“Come on in,” said Adam. He watched as the three of us crowded in the doorway taking his arm off the doorframe to let us through. “Got bored of your movies and decided to find me for some real entertainment I see.” He said walking to the kitchen table to pour him some coffee.
“I know it is late.” I said surprised he was even awake and not wanting to ask if we had woke him.
“You guys can take my room, I’ll take the couch.” He sipped his coffee. I started to say something but stopped. After all that is why we came and I was tired. Although I was in no mood for questions, I was surprised he didn’t ask.
Liz headed toward the bathroom, shifting through the cabinets in order to find a bandage for her wrist. Carmen was the first to claim Adam’s twin sized mattress, curling up into the soft cotton sheets scattered with the Batman emblem. She smiled to herself, hugging a pillow, letting her exhaustion finally take over she fell asleep almost instantly. I walked in; Carmen was snoring gently; grabbing a pillow off the bed I tossed it to the floor.
Liz came in behind me, “What are you doing?” she Asked.
“You two can take the bed I’ll take the floor,” I replied.
“Emma are you sure you’re alright?” she questioned. I didn’t have an answer for that, my mind hadn’t even fully processed what had happened. For all I knew it had just been a really bad dream, then I saw
Liz’s now bandaged wrist and frowned. I hugged her. “Good night Liz.”
“Good night,” she replied.
I walked into the kitchen; Adam was still awake,
“Couldn’t sleep?” I inquired, leaning against the countertop. He looked at me as if deciding whether or not to answer, “Bad dreams” he replied, downing another shot of caffeine. “Coffee’s not going to help,” I said, taking his cup and placing it in the sink, “Thanks for letting us stay here.” “You are always welcome,” he said, “but why are you here Emma?”
“We were in the neighborhood,” I said starting to head back to his room.
He stood blocking my path. He was near enough that I could smell his cologne, “Don’t lie to me Emma it doesn’t suit you, was it the Snakes, did they hurt you?”
If I lied to him again he’d be angry, if I told him the truth he would be angry. I decided to tell the truth, “We were kidnapped but we got away and we’re fine,” I said. He was speechless I could see from his expression a thousand questions flying through his head. I wasn’t ready to answer questions just yet. “Adam I’m tired and I am going to bed,” I said and he let me pass.
“I’m sorry,” was all he said but in his voice I felt such sincerity that Adam had never dared show before. When Emma was out of eye sight Adam smashed his fist into the nearest wall. It stung but he barely felt it, pain was a distraction from his thoughts, the anger he felt and the guilt of not being able to prevent what Emma had just told him. The light in Adam’s room was off by now. I could hear the sound of both Carmen and Liz snoring. I felt through the darkness not wanting to bump into anything. Finding my pillow I lowered myself to the floor waiting for sleep to overtake me. As I began to concede to darkness I felt my arms, they were my arms, nothing more, maybe I had imagined it.