Hey all! Enjoying it so far? Who's your favourite character? Don't worry, there will be more good'ns to come! This chapter is dedicated to @TNT2011J as they have been consistently voting on chapters. THANK YOU!
~Chapter 15 - Hide~
Saturday May 14th, 10:23 a.m.
Jaz's room
Four days after her attempted escape, Jaz was sitting on her bed when Driver came back from his morning duties.
She was gazing at the tips of her toes that were visible above the fresh plasters Skye had applied that morning, when she heard him approach. She sensed him watching her by the doorway before he knocked lightly on the door.
She held her breath and turned her head up in his direction. She was still edgy around him but at least she didn't try to attack him with mirror shards. Her eyes followed his hand as he rubbed the spot where she'd slashed him. It was a small cut now, and fading fast. His right hand with the chunky silver ring then rested on his bicep, concealing the wound.
She bit her lip. She felt terrible for cutting him, because it was something she'd done in a rage when she hadn't been herself. No matter how she felt about him, trying to slice him open had been the wrong thing to do.
“How are you?” he asked, glancing at her bare feet.
“Peachy,” she said facetiously, glowering at her feet and swinging them back and forth above the floor.
“I'm not here for small talk,” he grunted.
She looked at him properly for the first time. Her eyes squinted before relaxing to normal size. “Okay.”
“I want to know if you feel any different since you've been here.”
She kept her face aimed in his direction but turned her eyes to one side, thinking about it. “I already told Maria,” she replied shortly.
Maria had come to visit her the day after she'd tried to sneak out. Then every day after that when Jaz seemed to take to the old woman. And she did like her, though she wasn't ready to put her trust in her, she just enjoyed her company. Even more so when Maria told her she was her grandmother. It wasn't a complete shock to Jaz when she put all the pieces of information together, but it had still taken her several days to digest it. It was surreal to discover new relatives that until a week ago, she'd never known about.
So far she knew that Maria was Erica's mother, and her father's; that her mother, Eliza, had family that lived down south in Devon but Maria didn't go into any more detail about them. Jaz also had an Uncle Garik -Maria's eldest son- though he was 'Out of town.' Her grandfather Vern, Maria's husband, had been dead for several years. That saddened her because she saw how much Maria still grieved his loss when she spoke of him.
Maria also told her about Lora. Her twin. The sister she'd never known. Maria related how she'd died; that Lora had lost her son, Jaz's nephew.
It tore at Jaz's heart to think that so much time had been stolen from her and Lora. Jaz didn't know how she felt about the fact that it was her parents' doing; the parents who had abandoned her. She didn't understand why they would do that. Maybe if she knew them she could figure out the meaning behind their actions. Right now, she tried not to think about it and she didn't ask Maria about them. She wasn't ready for that yet.
She wasn't ready to ask her about the strange changes to her body either.
She'd tried to ignore it, clinging to the pathetic hope that if she ignored it long enough it would eventually go away.
But of course she knew it wouldn't.
Something was happening to her, she could feel it. And though she didn't know what it was, she knew it was here to stay.
She hated Driver for bringing it up. Saying she'd told Maria was just a cop out.
And of course, he knew it. Jaz gnawed on her lip when she saw he wasn't going to give up.
“I want you to tell me,” he pushed, gazing at her, unblinking.
She exhaled. “I don't want to talk about it.”
Driver stepped into the middle of the room. She leant back, wanting to lift her legs away from the edge of the bed where he was stood only inches away. She didn't react because that would only show her fear. She craned her neck up at him.
He eyeballed her. “Is that why you've never asked what you are?” he questioned. “You're afraid?”
She shook her head -more to tell him to shut up than to say no.
“You can't run away from it.”
“Stop. Okay, just stop,” she snapped.
He blinked and closed his mouth.
She huffed. “I'm just trying to deal with one thing at a time, so will you just back off.”
He backed away holding up his hands in surrender. He reached the wall and slid down it, sitting on the ground, his elbows resting on his knees. He gave her a look that said 'I'm waiting'.
Jaz glowered at him, folding her arms across her chest. She kicked up her legs and rested them on the bed, crossed-legged. She then gazed out the high window. The sun was shining. She hadn't been outside in over a week. It made her sad.Just tell him. Then maybe he'll let you go out.
She swallowed her pride, slumped a little and unfolded her arms, placing them either side of her hips. “Fevers, aches, stronger...senses.”
Driver looked up the moment she spoke. He'd been gazing down at the floor. Now his eyes were burning with interest as he studied her. “Aches where? Which senses?”
She hesitated before answering. “All over. Even when I don't have a fever, but worse when I do. And my hearing, sense of smell. Maybe my sight, not sure.”
“You've had five fevers in a week.”
She shrugged.
“How long does it last?”
“The longest was almost a whole day. That was yesterday. It's the worst one I've had.”
Driver nodded, as if expecting this answer.
She waited for him to speak again.
“What about, cravings?”
She blushed madly. She'd had many cravings, and not all in the same category. She'd die before she told him the sordid ones. Instead of answering, she just nodded.
After a while she said, “Even though it's disgusting... and I feel sick just thinking about it... I want... raw meat.” She was surprised she was confiding in him like that. It took her a moment before she could meet his gaze.
He regarded her with intense eyes. “You will... more often than not.”
She didn't ask all the questions brewing in her mind.
He added, “When you're ready, which will be sooner than you realize, you'll know why.”
*