by Multiple
The batteries or the popcorn would run out sooner or later, I thought. Did Jonny have a plan for when that happened?
The self-proclaimed zombie movie usher stood near the front doors, sweeping up nonexistent dirt. To the side, Desiree sat on one of the lobby couches near the bathrooms, grumbling. My kitten, Cinna, darted out from beneath various chairs and couches, dashing forward and swatting at Desiree’s shoelaces, then dodging away from the woman and hiding once more, only to repeat the same a short while later.
Desiree looked none too happy with this set up. I watched, grinning, and Evan looked over at me and laughed.
“Well, she’s having fun, I guess,” he said.
Desiree saw us, stood up, and stomped over, hands folded across her chest. “Are you two done being whatever you’re being? You couldn’t have just woken up. Do you know how long I had to wait out here? Well, I don’t, because there’s no clock or watch or anything, but it felt like forever, alright? So, are you done?”
Evan groaned. I got the feeling she acted like this often. She gave him a hard, stern look, then she turned to me and became an entirely different person.
“As long as you’re up for it, Sadie,” she said, hushed. “You fainted, so maybe you need more time? I don’t know. Evan’s the EMT. Did he take care of you alright? Was he out of line? Do you want me to smack him? I’ll do it.”
I shook my head. “No. I feel fine. I think everything’s alright. I don’t know why I fainted.”
“Oh,” Desiree said. “Oh, good. Your cat’s been… fine…”
Cinna rushed over, batted at Desiree’s shoelaces. Her claw got stuck in the string and she pulled at it, mewing as if she was in mortal peril.
Desiree bent down and reached for the cat’s claws, unsticking them from her shoelace. I frowned when I saw her arms; covered in thick, long lines of bright red scratches and scabs. She saw me staring at her arms and then shied away, folding them over her chest again to hide herself.
“It doesn’t hurt,” she said. “I’m not angry at your cat or anything. It was just an accident, you know?”
I stepped forward, letting go of Evan’s hand, and I put my arms around Desiree. She watched me, confused, and just stood there, stiff. I hugged her tight. After a few seconds she gave in and hugged me, too. She felt soft and nice and her hair smelled like rain and vanilla.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, whispering quietly so only I could hear.
“It’s alright,” I said.
Then, louder, she said, “Now that everything’s settled, I’ll head back. Your bag with all your stuff’s over on that couch.” She pointed to another of the seats neat the restrooms. “I’ll see if Alex is alright, I guess. I’ll tell him that you both abandoned me the first chance you got. I don’t know if he’ll believe me, but what’s the worst that can happen?”
“Desiree,” Evan said. “You can’t go back there. I don’t think Alex is necessarily a bad person, but… he’s changed. You saw what he did to Sadie. Who knows what he’ll do to you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Desiree said. “I deserve it, alright? And it’s not even that I deserve it, but I can’t ask to go with you two. You don’t owe me anything. I need to go back.”
“What if I ask you to come with us?” I asked.
She turned, looked at me. “What?”
“You said that you can’t ask to come with us, but what if we ask you to? What will you say?”
“I…” She swallowed hard and squeezed her elbows in her hands. “You can’t, alright? Just… just don’t. Don’t take pity on me or anything. It’s not fair. I mean, I guess if you asked, I’d say yes, but don’t ask because you feel bad for me. I don’t want that.”
I smiled, genuine. “I don’t feel bad for you,” I said. “I’d still like it if you came with us, though. I think it’d be nice.”
Evan backed away, appraising the situation. Jonny glanced over, curious, and Evan shrugged at him.
“I’ll… I’ll go, I guess. But if you change your mind, don’t be afraid to tell me,” Desiree said slowly, stumbling for words. “I mean, I’m not useless, you know? I can do things on my own, too. Even if I don’t go back to Alex and the rest of the people in the camp, I’ll figure something out. I’d be fine.”
“I know,” I said. “But you don’t have to.”
We stood there in awkward silence, no one knowing what to say now.
Cinna bounded forth and snatched at Desiree’s shoelaces again, taking the end of one in her mouth and biting into it. She tried to pull it away with her and bring it back to her secret kitten lair, but it remained attached to Desiree’s shoes. The laces came undone, though, and Desiree bent to re-tie her shoes.
“This cat,” she said, nervous, laughing. “I swear, she’s crazy. Playful, but she needs toys or something. I should go check the pet store. I bet there’s plenty left there. She’ll need a cat carrier anyways, so…”
“We can probably find a car,” Evan said. “I know Alex thinks it’s a bad idea, but I think he’s wrong and what does it matter what he thinks now, anyways? If we’re going to travel we could use one. It’ll work out better.”
Jonny ambled over to us. “You guys are leaving then?” he asked.
“Not right away,” Evan said. “If that’s alright? Do you mind if we stay here for a couple of days?”
Jonny mimed dismay and grumbling, then he grinned. “Nah, I don’t care. It’ll be nice. There’s plenty of popcorn for everyone, right?”
He pointed to a box of it behind the counter; it was only half full. Were there more boxes? How many did he have to start with? He probably had enough for a few more weeks, but then what? Maybe he kept some in a storeroom somewhere, too. I shouldn’t worry about it, but I did.
“I kind of wish I’d brought my solar array,” Evan said. “Without it the laptop’s pretty much useless, but I can’t really go back for it now.”
“If we leave soon, we might be able to sneak into camp while it’s still dark and grab it?” Desiree suggested. “The rain’s stopped, but it’s nighttime now. Who knows if Alex is awake, either. Or if he’s…”
Dead. She didn’t say it, but I knew what she meant. Would I feel bad if I killed him? I didn’t know. I shouldn’t, because of what he’d done for me and what he’d done to Evan, but I knew I would. It didn’t matter how angry I was. I never wanted to kill anyone.
“It’s risky,” Evan said, shaking his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“You have other things back in your camp, don’t you?” I asked.
“Well, yeah, but…”
“It’s not just about the sun power thing,” I said. “Desiree probably has stuff she could use, too. You two should hurry and get your things if you need them.”
“We don’t need them,” Evan said, reticent.
“It’d be really nice if we had some of our stuff,” Desiree said to him. “I know where you’re coming from, Evan, but it’d work out a lot better if we had more to start out with. If we’re going to do this, we need to go now. Soon. Otherwise we probably won’t have another chance.”
He frowned, obviously disliking his options. “Let me think about it.”
“You’re welcome to some of the supplies here, too,” Jonny said. “What am I going to do with them? Want to see what we’ve got?”
“Yeah.” Evan perked up. “Yeah, if you don’t mind, Jonny? Let’s go see and then… yeah. Maybe there’s stuff here we can use instead. That’ll work out great.”
Evan and Jonny left, but not before Evan snuck over and kissed me. His lips lingered on my cheek like a sultry promise and he winked at me before leaving. I blushed and squirmed, gazing after him as he walked away.
“You two,” Desiree said, groaning. “Seriously. It’s like eating too much candy every time I see you. Ick.”
“Shush,” I said. “There’s always Jonny if you’re lonely.”
“Ha! That guy. How did you even meet him? Is this some Zombie’s Anonymous place or somet
hing? You meet up once a week for popcorn and a movie and discuss zombie problems?”
“I think I’m offended!” I said, putting my hands on my hips. Desiree rolled her eyes at me and I grinned.
“No,” I said. “I don’t know. Evan and I just found him when we came here. Jonny’s like me, I guess. He’s really nice.”
“He seems alright.” Desiree shrugged. “A little weird, but alright. It’s not a bad place here, you know? I never thought I’d be in a movie theatre again. The popcorn’s a nice touch, too. I haven’t had any in forever.”
She slinked behind the counter and opened the machine, filling the scoop and dumping some of the snack into a popcorn bucket. Grabbing some to munch on for herself first, she held the bucket towards me, offering some.
I took one piece and plopped it into my mouth. The sweet, buttery warmth of it made me smile.
“What’s your favorite movie?” I asked all of a sudden.
“Huh?” Desiree stared at me blankly for a second. “I guess… it’s kind of dumb, but I really liked Ghost. It’s older, but it was one of the first movies I ever saw and I guess it stuck with me.”
“Ghost, really?” I grinned wide.
“Yes, Ghost. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
I scampered over to the couches, ignoring her, my happy grin taking up half my face.
“Sadie!” she shouted after me, chasing behind me with the popcorn bucket. “What’s wrong with Ghost? It’s not just some trashy romance flick, you know? It’s a good movie!”
“Oh,” I said, still grinning. “Oh no, I know. It’s good.”
“Right.” She raised one brow at me, perplexed. “Right, then.”
“Do you think everything will be alright?” I asked.
Cinna hopped onto the couch next to me and crawled into my lap, snuggling against me. I scratched behind her ears and she nuzzled her head against the side of my hand.
“Yes,” Desiree said. “I mean… I don’t know if everything ever will be alright, but for now I think it will be.”
I nodded. I thought so, too. I wanted to think so completely, but a little part of me disagreed. Just a small part, a nervous part.
Everything would be alright, but what if it wasn’t?
I shouldn’t think about those things.
A Note from Cerys
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*
That’s all of it!
This story is a little different from what I usually write, but it’s also different from anything I’ve read before, too. I really enjoyed the idea of it and I had fun doing some research into the possibilities behind it.
For paranormal stories, everyone writes about shifters and werewolves, vampires, and even other magical beings like witches, demons, and angels. Psychics and ghosts aren’t entirely unheard of, either.
This… isn’t really any of that, haha. If I had to liken what exactly Sadie and the “Others” are, they’re probably more similar to vampires in a lot of ways. A friend of mine helped me out with figuring out the specifics behind the mentality and the somewhat scientific workings of my idea in a medical sort of way. I didn’t want to include a lot of the science of it in the story, though, because honestly I feel like it kind of bogs it down, you know? There is a scientific sort of reason for what happened, though, and it’s mentioned somewhat in the beginning. There’s more to it, too, but… how would Sadie or Evan know about that?
I wanted to leave this one open to possibilities at the end, but I also wanted to close it up, too. The story is finished, but there’s the potential for more, you know? I like that in stories I read, and for a lot of reasons. One of the main ones is… well, what do you think will happen? No one ever really knows where their life is going to take them, and this can be especially true for dire situations like this.
Now that you’ve read this story, it’s not just mine anymore. I think you’re as invested in Sadie and Evan’s future as I am, and so I want you to be able to imagine possibilities for them, too, you know?
Saying that, I do have plans for more of this in the future. I enjoyed writing in the style I did for this one, and not only was the story different, but the writing was different, too. I tried to use some subtle nuances in writing to get certain points across, and I hope it worked. Just small stuff, nothing too crazy, but I think it added to the atmosphere of the story.
I loved telling Sadie and Evans story, and I hope you loved reading it, too. It’s different, but I think that’s a good thing. It’s fun and sweet, but it’s a little dangerous and suspenseful, too. The world they live in is entirely unlike our world right now, and it might be a little scary, but I don’t think that it always has to be scary. It can change and become different, and it’s certainly possible that Sadie and Evan will change it, don’t you think?
Saying all of that, if you enjoyed this story, I hope you’ll check out more from me. If you liked it, I’d also love if you rated and reviewed it, too! It helps me a lot when you do that, and I love reading everyone’s comments and seeing what people think, too. It helps me figure out what you liked and how I can write more of that in the future. It’s also fun to see what people think of my stories, as well.
And… that’s it! Thanks so much for reading and taking an interest in my writing! As an indie author, I do all of this myself, and I try to provide you with the best possible -everything-that I can. I appreciate you taking the time to read my book, and I hope you enjoyed it and that you’ll read more from me in the future!
Bye for now!
~Cerys
The Passion Cure
Paranormal Romance
By Deanna Roy
www.deannaroy.com
1: Grades
Okay. Don’t panic.
I stared at the screen, unbelieving. It was an error, pure and simple. Somewhere, an underpaid graduate student, hungover from a post-final-exam bender, had fallen asleep at the keyboard and typed in this very wrong grade.
CH 575 Physical Chemistry. D–
But then, there couldn’t really be TWO hungover finger-impaired graduate students, right? I mean, sure, you couldn’t cross any college campus in late December without tripping over a half dozen, but could another one have typed in this?
MT 202 Calculus III. F
Then it occurred to me. I’d been hacked. A psych major was conducting an experiment and had paid off some impoverished intern to let him change the grades to see how we’d react.
They did this sort of thing. One night I’d answered the phone at 3 a.m. to a girl screaming hysterically that she was going to be killed. About the time I was waking up enough to figure out how to get her help, she said, “Never mind,” and hung up, still leaving me all shaky and distressed.
The next morning, some bleary-eyed third-year had knocked on my door to ask about bad dreams. I could have punched him.
I jumped from my desk and moved to the window. Was there a camera somewhere? Was I being punked? I rushed to the door and yanked it open.
Two coeds dragging suitcases stopped talking to stare at me. I jumped back inside, grateful my roommate had already headed home for the holiday break. No practical joke. No experiment.
I sat back down, defeated.
I knew I wasn’t doing well. But failing? This was my second shot at Calc, and I’d been doing better. Or so I thought. The final was, well, I hadn’t been at my best. I’d spent the night before out with Gordon, and we DID sort of prioritize celebrating his 4.0. I didn’t want to bring him down by mentioning I still had finals to take.
I glanced at the silver framed picture by my computer. Mom. Brilliant chemist. Bought me my first plastic Erlenmeyer flask when I was five. The other girls had Easy-Bake Ovens. I got the Chem C2000. I blew up my first sodium and chlorine by age ten.
Maybe that should have been our first clue.
“Sorry, Mom,” I said to her pho
tograph. She looked out at me, her thin blond hair lumpy beneath her favorite metal headband. I touched my own head and knew my straw-colored mop was just as bad. We’d always been twinsies, sharp-nosed, pale-skinned, burn-not-tan. Feet the size of water skis to balance our formidable racks. Sadly, I hadn’t an ounce of her brains.
She’d been so pleased when I’d gotten into Boston College. And freshman year had gone by like a breeze. Okay, maybe that was because I only took easy electives and English I and none of the killer stuff. Sophomore classes were a bit tougher, but I’d pulled through the fall semester.
But then it all tanked. No one blamed me. Mom had died from chemical burns during a botched experiment — something secret that even my dad wouldn’t talk about. My profs had been lenient and placed me on academic probation, hoping I’d pull it out.
But these grades would sink me.
I laid my head on the desk. I could appeal, beg, cry. But no guarantee. I’d still have to tell my dad.
*
“Jet, Sweetpea! That’s brilliant. Shall I drive up to help you pack your things?”
I stared at the phone. “Dad, is that really you?”
“Yes, of course it’s me. I can be there tomorrow. Or maybe I should fly up and we could drive back in your Beetle.”
I smacked myself on the side of the head a few times. He didn’t care? Maybe he had hearing loss. “You understand I flunked out, right, Dad?”
“Yes, it’s perfect. Can you come home, or is that too nineties? I can front you a little apartment.”
“Dad. Are you listening? I got an F in Calculus. Again. I was on probation.”
He sighed. “I know it’s a disappointment. But I wasn’t convinced that was the school for you anyway.”
“It was Mom’s school!”
“Of course it was. I climbed in through a dorm window not five down from yours.”
Well, ick.
“I’m getting online right now. Tickets, tickets.” I could hear him clacking away on a keyboard. “There you go. I can be there tomorrow morning, and we’ll start the drive back.”