Lily woke to the sound of the shower running. She didn’t open her eyes suddenly like she always did. Instead, she let herself slowly wake from the drowsiness that surrounded her brain. She felt someone holding onto her left arm, and they were lightly brushing their fingers through her hair. Her head was in someone’s chest, a man’s chest.
She slowly opened her eyes, tilting her head back to look into the man’s green gaze. “Hey there, sweetheart.” Jason smiled softly. “Did you sleep well last night?”
Lily nodded lazily. His calm strokes soothed her aching heart, making her feel tired again. She tilted her head back into Jason’s chest, feeling comforted and relaxed. His warmth heated her cold skin. Lily didn’t want this moment to end.
Jason lightly let go of her left arm and pulled the covers up to her chin. Then he softly placed his hand on her arm, not gripping it this time. “You had a rough night.” He breathed, “Take your time waking up. I don’t mind.”
Lily wondered who was in the shower, but she guessed it was Jules. She wondered why Jules was able to shower on her own, but guessed it was because she wasn’t actually a child. She was hundreds of years old.
“Jason…?” Lily whispered in his chest.
“Yes?” He asked, still calming her with his light strokes.
“I’m afraid to move….”
“Is it because of the wounds on your stomach?” Jason questioned softly.
Lily nodded. His shirt brushed her cheeks with every nod, calming her even more.
“As I said, take your time getting up. There’s no rush.” He leaned down and placed his head on top of hers.
“But… I want to take Jules to Make a Bear….” Lily realized.
Jason chuckled, “Sweetheart, she’s still in the shower. And she takes long showers.” He tucked a strand of hair behind Lily’s ear. “It’s really sweet how you care about her.”
Lily’s cheeks burned red. “I… just never knew how it felt to have a younger sister… or daughter….” She looked back up at Jason, “By the way… which is she? A daughter or a sister?”
Their foreheads were pressed together. “I don’t know…” Jason shrugged, “Both?”
“Both?” Lily questioned.
“I guess.” He pushed a strand of hair away from her forehead with his thumb. “We adopted her. So that would make her a daughter.” He pulled another stand away. “But at the same time, you and I are both way too young to have a daughter. And she sees us like siblings too. So, yeah. She’s both.”
“You do realize that’s extremely confusing, right?” Lily smiled.
Jason chuckled. “Yes, I know.” Lily pushed her head back into his chest again. She whimpered a little when she shifted to her side. The deep wounds on her stomach burned as she moved. “Hey, hey, hey. No, no. Don’t do that.” Jason placed his hands onto her arms, but she didn’t stop. Lily continued to shift to her side until she fully faced Jason. “Sweetheart… please… you’re hurting yourself….” She dug her head into his chest, pulling her scorched arms up to her chest. “Lily, sweetheart….” Jason gave up trying to get her to stop. Lily closed her eyes, feeling his warmth. She wanted to be fully in his grip. He softly placed his hand on her head. “Doesn’t that position hurt…?” Jason asked, concerned.
Lily shook her head. Jason could feel the soft gauze on her cheeks rub against his shirt.
“Are you sure?” He wondered.
“Yes.” Lily’s voice was muffled in his chest.
Jason sighed. “I hope you’re telling the truth. I don’t want to hurt you.” When she stayed silent, he bent his legs and pulled his head down onto hers. His forehead lightly touched the top of her head. He breathed his minty breath onto her cheeks and she cuddled with him closer. “Honey… are you okay…?” Jason asked her.
“Yes. Why?” Lily questioned.
Jason lightly touched her arms, “You’re shaking….” He noticed. “Are you cold?”
“I’m… shaking…?” Lily wondered. She was freezing cold. She was afraid, and she was terrified. Her burns itched and blazed. Her cuts and bruises felt like they were on fire. All Lily focused on was the pain and fear. She didn’t realize she was shaking.
“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Jason whispered. Lily didn’t have to respond because he read it in her mind. “And you’re in pain….” He breathed out his panicking breath. “I wish I could give you more pain meds… but… I gave them to you about two hours ago….” When her trembling got worse, Jason pulled her closer. “It’s okay….” He told her. “It’s alright….”
“I am scared….” Lily breathed. “And everything hurts….” Her breath shook, “My cuts are burning….” She started to regret turning to her side.
“I know it's painful.” Jason was trying his absolute best to stay strong for her. “I know it’s agonizing.” He brushed his fingers through her hair. “And you have a right to be scared. I’m not saying you don’t.” What Jason was saying was that she had a right to be scared of being controlled by her father. Lily knew that was what he was saying, and that was why she was scared. Her body shook, and she dug her head in Jason’s chest. “It’s okay….” He breathed. “You’re safe….” Lily held back the massive amounts of tears that burned her eyes. “I know you’re scared… I know….” The truth was, he was terrified as well. He didn’t want her to be controlled like she was with the werewolf spell. She wasn’t trembling because she was scared. She was trembling because she felt cold, and pain was scorching her stomach.
The wounds on her stomach sent shockwaves of pain through her body. The tears she held back forced their way out of Lily’s eyes and streamed down her cheeks. Lily cried out, rolling onto her back. The covers fell onto the ground. She covered her stomach with her hands and sobbed heavily.
Jason was taken off guard by her ear burning cry. He sat up as her legs bent and shook with the horrible searing pain that burned through her skin. He looked down at the bed where there were giant bloodstains on the white sheets. “Oh god….” He looked back up at her hands on her stomach that were stained a dark red. The blood bled through her bandages and her dress. Blood started trailing down her wrists as her chest rose and fell with her sobs. “They opened up again.” He crawled over to her and lightly placed his hands on her wrists. “I have to look. Please.”
Lily gasped for air as the agony spread through her entire body, she nodded quickly. “Please… help me….”
Jason moved Lily’s hands away from her stomach and lifted her dress to her chest. He swallowed cold air. The gauze he taped on her was soaked with blood. “Jesus Christ….” She shouldn’t have turned to her side. He thought.
He heard Lily sob and cry. “It hurts! It hurts! Help me! HELP ME!”
“I’m trying!” Jason panicked. He peeled off the gauze to try to see if anything was infected. It didn’t seem like it… but the cuts were filled with dripping blood and they stained her stomach, so he wasn’t completely sure. He searched around the bed. He needed to stop the bleeding. It was going to hurt… but it would help her. He pulled the sheets off the bed and pressed them down on the lacerations that poured blood all over her stomach.
Lily screamed at the pressure on her wounds. Her cry burned Jason’s ears. She grabbed Jason’s wrists. She wanted to pull them away, but he held his arms in place.
“I know. I know it hurts.” Jason kept the sheets pressed against her blood dripping injuries. “But I have to get the bleeding to stop. I’m really sorry.”
“I can’t breathe!” Lily sobbed. “I CAN’T BREATHE!”
“Shhh… it’s okay.” Jason tried to stay as calm as he could, but her dark red blood scared the hell out of him. He kept the sheets pressed down on her stomach. She trembled as the fire scorched her lacerations. She was trembling because she was going through shock. Jason thought. That’s why. He remembered the symptoms of shock from that one doctor’s mind. If they’re cold, they’re dead. Jason panicked, Lily was cold. She could die if he didn’t warm her up. This was a really bad time for Jules to take one of her long showers. He needed help.
“I need you to let go of my hand.” He said softly. She shook her head while crying “no” multiple times. She held onto his hands tightly, digging her fingernails into his skin. “Lily, please.” She shook and trembled as the frost dug into her veins. “Just let go of one of them. You can grab my other hand.” She let go of his right hand and grabbed his left tightly. Jason could feel his hand pulse as it turned purple because Lily held him so tightly. Her grip was like a tourniquet. He didn’t care though, he had to help her.
Jason kneeled down holding the bloody sheet in place with one hand. He grabbed the comforter with his other hand, laying it across Lily’s chest and arms. Lightly, he tucked it under her arms, attempting to warm her up. He grabbed pillows from his side of the bed, lifted her feet, and placed them under her legs so the blood wouldn’t clot at her toes.
Lily panted heavily. “I CAN’T BREATHE! I CAN’T! HELP ME! HELP ME!” Her lungs ached as they spasmed. The last thing Jason needed was Lily fainting from loss of oxygen. She was panicking and she needed to calm down or she would lose consciousness.
Jason took a deep breath, then exhaled. “Lily, I need you to close your eyes.”
“I can’t! I can’t!” Lily cried. “I CAN’T BREATHE! HELP ME! PLEASE! IT HURTS! EVERYTHING HURTS!”
“I know, sweetheart.” Jason said softly, “Please, close your eyes.”
Lily squeezed her eyes shut, trembling from blood loss and lightheadedness. She couldn’t breathe. She choked on the cold air.
“Now, imagine you’re in a forest.” He breathed.
Lily shook her head. “I can’t! Please! I can’t!”
“Yes, you can.” Jason said. “There’s a waterfall in front of you.”
Lily’s breathing slowed, but she still trembled and sobbed. She could feel the agony burn her. Like fire. Like she was on fire.
“Do you see the waterfall?” Jason asked, trying to distract her from the pain.
Lily nodded, clenching her teeth so hard that she thought they would chip. She pictured a huge waterfall surrounded by trees, like her own getaway.
“Good.” Jason whispered, still pressing the bloody sheet to her wounds. “You can hear the water fall to the ground. It calms you. Do you hear it?”
Lily nodded, hearing the splashes of the water hit the ground. And it did calm her. She stood on a rock in the middle of the forest. All she could hear was the waterfall, Jason’s voice, and a slight noise of a door opening.
Lily heard Jason whisper something to someone. Then he talked to her again, “You hear birds tweeting and frogs croaking. Do you hear them?”
Lily heard the beautiful sounds of birds and frogs fill the air. She looked up at the sky where the tops of trees blew in the wind. All she could hear was the soft wind, the quiet birds, the whispering frogs, and the calming waterfall. She stood on the rock, staring at the sky that glowed blue. Sunlight beamed through the cracks of the trees, sending rays of light to the ground. The forest was calming and quiet. Lily never wanted to leave.
She felt the forest heat up to a high temperature. But she didn’t care. It was warm, and she wanted to stay in that forest forever.
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*****
“Why isn’t sissy screaming?” Jules asked as Jason continued to press down on her wounds with his left hand. He tried to clean her with his right hand.
“I had her meditate,” Jason said, wiping the blood stains off her stomach with wet paper towels, “then I locked her in that meditative state.”
“Will sissy get mad at you for using your telepathy on her again?” Jules asked, concerned.
“She might.” Jason said, wiping more blood off. “I had to though. She was in a lot of pain and she couldn’t breathe because she was panicking.” He looked over at the heater, “Did you turn the heat on to the highest setting?”
“Yes, I did.” Jules saw sweat drip down Jason’s neck and he was trembling as well. “Jacey… Are you okay?”
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Jason said extremely fast.
“Well….” She stared at him as he held the sheets firmly on Lily's wounds, his hands shaking. “it kinda looks like you’re panicking too….”
“What makes you think that?” Jason asked, not noticing his trembling hands.
Jules put her hand on Jason’s, stopping his quivering muscles. “Let me do it.”
Jason panted heavily. His pupils were dilated. Sweat made his face shine in the light. “I can do it.”
Jules closed her eyes and shook her head. “No. You’re not capable of doing this right now.” She looked up at Jason. “And it’s not your fault.” She held his hand. “Just let me, please, Jacey?”
Jason looked down at the blood that started seeping through the sheets. “Alright….” He got off the bed, still holding the sheet down until Jules got on the mattress and leaned her hands on the sheets. He started pacing the room. His feet took ten steps to the right, then ten to the left. “How can I help her?” He asked himself. “She’s just going to continue to hurt herself while she sleeps… and she needs to sleep too or she’s gonna go insane….”
“Jacey,” Jules said, holding the sheets down on Lily’s stomach, “please, just go lie down.”
“I can’t rest!” Jason said. “I have to figure this out!” He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He was sweating. His body heated. He couldn’t control the waves of fever that flowed through him.
“Jacey, I already know how.” Jules sighed.
“What?” He flipped around. “You do? Tell me!” He gulped fire as he was fighting jumping off the walls.
“I’m not going to tell you until you lie down.” She looked up at Lily. “Sissy needs comfort. Don’t you see that?”
Jason sighed and walked over to the bed. He softly climbed on the mattress and laid down next to Lily. He pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on her head. He was terrified for her life. She was being forced to hurt herself. She had no control over it either. Her soft hair rubbed against his cheek and he could feel his heart beat slow down.
“You can fix this.” Jules said. Jason looked down at her, still holding Lily in his arms. “He’s controlling sissy’s brain. I know this technique very well.” She held the sheets firmly on Lily’s cuts. She was very strong. Stronger than a normal five-year-old. She was actually helping the blood to clot. “I need you to use your telepathy to stop him. This is his way of gaining control over people. He did the same to Lucifer. Although the werewolf spell did work on Lucifer because no one could stop it.” She looked up at Jason’s teary gaze, “But you were powerful enough to stop it from happening to her.” Jason looked down at Lily, seeing her calm sleeping face. Though, it still had pain edged in it. “I think you’re powerful enough to stop this from progressing.” She saw Jason’s hesitant expression he looked at Lily’s face with and shrugged, “It’s worth a try, right?”
Jason sighed and pressed his forehead against Lily’s. Her skin was surprisingly soft compared to the rough scabs that formed from the burns. “It is worth a try. And it’s a try I hope works.” He closed his eyes and dove into Lily’s brain.
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