“She’s just an infant Henri! Don’t you dare take her from me!” A woman sobbed and I turned around to find myself in a log cabin.
The woman had long brown hair, grey eyes like mine and her willowy form was exactly the same as mine. The baby she held clutched to her chest had a feathering of dark black hair and it slept soundlessly, oblivious to it’s mother’s distraught feelings. A pang of pity shot through my stomach and I ran forward to help protect the mother and child.
A man stood before them, his raven black hair striking with his green eyes. I noticed the scar that cut over his left eye. When I tried to push him back, my hand went right through him and I realized that it was a dream.
“Aevery, please.”
“No!” The mother- Aevery- backed up, tears filling her eyes. “You’re her father, how could you do this to us? She’s our baby!”
His jaw clenched and I saw how he was struggling with his emotions. Pain flashed through his sad eyes and his head ducked. “If she stays then she’s going to die. We have to protect her, love. Willow isn’t safe here.”
I froze, staring up at the man before me. He’d called the baby Willow. Is that the same Willow as me? I glanced between the two adults in the room, my eyes widening as I realized why the woman had looked so much like me. Her frame, her eyes, her nose, the shape of her mouth- they were the same as mine. My gaze flickered to the man and noticed that his hair color, the shape of his jaw and his ears were exactly like mine.
“I can’t let her go!” Aevery sobbed and Henri pulled her into his embrace.
“We have to. I want her to live a full life, she can’t be killed so soon.”
After a few tense seconds, Aevery finally relented and handed the baby over to Henri, kissing it’s forehead before moving to stand by the window. “Take her away now. Before I try and get her back.”
Henri moved from the room and I heard a car start up a few seconds later. I slowly walked up to the woman and saw that she had her eyes closed, tears streaming silently down her face. Was this woman my mom? Am I adopted, just like Carrie thought four years ago?
I reached out for her, but the whole room disappeared and I screamed, not wanting to leave yet. My body felt like it was broken and I sobbed, hating whoever had taken me from the woman’s side...
My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring up into a set of concerned blue ones. Bright lights beat down at me from behind the face hovering over me. I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut again. Trying to roll onto my side, I cried out as pain raced up my leg.
“Willow, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
Nick’s voice made me open my eyes again. I squinted against the lights and he turned around briefly to turn them off, letting the sunlight light the room from the window. My eyes swept around the room, landing on the woman in the corner. Her eyes were wide, filled with tears that glistened in the faint light.
“Danielle.” I said the word coldly, my face settling into a frown. She widened her eyes even more so and choked on her next breath. My eyes took in her face and I realized that I looked nothing like her, wondering why I didn’t notice it earlier. Could I really have easily let her make me think that she was my true blood mother? Another figure moved into the room and I froze, hatred rolling off me in waves. I tried to stand up, but my leg felt heavier than usual and I looked down to see it was encased in a cast.
“I- I called him.” My ‘mother’ stammered and I gaped at her, hurt flowing through me. “He deserved to know that you were in the hospital.”
“No- get him out. Why don’t you both just leave. Oh, and give me back the adoption papers.”
My supposed father’s eyes flashed dangerously and I felt Nick’s hand tighten on mine. His blue eyes darted down to my face, but I kept my eyes on my father’s- I mean David’s- face. He moved to the side of the bed, his hand resting on my good leg, squeezing it in warning. I glared at him and flinched when his hand tightened painfully on my leg.
“How have you been Willow?”
He wasn’t drunk and the fact that he was still hurting me in a sober state astonished me. The only time he got violent was when he was drinking. I clutched Nick’s hand and looked up at him. His piercing blue eyes were glaring daggers at David.
A woman came in, pulling a cart with her that had food on it. When she turned so that I could see her face, my heart stop beating momentarily. Even with the nurse outfit on, I recognized the woman from my dream. She looked up at met my gaze, dropping the chart in her hands in her shock. Everyone in the room jumped at the clatter of the clipboard on the floor; everyone except the nurse and I.
“Willow?” She breathed, her eyes filling with doubt. Danielle’s and David’s eyes swung over to her, narrowing in confusion.
I nodded, unable to use my voice. My mouth opened as I tried to speak, but my throat became dry and I swallowed. Before I knew it, she had pushed aside Nick and was standing at my bedside, her eyes welling with tears. Her hand shakily reached out towards my face, but then she retracted it.
“Mommy.” My voice cracked and her eyes widened, then she grinned as tears flowed down her cheeks. She perched on my bed and pulled me into her arms, clutching me tightly to her, just like I clutched her to me. My own tears spilled over and she pulled back, her hands framing my face gently, her thumbs brushing away the tears on my face.
“I can’t believe that it’s actually you. But how did you know?”
“My dream. You were just in my dream.” I gripped her hand with mine and looked into her eyes. “It was the day you gave me away. We were in a log cabin somewhere.”
She shook her head in wonder, then looked over her shoulder at my adopted parents. Clearing her throat, she stood and held out a hand to them, introducing herself. David gripped her hand too hard, sending her a warning and I saw her flinch before narrowing her eyes on him.
“Stop it!” I shouted at him and he raised his brows at me. “You can hit me all you want, but you will not hurt her.”
My birth mother gaped at him, her anger rising. I watched as she squeezed his hand back, tighter than he’d squeezed hers and he gasped in pain. David jerked his hand away from her and both he and Danielle glared at me. Nick stiffened and gently pulled Aevery back, his eyes on David the entire time.
“As the right I have of being her birth mother and a nurse of this hospital, I’m telling you to get out and stay away from my Willow.” Her back straightened, giving her a stronger presence in the room. Glaring at me, David took his wife by the arm and they both left.
“Thank you.” I sighed, relaxing into the pillows.
“I can't believe he hit you. I’d kill him if I was allowed to kill humans.” She muttered the last part under her breath, then froze, staring up at Nick. “You... you’re still around?”
“Indeed I am. It’s good to see you again Aevery.”
“Whoa, you know each other?”
“Willow, she’s always been your mother. She’s been around a little longer than I have and has always given birth to you in each new life.”
I turned wide eyes on my mom and saw that she was studying the papers and moving the whole food cart over to me. “Oh, wow, okay then.” I grabbed the chinese food carton and peeked inside, smiling when I saw the crab rangoons.
“I ordered Chinese for you, since it’s your favorite.”
“Thanks.” I smiled up at him and caught my mom watching us with a happy smile on her face. “Um, what exactly happened to me? When I passed out, I didn’t have any broken bones on my body.”
“When I found you, there was the trace of demon, but also a regular human had come in recently, or that’s what it smelled like.”
I frowned, thinking back to Jorden’s antics that morning. “Could it have been Evan?”
“No, it wasn’t his scent. Although, it was familiar...” His voice trailed off and he breathed deeply through his nose, as if trying to remember the smell. I watched as his eyes snapped open and he moved over to the corner, sniffing the air for a few seconds before growling softly. “It’s Danielle’s scent.”
My eyes smarted but I refused to shed any tears since I wasn’t all too surprised to find out that both my adopted parents had abused me. Although, on the other hand, my boyfriend and my mom were fuming, their eyes locked on me, both shaking with barely controlled rage.
“They both hurt you?” My mom was the first to speak, but it was more of a shriek that was just barely soft enough so that no one in any other rooms could hear her.
“Seems like it. Danielle had never hurt me before, but I’m not all that surprised that she did. She was never as understanding as a mother should be when their child is beaten by it’s father.”
Aevery started pacing agitatedly and I watched her. She was so mad, but I could tell that she was blaming herself since she’d given me up to the systems. Pushing out of bed, despite the pain it caused me, I limped over to her and threw my arms around her, hugging her tightly.
“It’s not your fault. You thought you were protecting me from whatever it was that would’ve killed me had I stayed with you and Daddy.”
She stiffened in my arms, but after a few seconds, she relaxed, wrapping her arms around me. Another body joined in the hugging and I looked up to see Nick standing with his arms wrapped around the both of us.
“Nurse Aevery, what’s going on?”
I recognized the voice that had spoken and tried to shift my gaze over to the newcomer, but Nick was blocking my view. My mom smiled over at the person I needed to see in real life. I shoved against Nick’s chest, but he just pulled me in for a hug of his own as my mom turned away. My arms immediately wound around Nick’s waist to help keep me on my feet, but I still tried to peek around him at the man who matched the voice. I frowned up at him, and he just winked at me, sending shivers down my spine as his hands floated up and down my arms.
“Doctor, I was just meeting the new patient.”
“In a group hug?”
“It was necessary.”
“Oh really? None of the other patients got a group hug and they have worse injuries than a broken leg.”
“This was one hug I couldn’t refuse.” My mom smiled at me and I noticed that Nick had his face carefully turned away from the doctor. He brought a finger to his lips and my brows furrowed in confusion.
“And why would...” The voice trailed off as Nick slowly looked over his shoulder, unwinding my arms from around him. Suddenly he was stumbling away from me and I was looking up at the doctor.
“Hi Daddy.” I smiled up at him and he gathered me in his arms, his face burrowing in my hair.
“You’re okay. Thank god.”
I was crushed up against his chest, my feet dangling above the ground since he was so much taller than me. Even taller than Nick who was about a foot above me. I hugged him back and when he set me down, his eyes raked over my face, taking in every detail.
“Well, she’s not completely okay. She does have a broken leg.” Nick winked at me and I giggled. Both my parents turned faux glares on him and he grinned widely at them both until we were all laughing. My dad helped me back to the bed, complaining to Aevery the entire time about how she let me get out of the bed.
“I’m fine. When can I get out of here though? I’m not very fond of laying in a bed for hours upon hours of consciousness.”
“You’ll be free to come home tomorrow. We just have to make sure that the bump on the back of your head won’t cause any brain damage.”
I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest while I sank back into the pillow. All three of them gave me stern looks and I dropped my eyes, pouting slightly. Nick walked out of the room and I sighed. I’d been counting on how he usually let me do what I wanted when I pouted. Henri and Aevery rolled their eyes and got back to their jobs.
“In every life you’ve done that. He’s always been a sucker when you start pouting. Guess you’ve figured that you though, considering how disappointed you looked when he left the room.”
My dad smiled at my mom’s words and I frowned at them, lifting my chin defiantly as if to say that I would never manipulate Nick like that. They chuckled, calling me on my bluff but I refused to back down.
“Okay, Willow. If you want to believe that he’s capable of making his own decisions when you pull that face on him, then be our guest.” My dad patted my good leg on his way out, humor shining in his eyes and a smile pulling at his lips.
“Nick can make his own decisions.”
“Right. Of course he can.” My mom kissed my forehead and they both ducked out of the room, chuckling the entire time. Less than ten seconds later Nick walked back in and I watched as he hesitated in the doorway, his brows pulling together when he saw my pout.
“It’s not happening, Willow. I must agree with the doctor this time. Plus, since he’s your father, I definitely will not go against him.”
I threw my hands up in defeat and he laughed, then caught my hands in one of his. He sat back on the bed next to me and I leaned into him. I tried to smother a yawn but he saw it and kissed the top of my head before tucking it against his shoulder.
“I don’t want to sleep, I’ve done enough of it.”
“You’re tired. Plus, sleep will help you heal more quickly than normal, even for us.” He looked down at me and raised an eyebrow. “Want to sleep now, if it means that you can get out of here earlier?”
“No, but fine. I doubt that you’d let me stay awake anyways.” My eyes drifted closed and I yawned again.
“There’s no way I could stop you from doing what you wanted, unless it’s something that will compromise your safety. Then I will prevent you from doing it.”
I smiled, feeling safe as I drifted off to sleep and dreamed of yet another memory that I couldn’t remember...
“Danielle! Don’t leave me alone with this thing!”
“It’s called a baby David, and I have a business meeting to go to. Just make sure that she’s fed at six and in bed at seven.”
I watched as Danielle drove off and left the baby version of me with David. Anger pitted in my stomach when I saw him take the baby by the ankle and raise it onto the counter. It crawled over to the knife rack, it’s chubby little fingers grabbing at the handle of the butcher knife. I watched in amusement as it stared at the blade in intrigue until David took the knife away.
Crying, the baby crawled towards the edge and David barely caught it in time. My heart pounded as I watched how he dropped me onto the couch in the other room, then sat in his armchair, turning on the television.
“Stop crying!” He roared at the baby, scaring it into silence. He then grabbed a bottle of whiskey and drank straight out of it.
Once he was drunk, he just shouted at the screen, ignoring the baby that was crawling back into the kitchen. I followed the younger me and laughed as it pried open the floor level alcohol cabinet, then started knocking the alcohol aside. Bottles crashed around her and I winced as David ran into the room and started cussing at the baby, calling it names that should’ve made my young ears turn into themselves and shrivel.
“You stupid baby! You’ve destroyed all my whiskey!” He plucked the child from the mess and started to shake it. I knew that I couldn’t actually touch him, yet I tried to grab the less than one year old baby from his hands.
What startled me the most was when the child just stared back at him with angry, wise grey eyes. David dropped it back onto the mess and I cried out when a shard of glass drove into the back of the baby’s thigh.
“Oh my god! David, what happened?” Danielle’s high pitched voice startled me and she ran over, scooping the shrieking baby into her arms. “She has to get to the hospital!”
“No. Just take the glass out. If we go to the hospital, we have to explain why that mongrel was playing in my cabinet. Also, how would the doctors react to a drunk father? No, we’re staying right here and taking care of it.”
I held my breath in hope that Danielle would refuse his order and almost cried out with joy when she did. David’s face turned purple with rage and he grabbed a knife, slicing it across her thigh, driving her to her knees. She dropped me and I rolled to my stomach, still crying loudly from the glass in my leg. David leaned down and plucked the glass from my leg, then threw the piece back onto the mess.
“I said that we weren’t going to the hospital.”
Danielle nodded submissively and glared at me as if blaming my injury for her pain. “Fine, we won’t go.” Her hands pressed into her leg, stemming the flow of blood. “Where is the first aid kit with the sewing needle?”
David smiled wickedly down at her before staggering drunkenly to the bathroom. I watched as Danielle took the knife he’d dropped and drew an X in the middle of the baby’s tiny back. My own back roared in pain when she dragged the knife through flesh, causing blood to flow from it.
“This is all your fault. He wasn’t like this until you came along. Now I promise you that I will kill you when you’re older since you’re the reason he’s hurt me. Good luck then Willow, because you will be able to fight me back when I kill you, but you’re going to die. This I swear.”
The baby’s body fell limp and I dropped to my knees next to it as I felt the pain all over again, in both my thigh and back. I placed my hands on it’s back where the knife hadn’t mauled the skin. Shockingly, the skin was already pulling together and healing as I watched. I smiled, knowing that my powers as an immortal even at such a young age were saving my life.