by Willow Rose
"O-okay," I answered. "I love you too."
"All righty now. I have to go," she said and, as I hung up, I thought I had detected sadness, maybe even anxiety in her voice.
What was going on? Was she afraid of something?
I shook the thought and returned to my pizza, wondering if she could tell by the credit card bills that I was eating it every night. Duncan had given me her card one day and told me it was from her and that I was supposed to use it for food and gas and other necessities. She had to know I was eating terribly by now, didn't she? But she hadn't mentioned anything at all. Didn't she care anymore?
I took another bite and chewed it while BamBam jumped into my lap. He snuggled with me for a few minutes, then suddenly took off toward the pile of mail I had put on the counter when emptying the mailbox. He found a magazine or a pamphlet from Jehovah's Witnesses and pulled it toward me. On the front cover was the word AWAKE. BamBam meowed and put his paw on it.
"What is it, cat?" I asked and walked closer to look at it. "Awake?" I said.
The cat meowed again, then glanced down at the word before looking back up at me.
"Are you trying to say something? What do you mean awake?" I asked.
Again, the cat answered with a series of meows, and it was beginning to sound almost like it was wailing.
The cat spotted something else, the city's local event calendar among the mail, then pulled that out too and put its paw on another word in a title. I walked closer, my heart beginning to pound, then looked down.
"Jazz?"
The cat meowed again and then burst into a series of wailing sounds, and it felt like it was going to burst my eardrums.
"Stop it; okay, stop it," I said, holding my head.
The cat obeyed. I stared into its eyes. "I think I get it now. Jazz has to be Jazmine, right? You're telling me Jazmine is awake, right?"
The cat answered with another meow. I stared at it while a million thoughts ran through my mind. Was he right? Was Jazmine really awake inside of that body? Or had I just gone insane believing a cat was talking to me?
Chapter Twenty
BamBam apparently wanted to stay with me through the night, so I let him sleep at the foot of my bed. I thought about taking him back home but enjoyed having him there. He made me feel less lonely.
I couldn't sleep, though. I kept thinking about Jazmine and whether or not I was right, and she was awake. I had heard her when I was at the farm. I heard her voice and believed she had guided me somehow to find the skin. But when I heard Jazmine was brain-dead, I had given up on the thought and believed I was just imagining things and maybe it was all just a big coincidence.
But what could I do about it? If I was right, then how was I supposed to tell people? Would Aunt Tina believe me? I hardly thought so since she seemed very determined that Jazmine had died, and it was only the machines that were keeping her alive. Would the doctors believe it? Probably not. Then, how was I supposed to convince them not to shut her off?
I turned to the side and told myself I'd have to think about it in the morning. It was no use obsessing about it now when it was time to sleep. But, of course, I couldn't. Images of Jazmine awake inside a body that wouldn't function kept coming to me, and I couldn't escape it. If this was true, then it had to be the worst nightmare in the world for Jazmine. Was she able to hear us? Did she know what was going on outside of her body? She had to, right?
Oh, dear Lord, what if she can hear everything? Was that why she was wiggling her nose? She was trying to tell me that she was awake?
My eyes shot wide open at the thought. I remembered reading about this in some article about a kid who was awake in his body for twelve years and hearing everything that went on outside of him, but unable to communicate to his family and let them know he could hear them.
How awful!
I sat up and stared at BamBam, who was fully awake as well.
"But you talk to her, don't you?" I asked. "You must; otherwise, you wouldn't know."
The cat meowed again. I felt like crying when thinking about poor Jazmine and what she had to be going through.
"I have to do something, but what?"
I swung my feet to the floor and went to my desk and turned on my computer. The clock in the corner blinked midnight and, outside my window, an owl started hooting. I grabbed a blanket and pulled it around me while sitting in front of my laptop. I was deep into reading about coma patients and their ability to sense or even hear what went on around them when I heard a loud shriek outside of my window, reminding me an awful lot of how it used to sound when my parents would leave for hunting at night.
Surprised at hearing this since no one dared go out at night anymore, I walked to the window and looked out. In the light from the moon, I spotted a colony of bats—huge bats—approaching the neighborhood. There had to be at least hundreds of them, if not thousands. As they passed the moon, they blocked out the light completely.
I gasped and pulled away from the window as the mass grew bigger, coming closer, screaming and shrieking in the night.
Vampires!
Chapter Twenty-One
Seconds later, our little street turned into an inferno of a war zone. The vampires circled the house at number three, and then they attacked. I watched as they dove for the house, darting through the windows and doors, and seconds later, loud hissing sounds and screams filled the air. I saw hundreds of spiders emerge from the house into the street and, one after another, they were picked up by vampire claws, their heads and arms ripped off.
I stared at the scene, gaping, when I received a Snapchat from Jayden.
YOU SEEING THIS?
I replied:
YES.
WHAT'S GOING ON?
PAYBACK, I ASSUME.
OH.
The screams became louder, and as I watched one spider after another have its head ripped off, the heads rolling down the street, their blood gushing everywhere, I felt sick to my stomach.
YOU OKAY OVER THERE? Jayden asked.
Wondering if I really was okay, I looked toward downtown where a big fire caught my attention. It wasn't just here they were attacking. The vampires were going for all of them. That was why my mom had seemed so strange on the phone. She was scared for me. But, of course, they couldn't tell me what their plans were. They knew the spiders were watching me and listening in on my phone calls.
I stared at the war-like scene in my quiet neighborhood as the spiders had managed to gather their equipment and now began to fight back. Several vampires were sucked into their machines, and their lifeless bodies fell to the asphalt.
I felt my heart begin to race while wondering if anyone I knew was a part of this. Was Duncan there? Was he fighting? Was my brother? Was my mom? My grams?
I sure hoped not. I didn't want to risk losing any of them.
YOU WANT ME TO COME OVER?
I did. I wanted him to come over and grab me in his strong arms and hold me tight. But it was too dangerous for him to run into the street at this time. He needed to be careful not to get caught in the line of fire.
I'M FINE, I wrote. DON'T WORRY.
YOU SURE?
YES. IT'S TOO DANGEROUS ANYWAY.
WE ARE HIDING IN THE BASEMENT. YOU SHOULD SEEK SHELTER.
I WILL.
As I finished the sentence, I looked outside just as a vampire flew through the air and slammed into my window. Luckily, the glass didn't break. The vampire shrieked loudly. A spider was on top of it and pulled it away, both of them screaming and squealing. The vampire then attacked the spider, biting down on its head and ripping it off.
I stared at the headless spider as it slid down the roof and landed in the grass below with a thud.
As the vampire hissed and soared back into the air, I hurried out of my room and hid in the basement.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tinfoil Tim saw them coming before anyone else in the camp. He was outside the stables, where they kept the prisoners, when it happened. He wa
s listening in on what was going on in there, wondering about that dragon he had seen and whether they kept torturing the poor creature. It was one thing to want to take down the vampires, but abusing that beautiful creature was something else. He wasn't interested in being a part of that.
Tinfoil Tim had once been to India and seen them beat an old elephant half to death with a poker. The look in the poor animal’s eyes had changed him forever.
Since he had seen the same look in that gorgeous dragon's eyes, he had decided he was going to help it get out. He didn't care about the vampires in there, but the dragon didn't belong here.
He was planning to liberate it. To help it get out of its cage, and that was why he was outside of the stables when he saw the many bats in the sky, blocking out the light from the full moon.
The bats had grown in size, and he watched as they dove down for the headquarters and he saw them attack the spider-like men in their sleep, and even the guards outside of the stables were suddenly grabbed by these vicious creatures and lifted into the air.
Tinfoil Tim had seen vampires before, at his law firm that strange night when everything changed. He knew that's what they were. He also knew they couldn't find him there or they'd get rid of him as well.
But instead of running toward his quarters, Tinfoil Tim rushed toward the stables. The guards were no longer there, so he could walk right in. He wanted to find that dragon and set it free if it was the last thing he ever did.
Back in India, he remembered wanting to stop them from beating that elephant, and it had tortured him ever since that he hadn't. He wasn't going to let that happen again. This time, he was going to do the right thing.
Tinfoil Tim pushed the door open and walked inside while the screams and shrieks continued outside. He hurried down the hallway. The vampires in the cages could hear their friends outside and were hissing at him and showing their teeth. He hurried down the hallways and ended up at a cage, then stopped.
"Where is she?" he mumbled.
He turned to look at a young girl in a cage across from him.
"Do you know where she is? The dragon?"
The young girl shook her head. "They took her to a room, and she never came back."
Tinfoil Tim cursed and stomped his feet. He had dreamed about freeing this magnificent creature and hoped it might let him sit on its back as they both got out of this place, escaping the turmoil. He could see himself soaring into the air, looking down at the entire camp and the spiders, then taking off while the spiders got rid of the vampires.
More screams emerged from outside the stables, and Tim stared at the girl. "Are you a dragon too?"
She shook her head. "Are you a vampire?" he asked.
She shook her head again.
"Good because I don't like them," Tinfoil Tim said. "Nasty creatures."
He thought about just getting out of there, running away while he could before the vampires found him in there, but the little girl's eyes pleaded with him so terribly, he decided he couldn't just leave her there. So, he found a set of keys hanging on a wall, then opened her cage with a huge smile.
"There you go. You're free."
The girl rushed outside when a voice yelled at him from further down the corridor.
"Hey, I’m not a vampire either."
Tinfoil Tim walked to the cage and spotted a young girl inside it. She was gorgeous. "Please, let me get out?"
"Are you a dragon?" he asked excitedly. "Can you fly?"
"No, but I can run faster than any dragon can ever fly," she said. "And I am really good at Taekwondo. And my bite kills vampires."
It wasn't exactly what Tinfoil Tim was looking for, but it was good enough. He grabbed the keys and put them in the lock.
"Can you get me out of here then? Let me ride on your back?" he asked. "Get me away from the vampires?"
"The easiest thing in the world," she said and walked out. "I can take both you and the girl far away from here."
Once outside, she reached out her hand toward him, and they shook.
"I'm Melanie."
"Nice to meet you, Melanie," he said as thick grey hairs grew out and soon covered the skin on her arms, legs, and her face. The enormous wolf standing in front of him was far more spectacular than any dragon.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I sat in the basement all night, holding my hands over my ears, blocking out all the screaming. BamBam was with me and, when I finally dozed off as daylight broke, I woke up two hours later with the cat sleeping on my stomach, purring loudly.
I smiled and looked at my watch, realizing it was Saturday, so I didn't have to worry about school today. I felt terrible. My body was aching all over from sleeping on the cold floor, and I was still shaking lightly as I walked back up to the kitchen. I stood at the foot of the stairs, listening. Everything remained eerily quiet. BamBam was still purring loudly, and it felt like he was hugging me the way he put his head close to my face and rubbed his fur against my skin.
I stood like that for a few seconds, not really knowing what to do next. Had the fighting stopped? Were the vampires gone? Were the spiders? It was all so quiet that it made me anxious. I wasn't even sure I dared walk into the kitchen or outside my house.
BamBam meowed and I caressed him. "I know, baby. I’m scared too."
As I looked down at the cat, I heard a sound coming from the other side of my front door. Someone was out there. A scrambling on my door followed and, as my veins froze, the door slammed open and my mom stepped inside, a broad smile on her pale face.
"Robyn!" she sang and swooshed into the kitchen, where she spotted me still standing at the top of the stairs leading to the basement.
"Oh, there you are. Why are you just standing there? Come say hello to your mother and grandmother. We're home."
"Robyn!"
Veronika darted through the room and hugged me so tight I almost fell back down the stairs.
"I’m so happy to be back," she said.
I smiled. "And it sure is good to have you back."
"You must have been so lonely," she said. "Without all of us?"
I chuckled. "I sure was. But now you're back, and that's good."
Veronika grabbed her bag and rushed up the stairs to her room. My mother slid across the kitchen floor on her high heels and in her tight skirt, when she spotted BamBam in my arms.
"What are you doing with that nasty creature?" she hissed. "Get it out of here. We can't have a cat in here! What's Renata going to say?"
Renata. I completely forgot about her. I had put her outside the day before to do her business in the yard and had forgotten to let her back inside. I hurried to the living room where I spotted her sitting outside, looking in at me with big brown eyes.
"Oh, dear Lord, Renata," I said and let her back in. She stormed inside like she was afraid I might change my mind, then jumped onto the couch and laid down.
"I am so sorry," I said.
The dog wagged its tail like it had already forgotten it all, then looked at the cat in my hands. I moved away and hurried back into the kitchen where my mom and grandmother were filling the cabinets with groceries they apparently had brought with them.
I kissed them both on the cheek, and my mom turned to look at me. "You look awful, child. Ugh. Good thing I’m home to help you. What's with your skin?" She looked closer. "Are you getting more pimples?"
I chuckled. Usually, her remarks would have made me angry and they sure would in a couple of hours, but right now, I was so happy to see her, I didn't care. I kissed her cheek again, and she waved me off.
"Well, yes, go get rid of that cat, will you? It doesn’t belong here."
I sighed. "What happened?"
"What do you mean?" my mom asked, taking out all kinds of organic seeds and putting them away.
"Last night?"
"What do you mean last night?"
"Mo-om, the…there was…turmoil…?"
"What do you mean turmoil?" my mom said, not looking at me.
> "There was screaming. In the street. The…men in house number three…they were attacked."
"What on Earth are you talking about, child?" she said, turning on her heel to look at me. She felt my forehead with her ice-cold hand. "You're not running a fever, are you?"
I looked into her eyes and sighed.
All right. So that's how you're going to deal with it. The usual, I-pretend-like-nothing-happened-so-I-won't-have-to-talk-about-it-way. Well, okay. I can play that game.
"Now, go get rid of that cat," my mom said, staring at BamBam with disgust in her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you this?"
"So, it's safe for me to go into the street?" I asked.
My mom sighed, annoyed. "Boy, you are unstoppable this morning. Did you have a bad dream or something? Just go."
I walked to the front door and put on my boots, then looked at my grandmother, who turned and winked at me. I smiled back, then opened the front door and walked out.
Chapter Twenty-Four
What had I expected? A warzone at least, dead spiders lying in the street, a burnt down house, maybe, but there was no such thing. Our street looked exactly the same as it had the day before.
I gaped in awe of this and stood in the driveway staring toward house number three. It looked the same except all the motorcycles that had been parked in the front yard were gone. There were no spider-like men coming in and out on their long swaying legs, or even standing outside smoking or vaping like they usually did. The house seemed empty. Were they all gone?
I walked into my own front yard where I had seen one of them fall to the grass from my window, but there was nothing there—not even a drop of blood. It kind of startled me and made me doubt myself, whether I had really seen it or if it was just a dream.
I held BamBam tight, then walked to Jazmine's house and rang the doorbell. Aunt Tina came to the door.