Lilith (6 page)

"Uh oh, 103, keep this on your head." She reached down and pressed a button but
I'd already started shaking.

"105, I need some help in here." The room filled with peopl
e, and everything went black.

When I woke up again I was freezing, even though I could feel piles and piles of blankets covering me. I reached out and touched my bandaged shoulder, it felt fine, and it didn't hurt anymore. Was I dead? I could still feel the cloth under my fingers and tried
to lift it to feel my wounds.

"She's awake." My mom’s voice was strained. She grabbed my fingers and held my hand still, k
eeping me from my inspection.

"Thank God, Pacey, sweetie can you hear me." I lo
oked up at my dad.

"They say you were running a very high fever from a complicated infection. The doctor isn't quite sure what happened but they think your body was allergic to the antibiotic they gave you. They're going to have to keep you for a while,
hopefully they can get everything under control so you can leave in a few days."

I groaned, I wasn't exactly enjoying the
time I'd already spent there. I had to have the absolute worse luck too. First, my car was destroyed. Then I got some crazy death threats, and then someone attacked me on the beach. I had lord knew how many stitches in my shoulder and now I was allergic to the damn antibiotics they'd given me. I was glad to be alive, but it sure felt like my number was being called.

I slept for a few hours and woke up feeling eve
n better. My stomach growled.

"You hungry?"

I looked over at the questioning voice and smiled. Dean was sitting back in the chair on the left side of me holding my hand.

"Starving."

"I hear you scared the nurses again."

I sighed and closed my eyes.
"Yea, I feel better now though." And I did, it was surprising. I sat up and smiled. God I wanted a shower.

"Your mom and dad went to get lunch. They left you your own clothes. I'll call the nurse." I groaned when he pushed the button, he didn't have to do that.
I didn't want to be a bother.

"Hey Pacey, you're not going to cause more chaos are you?" Rachel walked
through the door and smiled.

"Nope I feel way better." My stomach gr
oaned again and she chuckled.

"W
ant me to get you some food?"

"Definitely."
I said.

"How bout
you lover boy, you hungry too?" Rachel asked.

Dean smiled
. “Sure.”

"You can shower if you want Pacey. But I'll have to
cover up your bandages first."

I stood up and pulled my gown closed behind me. I glanced over my shoulder
at Dean and saw him staring.

"Hey sparky, you mind?"

"Sorry.”

I shook my head and follo
wed Rachel into the bathroom. Rachel tapped plastic over my bandage and told me to be careful. She said she'd have food there when I was done. I don't know why, but that shower was the best damn shower I've ever had in my life.

After everything that had happened. The hot pulsing water felt like heaven. When I got
out, I tugged on my jeans and a baggy t-shirt. I couldn't believe how good I felt. My shoulder didn't even hurt.

"Oh my God, I'm so pissed at you."
Rhiannon was standing in my room stomping her foot.

"Didn't anybody think to call me. I've been worried
about you for hours."

I went and sat down at my bed and reached for the t
able holding my tray of food.

"Pacey, hello?"
Rhi said.

"Give it a rest
Rhi; we're lucky she's even alive." Dean, the voice of reason piped in.

"Butch, butt out. Pacey?"

I was propelling food so quickly into my mouth I couldn't speak I looked up at her and shrugged. She just stood there staring.

“Just let her eat Rhi, she needs it.” Dean said.

“When I want your opinion
butch,
I’ll freaking ask for it.” Rhi hissed.

I swallowed and said.
"Rhi, don't talk to him like that. He’s right I’m starving." I shoveled another forkful of Jell-O into my mouth. The food in front of me could hardly be called food. It was all soft and mostly liquid. Broth, juice, and Jell-O. Rachel had told me if I kept it down that I’d get real food later.

"What the hell Pacey?"
Rhiannon's voice raised another octave.

My good mood was already wavering.
"The world doesn't revolve around you Rhi, I couldn't call because I almost died, actually, from what they say I did die, twice. So shut the eff up and let me eat in peace ok."

Rhiannon
's mouth opened and closed before she stormed out the door. I didn't care, I'd had a bad enough couple of days not to even be phased by one of her stupid tantrums. Dean sat next to me on the bed and ate silently.

I
only missed three days of school. Two days after my fever spiked, I was discharged from the hospital. They gave me a bottle of pain meds and antibiotics. I didn't think I'd need the painkillers though, I hadn't felt even a sliver of pain in my shoulder since the fever. Whatever had happened to me left me feeling stronger, and more clear-headed. I even started thinking I could see better, and hear farther. It was like something inside of me had been awakened.

I got ready quickly and headed down the stairs to the kitchen. Mom and
dad stared at me in surprise.

"You're not going to school Pacey
it’s too soon." My mom said.

I sighed and shook my head.
"I feel fine, honest, and didn't the doctor say I could go back to school as long as I didn't lift anything or put any pressure on my shoulder. He's a doctor if he says it’s okay it’s okay, right?"

My parents looked at each other. My mom was whispering to my dad. Fo
rtunately since I got home, I'd been able to hear their whispers. I smiled secretly and listened in.

"Connor, she almost died, please, just keep her here for a while, until we know what happened, if anything
happens to her, I'll...please just keep her safe."

I could hear the fear in my mom’s voice, I felt bad, I was playing
devil’s advocate, and dad usually sided with me.

"Come on Maggie, I know you're scared but she's right, the doctor said
---"

My mom’s angry voice cut off
my dad’s words. "No Connor you always side with Pacey, even when you know you shouldn't. The doctor said she could go back to school, not that she should."

"You're going to have to let her go eventually sweetheart. She's 17 years old, and in three
weeks, she's going to be 18, and then we don't have a say at all. She wants to go back, she needs...some normalcy after all of this. I'm sorry."

I felt even worse now, dad was siding with me, and it was hurting my mom. Damn i
t.

"Pace, you can go back to school on two conditions. One I take you to and from school. And Two I call and have an officer follow you and
watch you while you're there."

I closed my eyes and groaned, yea having a cop
as a shadow was every teenagers dream.

"Fine."

Fifteen minutes later my dad was driving me to school. A black and white squad car followed closely behind us. I rolled my eyes and stared out the window. I hadn't even thought about Lexie Vega until then. I wondered if she'd been missing school too, or if she'd spent the time, I was gone spreading awful rumors.

As we pulled into the parking
lot, I got my answer. Standing with her arms crossed over chest was Lexie Vega, and shockingly she didn't seem pissed at all, in fact, she was actually smiling

Chapter
Six

Soft Voices

My dad grabbed my arm before I could exit the car. "Wait for the officer."

His eyes motioned towards Lexie and I rolled my
own. Right like she would actually attack me in the light of day in front of him, and the officer that was parked next to us. Yea she might be a bitch, but she wasn't stupid.

"Dad it's fine, we don't even know if it was her. And honestly, I'm not so sure it was her anyway." I reached for the
door handle and exited the car.

Lexie came fo
rward and reached for my bag. "Thought you might need some help."

I chewed on my bottom lip in confusion, okay I was d
efinitely
not
expecting that.

"Uh, sure, wait why?"

She sighed and came closer, I took a step back in defense. "Look I didn't do that to you Pacey, and I can prove it. I was in Hawaii this weekend, visiting my Nana. She's my favorite person. I wouldn't do that.” She pointed to my injuries.

“
I...I wanted to thank you, no one's ever stood up to me, not really you know. Even Rhiannon didn't stand there and say, what I'm positive was something I needed to hear. She just did a lot of name calling." She grabbed my backpack and put it on her empty shoulder.

"Honestly L
exie I don't know what to say."

She
grinned. "No I get it, Rhiannon's on her way over. I'd carry this for you all day, but I think she might just kill me."

Lexie handed me back my bag and turned to walk away. Before she'd gone very
far she turned around again.

"I'd
really like to be your friend."

My jaw dropped. What was she playing at? I watched
Rhiannon walk forward and bump into Lexie on purpose. Lexie fell backwards on to her butt. People gathered around her and laughed. All of the sudden Lexie Vega wasn't little Miss Popularity anymore. She stood up and dusted off her hands, I watched her glance over her shoulder at me and smirk. Rhiannon gave her another dirty look before she walked away.

"Why were you talking to trashy pants?"
Rhiannon's voice was high and annoyed.

I really missed my old friend, the one that didn't j
ump to conclusions, or talk bad about people all the time. I stared into her heavily lined blue eyes and shook my head.

"Why does it really matter Rhi? I didn't thi
nk we were talking yet anyway."

Rhiannon
's eyes narrowed. "What crawled up your ass and made you become such a bitch to me?"

Luckily,
I saw Dean breaking through the crowd that had earlier been laughing at Lexie.

"You know what, I'm starting to think you
’re just as bad as she is now Rhiannon, worse actually, because she was never nice, but you were, and now it seems like you're trading places."

"
I've been your best friend for how long and that’s how you're going to talk to me. You better be careful Pacey, or I'll---"

I interrupted her tantrum.
"You'll what, spread rumors, or make some stupid plan to take me down. Give it a rest, is this really, how you want to spend the rest of our senior year. Obsessing over Lexie and being such a bitch, your best friend doesn't want to hang out with you anymore. God Rhi, I almost died, and all you care about is your vengeance. Your ridiculous obsession."

By the time I was done speaking Dean was at my side. I didn't
know what was wrong with me. Ever since Dean moved here I'd changed, or maybe I hadn't, maybe I'd just gotten sick of being Rhiannon's Bad Girl Sidekick. I never really wanted anything to do with her plan anyway.

Maybe now, for once, I was saying what I really felt, instead of siding with Rhi.
Rhiannon's face flashed red and she walked forward and slapped my face hard. I could feel the sting the moment her hand connected with my face.

"What was that for
Rhiannon?" Dean moved forward to shield me from any other blows.

The officer that had been trailing me grabbed
Rhiannon's arm harshly.

"I'll be walking her to the Principals office. Will you be okay Miss
O’Brien?" The officer asked.

“Sure.” I said
and watched him drag Rhiannon away.

She wa
s smiling at me smugly, evilly, and I thought I saw something black flash in her eyes. Where had my old Rhiannon gone to, I missed my best friend.

"What was that all about?" Dean asked as he pulled my
backpack from my hands.

"I don't know we're just not getting along so well these days."
I said.

I could hear
Rhiannon uttering under her breath. "Just wait Pacey; I'm not even close to being done with you yet."

I stopped walking and stood glued to the spot. What did t
hat mean? Dean tried to pull me forward but I shook my head.

"I can't, something’s wrong. I can feel it." My heart started beating
rapidly, and the air around me started to howl.

I covered my ears with my hands and fell to my knees. I could hear everyone’s voices in my head. All of them whispering my name over and over again. Pacey, Pacey, PACEY, Pacey, and then a voice I'd never heard before bro
ke through all of the others.

"I know you can hear me Pacey, I'm not done with you yet." And she laughed, over and over again. Her
high-pitched chuckle vibrating in my head. And I blacked out, for the hundredth time it seemed.

When I woke up I was in what I assumed was the nurses office at school. My head was pounding, I pla
ced my fingers on my temples and tried to ease the crushing feeling. What was happening to me. I could hear someone in the other room muttering. I sat up in my chair and tried to listen.

“
That poor girl, I'm sure she's had a horrible week. I'll have to go check on her in another hour.”
The woman sighed and continued.

“
I should probably call home for her; did I forget to turn off the coffee maker again?”

Her voice turned into whispers, rolling out so quickly it hurt my head to keep up. Did anyone actually talk to themselves like that? It was kind of creepy. I laid back dow
n when I heard the door open.

"Pacey?' The older woman pok
ed her head around the door and looked inside.

"Yea,"
I said.

“
Whew I'm glad she's awake now, I need to get home and check that coffee maker.”

"Excuse
me?" I asked in confusion.

"I'm sorry did
you not want to be disturbed?" She said.

“
She's a little cranky, you'd think she'd be grateful to know someone was taking care of her.”

"I am." I said.

She walked farther into the room with a muddled expression on her face.

"Am what sweetheart."
She asked.

"Grateful."

Her eyes widened.
“Did I say that out loud, oh God, no, I pray she won't tell Mrs. Charleston. My daughter already thinks I'm senile.”

"Yes you did say that out loud, I'm sorry if I seemed rude. It's been a
pretty weird day."

The nurse jumped back in fear and headed for the door.
“I know I didn't say that out loud, oh my God is she reading my mind, no, no, that's not possible, I am senile. There's no way she can read minds, but if she is she knows what I'm thinking right now too.”

"I-I-I I think it would be a g
-good idea for me to ca-call your parents." She slammed the door and locked me inside.

I sat up and stared at the door. Great, now I was trapped
, and what had just happened. Had I really read her mind, or was she just senile, like her daughter kept telling her.

When my parents
arrived, my mom was frantic. She wanted to drive me to the emergency room immediately. I tried not to hear what they were thinking but the voices kept coming and coming. It was worse when there were lots of people in the room. I couldn't tell what was being spoken and what was being thought. It was horrible. I begged my parents to take me home, and promised my mom I'd stay home till Monday.

I didn't regret my promise. Whatever was happening to me scared me enough to make me wanna stay home. And the voices, the voices came from everywhere all the time. I could even hear them when I was trying to sleep, whispering inside my head their deepest
thoughts, and desires.

I ran my fingers across the flat raised lines. It really did look horrible. The first scar ran from the middle of the back of my neck over my shoulder and to my
collarbone. The second one was just above it shorter and parallel to the first but jagged instead of straight. The third was the ugliest, it was like someone had tried to saw my skin off completely a crescent shape that ran from the middle of my shoulder all the way up and over to the middle of my chest.

I groaned. The nurse hadn't lied when she said no more tank tops, the last scar ran down my shoulder into my armpit. I moved my arm and watched the scars tug unnaturally at my skin. I grunted
and pulled my
Deftones
shirt back on.

The charcoal cloth covered most of my scar. The only one visible was the second one that ran the farthest up my neck. All of the scars combined made it look like someone had tried to remove my shoulder. I shivere
d and made my way downstairs.

Dean was sitting in the living room waiting. We weren't allowed to leave, but mom had said as long as we left the door "open" to my room he could watch a movie with me inside. My dad was out in the garage wor
king on his latest contraption.

I hadn't asked him to make what
Rhiannon wanted. No, I was out of that whole ordeal. Even if Lexie had been mean to me on Thursday, and she wasn't, I didn't want to be involved. It just wasn't in me.

"Hey Pace, you ready?" Dean turned and not
iced my presence in the room.

"Yea, we can grab some junk food and head on up." Dean followed me into the kitchen mom was already in there
making us up a tray of food.

"Awesome thanks mom." She smi
led and handed Dean the tray.

"Remember keep the door open...Dean.
" His face turned a little red.

“
He's lucky she likes him so much, if it weren't for that I'd drag him out by the ear.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated. If I tried to clear my head and block it out, I could get control of the voices. Her voice faded from
my head and I opened my eyes.

"You're the best mom." I kissed her on the cheek
and led Dean out of the room.

He'd brought over a
couple of scary movies to watch. We sat on the floor with pillows behind us and the food tray on top of the bed. Dean put his arm around me and pulled me closer gently.

"How's your shou
lder feeling?"

I looked over into his worried eyes and tried not to think abo
ut what he might be thinking.

"It's ok." I could hear my mom
's feet coming up the stairs.

"Hey Pacey, one of the girls at work called and there's an emergency. I have to run in. If your dad ever comes up for air tell him I'm gone okay." She stood in the doorwa
y for a minute staring at us.

"Behave. Dads still here remember!" She smiled stiffly and walked back downstairs I could
hear her muttering to herself.

“
I know this is a bad idea I can feel it, if that boy tries anything with her I'll remove his favorite appendage. Damn crazy customers.”
Her inner voice trailed off when the front door slammed.

"So we're alone now
I guess." Dean smiled brightly.

Oh no
. What was he thinking. I stared into his eyes and waited for the voices to come.
“I should tell her...no, it's too soon, I can't, I don't deserve her. Damn it.”

My eyebrow went up in surprise. What in t
he heck was he talking about.

"What do you want to do now?" Dean's voice was strained, I could feel the tens
ion start to rise between us.

"Let's watch
a movie." He turned to watch the screen.

I reached for his other hand. He held my fingers against his upper thigh. The butterflies in my stomach immediately erupte
d. Was he going to try anything?

“
Just kiss her stupid
.”

I almost laughed when the words echoed inside my head. He reached up with the hand that had been holding my fingers and brushed my cheek,
turning my face towards his.