Ella Awakened (2 page)

“Ella,” he
said, “you’re tired all the time.  Lights are too bright, and you can hear your
roommate’s iPod like the ear buds are in your ears instead of hers.  You’re
getting headaches; they’re frequent and bad.  Have you noticed lately how fast
you can run or how high you can jump?  How about the way you just shoved me
into next week?  Ella, the headaches are going to get worse over the next few
days until your birthday.”  Burke banged on the door.  “I can help you, Ella!” 
When she didn’t respond, he slid his phone number under her door.  “Call me
when you come to your senses, or when you can’t stand the pain in your head.” 
Then Burke walked away.

Ella leaned her
back against her door, slid down to the cold tile and put her head in her
hands. 
What is happening to me?

~~

Ella slept
the rest of that day and through the night.  She woke up around eight o’clock
the next morning.  Not surprisingly, she was starving.  Grabbing a bowl and the
box of Cheerios, she headed downstairs to buy a carton of milk out of the
vending machine.  The common room was unusually crowded for this time of
morning.  There was a lot of excited chatter.

“What’s
going on?” Ella asked the girl closest to her.

“A body was
found early this morning in the pool here on campus.  Can you believe it?”

“Oh my God,”
Ella said, “do they know who it was?”

“No, I don’t
think so,” the girl replied.

“Yes they
do,” someone interrupted.  “It was Jill Stevens.  She was a freshman who lived
in Stanford hall.”

“Jill
Stevens?”

“Wasn’t she
on the swim team?”

“Did she
drown?”  The voices were getting louder as they overran each other.

Ella bought
her milk and headed back up to her room.  It was a terrible thing, but she
hadn’t known the girl and accidents did happen sometimes.  She just couldn’t
allow herself to become wrapped up in it right now with everything else she had
going on.  She needed to get her things packed to head home for the summer. 
Thank goodness she didn’t have a long trip like some of her friends.  Her
hometown was only about an hour away, but she was anxious to get going and put
the past few weeks behind her.

As soon as
Ella got back to her room she sat at her desk and ate her cereal.  She was
still a little hungry when she finished, so she just stayed where she was and
absent mindedly munched the little honey O’s straight from the box.  She
scanned the room and thought of the job ahead of her.  She and Sarah had been
roommates for the past two years here at school, and they had already filed a
request to stay together come fall.  They had become fast friends, and they
knew it didn’t always pan out that way.  They were lucky to have each other. 
Enrollment always dropped for the summer, but Sarah was staying and taking a
few classes to finish her minor so she’d keep this room.  The chances of
someone getting thrown in here with her were miniscule.  Officially, Ella was
supposed to clear all her stuff out since she wasn’t enrolled for the summer
semester, but with Sarah staying and Ella coming back, they had decided between
the two of them that Ella could leave some of her things here.

Ella got up
and started returning the scattered books to her shelf.  She’d make time to
sell them back to the school bookstore later.  She grabbed a garbage bag and
collected the various take-out containers, soda cans, and empty water bottles. 
These things always seemed to multiply during finals when time got away, and
cleaning up was the last thing on anyone’s mind.  She found the scrap of paper
Burke had written his number on and started to throw it away, then reconsidered
and pinned it to the cork board over her desk.  Was he really a friend of her
parents or some weirdo stalker?  She didn’t recall seeing him around campus,
and she was usually aware of her surroundings.  She thought about the picture
he had shown her.  She wished she hadn’t thrown it at him; she should have kept
it.  How easy was it to fake something like that in this day and age? 
Relatively easy.  Now that she thought about it, he didn’t look any different
now than he had in the picture.  That picture was supposed to be ten years
old.  Either it was a fake, or she wanted to know what kind of moisturizer he
was smearing on his face at night.

It was still
a weird situation.  Weird multiplied by about a hundred when she started
thinking about everything else she was going through lately, and the fact that
he seemed to have read all the memos on her recent wacko life events.  She
tried to recall what exactly he’d said through the door after she had tossed
him out.  He
was
pretty hot though, she mused, not that she had time for
a guy.

She pulled a
large duffle bag out from under her bed and took it over to her dresser. 
Opening a drawer, she started pulling out shorts and t-shirts and stuffing them
into the bag.  Slamming one drawer and opening the next, she pulled out bras,
panties, and pajamas in a variety of colors.  She smiled as she wondered what
his favorite color was.  She’d always thought she looked best in blue.  It
matched her eyes and almost made them glow.  Grabbing one of the elastics off
her dresser, she pulled her long honey blond hair into a messy bun, then
scraped the rest of the hair things into the duffle bag before zipping it
shut.  She plopped down on her bed and looked around.  That was good enough for
now.  She’d leave her bedding here; she didn’t need it at home.  If she was
forgetting anything she’d just pick it up when she made the trip back to visit
Sarah, which she was sure to do within a week or so.  The bed felt soft and
inviting under her. 
Just a few minutes
, she thought as she straightened
out and stretched.  She lay her head on the pillow and was fast asleep within
seconds.

“Hellooooo,”
Sarah cooed as she bounced into the room.  She’d been out tying up some loose
ends to ensure her schedule was good to go for summer and that she had
everything she needed.  She wasn’t too thrilled that Ella wasn’t going to be
staying, but she understood that her friend needed a break.  That chick was
stressed!  It seemed like all Ella did was sleep or hold her head.  Sarah
thought maybe Ella had mono or something, but when she’d suggested it, Ella had
just kind of waved her off.  Whatever it was, Sarah hoped two things: first,
that Ella felt better soon and second, that it wasn’t contagious.  Sarah was
excited about today though; she had been rushing back here to make sure she
caught Ella before she left for home.  She wanted to treat her to lunch at
their favorite little bistro.  Sarah stopped short just inside the dorm room
door and stood staring at Ella who was sound asleep.

“You’ve got to
be kidding me,” Sarah muttered.

Ella looked
extremely pale and had dark circles around her eyes.  Sarah reached out and
touched Ella’s face; it was hot and clammy.  Worriedly, she slid her hand down
to Ella’s neck searching for a pulse.  It was there, but it was thready and
faint.  Sarah’s own pulse picked up considerably as she reached out to shake
Ella awake.

“Ella, wake
up!” she screeched.

Ella flew
out of the bed knocking her friend over, and then vomited into the trash can. 
Sarah couldn’t believe how fast Ella had just made it across the room.  She
watched as Ella collapsed on the floor and lay curled in the fetal position
moaning.

“That’s it!”
Sarah said authoritatively.  “We’re going to the hospital.”

“No!” Ella
yelled.  Then she quietly added, “call Burke.”

Sarah threw
her hands in the air.  “Call Burke?  Who the heck is Burke?  You’re feverish
and delusional, and you’re really scaring me Ella.  I think something’s
seriously wrong and I need to get you to a hospital.”

Ella didn’t
even lift her head off the floor and Sarah had to strain to hear her.  “Sarah
please trust me; if my word has ever meant anything to you just go with me on
this one.  I’ll explain it all later, but I don’t think the hospital can help
me.  Call Burke NOW.  The number is on my cork board.”

Against her
better judgment Sarah made the call.  It was an extremely short conversation. 
Some guy, Burke she guessed, answered with a casual “hello”.  She barely got
out “This is Ella’s roommate, she’s really sick and she needs you.”  He cut in
before she could even say they were in the room with an “I’m on my way!” and
then he hung up.

Sarah was
pacing the room, chewing on her fingernail and thinking that if he wasn’t there
within ten minutes she was taking her friend to the hospital - like she should
have in the first place.  Ella might be mad at her later, but right now she wouldn’t
be able to put up much of a fight.  The clock never made it to ten minutes.  In
less than five there was an urgent knock at the door.  Sarah rushed to open it
and there stood –
well hello there
– one of the hottest guys she had
ever seen.  Tall and sexy, lean but muscular, perfectly falling hair the color
of black coffee, and were his eyes actually violet?  She leaned forward to get
a better look, but was snapped back to reality when he gruffly barked “Where is
she?”

Focus
, thought Sarah, stepping out of the
way.

“She’s over
here.”  Sarah led the way over to Ella, who was still curled on the floor.

Without
another word, Burke was by Ella’s side and had scooped her up into his arms. 
“I’m getting you out of here,” he whispered.

As he headed
towards the door, Sarah grabbed his arm.  “Wait a minute, where do you think
you’re taking her?” she asked him, her voice on the verge of panic.

Ella lifted
her head off of Burke’s chest.  “It’s okay,” she said, “I’ll call you soon, I
promise.”

“Hold on,”
Sarah said, and tucked Ella’s cell phone into Burke’s back pocket.  “If I don’t
hear from you, I’m calling your Aunt Rachel.  I’m not kidding!”

And then
they were gone.

Burke
carried Ella out to his four wheel drive SUV.  It was gray and four years old. 
Nothing special and nothing anyone would notice, which was exactly what he’d
had in mind when he bought it.  He had made blending in an art form.  He held
Ella with one arm and opened the back door with the other.  After laying her
across the back seat as gently as possible, he leaned in to buckle the center
belt loosely over her.  That would have to do; he’d be careful.  He shut the
door, let himself into the front, buckled his seatbelt, and started the truck. 
Before pulling out he looked around then checked his rearview mirrors. 
Luckily, the campus population was fairly thinned out with the semester being
over.  The last thing he needed was someone calling in his license plate number
after seeing him tuck an apparently passed out student into his back seat.  You
would think campus security would have stepped it up a notch with the death of
Jill Stevens.  Of course, they thought she had drowned.  He’d worry about Jill
Stevens later.  Right now he had to get Ella to his house and get her better. 
After he was confident that no one was scoping him out, he put the car in drive
and eased out of the parking lot.

He lived
only eight miles from campus on the outskirts of town in a little cape cod that
was as unassuming as his vehicle.  He had bought the house just over two years
ago when he’d learned Ella planned to attend the university.  Everything he’d
done since his best friend James had died in that car accident had centered around
keeping his eye on James’ daughter.  What a hellish nightmare that night a
decade ago had been.  He would be reliving the whole thing soon enough when
Ella was through the awakening, and he had to explain everything to her.  How
was she going to take all of this?  She was tough, that was a fact.  She would
deal with it, and she would help him finish this thing at last.

He couldn’t
help but smile as the thought he hadn’t allowed to surface since the accident
centered itself in his mind
.  Finally, I’m not going to be alone anymore.

Burke slowed
the truck as he prepared to make the turn down his driveway.  The house was set
back nearly a mile from the main road.  He crawled slowly and carefully along
the gravel, avoiding as many of the bumps and holes as possible.  After
coasting to a stop, he hopped out and ran to open the front door.  Jogging back
to the truck, he opened the back and leaned in to unfasten Ella’s seatbelt. 
Luckily she was asleep; he knew she was going to feel extremely bad when she
woke up.  Hopefully that wouldn’t be for a while.  Best case scenario, she’d be
able to sleep through as much of the final changes as possible.  Burke picked
Ella up and cradled her against him.  Even though she was sound asleep, he
walked softly up the slate path.  Turning to ease her through the door, he took
her through the house to his bedroom in the back.  It was a modest two bedroom
house, but he had the spare room set up as an office.  He only had one bed and
that’s where he laid her.  He pulled a blanket over her before leaving the room,
and left the door cracked open so he’d be sure to hear if she stirred.  He
would be crashing on the couch for the next few days at least.  Ella’s birthday
was next Tuesday.  Today was Friday.  Four days to go.  She’d wake up on her
twentieth birthday feeling fine.  All he could do was keep her comfortable and
help her rest until then.  He had the weekend off work so that was no problem. 
He was overdue some vacation time too; he would call now and get that lined
up.  He was more than confident that no one would question him or give him a
hard time.  Sure he was the department’s best medical examiner, but Carl could
hold the fort down for a few days.