Young Writers Society

Chapter 6

Finally, we arrived at their big, brown house. I glanced to the back of the house to see who all was home. Nathan’s car was there and so was his dad’s truck. Austin’s jeep was parked on the side too. Under the circumstances, I couldn’t care less why he was there. At the moment, I didn’t care that Jen and him were going out.

The ambulance guy got my number so he could give it to the doctors taking care of Mom so that they could get a hold of me. He gave me his condolences before driving off to get my Dad to the autopsy place. The thought of my Dad sent a shiver down my spine. He was so full of blood. Whoever did this to him probably used the same knife on him before going to my Mom.

Whoever did this better be prepared to pay for it.

The white door opened and Mrs. Borden came out onto the porch. I must have looked a mess because she frowned at me, puzzled. She glanced to the side and seeing the ambulance driving away, she rushed out and took my arm.

“What happened!? Oh, Katie, come inside.”

She let me lean on her as we walked up the steps and I felt a whole new rush of tears flow down my cheeks. I was finally just getting composed again. This happened to me all the time. I would finally stop the tears and then someone would talk to me and I would start all over again.

I ignored Austin and Jen as we came walking into the sitting room and just let Mrs. Borden guide me to the couch. I thanked God the room was dimly lit. I probably looked a mess. I could feel my hair knotting and I was sure my mascara was smeared again with getting wet and all. I felt baggy in my big Elvis T-shirt. If my brother, Gabriel, was around he would tell me I looked like a hippy on a bad day. That was his favourite.

Oh my gosh. No one would have told Gabe. I would have to call him when I had more news on Mom.

Thinking about him made me think that maybe I could go live with him. Probably not. His job as a city police officer wouldn’t allow him time to look after me. That meant I was back to square one.

Mrs. Borden got me an afghan and I gratefully accepted it. Austin and Jen were still standing there, awkwardly waiting for me to explain myself. I didn’t want to.

She sat down with concern in her eyes and said, “Ok, Katie. Tell me what’s going on.”

Jen and Austin watched me keenly, wanting my answer as much as Mrs. Borden. I wondered for a split second where Nathan was but didn’t ponder on it too long. I had more urgent things on my mind at that moment. He could wait.

I took a shuddering breath and explained it all. I started from last night- excluding the vampires, of course – and worked my way to the present moment. I told them about how I found out about them was the start of it all. I broke down in tears more than once and Jen eventually came to sit beside me. I must have needed comfort because even when she touched me and apologized for last night, I couldn’t feel angry. My emotional capacity for anything was filled right to the max. I felt like it had already shattered with an emotion overflow.

Their expressions changed so many times that I couldn’t tell what they were thinking. I think shock and sympathy were the top two things I saw.

Just as I finished, Nathan walked groggily up the steps from the basement where his room was. Seeing me, his sleepy features disappeared and he straightened out.

“What’s going on?” He asked, his voice filled with so much concern. One good thing about the past twenty-four hours was that I felt they brought me and Nathan closer again. Of course, that was a majorly minor joy compared to how much shit was dumped on me.

Austin looked at me and gave me a half smile before taking him out of the room to explain. Us girls just stayed silent. I was thankful that I had my favourite sweater on because I literally needed every form of comfort possible. Jen sat beside me silently while Mrs. Borden was sitting on the matching lazy boy on the opposite side of the room.

I could feel the realization that my Dad was dead settle in the air. We sat there, silent as ever and I could feel their sorrow. Ever since I was little, I could sense other people’s emotions long before they ever voiced them. Sometimes, I would be able to tell what Jen was feeling about something before I even knew what to think about it. I guess I just have an incredible gift of intuition.

The boys re-entered the room, Nathan looking slightly less curious and a whole lot more shocked. He didn’t say a word as he walked over and made me get up. He wrapped his arms around me and just held me. On a normal day, I would have had to hide my foolish grin but today, all I did was cry. Being too short to reach his shoulder, he held me tighter as I sobbed into his chest.

“I’m sorry about your Dad.” Nathan’s voice was soft and I kept my arms wrapped tightly around him as he stroked my long hair. We stood there for what seemed like an eternity.

When he did pull away, I chuckled and sniffled awkwardly. This day was by far the worst I’ve ever had.

“Well, at least I’ll get out of a punishment.” I said, trying to lighten the mood. Why was it always me making some lame joke to brighten someone else’s day? Wasn’t it my day that needed to be brightened?

Nathan chuckled and said, “Wow. Even in the worst situations, you still have to crack a joke.”

“Of course I do. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be me.”

I wiped at my eyes with my sleeve, trying to get my face dry again. I was probably making my make-up smear even more but at this point, I’m pretty sure they’d already seen me at my worst. Let me correct that. My absolute worst.

I had a sudden wonder if Zander could see all of this. If he knew what was going on. I’ve felt his emotions before so wouldn’t he be able to feel mine? It would be kind of nice if he couldn’t but from how the week was going, I wasn’t hoping for anything to go my way. I was half expecting the sky to fall at some point.

Jen stood up and pulled me in the direction of the stairs while saying, “Let’s go upstairs and get you cleaned up. That ambulance guy was cute and we don’t need you looking like this the next time you see him.”

I smiled half-heartedly and said, “I didn’t even notice. I do feel like shit though. Can I steal some clothes, and your shower?”

“Of course.”

I was dragged into her messy room and I sat on the bed while she rummaged through a basket of clothes. She pulled out a few things, exclaiming in triumph for each one. I accepted them gratefully and went to wash my tears away in the water of the shower. There was nothing worse than crying in the shower. I don’t know why but it always made me feel even grubbier than before I got in.

I went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Dropping my clothes to the floor, I stepped into the bathtub and turned the water on as hot as it could go. It burned my skin but I needed it to take my mind off of my parents. I was too busy thinking about how I should turn the water cooler that I couldn’t think of how my Dad’s body had been so covered in blood, or how a knife had been sticking out of Mom’s stomach. I couldn’t think about how Mom was in the hospital, where the doctors were probably sticking all sorts of needles into her.

I shuddered. Apparently the hot water trick didn’t work. It had in the past but I guess with something this huge, it wouldn’t.

I took a long shower, soaping my brown hair twice with shampoo and once with conditioner. Of course, Jen had to have the stupid, scented body wash that made me sick. I didn’t even realize it was the same one until I smothered it all over my body. It wasn’t until the pungent smell of orange blossoms filled my nose that I realized.

A feeling of nausea filled my throat and my head began to spin. I was probably getting so easily sick because of lack of sleep. My stomach was starting to feel gross just like it did whenever I got too overtired.

I shut the water off and shivered as I stepped out into the cold air. The glass door on the shower/bathtub kept most of the heat in so stepping out was like stepping out of a sauna and jumping into a cold pool. Yeah, it was cold.

I grabbed the biggest towel they had from the basket and wrapped it around myself. I glanced in the mirror and felt like there was something from a horror movie looking back at me. My mascara and eyeliner were smudged all the way down my cheeks and my bronzer had washed off, making me look as pale as a ghost. I wouldn’t blame anyone if they mistake me for some monster.

I quickly changed into the tight fitting sweats and low crop T-shirt that Jen gave me to where. I scoffed. Only Jen would have a pair of sweats that formed to her body. Sweats were supposed to be for lazing around, not to show off how curvy we can be. I didn’t care for how low the shirt was but beggars can’t be choosers.

I checked myself in the mirror again after I cleaned up my make-up with Jen’s make-up remover and was content with how crappy I looked. I threw my hair in my towel and up on my head. I looked like a fortune teller with my big “hat.”

I’m not going to look any better than this so I may as well stop trying. I sighed, giving up on my appearance.

You look fine. Nathan has already proved to be infatuated with you so don’t try too hard.

Zander, how do you find the worst times to talk to me? In all honesty, does your brain have some sort of “Katie doesn’t want to talk to you right now” alert? I couldn’t help but feel annoyed. He was invading my privacy without my permission. Listening to my thoughts is a NOT OKAY situation!

Of course not. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. I can feel when your emotions are really strong and then I can tap into them. I can’t actually hear you talking to me but rather your emotions tell me what you’re saying.

He was talking in such a matter-of-fact voice that it just made me even more annoyed. I didn’t care about the technicalities of it. I just knew that I didn’t appreciate his invasion of my “emotions.”

Whatever. Just get out of my head.

If you put enough focus into it, you can block me out of your head.

Really!? How do I do that? I asked. I wanted to know so badly.

Figure it out. I could feel him grinning. I could feel myself beginning to get annoyed again but I pushed those feelings down. He got too much satisfaction being in my head already.

I didn’t reply. I was going to find out and when I did, he could take that grin and shove it up where no one wanted to go. I was going to make him regret daring me.

Shoving my Zander problems away, I opened the bathroom door and went into Jen’s room. All of her hair stuff was over here on her dresser. I stole her brush and combed it through my hair. It was so knotty so it took a while but it eventually came out smooth. I threw it in a quick Dutch braid and let it hang over my shoulder. My hair was getting long. Even in a braid and over my shoulder, it came down to my belly button. I was thinking of getting it cut really short again. It never took too long to grow it back.

I had mixed emotions about that though. Mom always loved it long and if she didn’t make it…I don’t know that I would be able to cut it.

No Katie….don’t think like that. She’s gonna make it. She has to. I tried to reassure myself but it did little to change my negative thoughts.

My phone buzzed. I literally pounced on it to see who it was.

The hospital.

With shaky hands, I lifted it to my ear and answered, “Hello?”