My mouth had gone dry within seconds and in the same moment, mom bounced into the kitchen. My mother happily chirped away, unaware to the impending meltdown occurring in my mind. Sam had escape days ago and his missing presence was only reported this morning. A chill swirled its way down my spine as I watched John act at ease, chatting with my mother. It scared me that if I hadn't known the pressing situation, his joyful demeanor wouldn't have struck me odd. When we had finished dinner, which consisted of me force feeding myself, John excused himself outside for a phone call and mom and I finished cleaning up.
By the time he had come back, my mom had set out three cups of tea and pastries. Under different circumstances, her eagerness would've been contagious, but neither John nor I were able to maintain our deceptive image.
"My apologies, Mrs. Gram, but I must go," John said running a hand through his hair and gave a coy smile, "duty calls."
"Oh, that's a shame." She muttered, embracing him in a hug. Johns look told me all he had to say and I nodded. Walking John to the door, he placed a gentle kiss upon my cheek and we said our goodbyes. I walked back into the kitchen and ate a couple of the pastries while mother told me about her day. Although I tried to listen, my mind was occupied with other thoughts.
Everything began to blur together as my mind worked every single angle it could find as an explanation for the dilemma named Sam. The thought that he escaped in order to help us, I found to be rather farfetched. Was he possibly looking for vengeance for his father? Whatever the explanation was, my bones rattled at the thought. Walking into my room, I wasn't surprised to find John pacing the small length of the room, furiously texting away on his phone. I shut the door behind me and walked towards him.
"Do we know anything else about Sam's disappearance?" I asked.
"No," He said putting his phone away and stopped pacing, "but they're going to send the paperwork over now."
"Are you going back to the precinct?" I asked sitting down on the bed and crossed my legs.
"Yes, I'll call you as soon as I know something." He said cupping my cheek. Leaning into his touch, a smile graced his lips.
"Why does it feel like we've brought a stick to a gun fight?" I asked, closing my eyes.
Pressing my body to his, John filled my mind with soothing words before departing, with the promise of returning tomorrow with news. Looking to occupy myself, I took a long shower, filling my head with trivial song lyrics in order to keep my thoughts from straying. I wrapped myself up in a towel and walked to my room. On the my way, I heard my father's voice floating through my parents bedroom. Peeking into their room, so only my head stuck out, I greeted them both and escaped to my room before I was sucked into a conversation. I put on some clean clothes and crawled into bed. Taking my phone off the bedside cabinet, there were two texts, waiting for me. One from Jenny and the other from Michael. You should've came with us to Cam's house! I replied to Jenny with an apology for skipping out on them and read the next message. Why do you insist on leaving me to suffer with them?! I couldn't help but smile and sent another apology, this time, to Michael.
I don't remember when I had fallen asleep, but sometime during the night I had awoken with a terrible clawing sensation emanating from my chest. It felt as though a thousand needles were trying to burst free from my chest. Grabbing at my sleeping shirt, my heart was beating frantically, all the while my eyes were trying to see in the pitch black darkness in my room. Foolishly, I tried to see in the dark by opening my eyes wider, but it was to no avail. There was no moonlight streaming in from my window nor was there any other light. For a second, I wasn't even sure if I was in my room. Throwing the covers away from my body, I scrambled out of the bed and my feet brushed against something warm and wet. Still clutching my heart, I stood up and slipped on the same wet liquid.
Brushing my hand around the area where I knew my lamp stood, I found the switch and bathed my room in light. Everything was as it should be, but when I looked down at the warm liquid at my feet, I felt my eyes grow twice their size. A puddle of red blood was forming at my feet, growing larger by the second. Jumping away, I ran to my door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Looking about the room, I realized that the blood was flowing out from under my bed. A small whimpering sound echoed in the room drawing my attention. Looking at the bed, I dropped to my knees and tried to look under the bed, but there was not enough light to see.
Grabbing the lamp, I ripped off the shade and shone it into the pitch black void. There was small lump huddled in the corner, shaking violently.
"Hello." I said and another whimper escaped the bleeding form.
"Are you hurt?" I asked and I watched, with horror, as the body began to move and the head of the person turned towards me. It was a girl!
Her long hair fell in a clump in front of her blood smeared face, her bright eyes bloodshot with tears. My hands began to shake as the girl started making her way towards me. Crawling closer to me, more of her features became known to me. Her small nose, plump lips and almond shaped eyes, were flared with fear. Her face was covered with slash marks, blood seeping out through every crevice on her face. I jumped back, my hand slipping on the blood. Falling onto my back, the lamp fell beside me and my breathing became labored. The girl was partially out from under my bed, laying in her own blood, weeping. Garbled words escaped her tiny mouth as she looked up at me. Straining my hearing, I tried to understand what she was saying.
"You're going to die." She said and the mop of hair on her head fell over one of her eyes. Staring at her, it felt as though I was looking into a mirror. The girl, laying in a gallon of blood, was me.
"I'm going to die." She murmured and began crawling towards me again.
"No." I said trying to stand up, but my body was slick with blood. Falling back onto the floor, I was unable to breathe. Shutting my eyes, I squeezed my eyelids together and tried to take a deep breath.
"I'm going to die." The girl whispered, but this time I felt her cold breath slither down my neck. Ice cold fingers wrapped around my throat and I threw open my eyes open. The darkness was replaced by filtered sunlight coming in through my window. I found myself back in my room, laying in bed. The sun was shining and sitting up, I found the floor clean and bloodless. Rubbing my face, I brought my knees to my chest and I hugged my legs. Taking in slow breaths, I pulled myself out of the horrid dream and focused on reality.
I got out of bed and went along with my usual school day routine. By the time I had arrived at the kitchen table, father was already putting on his shoes and telling the end of his story.
"-so when I get there, all I see is an empty room and Lorene running around trying to find the patient!" Mom burst out in a fit of laughter, beyond herself. Bracing against the wall, the two of them fell against each other, laughing. I couldn't help but smile myself as their infectious laughter bit me.
"Would you like a ride to school, kiddo?" Dad asked taking his keys off the hook. I was going to reject the invitation, but the look in his eye was pleading.
"Give me a second." I said, grabbing the things I needed and while I was pulling on my sneakers, dad pulled mom into a hug and the two began to giggle again. Shaking my head, I hitched my almost empty book bag onto my shoulder and stood ready, waiting. Mom placed a kiss on my cheek and wished us both well; as father and I walked to the car.
"How are you?" Dad asked starting the engine. "I feel like I haven't see you at all, lately." He frowned.
"I'm good and it's okay, I understand you have a lot of work." I said patting his hand as he put the car in reverse.
On the way to school, we talked about John and what college I would like to attend after high school. Although I had sent out college applications a while ago, I would only receive the answer in a few weeks. My father kept asking questions about my future, but I wasn't able to answer any of them with complete awareness. My mind insisted on bringing back the image of my bleeding body from last night's dreams and the fact that Sam had played us like an instrument.
Wishing my father a good day, I walked into school and the periods flew by. While I watched Cameron and Michael make fools of themselves in order to cheer up a sleepy Jenny, during lunch, my phone vibrated. We have a lead, Angel. I'll pick you up after school. My heart fluttered at Johns text and I replied with a quick 'okay' and pushed the tray of cold fish sticks away from myself.
"You're not hungry?" Michael asked eyeing the food and I shook my head, pushing the tray to him. My last two meager classes flew by and excusing myself, I gave a quick goodbye to my best friends and ran to meet up with John.
As always, I spotted him without difficultly. John was leaning against the gates in civilian clothes, staring at the schools entrance, his eyes searching for me. Once our eyes met, he stood up straight and walked towards me. I ran down the stairs and embraced him a tight hug.
"What is it?" I asked pulling away and looked into his eyes.
"A motel manager called in this morning, reporting that a young man who looks a lot like Sam, hasn't been paying." John said leading me to the bike.
"Where and when was he last seen?" I asked pulling on the helmet.
"The motel is just outside of the city and the manager last saw him two days ago." John said helping me onto the bike.
"And we saw him yesterday." I said heatedly, but I was certain that John hadn't heard me. Wrapping my arms around his waist, we made our way to our new lead. I was in high spirits that the manager would be able to provide us with another tangible lead.
Hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays and I wish you all nothing less than the best in 2013. You guys have been the best fans/readers ever and I hope you will be able to accomplish all which you desire in the new year. See you in 2013! <3
-Melissa