? The Ruins of Dawn ?

10|| Don't Cry, Don't Cry, Don't Cry

My legs felt so dead I could hardly stand, I'd been on my feet all day. I hated this part of shopping. I walked side by side with Cooper in the parking lot on our way back to the car, I almost toppled over several times.

"Need me to carry you?" Cooper chuckled.

"Absolutely not," I slapped his hands away. "I can manage walking back to the car, it's only up there." I pointed up ahead. 100 meters seemed way too far away right now though. I kept walking then trod on my shoelace which was untied-again.

Are you kidding me??

I knelt down to quickly tie my converse and Cooper kept walking towards the car. It took me a while since I was being lazy and when I looked up Cooper was now pretty far ahead. I decided to use my track skills to sprint and catch up but since my legs were half dead, my ankle twisted weirdly in my shoe when I sprinted and I swear I heard a crack. I landed on it and was on the ground within seconds. I felt a stabbing pain shoot through my ankle and foot.

Don't cry, Don't cry, Don't cry

Were the only thoughts going through my brain. After the wedding and panic attack yesterday I had made myself a promise.

I clung to my ankle and took a shaky breath in and tried to get up off the parking lot ground before someone ran me over. But as soon as I tried to get up and put even the tiniest bit of wait on it, more pain shot up my leg sending a sharp achy feeling through my ankle like a million tiny knives cutting through my bones and I let out a scream without even giving my lips permission. My ankle felt so weak and tender like if I even put it on the ground for a second longer it would've crumbled and I'd scream in pain again.

That got Cooper's attention. He turned around and ran over to me.

"Are you okay?" He asked. What kind of idiotic question was that, I'd just screamed hadn't I? I shook my head violently because I couldn't even form words. This was the worst physical pain I'd ever been in. I was biting my lip so hard so I wouldn't cry but I could feel a few tears soak my cheeks anyways.

"Do you think you could hop on my back, so I can give you a piggyback to the car?" Cooper's expression had softened, I think he had realized the extent of the pain I was in. I sucked in a big shaky breath and I grabbed his hand to help pull me up and made sure that I didn't put any weight on it at all otherwise the pain would be even worse than it already was. I then managed to hop with one foot onto his back successfully and we walked back to the car.

Cooper sat me down in the passenger seat sideways so my legs were outside of the car and pulled my shoe off gently but even the slight contact with my ankle sent more agony. I winced and bit my lip to stop myself from screaming again.

"I need to look at your ankle okay?" He said as he knelt down in front of me outside the car.

I shook my head.

"Amelie, I have to see how bad it is, I promise I'll be careful."

I nodded eventually because I couldn't fight the pain anymore and I needed it to get better. He then took off my sock and the fabric brushed against my ankle even if he was being careful the pain still didn't stop.

Don't cry, Don't cry, Don't cry

"Wow, it's bruising pretty fast, that doesn't look good," He said as he examined my ankle "What happened?"

I couldn't answer him because if I did I'd cry and never stop. I looked down at my ankle and he was right, it already looked swollen.

Why did I have to be so clumsy and stubborn? if I'd let Cooper carry me in the first place this never would've happened. Then he touched my ankle without warning and I was sure that it couldn't get any worse but boy was I wrong. It was like the tiny knives came back again. Since he caught me off guard I bit down on my lip so hard that the metal irony taste now filled my mouth.