Chapter 16: Mae
I sat on the faded green carpet of a house my parents and I arrived at just an hour before. It was small, and had the weirdest objects. Right when I arrived, I was drawn to a shelf that had jars of different materials. One of them had red liquid inside. My six year old hands reached out to grab it, but my mom stopped me.
"Mae, this is not your house. You can not play with Miss. Katelyn's belongings," My mother scolded as she reached into her large Coach purse and pulled out my polly pocket, "Here, go play with this on the carpet. Your Dad and I need to talk to Katelyn, okay?"
I just nodded. I had always been a quiet girl, especially in places that I had never been before. As I sat on the carpet, I looked around the strange house. It was very homey, but had a lot of extremely vibrant colors that hurt my eyes. The couch was a bright purple and had random patchworks sown throughout. Exuberant colored pillows nestled into the cushions. The couch sat on the shag green carpet, as did a small center table and a rocking chair. The living room was connected to the kitchen, where dried plants littered the ceiling.
Obscure paintings hung both on the wall, or littered on the floor. Mama told me that Katelyn was not like all the other adults. She was "Unattached from reality."
As I danced my Polly pocket along the carpet I heard my mother and father talking, "She's had it since we found her," Mom said to Katelyn in a hushed voice.
"Well, it is the Protection of Soteria. A very-very-very-very old spell, like Rufus here," Katelyn said as she motioned into thin air as if another man was having the conversation with them. Mama was right, that lady was weird, "Oh Rufus, no I will not tell them that! You silly goose!" Katelyn laughed at the nothingness in front of her. My parents just stood there lips pressed.
"What does the Protection of Soteria do?" My father asked, ignoring Katelyn's delusions.
"Well, I'm no witch, but," she paused suddenly, and let out a huge laugh, "Wait, I am a Witch! Sometimes I forget, other times I think I'm..." she trailed off. After a few seconds of silence, my father cleared his voice to encourage her to keep talking, "Oh right, sorry! Well the Protection of Soteria was used to suppress a child's illnesses, genetic predispositions of said illnesses, or to hide a trait that would put the child at risk," she claimed, in a surprisingly clear voice.
"So, they put it on her to push down her sicknesses? Well, it didn't help because she's sick the majority of the time," My mom bickered, not necessarily at Katelyn, but just at the world.
"It could have been used to suppress something else," she paused and looked at the nothingness in front of her again, "No Rufus, I don't know where Ron is!" she paused again as if listening, "Okay, that makes sense," she turned her attention back to my Mom, "Rufus said that if whatever is repressed took up a big part her, it may be what is causing her to murder people."
My parents' face dropped as if hit in the face.
"Wait sorry, did I say 'murder people?' I meant that it might be what is causing her to be getting sick all the time, because if so much of her is repressed she might not have the ability to fight the illnesses she gets. Sorry about that mix up, murder and sickness are all the same, aren't they?"
My Mom and Dad looked at her like she needed to be in a mental hospital, and in all honesty she probably did. I looked back down to my Polly Pocket, but the weird thing was that it no longer was a Doll, but a miniature version of Jacin, in my hands. My eyes got wide.
Miniature doll Jacin opened its mouth, "Wake up Mae! Wake up!"
"Wake up!" His voice finally registered my consciousness and yanked me out of my dream... Or was it a memory? Both?
When I was officially cemented to reality, and not my dream state I noticed a few things. One: I had drool dried to my right cheek, shoulder, and seat belt. At least I could say that my DNA was permanently embedded into a Maserati. Two: it was completely dark out. How long was I asleep? We left around 7:00 pm, after I quickly packed my essentials. A.E. a few pairs of somewhat clean clothes, my tooth brush, mascara, Q-tips, etc. I wanted to pack my whole assembly of pillows, blankets, and sheets, but Jacin was beyond annoyed at how long it took me to choose which pajama pants I wanted.
Three: I noticed we were no longer moving, but stopped outside what could be called the sketchy, prostitute-frequented Motel. A Motel 6 would have been a luxury compared to what I was looking at. It was a two story building seemingly made of off-brand drywall that probably was a white twenty some years ago. Now, it was a musty yellow color that had small trails of water stains throughout. There were probably only about 20 rooms, and I doubted many were occupied based on the lack of vehicles in the driveway.
"Is this where you are going to kill me or sell me on the black market?" I asked in a groggily voice due to sleep. I started to rub my tired eyes.
"No, you wouldn't be worth that much," he said in response. I just rolled my eyes.
"And you would be?" I bickered back, as my eyes noticed that he held my phone in his hand, which was resting on his right knee. My eyes got wide, "Um, why do you have my phone?"
I made a grab for it, but he moved his hand away just in time. Instead of getting my phone, I ended up on his upper thigh. I retracted back fast, as if I just got shot with lightning, which honestly was how it felt. He didn't look phased at all by the fact I almost touched his...
"If you wanted to frisk me up, all you had to do was ask," he joked, making me squint my eyes in anger.
"Give me my phone you klepto!" I yelled as I made another reach for my phone. This time, he didn't try to pull it away. As my hand connected with my phone, I finally registered that my wrist started to burn again.
"Who knew homicidal tendencies could be such a turn on?" he laughed. I didn't pay him much attention, because of my wrist. He must have noticed my discomfort, because his small smile of strange flirtatiousness turned into a frown of concern, "You okay?"
I set my phone down on my lap and quickly unwrapped my bandages for the tenth time. Right away, I saw the blood blisters spread up my arm...again. The burning sensation seemed to get worse and worse each time it happened. I thought it would have dulled by then.
I rewrapped the bandage around my wrist. I didn't want to look at it anymore, the more I stared, the more fear I felt. I probably should change the bandage soon though, "Uh, yeah I'm fine. My wrist has just been hurting."
"By the tattoo?" he said as he reached out for my hand, and gently pulled it toward him. He didn't make any motion to unwrap the bandage again, but just gently tapped it. His touch was the first feel of relief I had felt all day. It was like a coolant to the constant warmth of my arm.
"Yeah, it's probably just a reaction to the Wolfsbane. Whatever the tattoo did probably just got all messed up from it," I responded. I did not pull away from his hold. I would do anything, sell body parts if need be, if that meant I did not have to feel the burning anymore. I guess selling my pride was what was needed. Instead of allowing him to ask more questions that I would not be able to answer, I instead decided to change the topic, "Why did you have my phone?"
He placed my hand in his lap as he still held onto it. He must have realized that his touch physically had a positive affect on my pain, because he never let go... or said anything about it. Yet, by the way he was purposely looking anywhere except where our hands were connected, I knew he knew. I got a feeling he probably knew more than I did.
"It was ringing a lot, and because you sleep like a corpse, you didn't answer it. It's not my fault your ringtone just had to be the most annoying sound I've ever heard," he ranted.
"Don't say that about Weezer," I said in response.
"Yeah, okay," He trailed off, "I grabbed your phone to turn it off and noticed that you have a terrible cellular provider. Sprint, really? Also, it was your Mom calling for the thirteenth time. As the future Beta I am obligated to answer."
"Is that written in the 'Beta Rule Book' somewhere?" I joked.
"Yes it is, thanks for asking. Let me tell you, your mom knows how to yell. She was freaking out because, you know, you kind of left the hospital without telling anyone, and she had no idea where you were. But, because you apparently have shared your location with her on your IPhone, she could tell we were a hundred miles outside the town limit," I totally forgot that everyone in our family had shared their location with each other right when we got our first IPhones, seven years ago, " I told her that you eavesdropped on their conversation and learned about the adoption, the tree incident, the bracelet-," I cut him off.
"Yes, I know all that, just get to the point."
"And then I told her that you needed time away to think, and as a responsible future Beta, I took you under my wing," I cut him off again.
"No, you locked me in your car until I agreed you could come with me!" I yelled at him.
"Because you would have died if you went alone! I was being chivalrous!" He yelled back.
"No! You were being a stalker who ended up stealing my phone and dragging me to a motel that probably has seen more bodily fluids than all porn and homicide detectives have seen collectively."
He paused and then slowly nodded his head, "Yeah, that might be true," he continued, "I told her to give you a few days to think, and I would bring you back in one piece. After more yelling, she finally agreed. After I hung up, I took the liberty to unshare your location with your family. I rather them not know that you and I are visiting a psychotic witch."
"So, not only did you tell my Mom you kidnapped me, you also took away her one and only sense of relief that I was okay. Now that she can't track my phone, I bet she is either pacing the floor or crying... Or both," I yelled at him.
"But she can't-," I cut him off again, not caring for his excuses. The strange part was that during our pseudo fight, he was still holding my wrist. My pride quickly got the best of me, and I ripped my arm out of his hold. Just like that, the pain set in... Even worse than before.
"Holy Mother Fu..." I trailed off as the pain made it too hard to curse. Jacin quickly reached out and grabbed my arm, taking away the pain again, "Why does the pain go away when you touch me?" I asked confused.
It took him a second to answer me. It was as if he was trying to plan how he wanted to word what he was going to say next. I could tell he was anxious because his shoulders were tight. It all confused me, "I don't know." He closed his mouth, and looked out into space. And just like that, brooding Jacin returned. The Jacin that permanently had a scowl on his face, was straight to the point, and seemed void of any emotions. It pained me to say I enjoyed carefree, joking Jacin. The one that actually smiled.
As sadness replaced my anger, my pain went down slightly. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the fiery depths of Hell only attached itself to my arm when I started to see red. I took a few more deep breaths for the cortisol to lower, but it never did. I guess anger was an emotion I lacked control as of late.
"Is it getting better?" he asked.
I took a deep inhale, in an attempt to control my breathing, "Kind of, not really," I gritted through my teeth.
"Try and think of something, because I can't hold your arm twenty-four hours a day."
"Trust me, if there was a way to lower pain, and it did not have anything to do with touching you, I would be ecstatic," I sneered, which increased the pain.
"Think of something happy," Jacin quipped in. He must have noticed the cause and effect relationship between my anger and my wrist.
"How can I think of anything happy when my arm is about to fall off!" I yelled at him, making the burning worse. I was too worried to undo my bandage for the fear of how far the rash had spread.
"Try!" he yelled back, and then realized that yelling at me would probably make it worse. He calmed his voice down, "Okay, remember when we went on a field trip in second grade to a Butterfly Garden for biology?" He asked, a hint of longing spread across his eyes, making them slightly squint together.
"Yes?" I responded confused.
"Remember how a few minutes before we were going to leave, and head back to the school, no one could find you. Everyone was freaking out, they thought you were kidnapped or ran away, but I knew you didn't. I left the group to go find you. After a few minutes I found you leaning against a rock, almost completely obscured by a bush of hydrangea. When I pulled the flowers out of the way, I found you sleeping with at least twenty butterflies laying on you," I looked up from my wrist, remembering the field trip. I remembered waking up to Jacin laughing, not at me, but how I fell asleep with butterflies on me.
"When I woke up, and you asked me why I fell asleep, I told you that the butterflies were taking a nap on me and I felt too bad to wake them up, so I sat there for a while, and eventually fell asleep as well," I smiled slightly, reminiscing.
"That was the moment I realized you cared for others more than you cared about yourself. I knew at that moment, you were probably the most selfless person I knew," He finished, making me slightly smile.
"I am uncomfortable with you complimenting me," I responded. He let out a light laugh.
I realized then, that the pain on my wrist completely disappeared. Maybe he didn't actually think I was selfless, but only said that to lower my pain? My smile dissipated at that realization, but the pain did not return.
"It's gone, thanks," I nodded, not commenting on the story anymore. It was a good memory, but it made me flustered not to know how he actually felt about it.
"Okay, let's go inside now, I need some sleep," He motioned to the creepy motel. It was at that moment I looked at the time, and saw that it was 1:00 am. We had been driving for six hours, "Usually, I could have pulled off the all-nighter, but the fact that I've gotten no sleep the last few days makes it too hard."
I totally forgot he was supposedly in the hospital with me as I recovered, "I can drive the rest of the way," I offered.
"With your anger causing a burning-rash? No, I'll pass. With how often you have been getting angry, we would crash within minutes of you on the road," I would have argued, but he had a point. I have been fast to anger as of late. That was an emotion I never used to feel all that often.
"It's only one night here, and it's super cheap. Come on!" he said as he opened his door. I let out a sign of annoyance as I opened my passenger door as well. We popped open the trunk, grabbed our suitcases out, and made our way to the entrance of the eerie motel.