The Host - Before And After The Rain

Chapter 4 - Contradictions and Dilemmas

This one is also based on the chapter "Completed".

We ate in silence, one of my hands clinging to Wanda's waist. I couldn't argue when she asked me to get the food and bring it to the field where we grew wheat sprouts. She wanted to get away from Jamie. That meant she was still fixed on the idea of leaving us.

I felt sorry for the kid. If I hadn't heard her conversation with Sunny, I would have been caught by surprise when there was no longer anything I could do about it. That's what will happen with him. Wanda intended to pass a red light and run over the two morons who loved her most: Jamie and myself. Jamie would at least have his sister back. I was just going to get the blow. Good for me that I had woken up today with plans on running some cars over.

That was something my father used to tell me whenever my fights with Kyle got too ugly: that I was willing to run over a car, instead of the other way around. Kyle was stronger and older and always so... well, brutal is a word that defines it well. My father clearly feared for me, but I always found a way to defend myself. He hated it when we fought. "That's what happens in a house with no woman in it," he used to say. My poor father.

Who knows if Kyle was right. If all went well with Jodi, there was hope for him. That, however, would mean that what happened to Melanie, Lacey and apparently with the Healer's host, had not been exceptions. Knowing this would render the possibility raised by Jared impractical. Or much more difficult, at least.

After eating, we went straight to the hospital. Wanda wanted to see Jodi and Sunny. Kyle was there, his eyes set on Jodi's body, one hand holding her hand, the other cradling the tank where Sunny was. Another thing Kyle can be: contradictory. But the scene failed to amaze me actually. Some women had the power to transform my brother into a Big Care Bear. Sunny, as it seems, was one of them.

But Wanda was positively surprised by Kyle's reaction. She saw something in that gesture, something my idiot brother should have shown from the beginning. If he didn't have the world's thickest skull. Why did everybody in my life has to be more stubborn than a stuck donkey? And why did I often have to be even more stubborn than they are?

Wanda taught Kyle how to talk to Jodi, trying to bring her into awareness through her memories:

"Kyle's waiting for you, Jodi. He got himself in a lot of trouble getting you here... everybody who knows him wants to beat him senseless."

"Not that you're surprised to hear that. When hasn't that been the case, eh, Jodi? It's good to see you again, sweetheart. Though I wonder if you feel the same way. Must have been a nice break to get rid of this idiot for so long." I added, trying to see if Kyle, who was still in zombie mode, could also be revived a bit.

Jodi was a nice girl. She used to think that Kyle's arrogance was funny, but she had her own sweet little way of controlling his megalomania and still make him feel special. Of course, Kyle didn't realize that.

"Jodi thinks I'm an ass!" he complained when she laughed at his crazy ideas.

"Proof that, despite being your girlfriend, she is a healthy girl," I said, taking the opportunity to torment him.

"She said I shouldn't buy that awesome car I saw on TV. 'What will you do with a car like this, Kyle? Go hoon driving? Why have a car that gets so much speed if you just drive here in town? It's too expensive, Kyle! You need to think ahead, Kyle!'" he said, imitating her, his voice growing more sharp the more angry he became.

Jodi was right. The idiot wanted to spend all the money he had spent years saving to buy a hideous car, which looked like something straight out of Monster Truck.