𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖆𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖘 𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖋𝖆𝖍

The first warmth I'd felt since waking up was Cher's thumb swiping against my cheek.

I didn't even know I'd been crying till she did that. "Shh, it's okay I told the police to leave," She told me whilst still rubbing my cheek, "They're not coming back, I promise."

My lips trembled regardless, they were dry and cracked from not being used for so long. For the last week that I'd been awake in the hospital I had, had wires attached to me and bolts in places metal wasn't meant to be. My legs were perched up and my arms spread like an eagle, a machine was shoved down my throat, and was practically breathing for me because two of my ribs had punctured one of my lungs during the impact.

I'd broken everything that could be broken.

No one thought I was going to be able to walk again but I was still shocked that I woke up at all. As soon as the that was machine working as my lungs was out of my mouth there were police in the room. They came bright and early at six in the morning before I could have my morning liquid food they were in here with notepads and disbelief in their eyes.

They quizzed my recount and although I tried my hardest to convince them of my story I could see the way they all looked when they thought I couldn't see them. When they finally left there were only three lines on the notepad they brought, I couldn't read the other two bullet points but the third was clear as day.

Brain damage.

Cher who'd been violently shoved out of the room was then allowed to come back where she retook her seat beside my bed. When I'd woken up she was at school but when she returned it'd become pretty clear that she was living with me the whole time I was in here. The hospital staff had allowed her to stay nights as long as she caused no trouble and stayed only in my room.

And stay only in my room she did.

She did her homework here, ate here, and would only leave to shower at school before coming straight back. When she slept she was on the uncomfortable hospital loveseat and hunched over my broken body with her fist clutching me the whole time. When she was awake she was making sure I ate at the correct times and giving me my pain medication on the hour it was meant to be taken. I would catch her sad eyes staring at my drilled legs and she would often excuse herself to step out of my room where she thought I couldn't hear her cry.

We didn't speak about what happened, she looked almost as traumatized as I was and didn't bring it up either. She would read me her notes that I'd missed in class and would play music for me when the silence in the room got too overwhelming. The only thing that had broken our little silent routine was this morning when she'd left for school and a nurse had come in to turn the TV on so I didn't get bored.

It was the news and my name was all over the headlines. My parent's history, my academic performance, and every other invasive little thing about me down to the things that even I didn't know. There before my very eyes was the world spinning a narrative about me, a story so twisted that I was not surprised it was breaking news.

'The last living Mostafah has pulled off the greatest heist of them all.'

That was my first laugh since I woke up.

When Cher finally came back she rushed to get the remote to try to change the channel. Now it'd been showing the streets all around the world, streets that had been gold ever since the blessing. The blessing that had been nearly a month ago. The hospital remote-control decided of course that this was the best possible moment to stop working.

She cursed to herself and continued to press the buttons violently but when she realized that wasn't working she began to slap the back of it against her palm, her face went red with effort and I silently watched her until she inevitably broke it over her hand. "Cher?" as if she'd never heard my voice she headed for the door, her chest still heaving and her eyes glassy.

"I'll go get another one-" And with that, the door slammed shut. And now she was back and we were once again in silence, the remote beside my bed tapped together and the TV playing some cartoon. Even now as she stroked my cheek I knew things were not okay, and they would never be again.

"Ask what you want to ask," I finally whispered, making her eyes widen and her throat bob before pulling her hand away from my face. "You don't have to stare at me like that anymore," I coughed making me wince, "You can just ask."

She looked down, "I thought you were going to die."

I smiled, "Sorry to disappoint you."

The joke seemed to only make her more upset and she brought both her hands to her face before pressing hard on her eyes, "You were so cold in the ambulance," She revealed, "I didn't know how to hold you, you were bloody and it was everywhere," A sob rose up her throat and she swallowed it.

"Cher-

"You were in surgery for five hours," A tear ran down her cheek and I hated that I couldn't take it away, "And then your heart stopped on the table and it's like the whole hospital stopped moving, that was it, you were dead," She took in a breath, "Then they pumped you with enough electricity to light up a small city and hooked you up to," She gestured to the many machines in the room, "Whatever this is."

She ran her fingertips gingerly over my arm, tracing up all to my fingers where she clasped my fingers, and for a second I could almost feel her. But I couldn't. "And then three days later I was in here, I'd stolen one of those stupid picture books from the children's ward and I was reading it to you. Just to pass the time," She let go of my hand, "And then it stopped again."

"I'm alive Cher," Ignoring that, that felt farthest from the truth. "Feel it, it's beating just fine."

She shot out of her seat and wrapped her arms around my neck. I didn't have the heart to tell her she was lying on one of my stitches. She sobbed into my shoulder and I whispered comforting words to her as if it were her in my place. "You're so fucking stupid," She cried.

"So so stupid," I agreed.

"Promise me you'll never force me to watch you die again."

My lips curved slightly and my chest vibrated with another chuckle that had a spark of pain shooting up my spine, "I promise."

She looked up at me, her doe eyes brown and teary, "I'll never leave your side again," She pulled away from me, a frown darkening her eyes, "You hear me Mostafah? You are never leaving my sight again."

My heart softened at the thought, "A fate worse than death I fear."

She scoffed at me and began rambling on about how she was going to wrap me in cling film once we left here and never let me do anything for myself for as long as I lived. "And it's just so dumb because I talked to Nico and she doesn't even know what you were doing there," She laughed dryly, facepalming herself.

My brows pinched together, "Nico?"

Her head snapped back to me, "What were you doing there Versailles?"

I sighed, "It's such a long story, there were these things that grabbed me and-

She snorted, "No, I don't want the bullshit story you fed to the cops to get them to fuck off," She shook her head, blinking at me violently, "I want the truth Versailles Mostafah, why would you jump off the roof in the temple?"

"Jump off the roof?" I asked in disbelief.

She came closer to me, looking at me as if she was about to explain something obvious to a child, "There was no one else up there with you and Nico saw you fall from the ceiling with the rest of us."

A headache began to swarm in my mind as I realized what she was insinuating. "N-no I wasn't I-I wasn't alone, there were these things," I rambled over my words, only getting more desperate when I realized what it sounded like, "And they looked like me but they weren't me, and-and they dragged me to the rails and threw me off."

"Can you hear yourself?" She put her hands together and pressed them to her lips before turning her back on me, "Really? You're lying to me? We've been friends since we didn't even know the alphabet yet, the truth Versailles! I just want the truth."

Fat tears gather at the corners of my eyes, "I am telling you the truth," I blubbered pathetically.

"Were you trying to hurt yourself? Is that it?" She seemed more like she was trying to convince herself now more than looking for an answer from me, "Or was it something else?" This made her stop walking completely, she took in a deep breath and all the anger seemed to dissolve in her shoulders, "I wouldn't have taken the blessing if you didn't want me to V."

I recoiled as if I'd been slapped, "What?"

"If you'd just asked me I would've passed it to someone else you know right?" She said it so earnestly that it made my chest ache, "You didn't have to-" A choked sob left her throat, "You didn't have to die trying to take it from me."

My blood went cold in my body and my eyes widened at the statement and suddenly the pain of every bone in my body paled in comparison. "I'd never do that to you," I said it so small that it was like I hadn't said anything at all.

"Now look at you. Are you happy now?" She threw her hands in the air before storming to the other side of the room to grab the full-body mirror that was turned away from me, she then pointed it at my bed but I didn't look at it. My eyes were on her.

"I would never do that to you."

"You knew how important this was for me, this was going to be huge for my family- for me!"

"I would never do that to you."

"And for what? Because you were jealous?" She scoffed, "You lept off of a four-story building into a stone fountain because you were jealous!?"

"I would never do that to you."

"And I would've never judged you if you had told me V, " She was now screaming at me and I could feel myself feeling smaller and smaller, "Because you mean so much more to me than any of this! I don't care about the Gods, I care about you!"

"I would ne-

"But you did!" She laughed like something was funny, snatching the remote control off of the table and switching on the TV where my face lit up again, "You took it from me, and the whole world saw you."

"That's not what happened, Cher I promise you that is not what happened," I begged, but I couldn't do anything. Only watch as she began to pick up all of her stuff that was set up around the room, the stuff she'd brought to make me feel more at home.

"I didn't believe them you know?" She told me as she put her school bag over their shoulder, "I defended you to the kids on the playground, teachers who pulled me aside after class, my own family?" She named off, "Because I love you more than people hate your thief of a mother and your conman dad but that doesn't matter does it?" She shook her head, "They would be so proud."

The door shut on the last of my sanity and I blinked back any tears that threatened to spill. This would blow over, I convinced myself, I'll talk to her once I leave the hospital and everything will go back to normal. Slowly my head turned to glance at the mirror she'd forced in front of me, my eyes trailing up the reflection of my broken body to see what I looked like for the first time since the accident. 

My braids were tied out of my face, neatly behind my head which is why I hadn't noticed the change sooner. From the worn-out roots to my natural hair peeking out of the black extensions, every strand from my scalp had turned gold.

The machine beside me began beeping furiously and my room was swarmed seconds later with countless people who began to shout and scream things at me whilst the heart monitor yelled with them. But I remained staring at my reflection through the cracks in the nurse's bodies until I saw my mouth open slowly.

Then I screamed.