touch (40 page)

Two green lights blinked into existence outside, in the
street.  Behind me, Brian made a small, frightened noise.  I blinked.  Not
lights.  Ahgred.

“We need to close the door,” I gasped rushing forward. 
Brian caught me from behind.

“No,” he shrieked.  “He’s been waiting for you.  It’s time
to end this, Tessa.”

I struggled, but Brian held me tight.  Outside, Ahgred
approached the house, his dark smoky form invisible until he reached the pool
of light illuminating the area just before the front step.

Brian pushed me hard out the door.  The threshold tripped
me, and I fell to my knees on the stoop.  Ahgred hesitated just a few feet
away.  He didn’t look at me, but instead focused on Brian.  I risked a backward
glance and saw Brian had the gun leveled at me.  My heart thumped heavily.

“If you’re gone,” Brian whispered, “they have no reason to
come back.”

A light flared at the end of the gun.  An invisible hand hit
me, knocking me further off balance, and caused a burst of heat where it had
jarred me.  The boom of the gun going off echoed around us.

Ahgred gave an inhuman cry and moved around me.  I watched
the terror on Brian’s face grow as Ahgred stepped through the door.  Locked in
fear, Brian didn’t try to run.  Ahgred sank into Brian.

I fell back onto my butt struggling to breath.  Whatever had
hit me knocked the wind out of me.

Ahgred, in possession of Brian’s body, lifted the gun to
fire it once more.  Brian crumpled to the floor, sightlessly gazing at the
ceiling.

Ahgred had killed Brian, and I understood why as I collapsed
onto the cement.  A fine tremor started in my hands and worked its way through
my limbs to consume me.  Brian had shot me.

“He is fortunate to have you,” Ahgred said nearby.  I
blinked at the stars swimming above me.  “He felt your pain and struggles to
return.  I can ease your pain, for a touch,” Ahgred offered.

I laughed.  A dry coughing sound that brought a wave of
pain.  “No deals.  Never again.  What will be will be,” I whispered and closed
my eyes.

His voice pulled me from the darkness.

“Tessa,” he said softly touching my face.

I forced my eyes to open not believing what I heard.  Morik
leaned over me, looking wan and worried.  Yellow dominated his eyes.

“You died,” I accused weakly.

“Not quite.  Lurel took me before I bled out.  I’m sorry I
was gone for so long.”

In the background, I heard sirens.  “You need to leave,” I
told him.

He shook his head.  “Never again.”

I wanted to argue more, but the cut-off wail of the siren
distracted me.  Instead, I whispered the words I should have said weeks ago.

“I love you.”

He closed his eyes briefly, a pained smile on his face as he
clasped my hand.

Closing my eyes, I listened to the voices approached.  Morik
released my hand.  Someone started tugged at my shirt and talking to me.  I
answered until they pushed on the sore spot.  Then I cried.

*    *    *    *

My mom came rushing into my room with a huge smile and tears
in her eyes.  She didn’t wail about my condition or ask how I felt.  She knew
I’d live.  That’s all that mattered.  I wondered what the hospital staff
thought of her reaction.

“He’s in the waiting room,” she said kissing my forehead.

“Can you talk to the doctor and see if he can stay here with
me tonight?” I asked weakly.

She nodded and touched my hand, her smile never leaving her
face.

“Everything’s good now, right?” she asked quietly.

A nurse came into the room before I could answer.  They
started talking about when I would be discharged.

Brian, in his fear, hadn’t taken time to aim.  Or maybe he’d
aimed, but his shaking hand messed it up.  Either way, he missed anything
vital.  I’d have a nasty scar and need to wear a splint for a while.  The
stitches pulled every time I moved a little.

The police pieced together the story they needed.  Brian, a
bully from my past and the reason behind my switch to a new school and our
relocation, tracked me down to finish what he started.  I asked about Clavin
during the interview, expressing my concern over his well-being.  They didn’t
tell me much, but promised to check in on him.  I hoped that he would recover
from Morik’s uninvited influence in his life.

During the interview, I cried for Brian.  What would have
happened if I’d chosen him last fall instead of shunning his attention?  I
would have most likely saved his life.  Well, extended it anyway.  In the
process, I would have condemned our daughter to the same life I’d led up until
Morik.

I regretted what happened to Brian, but couldn’t regret my
decisions.  My stomach did a crazy flip thinking of Morik.

“Morik, mom?” I said reminding her.

She and the nurse disagreed on what was best for me and left
the room still debating Morik’s presence overnight.  A few minutes later, he
walked through the door wearing his ball cap and yellow glasses.

My lip quivered at the sight of him.

He bent and kissed me softly, bumping a few of the tubes
connected to me.  “Don’t cry,” he begged.

“It’s a good cry.  I can’t believe you’re here,” I
whispered.

The nurse strode into the room and started explaining the
rules to Morik.  No messing with my tubes.  She’d apparently witnessed the
kiss.  No giving me anything to eat or drink.  If I ask for anything, get a
nurse.  No trying to sleep in the bed with me.  Duh.

He listened to everything with a serious focus promising the
nurse he would cause me no duress.  I already knew that.

Sleep tugged at me.  I closed my eyes listening to their
conversation.

*    *    *    *

Equipped with medicine, Morik and mom, the nurse wheeled me
out the hospital doors just after dinner a few days later.  The colors of
another setting sun decorated the sky.

They helped me in the car.  I flinched several times.  Morik
sat in the back with me, one arm wrapped around my shoulders.  I rested my head
against his chest listening to the steady beat of his heart.  How I’d missed
that sound.

Once we cleared the parking lot Mom spoke up.  “Alright. 
Get her home.”

In a blink, I lay in my twin bed at home with Morik
stretched out next to me.

“Finally,” I sighed relaxing.

Morik laughed softly and kissed my temple.

Slipping a hand under his shirt and ran my fingers lightly
over his scar.  “Tell me what happened.”

He stayed quiet for a moment tangling his fingers in my
hair.  “I felt you put pressure on my chest and knew it wouldn’t be enough.  As
you moved away, I called for Lurel.  She brought me back to the cavern and
fought to keep me alive for days.  Even after I started to heal, I was too weak
to bring myself back.  She stayed with me.  When I felt you…,” he sighed. 
“Nothing could have kept me away.”  He kissed the side of my head again and
said, “Sleep.  Your mom will be home in an hour with dinner and Stephen.”

I wrinkled my nose.  Stephen had removed himself,
unwillingly, from our lives after Brian shot Morik.  Now that Morik had returned,
everyone put their lives back in order.  Which meant the return of wedding
talk.  Everyone agreed I’d have no problem walking down the aisle in a few
weeks.

After sleeping so much for the last several days, I couldn’t
do more than dose next to Morik.  When I grew uncomfortable, I shifted
slightly.  Morik immediately reached to help me, lifting me and moving me
easily so I didn’t strain the stitches.  I sighed when he settled me more
firmly on his chest.

Someone tapped on the door.  He rumbled permission to
enter.  It made me smile.

“She awake?” Mom asked.

“Mostly.”

“Can you bring her out?”

I felt him nod.  In an instant, he stood with me in his
arms.  The abrupt shift from horizontal to vertical left me dizzy.

Opening my eyes, I looked up at him.  He watched me, his
silver eyes swirling with yellow.  Yellow.  That color had been present in some
degree since he returned.

“Can you hand Tessa my glasses, please?” he asked my mom
while watching me.

She moved around us and grabbed the glasses from my desk. 
She handed them to me with a smile and left the room.  I carefully fit them on
his face using my good arm.  As soon as they sat on his nose, he strode out of
the room toward the living room.

I could smell the sulfur of a freshly struck match.

“Surprise!” Beatriz and a few other familiar voices yelled
when we emerged from the hallway.

A cake lit with seventeen candles glowed in the center of
the table.  My family, Beatriz, Tommy, Brad, Stephen, and Mona stood around the
table and started singing to me.  I smiled at my friends and family.

I stared at the candles trying to count back the days in the
hospital.  Had that much time really passed?  It really didn’t matter anymore.

Morik set me on the couch and claimed the space next to me. 
Beatriz handed me several gifts while Mona and Gran cut the cake.  I took my
time opening gifts.  Beatriz gave me a gift card to her favorite store in the
mall.  A trap if I ever saw one.  Gran, Mom and Aunt Grace gave me a quilt for
a larger bed, handmade following our tradition.  I blushed when Morik held it
up for my inspection knowing they meant it for our bed.

Brad and Tommy each gave me a card.  Tommy’s thanked me for
including him on the double date.  I could feel Morik’s eyes scanning the card
with me and blushed thinking we had a few things to talk about.  Brad’s card
simply stated, “I’m glad it’s no longer a count down.  Get well soon and happy
seventeen.”

I smiled and thanked everyone.  No one stayed long.  The
house cleared after the last bite of cake.  While the other’s quietly cleaned
up, Morik carried me back to my room.

After setting me on the bed, he produced a small brightly
wrapped gift.  “Happy birthday, Tessa.”

Nestled in a soft bed of silk, a thin chain held a sparkling
teardrop, clear and beautiful.  “Just having you back is enough,” I whispered
closing the lid on the box.

His lips twitched, and he set the box with the necklace
still inside on the desk before lying on the bed with me.  “I know,” he said
softly touching his lips to my hair.  “I felt the moment you chose me.  Then, I
felt your pain.  Again.”

His eyes blazed bright at the memory.  I reached up running
my fingers through his hair accidentally, on purpose, touching his sensitive
ears.  Black obliterated the red and yellow.

“That’s the color I wanted to see again,” I whispered
stretching to kiss him.  Our lips touched lightly, and I sighed.  The kiss
warmed me.  Playfully, I nipped his lower lip.  He pulled back, shaking his
head at me.

“Everything’s the way it should be.  Stop dwelling on the
past,” I scolded.

He smiled at me and nodded.  “It’s finally time to start
thinking of a future.”