by Tara Brown
I crept along back yards and kept my head down until finally reaching our street, I snuck through the back yards and woods till I reached our fence. I climbed over it again surprised by the strength I seemed to be able to muster to climb up and over with little or no problems. I landed in the back yard as the sky turned quite dark. Our house was black.
I wondered where my sister was, where my dad was and mostly where Dorian was?
Would he sit in my house and wait for me to come home?
Did he know where I lived?
Would he have held my dad and Shane hostage until I came to them?
Would he tell them what I had become?
Would they be dangling from a bridge somewhere expecting me to save them with my new super strength?
I moved stealthily across the grass to the back door where the hidden key was. I unlocked the backdoor and crept inside. I didn’t turn any lights on. I just stood there smelling the air for a second, I was home. I felt my heart racing but my soul enjoyed the moment. I grabbed a drink of water suddenly realizing I was desperately thirsty. I gulped back three huge glasses of water and instantly had to pee. I ran to the toilet and peed for several minutes. I assumed this was what life was like for Aleks, doing what he needed when he got the chance. I flushed and ran upstairs to my room. I opened the bag with my mom’s nightgown and took deep breaths. I savored the smell immensely.
“Mom.” I whispered looking around wishing Aleks would show up so I could at least get the answers I needed about my moms death.
I cursed Dorian under my breath, he’d told me that to make me go crazy. Unfortunately it had worked.
I grabbed a crayon from my art set and opened the window to my bedroom and in light yellow crayon I wrote on the outside windowpane, “I need to see you, Come find me!”
I knew he would see it and know I needed him. I grabbed two changes of my usual black clothes and stuffed them into my beach backpack. I put a few key items I knew no one would know were missing. I jumped into the shower and rinsed myself in the dark, not turning any lights on. It was by far the scariest shower I ever had. I was clean and dressed and ready to go in about fifteen minutes from arriving home. I grabbed my ball cap my Gran had bought me a few summers before and stuffed it on my head tucking my thick hair through the back making a ponytail.
I didn’t know what to do so I slipped out the back door again locking the house and ran out to the back fence. Night had fully set in and enveloped the world in black. I was grateful for the moonless night as I ran through the woods at the back of our property till I reach Shane’s parents house.
His truck was there but that meant nothing as my dad had taken his truck to Portland with Shane. I slipped in around the back of the house and peeked in the windows hoping to catch a glimpse of him, just to know they were safe. I saw no one. Shane’s house was as dark as my own. Frustrated I didn’t know what to do. My energy levels were still so high and I was feeling fine but how long did I have?
I looked at the forest where Shane had carried me from so many times and shook my head. It had only been a few days since I had been on my deathbed and there I was feeling stronger than I ever had but still dying. I wondered if maybe my body reacted badly to the demon blood and instead of immortality I just got really healed and strong. Maybe I would be fine and could just go on with my regular life. I wondered if god just felt sorry for me for all the shitty things that had happened and he was giving me a second chance.
I sat down on the back steps of his deck and pondered life and choices. I looked back at the grass and remembered how it had felt to lay with Shane under the stars, the way he had looked at me. I loved him still no matter what had ever happened with Aleks I couldn’t get him out of my mind or heart.
I heard a vehicle pull in as men’s voices started to speak with car doors closing and opening, “Okay well thank Shane. I’m sure she’s fine. Like I said the Dr seemed to be convinced she needed to go there.”
My dads voice filled the yard. I stopped breathing realizing I had nowhere I could run to except the stalker woods, which scared the life out of me to contemplate. I sat very still hoping I would have a few seconds at least to hide.
“I know Mr. James but I’m just really bummed about it. I just can’t believe I never got to say goodbye.” Shane’s voice was full of emotion, he sounded crushed.
“She knows you love her kiddo, good luck on your test son and if I hear from her I will call you right away.” My dad used my nickname on him. It warmed and broke my heart simultaneously.
“Thanks sir, have a good sleep.” Shane called out. I heard his front door close and I jumped up and ran around the side of the house where the garage was. I froze as I heard him inside the house opening the back deck door.
“Hello, are you there?” He asked.
I looked back not moving, not breathing, how did he know I was there?
“Oh okay yeah. My cell does that too.” He laughed. I breathed a sigh of relief still not moving as he talked on the phone.
“Yeah I need to know where in California is the clinic that does celebrity liver treatments. A friend of mine is there and I just want to know the name of it. Thanks, yeah just call this number and leave a message if I’m not here. Thanks man. I need to find her.”
He was one corner of the house away from me so I crept along the side to the front of the house and stood in front of the garage breathing heavily.
Dorian hadn’t been prepared for how much Shane loved me. Shane wouldn’t stop until he found me.
I didn’t know what to do but I was suddenly starting to feel a bit tired. I wondered about just revealing myself to Shane and letting the cards fall where they may but I wasn’t sure what I would become and I didn’t want him getting hurt.
A small part of me wondered if he would still want me or love me if he knew I was changing in a supernatural way or if he would just end things between us. I didn’t want to push the envelope so I decided to leave his yard and find somewhere else to haunt.
I just walked keeping my head down as cars drove past me. I walked for a while thinking about the way things had played out.
I stopped for a moment at the fork of a road and thought about which way to turn since I was homeless.
I knew which way I wanted to go.
I turned walking carefully as I approached his driveway. I rounded the corner of the house and opened the door to the garage with the lock code. I slipped through the garage into the hallway. I walked softly not making any noise till I reached the stairs to the basement and crept down them very slowly.
I could see the faint glow of the computer screen flashing from the far corner where I knew he sat playing World Of Warcraft. I snuck along not wanting to scare him but not wanting to wake his parents, if they were even home. Blake’s parents were lucky he was such a calm kid because with the amount of free time he actually had he could be doing the unsavory without any hindrance easily.
He sat hunched over the game with headphones on, he chatted to himself softly so I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I plopped myself down on his leather couch and watched him for a minute.
He must have gotten the eerie feeling someone was watching him because he sat very still for a second and the turned his face slowly. Seeing me sitting on his couch he smiled, “Hey.” He went back to his game instantly not registering that I shouldn’t be in his house.
Stopping again after a second he froze, he looked scared to move as if I might be a ghost coming to say my goodbye to him. I could tell he was nervous as he turned again almost peeking at me.
I waved at him, “Hey.”
He smiled but not the peaceful one he had given moments before. This was a tense smile, which made me laugh softly.
“Aims?” He spoke carefully not getting up from the chair.
I nodded wanting to cry with relief as he removed his headphones and looked at me, “You okay?”
I nodded and chewed my lower lip. I felt it shake in my mouth as the fear and c
onfusion set in. I couldn’t hold back the damn of emotions as they burst free and I lost control of myself.
He rushed to my side holding me, “Did someone hurt you Aims?”
He wrapped himself around me squeezing the life out of me. I let him cocoon around me and make me feel a sense of safety even if it was fleeting. Even his love couldn’t save me from what was coming.
I cried in sheets like the cold coastal rain.
It poured out in sobs and heaves.
I had lost it.
This was me falling off the proverbial bandwagon of self-control.
I felt his shirt getting wet where I cried and left other forms of my bodily fluids. Suddenly I started laughing, finding it funny I had snotted his shirt thoroughly.
He pulled me back, his eyes were intense, “Did someone hurt you Aimee?”
I nodded, “Sort of but I did it to myself.”
I wiped my eyes dry with my sleeves as he passed me a tissue. He took an extra one for himself and began wiping his shoulder looking horrified at the wet mark.
I laughed harder unable to control myself.
He frowned at me, “I’m glad you find it so amusing that you’ve left nasal secretions on my shoulder, dear god.”
His fussing over the shirt made me laugh more.
I couldn’t look at him without being sent into a fit of giggles again.
Turning away from him for a moment I straightened my face and waited for the fit to pass by.
He left the couch and sat across from me on the other leather couch.
I looked at him gravely as I had finally found my calm.
“Something terrible has happened Blake and I don’t know what to do. I’m putting you in terrible danger coming here but I don’t know where else to go.”
He shook his head, “Aimee whatever is going on we will find a rational and sensible solution. I’m still your best friend Aims, even if I haven’t acted much like one.”
I shook my head, “I haven’t either Blake and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t care who you date. I was being petty.”
He smiled, “I should have told you the truth years ago. I thought honestly that you knew. I’ve been head over heels for that twit forever.”
I nodded not smiling.
I couldn’t bring myself to smile as I dreaded what was about to happen. I knew the possibility he would either commit me or just plain old turn me out of his house lingered in the air as I started to speak.
“Blake remember when you asked me to just listen and hear the whole story before I slapped you and walked away?”
He nodded looking confused now.
“I need that same favor. But I need you to act like an adult not the child I acted like, is that possible?”
He nodded again sitting back on the couch getting comfy.
My stomach twisted and turned as my nerves prepared the rest of me for the worst-case scenario.
I took a deep breath, “Remember when I saw that guy outside of Shane’s house the night of the party? Well he is really a person, he’s magical. He is a man who was cursed in Norway in the thirteen hundreds, he is an immortal. A Shaman blesses Shane’s yard; it stops the magical cloaking that Aleksander does to stop regular people from seeing him. He’s like a guardian angel sort of, I’m not entirely sure about what he is. The night of the party he was there and he cleaned me up and put me to bed, he saved my life. But I had died before he got to me, when you all left me at the top of the stairs I choked and had an outer body experience. While dead I saw him and it gave me second sight.”
I watched as his brain was translating and diagnosing me as I spoke.
He couldn’t understand what I was saying and couldn’t imagine any of it would ever be real. He had a scientific reason for everything I said but I continued speaking until I got to the very end of the story that landed me on his couch crying and homeless.
Blake sat there looking very lost at the end of the story.
I looked at him pleading with him, “Blake I want you to think about who is telling you this, look at me Blake. Have I ever given you cause to not trust something I was telling you?”
He shook his head slowly, “What are you becoming Aims?”
I didn’t have an answer so I shrugged still watching him take it all in.
“You ran from the bus stop at Millers Crossing all the way here in two days?” His voice was empty, no accusation or feeling.
I nodded wanting him to believe me just so that I could finally rest a bit. I wasn’t tired in the regular sense but I was tired of not feeling safe.
He took a deep breath, “Okay I am going to go with you on this one until I can either disprove or solve it.”
My eyes lit up as I sighed, “I can stay here with you?”
He frowned at me, “Why wouldn’t you stay here with me? You thought I would kick you out because you drank alien blood from that guy and don’t require sleep or food anymore?”
I nodded as he got up from the couch and grabbed my hand.
“I need sleep Aims and I suggest you try too.”
I let him drag me to his room, we climbed on top of his queen-sized bed. He turned the lights out and lay beside me on the bed.
“How’s things with Alise?” I asked tired of my ridiculous life.
He laughed, “Oh man your sister is crazy. I have no idea what to do with her. It’s like having a two year old around and you know how I feel about other people children in my house. She touches things and breaks them. She has to be doing something at every second of every day. I seriously think she might need Ritalin or something.”
I burst out laughing as he turned to look at me with a serious face, “Aimee I’m not kidding. She broke my vintage Luke Skywalker, it was in the box still and she took it out and broke it. She said it was an accident but I think she misbehaves on purpose to start fights with me.”
He had hit the nail on the head, I chuckled feeling sorry for him.
“You cant choose who you love Blake, I’m a prime example of that.”
“Do you love him Aims, even after he left you in the hospital, lied to you about what he did for a living and let Jaime die?” Blake’s voice wasn’t cruel, he truly was curious.
I felt close to tears as I spoke, “When I’m with Shane I feel so in love with him but when I’m with Aleks I feel in love with him too. I don’t know what to do.”
He sighed, “Aimee love is supposed to lift you up, not bring you down. If you are obsessively in love with this guy then you need to end it. No relationship that’s healthy puts the other person above you. The relationship that ends all of the good things in your life is the wrong relationship. You’re choosing the wrong guy if you love Aleks.”
“Look at you Mr. Love Guru.”
He laughed, “I saw it on Dr. Phil.”
I closed my eyes, “I do love Aleks but not as much as I love Shane. I wish I didn’t because I truly think that if he’d never come along I would have found my way to Shane naturally and would be happy right now instead of dying, alone.”
Blake pulled me onto his chest and kissed the top of my head, “You’ll never be alone Aims, not ever. Besides you can see ghosts now, you're good.”
I whacked him in the gut and snuggled into his armpit.
“How’s Giselle?” I asked scared to hear the answer.
“She’s great as far as I know her body has accepted the liver with no problems. Alise said your dad was there again today to see her, I guess him and Shane stayed in the city a few days. She’s doing amazing. He doesn’t even worry about you though. He believes that lie about you being at the celebrity liver clinic. I knew it was bullshit the minute your sister told me about it.”
“Yeah I couldn’t believe that weirdo had been able to trick my dad, of all of the people in the world I would not call gullible. He bought it though, it was strange.”
“I was scared you were dead or something and he just couldn’t cope with it.”
I hugged him tighter, “I would have haunted
you a little, you would have known.”
He laughed, “Yeah I expect you to haunt me when you die.”
I felt so happy for Giselle, if anyone deserved a happy ending in all of this nonsense it was her.
I must have fallen asleep as I woke many hours later to an empty room and daylight streaming through the huge windows.
The room was warm, I felt revived and rejuvenated. I didn’t know how to respond to waking without the feeling of wanting to go back to sleep. It had been so long since I’d been healthy and not depressed. Sleep had been my companion over the course of the last ten months. I worried Blake was gone but I climbed out of his bed and walked to the family room hoping I would find him at the computer.