Chapter 17

A Chapter by Jalaran DeVine

Chapter Seventeen

Thomas laid his hands across the puncture wound, “I’m trying to get it to close without scarring,” he informed me. I knew it burned, but it couldn’t have been very bad or I wouldn’t have been up walking, or at least I didn’t think I would have been. In all my life I had never been physically injured, I didn’t have a clue as to how it was supposed to feel. I had never scraped my knee, or broken a bone, not that I could remember. I had no physical scars of any such thing.

His hands felt cool against my skin, there seemed to be strangeness, a tingling where he touched me. I could feel the skin mending, recreating itself over the gaping hole.

“Amy! Amy! Are you ok?” Thomas asked, he was fanning me with one of he notebooks off of my desk, a cool washcloth lie across my forehead, I could hear Thomas, but I couldn’t make him out, my vision was foggy as if I was trying to see him through a cloud bank hanging close to the ground in the river bottomlands. On a fall evening. My head was swimming, and I felt very nauseous. “I’m…. blahat….,” The words didn’t make it out of my mouth, Thomas rolled me to my side, handing me a towel, with which I immediately covered my mouth, I couldn’t move, all I could do is lay there as I was revisited by last nights dinner.

“No, you aren’t fine,” Thomas finished my sentence, “You’ve lost a lot of blood, I know I can heal it, but I’m not sure about the blood-loss, it might have been too heavy.” I tried to nod letting him know I understood, I couldn’t, even the tiniest movement sent me into the next round of emptying my stomach.

I started to feel a bit less nauseous, I’m sure it was because there was nothing left in my system to come up. I tried to prop myself up a bit on my elbow, I was weak and shaky, but I managed a look at the bed, my side of the sheets were ruined. The cream-colored silk sheets covered in a bright crimson, I knew what it was when I saw it. Although it didn’t help my frame of mind out any, my head started spinning again.

I remember waking to Thomas ever so gently shaking me just enough to make me stir. I don’t know why, but I seemed to have passed out again. I came to, just enough to, try to focus on Thomas’ voice, but I still couldn’t make him out, “Get, Nick” came out as a whisper, from my dry cracking lips. I licked at my lips trying to put moisture back in them, only to find the inside of my mouth was as dry as my lips themselves.

Thomas ran out of the apartment into the hall, knocking on every door, screaming for Nick, I had never told him, which was their apartment. He finally found the right apartment, Andy answered the door still about half asleep, but lucky for me Nick was at home, he was the closest thing I knew to a doctor, being in his fourth and final year of residency at Bellevue. I usually squeaked by on my physicals by having Nick do them for me, since he wouldn’t tell the school any more than what I wanted them to know. Particularly about my not being so human, in the years I’d known Nick he’d always done my physicals for the swim team. I wasn’t about to let just any human doctor take a look at me, possibly costing me my position on the school swim team or the Olympic Swim Team or both.

“What’s wrong?” Andy asked, “Why are you looking for Nick, he’s asleep he just got off a twenty-four hour shift at the hospital.”

“Please!” Thomas begged, “Please I need him to come take a look at Amy, something has happened to her, she’s loosing blood.” Andy rushed to wake up Nick, who had just gone to bed; the next thing I remember is Nick over top of me, flashing a pen light in my eyes. “Amy, Amy, come on girl, come back to us,” Nick said, “Can you focus on the light and follow it?”

I coughed, my mouth was so terribly dry, and “Yes” I managed to get out when Nick asked.

“Ok, good you’re talking, that’s defiantly a good sign, and you can follow the light with your eyes, another good sign.” He informed me, Thomas was holding my hand, he’d healed the wound, but was still worried about the blood-loss. “Amy, I have to go back to the apartment and grab a couple of things, I will be right back, and you need to stay awake ok?”

I nodded letting Nick know I understood. Thomas got up, Nick and Thomas conversed for a moment, I’m sure it was about me, but they weren’t sharing anything yet. Thomas bent back down, holding my hand while Nick went back to his apartment for his stethoscope, and manual blood pressure cuff. It didn’t take Nick long to return, he bent down beside me, taking my blood pressure, and listening to my breathing to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong with my lungs. Nick assured us, that I was breathing fine, and had a respiratory rate around seventeen, which meant no damage to my lungs, my blood pressure was normal, and my pulse was less than one-hundred, so I was going to be fine, I was probably just tired from loosing the blood in the first place, maybe even a little bit of shock had set in at first, and then being sick to my stomach didn‘t help matters. Thomas assured him that the wounds were healed and wouldn’t continue to get worse; actually, they were already gone thanks to Thomas.

“Is it ok if I get her something to drink” Thomas asked Nick.

“Yes, its fine, she’s probably a bit dehydrated from being nauseous,”

Thomas went into the kitchen and brought me a bottle of water, opening it for me, putting it to my lips. It was cool and wet, if felt good going down. After I got a drink, Thomas recapped it, setting it on the coffee table; he then bent down and lifted me off the floor, moving me to the sofa.

“Do you have another set of sheets for the bed Amy?” Thomas asked me. I nodded, pointing to the closet where the towels were, on the top shelf, they’re cotton, I don’t use them very often.

Nick told Thomas to keep an eye on me, incase I lost consciousness again, or started having trouble breathing, he assured Thomas he would come take care of me, even take me to he hospital himself if need be. Nick was aware of the fact I couldn’t just walk into the emergency room, it would open a can of worms that no one wanted to deal with.

Thomas reached the sheets off the shelf to go make the bed, he pulled off the stained sheets, putting them in a trash bag and set them by the trashcan, it wasn’t exactly something he could just go throw in the dumpster. He started with my pillow, putting a clean pillowcase on it. He brought it over to me, placing it behind my back, where I was about half sitting against the arm of the sofa. He went back to the bed finishing up, he put the comforter in the bag with the sheets, promising we’d go together to get a new set when I felt better.

I smiled weakly, “It’s ok, cream really wasn’t my color anyway,” this illicited a small laugh from Thomas. It made me feel better to see him smile, even if only briefly. I watched him from the sofa, I still had pain in my abdomen, I winced, and Thomas was there immediately.

Are you ok? He asked.

“I’m fine, just having pain.” I stated. He nodded.

When I get finished with the bed, I’ll run get the prescriptions that Nick gave me for you. That must have been what they were talking about when they were huddled together.

“Is there anything you need before I go get these for you?” he asked. I shook my head, reaching for my bottle of water, and the remote respectively.

“No, I’ll be fine; I am just having trouble coping with the pain at the moment.” I let out a heavy breath; it hurt to breathe right now. I’m not sure what Emma had done to me completely, but whatever it was, she did a good job of it.

Thomas opened the apartment door, stepping out into the hall. I flipped through the channels trying to find something to keep me awake since I was told I couldn’t go to sleep for a while. Not that I wanted to, I didn’t want to have another dream like that, ever! It was the second violent dream I’d had in less than a week, I was beginning to wonder why, I’d never had nightmares before in my life. I wasn’t watching anything particular on the television; it was merely noise in the background keeping me from falling asleep while I replayed the dream in my head. I was still trying to understand why and how Emma could attack me in a dream. Was she that strong, if so did I even stand a chance going up against her? Thomas seemed to think I could do it; I however, was full of self-doubt.

…

Thomas came back in about half an hour later, a small white bag in one hand, a box of chocolates, and a single red rose in the other. I couldn’t help but smile, even though it hurt just to even breathe.

“Thank you” I said, reaching for the box and rose. He smiled at me,

“I thought maybe they’d make you feel better. “ Emotionally they did, physically; I ached and wanted something to kill the pain. Nick had prescribed me an antibiotic, and a painkiller. The instructions on the bottle of pain medications, said to take one every four hours as needed. I promptly looked at the clock; it was seven a.m. then downed one. .

Thomas asked me to make room for him on the sofa, he then slid in-between the sofa arm, and me letting me lean back and rest against him. It helped ease my mind that he was back, and so very close to me.

“Thomas, I don’t think we’re going to be able to wait for me to learn what I need to know to face Emma,” I said, “If she can do this to me in a dream, what can she do to me when I face her?”

He got a grim look on his face, “I’m not sure,” He said, “I had no clue she was this powerful in the first place, I’m going to have to get a hold of your grandmother and find out why Emma did this.”

“Do you think she had my grandmother’s consent or was she working on her own?” I tried to turn a bit to look up in his face, only managing to cause myself more pain.

“I don’t know” Thomas said. “I don’t have all the answers, as far as I knew when I left, your grandmother had assured me that she would give you the time you needed to prepare for facing her.” He shrugged, “Unless that’s changed.”

“So, how did she do that, draw me into a dream, then causing me physical injury?” I asked.

“It’s called Plane Shift,” He explained, “Once you were asleep, she was able to easily overpower you, and move the both of you to an alternate reality, while leaving a doppelganger in your place here. She didn’t attack you in a dream, she physically attacked you, pushing you back here just in time for you to die from your wounds, or so she hoped possibly.”

I shook my head in disbelief, “If she can do that, how am I to protect myself.” I asked concern in my voice.

“I’m going to have to set wards, and teach you how to set wards so that she can’t get in here again and pull you out.” He said seriously. “For now I’ll put them in place, as soon as you are strong enough, I’ll teach you how to do it yourself, so that she can’t get to you anywhere you’re not expecting her. He wrapped his arms around me gently. Placing a kiss on the top of my head. Gently he slid me back against the arm of the sofa.

He started at the window, he inspected it closely, “This is probably the most likely way she got in“ he said, “I‘ll put up an extra strong ward here, just to make sure she stays out.”. He scanned the apartment, the window above the bed was the only window in the place, I think that made his job easier. He approached the door, placing a strong ward over and around the door, then came back to join me on the sofa.

He teased me slightly “Now no monsters should be able to get in, my princess is safe”

I managed to get a genuine smile to cross my face. “Thank you for taking care of me Thomas.” I didn’t know what I’d do without him.

“Can you bring me the phone Thomas?” I asked him since he was closest to it. He took it off the hanger, and brought it to me, I started dialing Keith’s cell number, and I was no way making to practice this morning.

…

“Hello Keith?” I asked into the phone.

“Yes, what’s up Amy,” His voice came from the other end of the phone.

“I don’t think I’m going to make practice today, Can you tell me how soon I have to be ready for the meet next month?

“Amy, you’re going to need to get in at least 28 more hours of practice in this next two weeks to qualify for a spot on the team.

“I’ll try to make up the needed hours this week with practices, I promise.” I said to him.

“I know you can, you just get to feeling better, still the same thing as what was wrong before?” he asked.

“Yes.” I lied to him, how was I supposed to explain that my sister attacked me almost killing me in a dream?

“Ok, you take care of yourself.” He said.

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow Keith…” I hung up the phone.

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