Effie shuts the box of medical supplies and places it on the nightstand next to the half-empty glass of water and the discarded washcloth. She needs a second before she can continue if she means to keep her voice steady and she needs to keep her voice steady. John needs her strong right now. Needs her calm.
"Yes. It was..." She can't even begin to find a word adequate so she stops trying. "He won but he was hurt. Badly. I didn't know that at the time, I was just a child and that isn't something the game makers would have wanted the audience to see. They'd fixed him up as good as new for the crowning ceremony. But he always remembered it. When he would wake up in the middle of the night I could see how he'd move as though the wound was still there. None of them ever forget, you see?"
She puts a hand over his heart, strokes his chest. Tries to smile for him. "I could never take the nightmares away, but I could be there when he woke. He needed someone to be there and he...he had no one else."
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"Yes. It was..." She can't even begin to find a word adequate so she stops trying. "He won but he was hurt. Badly. I didn't know that at the time, I was just a child and that isn't something the game makers would have wanted the audience to see. They'd fixed him up as good as new for the crowning ceremony. But he always remembered it. When he would wake up in the middle of the night I could see how he'd move as though the wound was still there. None of them ever forget, you see?"
She puts a hand over his heart, strokes his chest. Tries to smile for him. "I could never take the nightmares away, but I could be there when he woke. He needed someone to be there and he...he had no one else."