Chapter 7
Jade
I'd slept in the cellar with Annabelle, though she was on the other side of the room tied up with the very same ropes her sister had been. I was the one who ended her sisters undead state, Annabelle showed no trace of emotion as Lila was put down. The others buried the people who had lived here, we didn't want the smell attracting the dead, I had no idea how I was even going to begin to help her. Even I knew, if she truly was a psychopath then there wasn't anything to be done. I had to try though, I couldn't just let a child be killed without exhausting all other options first.
I sat up to find Annabelle staring at me like I was lunch or something. She had a cold icy stare that would rattle most people, as I looked into those forest green eyes I swear it was as if she had no soul.
'Good morning,' I said happily as I tried to ignore the icy chill in the air.
'Morning,' Annabelle replied in a voice that unsettled me.
'Do you want some breakfast?' I asked calmly.
'Meh, I'm not bothered.'
As if the others had read my mind, there was a knock at the door.
'Come in,' I called up.
The door opened and Brooke came in looking more nervous than she usually did.
'Morning,' I smiled at her.
'I've got breakfast for you two,' she mumbled.
'Cheers, I'll give it to her,' I told Brooke.
She nodded as she placed the tray down next to me, then fled out of the room fast as lighting. I didn't need to ask why Frankie hadn't brought it down, she was still angry at me. I shook my head as I thought that I had to keep a clear mind in order to deal with Annabelle. I looked at the food Brooke had brought down, it was two tins of food one was a tin vegetables and the other was spam. There was also two breakfast bars, one was chocolate cereal the other was plain.
'Which of these do you want?' I asked Annabelle showing her the tray.
'I like chocolate, but I don't like spam,' she replied plainly. 'Alright then, I'll take these ones.' I placed the food and the plastic fork next to her, taking care not to get too close. I sat back in my little corner as I tried to think how I was going to help her, I was no shrink and I didn't have the qualifications to formally diagnose her but it was obvious to me that she was indeed a psychopath.
Luckily the tins could be opened without the use of a tin opener or a knife, I knew that giving Annabelle any kind of sharp implement was a bad idea. As we were eating our food, I thought back to my days of being a drugs and alcohol counsellor (I know funny right.) I had a bit of experience in dealing with mental health issues, though I'd never dealt with something this severe before. I knew the first step was getting her to talk. I needed to know what things she enjoyed and what she was good at, I might not be able to cure her but I could hopefully curb her impulse control and put what skills she did have to good use.
'So what things do you enjoy doing?' I asked casually.
'Aside from killing, not much really,' she replied plainly.
I tried not to be unnerved by her statement, 'there must be something else you like, collecting things, drawing, painting.'
'I guess I used to like drawing, but I haven't been able to do that since the world ended.'
'If I got you some crayons and paper, would you like to draw me a picture?'
'I suppose so,' she answered suspiciously. I got up and walked up the stairs, I didn't know how much good drawing would do but it was something to try. I locked the door behind me making sure she couldn't escape, I hadn't had much of a chance to explore the school to find out where everything was. I hoped the others would be able to help me, though I didn't think Frankie would be in the mood to talk to me. I walked down the hall, taking in the sights of the school as I did. The walls were stained with blood, but many of the pictures the students had drawn still hung from the walls. The climbing frames stood rusting in the middle of the playground, I wondered what Annabelle was like before all this happened. Was she ever normal?
'You okay Jade?' Delilah asked as I walked into the room they all shared.
'Yeah, I'm just looking for some crayons and paper,' I replied smiling.
'There's still some in the art cupboard over there,' she pointed to the corner of the room.
'Cheers. Where's everyone else?' I asked looking around at the empty room.
'Frankie and Jensen have gone out to search the area, Brooke, Tessa and Dom are checking to make sure the perimeter is secure,' she told me.
'Why are you still here?'
'They wanted me here in case the girl tries anything.' 'Fair enough,' was all I could say. I grabbed some art stuff out of the cupboard, I wondered why if these things were so accessible why couldn't Annabelle use them? I hurried back to the cellar not wanting her to be left alone for too long. I opened the door and found her right where I left her, her facial expression hadn't changed since I left, she still looked somewhat bored.
I put the crayons and paper in front of her, then took my seat back in my little corner.
'What do you want me to draw?' She asked sounding a little confused.
'What do you want to draw?'
'I don't know, it's been a long time since I had a crayon in my hand.'
'Why is that?'
'My parents believed that letting us be kids was pointless, we were trained to fight. Made to hear about all the awful things that happened,' she told me almost sadly. I listened as she told me about her life here, her family seemed like they'd taken the extreme tactic of surviving in this world. I felt sorry for Annabelle, even though she'd told me that she had been like this since before she could remember. I could tell she was of well above average intelligence, she was smarter than some adults that I knew. I struggled to keep calm as she told me about all the people and animals she killed, it unnerved me how plainly she spoke about these things.
'You can't help me you know,' she said quietly.
'Why not?'
'There's no cure for what I am, even I know that,' she told me.
'That's not true, you're still a child and you can out grow these traits,' I replied.
'How many children with these traits have killed people?' She asked cleverly.
'More than you would know, now come on show me what you've drawn.' She handed me the paper, on it was a picture of her and her family. It would've been a nice picture aside from the fact that her family were dead in the picture. I could see the head wounds on them, she'd even drawn the blood pouring from their heads.
'You know, this wasn't what I had in mind,' I told her.
'Meh, it was the first thing that came to me,' she answered plainly. As the hours turned to days, I felt that the more I worked with Annabelle the closer I came to truly being able to help her. I didn't think it was possible at first, but I found that the more she was able to distract herself by colouring the more human she seemed. Even her voice had changed, she sounded more like a little girl, she even smiled once. She told me of her life, even from before the outbreak. Just because she'd always been this way, didn't mean there was no hope.
Frankie still hadn't come to see me, but the others had. Dom was hopeful that I could help Annabelle, while the others remained sceptical.
On the fourth day, all the others had gone out to scout the area. Delilah wanted to stay behind but I told her no, I needed them out of the way for what I had planned. In the space of a few days Annabelle had gone through all the art supplies that I'd bought for her, I chose to trust that she could go and get them herself. I undid her ropes, much to her surprise.
'Why are you untying me?' She asked confused.
'Your out of art supplies, I thought you could go and get some,' I replied smiling.
'By myself?'
'Yes, you know where it is. I trust you.'
She gave what I perceived to be a genuine smile.
'Don't dawdle though, I want you to come right back,' I told her.
'I will, I promise.'
'Alright, go on then. Off you go.' She raced ou
t of the room fast as anything, while I wanted to trust her I knew better than to be stupid. I waited a moment before poking my head out of the door, she'd just gone round the corner. I followed at a safe distance, making sure I was out of sight. I followed her all the way to where the art supplies were kept, I watched as she grabbed the crayons and paper, as well as some paints and a bottle of water. At first I felt relieved, but then I saw it. Annabelle had found a pocket knife, I kept my fingers crossed that she would leave it behind, but she didn't. She tucked it into her belt and put her t-shirt over it. I hurried back to the cellar trying to figure things out in my head. There could have been a dozen reasons why she took it, maybe she would tell me and hand it over. Maybe she didn't feel safe and wanted to protect herself, I shook my head thinking how stupid I was being.
The others had left a baseball bat in the cupboard just outside the cellar in case I needed it, I quickly grabbed it and put it under my bedding. I kept my calm as I waited for her to come back, hoping that she would tell me about the knife.
'I'm back,' she said happily as she walked down the stairs.
'I knew you could be trusted,' I replied smiling. Annabelle put the art supplies down on the floor and began setting them out, she sat there happily colouring while I sat and observed her. She didn't tell me about the knife, yet still I clung to the hope that I could trust her.
'I've finished,' Annabelle chirped as she showed me her drawing. I took the picture from her and just stared at it for a moment, it was a drawing of us together in the cellar. The girl was a pretty good artist, I could even see the age lines on my face in the picture as well as the faint blue still in my hair.
'It's brilliant,' I told her smiling.
'Thanks, can I have some food I'm pretty hungry?' She asked innocently.
'Sure, I'll be right back.'
I left her to carry on drawing as I went to the room the others all shared. They had all come back from their scouting mission and they looked a little worse for wear.
'Are you all alright?' I asked worryingly.
'Yeah, we're fine. There were a few extra strong corpses out there,' Jensen replied tiredly.
'Nothing we couldn't handle though,' Delilah smiled.
'Speak for yourself, I'm exhausted,' Brooke told her.
'Come on let's get some food,' Tessa chimed in.
'I'm starving,' Dom said cheerfully. Frankie was the only one who didn't say a word she just stared at the floor with an unreadable expression on her face. I felt tempted to lower my empath walls and get a read on what was going on in her head, but I chose not to. If she wanted me to know how she felt, she'd tell me. Plus I felt mentally drained enough from dealing with Annabelle that I didn't need to feel the forcefield of emotions that Frankie kept hidden. I quickly grabbed some food from the corner of the room before heading back to the cellar.
I found Annabelle exactly where I'd left her, sat on the floor colouring. I looked at what she'd drawn and was amazed by her talent, in another world she could have been great. She looked up at me and smiled, it was a smile that warmed my heart. I tried not to be fooled by it, but even I had a hard time remembering what she really was.
'I brought your dinner, it's the same as last time I'm afraid,' I told her softly.
'It's okay, while there's a lot of food, there isn't much in the way of variety,' Annabelle replied happily. As the day drew on, I could not help but try to brush my fears aside. I longed for my worries to be nothing more than my own paranoia, for all my work with Annabelle to have done some good. Yet deep down in my heart I knew, I had been drawn in to her web of lies that she wove around everyone she met.
I saw the stream of daylight from under the door grow darker as the hours passed, yet nothing in here really changed. I lit a candle to keep us from sitting in the fierce and lonely darkness, I looked around the tiny room.
It felt much more foreboding than it had four days ago, I had such hope then but now as I felt the last of my hope ebbing away I told Annabelle to sleep. 'I guess I am tired, good night Jade,' she said sounding more tired than she had even a moment ago. I had given her a pillow, well not really a pillow but a thick coat that no doubt had once belonged to one of the people she had killed. She had that to use as a pillow and an old moth eaten pinkish grey woollen blanket that I had found in the cupboard upstairs, I watched as she closed her eyes. How could it be that she could both angelic and so very creepy at the same time?
I tried to sleep, but sleep would not come. I tossed and turned the night away, feeling every lump and bump of my makeshift bed. If Annabelle was awake she didn't show it, I kept my eyes closed most of the time I didn't want her to know that I wasn't asleep. The small white candle had long since burned out, I found the darkness more terrifying than usual, it was as if it wove a blanket of fear around me. My nerves were on end, my heart thumped fiercely in my chest and beads of sticky sweat dripped down my forehead. Looking back on that night, it was as though a premonition were trying to come out but it could never quite manifest.
It was not long before dawn that I heard the sounds, Annabelle was moving and I could only pray she needed a drink. I felt her move closer to me, I could smell the rusting metal on the knife as she raised it above me. Without thinking, without feeling I grabbed the bat beneath my bedding and swung as fast as I could. I turned to look just in time to see, the pocket knife flew from her hand as she went flying across the room.
I hadn't meant to hit her so hard, I only wished to stop her attack. Yet I was helpless to stop it, I could only watch in horror as I saw her fly into the wall. I heard, no I felt her head crack on the hard concrete wall. I saw the blood as it splattered on the walls, I watched it fall from her tiny head. Her eyes rolled back, her face became too pale. I raced to her, praying, hoping that I hadn't killed her. But alas it was too late, there was no pulse, no heartbeat, the tiny little girl I'd tried so hard to help, was gone in a second.
'No, please no,' I cried as I clung to her lifeless body. I brushed the flaming hair out of her blood drained face, I pulled her closer to me willing her to come to back to life. I knew it was an impossible thing to ask of the universe, but it mattered not. As I screamed and cried, I felt unable to keep control over my empath walls. I let them fall for just a moment.
I screamed in agony as I was hit with a force of emotions so fierce, so powerful that it threatened to overwhelm my very being. I felt Dom's playfulness, his joy, sorrow of all he'd lost I even felt his attraction to me. I felt my cheeks burn as I sensed just how much he admired me.
I felt Tessa's anger over losing her father, her strength that was buried so deep inside her she didn't know it was there. I felt how lost she had been since fleeing Sanctuary. Brooke's emotions weren't a shock though they were still more powerful than I had envisioned. She was hurt, broken and full of sorrow.
Delilah was so, so lost, she was afraid that she wasn't really our family that she was disposable. She was still in so much pain over Nikkita, but she understood that Frankie had done the right thing. Jensen held this anger inside of him, that shocked even me. He hated with a passion I didn't know he had, I felt how he often dreamt of killing, no not just killing, but torturing Nathaniel for what he'd done to his little sister.
Yet of all the emotions, it was Frankie's that almost overwhelmed me. Yes I felt her anger at me, but there was so much more that she kept hidden from everyone. She was breaking down inside, she'd been so strong while all of us had crumbled that she felt unable to grieve.
She was afraid of letting us down, she felt as though it was her job to keep all of us safe, to keep the hope alive. I saw just how broken she was, how it hurt her to fight with me. She'd taken on the burden of being the leader, because none of us could bear to.
More than that, I felt her love for us all the depths she would go to in order to keep us safe. She loathed having to be the one to fight for Annabelle's death, it was a burden she didn't want to bear. I knew, in that moment I knew just much we'd taken her for granted.
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nbsp; Even me, I was so wrapped up in my own pain, that I had neglected the girl I called daughter. The only daughter I had left. Frankie may have been strong, she was a brilliant leader but in the end she was still a child. In my grief I had allowed myself to put that burden on her, when I should've helped her through her pain. No one should have to bear that alone, and I vowed that from that moment forward I would never allow a child of mine to shoulder such a burden alone.
My cries and screams had awoken the others, they came barrelling down the stairs weapons in hand.
'What happened?' Frankie exclaimed.
'She attacked me, I hit her with a bat. I didn't mean to kill her,' I told them all sadly. As Frankie walked towards me I realised I hadn't put my walls back up, I felt her sadness that I'd had to kill a child but I also felt her forgive me. I took a deep breath and put my walls back up, I knew that before we left here, I'd have to speak to her alone. We had fences to mend, and I wanted her to know that she wasn't alone any more.
'I'm sorry Jade,' she said softly.
I nodded, unable to say anything. We buried Annabelle with her family, it seemed right somehow. None of us said a thing as we piled the dirt on top of her, I looked at everyone but Frankie and gestured for them to leave. I sat next to the grave as they left, not knowing quite what to say to her.
'Are you alright Jade?' Frankie asked worryingly.
'No, I'm not but I will be. I wanted to talk to you, I needed you to know,' I replied softly.
'Know what?' She wondered.
'When I killed Annabelle, I was unable to keep my empath walls up. I felt everyone's emotions, including yours,' I told her.
'Oh,' was all she could say. I looked up at her, it was so easy to forget how young she was. Frankie was strong, fierce and loyal. There were many people in the old world that were my age, who didn't display such admirable qualities. Frankie was unique, she was an amazing soul.
'I'm sorry, I never meant to let you carry the burden of taking care of all us. I was so wrapped up in my grief that I forgot, you're my daughter. It's my job to take care of you.'
Dead World Rising (Book 3): The Cure Page 7