Children of Van Helsing

Chapter Twenty-two - A Surprise Visit

Ian

If I had known this whole situation would be such a mess, I don’t know if I would have stayed. But I was there now and couldn’t just go away without looking like a coward. Besides, I had started liking the three crazy sisters and the people they surrounded themselves with – Lily and Susanna, Greg and Helen. They were so fascinating. Each so unique, so different, each with their own incredible back-story.

The day after the huge attack Jessica and her sweet Lily visited the hospital. I hadn’t seen the injured but somehow I didn’t want to. Family drama was all too familiar for me. They left early in the morning, Lily with her suitcases because she had decided to go back to her apartment.

And we stayed behind. We. I said ‘we’ because I felt part of the family, like Harry felt part of the Weasley–family. I didn’t know if they felt the same but to be honest I didn’t care. For the first time in a very long time I had the closest thing to family I could get.

So I would stay. This time I wouldn’t leave.

Susanna woke up with a huge hangover and was especially grumpy, so everybody who valued their life stayed away from her. Regina was still asleep.

In the corridor, I met the woman who was apparently called Veronica (Susanna had told me that yesterday) in the hallway, along with a young child. Her daughter. Part of the triplets.

“Good morning.” I said.

She didn’t answer and walked past me quickly, as if I carried a scary disease. I shrugged and got downstairs, my hands in my pockets, careless. Somehow I felt as if everything was going to be alright. I wanted it to be, anyway.

The lovely girl from the Underground City, Sacha, was sitting in a chair in the living room and quietly reading a book. She looked up when I came in and smiled. She looked very pretty with her blouse with flowers printed all over.

“Good morning, Ian.” She said.

“Morning.” I answered, and sat down on the couch opposite of her. Upstairs we could hear the triplets running around, laughing. Children. The worst things in the world could happen, the apocalypse could start, but children would always see the positive side of life. And that was what made them absolutely wonderful.

Susanna walked in with a mug of hot coffee in one hand and her phone in the other, in which she was talking quickly.

“…make sure somebody is with her all the time. Can I talk to Nancy?” She sat down next to me and spilled some coffee on the pillows. “Why not?” She frowned. “It’s nobody’s fault, really. Tell her to stop being so childish and…” She got interrupted. “Fine. Just keep us updated. I’ll see you tonight – give Lily my best.”

She hung up and sat back with a huge sigh. She looked ten years older. I wondered if she would get grey early, with all those worries. Right before the family had arrived I had told her to stop worrying because she would get wrinkles. It had been a joke, but she had just called me an idiot and walked away.

And I just wanted to make her laugh.

“How are things at the hospital?” I asked curiously.

She sighed again and rubbed her brow. “Not good. The doctors aren’t sure my grandmother is going to make it and Mary is panicking all the time.”

“Understandable.” I said. “It mush be very shocking to suddenly be blind.”

She nodded. All those worries were killing her. I wanted to help her, to make her feel better, to take her worries away and replace them with happiness. She looked so beautiful when she didn’t frown – her occasional happy moments were like a beacon of light shining through the darkest of times. When she was happy, there was reason to be happy. She probably didn’t know, but her smile could light up a room.