Revival

Revival
Jessica’s POV.
The morning sun peeped through the curtains, brightening the room. This and the sound of the tractor buzzing outside cut my sleep short.

I opened my eyes to see David awake–about three feet away from me–reading. He was holding the book high up covering his face. At first, I thought it was a dream and I was hallucinating.

But as he flipped the page, I knew he was awake.

I composed myself, tossing my hair backwards. I also wiped rest of the sleep that was in my eyes. I did it as quietly as I could without making a sound.

“Good morning.” I finally greeted. Placing a bright smile on my face.

David dropped, bringing it down till my face became visible. His index finger marked the page he stopped.

“Morning.” He responded winking at me. The sun ascended from the window behind him placing a perfect halo around his head.

“Were you reading me a bed time story before you fell asleep?” he asked.

“No, I wasn’t. I just saw the book lying around and I read it.”

“Yes, you did.” He always knew when I told lies.
I didn’t know how he did it but I missed that part about him, only when it sent shivers down my spine.

“Fine, I did.” I finally confessed. “I heard it made people feel relieved and it helped them recover from their sickness faster.”

He gave a loud giggle which I hardly heard. I jumped from the chair to the bed, laying our bodies tightly, giving no space in between.

He opened the book from where his finger marked, entirely engrossed in what he was reading. I didn’t want to interrupt him.

I soaked in the details of the environment as he read the book.

The air that traveled into the room smelled of fresh grass and the sun lighted the room almost giving life to all the medical equipment in the room.

“The book has been lying around for probably months. Now you read it.” I did my very best to leave him focused, but the room was getting too quiet and I wanted to talk to him so bad.

“I’ve read it before. I just didn’t remember some of the details.”

His dismissive tone left no room for a conversation until he added “I won a trophy for it when I was in high school. There was this literature competition.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. I adjusted my position on the bed and looked at him with judgmental look in my eyes. “You, literature competition?”

“Yeah. What do you mean me? Is that surprising?”

“Hell yes, it is. Just when I thought I’ve seen it all when I woke up seeing a book on your palm. And now, you tell me you won a competition for an essay on the book. David, are you a nerd?”

“Don’t call me that.” He eyebrows almost met, leaving his face wrinkled.

“Nerd! Nerd!!” I tormented him with it.

“Oh my God.” He dropped the book and placed his two hands on his face.

I wanted to further the torment until a knock on the door interrupted. We both composed ourselves and I dabbed his bare chest with a heavy blue blanket. People could see the other part of him, the harsh part, the emotional part and other sides. The unrevealing parts belonged to me and me alone.

After composing ourselves, I finally responded to the knock on the door. “Come in.”

An old man in a black tailored suit entered into the room. The white gloves he wore were almost matching the color of his hair. He carried himself with an authoritative trait as if he owned the whole United States.

I couldn’t help but think I’ve seen him before, with his moustache almost spiral like.

“Good morning sire. Good morning ma’am.” He nodded as he greeted me and David.

David replied, a warming smile on his face. “Good morning Stewart.”

I nodded acknowledging his presence. He had interrupted our moment and his personality looks rather frightening.

“Sir, your attention is needed downstairs. It’s quite urgent.”

My eyes shot him a hateful look, like superman prepared to use his laser vision to attack an enemy. I darted my eyes back to David who was about to stand up from the bed. My hand pressed him down to the bed not using a lot of force.

I veered my eyes back to Stewart and gave him a bitter response.

“First of all, how did you know he was awake? Can’t you see that he’s just starting to recover? Are you trying to delay his healing process?” David held my hand to calm me down, but I wasn’t having any of it.

“No, It’s not fair. When are they going to start making decisions in your absence? What if you weren’t awake, would he be here? They need to start attending to things by themselves. You’re not their father.”

Stewart shot back immediately, his expression maintaining his cold state.

“To answer your questions and address the complains, I knew he was awake because I heard your giggles just outside. We both share a wall in case you were wondering and there is no way you’d be laughing all by yourself.
I’m very well aware of his current state and I’m monitoring his healing process. The doctors assured me he was going to be awake in the morning and they advised that he needed to move the leg to ensure blood flow and to amplify the healing. The team downstairs have been making decisions all by themselves for days and I’m pretty sure you saw them working when you got here. He’s not our father but his attention is needed as a conclusion to ensure that we don’t get ourselves an explosion in the face that would give us scars that makes us wear gloves on our hands or make us get plastic surgeries when our faces are blown to pieces.”

The old man was nothing but a pain in the ass.

I wanted to fight him back immediately as my independence wouldn’t go speechless. But I was tugged by David under the blanket with a tighter grip.

I let him go without hurling the insults in my mind at him. But I was sure our battle was far from over.

I gave David a sweater to wear. Stewart left the room as David started changing. He brought in a pair of crutches almost immediately.

We both helped David up as he fit into the crutches moving slowly.

The walk down the hallway of the house was painless as he had the crutches to lean on. But as we reached the staircase, the reality of the situation hit deep.

His crutches were handed to me to hold as Stewart supported him donating his shoulder for support.

David did his very best to conceal his pain from me but I didn’t seem to be bothered as my thoughts were now centered on Stewart.

A misogynistic arsehole, I named him in my mind.

I wondered what made him act so cold like he had a literal stick up his butt. I wondered the type of person he was when he was in high school. If girls liked him or ran away from him. He did look like the type that would chase away girls who professed their love for him. A misogynist who was hellbent on keeping the patriarchy flying.

Another thought came to me and I started wondering maybe he was the closeted gay kid in school who confessed his feelings to boys in letters written with cursive handwriting slipping it into their lockers after school hours. After getting his heart broken by so many boys due to his distant personality, he vowed to never fall in love again but use his sharp wit and coldness to stay ahead of every conversation with everybody around him.

But if it’s one thing that can’t be denied is his unwavering loyalty to David. As he could no longer hide his pain as he descended down the staircase, he looked at me and smiled, hating the fact that I had to watch him go through the discomfort. With his crutches in my hand, my voice for emotional support and Stewart’s shoulder for physical support, that was everything he needed to get through the pain.

After passing through all the stairs that felt like he passed through life’s hurdles, he gave out a very loud exhale. I returned his crutches back to him and he was surprised to see everyone waiting to receive his presence. He saluted every one of them and celebrated them for their efforts.

I left the room to allow them carry out their meeting in peace. As much as I wanted to help, I couldn’t help but feel odd out of every one in the room. I went outside soaking every single nature into me.

Whatever it what that they were planning, it wasn’t for the faint of heart. Will we be victorious over the enemy who has made it his life vocation to dest
roy us? I don’t know. But as long as I’m with David, I will give my sweat and blood to make him victorious.