by M. Leighton
It was near supper time and he was probably cooking. Again.
I started apologizing as soon as he opened the screen. “I’m so sorry, Mr.
Grant. I’ve come at a bad time again. And without calling, too.” I cringed. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop by to see Savannah another time.”
“Don’t be silly,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “She’s in her room. Come on in.”
The strong scents of Italian food smacked me in the face as soon as I stepped into the foyer.
“Mmm, something smells amazing.” For a moment, I felt a pang of envy, wishing that I came home every day to a house that smelled like spaghetti and a parent that actually cooked.
“Lasagna,” he said with a broad smile. “Secret family recipe. You ought to stay and eat with us.”
“Thank you, but I shouldn’t.”
“You know, you’re going to have to take me up on dinner one of these days, right?”
“I will.”
“I’m a gourmet chef. You just don’t know what you’re missing.”
I grinned. Somehow I thought Mr. Grant might be prone to exaggeration.
“Dad, leave her alone. She didn’t come to be pressured into food poisoning.”
“Listen to Miss Smarty Pants back there, ruling from her throne,” he teased.
“Just because you don’t know how to appreciate food doesn’t mean I’m not a gourmet chef. And I haven’t given anybody food poisoning in years,” he said, winking at me.
“Ridley, walk away. Right now. Just turn left and walk away.”
Mr. Grant chuckled and tipped his head, indicating that I should proceed to Savannah’s room.
As I approached the hallway, I saw that the ball-of-fur dog that Savannah had named after a feline was crashed on his side, right in my way.
“Hi, Kitty,” I said, bending down to scratch the dog behind its ears. He closed his eyes and grunted. “Oh, that feels good, huh?”
He grunted again, as if in agreement.
I straightened, stepped over him and continued my path on to Savannah’s room, chuckling all the way at a dog named “Kitty.”
“You saved me!” Savannah sighed dramatically when I stepped into her bright room. “He’s driving me insane.”
I had no doubt she was referring to her dad.
“Oh, yeah. It must be terrible to have a dad who loves you to distraction and cooks you dinner every night.”
“But he-he—” She growled, tripping over her words. “You don’t… I-I.”
Savannah finally stopped trying to stammer her way through reasons she didn’t like her awesome dad. With a sigh, she rolled her eyes. “Eh, you’re right. He’s pretty cool.”
“Much better,” I said as I sat down on the end of her bed. “So, wha’cha been up to?”
“You mean besides driving a bus full of kindergartners around town and practicing my blindfold-less knife-throwing act for the circus?”
“Of course.”
“Not much,” she admitted. “How was school? Give me the goods,” she demanded, pulling her legs under her and getting comfortable for a dump truck load of gossip.
“Believe it or not, there’s not much to tell. No one knows what happened to Drew. Summer’s wanted for questioning and Aisha turned up at school. Unless, of course, you listen to the rumor mill. According to those reports, Summer is a winged creature and Drew joined a rock band and is currently touring the lower forty-nine.”
Savannah barely batted an eye. “And Jason?”
“Oh, I forgot about Jason. He’s the one the winged Summer flew off with.”
“Naturally.”
I had to grin.
“And Aisha? What’s her deal?”
I snorted for effect. “She has no clue where she was all weekend. Must’ve been some kind of bender.”
Only I knew that it wasn’t. I couldn’t very well tell her what Aisha had told me, though. Besides, what I really wanted to talk about had nothing to do with Aisha. Or the other three for that matter.
“So, how have you been? Seen anything strange lately?”
Savannah’s face tightened noticeably and she got up to close her bedroom door.
“I know it sounds insane, but I also know what I saw.”
“I didn’t say you sounded insane.”
“You didn’t have to.”
True. I thought she was imagining things and she knew that’s what I thought.
But somewhere in the back of my mind, when I put it in the context of all the crazy things I’d seen in the last few months, it didn’t seem so farfetched anymore.
“Alright, it sounds crazy, but I believe you, whether you think I do or not.”
Savannah softened.
“Believe me, I wondered about it myself when I first saw him standing there.
But then, when he spoke and then he touched me…”
As I listened to Savannah, I found myself sympathizing with her, with her need to believe that Devon hadn’t left her, that he was back, that he was…
I grabbed Savannah’s hand, feeling a sudden urgency come over me.
“At the dance, you said Devon was going to see you later. Did he?”
Savannah’s face fell a bit.
“No. I haven’t seen him since.”
I could tell that admitting that came at a great cost, the cost of some of her faith in what she believed she saw.
“Well, things happen. You know how it is. Plans change.”
She nodded, but I could see that it really didn’t make her feel any better.
“I know what I saw, Ridley.” Her voice was quiet and her eyes were sad as she looked in my general direction, unseeing. “I know it was him. I know it.”
It sounded like she was trying to convince herself she’d seen Devon as much as me. My heart wrenched for her.
“Could you see anything else when you saw him? I mean, describe it.
Describe what you saw.”
Savannah’s face lit up as she thought about it.
“It was amazing. I was dancing with Zach and the entire world was dark all around me, just like it has been since the accident. But then I saw this blurry light spot near the double doors. I blinked a few times, but it didn’t go away. I watched it move around the back wall of the gym, almost like it was circling us or maybe even like it was circling me. ”
Savannah laughed.
“For a second, I thought maybe I was dying. Isn’t that stupid?” she asked.
I laughed, too, even though I didn’t think anything about her story was funny.
If anything, it was getting scarier by the minute.
“I would never admit this to anybody else, but since I lost my sight, I’ve thought a lot about death. There have been more than a few times that I’ve even prayed for it.”
“Savan—”
“I know, I know,” she said, holding up her hand to stop me. “I’m fine now.
It’s just been…hard.”
“But that’s what we’re—”
“Anyway,” she interrupted pointedly right before she cleared her throat and continued, obviously not interested in pursuing that subject. “I watched it move over toward the other door, the one that leads back out into the hall in front of the bathrooms. I thought it was waiting to take me to heaven. Assuming that God would even want a dork like me up there with Him,” she said self-deprecatingly.
“Savannah,” I began, but she shushed me.
“So, when the song was over, I made my excuses to Zach and I followed it out the door and down the hall to the bathroom.”
Savannah started to smile—a huge, gleeful spread of the lips that brought out her dimples and made her eyes sparkle.
“As soon as I stepped through the door, I could see him. I couldn’t see anything else. Everything else was black, just like always. But I could see him, plain as day, and that’s all that matters.”
“What did he look like?”
“Heavenly. Gorgeous. Just like always,” s
he said as she sighed adoringly.
But then, she wrinkled her brow a tiny bit and pursed her lips. “Well, maybe he looked a little different, not exactly like he did. But maybe that’s just because it’s been so long since I’ve seen anything that nothing would look the same to me now.”
“Different? Different how?”
She tilted her head to one side in thought. “Um, he seemed maybe a little paler and his eyes might’ve looked a little different, too.”
“Like how?”
“I don’t know. Lighter maybe, but also less…carefree or something, like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
“And he told you not to tell anyone, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he say why?”
“Nope. And I don’t need to know. He trusted me and I don’t intend to disappoint him.”
I tried to choose my words carefully.
“Savannah, what if he’s in some kind of trouble?”
I saw the shadow of doubt cross her face, but then she shook it away.
“The only thing he asked me to do was to keep him a secret, so that’s what I’m going to do. Period.”
I knew by the stubborn tilt of her chin that I wasn’t going to get her to change her mind. The best I could hope for was to influence future visits.
“When you see him next time, would you do me a favor? Would you ask him to come and see me?”
She hesitated.
“Look, if he knows anything about what might’ve happened to Bo, then I want to know. Surely you can understand that.”
Though terribly unfair, I pulled the Bo card, knowing it would get to her.
She knew how it felt to have someone you love disappear without a trace. She also knew how it felt to have them return to you. Savannah was too kindhearted to begrudge me that if she could help it.
“Alright, but I can’t make any promises. He’s probably going to be mad that I told you anyway.”
“You had no choice. I nearly ran into him in the bathroom, remember? He doesn’t have to know that I didn’t see him, too.”
I quickly turned the conversation to less upsetting things to keep it light during the last half of my visit. When Mr. Grant came and knocked on Savannah’s door, I figured it was probably time for the normal people to eat, which meant I needed to leave.
Savannah walked down the hall with me, but when we got to the end, I told her, “I can see myself out. You go eat.”
“Are you sure you can make it all the way over there without the help of a blind girl?” She was referring to the front door that was all of fifteen feet away
“I think I can handle it.”
“If you’re sure…”
“Go eat, goofy.”
Savannah grinned and headed into the kitchen.
“Ridley,” Mr. Grant called before I’d even taken my second step.
“Sir?”
“Why don’t you come for dinner Wednesday night? We’re having tacos.
Surely I can’t screw up a taco.”
Savannah coughed pointedly and I had to smile.
“Come on, Ridley. Put the poor guy out of his misery. Maybe he’ll quit trying to be a chef if he hears the sounds of someone besides me puking after dinner.”
“Well, since it’s for a good cause,” I said, agreeing.
“Alright. We’ll eat at 6:00. Come as early as you want. Maybe you can keep this one from sulking,” he said, tipping his head toward Savannah, who then stuck her tongue out at him. Or at least in his general direction.
“I can try.”
Savannah turned and stuck her tongue out at me, too.
On the short drive home, I pondered Savannah. And Devon. I couldn’t help but wonder what Savannah was seeing. Was he just a figment of her imagination?
A manifestation of her intense desire not only to see again, but to see Devon again as well? Could she be seeing a ghost or some other type of otherworldly being? Or, was it possible that Devon was a vampire and Savannah was somehow seeing him?
Leaving my right hand on the steering wheel, I rubbed at my throbbing temple with the fingertips of my other. Too many questions, not nearly enough answers.
I pulled into the driveway, leaving plenty of room for Mom to slide her car in beside mine, and turned off the engine. The house was dark and empty and I thought of Savannah’s warm home with longing. Maybe I should’ve stayed for dinner.
“Too late now,” I said to the empty car as I opened the door to get out.
Inside, I put my things away, changed clothes and went to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. I took the plain ham and cheese back to my room to munch on while I read over some Chemistry notes for an upcoming test. As I bit into the cold meat, I thought again of Savannah’s family. Even though it was just her and her dad, there was so much more normalcy there. I felt guilty for the wave of envy that washed over me.
A while later, when I’d become firmly ensconced in the amalgamation of gold and mercury, I heard a noise at my window. My stomach lurched in response.
I’d been so absorbed in my homework that Bo had managed to sneak up on me, which wasn’t easy considering that my body seemed to continually search the environment for any sign of him, for any indication that he might be near.
I slid excitedly off the bed and hurried to the window and threw it open. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late. Someone was already standing inside my room, only it wasn’t Bo.
CHAPTER NINE
My heart was slamming around inside my chest like a pinball gone wild. My breath shuddered in and out through my trembling lips. My mind scurried frantically over a thousand less-than-helpful things.
“Drew.”
Even if he hadn’t gotten into my room so fast that I could barely track him, I would’ve known he was a vampire. He was different. I could feel it. I could smell it, too. He reeked of pine, something I’d never smelled on him before tonight.
If none of my other senses had worked, though, I would’ve been able to see the changes. His skin was ghostly white with a dark webbing of veins visible underneath and his lips were ruby red, looking almost stained. I realized with a start that there was blood on them. And it appeared to be fresh.
My stomach roiled with nausea and I looked up to meet his pale, milky-green eyes. They were trained on me and they looked ravenous.
My one coherent thought was that he couldn’t have been the one to attack me in the woods the night of the bonfire. Drew must’ve been turned sometime later.
The question was: by whom?
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the cheater,” he said in a low voice as he approached me.
I hated myself for stumbling backwards, but I did. I couldn’t stand the thought of him being anywhere near me.
“What do you want, Drew?”
“What do you think I want, T?”
The use of his pet name for me reminded me that this was, in fact, the guy for whom I had once harbored a true affection. Though that thought gave me a bit more compassion for him, it did little to put me at ease. There was something in his face that said he was here to take what he wanted, whatever he wanted.
“It doesn’t matter, because you’re not staying.” I took another step away from him.
“And I suppose that you’re going to make me leave. Is that it?”
He advanced two steps, bringing me within his long arms’ reach.
“I shouldn’t have to, Drew. You’re not this guy. Come on.”
“What if I am? I thought you liked ‘this guy’?”
“I liked you just the way you were.”
“Just not enough.”
“I can’t help the way I feel, Drew.”
“Well, neither can I,” he said softly, reaching out to twirl a lock of my hair around his finger. “Did you ever want me, T?”
His eerie pale eyes were focused on the curl that he held, but there was something about the way he asked the question that gave me a rush of fear.
“Drew, I-I. You know I- when we—”
“You were always a terrible liar, T,” he said. And when his eyes met mine again, I had one instant of warning before he grabbed me. Not that it mattered; he was a hundred times faster than me. There was no way I could have avoided him.
Steely fingers wrapped around my upper arms, squeezing so tight I thought my bones would snap. I gasped in pain just as Drew’s lips smothered mine.
He forced his tongue through my half-parted lips, bringing with it the metallic taste of blood. I used mine to try and push it back out, but he was very forceful. I raised my hands to push at his chest, but it was like trying to move a two-ton boulder. He didn’t budge. He was stronger than anyone, any thing I’d ever encountered. Even though I was sure Bo was stronger, he had never tried to force himself on me.
One hand let go of my arm to palm the back of my head, tilting it slightly so that he could deepen the kiss. I couldn’t pull away; he held my face snugly to his.
I made noises of objection in my throat, noises he completely disregarded. It wasn’t until I felt his other hand at my breast that I really started to panic.
I slapped at it, but it was no use. He was so incredibly strong that I felt like a child struggling to fight him off.
Something sharp grazed my lip and I tasted warm, fresh blood. Mine. That’s when Drew’s reaction, and his intention, changed.
A low growl started in the back of his throat and his mouth left mine. He lifted his head briefly so that he could look down into my eyes. I had to wonder why, but when I saw his face, I knew. He wanted me to see him—to see what he’d become, to see what he was going to do, to see what my fate was going to be. He wanted me to see it coming.
His lips curled back from his four razor sharp canines in a devilish sneer. He didn’t bother to hide the delight, the malicious pleasure he was feeling. He had no qualms about taking anything he wanted from me whether I wanted to give it or not.
I closed my eyes against the unavoidable, wishing that I had the strength to fend him off, or that Bo would somehow choose this very minute to come to my window. But when I felt Drew’s lips at my neck and the sharp pinch of his teeth, I knew that no one was going to save me. I was going to die all alone at the hands of a spiteful ex-boyfriend who’d become a monster.