Shining among Darkness

Chapter 44. I'm not okay

Shining among Darkness

By
WingzemonX

Chapter 44.

I'm not okay

Esther didn't calm down or breathe easy until they were several miles from Eola and were driving south on 99W. Once Lily got into Esther's truck hidden behind the mental hospital, they headed toward the highway, taking the route west toward Rickreall. She hadn't yet heard the police sirens coming from Salem, but she was sure it wouldn't take much longer.

They wouldn't stop at Rickreall or anywhere else for the next two hours at least. Although the next step in their mission was to deliver both girls to Los Angeles, they did not have an immediately fixed destination at the moment. They would only drive south until they felt safe, or Esther got tired of driving and needed to rest.

Everything had turned out relatively well, but Esther did not wish to over-tempt her apparent good luck.

Lily was sitting in the passenger seat while Samara had sat in the back. The latter had not said a word since they left Eola. In fact, she wasn't even moving. The girl was sitting, with her head leaning against the window. Her whole body limps as if she were sleeping. However, her eyes were open, fixed on the darkness that enveloped the floor of the van under her feet, only illuminated from time to time by the light from other vehicles passing by. Esther had improvised a quick bandage on her hand and a band-aid on her cheek from the medicine cabinet she used to treat Lily's injured leg.

"And what happens to our new traveling companion?" Lily questioned curiously, looking back over her seat.

"Leave her alone," Esther chided without taking her eyes off the road. "I think she just killed her mother."

"Really?" Lily took a more careful look at the girl in the back seat.

Samara looked somewhat scrawny, and Lily didn't feel a big threat coming from her. In fact, she felt nothing from her: no fear, no sadness... nothing. As if it were a mere corpse, and in truth, it almost looked like one. Either way, it wasn't her problem at the moment.

Lily shrugged and settled back in her seat.

"Not a big deal," Lily murmured. "I killed my father, and you don't see me whining."

Esther glanced at her subtly out of the corner of her eye for a few moments, but almost immediately turned back to the path.

"I killed them both," Esther whispered slowly as if she had no genuine interest in being heard by her companion. "My mom and dad... more than once."

— — — —

Matilda had suffered various types of wounds throughout her life, but never a bullet through her body, even though it was not the first time she had been shot. The same woman had just a few days ago done it under quite similar circumstances.

It hadn't been so painful at the time, but more like an annoying burn. However, after a while and with the adrenaline of the moment reduced, this burning was increasing until it became unbearable. By comparison, the bite on her ankle from that dog at the Portland hospital felt insignificant.

The hospital's staff found her sitting in a corridor when she couldn't walk anymore. She was barely conscious. She had applied some alcohol that she had found in one of the doctors' offices. Then she bandaged herself with the best of her ability using only her left hand. Two nurses treated her as quickly as possible, cleaning the wound and bandaging it more appropriately. As they did so, they repeatedly mentioned how lucky she was, as the bullet had entered and exited, and there did not appear to be anything significantly wounded. Matilda could hardly believe that there could be any good luck in all of that.