AN:
Hey so I know this took forever and a day but I didn't get six votes :( thank you to everyone who did vote you guys are my favorite :D there will probably be one (maybe two chapter if one isn't enough) and then the epilogue!
I'm excited to be finished so I can work on something else but am also kinda sad about seeing the end of this story :( But hey its all good.
Thanx a million
Kenzie :) :)
Chapter Twenty-four
Stella's P.O.V.
My eyelids fluttered open and I woke up to see a unfamiliar roof above my head. Confused, I looked around to find that I had no idea where I was.
Whats really bad is that I didn't even Panic. I went to sit up but found the task extremely painful so I gave up and settled on figuring out where I was. Thinking hard I tried to remember what happened. I was being held hostage and then...James showed up and they took us to Kyler who got us out and brought us back to Sean's house.
Oh okay, I'm at Sean's house. And I'm never going to see Blade again.
That though hit me with crushing impact and I found myself struggling to breath around the silent sobs that were racking my body.
It took a few minutes but I was finally able to control myself and stop the tears. I sat up slowly and waited until the room stopped spinning before I stood up. I glanced in Sean's mirror and threw my hair up in a messy bun before looking around, throwing on one of his sweaters to cover my bruises, and leaving the room.
I walked down the hall into the living room to find Terri and Harley watching Tree house. I crept past them into the kitchen and saw Mira and Sean sitting at the table looking worried.
"Whats wrong?" I croaked, my voice hoarse. I wandered over to the sink and poured myself a glace of water.Their heads snapped around to me and their expressions were a mixture of relief and nervousness. "Wheres Kyler?" I asked, suddenly wishing I was still asleep.
"Have you been crying" Sean asked.
"No." I snapped defensively. He didn't look like he believed me so I changed the subject. "Wheres Kyler? I questioned again.
"We...don't know." he mumbled.
"You...don't know?" I asked through gritted teeth. Sean shook his head. "Dammit!" I cried.
I glanced at Mira, she looked tired and worn...come to think of it she kind of looked like I felt.
"Well we have to find him!" I insisted.
"Yeah, we thought about that, except that we don't have a clue where to start, he could be anywhere." Sean told me.
"True," I mussed. "But we have to try." I decided.
"Stell, I don't think it it will help. Lets just give him some more time." Sean soothed. "I'm sure hes okay." I sighed and nodded, but I had a bad feeling in my gut.
"Fine." I huffed. Just then I heard a knock on the door, although it was more of a loud smacking sound. Curious I stood up, intending to find out what was up but Sean quickly moved me out of the way and rushed to the door himself. I followed closely as did Mira.
Before opening the door Sean sent us both a look that told us to stay back. I did begrudgingly. He ran around to the window, checking outside, it didn't look like he saw anything because he ran back to the door and looked theough the peep hole.
After a second he slowly unlocked the door and cracked it open searching the area. He looked down and a gasp escaped his lips. "Fuck." he mumbled under his breath, opening the door further.
Laying on the porch was Kyler. He was wearing the same clothes as the night before, although his shirt was bloodied and he was gasping for breath. Sean acted fast, picking Kyler up gently and bringing him into the Kitchen. He laid him on the table carefully pulling up his shirt.
"Danmmit, I have to get him to the hospital. Hes been shot in the side, it doesnt look fatal but there could be shrapnal left in it. One of you can come but someone has to stay and watch them." he motioned to where Mira and Harley were watching T.V. Thankfully and completely oblivious to the situation.
I glaned at Mira to see her staring at her brother, just by the look on her face I could see her whole world falling apart and I knew she needed to be with Kyler more than I did. "I'll stay, you guys hurry up and go." I urged, becoming more and more anxious by the second.
The look Mira sent me was so sincere it almost surpassed gratefulness. "Go." I insisted quietly.
"Will you be okay here?" Sean checked. With an internal sigh I put on a fake smile. He picked up Kyler, still looking at me warily
"Yeah, now go. Make sure you call me and tell me whats going on." I told him before all but pushing them out the door. I felt on the verge of another mental break down so I went in the living room to see Terri and Harley. "Hey guys." I said as cheerfully as I could manage.
"STELLA!" Terri exclaimed hoping up and coming over to hug me. Harley followed suit. I sat down on the couch adn they huddled around me. "Did you have a fun trip?" Terri asked. Trip? What tr- Oh that must be what they told her about why I was gone.
"I sure did." I lied, fighting to hold it together as I thought about the last couple days. "What are we watching?" I asked them, changing the subject.
"Toopie and bienue!" Terri answer, excited. I almost groaned. Sydney used to watch this show all the time and it was almost worse than having to eat your own hand...yeah that bad .
"Cool." I mumbled, staring at the wall while they focused on the screen intently.
It seemed like years before my phone finally rang although it was probably only a couple hours. I jumped up and exited the room so the kids couldn't hear my conversation.
"Hello." I answered, sounding desperate even to my own ears.
"Hey Stell, so the doctors say he is going to be fine. He lost a bit of blood and the bullet was still in there but they got it cleaned out and it didn't hit anything vital so he should be bandaged up and ready to go by tomorrow." Sean told me over the phone. I let out a huge gust of air and slumped down against the wall, hissing from the pain of my bruises.
"Thats great, thanks for telling me Sean. Hows Mira doing?" I asked.
"She holding up okay, just a little shaken." he assured me.
"Okay, when are you two going to come back?" I asked.
"Pretty soon, visiting hours are almost over so then we will be heading back, will you be okay until then?" he checked.
"Yeah, of course I will." I said.
"Well then I better go." he told me.
"Okay, and Sean?"
"Yeah?" he asked
"Thanks...for everything."
"Anything for you kiddo." he said before disconnecting the call. I just sat there for a while, breathing. Kyler was going to be okay. I was okay. No one else got hurt. Just for a moment I let myself believe that everything was perfect.
*****************************************
Once I had realised how incredibly hungry I was I searched the kitchen and found some Kraft dinner to make for the three of us, since that was about the extent of my energy.
After that I looked at the time and figured that Terri and Harley could go to bed so I got them ready and they went down easily
It was then that my body really started to feel the affects of the abuse it had suffered. It was as though as soon as everything was dealtwith and no one, including myself, was in immediate my body decided that it could be taken care of. I ate an apple to settle my stomach and took some pain killers to deal with the soreness.
When I looked in the mirror I realised that the make up had mostly come off and my bruises were visible so with a sigh and without another choice I washed it off completely.
I thought about having a shower but I was so tired I just stumbled back to the living room to wait for them to come home.
I plopped down on the couch and an overwhelming feeling of loneliness swept over me like a title wave. I couldn't stop the tears that flowed down my face. They were tears of loss even though I had everything I wanted within reach. They were grieving tears even though everyone that was important to me was safe.
They were tears for Blade. I didn't understand why this hurt so bad but I slowly drifted to sleep and the pain receded slightly. I would get over this, I had to .
***
"Don't wake her up, shes been through so much just let her sleep." someone whispered.
"She's going to hurt in the morning if we leave her there." another voice argued.
"Your both going to wake her up if you keep talking." another voice that I recognised as Mira's said in an annoyed tone.
I groaned and opened my eyes. "Told you so." Mira mumbled. Kyler and Sean were standing above of me and Mira was slightly behind them with a hand on her hip.
"Kyler?" I croaked, my voice thick with sleep. He flashed me a small smile. "I thought you were supposed to be in the hospital." I stated. He opened his mouth to say something but Mira cut him off.
"The dummy here refused to stay." she said in the same annoyed tone. I chuckled quietly.
"You would." I said, sitting up painfully. I probably looked like crap but I didn't care, I felt worse. "What time is it?" I asked, feeling groggy and disoriented.
"8:30pm." Sean answered.
"Mmk, oh Sean, did you deal with my parents?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"Yeah, I just told them that you didn't want to go home and I also called the school and verified your absences so you will just have to catch up with your work and you parents will never know." he told me and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Kay, well I don't want to go to school tomorow so we'll just tell them that I'm sick and I'll go home." I said, satisfied with my solution. Sean nodded.
"Yeah, I'm working there tomorrow any way so you can just come with me." he told me. "How about we order some pizza and watch a movie?" Sean suggested. We allnodded so he went and ordered the pizza while we chose a movie. I didn't really want to do either of those thing, I wanted to curl up in a ball and be miserable, but that wouldn't help the situation so I kept my mouth shut.
We all plopped down on the couches to watch some action movie but I wasn't really paying attention. I was leaning up against Sean, just thinking, thinking about nothing and everything all at the same time.
The more I thought the more I realised that I needed to take this last couple days of my life, learn from them, appreciate what they taught me and let them go.
So that's what I did.
I took the slightly empty feeling inside me and embraced it, deeming it my only reminder that anything out of the ordinary happened to me, making it a distant memory in the back of my mind, deciding then and there that from here on out my life would go on.
I felt...fulfilled. Like I did something for the good of society, weather the rest of the world would grow to know it or not, I saved lives by going through the pain and the...heart break.
And it was worth it.
***
NOT THE END!