I hurt you again

I opened my eyes to find Ethan dozing in the comfortable chair next to the bed. He had his arms folded in tight and his long legs stretched out on the matching ottoman. He was so beautiful to me it almost hurt to look at him for very long. I was still amazed that he'd come to find me. How could he want this? How was il possible? Why wasn't he running for the hills?

My left arm felt funny and I figured out why when I saw the tube taped to it. which led straight up to the IV bag hanging on one of those poles on wheels.

I sat up in the bed, looking for the clock to check the time. How long had 1 been asleep? The clock read just after ten-thirty. The afternoon's events came crashing back in a blasting wave and I braced myself for more pain and suf- fering, but it never came. I guess all the running and crying and puking had sucked all of the reacting out of me. Instead. I was warm in a soft bed with Ethan watching over me with an IV in my arm. Okay, that was a little scary. I must have be