Chapter 1
Levi
My mate shut down. When we arrived home from visiting my Nana, she headed to bed and didn’t get back up for over twelve hours. She didn’t say a word. On the inside she was unlike anything I had felt from her yet. A worrying amount of emptiness. I didn’t expect that her discovering she was pregnant would cause this much dissociation. I knew she would be anxious about it, fearful, or even angry. Maybe she wasn’t ready and would want to get rid of it. At the shack she felt certain she wanted to keep it but now I was scared she would change her mind. I would support her decision, but the thought of it still made my gut wretch.
From time to time, she would come back to earth and cried all panicked. Then she would become numb again scrolling on her phone. The next day, she didn’t get out of bed the whole morning either. Unsure what to do, I called my dad.
“Did you two see Nana?” It was Lily’s annoying vocal fry that answered.
“Why are you on dad’s personal phone?”
“I broke mine so Dad lent me his, so I could go out with my friends.” He always insisted she never left without hers.
Reggie knew he couldn’t keep her studying at home like a model high schooler. The least she could do was having a way of calling him if she got into trouble. I would need to call him on his work phone.
“Nana said not to freak out if your mate gets weird once she feels safe.”
Maybe the call had fallen onto the right person.
“Did she tell you anything else?”
“Keep her body healthy so she gets better. Oh, and congrats by the way.”
“So, you know.”
“I haven’t told anybody yet. I don’t want to get on your witchy mate’s bad side. Nana’s already enough of a brother in my dreams. I don’t need another one to play that trick on me when I’m mentally about to make out with Ted from chemistry.”
“Isn’t that the guy that’s way out of your league?”
“You sneaky little fuck.”
“You’re loud when you chat with Kiki on the phone.” Or kiking with kiki as she called it.
She let out a dramatic gasp.
“Get a fucking life you loser.” She hung up.
At least she had been a little useful. She called back seconds later.
“And call your mate’s friend. He’ll help you out. Okay bye.” She hung up again.
How did she…she probably got that info from Nana.
Sade’s friend.
I got off from the couch, where I had slept the night prior, to check the note on the fish tank. Alexis, that was his name. I rushed into the bedroom. Sade was staring at the wall and got startled.
“Sorry.” I slowly crawled to bed with her and took her hand.
She let out a sigh at the skin contact. Maybe I should have spent the night with her. I knew her to be specific about the sorts of cuddles she liked and I had been scared to disrupt her sleep.
“Can I borrow your phone to call Alexis?”
At snail’s pace, she switched apps and typed,
—Need food— Lexis was the name of the receiver. Then she closed her phone and curled up into a ball with a little wince.
“Are you hungry? Or thirsty?” it was soon going to be ten in the morning.
She shook her head. She hadn’t gone to the bathroom either.
“Do you need the restroom?”
The moment she realized she needed to go, I could feel my own bladder hurting as if I were her. I gave her space, and she attempted to crawl off the bed. She had her foot right above the floor, but it froze there. She was starting to panic. She tried again but her leg wouldn’t let her touch the floor. She looked at me about to cry. I picked her up in my arms.
“It’s fine, my love. I’ll get you there.” I kissed her cheek while making my way to her bathroom. Once in, I was about to let her down, but she shook her head. “The floor is safe here. Nothing will hurt you.” She sucked in her cheeks with a frown and tapped my shoulder with a slight nod. She got a little agitated on the way down but as soon as her feet made contact, she was relieved. Then she glanced at me pointing to the door. “I’ll wait outside.” I walked out closing the door behind me. I waited leaning on the table when I heard the flush, the sink.
Sade snuck out, speeding her way back to her bed to curl back up under the covers. I joined her sitting with my back against the wall, petting her hair for what must have been hours.
A knock came from the main door. I slipped out, waking her and she had an adorable frown. She tried to stop me, as I was about to step on the floor.
“It’s safe.” I continued my movement.
She sat holding her knees as I tended to the door. When I opened it, there was the bartender from the brewery nearby where we had first met. He carried two grocery bags and had keys in his hand.
“You’re still there?”
“Yes.”
“She won’t get up?” he glanced at the bedroom behind me.
“Not without help.”
“It happens once in a while.” He pushed me aside with his shoulder and dropped his bags on the kitchen counter. He walked past me to the bedroom. “Bitch, you owe me a hundred and fifty, again.”
“Okay…” Sade let herself fall on her side and laboriously folded her blanket over herself with one arm.
“Does it happen often?” I glanced at him.
“Usually, it happens after she’s done too much too quick.” He poked Sade’s foot. “Did you feed Nicky?”
“No.” Her voice was awfully quiet, but Alexis understood.
He sighed and signed me to follow him. In front of the aquarium, he took off the note Sade had left, grabbing the little packet of food. Then he shook his head.
“You must be very hungry, so I’ll give you something special.”
He helped himself to her freezer and pulled out a sheet of red stuff.
“So, why are you still here?” He broke a tiny piece of the sheet.
“Because I love her.”
“Love is a strong word. You two met what, a week ago?” He walked back to the tank.
“It’s been nine days.”
“You do realize this is not enough?” He dropped the piece in it.
Nicky the fish rushed to tear it apart.
“It’s enough for us.”
He shook his head, discouraged.
“I always knew she had the heart of a lesbian. Did she ask you to move in yet?”
“We did start to talk about that stuff.”
“Do what’s on this once every three days,” he shoved the note into my hands. “Do not overfeed the fish, you’ll kill it, and we will never forgive you.” He pointed at the groceries, “As long as there’s microwavable food or cans around, she won’t starve. She’ll get up once the hunger pains hit bad.” He turned to walk back to the door. “Whatever happens, do not pressure her to get up. This shit isn’t her fault. If you get mad at her for it, I’ll come back from my shift with the mission to kick your ass.” He reached the door. “I’ll be back later tonight, mister boyfriend. Oh, and if you want to get in and out of this place, you’ll have to get her to call the guest centre to get you registered as a frequent visitor. Dunno when she will be up to do it. So, in the meantime, just call me if you run out of food again.” He put a hand on the doorknob and called out, “See ya later, Sade.”
“How long is she going to be like this?”
“It depends on what caused it. Sometimes it’s days and weeks. Usually, she keeps taking her meds as long as they are nearby.”
“Thank you.”
“Yea.” He opened the door and left.
