’s hard to sleep at night.”
He was silent as we walked along the hallway.
“About that,” I said awkwardly, “did you guys find out who that man was that broke in?”
Daniel shrugged. “We’re still looking into it, but he was probably just your average, run-of-the-mill burglar.”
I stopped him.
“He tried to kill me, Daniel,” I said.
“That’s not burglary, it’s robbery and attempted murder. Someone should have called the police.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and I could tell he was getting frustrated.
“There was no need to call the police.”
“He tried to kill me,” I reminded him again.
“Yes, and Cain killed him.”
I shook my head as I continued to walk.
“What?” Daniel asked.
“You don’t think he should have killed him?”
“I’ve seen two people killed in the past two weeks,” I told him, referring to both the robber and the man who had been killed by Jai at my grandfather’s funeral.
“That’s more than I wanted to see in a lifetime.”
“Better get used to it. It happens frequently around here,” Daniel said casually.
I stopped in my tracks. “What do you mean?” I asked him.
“You can’t just go around killing people.”
“We kill bad people, Ella,” Daniel said, turning to face me. “If you have a problem with that, maybe you should try it your way and show kindness to the next person who puts their hands around your neck and see where that gets you.”
I let out a quick breath and walked around him.
“Ella, stop,” he said, following me.
I stopped walking and turned to look at him.
“Stop reading into all of this,” he said. “We do things differently than most people because we are different from most people. This system of justice has been used for hundreds of years and we’ve found people hidden better than your grandfather and killed better men than the one who tried to kill you.”
“I just don’t understand how any of this is legal,” I told him.
“Diplomatic immunity,” he answered.
I rolled my eyes. “That’s exactly what Cain said.”
He shrugged. “Bad people are bad people and that’s recognized across all borders and continents. If we catch the bad guy, it’s only fair enough that we decide what to do with him. That’s an agreement we have with plenty of countries who are more than willing to let us do it.”
What Daniel said made sense, but it wasn’t something I saw myself agreeing with anytime soon.
Suddenly, a sharp pain bounced around in my head and I winced as I closed my eyes.
“All this thinking has given me a headache,” I said, massaging my temples.
“That’s why I try to do as little thinking as possible,” Daniel said, winking.
“Now let’s go get some food.”
We went down a few flights of stairs to a large kitchen that was surprisingly empty for it to be dinner time.
“Does no one cook here?” I asked him.
“No, it’s the weekend,” he said, walking over to the cabinet.
“Dinner is only served on weekdays so we fend for ourselves on the weekend to give the chef a break.”
“Let me guess,” I said. laughine.
“You just order pizza and takeout.”
He scoffed.
“Please, my dad was a chef in one of Vegas’ finest restaurants. I learned how to cook my own food from the best.”
“You’re American?” I asked him.
He nodded. This really didn’t surprise me. I had gathered that he wasn’t native to Germany from the lack of an accent.
“You are too, right?” He asked. I nodded.
“Florida, just outside of Fort Lauderdale.”
“No shit,” he said, nodding. “So how’d your grandpa end up in Germany?”
I jumped up on the counter.
“He’s from here,” I said. “Both my parents are German, they moved to America before my brother and I were born.” He grabbed a loaf of bread from the pantry and some cheese from the fridge.
“How’d you end up here?” I asked him.
“I met Cain a few years ago,” he said.
“We became friends and he invited me over to help him run the family business.” I eyed him as he pulled a frying pan out of the cabinet.
“Are you making grilled cheese?” I asked incredulously.
“What were you expecting? Filet mignon?” He asked.
I laughed. “I guess not.” Daniel made the grilled cheese and we sat down to eat. The door to the kitchen opened and we both turned to see Cain walk in.
He froze as we made eye contact.
I choked on the grilled cheese. Daniel’s eyes widened as he looked down at the sandwich in his hands and he began to chew slowly.
“I’ve gotta go,” he said.
I looked at Daniel in disbelief as he got up and walked out of the kitchen. Cain walked over to the refrigerator and got out a bottle of water.
The awkward tension in the room was suffocating.
He opened the water bottle and took a long sip before turning around.
“Why didn’t you kiss me?” I asked him suddenly.
I regretted asking as soon as I did.
“It was a mistake,” he said. “I apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable. It will not happen again.”
With that being said, he walked out of the kitchen and left me alone to finish my half-eaten grilled cheese. Cain’s words stung, far more than they should have.