Chapter 23: The girl in the photograph

"Stop” his voice cut through my panic. His grip tightened around my wrist, pulling my fingers away from the shattered glasses.

I frowned trying to release my hand from his grip. “I’m fine–”

“No you’re not” he cut in. I almost protested but I followed his gaze to my left hand and realised I was bleeding.

An almost invisible glass piece had penetrated my thumb and i didnt need a doctor to tell me I had a lot of blood because it was flowing as though i’d been stabbed in the throat.

“I….it’s just a scratch" I muttered.

“Yeah? Then stop touching the fucking glass”.

I opened my mouth to argue but he gently pulled me away from the glass like it was some crime scene and took me towards the bed.

“Sit”

“I said i’m fine”

“I didn’t ask”

I sat and he crouched in front of me and pulled out a dark blue hanky from his pocket.

He took a close look at the cut, tore part of the hanky and began tying it like it was some surgical procedure.

“Hold that,” he said, stretching out one end of the cloth.

“Isn’t this a little too much for cut that will probably heal before morning”

“Yeah well” he slightly shrugged “next time maybe try not to wrestle with broken glass”

I rolled my eyes and I could hear a soft chuckle coming from him.

“There” he said finally standing up “make sure to use a first aid kit tomorrow to disinfect”

“Ok doctor”

He smiled and walked over to the crime scene and retrieved concrete evidence– the photo.

He walked back and sat beside me, picture at hand.

He glanced at the photo and titled his head slightly.

“What is it?” I frowned.

He pointed at maya “this one looks like trouble”

A small laugh escaped me “that’s maya”

“I can tell” he said and we both laugh “she looks like a child rebel, like she had already been banned from three places”

“Yeah she has an unbeatable record”

We joked about maya for a while then silence settled.

“You look pretty and different here”

“Yeah I know” I said and his eyes moved to the third person in the picture.

“She looks like someone with a lot of guts” he said pointing at stella

“She did have a lot of guts”

“What happened” his tone shifted, his expression changed.

I sighed and adjusted my sitting position.

“Her name is Stella.” i smiled “best thing that has ever happened to me” i paused fingers hovering around the picture “stella was two years older than me but we did everything together like twins. She was perfect — well spoken, confident, flexible, smart, you name it” i paused “and frankly speaking the only thing i did well was copying her, of course not to perfection but good enough”

“Klaus was knee deep into the story.

“Stella, Maya and I were like the three little rascals of the neighbourhood,everyone knew us and they loved us even if we always caused chaos, we were always so involved and I enjoyed it. We developed our love for the theatre at young ages” i let a small chuckle “ stella would not shut up about becoming a broadway star and i would not shut up about becoming the best played juliet in the history of romeo and juliet. While stella loved the action and chaos on stage, i loved the calm and romantic aspects of the theatre

Maya wanted to make our dresses.our parents loved the idea so they supported us in their own way.signed us up for junior plays,child acting gigs and my personal favourite when on fridays where maya’s dad would take us to watch a stage play. They were always front row seats”

My voice broke and a tear dropped from my eyes

I sniffled and continued. “ Then one Friday, Maya stayed in the back seat with me as usual, Stella in the front, Maya's dad driving… and.. And a truck moving like it lost its breaks hit us”

I broke into tears and Klaus wrapped his hands around me,

“She didn’t make it klaus” my throat caught “she didn’t make it and maya’s dad lost his legs”

“I’m so sorry tessa, i didn’t–”

“She was my only sister and she was taken from me” i gently took the picture from klaus’ hand “and this was the last picture we took together”

I smiled.

“After the incident, i developed a chronic eating disorder” i added “ i had a problem with binge eating until i felt sick and thats why i gained so much weight”

“Come here” klaus said pulling me into his arms “its okay, none of it was your fault”

I sobbed.

“You’re alright tessa” he said stroking my hair “i’m here”

For the first time in my life, I felt lighter. I had never told anybody this before– not the way I did tonight. To anyone else it would have felt as though I was dropping a huge bomb that would eventually feel too much. But saying it to Klaus felt different, like that weight had lifted off my chest.

The night was long and I didn't regret a minute of it with Klaus.

He was now standing by the window,ready to leave even if every muscle in my body wanted him to stay. My heart skipped five beats as he used both hands to cup my face.

I froze as he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

Another 15 beats skipped– at this rate i would have a flipping heart attack.

“I love you” he said softly and before my already melted brain could process what he just said, he flew out the window.

I froze;

Did Nicolas Hayes just say he loved me ?