The next day at school we all met at lunch. Today I didn't have to tell Isaac or ask, but I needed physical contact. I needed to feel safe. I sat on his lap, eating my small lunch. Since I was due at the hospital after this.
"Ok, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?" Scott asks.
"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles asked.
"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" I add.
"They're all locked up because they're insane," Isaac said, making me pull my arm back to me, rather than resting on his back. He lightly squeezed my hip he was holding onto, apologizing to me.
"Ha. Can you at least try to be helpful, please?" Stiles asked.
"For half my childhood I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."
"Hey, dude, are you still milking that?"
"Yea, maybe I am still milking that." I wasn't getting in the middle of those two.
"Hi." I look up to see a girl. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing what are guys were talking about. And I think I actually might know what you're talking about. There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called 'Bardo'."
"It means 'in-between state.' The state between life and death." I explain.
"And what do they call you?" Lydia asked.
"Kira. She's in our History class." I look at Scott and then back at Kira. They would be cute together.
Lydia started to ask, "So, are you talking Badro in Tibetan Buddhism-"
"Or Indian?" I cut her off.
"Either, I guess. But all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities." Kira was explaining all this to us.
Isaac was playing with my hand then stopped, "Wrathful deities? And what are those?"
"Like demons," Kira answered.
"Demons. And on that note, I'm going to work. See you guys later, nice to meet you, Kira." I get up from Isaac's leg and grab his head, tilting him back and kissing him. "Thank you for today," I whisper on his lips.
"Anytime." I picked my bag up and went to my car.
I got to work and everything was going fine. Stiles texted me the rest of the lunch-time conversation and I about threw my phone away. I was asked to come to assist someone in one of the ER rooms. I walk in behind the other nurse and see someone's feet covered in dirt. My eyes follow all the way up and I see Kate. The nurse standing in front of her, acting like Kate wasn't covered head to toe in blood and dirt.
I slowly back out of the room, putting my back against the wall outside. I breathe into my hand as I slide down the wall. I was paralyzed in fear. Someone saw me and called for a doctor, I see the light from his flashlight in my eyes. They brought me into the break room and had me drink water.
I saw Isaac threw the window looking around. I stand up to go to him when I see I am tied up in my chair as I had been at the school. Then I see Kate, she throws knife after knife into him. He eventually falls, but I couldn't see because of the wall. "No! Isaac!"
Something touched my hand and I was back. No Kate, no ropes tied around me. Just The Sheriff and my supervisor.
My boss said I had been having more and more episodes at work. I would fall asleep, walk out of rooms with patients bleeding, scream. They blamed it on The Sheriff and my dad being kidnapped. The stress of it all, festering. He sent me home until I was better.
I followed The Sheriff home, we don't say anything. But I ask him if Isaac can stay over. I promised no funny business, ever. And he agreed to it.
For the first time in weeks I slept through the night. No nightmares, no sweating, no screaming. Nothing.
In the morning I had sat down Isaac and The Sheriff to tell them