Merritts of Writing 3

Chapter 6

Emmalee

My mother had been beautiful. A woman full of life and laughter. A kind, caring, and generous person. She welcomed everyone.

The mother I saw wasn’t anything like I remembered. She made me feel cold and fearful.

THREE DAYS LATER

Carter’s voice woke me.

I couldn’t tell if it was daytime or night. By now my limited vision, thanks to the energy from the broken fyre eggs, had long since faded. I was back to my familiar darkness. And for the first and only time since I’d lost my sight seven years ago, I was glad. Really glad I couldn’t see.

Carter’s voice quiet and measured neared me. He was agitated about something. I could hear the slight uneven tremor in his breathing. He exhaled heavily. Ruffled something that sounded like paper.

I held my breath for a moment then released it slowly. I didn’t want him to know I was awake. I didn’t want anyone to know.

I still hadn’t come to terms with what all had happened. I don’t know if I ever will.

Carter Bain loved me.

A declaration of love from a marriable young man, for most girls, would have made them happy. I wasn’t. In fact Carter had killed any shred of feeling I’d had for him the moment I saw his face. His lies and deceit hit me hard.

I felt infuriated. How could I have allowed him to get close to me? How could I have trusted him so implicitly? Stupid, stupid, stupid, I chided myself. Was I so desperate for friendship or companionship that I’d allowed a kill- No, I wasn’t going to think about it. Not right now.

The ruffling sound stopped and Carter mumbled something that even my sensitive ears couldn’t pick up. He wasn’t happy either. Well good.

I heard him push air between his lips. He was closer to me now. On the other side of the bed next to mine.

I tensed.

My brother Benjamin was lying in that bed. I could hear the raspy sound of his breathing. The gurgling noise of mucus deep in his chest. The urge to reach out and touch him, to protect my brother from Carter was overwhelming. I closed my fist. If I moved Carter would know I was awake.

My throat clogged. Tears gathered behind my closed lids. Walk away Carter, I begged silently. Dammit, Carter, walk away from Jam.

I heard the creak of a chair and knew that Carter had sat down. Damn him.

I turned my head. Let the dampness of my tears run down the sides of my nose to my lips. I didn’t dare lick them away for fear Carter would know I was crying. My chest hurt. The muscles in my stomach quivered. The tears kept coming. I couldn’t stop them.

I cried for Angie and Benjamin. For the innocence I had lost. For the reality of the situation and for what I was about to lose.

My brother was dying. I didn’t need sight to know how badly he was injured. I’d been skewered to him. I knew exactly where the spikes had entered him through me. I knew that there was little chance he would recover. I started to cry even harder.

He had saved me. Without thought or concern for himself my brother had rushed to my rescue. Risked his life to yank me out of danger and the price would be his own life. Jake had warned me. His words about Jam being in a fix only made me cry harder.

The Prayers’ spike that had gone through my leg had went through Jam’s side puncturing a kidney. Donahue had tried in vain to save it, but Jam losing a kidney wasn’t the worse of it. The spike that had went harmlessly through my own side had nicked his left lung.

Donahue had had better success on that front. Jam was now only hanging on by a thread. The thread of an IV tube hooked up between himself and Stevron.

Yeah, Stevron. The man was like a human blood bank. Whatever was in the canister that had fallen near Stevron had altered his body chemistry so that his blood type matched whoever needed it. Just a pinch of his miracle mixture had healed up my wounds. For Jam? Well, Stevron’s blood was barely keeping my brother alive.

I yawned. No matter how hard I tried to hold in my sobs, the lack of oxygen to my brain had finally forced my hand.

The smell and taste of mint tickled my nose and tongue as I sucked in air. Then I heard Stevron’s rough voice. “He’s doing much better.”

His words made my heart swell. I’d been so preoccupied with my fury over Carter that I hadn’t realized Stevron had been sitting in between Jam and my cot. I turned my head toward his voice and whispered. “Really?”

“Yeah, Little Sis.”

I felt his thumb brush against my cheek. The pad was smooth, not like my own calloused ones. I felt him wipe my tears away. His gentle gesture of compassion only made me cry harder as did his nickname for me. It made me think that he’d be the only version of a big brother I’d have left. And that was something I couldn’t bare.

“Shh...Little Sis,” he said soothingly. When his words only made me sob more, I heard him say. “Carter?”

I turned my head away from Stevron. I didn’t want for Carter to see me cry.

I heard Carter run his tongue along his teeth and then suck in his cheeks before he swallowed hard. He must have given Stevron some negative sign for Stevron continued in a commanding tone. “Get over here, Carter. Talk to her.”

Fear and loathing crashed through me. “No!” I cried and tried to sit up. I felt suddenly weak and dizzy. “No.” I cried again and lay back down onto my cot. “Not him. Angie. Where’s Angie?”

Carter’s voice was flat, emotionless. “I think she’s eating.” I heard the creak of the chair as he stood. “I’ll go get her.”

“No, it’s okay,” Stevron countered. “I’ll go. I’m finished up here.”

I heard Stevron shuffle his feet. The tiny ripping sound of a bandage being torn from flesh echoed close to my ear. I felt the flutter of air as Stevron stood and pushed back his chair.

A moment later I sensed Carter sitting down beside me. My skin crawled and I gritted my teeth. Revulsion coiled in my gut. Dizziness swirled in my head. I started to breath heavily.

I felt the touch of a headache beginning at the base of my skull. It throbbed and increased with each ragged breath I took.

In a distant recess of my mind I began to hear the faintness of Jake’s laughter. It crackled along my nerve endings and settled behind my eyes.

I didn’t understand why I all of a sudden was able to talk to someone from the Far Beyond. I knew of no one who could and the thought that I might be going crazy frightened me.

Jake’s laughter heightened. In a rush the feeling of his presence intensified. I cringed when I heard his voice reverberate in my head. It magnified with each syllable he said. ‘Oh, my, my, my. Big brother will die, die, die. And then where will you be, be, be? Emmalee, Emmalee, Emmalee.’

Panic sent my body into overdrive. I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the cot. I had to get to Jam. I had to disprove Jake’s scornful taunt.

I tried to stand. I felt Carter’s hand grip my shoulder. I flinched and pulled myself backward.

Jake gave a wailing cry, the sound splitting my brain tissue like the deafening sound of the broken fyre eggs back in the cavern.

I sucked in a sharp breath. I pitched forward. Carter must have caught me because I felt my head being cradled in two hands. A moment later I felt a wave of energy pass through me. It hovered in the corners of my mind, as if hesitating, then it pushed forcibly forward. Jake’s voice squealed once more and then was gone.

My shoulders slumped and I felt rather than heard Carter whisper my name.

I recoiled. I couldn’t bare him touching me. Not after what he’d done.

Carter released me. I gripped the edge of the cot with the tips of my fingers. I could feel my hands shaking. My breath was coming out in terrified puffs.

I heard the creak of a chair and the soft sound of Carter’s accelerated breathing. I felt his eyes watching me.

I waited for him to explain what had just happened. It had been his touch that had forced Jake from my mind. His energy that I’d felt wrapping itself around me.

But that wasn’t possible. Why would he protect me? Why when he must know by now I knew the truth?

Still Carter remained silent, although I could hear him clearly swallowing several times as he nervously sucked saliva from along his gums.

“I remember you,” I stated angrily.

I heard Carter take a deep breath. He released it slowly. “Yes, I know.”

The lack of remorse or any emotion in his tone chilled me. I’d seen what he’d done. Knew what he was capable of. I shivered.

“What are you doing here? How could my father allow you-”

He cut me off before I could finish. “Your father is why I’m here.”

I felt my heart stop. No, he couldn’t mean. My father? No, no, not my father.

“You’re lying.”

A derisive huff of air escaped Carter. I heard him shift in the chair and then I felt the pressure of the weight of his hand as he placed it on the cot next to my thigh.

“Ask him, Em,” I heard him whisper into my ear. “Ask him about what really happened to Jake.”