3

by Shera Eitel-Casey

  I rode the bus to school with Declan and he tried to bring up the Cale situation but I stopped him and we didn't talk the rest of the way to school. I felt numb about the whole situation; I was hoping last Friday was all just a bad dream. The bus pulled into the parking lot and Declan said, “We should probably talk at lunch to try and decide what we're going to do.” I was too tired to argue. We got off the bus and went our separate ways.

  I didn't see Jett at all that day. Wrestling practice was over until after the first of the year, although the wrestlers were supposed to run and do stairs every day while on Christmas break. I thought of Jett running in my head, he always looked good and made me feel relaxed, happy. Two more days of school and then I could sleep in for two weeks. All I had to do was stay awake today.

  I didn't catch Jett at all this week. I even took the stairwell next to his locker but didn't see him. Declan and I never did talk at lunch about what we were going to do, I was hoping it was all blown way out of proportion and we could just let it go.

  A week into our break and still no word from Jett, pretty much what I expected but I was hoping. I was worried too much had happened, and that night he dropped me off was a jumbled mess in my head.

  I was trying to focus on other things at hand like our Christmas party at the Club tonight. Tori knew what had happened with Jett to date, because we were confiding in each other more and more these days. Since she felt bad for me, she told me she'd do my hair and make-up for me. She even had me polish my nails and give myself a pedicure. We spent the whole day getting ready. I didn't mind because I had nothing else to do. My mom had made me a dress just for the occasion.

  When I was finished getting ready, I thought I looked too dressy for the occasion. However, Tori reminded me my look was just fine for the Club, you could always find someone dressier than you there. Plus, they hosted lots of weddings and black tie events, it's not like I was going to change at this point.

  When you looked at the dress from the front, the top looked like a mock turtleneck and it buttoned with two buttons behind the neck. Below the collar in the back, however, it was bare to my waist. The shape came down in a “V.” The skirt just passed my knees and buttoned all the way down the back. It was long sleeved. I had a black belt with some silver charms and jewels on the buckle. The fabric was black with a silver pattern of un-perfect shapes throughout. I had continually told my mom I could use something a little sexier, but I felt bare. It covered everything it should, but I still felt au naturel, but it looked amazing. Tori even said she gets to wear it next, so you know it had to look good.

  We always carried our coats to the car. Styling your hair, pulling on tight hose and putting on make-up can really make you warm. My dad always valet parked so we were let out at the front door.

  We were ready, although I was thinking about wearing my coat all night after I’ve cooled off. My mom asked my dad to stop at 7/11 so we could pick up some aspirin. He didn't ask why, he just did it. When we got there, I knew she would ask me to run in, Tori never wanted to and Kit was too young. I was always the gopher, but didn't mind.

  Of course, some obnoxious boys were saying stuff to me when I went in. I knew I should have thrown my coat on. “Oh baby you are smokin'!” One of them said as I reached over for the aspirin. I turned around ready to say something smart, but stopped myself because low and behold, it was Jett McGaven in person, with his friend Declan and some other guy. The other guy was the one yappin' his jaws, I believed his name was Brett.

  Declan gave off a whistle and laughed, walked toward me and said “Addie you are smokin' hot!” He put both hands on my elbows gently and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I saw Jett moving forward in silence, just looking at me.

  “Where are you going looking so fine may I ask?” Declan sounded like he was trying to be cool in front of the guys. “The Club.” I replied.

  “Oooh, the Country Club.” he said whistling again, “going to a wedding?”

  “No, it’s a Christmas dinner.”

  “Wow Jett, you didn't tell me your girlfriend was rich! Aren't you gonna say hi to her – it's not like you're sick anymore.” Brett snarked.

  “We’re not rich” I looked at Jett concerned “You were sick? Are you okay?” I squeezed by Declan and leaned in to give Jett a kiss on the cheek and said “Merry Christmas.” I was in formal mode. In my family, we greeted everyone with hugs and kisses. Jett had put his hand on my waist and gave me a peck on the cheek back and whispered “You do look really nice” and let his hand linger there.

  He cleared his throat and asked “Are your parents outside?”

  “Ah yeah, they're waiting for me.” I held up the bottle of aspirin and went to purchase it. The three of them went out to my parents' car.

  “Nice Caddy Mrs. Geller” Declan stated as she rolled down her window.

  I walked out and heard my mom asking “Where have you been Jett? You must come over again you know I love to cook big and I know you're a big eater.” He smiled and introduced his friends; I saw them shaking hands with her through the window. Jett replied “I'll come back again, I just had the flu recently.”

  “He was way sick, too.” Declan commented. “He was hospitalized, had blood transfusions and everything.”

  “I'm sorry to hear that dear, but I'm glad you're better. I'll see you boys soon then.” She put her window back up and I said, standing behind Jett, “Is that a promise?” Jett just smiled and opened my door for me.

  The next few days were very restless for me. I wasn't sleeping well and I was having dreams that made absolutely no sense. I couldn't even piece anything together in order to write them down. Jett wasn't calling me but neither was Nic. I knew Nic had lots of holiday plans. We on the other hand have no family in the area, so now that Christmas Day was here we had no more parties until New Years. Tonight is our family dinner, just the five of us, but mom still makes us dress up and set the table formally.

  Our dinners are always fun. Last year my Grandma was with us and we ended up playing poker, which I never knew how to play until then. We also hung spoons on our noses, Grandma was pretty good at it, she’ll be missed.

  Tori and I got ready and wore nice jeans with a dressy top. My mom didn't say anything to us when she saw us, we swore she'd make us change, but she didn't. Tori and I gave each other a high five when we went into the dining room to set the table. Kit came in with a jacket, pants and a tie on, looked at us and said, “I'm telling mom!”

  “Go ahead, she already saw us bird brain,” Tori retorted. His eyes went wide and he went running for his room. When he re-appeared he had on a pair of jeans, no jacket and no tie. We got a little giggly.

  Just then, I heard my mom yell to my dad, “It's 3:00!” Three o'clock on special occasions around our house meant cocktail hour. Shortly thereafter she would call us kids to help carry food into the dining room, dad was in charge of opening the wine. I noticed my dad never had more than one drink, he mostly just drank diet soda. Today he was pouring wine for everyone even my brother. Of course, it was a very small portion, only a sip or two. The legal drinking age in Ohio was 18, but they have been talking about changing it to 21, just like in the big cities, I hope they wait to change it ‘til after Nic and I turn 18.

  My dad ordered this special salt cured ham and he was very excited to try it, so he was in a good mood, hence the wine for everyone. We were staying home tonight and we would probably make popcorn later. We said grace and my dad jumped into carving the ham up straight away. My mom made a small turkey too, in case the salty ham didn't go over well. As the conversations went on, I just stared out our window, looking at all the snow, then wondered if I could see any kind of prints or tracks in the snow by the dirty slide, curious to know if some of my other dreams may be true.

  My dad started “Now everyone has to try a piece of the ham, it's from Alabama and supposed to be very good. However, if you don't like it, don't waste it, send it down here and I'll eat it. “He said with a big grin rubbing his
belly.

  We dished out food until all our plates were packed. My mom stood up and announced “I would like to offer up a toast to thank Santa Claus for all the wonderful gifts, to a great family and to another wonderful year! Oh and the ham, and the wine to drink first, before trying the ham!” Everyone giggled a little bit, and then we all clinked glasses. My whole family had a sense of humor and I liked it. “Would anyone else like to make a toast?” My sister shouted out “To sex, drugs and rock-n-roll!” Us kids laughed and my dad said “Here, here!”

  My mom didn't like it at all, “Tori! Sean! You two are terrible and that better have been a joke Tori!” She even stomped her foot. “It was mom! All the rock stars say that – it was a joke.” My mom pursed her lips together, letting herself be beat.

  The ham was not bad at all, it was actually very tasty. My sister chugged her first glass of wine, I had only drank half but she poured more for both of us and our mom. Kit put his hand on top of his glass, shaking his head and scrunching his face notifying us he didn't like it at all.

  I'm not a good joke teller, but when everyone told a joke I tried one too. My delivery was just not good. After the joke telling we all proceeded to hang spoons on our noses. Tori finished her wine and then switched glasses with Kit and finished his, then emptied the bottle in her cup. My dad poured some of the second bottle in his glass and poured more for Tori. He said “Make sure you eat,” and gave her a little wink. My brother told another joke that made Tori start laughing so hard she couldn't stop, which in turn made all of us laugh more. She picked up her glass of wine to take another drink and my mom went to grab it from her. Still laughing, she had tears running down her face, as did we all, but Tori snatched it back and said “No way!” My mom got up and chased her around the house trying to get the wine out of her hands.

  We were all laughing. My sister went through the den and out the sliding door, but my mom paused to put her shoes on so Tori got ahead of her. Tori chugged her wine, slammed her glass on the rail and ran down the porch stairs to the side yard, no coat, no shoes where she proceeded to do snow angels - face down. We all started laughing harder; my sister always did crazy stupid things that would make us laugh uncontrollably. I bet our parents thought she was drunk, but I betcha she wasn’t, she was just being Tori. My mom made Kit and I go collect her. We laughed for a long time about it. My sister had to change her clothes, they were soaked. Before I headed back up the porch stairs I looked over to the entrance of the dirty slide and noticed someone or something had been over there and my heart began to race, as I walked a little closer to investigate, I began to relax because I realized it could have been Kit or anyone for that matter. I found nothing substantial to connect anything to my dreams.

  That night I had another 'makes no sense dream' but some things were clearer, so when I woke up at 3:17a.m. I wrote down the clues I thought I remembered; Sand Run Park, walking path, rocks that formed a huge cubby hole big enough to take cover under, a blonde girl in a red coat and a guy in a white hooded sweatshirt.

  I didn't want to have another boring day so I called Nic and asked her to meet me at Sand Run Park. I thought I could look around and see if I recognized anything, hoping I would stop having this weird dream that kept me from sleeping. She agreed.

  I brought a bag with some food and a blanket and got there about Noon, or close to it. Nic wasn't there yet, so I was surprised when my mom didn't wait with me. I plopped my bag that was slung over my shoulder down on a table under the covered pavilion, it had a great stone fireplace in it and several picnic tables that looked worse for the wear but still sturdy. I looked around and saw a path that had an immediate curve going around a steep hill. I thought I recognized it, so I walked over toward it. A directional sign looked familiar; after I read the sign 'Valley Trails' I felt the onset of déjàvu. My body shivered thwarting me into the eeriest feeling I’ve ever had, I didn’t like it but knew what it meant.

  There were trees all around the path; I noticed a sign at the start of it that warned you to stay on it for safety reasons, and to watch for mud slides. They had a water fountain and bathrooms off to the right in the distance. Sand Run Park was nice, they had outlets and was equipped for family picnics, so people had them here all the time. They had several choice spots to choose from.

  I was bundled up, hat down over my ears, a warm winter coat, my winter boots, mittens and a scarf. I started walking down the path and noticed some movement in the wooded area to the left, probably a raccoon or something. Up and to the right I saw a steep little hill that went down to a bridge then up around a curve. It was the same bridge I know I saw in my dream. So I took it. In the distance, I saw two people walking to my left, one in a red coat the other in a blue coat. I sucked in a deep breath. I was about to turn around to follow them....

  * * * * * * *

  I woke up and sat up quickly, but felt woozy; Nic grabbed my arm and Storm the other. My head was pounding, when I looked at Nic it was like I was watching an old TV turning off, the edges getting black first and circled to the middle until it was almost all black. I laid back down. When I looked up Storm was looking at me funny, so I gave him a look back.

  I held my head “It's pounding.” I announced...then remembered "Did you see him? Did you see Cale? Did you get him?" I asked.

  Storm looked at Nic and said "I think she hit her head harder than we thought." Storm moved so my head was on his lap and I could feel heat radiating from him, it made my head and neck feel warm.

  Nic said “Do you have ice in your bag.”

  “Just get snow, I have baggies in my pack.” I said and Nic replied, “Well she didn't hit it that hard. I'll be right back.”

  I looked at the surroundings around us and there was a bridge with a cubby hole looking type of cave under it - just like in my dream. I told Storm “I just don't remember… how did I get over here?”

  He looked down at me “Nic and I dragged you over here, more tree coverage and we're off the path. We found you over there, passed out,” He pointed to the open area. “What do you have your period again?” He looked down at me and half smiled. I tried laughing but stopped because it hurt my head.

  “You know, you have a really nice smile.” I said to Storm. As soon as I said it, he stopped smiling.

  ”We need to take you to the hospital, you obviously shook your brain.” Storm said jokingly. “No, but we should get you back to the pavilion. Can you stand yet?”

  I tried pulling the letter from my front jean pocket but a searing pain went through my right shoulder and I was shivering so much I couldn't quite get it out.

  I told Storm, "Get it would ya" and I put my glove back on. I glanced up at Storm, he just stared back at me with those green eyes...."It has information on it." When Storm put his fingertips on my hip I could feel the heat radiating from his hand. He slid his hand into my pocket real slow, it was a tight fit. I felt him slide one finger under the note and the others on top, pulling his hand out slowly. When he handed it to me I noticed he was holding his breath.

  Nic came back, "Good thing you packed a blanket,” she said pulling it from the bag. “Body heat will help you too. Can you sit up? Storm can sit on one side of you and I on the other. My mom will be here in about thirty minutes.”

  I started to scoot up and felt Storm put his hand on my back to support me. “Storm you’re hot, just like my electric blanket.” Of course I had to mention it; but I think Storm took it the wrong way because he started to blush.

  I pulled my glove off and took Storm's hand. “Nic, feel how warm he is.” Nic took his other hand and said "Wow, you are hot!” and gave him a wink. “The only thing that would make someone this warm in this kind of weather would be someone who’s part werewolf.” She looked at me and smiled with her eyebrows flexed and put her hand over both Storm's and mine. “Addie your hands are ice cold, you know vampires are cold…" We all chuckled, but I gave her sort of a warning look not to say anymore. I didn’t want her telling Storm about my dreams es
pecially the one I kept having about a wolf.

  I put the note between my teeth, pulled my other mitten off, held his one hand with both of mine and sat really close to him trying to get warm. He let go of Nic's hand and took both of mine and sandwiched them between his and rubbed my hands quickly to make them warm, it was working. Nic pulled the note out of my teeth. “If we are vampires and werewolves what does that make you?” I asked.

  Nic replied, “Well, I am of course normal, everyone has to have their sidekicks.” Storm remarked that we were crazy…

  She unfolded the note and read it, "So you came out here to meet Cale?" she said very slowly not giving out a clue in front of Storm that it could have been one of my hair brain dreams. "Soooo did you meet him?" she asked.

  Thank goodness I had written a note and called Nic to meet me here so I wasn't alone. “I didn't expect to see Cale. When I got here Cale and his friend must have already been here, getting ready to attack a girl or something. I saw the girl in the red coat. I hadn't even spotted Cale when he came at me full force, knocking me into a tree and then I woke up here with you guys.” I explained.

  Nic asked “Following up on a dream?”

  “Ah, yeah.”

  “What?” Storm asked in confusion.

  The picnic area was just a few yards away. Storm helped me up, I was a little wobbly and fell into him a bit so he readjusted his grip and put his arm around my waist, his face was close to mine. He had a different scent than his brother. He still smelled good - just not the same. As we headed back to the pavilion Nic explained my dream to Storm and then handed him my note. We made it to the picnic table, they sat me on the bench and I leaned on the table so I could rest. Storm straddled the bench next to me, continuing to warm my hands, I thought it felt very personal and I felt bad that I was still shivering.

  "How come you can't move your arm?" Storm asked.