Kill The Luna

65

Ella took a deep, shaky breath, her hands gripping the white bedsheets tightly as she finally began to recount the story. "Right after I was violently thrown out from the moving car, everything became a complete blur," she whispered, her shoulders trembling slightly as the horrifying memory rushed back into her mind. "I thought my life was completely over, Fedora. But as I fell through the air, I dropped straight into a deep, rushing river below the road. That freezing water was my absolute saving grace. If that river hadn't been sitting right beside the highway, the heavy impact on the hard ground would have killed me instantly. It turns out the narrow section of the road we were driving on was actually a high bridge, with deep water running along both of the big sides."

Hearing the sheer terror she had gone through just to survive, a massive wave of emotion flooded my chest. Forgetting all the throbbing pain in my muscles, I reached out and pulled her into a tight, protective hug once more. I buried my face in her shoulder, my voice cracking with deep, heavy guilt. "Please, don't you dare blame yourself for a single thing that happened," I muttered, my heart aching as I squeezed her tight. "The entire disaster was completely my fault, Ella. It was my fault because I was far too weak and I completely failed to protect you from those monsters. I am so, so sorry for putting you through that nightmare."

Ella gently pulled back after a long moment, a genuine, beautiful smile breaking through her tear-stained face as she wiped her wet cheeks. "I am just so incredibly glad that you are sitting here alive, Fedora. I really, truly am," she breathed, her voice filled with pure relief.

I let out a soft chuckle, trying to lighten the heavy mood in the quiet room as I leaned back against the propped-up pillows. "Well, you know me," I teased, giving her a playful wink despite my exhaustion. "I absolutely didn't want you to sit around missing me too much all day long, so I figured I had to force myself to come back to the pack house just for you."

Ella burst into a bright, ringing laugh, the heavy tension completely vanishing from her face. She jumped up from the mattress, her eyes lighting up as she hurried over to the wooden entrance door to gather the heavy paper bags she had dropped in her panic earlier.

She dragged the bags over to the bedside table and began pulling out different items one by one, piling them up neatly. She laid out several clean, soft changes of clothes and a couple of warm plastic containers filled with fresh meals. "Ever since Alpha Michael brought your unconscious body back through the gates three long days ago, I have been coming into this clinic room every single morning to wash you and change your soiled clothes," she explained, her voice softening with deep affection as she organized the table. "I always made sure to bring a fresh plate of food with me every time, even though the medical team kept telling me you wouldn't be awake to eat a single bite. I just knew deep down in my gut that one special day you would finally wake up to eat again, and I am so deeply glad that today is finally that day."

She reached into the very bottom of the last paper bag, carefully pulling out a vibrant, strange-looking piece of fruit. She placed the colorful item directly into my bandaged palms, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Here, you need to eat this right away," she encouraged, nodding her head eagerly. "It is extremely rare to find around these parts, and it was incredibly expensive to buy, but I promise you that you are going to absolutely love the taste."

The moment my fingers wrapped around the smooth, scaly skin, my entire body completely froze. I paused for a long, heavy moment, my breath catching in my throat as I stared down at the object in total disbelief. It was a dragon fruit.

The vivid pink and green colors hit my eyes like a physical blow, dragging my consciousness backward through time. This was the exact same exotic fruit I had lovingly given to Stefan on the very night everything in my normal life started to fall apart. It was the fateful night when a wave of brand new, terrifying problems that I didn't even begin to understand started to aggressively hunt me down.

This single piece of fruit caused a massive, overwhelming rush of memories to explode inside my head all at once, making my heart pound fiercely against my ribs. I didn't even realize that I had gone completely rigid, completely lost in a dark fog of my past thoughts, until Ella’s worried voice suddenly sliced through the quiet room and dragged me back to reality.

"Fedora? Are you okay?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting together in deep confusion as she tilted her head. She quickly opened one of the warm plastic containers, pushing it toward my lap. "And here is the actual food. Please don't worry yourself if your stomach is too weak to finish the whole plate. Just make absolute sure to eat the juicy chicken pieces. I fried them with a lot of hot pepper specially for you because I know how much you love spicy things."

She noticed my empty, frozen stare and gently collected the dragon fruit back from my limp fingers, turning it around in her hands. "Why on earth are you looking at a piece of fruit with such a sad, scary expression?"

I swallowed the bitter lump in my throat, my voice dropping into a quiet, hollow whisper as I looked away from her. "I... I used to buy that exact same fruit all the time for my ex-boyfriend, Stefan."

Elda’s eyes widened in instant understanding, her soft expression instantly hardening into a look of pure, protective anger. "Oh, gross," she muttered, a deep scowl settling onto her features. Without a single second of hesitation, she spun around and threw the expensive dragon fruit straight across the room, letting it drop carelessly into the trash can.

She turned back to me, crossing her arms tightly over her chest as she let out a fierce, loyal huff. "I don't ever want a single thing inside this bedroom that would make you feel sad or bring back bad memories, Luna," she declared flatly, her eyes flashing with defiance. "I have never met this Stefan guy in person before, but based on everything you've been through, I can already tell he is nothing but a total jerk. Seriously, f**k him."