Red Leather (Book 2)

Chapter 29

But then again, all of her injuries seemed to have been coming from monsters lately.

“Of course,” the man replied. “But since we’ve got the photographers here, I figured we could attack some photos to the article…”

“Excuse me? Are you asking my permission to take photos of my injured daughter, or did you assume that you could just march straight in and snap away? Unbelievable! I want all of you out. Now. Don’t make me call security. Good day.” There was shuffling of feet, before the door was slammed shut.

Jessabel used what little strength she had to speak. “Mom?”

Gwyneth Griffin gasped, before rushing over to the daughter she thought she would lose. Tears shone in her eyes. If there was one thing she didn’t plan on doing, it was outliving her only daughter. “Oh, Jessie! How are you feeling, honey? Would you like some water? The doctor will be back soon, he’s just gone for a little while. Oh goodness. There are so many questions I want to ask – so, so many. I’m mean, how on Earth did you even-“

Jessabel groaned in discomfort, hating the tubes stuck to her nose and hating even more the brace that supported her spine. “Mom,” she interrupted. “Who was that before? You were talking to someone.”

Relief morphed into annoyance. “Oh, it was another one of those journalists. This one tried to convince me to ‘Just shake her until she wakes up. I only have a couple questions’. Disgusting, every one of them.”

Jessabel looked down at her bandaged arms, and the IV tube attached to it. Her neck was the source of all her problems. Every swallow of water was difficult, and it was as if her oesophagus had been twisted bloody. The tube wrapped around her ears released a gentle stream of oxygen into her nose, letting her breathe easily. Otherwise it would have been a painful task. Beside her were several little cups of pills and tablets. She nudged them with her elbow. “Do I have to take all of those?”

Gwen nodded, taking the seat beside her bed and clasping both of her daughter’s hands. She was holding something back – something very big. Jessabel could feel it. “Only every two hours. They wanted to wait until you could swallow on your own. How is your head? Do you feel dizzy?”

Jess shook her head, making herself nauseous. “What happened, Mom? And don’t you dare hold back anything.”

There it was again. Underneath Gwen’s reassuring smile was something big. Monstrous, even. The pain was almost palpable. Gwen hesitated, feeling as if her feet were hovering over broken glass. “You… you don’t remember anything? Anything at all?”

Again, she shook her head. Jessabel’s memory was very limited. As well as the names she came to remember, and the memories the presence of her mother brought forth, everything unless was an indistinguishable fog. Bits and pieces that just wouldn’t fit together.

Like for instance, the memory of a stain remover and the memory of sleek white hair. How did those two have anything to do with each other?

One by one, she ticked off the names to her mother. “Gwyneth, that’s you, Nathan, Vera, James, Melissa, Mei. Uhh… and Kyle. Also Theodore and Renee.” Jessabel frowned deeply, thinking she might have missed another.

Led. Baby Leonard for Led Zeppelin. Nathan’s little joke, a joke that wasn’t funny at all. What had he said again? "If it's a boy, we'll call it Led Zeppelin Ericson. Or Leddy, when we're mad at him. And when he's older, he can call his bed the Stairway to Heaven." 

Then it came to her.

Her pale hand suddenly came down to her stomach, clawing at the hospital gown in order to get to the skin underneath. Little Led. Where was he? And had he been affected by all of this?