July 13th, 311

The healer had come and gone again, having given her advice on how best to help Chance, and offering the usual herbal teas and soft massage like the others. Andrew had been forced to give up in the early hours to get some sleep, so Michael had taken over. Dawn came and went and the morning soon turned into afternoon. Chance did not wake the whole time.

While Michael kept watch, he decided to clean up a little and open a window to let some fresh air in. The room was stale and too hot to bear and the electrics had gone again from another storm so her fan was useless. After opening the windows, he made his way around the room, cleaning up strewn clothes and putting them away where needed. It was then he came across a small book on her vanity. He knew what it was and immediately made to put it away in a drawer, but his curiosity got the better of him so he took himself, complete with Chance's journal to her rocking chair and began to read, taking cautious looks to his adopted daughter just in case she woke and caught him. She didn't, so he kept on reading.

By the time he finished, Michael was in tears. he knew that Chance had become distance over her time ehre, but he'd never known just how deep that distance had gone. Every word towards the end was like a dagger in his heart and he physically wiped away his tears as he closed the journal again and held it tightly to his chest. The guilt had been eating him anyways for what he'd done, hence his seeming endless line of gifts and treats for the young woman, but reading about them in her journal and her intuition that somethign had been wrong had been too much to bear. He put the journal back where he found it and calmed his nerves before he took his seat again to watch over her. She ahd known, she had to have known what he'd done, though she never openly told of it in her journal. He'd thought he'd been doing what was best for her, but as it had transpired, he'd only made things 100 times worse.

Chance had written a letter to Lawrence in which she had stated that she needed to talk to him and needed to see him, but was scared of what he'd say if she just turned up. Michael, having seen the damage her lvoer had done, had thought it best he not receive that letter. He'd taken it while Andrew was sleeping and put it away. He'd thought he'd done the right thing, but after reading her journal, he knew now he'd done something terrible. In the end, he cried himself to sleep in the chair.

*****

Chance woke sometime in what she thought to be early afternoon. For once, the sun was shining bright through her windows. It hurt her eyes and she blinked a few times before being able to focus properly. She saw Michael asleep in her rocking chair and wondered what he was doing there. The man looked as though he had been crying and she assumed it had been in worry over her. After all, she hadn't exactly been cordial or decent with him lately.
"Pappi." She whispered softly, feeling deeply guilty for her behvaior towards him and to Andrew too. She looked around the room, seeing that he had cleaned up and brought the place to some sense of order and felt even worse.

Lifting her head, Chance gave a small groan and put it down again. She was very dizzy and disorientated, not to mention she could eat a horse and drink dry a well.
Taking it slowly and as silently as possible, Chance carefully eased herself upright and out of the bed. She then proceeded to waddle across her bedroom towards the small bathroom. She cleaned herself up as best she could and put on a clean nightgown, it was all that she could manage. Chance then stripped ehr bed and put on some clean sheets, throwing hers into the laundry bin by the door.

Several times, she pondered on waking Michael up, but decided against it. And she still felt incredibly tired and worn. She just wanted to have something to eat and drink and go back to bed again. And that she did, leaving her dirty plate in the sink with the empty glass, stained white from the milk. At least she had eaten this time instead of simply crying..........