All Chapters of The Orphans of Blue Ridge: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

(Demetri’s POV)I watch her intensely as she cleans everything up. She takes the tray she was working with over to the counter and starts disposing of the garbage and any sharps she used. I watch as her struggle intensifies. Kim never retrieved the blood collection Jessa took from Damian and Angela didn’t take it either resulting in her taking care of it herself. My concern grows at the same rate that she appears to be reacting painfully to everything. She holds her arm protectively against her chest as she types with her right hand. She finds what she’s looking for and to her fortune, all of the blood collection tubes are right on the counter. I‘m able to prop myself up without leaving Damian and look around the room. Kim is finally gone, easing the tension that used to be in the air while Dr. Pierce and Dr. Morrison talk. They are completely lost in their conversation; the same can be said for Patrick and Lilly who are doting on my very fussy daughter. After filling two tubes and

“Was that the only time?” “No, which is why I’m so afraid. It’s just one of several times I have received what the council defines as an allowable physical punishment that I’ve received. The others have done a lot more damage. I don’t know Dr. Pierce enough to trust her when I’ve been as defiant as I’ve been today and I don’t know him. All I know is pain once my secret of being an empath is out.” She explains as her voice sounds distant and distracted again as she runs her fingers up and down my arm. “This pack isn’t like that. If you can’t bring yourself to trust him or Dr. Pierce, can you at least trust me?” I try another tactic as I have become increasingly concerned that she’s really going to leave. “How can I trust him not to hurt me when you’re afraid that he’s going to hurt you?” I sigh hard. “I’m only afraid of him when I mess up. Something about tonight has made him realize that’s not how it should be.” She pauses her movements and looks into my eyes. “Please, Jessa.

“Jessa?” I whisper in the hopes that she will tell me something. “Please, stop.” She cries out after thirty seconds of holding back. She pulls on her arm trying to take it back from Angela and Pat. “Please.” Her voice shakes as she cries. “Stop pulling, Jessa.” Angela speaks softly. She tries several more times before she gives up. “That’s it, Jessa.” She praises as she runs her thumb across the skin by her elbow. “Pat, take the other absorbent pad and wrap it around her arm.” I watch as he wraps her arm with great care. “Guide it back towards her chest. That’s where she’s instinctively been trying to keep it.” He follows Jessa’s movements back to her chest, petting her temple slowly as she flinches hard with every stroke. Angela stands and walks back to the counter, obviously distraught from the lack of progress and the amount of pain it caused. “Jessa, sweetie. I know you’re afraid and from what little I see of this injury you have every right to be. Angela tried two diffe

“I don’t know how I survived the night but when I woke up I somehow managed to wrap my arm, grab a single bag, the lightest but most important to me, and ran out to see if Angela had left me. I slept the two hours it took to get here. I’ve used my knowledge as a nurse to pack the wound with gauze soaked in antibiotics and when I ran out I started using the creams and ointment but it still has gotten badly infected and hasn’t healed at all in the two weeks that it happened.” She goes quiet as Angela returns. “Patrick, can you help Jessa raise her injured arm so it rests on Demetri’s shoulder?” She requests. Jessa whines and tries to fight as Patrick puts his hands under her arm, I’m surprised to feel how much her fight has weakened. “No.” She whines quietly as she sits up in my lap. I follow her gaze to find that she’s looking straight at the syringe with a long but thin needle attached. “That’s a long needle. I can’t. I can’t do a nerve block.” She cries as she fights. I bring h

Friday, July 30th, 2016(Demetri’s POV)“No, don’t get rid of her!” Damian screams as he struggles to get his arms loose from between us. “Get rid of who Damian?” I ask. He’s been screaming random phrases for a while and answering is the only way to tell if he’s lucid again. “Jessa.” He answers me for the first time in an hour. “I placed her on a mandatory stay when I found out she was injured and wanted to leave us.” I try to calm his fears. “Her six months are up. You can force her to leave at any time. She is scared again. I’ve been asking her to hook up with me for months but she says it’s inappropriate for a nineteen year old to be with a sixteen year old. I beg her anyway. You can’t get rid of her if she’s mine.” “Damian.” I sigh gently as I wipe the tears rolling down his cheeks. I’m at a loss for words on how attached to Jessa he has become. “I’m sorry bud but she is correct. At nineteen she is considered an adult who’s capable of influencing you, a minor, into acts y