Chapter 4

Something wet and soft was touching my forehead; it felt nice but weird at the same time. I wanted to swat it away, but couldn’t find my hands. The wet thing went away again and came back with a fresh and new force of cold water soaked into it. Someone was dabbing a wet cloth on me. I opened my eyes, hoping that I wouldn’t find myself in a hospital. Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t. I was lying down on a red couch in some sort of family room. It sure wasn’t in my house or there would be papers strewn all over the place. Mom’s research. The walls were painted yellow. There were two armchairs in the middle of the room, each facing a decent sized television. The couch that I was lying down on was toward the left of the TV, right up against a wall. That’s when I remembered that cloths don’t magically touch my forehead. I looked next to me and saw that there was an elderly woman, but not too old, someone my mom’s age looking down at me. I was so shocked and surprised to see her there that I tried to jump up; but when I did so an extreme and sharp pain ripped through my stomach and a hiss escaped my lips. “Shhh. Lay back down, you’ll be alright. You just need a lot of wrest.”

“Where am I?”

“You are at my house.” I saw Elric in the doorway.

“Why am I here?”

“You are here to wrest and heal.” I saw a glint in his eye. I was here for another reason. That was when it dawned on me. How did he explain my injury to this woman- who I presumed was his mom? I gave a shaky laugh. I did not like being in a situation where I had absolutely no control over my environment. It put me at an enraging disadvantage.

“Why aren’t I at a hospital?”

“Well sweetie, I am a nurse. And I fixed you up pretty well. It wasn’t easy, though. That cut was extremely deep. What on earth did you do?” His mother asked.

Crap. So Elric played the dumb-not-knowing-what-happened card. Two can play at that game.

“I can’t remember. Did I hit my head when I fell?” His mother nodded and said, “Oh dear, that is not a good sign. Can you tell me what you ate for breakfast this morning? Can you remember that?”

“Sure”, I said. “I ate Cheerios- I think.” The creases in Elric’s mother’s face disappeared with relief.

“Well that is good that you remember that, Dearie.”

“Thank you for helping me Mrs.-uh-“

“Call me Ann, dear.”

I smiled, “Thanks for your help Ms. Ann.” She smiled. And that was when Elric said to me, “Can I talk to you? Alone?” Ann started to get up in order to give us some privacy, but I grabbed her wrist and begged, “Please don’t leave me! I really do not feel good!” It was true. I did not want to talk to Elric alone so much that I felt sick to my stomach. I never had to discuss my paranormal ability with anyone except with Winston, and I didn’t like the idea of starting now. Looking down at me she asked, “What is wrong Sweetie?”

“My stomach is turning so much that I feel dizzy. And I’m not even sitting up!”

“Maybe you are hungry. Elric- dear? Would you please go into the kitchen and fix some soup for our guest?” He left the room with a frustrated frown on his face. I sighed with relief.

“Dear, if you didn’t want to talk to him, all you had to do was say so.” With that she left the room.

She was smarter than I gave her credit for. Or was it that I wasn’t as subtle as I thought I was? After pondering on this for a while I finally gave up because my stomach interrupted my train of thought. Elric had gone into the kitchen like twenty minutes ago and there was no food. The jerk had cheapened out on me. Ignoring my stomach, I tried to sit up in order to get a good look at the clock above the television. It was a little passed ten at night. No wonder I was so hungry, I had missed dinner by a couple of hours. Deciding to give standing a shot, I swung my feet over the edge of the couch. All right! So far so good. Keep going. You can do it. Putting all of my effort into it, I was able to stand; only for a second though. After a few moments of trying to calm my wobbly legs, I collapsed. “Easy there!” Elric said as he caught me before hitting the floor. Damn! So much for a semi-stealthy escape!

“I am fine. Please let go of me.” I wrenched free from his arms.

“Wow for someone who is helping you, you sure have a weird way of showing appreciation.”

“Elric, I wouldn’t even be here if you had stayed in the freaking car!”

“Oh so this is my fault now! All I have been doing lately was trying to help you! But each time you push me away! Why can’t you let anyone get close to you anymore?”

“Bec-”

“You weren’t this secretive with Lilly!”

I fell silent. Now noticing that I was in my bra, I slipped my shirt back on, covering my bandage. I all but stumbled to the door.

“Stephanie.”

I opened the door and started to walk (if you could call teeter-tottering on noodle legs walking) out, not wanting him to see how much those words had hurt me.

“Stephanie, where are you going?”

Shutting the door behind me, I ignored him and whipped out my cell phone. Thankfully it was where I had left it last and the battery was still at twenty percent. “Yes I would like a cab to come pick me up at…” Giving my location, I waited for the taxi to show up.

 

My bra! I was only in my bra! And in front of Elric too. Ugh. My cheeks felt like molten lava.  Why couldn’t have Miss Ann kept my shirt on? I mean she could have just lifted it to stitch me up- unless it was Elric’s idea… THAT PERV!!!! Well I hope he got a good look because that was all he was going to see. EVER.

 

The taxi’s horn interrupted my mental ranting. I opened the door and told the driver Winston’s address. It was time to face his wrath.

 

“Where on earth have you been?” Winston’s face was nearly purple with rage.

 

 Okay Stephanie, I know that this is the first time that Winston has yelled at you, but you deserve it. I think I deserve it. GRRRRR!!! Why does life have to be so complicated?

 

“It’s complicated,” was all I could make my mouth mutter.

“Well you better un-complicate it.”

Suddenly my mom was right beside him, looking disapprovingly at me. Holy crap! Where did she come from? Oh s**t.  “You have really put a damper on things, Stephanie. Especially since your way too ‘complicated’ life has basically ordered ours to a screeching halt,” Mom chimed in. I am sorry. Did she just say “ours”? Winston put his slender- but muscular- arm around Mom. He then said, “Your mother and I eloped while you were off fighting for your life.” I nearly crumpled to the ground when I realized that Winston would never say or do anything like that.

 

            I woke up with a painful jerk. I was sweating like no other, and I had somehow made it back onto Elric’s couch. SON OF A B***H!!! What the heck happened? You know what? Scratch that. I don’t even want to know. Just then I realized that someone was staring at me. It was very awkward to feel a pair of eyes boring into the side of my face. I groaned with annoyance. Screw this weak version of me! I looked over to the meet the creeperish gaze. I was right, Elric. This time I let the curse words run freely from my mouth. This day couldn’t get any worse.

“Hon is your side hurting you?” Crap! I had no idea that she was right behind me! “Uh. Just a little bit, but not that much. Thank you for your help,” I replied lamely. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Elric shaking his head with a smartass smile on his face.

“Oh. Alrighty, Dear. I will let you rest.” Ann turned and made her way up the steep steps that led to the second floor of the house. When I knew that she couldn’t see me anymore, I immediately flipped Elric the bird. Apparently this little gesture was outright hilarious because he just burst into uncontrollable laughter. I sighed with stubbornness. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that he was helping me out more than I thought anyone would (well except Lilly, but she was not there).

Oh forget it. He will never understand what really happened that night. There is no point in trying to explain to him why I push everyone away. I guess I will be handling this on my own.

This time I sighed in grief and deep sorrow. Not wanting him to see the tears welling up in my eyes, I rolled over, and pretended to try and sleep. He made no move to comfort me, which told me that I was doing a really good job at hiding my emotions or he was just being a total a*****e. Thinking this, I let the tears run silently down my cheeks. Time passed by. I heard Elric get up and head to some unknown part of the house, and I slowly but surely drifted off to sleep.

Reviews

[matrixmark]

A very pleasant opener - you've given time for Stepehanie to have a rest - She bloody well needs it..lol.
Again, there was a good flow of converstation between Stephanie and the nurse, or Miss Ann as we come to learn a little later. You show her tough side again, by showing she tried to stand but couldn't manage it. (Little touches)
I bet Elric didn't complain she was just in her bra...(sorry, I couldn't resist)
The one thing which I have noticed about the piece as a whole, is that you are very good at remembering to put the words in italics when the character goes into thinking mode. This story really is so believable, I am glad to have found it on this site. Also throughout the chapters, I have been watching the grammar and I have to say I am VERY impressed at the effort you have put in to get it to this standard.

Mark.