by Jody Klaire
I spun around, ready to block the blow from whoever was ambushing me. No one was there.
Nan sighed. “If you’re that easily spooked. There ain’t no use in continuing.”
Realizing that no monster was ready to attack, I looked around for what caused the noise and saw an open book at my feet.
“You gonna quote me scripture?” I asked, bending down to pick up the Bible.
“I thought it was poetic, seeming as you were thinkin’ on the armor.”
Murmuring an “uh huh,” I scanned over the page, trying to find something that would help me. “Driving out spirits? Great, so now you help with Blob.”
Blob prodded me in the side, making me shiver and yelp at the same time and then Nan poked my other side and I shivered and yelped again.
“Hey, quit it!”
“You want to save Renee don’t you?” Nan asked, her tone cheeky.
“Of course. If I can.”
My eyes tracked to a number from my vision: nine two three. Chapter nine verse twenty three and I read it aloud.
“ ‘If you can?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ ”
I’m used to spooky but the verse and answer made even me blink a couple of times.
“You know how to unlock people’s pasts and truths,” Nan said as I closed the book and returned it to its shelf. “You need to get going though.”
I nodded and hurried around the room, struggling to put my clothes on.
“Why don’t you just heal yourself and be done with it?” she asked as I cussed under my breath with the pain.
“Because,” I mumbled from inside my sweater. “I promised Renee I wouldn’t do it on my own.” I grunted as I bent down to put on my socks. “Besides, I nearly drown when it happens.”
Once dressed and my hunger blunted with toast, I headed out into the cold air, not bothering to clear the path as it was only me trudging through it.
“You got any ideas where I should start?” I asked Nan under my breath, returning the wave of one of the ladies from the field hospital.
“Start with the friendliest face,” Nan whispered into my ear. “But to help you, she needs your help first.”
“More riddles?” I muttered.
“Yup. If you’re gonna ask a ghost for help, the answer’s always gonna be see-through.” Nan’s laughter made another woman look around to see who was chuckling.
“A friendly she. I’m guessing that’s Martha.” I smiled at the thought of breakfast. “At least she can cook.”
“Don’t forget, Shorty,” Nan said as I felt her fading. “Folks don’t always believe, even when it’s right in front of them.”
Alone once more, I was glad to see the sight of the café but I couldn’t help but stare at the police station as I walked. Renee had spent a lonely night in a cell locked in her head with whatever monster was plaguing her. That sucked.
“Ronny, honey,” Martha called out as I opened the café door. “Go take Aeron her breakfast.”
“Yes, Ma,” Ronny mumbled and I took a seat in the empty café. The folks in town had eaten breakfast and were hard at work more than likely. Snow or no snow, St. Jude’s seemed to rumble on like nothing was happening.
As Ronny brought the food to me I caught him wince and his leg wobble.
“You pick up an injury?” I asked.
The sheer panic sucked the color right out of his face and I fought the urge to groan at myself. “You’re walkin’ funny.”
“What’s this?” Martha asked, seeing her son’s expression.
“I . . . it’s nothing, Ma,” he said.
Earl attempted to scuttle out the back as he overheard the conversation and Martha was quick to catch on.
“Earl,” she called. “What’s this about Ronny?”
Ronny sighed, his shoulders sagged, and Earl trundled over to us. Ronny tried to warn his father to keep quiet and I wished I’d kept my mouth shut. Nan said help the woman not cause a family dispute.
“Where’s Zack?” I asked, hoping that they could forget my question and I could eat my breakfast without watching them bicker.
“Upstairs taking a nap,” Martha answered and without so much as pausing for breath she turned to Ronny. “Now you said that the doctor told you it was fine.”
Ronny and his father bore the universal look that said “busted” and I shoveled my food into my mouth, hoping I could at least get through a few bites before the fireworks started.
“Ma, it’s nothing.” Ronny looked at Earl for support. “The doc said it was nothing.”
“Earl?” Martha put her hands on her hips, she knew Ronny was lying, I knew he was lying, and both men knew we knew they were lying. I kept chomping, knowing that Earl was going to have to pull something special out of his greasy overalls to save this one.
Instead, he sighed in defeat and Ronny looked like he wanted to grip his chest with the betrayal.
“Martha, honey,” he said. “Now . . . you hear me out.”
I continued trying to get my food in as fast as I could.
“Earl, what did the doctor say?”
“Now, honey.” Earl put his hands up like Martha was pointing a gun at him. “I can explain.”
“What did he say about his knee?”
Ronny slumped down opposite me and buried his head in his hands, knowing the game was up.
“That he needs a replacement,” Earl admitted. “A full replacement.”
Martha leaned against the seat and I wondered if she was going to faint for a minute. “So the scholarship?”
“I can play, Ma,” Ronny said. “I can still play.”
“You can barely walk!”
“I can fix that,” I piped up. I saw the opportunity and went for it.
“Thank you,” Earl said. “But the doctor showed us and—”
“I can fix him.” Help the woman. I could do that.
Earl frowned at me. “Are you a surgeon?” He sighed. “They won’t even look at him if he’s got a replacement.”
“No, I ain’t a surgeon,” I said. “Ronny, you up for trying somethin’?”
Ronny nodded. “Anything.”
I went around the table and knelt in front of him. “Roll up your pant leg.”
Martha and Earl watched on as Ronny did as I asked. His knee looked all kinds of swollen and I felt the twinge in my own knee. “This is gonna feel pretty weird and no matter what anybody says, you can’t say what I did, okay?”
“What are you going to do?” Martha asked.
“What I was made to,” I told her and placed my hands on the knee.
After the sheriff and his injury, Ronny’s knee wasn’t so bad and it soon heated up under my hands as the relief spread across Ronny’s face.
My hands got to the point where they burned so hot that I had to let go and Ronny flexed his knee like it was brand new. I hoped that what I’d done had helped and I hoped that the injury hadn’t been given to him to stop nothing nastier happening.
“How?” Earl asked. “What did you—?”
I turned to look up at Martha. “I need to wash my hands.” Her eyes tracked over every inch of my face. “It’s just a technique I learned in the army. Knees ain’t always as bad as they look on an x-ray.” Or whatever the doctors used for those things. I only hoped I was close enough for them to believe me.
“You think it will help him?” she asked, glancing at Ronny.
“Better than surgery,” I answered.
After a moment, Martha nodded and a beaming smile spread across her face. “I am glad that you were in the medical corps.”
My hands throbbed with the pain from Ronny’s knee. “Hands?”
Martha led me through to the back. I didn’t want to risk the public rest room so I was glad she offered me their bathroom. I looked at the door, then took a deep breath, this was not going to be pretty.
Chapter 18
I STARED AT the sink for what felt like forever. Its shiny silver taps taunted me. I’d promised Renee tha
t I wouldn’t do this alone. Heck, I’d sworn to myself that I would never do this again for any reason. The bathroom was bigger than I expected with white nondescript tiles and a green-and-white tiled floor. A medicine cabinet with a mirror next to a frosted glass window. It was all basic but well cared for. It suited what I’d learned about Martha and Earl so far. They didn’t spend out on luxury. They liked things and kept them. There was even a clump of something on the wall that I guessed had once held a toothbrush holder. It comforted me, if only a bit, that their energy was so ingrained in every inch of the place.
The perspiration dribbled down from my throat and I caught the droplet with my finger and stared down at it. Why was I doing this? Maybe I should just hope that it would disappear some other way.
The sink beckoned me unrelenting, I had to do this or I’d hurt somebody else. Although there were some folk I wouldn’t mind poking in the eye, I would never wish affliction on nobody. Maybe if I sat on the floor first it would stop me crashing into the wall? I eyed the room like every surface was a lethal weapon. The toilet was a couple of steps away from the sink so I wouldn’t crack my head on that at least.
Behind me was the shower, the corner of the tray looked painful and I was tall enough that I could remove my brain cells on it should I fall backward. I walked to the cupboard in the corner, pulled out all the fluffy towels I could find, and laid them over the tray, over the floor in a circle.
I would have locked the door too but there wasn’t a lock. Hopefully Martha wouldn’t find me crashed out on her bathroom floor. How would I explain that one?
Again, the sink sat there like it was grinning at me. The inanimate object felt like it was a snarling monster ready to snap my hand off. I looked down at my hands now pumping with the pain I’d taken from Ronny. That’s if the damn water healing didn’t drown me first.
Knowing I needed to hurry up before Martha wondered what I was doing, I took a step forward.
“Baby steps,” I muttered. When I’d left the institution, I’d only made it through the bus ride home because of Renee’s one-step-at-a-time method.
The funny twinge in my chest at the thought that she wasn’t around to talk to made me drop my chin. I hated the thought of her in that cell. She was a hero. More than that, she was my hero.
“So prove it.”
I took another step and touched the cold tap. That wasn’t so hard. I turned it anti-clockwise and the clear water gushed from it. With one last look at my hands and a silent prayer to whoever was listening, I shoved my mitts underneath the cold water.
Touchdown. The crowd roared and a celebration was demanded. Wish Mom was here to see this. She never comes to watch me play.
“Hey, Ronny, how’s that greaseball of a mother?” Seth Jewel, so much like his dweeb of a brother, walking round like they own the fricking place.
The edge of the sink caught my chin as I dropped to my knees but the pain was nothing compared to the vision.
“Hey, greaseball!”
Oh crap, it’s Seth, what does he fricking want from me? I’m a fricking hero to everybody else. What is his deal?
“Ronny-o!”
Ugh, there’s a group of them. Just keep walking, keep walking like you don’t see them. Maybe he’ll leave you alone then.
“You got snow in your ears, bronco boy?”
Why has he got to smoke? Great, blow it in my face, that’s just great, like I want your fumes.
“You got a problem?”
Yeah, I hate you, you fricking loser. “Nah, Seth . . . just got to get to practice.”
“Think you’re better than me, greaseball?”
Better, no. Intelligent, yes. I want out of this place. Losers like him don’t understand that. “Course not.”
“I think you do.”
Oh back off, I just want to forget you exist. “I got to go, Seth.”
The water numbed my hands. Its cold grip made my fingers ache. I tried to pull my hand free before I got weaker but the water held on tight. I nearly bit through my lip as a blinding pain hit my knee. I swung to the side, unable to stop myself. Rooted fast to the sink by the unyielding water.
“You think you’re better than me!”
Cold hard asphalt. The pain. My jaw, my knee. Swollen cheek. Stinging palms. Oh God, he drove right into me. My leg. He took out my leg—
I winced as I relived the same vicious beating Ronny had received. Then the roar of the avalanche shattered his memories and mine took over.
“I gotta stop,” I pleaded with the water. “I can’t . . . not strong enough to heal myself too.”
The water didn’t listen to my begging and I slammed into the side of the cliff for the second time. The pain stole my breath. The room got darker. I was gonna pass out. I couldn’t pass out, Martha would find me.
My blood screamed in my ears as my heart tried to keep up. My sharp breaths turned to pants. I couldn’t breathe. I was drowning.
“Martha!”
The bathroom darkened as I tried to pry myself free. The cold seeped into my body like creeping tentacles.
“Martha!”
“Are you al—Oh, Aeron!” Martha pulled me from the sink as the convulsions shook my body. “What happened?”
“Fit,” I managed. “Need warmth.”
My teeth chattered so hard that all I could hear was the blood and them clattering together. I felt Martha leave me, and I lay on the tiles, my head on soft fluffy towels.
“I’ll call the doctor,” she said when she came back with a blanket. “Do you have medication?”
“No,” I blurted through the agonizing shuddering. “No . . . I’m fine . . . I’ll be fine.”
“Aeron,” she said. “You’re like ice.”
She touched her hand to my forehead and the room disappeared.
Oh Earl! I’d better get this to him, the boys’ dinner, they love their ketchup and mayo. Goodness, that man would forget his own head if it wasn’t attached.
“Earl, honey?”
He’s favoring his arm again, wish he’d go and see the doctor. Lord knows he could do with it getting checked out.
“Earl!”
“What is it, honey?”
Why does he always look at me like I’m going to scold him? You’d think I was the witch in the tower the way he looks at me sometimes.
Ouch!
What a rude man, don’t even turn around and say sorry. “Excuse me!”
Oh, don’t bother to turn around, don’t mind me! Rude. So rude. There he goes not even noticing. No doubt he knows the Jewel boys by the look of him.
“You forgot ketchup.” Don’t put out your right, Earl, we both know you can’t grip with it properly. “Left.”
“It’s fine.” Yes, you can look at me all you like with those eyes. We both know it isn’t.
“Just hold it in your left.” Goodness, it’s like having another child sometimes.
“Hey, Martha!”
Hal? Ah, Hal . . . Oh Lord, I forgot his burger. “I’ll get it for you, hun, just wait a second.”
Poor boy hardly eats. Wish that Marie Salter would tell him how she feels. Both of them could do with some sunshine.
“Thanks, Martha . . . I just got to hurry.”
Such a sweet boy. His head is screwed on backward sometimes but there’s a good heart inside.
“No problem.”
Oh look, there’s Serena. “Serena, sweetheart. How are you this morning?”
Glad she taught that idiot Brad Jewel some manners. It’s about time someone stood up to him.
“Serena?”
Tsk, so lost in thought that she can’t even hear me. Must be trying to call the conference. Wonder if she has family, maybe that’s why she’s so alone . . . She seems close to Aeron though. Ah, she’s stopped.
“Serena, sweetheart, you alright?”
“Hey, Ice Queen, where’s your knight?”
If it isn’t that idiot. She’d be in her right mind to show him a thing—
Is that
a gun?
Bang.
Bang.
“Earl? Earl!” Where is he? Lord, let him be okay.
“I’m here. Martha, you hurt?”
I adore you so very much. “No . . . is Serena . . . did he hurt her?”
“I don’t know.” A warm arm so needed, strength. “Let’s get back to the café.”
“What about Aeron?”
“She’s got enough on her plate.” The man on the ground unmoving, Hal over him, Aeron walking up the steps. “Let’s take care of Zack for her . . . we’ll see her later.”
The pain in my head actually turned into a blinding rainbow of colors as I fought the flashed memory. If this was how painful finding the truth was going to be, I would need to start drinking.
“Aeron, are you alright?” Martha’s voice was somewhere beyond the nebulous haze. “Can you move?”
“M’okay,” I mumbled, pulling myself up to sit. The room swayed as I did so. “You okay?”
I had no idea what flashes did to the people I touched. I knew that Renee often complained of static shocks when it happened.
“I’m just fine, honey,” she said, helping me to my feet. “Let’s get you somewhere to lie down.”
As I got into the living area, Zack launched himself at me and attached around my leg like a starfish.
“Hey, buddy,” I managed. “How you been?”
With my limpet in tow, I made it to the sofa and flopped down into the squishy leather.
“Ronny!” Martha called. “Ronny, shut up the door downstairs and come and help us!”
“I’ll be okay in a minute,” I said, not believing my own words. I felt drained. “I just need a second.”
“You are staying right there,” Martha told me.
She hurried off to bellow at father and son while Zack snuggled up to my side. He didn’t need anything from me, he was happy just to be near me. I took comfort from that as I shivered. Then he clambered down from me and returned a second later, blanket in hand.
I grunted as he wriggled back into position, kneeing me in the stomach as he did so.
“You ain’t feeling so well either?” I asked.
He shook his head.