by ID Johnson
With that, I started laughing hysterically. It wasn’t that funny of a joke—of course they’d know what the word “hi” means. But the fact that he knew I was with them, that I’d already told them everything he said, spoke volumes to me. I got the idea he was crossing a few boundaries he wasn’t supposed to in letting me know what little parts of the truth he could reveal, and I appreciated it. Why he would take this sort of risk was beyond me, but the more I got to know Dr. Elliott Sanderson, the more I liked him. Whoever, or whatever, he was.
Chapter 19
There was just about a week before school got out for Christmas break, and we all should’ve been excited about the upcoming holidays, but something thick hung in the air around my school and even at home. Whispers in the hallway between classes told me Jack Cook wasn’t getting any better. My parents didn’t know when I could overhear their solemn conversations about Cadence and if she was getting in over her head. I continued to worry, to take notes, to discuss with my friends, but I still had no idea what was going on with Cadence.
I was at Lucy’s studying for a biology test we’d be having on Friday, which happened to be the last day before Christmas break, when my mom called. I knew it had to be important because she never called me when I was studying. “Hello?” I asked, bracing myself against the fear that began to grow inside of me each time my phone rang.
“Cass, honey, something’s happened. I’m on my way over. I’ll be there in just a minute.”
A lump formed in my throat. “Is… is everything okay? Is it Cadence?”
“Your sister’s fine, honey. Just pack up and meet me outside Lucy’s house in a minute, okay?”
“Okay,” I replied, hanging up and putting my phone in my back pocket.
“What’s going on?” Lucy asked. Milo and Wes were there, and I could even see concern in Emma’s face, which was rare.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, packing my books into my backpack. “She just said something’s happened, and she’s coming to get me.”
“It’s not your sister?” Emma asked.
“No.”
“Maybe your grandma?” Wes asked.
I glanced at him. That hadn’t even occurred to me. “Maybe.”
I began to walk out of Lucy’s bedroom, headed for the stairwell. All four of them followed me.
Lucy was on my heels. “Do you think your mom will come in and tell you?”
“No.” I reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped, turning to face them. “I’ll let you know.” I had my coat over my arm and thought I should probably put it on, but I wasn’t thinking clearly so when I turned to walk outside, it was still not on.
My mom’s van was pulling to a stop in the driveway. I told my friends goodbye and ran out to get in. The bitter December breeze cut through my sweater like it was nothing, and I was glad my mom had the heat on high.
“Honey, put on your coat,” she scolded as I clicked my seat belt. “You’ll catch your death of cold.” As if her words, a sentence she’d said to me a million times before, were suddenly poison, she made a terrible face and then backed the van down the drive.
I knew immediately someone was dead. “Mom, who is it?” I asked, names and faces flickering through my mind. “Where’s dad?”
“He’s on his way home from work,” she assured me. “Let’s wait until we get home.”
“No,” I insisted. I thought of my aunt and uncle, my two younger cousins. It could be any of them. But I knew in my heart it wasn’t. “Mom, is it… Jack?”
My mom was headed down the street going slightly over the speed limit, but that didn’t stop her from turning to look at me. “How did you know that?” she asked, her words slow, even if her driving wasn’t.
Tears were already stinging my eyes as I thought about the boy, the man, that my sister had dated for so long. He’d been like a brother to me. Always so kind and considerate. Such an outstanding citizen. “Is he… dead?”
She cleared her throat, and I could see she was fighting back tears of her own. “I wanted to wait until we got home to tell you, Cassidy,” she said quietly.
I settled back into my seat and turned my head so that I was facing the front of the van, but I wasn’t seeing anything. Not the road or the trees or the houses or any of it. I didn’t want my mom to try and drive while she was crying, so I was silent.
We reached our house, and my mom pulled into the garage. In a trance, I got out of the car and followed her inside. I went straight to the couch and sat down, waiting for my mother to situate herself near me. “Cassidy, he was sick. He’d contracted something from a foreign exchange student. The doctors did everything they could to make him better, but they couldn’t save him.”
There was no holding back the tears now as I began to sob. My mom wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her shoulder, smoothing my hair as she whispered reassuring phrases, like, “It’s okay. It’ll be all right. Take a deep breath.”
But I knew that it wasn’t all right. That nothing was ever going to be all right again. I knew things I wasn’t supposed to know about people I’d never even met—like Jamie and Eliza. My mom had no idea that I was more afraid than anything that Jack wasn’t dead—that he was undead. What if my sister had done this to Jack, created a monster out of the boyfriend she used to love so much? Maybe she’d gone to Paris to evade whatever heat the other vampires had put on her for creating a new bloodsucker without permission.
Or maybe Jack really was dead, and all of this nonsense was just that—childish stories I’d been telling myself in an attempt to make peace with Drew’s death. But what were the chances that two of my sister’s friends would die so close together? Both under very mysterious circumstances. None of it made any sense, and I had absolutely no one in the world I could talk to about any of it.
I was inconsolable for the next fifteen minutes or so until I was finally all out of tears and began to heave air into my body with each breath, shaking, trying to regain control of my spasming lungs. My dad came in, and that made it worse. His long arms created a protective cocoon around my mom and myself, but I knew it was all a façade. There really was no security.
Eventually, I began to still, no longer able to produce any tears or even a noise. My parents continued to hold me, and even though I began to feel a bit selfish that I was so upset about a friend of my sister’s, I couldn’t speak. My dad stood, pulling me up with him, and with his arms still around me, he walked me upstairs to my bedroom. He pulled the covers down for me, and I slipped out of my shoes and fell into my bed.
Dad sat down on the edge of my bed as I wiped at my tear streaked face with the back of my hand. He smoothed my hair and kissed my forehead. “I know how badly this hurts, Cassidy. Jack was like a brother to you. He was a good person. I’m so, so sorry.”
Lots of thoughts filled my mind, like the fact that my dad loved Jack, too, that I knew he was also hurting. But I couldn’t say anything. My body continued to vibrate and every once in a while, it would give a violent shake. “Your sister is in Lincoln with Steve and Alice. She should be home tomorrow, for a little while.”
I knew he added on that last bit, so I would know it wasn’t over yet, that she would be headed back to Kansas City eventually. I guess Elliott hadn’t been successful in getting my sister to quit the team. I only nodded at my dad. I was glad Cadence was there, and I wondered if she’d been there when Jack passed away, but I couldn’t ask that right now. There’d be another funeral. This time, I would go. They wouldn’t be able to keep me from attending Jack Cook’s funeral. I owed him that, at least.
My dad stood and pulled the blinds shut. I thought of all the strange things I’d seen out that window lately and wondered what they had to do with all of this. I shuddered again and closed my eyes, thinking sleep was the only way to escape the nightmare my life had become.
“We’ll call you down for dinner in a while, honey. Try and get some sleep.”
I made a noise that sounded a little bit
like a bleating lamb and closed my eyes, happy to let the darkness overtake me. I knew I’d promised to let my friends know, but that would have to wait until later. I let myself drift off into oblivion to a world where people’s friends didn’t die, old men didn’t wear young men’s faces, and no one’s sister ever turned into a vampire.
Chapter 20
School was cancelled for the rest of the week, which was just as well because no one would be going anyway. We would have our finals when we returned from our two-week Christmas break, and the little kids would have a winter party instead of a Christmas party upon their return. Plans were adjusted, schedules were changed, people did what needed to be done to get by since our small community had lost a second young life inside of a month’s time.
I’d slept late into the morning, which was unusual for me, but despite my nap, I was completely exhausted in every way imaginable. The night before, my parents had gotten me out of bed long enough to pick at a piece of chicken, but the last thing I wanted to do was eat. By the time I’d checked my phone, everyone already knew, so I didn’t bother to text anything back except for to let Lucy, Emma, Milo, and Wes know that I was okay. If that was the case, it didn’t feel like it, but I could hardly tell them how I really felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my body and crushed it before my very eyes.
It was midafternoon when we heard a car pull into our driveway. My dad and mom exchanged glances, and I swiped at my eyes again. We all knew Cadence would be home that day; I just had no idea who she would be when she got here.
We all went to the door to greet her. Something about her looked different again. She was wearing a faux smile, and I could tell that she’d been crying some, too, though I knew her eyes were not as puffy as mine. Her skin had a sheen to it I couldn’t quite place. I didn’t understand why I felt like grim death and my sister, Jack’s ex-girlfriend, looked like a supermodel.
I was relieved to see she wasn’t alone. After she’d hugged all of her family members, Cadence said, “Mom, Dad, Cass, you’ve all met Elliott. And this is Hannah.”
I smiled at Elliott the best I could, and the look in his eyes when he looked at me was nothing but empathetic. I wondered if he could climb inside of my head now and convince me that it was okay that Jack had died. I think I would’ve welcomed it.
Hannah was tall and thin, though not as tall as my sister, and she had long strawberry-blonde hair. She wore a professional looking skirt and jacket with a turtleneck under it, all in matching tones of gray. If I had to guess, I’d say she was in her mid-thirties, but at this point, I knew there was no way to tell. “Cassidy,” she said, her voice like a song, “it is so very nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.” I took her outstretched hand, and the moment I did, a wave of warmth hit me. Suddenly, the despair I’d been holding on to since my mother had given me the news seemed to fall away, and I could breathe again.
I looked at Elliott, and he smiled at me just long enough for me to understand that Hannah had some sort of ability, too, and that it was okay for me to give in to it. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” I said to Hannah. We all headed into the living room to make small talk and pretend like Jack wasn’t dead, and I could see that my sister looked more haggard now than she had in the direct sunlight of the front porch. She sat next to me and put her arm around my shoulders. I let her lean her head on my arm and pretend like she was the same sister I’d had not long ago, the one I knew and trusted. I wasn’t sure what she was now, and I didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t tell me. Still, she was obviously hurting. Maybe I didn’t see it at first because of whatever Hannah was doing to her, doing to us.
As my dad took his usual seat, he asked, “Where’s Aaron?”
“Billings,” Elliott said. “He’ll be here in a day or two.”
My dad nodded in understanding and the conversation rolled along, but all I could think about was whether or not this was actually my sister next to me or just something that looked mostly like her.
Elliott was sitting on her other side, sitting close, very close. And as we continued to talk, I noticed that my sister reached over with her free hand and took ahold of his. This seemed odd to me. I wasn’t sure if Cadence was just trying to stabilize her emotions by having direct contact with the two of us or if something else was going on. Was there more than just a friendship between the two of them?
“How are Alice and Steve?” my mom asked, crossing her legs and leaning forward in her recliner, as she had a tendency to do when she was nervous.
Cadence sat up only slightly. “They’re about as well as can be expected.” Her voice was solemn. “I’m sure it will take a very long time for them to go through the grieving process.”
Hannah spoke up in her soft voice from where she sat on the love seat across from my parents. “The grieving process is so vitally important for each of us to go through in order to return to any semblance of normalcy once we have a devastating loss of this nature.”
Both of my parents nodded and agreed, and I noticed again how clinical her voice sounded. “Are you a counselor of some sort?” I asked, hoping my tone seemed inquisitive and not at all accusatory, since I didn’t mean the question to come across that way. But I was suspicious of everyone.
Hannah looked at me and smiled. She was pretty in an unassuming way, and she sort of reminded me of the lady who plays Rayna on Nashville. “I am,” she said, her voice very calm. I nodded. I wanted to ask why Cadence brought along her own personal grief counselor, but I thought that might seem aggressive. “I’m happy to help any of you who might be struggling with the horrible events of the past few weeks.”
My eyes flickered to Elliott, and I silently wondered if this was because he had not done a very good job of helping me “deal” with my “grief.” He smiled at me, a small reassuring gesture, and I quickly put my attention elsewhere, back to Hannah. “Thanks,” was about all I could manage.
“How are the rest of your friends?” my dad asked. He looked at me, and for a moment I thought he might send me out of the room, like all of this was also top-secret, but he didn’t.
Cadence replied, “Okay. They spoke to Elliott and Hannah, and I think that helped.”
My parents nodded, and I pretended like I had no idea what that meant, like I was supposed to think Elliott and Hannah were just good at talking to people instead of knowing what Cadence really meant was that her new friend had brainwashed her gang from high school, and Hannah had used her emotional manipulation, the same good juju I was feeling right now.
I knew I was likely on my way upstairs, so I thought I might as well see if I could get something out of it first. “Do they have any idea what it was that… killed Jack?” I asked, turning my head slightly so that I could look at Cadence. I tried my best not to catch anyone else’s eyes as I was pretty sure they’d interfere with her answer. I took a chance that she might slip up, that she might forget the “don’t tell Cassidy stuff” rule.
“The CDC is looking into it,” Cadence replied. “Once they found his body and had it cremated, I think that they have it under control, but I’m not sure what the autopsy showed.”
I almost smiled. She had said way too much. I could tell by the wide-eyed expression I saw over her shoulder on Elliott’s face. He stammered, “Uh, it’s nothing to worry about, Cassidy. Everything is fine.”
She had messed up. I could tell. I analyzed her answer and saw the fault in it. Since I knew Jack was in the hospital sick for several days before he died, there was no way what she said about “finding” his body made any sense at all, unless they had temporarily lost Jack’s body. How odd. And… why would the CDC cremate a body? Was there even an autopsy?
But I had to play all dumb and innocent, like I didn’t have any idea that what my sister said was unexpected or led me to believe she was lying to me about anything at all. “That’s good,” I said, smiling at Cadence. She wasn’t looking at me, though. Her eyes were darting around, and for a second, I thought it seemed like s
he was talking to someone, the same way Elliott had the other day when he was supposed to be talking to me, but it looked like he was having an internal conversation. I glanced at him, and he was doing the same thing right now. Was it possible they were talking to each other? Using telepathy?
Eventually, Cadence pulled a sort-of creepy smile onto her face. “You know, Cass, everything is just fine. There’s nothing to worry about. I mean, it’s unfortunate that Jack has passed away, don’t get me wrong, but we don’t have to worry about the disease that claimed him.”
I nodded in agreement. “It is too bad that Jack died.” I looked at Elliott whose eyes were narrowed at me, as if he was doing his best to keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t help but let a haunt of a smile slip across my lips, though I was sure he was the only one who would notice. “But… these things happen. We should all be sad that Jack died, but then we need to let it go and get on with our lives. People die.” I shrugged, like it was no skin off my nose that the boy I used to think of as a brother was now tiny bits of ash in a container sitting somewhere on his parents’ mantel awaiting his final send off.
Elliott cleared his voice, obviously perturbed by me. I assumed the rest of the people present would just think he had managed to slip that brainwashing into my vocabulary, but he and I both knew better. “Cassidy, don’t you have… homework or something?”
As a teenage girl, I have perfected the, “I-will-murder-you stare.” I used it on the good doctor now.
“You know, Cassidy, I do think it might be better if you went upstairs for a little while. We need to talk to Cadence, and I am sure you don’t want to hear any of the details about Jack’s death.” I knew Elliott’s power of suggestion would work on my mother.
“No, of course I don’t want to,” I lied, turning to look at my parental units. “I think I’ll go upstairs.” Cadence let go of me, and I stood. I gave her a sympathetic look and then turned to Hannah. “It was nice to meet you.” She gave me a small smile, and then, looking directly at Elliott, I said, “I don’t have any homework, but I do have a few phone calls to make.”