Broken

Chapter Twenty One - Kian

Tia, I think desperately inside my head now that she isn’t by my side anymore. Tia, where are you? I know that she told me there was an ambulance coming and that someone was going to look after me, but I don’t know how long ago that was. I don’t know what’s happened since. I need to open my eyes, I know desperately. That’s all I need to do, I need to open my eyes. It shouldn’t be so hard, I should be able to just do it, but for some reason I can’t seem to just make that happen. Something is keeping my vision black.

I twitch my fingers, because I don’t know what else I can do. I don’t seem to have much control over my body but instinctually I know that I can do that.

Almost the moment that decision is made, I hear a loud gasp flooding through the left hand side of my head. “Oh my gosh, did you see that? He moved. Kian, he moved.” The voice comes clearer, it’s almost as if it’s whispering directly into my ears now. “Kian, are you there? Kian, it’s me. It’s Tia. I’m here, I’ve always been here.”

I feel the warmth of her kin curling around my hand which proves to me this isn’t a dream. Tia really is here, wherever she’s been she’s by my side now, and that’s all that matters. I really need to open my eyes now. The only thing that will make me feel better is seeing her beautiful face. Her eyes, her cheeks, her sweet, gorgeous smile…

“Do you think we need a nurse?” She sounds panicked now. “I think we should get a nurse. Is there a call button or something? How do we get someone in here?”

“Tia, sweetheart, calm down.” The voice that follows Tia’s makes my blood run cold and my heart stop beating. That isn’t just any voice, it’s my mothers. Am I dreaming? It doesn’t make any sense that she would be here and she doesn’t even know Tia. I’ve made damn sure of that. “It’s okay. You wait here. I’ll go and get someone.”

As a door squeaks and slams something changes and I just about manage to open slits of my eyes to let a pure white, bright light in. It’s too much, it’s blinding, my eyes snap back shut in an instant. I can’t stand it. How long have my eyes been closed for it to be that way?

“Kian?” Tia’s soft tones soothe me and shut down just a little bit of my panic. “Kian, it’s me. It’s Tia.” She sighs loudly. “I don’t know if you just opened your eyes then or not, but I hope you did. I really want to see those eyes of your again. Boy, have I missed the gray flecks in among the green. That’s… well, it’s beautiful, you know.”

I’m stunned. If I could talk right now I would be silenced. Tia has noticed the gray flecks in my eyes… no one notices that! They all just think I’m fully identical to Stephen and don’t notice the little differences. The fact that Tia has just warms up my chest and makes my heart open wide. This is why I love her, this is why we work. This is why I know she’s mine.

I pry my eyes open again, this time holding them wide until water starts streaming from them. It’s painful., it hurts like hell, but I need to do it for Tia. She needs to see me. I need to see her. Soon the whiteness changes and I begin to see other colors. Not much variation, admittedly, which I assume means I’m in a hospital. If I can recall the sound of an ambulance then that makes a lot of sense.

“Oh my God, Kian, I can see you,” Tia gasps gratefully. I can almost hear the tears in her voice. “Oh thank God. You’re okay. You’re okay. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Her face comes into view. It’s the only thing I can see in among the whiteness. Her beautiful, angelic looking face. Her eyes are rimmed red and she looks like she’s been crying for a long old time, but she’s the most gorgeous face in the world to me.

I love you, I think with a wonderful heat racing through my body. I love you, Tia.

“Do you need anything?” she asks while wrapping her arms around my neck. “Can I get you anything? Oh my God, I don’t know what to do. I’m just so happy right now.”

I can’t speak, I don’t know how to answer her, but it doesn’t matter. Having her here is the best thing in the world to me right now…

***

The next time I wake up everything is much clearer. The fog surrounding my mind has cleared slightly which allows me to process everything much easier. I am in a hospital, which is probably a good thing since I’m pretty sure I was shot, and I can already feel Tia’s hand still snaked into mine. I don’t know how long she’s been here, but I’m glad that she is. She’s been my rock, and that just makes me love her even more.

“Oh my goodness, Kian.” This time I’m positive that it’s my mom which is very unexpected. I didn’t even tell her that I was leaving New Zealand so I don’t know how she’s managed to end up in America with me. “Me and your father came as soon as we heard.” I can hear the emotion cracking in her voice. “We didn’t know that you were in America on this foolish mission. You foolish boy.” She tuts loudly, but it’s in a way that makes me want to laugh. I feel like a teenager being scolded by my mommy. “I’m just so glad that you’re okay. God I’m glad. After everything… I couldn’t lose you too.”

I turn my aching neck to see her and as I see my mom, my dad, and Tia all in the same room staring down at me, I feel incredible. This is utterly amazing. I have to be the luckiest son of a bitch alive. I don’t know how any of this happened but I’m so glad that it did. I wanted to make this introduction in a much slower, more careful way, but it seems I don’t need to now. They all look content in one another’s company.

“Now, Kian.” Mom turns all business which doesn’t surprise me at all. She’s always been this way, which I suppose she’s had to be with two boys to raise. “I am not happy about the risk you put yourself in, but now isn’t the time for me to have a conversation with you about. But I do want to discuss this wonderful girl with you.” I can’t say anything as she wraps her arms around Tia. That’s the best sight in the world. “She is amazing and I cannot believe you kept her from me. I know why you did, believe me, I’ve heard the whole story, but at the same time I love her. I can’t wait until you both come back home so I can get to know her so much better.” She looks at Tia and smiles. “She’s just great for you.”

I part my lips and rasp, wishing I could get some words out. There’s so much I want to say but I can’t. I’m too sick, too ill. I mean, I’m obviously better than I was, but I’m not perfect. There seems to be still a whole lot of healing to do. But at least I’m here with my family surrounding me. Right now that’s all I care about.

“Now, Kian, I’m sure that Tia has a lot to say to you.” Mom stands up and moves away from the bed. I see her shoot my dad a look which makes him leap up in his seat. He’s always done just what he’s told, probably for an easy life. “So we’re going to go and let you two get reacquainted. Or whatever.” She waves her hand dismissively. “Okay, see you in a bit.”

As my parents go I feel my head swim. This is still pretty hard to accept, it’s still very weird that they’re here. I must have missed a whole lot and I want to know what.

“I h

ave a lot to tell you,” Tia tells me quietly. “But first, how are you? Are you okay?” I nod as much as I can and wait for her to continue. “Good,” she breathes out deeply. “I’m glad. I’ve been very worried about you, it’s been a week of hell.”

A week? I can’t believe that I’ve been out for a week. That’s absolutely insane. I’ve missed a whole damn week of my life. Still, I suppose it could have been longer. I need to look on the bright side. At least I’m awake.

“So, I suppose you want to know what happened at the concert?” Her shoulders hunch forward, I can see that there’s a whole ball of stress on her shoulders. “They caught the man who shot you, the man who killed Stephen”. She gasps. She looks like she’s struggling to get air into her lungs which worries me. I hope this is over now, I don’t want there to be more. “His name is Adrian Walker… and he’s the business partner of my dad.”

What? Her father? I know she hasn’t spoken too much about her family but this is insane. It makes my brain run wild when I try to work out the reasoning behind it.

“It’s not because of me though, there was a part of me that thought it might be. My dad didn’t know there was a connection between me and Stephen at all. Or me and you. He knows nothing, he just… well, from what the police told me he saw a murder happening on the cruise ship just after he was with me, like we suspected and that… well because he was a witness they wanted him gone.”