Chapter three: All in a day’s work (Part III)

The games over now and I'm going to have to face the truth.

     “Just what are you to my granddaughter?” I could hear my nana say as I came too. At first I was confused but then I smelt the incense and could feel the uneven padding of the couch beneath my wet body and realised I was alive. I didn’t open my eyes just in case it wasn’t true. Moments passed and I waited for an answer to nanna’s question, it was a pretty good question one I’d should be answering as well. Just what is Vance to me?
     “I probably should get going” he answered avoiding the question and any further questions. I heard the creak in the floorboards as he left what I believe to be the kitchen and passed me on the couch. He didn’t stop as the creaking and the squishing sound of his drenched shoes continued until he finally came to a stop four metres in front of my head at the front door. It also opened with a creak as the whole house was crying out, not wanting him to leave us, leave me. I tried to find my voice, I wanted to scream out his name and beg him to stay. I sat up and opened my eyes but coughed up water rather than his name; I was already too late as the door had already closed. I coughed harder but soon realised it had turned into sobs, the coughing stoped but the crying didn’t ease until my nanna had her arms around me, soothing me and rocking me back and forth on the sofa. I swung my legs around off the couch and braced my hands on my knees as the last of my sobs broke free. I sat up straight and looked at my nanna when I finally was all cried out. She just looked at me, her wrinkles heavy in her forehead and around her mouth as she wore a look of worry upon her face.
     “I’ll go make some tea” she said with a soft smile as she got up off the couch and made her way back to the kitchen. I also got up off the couch and made my way to the bathroom, coming back to the question I myself couldn’t find an answer too. Just what was Vance to me, really? What was he to me now that he had saved my life?
        As I began to undress, I thought of the moment I last saw him, it seemed deeper than it should. We weren’t even friends though I couldn’t call him an acquaintance, but he had never been to my house before today and I never talked to him outside of school. But when we were together; I don’t know, I don’t think there is even a word to describe what he means to me. I would have said that it was just fun, something childish between us, some sort of game that kept us amused, but today it seemed more than that. Had we falling too used to our games that they became reality, had we fallen for each other? I wouldn’t have ever known how close we truly were and how much he meant to me until today. But was that true emotion or just desperation and frustration. I ran my hands through my hair as the hot water ran down my back, burning my cold skin and shaking me from this sudden truth that was now another thing I could choose to ignore but never again be unaware of it.
     I turned the knobs with force, frustrated at how much easier my life was when I was stubborn and naive. I got out of the shower my hair dripping wet. I flipped my hair over my head and dried it, before drying the rest of my body. I wrapped the towel around me and left the bathroom in silence.
     “Hey, nanna José?” the sound of an unexpected voice had me jump and decide to take a detour down the hall and back into the kitchen, where the voice had came from. I knew who it was but found it hard to believe, aren’t all these people supposed to be at school?
     “Hey, how you feeling?” Lizzy said standing up from her seat; chipped coffee mug in hand. I ignored her and just paced over to where Icy sat, collapsing on her lap. She wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged my close, the rest of the girls smiled softly at me, as if to say “yeah, we know, don’t worry” I loved that about my girls, how I could say nothing yet they knew exactly what I would have said. My nanna on the other hand looked more concerned than relieved that her granddaughter was alive. I didn’t know how much of the conversation I missed between my nanna and Vance but I would put her mind at ease later, after my support crew had left the building. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad they’re here but I wondered how they found out and why they all looked like they knew more than I did about my near death experience. Though I guess this woke them up out of their state of earlier, but I didn’t like the seriousness on their faces and how it made me feel guilty that I was just another thing on their list of dramas from these past two weeks.
     “Come on missy, let’s get you dressed” Icy said forcing me to stand, she kept one arm around my waist as she led me up the stairs and to my room, I was grateful that I could lean on her -I was exhausted.
     “Shut the door” Icy said to Kath who was last threw. I slipped out of Icy’s grasped and went behind my antique room divider to get changed.
     “So what really happened?” Liz said softly, keeping the conversation between us. I looked away from her and stared out into the trees. We sat high up on the window sill, our legs dangling outside to the ground two stories below. I thought about jumping just to see if I had any feeling left. I could hear Icy and Kath laughing as they bleared the music and danced around my room dressing up in all sorts of wacky clothes from my wardrobe. I turned back and looked at Liz who was still waiting for an answer.
     “To be honest, I have no idea” I said a tear streaming down my face, I have seemed to cry a lot lately and hadn’t been this sad since last year on the 5^th of august; the 10 year anniversary of my parents death or brutal slaughter if you want to be specific. I was actually quite surprised with myself that I could get this emotional without snapping and shedding into a wolf.
     “I’ll always be on your side you know that right?”
     “Of course you will be Miss Bennett” I said with a sad smile, resting my head on her shoulder. She collapsed into me now; I wondered how long her strong façade would continue. Liz rested her head upon mine and signed.
     “You are one troublesome girl, Ophelia” she said with worry, she knew I would tell her in time, it was quite a comfort talking to Lizzy like this, calling each other names of characters we clearly have a connection with, and Vance was turning more into hamlet then I would have liked or ever thought possible. Its times like these where I truly wanted to tell Lizzy my supernatural secret, about Vance and Icy’s father. But it was also times like these that I knew I could never do such things, could never drag my friends into this mess, they’re lives were perfectly normal and for their sake, I’d like to keep it that way. Especially now with those rouge souls on the loose, shedding in vein, making it something impure and truly beast like. I must stop them; I must find them and get down to the bottom of this. Why were they here and why did they do such terrible things? If it has to come to it, I will finish them, I know I have the instincts of a wolf and might reject it for life but in that state I could and would kill a man or two.