Sapphyre_Burden to Bare

by Felicia Leibenguth

  “Oh, Lexi honey, are you okay? How’s Katrina? They wouldn’t let us come back so we’ve been waiting,” Mom talked too fast to let me answer her questions, but she stopped and waited.

  “I’m fine. Katrina, she’s okay, but she has three cracked ribs and she can’t speak. They don’t know if that will be permanent or not yet…” I continued on filling them in on everything that happened in the parking lot too. I figured they would hear sooner or later. Of course, I didn’t tell them about the Vampire issue or that I knew Katrina was being attacked on a regular basis. I didn’t tell them that I was bitten either. I stuck to the same thing I did with the police. I hate to keep secrets from my parents, it’s hard.

  Mom hugged me like she always has when she finds out I was in danger, which has been a lot lately. Dad looked like he needed to beat on something. I had to smile. He looks like I did when I wanted to beat on him. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree that’s for sure.

  While Katrina was sleeping, I stayed in the waiting room with my family for a bit. They were going home soon and wanted to bring my car over from school, so I would have a way home.

  They stayed until about eight-thirty. They wanted to make sure I was going to be okay alone and gave me money for food and whatever else I needed.

  “I wanna stay too,” Bree said adamantly as they’re leaving.

  “It’s okay, I’ll be fine. It will just be boring around here, not much to do,” I told Bree.

  She came up and hugged me again and whispered in my ear, “What if that guy comes in here looking for you?” She sounds stressed.

  I whispered back to her, “I’ll do what I did before, scream.” I let out a low quick laugh. “There are cops here watching the ICU doors just in case that happens, so don’t worry. I’ll be okay. If they get her into a new room, I’ll probably be home tomorrow night. I just want to make sure she has someone here right now because she’s scared. Okay? So, go on home,” I smiled to reassure her.

  “Please be careful. I mean it, Lexi.” I’ve never heard Bree sound so serious. She’s really scared for me. Her eyes darted to my neck once again. “You know the cops can’t stop him…” she whispered.

  My eyes widened. What does she know?

  “Bree,” she cut me off before I can say anything further.

  “Just be careful. Keep your eyes open.” She hugged me and headed toward the door with mom and dad.

  “I promise,” I called to her.

  They all left. Mom and dad hugged me and said they were going to leave some extra clothes in the car for me. I’m thankful for that.

  I feel like the luckiest daughter in the world to have the parents I do. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do for me. I never got yelled at, well that is until they get scared, but what parents don’t yell when they’re scared? If I had a choice to pick my parents or keep the ones I have, I would definitely choose the ones I have, no doubt about it. They’re caring and compassionate and love what they do in life, but they would give everything up for Bree and me.

  I went back to Katrina’s room and sat in the reclining chair the nurse brought in for me. They put it on the far end of the room, by the windows. I guess so I won’t be in their way during the night. They weren’t going to let me stay, but I always tend to get my way, well… sometimes. I put my feet up and leaned back. It’s very quiet except for the beeping and the dripping of the IV. The blood bag’s gone, which is nice. It started to gross me out just thinking about it. Human blood… in a bag, ew.

  I stared at the ceiling. It’s a drop ceiling like at the school. I never did like those ceilings, I don’t know why, they just bug me. I saw a water stain on one of the tiles and I seem to focus on it.

  ***

  The first thing I became aware of is a pain in my back. It feels like I’ve been bending over backward for a very long time. I tried to shift my position, and it helped a little, but I need to stretch it out. The next thing I realize is a light shining in my face. I opened my eyes blinking against the light trying to get adjusted to the brightness. I’m facing the window and the curtains are open. I can see the stone roof of the hospital and out into the parking lot. I can see my car parked as close to the building as possible and I smiled.

  I stretched my arms out in front of me and let out a little moan of relief. I put the recliner back into the sitting position and look over at Katrina. She’s still asleep. The morphine drip apparently doubles as sleeping meds. Poor girl, but she definitely needs the rest.

  As I looked out toward the door, I noticed someone sitting in a chair next to Katrina, holding her hand.

  She looked at me with a smile. She has straight strawberry blonde hair hanging past her shoulders and the same color eyes as Katrina, chocolate brown. Her skin lightly tanned and she looks to be about… forty-three. I would bet anything that this is Katrina’s mom. So, the hospital did get a hold of her. I breathed a sigh of relief that she’s okay.

  She’s still smiling at me while I’m lost in thought. When my eyes met hers again, she spoke, “Thank you for being here with her. You don’t know how much that means to me.” She held a tear in her eye.

  “Not a problem. You must be Ms. Morrison, her mom,” I smiled.

  “Yes, and you must be Lexi, the friend I’m always hearing about. I’m glad she has you. And please, call me Emily,” She smiled sincerely.

  “I told her I’m always here for her and I’m one to keep my word.”

  “I see,” she said in the same friendly tone, then her voice became grave. “Do you know what happened to her? Who may have done this?”

  “I don’t know exactly what happened to her, but I did meet him in the school parking lot where I found her.”

  “Yes, I did hear about that. You saved her life. I don’t know how to thank you for saving my little girl.”

  “No thanks needed. I’m just glad she’s going to be okay. Well for the most part. I’m sure you’ve already spoken to the doctor?”

  “Yes,” She looked at Katrina with saddened eyes. “Do you remember the description of the person who did this to her, the one you saw in the parking lot?” she asked desperately.

  “Yeah, I told the police. He was tall, muscular and had dark hair and bright green eyes…” I stopped because Katrina’s mom, Emily, has a look of horror on her face.

  It took her a moment to speak, and when she did, it’s strained. “Do you know what he was wearing?” she choked out.

  It took me a moment to think. Why’s she so horrified all of a sudden? I eventually spoke after a moment of thought. “Umm… he was wearing black leather. His jacket and pants were leather except for his black t-shirt.”

  Her eyes became large and her mouth opened with a whooshing sound like she just realized something… this doesn’t look good.

  Time

  “Are you sure about that?” Emily whispered quietly.

  “Yes… what’s wrong? Do you know him?” Of course, I know she doesn’t.

  She shook her head. She’s quiet for a moment then began to speak in a quiet voice. “No, but I did see him,” she paused.

  My body stiffened, horror spread through me. I looked at Katrina and noticed a slight movement of her face. Her eyebrows scrunched down the tiniest bit. I’m surprised I noticed. I know she’s awake now, but I guess she wants to hear what her mom has to say first.

  “I had to work a double yesterday, but after I got the phone call from the hospital, I rushed out to the parking lot. When I was getting close to my car, I noticed a man coming toward me. He didn’t look friendly, and I was suddenly terrified. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt the urge to run. I never reacted like that before. I didn’t have much time to think. He was maybe fifteen feet away when something came flying out of the nearby trees and attacked him. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it looked like a very large dog. The man took off back into the trees and the dog was right behind him. That’s when I took my chance and ran to my car. But… the man looked exactly like you just desc
ribed.” She stared wide-eyed at me. Like she’s looking for me to say something, but I can’t, I’m in shock.

  My mouth gaped open. The missing school records, he took them! He was going to kill her! But, whatever attacked him saved her life. I glanced at Katrina again and this time I noticed a big change in her face. She looks angry and relieved at the same time. It’s a confusing expression.

  We sat in silence. Apparently, Katrina felt the need to wake up from her ease-dropping. She’s a good actress at pretending to wake up. She did it exactly right. Fluttering her eyes and rubbing them with her hand. She looked around and showed relief and happiness when she saw her mom like she didn’t hear a word.

  Their eyes connected and Ms. Morison looks relieved. Tears started to pour. I decided I would give them some time alone since I’ve been with her since yesterday. I’m sure her mom wants time with her. I looked at Katrina and she looked between me and her mom for a moment and I took that as my cue to leave. I excused myself telling them I would be back later. I walked back down the now familiar hall, out to the front doors and headed down the sidewalk to the parking lot. It’s quite a walk, especially being the emergency entrance. I’d think the walk would be shorter, but at least the sun is out, though it’s still cold. I’m glad I thought to bring my jacket with me. I guess winter is finally coming in.

  Sigh… snow…

  I found my dark purple Sebring in the parking lot. I remembered seeing it from the window earlier. The key is in the glove box and the doors are unlocked. My extra clothes sat in the passenger seat. Mom thought of everything right down to my socks. Not to mention the food she left. Did she think I was going to starve to death or did she think I was going camping in the wilderness for a week? It looked like she went grocery shopping. Knowing mom, she probably did. There are all kinds of snacks and even my favorite breakfast food. I stood shaking my head smiling. Mom…

  I grabbed my clothes, and a frozen breakfast sandwich, which is still icy cold from the lunch pail. It looked to be an egg and sausage one. I would usually grab one before school in the morning, but I didn’t yesterday because we were out. So, mom did go shopping. I laughed. Mom’s funny. Speaking of school, I guess I’m missing today. Oh well, it really doesn’t bother me any. We’re not really doing anything in my classes today, anyway. It’s not like I have a quiz, test, or a paper due which is nice for once. Lately, I’ve been hammered with homework and tests; it was starting to get really agitating.

  I walked into the bathroom and changed my clothes taking my time. Mom knew exactly what to grab, or it could have been Bree. I looked in the mirror and became horrified. My poor hair looks like it’s been tossed around in a tornado it’s so frizzy and tangled. I sighed and tried to pull my fingers through it. There are a lot of knots, but when I’m sure I got every knot, I put water on my hands and pulled that through my hair to calm the frizz. It helped a little. I reached into my old jeans pocket and got out a hair tie and pulled my hair back in a loose messy bun. It looks much better and presentable. I don’t want to scare anyone sending them out of the hospital screaming. I smiled.

  Entering the snack room, I threw my sandwich in the microwave for two minutes. While that cooked, I looked in the vending machine. Mom and dad gave me plenty of money to get anything I wanted while I’m here. I decided to get some gum and a banana nut muffin to go with my sandwich. I also saw on the next machine over, they have hot cocoa, so I got one of those too. What a well-balanced breakfast, hot cocoa, muffin, a breakfast sandwich and some gum for afterward. The breakfast of champions.

  I went back down to the waiting room to eat. I took my time chewing each bite leisurely. I want to kill as much time as possible. There isn’t anything else to do around here. My mind started to wander, which ended up being a bad thing. I started to think about Ms. Morison’s encounter with him. She could have been killed or maybe he was planning to injure her like Katrina, but that’s unlikely. She would have known about his existence and he clearly has a problem with people knowing about him. But something else is bugging me. It’s how I found Katrina. Why didn’t he just finish her off? He very easily could have, and why did he bring her to the school? Was he hoping I would come looking for her like I did? Was he just sending Katrina a final warning? For that matter why didn’t he kill me? He’s threatened her many times that he would. But what was he going to do with her mom, kill her? Then what leverage would he have? At that point Katrina probably wouldn’t want to keep fighting if her entire family was dead because of him. Or did he have other plans for Emily, but what? I thought of what she said about something coming out of the woods to attack him, she said it looked like a large dog. What could that have been? What would attack a Vampire? I just shook my head. I don’t know what to think.

  A thought flashed through my mind.

  The wolf… Katrina believed Zach was something of the Supernatural, she thought maybe he was a Vampire, but could he be something else? If Vampires existed, what else is real? This sounds so crazy, but could it be possible Zach is the wolf? Is that what came out of the woods to save Katrina’s mom - Emily?

  I did feel compelled to follow the wolf. But for some reason, when I reached the edge of the woods, I don’t remember entering them… I know something happened, but I don’t remember. All I know is I went outside after the wolf, got to the edge of the woods, then the next I knew I was waking up in my bedroom very sick… Nothing in between… It frustrates me! Why can’t I remember!?

  I thought about it, and then thought about when the Vampire sank his fangs into my neck… it reminded me of something that happened, but again, I could not recall anything. It’s going to start driving me crazy if I keep thinking about it.

  A golden brown-haired woman entered the hospital, walking casually in no hurry. When she started to walk past the waiting room, she looked over at me and our eyes connected. My mind suddenly raced with thoughts of Zach. I felt my face fall as short memories of our time together came flooding back. My heart started to hurt and my stomach ached. I miss him so much, it’s almost impossible to say how much. I want him with me. I always have a small pain in my heart that flares up every time I think of him, even for a brief moment. It’s like feeding a fire when it starts to smolder, I throw in wood and the flames flare up again. Why hasn’t he come back to talk to me? I still don’t have a clue what Bree said to him that day when he showed up un-expectantly. Could what she said, pushed him away forever? Forever… no! I couldn’t handle never seeing Zach again! He’s a part of me. It hurt to think of him and my stomach started to hurt. I felt a small stabbing pain, and I thought I was going to throw up for a minute. I tried to stop thinking about Zach so the pain would subside, but it’s difficult… I feel like crying, I feel alone, completely alone… and lost.

  I didn’t realize the woman had approached me, sitting in the chair across from me.

  I looked up at her with tears pricking at my eyes.

  She leaned forward in a motherly fashion, placing her hand on my knee. I looked at her hand, then up to her face. She’s a beautiful woman, possibly in her late thirties, early forties. Has short golden-brown hair that hangs in waves just past her ears. Then noticed her eyes… The outside rim of the iris is a brownish color, and as the color becomes closer to her pupil, it turns to a bright green. Beautiful… but strange.

  “Are you okay sweetheart?” she asked in a soft voice.

  I wiped a tear that had escaped down my cheek and tried to smile. “Yeah, just miss someone I haven’t seen in a while I guess. You just reminded me of him for some reason.”

  She smiled. “Well, I’m sure he misses you too child.” She removed her hand and sat back, seeming to study me. “If you don’t mind me prying, what is it you miss about him?”

  I’m a bit confused as to why this stranger was asking me that, but I was even more confused when I felt compelled to answer her.

  “Everything… His smile, his warmth, the way he looks at me, even his smell. I feel safe when I’m with him… I just want…
” I can’t finish as my words start to choke me. A lump filled my throat.

  She smiled and grabbed my hand. “Sounds like you really care about him. Love him even.”

  I nodded, “I do… I truly do,” I sighed. “But it doesn’t matter. He’s been avoiding me. I don’t know if he will ever return and it’s… it’s killing me.” I wiped another tear from my cheek.

  “I’m sure everything will work out. Just be patient.” She patted my hand and stood up. She smiled warmly, “He is lucky to have you, and you him.”

  I nodded with a smile.

  “I must get going before I’m late.” She laughed lightly. “You take care, and I hope we meet again someday.”

  “Me too,” I smiled.

  She walked down the hall toward the elevators and disappeared.

  Well… that was… weird? Is that the right word to use? I shook my head.

  I looked up at the clock and somehow managed to kill three hours. So, I started back down to the ICU to see Katrina.

  When I got back to Katrina’s room, she wasn’t there. Before I could ask, the nurse told me where to find her.

  “Oh, they moved her up to the third floor, room 320. She’s doing too well to be in the ICU.” The nurse smiled and turned to do her business.

  “Thank you,” I said as I walked past her.

  I headed to the elevator and quickly found her room. Her mom’s still with her and she’s talking, so I didn’t want to intrude, but Katrina saw me and quickly waved me in.

  Reunion

  It was a long day sitting at the hospital with Katrina and her mom. Ms. Morison never brought up the story she told me about him and I’m sure she’s afraid to tell Katrina, but K already knows. Katrina’s very good at hiding her emotions when she really needs to. I got the impression that she always tries to stay strong for her mom, to be supportive rather than a burden.