Collection of Older Works

Faethfully Yours: Chapter Eighteen

I had to do something before I went crazy. In waking up, Ivan was gone. Nothing greeted me, just a simple note on the pillow which read 'Meeting with elders, then work. See you tonight."

Nice . Normally that would have felt to be the worst thing--you know, waking up to an empty bed especially when things were so in between and new. But I quickly realized nothing was worse than waking up in an empty bed in a strange, empty house. Yes, it was my house, but it wasn't my home. My house and I were strangers. Back when I was-well, human Charlotte, my home was school...and Casey's house. The only time I'd spent in it were sleeping, showering and...sleeping. Dinner was always at Casey's so eating was never part of the equation. But I digress. Empty house, no good.

Somehow I still found myself pacing the entire house about a million times. It was as odd of an experience as the past few months had been. It's crazy the things you never notice when all alone in infinite silence. Anything and everything from uneven floor tiles to dust beneath random furniture to the rhythm of the refrigerator turning on and off. On and off. Yeah, I had to go out of there because stir crazy was just around the corner.

Twenty minutes later, I stood outside the place where it all began. Sounds crazy, I know. But Ivan did say Kheelan and Elena would be handling everything. And who knows, maybe seeing some old friends would help...and I'd see Ivan as well. Killing two birds with one stone didn't seem so bad.

Walking inside, my palms were sweating profusely. I had made that walk a million times, but it felt like the very first. People walked all around me. Some said hi, others just stared. Then came-

"Charlie!" I nearly slammed into the wall at the all too familiar scream.

"I've been calling you all morning! My mom text me that they discharged you last night. Why didn't you call us? How did you get home? How are you feeling? Charlie, we were worried!" Only Casey could make worry look so adorable. Looking at her flushed cheeks and widened green eyes were more like staring at a confused child. Fighting nostalgic tears and just overall weird emotions of mourning my old self, I pulled her into a hug. Holding each other for a minute, I reluctantly broke our embrace and stepped back. Gosh, how I missed her. Swallowing the knot in my throat, I spoke,

"I got out yesterday night. They said I was fine" I shrugged sheepishly.

She nodded yet I don't think she heard a word I said. She was still reeling from me being there in front of her. Finally snapping from her dreamlike nods, she leaned against the wall, "But how do you feel? Is everything okay?"
My mouth yo-yo'ed as I fished for words but nothing came out. Talk about an insanely loaded question. Was everything okay? No. Could I tell her? No.

So I lied. "I'm fine. Really."

"Really, really?"

I nodded. She searched my face for a long moment, and then sighed, "Well I guess now that you feel good, we need to get you looking good too. You look crap Charlie."

There was my Casey. Always so sweet. Her telling me I looked like crap was her own little way of saying that...I looked like crap.

Hoping to get a word in protest, she cut me off, "We need to do something with this first." She tousled my hair, "How many different colors do you have going on there anyway? I see some black, blond, red-"

"Red?" my stomach plummeted as my hands jerked to my head. How would I explain blood in my hair?! I had washed it last night! Running my fingers through it, I didn't feel any rough spots where blood would have dried...

Before I could ask where the red was, her eyes widened. Shelifted my fingers,gawking at my hand. Crap! The fusion marks.

"When on earth did you get those?" she yanked it closer. Pulling up my sleeve an even bigger gasp debuted. I pulled my hand back just as forceful, utterly embarrassed and even more unprepared.