Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (35 page)

How happy Hannah was when Matt had dropped her off at home. Even Isaac’s cold expression as she walked into the house hadn’t fazed her. As she reached her room, Hannah took out her cell and dialed Matt’s number, disappointed when she was sent straight to voicemail. She laid on her bed, counting down the minutes, realizing he probably had his phone off because he was driving. A slow hour had gone by before she tried to call again. A strange voice answered, “Hello, may I ask who is calling?”

“May I speak to Matt, please?”

“I’m sorry, but he can’t come to the phone right now. This is Deputy Kim Burkins of the Astoria Sheriff’s Department. There’s been an accident. He’s been admitted to Astoria General.”

“What? Is he okay?”

“May I ask who I’m speaking to?”

“This is Hannah Bancroft. Is Matt okay?”

“Oh Hannah, he’s doing fine from what I understand. He was a little banged up, but…hold on, let me find out what room he’s in so you can go visit him tomorrow,” Deputy Burkins said. Hannah shook as she waited in anticipation for more details. “So, he’s in room 221.”

“Thanks,” Hannah said quickly and hung up the phone.    

Now by Matt’s side, tears stung Hannah’s eyes as she scanned his body. When she looked up, she was startled as Matt’s cloudy gaze met hers.

“Matt?” she blurted out, her throat restricted with emotion.

“Hannah,” Matt murmured, smiling crookedly.

“Oh Matt, how are you feeling? I was so worried about you!” her words rushed out.

“I feel better…was in a lot of pain before…but now I feel like…I’m just floating on a cloud.”

“How would you know what that feels like?” Hannah giggled slightly, squeezing his hand a little tighter.

“I just do…what are you doing here? Did you come with someone?” he asked.

“No, I came alone. Matt what happened?”

“You shouldn’t…have come alone.”

“Why not?” Hannah felt a sense of dread, not really wanting to hear his answer.

Matt gripped her hand tightly, “There are monsters…vampire-looking people out there. You should be safe at home. I saw them, Hannah…vampires!” He shivered, reliving the attack.

“Matt, are you sure?”

“Hannah, you need to go home…I’m getting sleepy…Hannah, I want you safe…worried.” Hannah’s eyes turned jet black as she stared intently into Matt’s.

“Matt, you need your rest. You’ll remember nothing from the accident. It’ll all be a blur to you,” she said, and then her eyes returned to their natural light blue. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe they did this to you!” Matt slowly closed his eyes as Hannah gently laid his hand down and bent over, softly kissing him on the cheek. “I’ll be back later, I promise, but I must go now,” she murmured, turning one last time to look at him before slipping out the window.

Reaching her car, Hannah opened the door and sat heavily in the driver’s seat. She knew she had broken a sacred rule. It was forbidden for her to erase a human’s memory, but she didn’t want Matt to remember his attackers. She would confront Isaac and his group.
This has gone far enough! Being mean is one thing, but causing harm is quite another!
Hannah thought, as she pounded on the steering wheel.

 “Now, I know it’s past visiting hours, but I feel your friend needs you right now. He’s in a private room so there should be no problem with you spending the night,” Dr. Bane explained as he led Cat and her friends into Matt’s room. “No loud talking. And I don’t know how comfortable you’ll be in these chairs, but you’ll have to make do. Alright, goodnight ladies,” Dr. Bane grinned, closing the door on the four people standing in the room. Amanda and Elle’s tear-streaked faces and Julie’s melancholy expression tore at Cat’s heart. Moving forward she grabbed them all in a hug. Immediately, arms came around her, hugging her back.

“Oh Cat, Julie, we’ve missed you so much,” Elle sobbed.

“Yeah…me…too,” Amanda sniffled, squeezing harder.

“We’ve all been dumb. It’s terrible that something like this has to happen for us to realize how stupid we’ve been,” Julie whispered quietly.

“I’m so sorry guys. Maybe if we hadn’t fought, Matt wouldn’t be here,” Cat replied, looking pensively at the pale figure lying in the bed.

“We can’t blame ourselves. We just have to be here for him now and make a pact that we will never ever let this happen again. Whatever happens from now on we’ll stand together, okay? I can’t go through this again. These last few weeks have been just awful, right, Amanda?” Elle looked at Amanda who nodded, too overcome with emotion to comment.

The four friends moved to stand around Matt’s bed. The monitors beeping and tubes protruding from his body made the group speechless as they held hands, each sending non-verbal encouragement to him.

 “Isaac? Isaac where the hell are you?!” Hannah’s angry voice echoed through the empty foyer. “We need to talk, now!”

“What are you blabbering on about? Still mad at us for earlier?” Isaac smirked at the angered look on her face as he exited from the living room. Amelia and the Stone twins stood behind him grinning like fools. Hannah clenched her fists, desperately wanting to knock the grins from their faces.

“How could you do this to him? What has he ever done to you all to deserve this? You could’ve killed him. All because I asked him to a stupid dance! I asked him, he didn’t ask me. If you needed to take your anger out on someone, it should’ve been me,” Hannah shouted, poking her finger into Isaac’s chest, while brushing away the angry tears with her other hand.