Chapter 17 #3
I felt a voice speaking to me, but it was distant, and no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t respond. At first, I didn’t understand what it was saying, but I knew that voice was important to me. I concentrated on that voice, wanting to understand what it was saying.
“Come back to me, my love, I beg you. I can’t go on if you’re not with me. I can’t... I can’t...”
Why did he sound so distressed? He was suffering.
Who was he? Why did I feel this need to hug him, comfort him, and love him?
That voice, that voice... Henry! That voice was his, but why was he crying?
I needed to help him. The effort I made to move was too much, and darkness took over me again as silence surrounded me.
Once again I heard that voice, I couldn't understand anything, but that voice was calling me continuously and I tried to respond, but I couldn't.
“I love you, my Dalina. Wake up, please. I need you with me.”
Was he talking to me? And why couldn't I answer him? I started to get impatient and made another great effort to wake up. Henry kept talking to me and I could hear him more and more clearly, but I also began to hear other voices.
“Come back to me. I can't stand another minute seeing you like this. Come back to me, I beg you, or take me with you wherever you are. But don't leave me alone...” Henry said.
“You need to calm down, Henry. You should go eat something,” said another familiar voice, and I immediately knew it was Bastian.
“I'm not moving from her side,” he responded.
“Dali will wake up, you heard the doctor, she's out of danger.
We all want her back with us, but we need to be patient.
She's very weak due to the hemorrhage, but let's trust that she'll be fine soon.
She's strong and brave, she'll wake up any moment and, when she does, it would be good if she saw you well. Go on, go to the bar here and eat something. Lolo, you should go eat something too.”
“I don't want to,” said Lolo.
“Neither do I,” said Henry.
Hearing them so distressed, I began to remember something about what happened with Sol, but I wasn't clear on how it all ended.
What I did know was that I couldn't keep sleeping, they needed me.
I made my greatest effort to open my eyes and managed to see some blurry figures, but the light bothered me too much and I closed them again.
Try again, I encouraged myself.
I tried again and blinked several times. The figures began to take shape. The first person my eyes looked for was Henry, and I found him beside me holding one of my hands and kissing it. My brothers were at the foot of the bed whispering to each other.
I moved my fingers slightly and immediately Henry raised his head and our eyes met. Joy and surprise filled him.
“She's awake!” he shouted, while smiling and crying at the same time.
He quickly moved closer to my face and pressed his forehead against mine. I wanted to say something to him, but I couldn't speak or move. Henry was crying inconsolably and my brothers approached to try to move him.
“Henry, let her breathe. Lolo, go get a doctor.”
Henry moved away slightly, but didn't let go of my hand and with the other he began to caress my face while he continued crying.
“My love, I love you, don't ever leave me again, I beg you.”
“Dali, my little one, you can't imagine how scared we were,” said Bastian, as he leaned down to my face and kissed me on the cheek, wetting it with his tears.
I looked at them and my heart clenched with sadness, I had worried them so much.
“Where am I?” I managed to ask with great effort, but I was frightened to hear my own voice that sounded hoarse, rough.
“In the hospital,” said Bastian. “How do you feel?”
At that moment Lolo came in and I couldn't answer.
“Little sister...” he said, and rushed over to me and covered my face with kisses.
“Please, we ask that you leave us alone with the patient because we need to examine her,” said a nurse, who entered the room along with who I assumed was a doctor.
“I'm staying with her, I'm not leaving her,” said Henry.
“Henry, it's better if we go out,” said Bastian, taking him by the arm.
“Are you family?” asked the doctor, looking at Henry.
“We're all family,” said Lolo, and I was glad to see them include Henry in such a definitive way. “We are her brothers and he is her future husband.”
“One of you can stay,” the doctor stated.
I noticed that Henry looked at them pleadingly and Bastian nodded, took Lolo by the arm and they left, but not before coming close to squeeze my hand while looking at me with tenderness.
The doctor approached and looked at me with a smile. He was young, probably Henry's age.
“I'm Dr. álvarez, but I'll allow you to call me Lionel,” he said, taking my hand. “How are you feeling, Dalina? What beautiful eyes you have!” he stated, and I noticed that Henry looked at him very seriously, and I even thought I heard a growl from him.
“I'm thirsty,” I managed to respond.
“I'll allow you to have a little water, but in these first few hours you can only wet your lips a bit, just to take away the feeling of dryness. You have an IV and, for now, you don't need to drink water,” the doctor explained, and asked the nurse to go get some water.
“How do you feel?”
“A bit sore. What happened to me?”
“What do you remember?” the doctor asked.
For a few seconds I said nothing and began to remember what happened with Sol, the images came to my mind like a movie and anxiety overwhelmed me. The doctor, noticing this, squeezed my hand.
“Take your time.”
“Someone pointed a gun at me and... I don’t remember what happened...”
“You were shot,” he replied, and added: “Do you remember that?”
“Yes,” I confirmed, and Henry began to stroke my hair when he saw tears flowing uncontrollably.
“It’s okay, it’s over now. I’ll explain what happened,” said the doctor, and began his explanation.
He informed me that I had been shot in the shoulder, which had damaged an artery and caused hemorrhaging.
Everyone had acted quickly and they had successfully operated on me, and I was out of danger.
He explained that I was on strong painkillers and might feel weak due to the large amount of blood I had lost, although I had already received a transfusion.
I looked at Henry who was shaking his head and continuing to caress me while looking at me with anguish.
His face reflected the horror he had lived through.
It seemed like he hadn’t slept in days because his face showed the marks of exhaustion and distress.
The nurse returned with water and helped me drink a little.
“If you need anything, call us immediately. I’m here for whatever you need, Dalina. Now you need to rest. I’ll come by later to see how you’re doing,” said the doctor, said goodbye and left the room followed by the nurse.
As soon as we were alone, he sat beside me and hugged me.
“Without you, I can’t... I can’t do it,” he sobbed and pressed his forehead against mine again. “I thought I had... I don’t want to remember it.”
I stroked his hair with the hand I could move. Henry shuddered.
“Don’t leave me, please.”
At that moment my brothers entered accompanied by Niky.
“Dali...” she said, and rushed to hug me, but Henry didn’t let her.
“Be careful, Niky.”
“Sorry,” she said, and approached slowly and caressed my face while we both cried.
Niky and I had lived through that horrible situation together, and she had tried at every moment to stay by my side.
“Thank you for taking care of me. I already told everyone how brave you were, how you confronted that lunatic and how you tried to protect me the whole time. I’m so proud of you, I love you so much, Dali...” she affirmed, and rested her head on my stomach while I stroked her hair.
“We already spoke with the doctor,” said Bastián, and added: “Everything is fine, but you need to rest.”
“I’m going to stay with her,” Henry said immediately.
“We figured as much,” said Lolo. “But tomorrow morning we’ll be here and you’ll go rest, otherwise there’s no deal.”
“Lolo is right, my love. I need you to rest and take care of yourself, please,” I asked him.
“Alright, tomorrow when you arrive I’ll go out for a while.”
“How are you feeling, little one?” asked Bastián.
“A bit tired.”
“The doctor told us they were giving you strong painkillers and that you would probably sleep a lot.”
“How long have I been unconscious?”
“Five days, five eternal days,” Henry replied, looking at me seriously.
“Five days...” I repeated, surprised by this information. “Christmas has already passed... I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to us, we should be the ones apologizing for allowing this to happen,” Henry stated.
“That’s not true, no one could have done anything,” I said, and asked the question that had been circling in my head: “What happened to Sol?”
“I don’t give a damn what happens to her!” exclaimed Henry.
“Don’t worry about her,” said Lolo, but from his expression I knew that he also despised her with all his might, and I couldn’t blame them.
As always, sensible Bastián took the floor and clarified my doubt.
“The girl will go to prison or to a psychiatric institution and she’ll stay there for a good while, I assure you.”
“Let her stay there for life!” exclaimed Niky.
“We should go so Dali can rest,” said Bastián.
“Dali, Sean is on his way. He traveled as soon as he heard what happened. When you woke up he had gone to take a shower, but we let him know and he’s coming.”
“You shouldn’t have told him,” I said.
“If we hadn’t told him, he would have hated us for life. You know how he is about you,” said Lolo, and I noticed that Henry looked at him seriously.
“My mother also arrived, she was here all morning and we forced her to leave to get something to eat. I haven’t told her yet that you woke up,” Henry said.
“I haven’t told her either, but I’ll go get her in a little while and bring her back,” Niky said.