Pay Back Assassin

Chapter 3: Confusion is Part of Reality

"Mama, you need to eat." The young woman stood in front of her mother, her eyes wide as she tried to spoon another bite of oatmeal into her mouth. "I know you are weak, but you'll never gain your strength back if you don't eat." The frail woman on the bed blinked, and for some reason, obediantly opened her mouth. She swallowed.

"Child, I am so lucky to have you." The mother reached for her daughter. "I don't know what I'd do without you." The daughter smiled, and pushed her mothers hair out of her face. "Now, will you go get me some more blood? I think I am almost healed." The daughter shook her head, dutifully. 

"Of course I will." She turned around and left the room, going across the hall to another room. A man was in this one, and he looked up when she entered. "Doctor, I am ready for another blood draw. Mother needs another transfusion." The doctor stood.

"Child, you just gave her 2 pints. Why don't you give it a couple of days before you give her some more?" The girl hung her head.

"Doctor, don't tell me no. I don't want to fail my mother. If I am too weak to get up, I will deal with that. She's so close, and I know being in bed is torturing her." The doctor sighed, and stood. 

"Okay, my child. Lay on the bed. I will transfuse you again." 

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"Jade? What are you staring at?" Melissa looked back at me. "I don't see anything." I shook my head, breaking my mind from my thoughts.

"Oh, nothing." I replied. "I was just off in my own world." Melissa smiled.

"As usual... I heard Delia made it back. Why hasn't she stopped to talk to anyone else?" I shrugged. 

"Melissa, maybe you were her little protege once upon a time..." I whirled around, "But now its me!" I took off at a sprint, knowing that she would be seconds behind me. The truth was, I knew why Delias wasn't seeing anyone. She was trying to gain her strength back, so we could prepare ourselves for the battle that we both knew was heading our way. I grunted as I felt Melissa jump on my back, dragging me down to the floor. 

"You little weasle!" She gasped. "Were you trying to make me excercise?" She rolled off me and onto her back, and turned to look at me. "Or, are you avoiding the question I asked you." 

"Melissa, I don't know why Delia hasn't come to see you, okay? I just know she told me she needed to rest. So, that's what she's doing." I sat up, popping my back. "You need to let it go, and understand that when she is ready to talk to you, she will." She sat up.

"I don't understand how things got like this." She whispered. "Things should have never gotten this bad." I pushed up on my arms.

"Yeah, well..." I let my sentence trail off.

"You were going to say if Heather were here it wouldn't be this bad, weren't you?" I sighed. "I thought you promised that you were going to try and stop yourself form making that statement." 

"I know... I am trying. I just miss her." 

"We all do." Her voice was soft, and she laid a hand on my shoulder. "Believe me. We miss what we were, we miss what we could be... And most of all... We miss that her children will never get to know how amazing she was." I bit my lip. "But, we also know that we can be something knew, and their children get to know that their mom is just as awesome."  I smiled. 

"The girls will know about Heather soon enough." Melissa cocked her head to the side. "I'm not about to let them think I was the one who gave them the amazing abilities they have." 

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"Stab me, child." The girl bit her lip, and looked around, refusing to meet her mothers eyes. "LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU!" She jumped, and her eyes met her mothers, wide and scared. "I said, stab me." 

"Mother, do I have to?" Her voice was low, and she seemed really upset. 

"Of course you do." The woman replied, disgusted. "It's the only way I have of testing whether or not this damn transfusion is working." The girl hung her head, and the woman's voice softened. "If it isn't working, my child, it isn't from lack of trying." The girl raised her head. "Stab me, please." She took the knife that was sitting on the bedroom table and closed her eyes. With a deep breath, the girl plunged the knife into her mothers abdomen. The woman screamed, and writhed, her hands coming around the knife, yanking it out forcefully. The girl jumped away from the bed, watching as the blood soaked the sheets. Tears sprung to her eyes. "Don't cry, child!" The woman hisses, one hand reaching out for her.

"Mother, I can't stand this." The girl whimpered, reaching for the bloody appendage that was offered. "Please, don't make me do this again!" The woman stared at the child.

"Why?" 

"Why? I can't bear to see you in pain, mother!" The woman cocked her head to the side, and frowned. "Please.. I am sorry I am so weak. I am sorry that I am letting you down. I just can't be who you want me to be... I can't watch you die or be in bitter pain, knowing that I am the cause." The woman tightened her grip.

"Well, it's a good thing you feel that way." 

"Why?" The woman started to sit up. "MOTHER, no! You are going to make it worse! DOCTOR!" 

"HUSH!" The woman growled. The girl fell into a contrite silence. "I am fine. Your blood worked. I can heal myself now." 

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"Jade... The girls." I looked up from the paperwork that was on my desk, and saw the awed expression on Delia's face. 

"What abou them?" 

"They are magnificent." I shook my head. "You did that." 

"No, Heather did. All I did was give them a place to sleep, some food to eat, and half the love that Heather could ever give." Delia sighed, and sat down in the chair across from me. 

"It isn't healthy to do that to yourself." I raised my eyebrows. "You can't compare yourself to your "dead" friend." I rolled my eyes. "She's going to tell you herself when she comes back to us." 

"What do you mean?" I asked, putting my pen down. "Heather is dead. I saw her body. Liam held her for hours. She isn't coming back." 

"That's what I thought, too." She said, thoughtfully. "But, it makes sense with all the dreams I've been having... And with the fact that the girls are seeing someone who looks like Heather." 

"What makes sense? What dreams have you been having?" I was tired of not knowing what Delia knew. I was in charge now, so she should tell me everything. Delia smiled.

"I have been having dreams about Heather coming back to us.... She will take the girls, and she will love them, and us... I have had dreams about her and Liam renewing their vows, and about seeing you two argue lovingly like you used to." The smile slipped off her face. "I have also been having dreams about a great fight that we are going to have to put up in order to get her back. It's almost as if she has a murderous tendancy against us." 

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" I asked, choking back the tears that were threatening to spill over at the meantion of Happy Heather alive. 

"I think it means that Heather, she's alive... But she isn't our Heather in her mind." 

"Okay...." 

"I think that we are going to have to fight Heather... Hurt Heather... In order to get our Heather back."