After Forever (7 page)

She shot me one of her signature looks, but
said nothing. I sat down on the couch next to her, trying to gather
my thoughts. I didn’t even know where to start. I took a deep
breath and began, hoping that I would actually make sense.

When I was done, Rania just sat there,
staring at me, with her mouth gaping. I knew she wouldn’t believe
me. Who in their right mind would? What I was saying was
insane.

“What am I going to do now?” I wailed.

Rania shook her head. “I don’t know Crimson,
I don’t know. But you need to get rid of that cat. Right away!”

I nodded, knowing she was right. After what
had already happened, I was starting to believe. “We can take him
to the animal shelter, since I was already going to do that. Let’s
go right now.” I didn’t want to waste any more time.

I sent Rania to the garage to find a box,
while I went up to my bedroom to get Cinder. I found him curled up
in the closet again. I picked him up carefully, trying not to wake
him. No such luck though. He woke up the second I got him off the
ground. He snuggled into my arms and started purring. Of course, he
was going to make it difficult for me to get rid of him. I pushed
his cuteness away and reminded myself of what had already happened.
Taking him to the shelter was the right thing to do.

Rania was waiting for me in the living room,
holding a box. She set it on the coffee table when she saw me.
“Goodness, he is adorable. You’re sure he’s an evil witch?” It was
obvious she was trying to make light of the situation.

I didn’t say anything as I set him in the
box. “I think we should take my parent’s car. I don’t really feel
like walking all that way.”

Rania agreed.

I grabbed the keys off the kitchen counter
and we headed out to the garage. Rania carried the box.

“You had better hold the box while I drive.
I don’t want him to get out.”

She glared at me, but agreed, knowing I was
right. She handed the box to me, opened the car door, and climbed
in. I handed the box back to her and shut the door. I then got in
the car myself, and started it up. It was only a five minute drive
to the shelter. I found a parking spot and we headed in.

Branna was sitting at the front desk, as
always. She looked up at Rania and me. She was quite startled when
she saw us. “What on earth are you doing here?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t you be in school still?”

I tried very hard to swallow the lump in my
throat and nodded. “Yes, I know we should be…but something has
happened.” I stopped there. I couldn’t tell Branna the truth, at
least not all of it. She would never understand. Besides, I didn’t
really know her all that well.

She looked very concerned. “What’s happened
Crimson? You can tell me,” she coaxed.

Tears now streaming down my face, I said,
“My parents are gone.”

“What do you mean gone?” She obviously
didn’t understand what I was saying.

“I don’t know. I woke up early this morning
and they were gone. No sign of them at all. The car was still in
the garage. They just…disappeared.” I stopped myself there, before
anything else came pouring out. “That’s not why we’re here though.
I elbowed Rania. She thrust the box forward.

Branna peered in, “Oh my, what a cute little
guy. Where did you find him?”

“He followed me home last night.”

Branna nodded. The look on her face said
that she understood far better than she should have, but the look
was fleeting. She got real serious then. “I cannot take him in,”
she said calmly.

“What do you mean you can’t take him?” Rania
spat at her. “You’re an animal shelter, that’s what you do.” She
was furious enough for the both of us.

Branna looked completely un-phased by
Rania’s outburst. “I just don’t have the room for another animal
right now. I’m sorry. You’re going to have to keep Cinder.”

How could she have known that? I hadn’t told
her that I named him Cinder. I tried not to let it show that it
freaked me out. “Come on Rania, let’s go…now!”

“But, but, what are we going to do with
him?”

“We’ll figure something else out. Please,
let’s just go.”

“Oh, fine. I don’t want to hang around here
anyway,” she said, giving Branna one of her looks.

I practically drug her out the door.

“Alright, what’s going on?” she asked once
we were outside and standing by the car.

“She…she knew what I named the kitten! I
never said what I was calling him.”

Rania looked at me for a moment, puzzled. “I
don’t even think you told me that,” she concluded. “So how could
she have known that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. I don’t
like what’s going on. What are we going to do now? I can’t keep
this cat. I just can’t.” I knew I was going to start crying
again.

Rania set the box on the hood of the car and
wrapped her arms around me. “We’ll figure something out, I promise.
For now, I think you should stay with me. I don’t want you to be
alone, and my parents won’t mind.”

I smiled. “Thanks Rania, you’re a good
friend.”

We headed back to my house, so I could
gather up some things. I was so glad I had Rania for help. Without
her, I’d be so lost. I wandered around my room in a fog, trying to
figure out what I needed to bring with me. I tried to hurry,
because I knew she’d be impatient. She always was. At least I could
count on that.

She glared at me from the doorway. “Are you
ready yet? “

I shot her a glare back. “I’m working on
it!” I threw some clothes and beauty products into my duffle bag.
“Umm, Rania, what are we going to do with Cinder?”

“You’re not bringing him with us, if that’s
what you’re getting at. I will not have that fluffy ball of
evilness in my house. Besides, my parents would flip out. I don’t
care what you do with him, but you can’t bring him with.”

I knew she wouldn’t budge on the subject.
Not that I wanted to bring him with. All I wanted was to be rid of
him once and for all. But what was I going to do with him, since
Branna wouldn’t accept him at the animal shelter. I let out a sigh.
“I know this is going to sound horrible, but can we just leave him
somewhere? Like at the park or something? Maybe someone will find
him and take him in?” I felt so guilty once I had said the words,
but what choice did I have? After everything that had happened, I
couldn’t, I wouldn’t keep him.

“Yeah, sure, we can do that,” Rania
commented, not really paying attention.

I sighed again as I zipped my bag shut.
“Alright, I think I’ve got everything. Let’s go get this over
with.” I wasn’t looking forward to what we were about to do.

As we drove to the park, Cinder started to
get extremely restless. It was almost as if he knew what we were
going to do with him. I tried to force the thoughts out of my mind.
I knew if it was true and he really was a witch, then he did know
what we were going to do with him. That worried me…a lot.

It was starting to get dark by the time we
reached the park. And it was getting cold. That I actually felt bad
about. No! He’s a witch, it doesn’t matter.

“Just dump him out of the box and let’s
leave already. It’s dark, I’m freezing, and I’m getting hungry.”
Clearly Rania was getting impatient yet again.

I set the box down and tipped it on its
side, ushering the kitten out of it and onto the ground. He didn’t
want to go. His claws dug into the side of the box. I gave him a
push and he started hissing at me. I should have known this wasn’t
going to be easy, but it had to be done.

Rania looked at me, and laughed. “What, you
can’t take on a 4 pound kitten? That’s so sad Crimson. Just leave
the box and let’s go. I don’t have time for this.”

I let go of the box. “Fine, let’s go then.”
I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants, then followed her to
the car. I looked back as I climbed in. Cinder was still sitting
inside the tipped over box, staring at us. I shook my head, and
muttered “I’m sorry,” under my breath, got in and started the
car.

“You did the right thing,” Rania told me.
“You don’t need to think about it anymore. It’s over now. We’ll get
you settled in at my house, and then we’ll figure out what to do
about your parents. They couldn’t have just disappeared. Someone
must know something; someone must have seen or heard
something.”

I hoped she was right. “Do we have to tell
your parents?” I asked as we were nearing her house. I bit my lip
nervously, awaiting her response.

She frowned. “To be honest, I think we
should. They’ve got connections. They would be able to help, but if
you really don’t want them to know, I won’t say anything. It’s up
to you Crimson.”

I wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was
anymore. I wanted things to go back to normal, if that was even
possible. “I think I want to sleep on it.”

Rania nodded. “Of course, take your time.
We’ll do things your way.” It was nice that Rania was actually
listening to me for once. Who knew that all it would take was my
world completely falling apart.

Rania’s mom was standing in the doorway when
we reached the house. “Hi girls! Oh, is Crimson spending the
night?” she asked, gesturing to the bag I was clutching.

“Yeah, if that’s alright with you and dad,”
Rania said, smiling. No one could turn her down when she did that,
not even her own parents.

“Of course, honey. That’s perfectly fine.
Dinner is about ready, why don’t you get Crimson settled in
first.”

The conversation at dinner was pleasant.
Though, I really wasn’t paying that much attention. After we ate,
Rania and I rushed up to her bedroom. I was thankful that I didn’t
have to stay down there and make small talk with her parents any
longer. It was just too much to handle. Especially since I still
wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell them what was going on.

That night, my dreams were less than
enjoyable. They were nightmares. One by one, everyone I knew
disappeared, even Rania. When I woke up, tears were streaming down
my face.

Rania was sitting up on the bed, looking at
me. “What on earth?” she grumbled, clearly not amused that I had
woke her up.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled through my tears. “It
was just a nightmare. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go
back to sleep.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. Goodnight
Crimson.”

“Goodnight Rania.” This time when I fell
asleep, I wasn’t plagued my nightmares. I was thankful for that. I
woke up to the alarm clock blaring in my ear. It took me a while to
realize where I was. Then everything that had happened came rushing
back to me. I was silent as I got myself ready for school.

“If you hurry up, I’ll drive you to school,”
called Rania’s dad from the bottom of the stairs.

We couldn’t say no to that. School seemed to
drag on and on. I was there, but my mind wasn’t. I still didn’t
know what I was going to do. If I should tell Rania’s parents the
truth, if we should go to the police. I knew I had to do something
though. Things weren’t going to get better on their own.

It was lunch time, and Rania and I sat at
our usual table, both silent though. I don’t think she knew what to
say to me. I didn’t blame her for that. We were almost done eating
when the principal approached us. It made me feel extremely uneasy.
What on earth could he possibly want? I was hoping he would walk
right past us, but no such luck. He stopped directly in front of
us.

“Rania, gather your things together. Your
mother called. You need to go home right away,” he said calmly.

We both stared at each other, but said
nothing. I knew something had happened. I could feel it the moment
the principal stepped into the lunch room. I kicked Rania under the
table, urging her to say something, anything.

“Umm, Mr. Russell, Crimson has been staying
with us while her parents are away. Is it alright if she comes with
me?” she finally asked.

“Oh, well, umm, considering the
circumstances, it’s best if she does.” With that, he turned and
walked away.

We were both still completely stunned. It
was me who finally stood up, in an effort to get Rania to do the
same. She looked at me standing there, shook her head, and followed
suit. We dumped our trays and headed to our lockers to get our
things.

It ended up being a long, awkward walk back
to Rania’s house. Her mom was standing on the porch when we got
there. I’m sure she was waiting for us to get there. She held open
the door for us and then followed us inside. Once the door was
closed, Rania looked at her mom, “What’s going on? Why did you pull
us out of school?”

She looked at us, trying to fight back
tears. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it.
Rania, your father was in a car accident this morning, on his way
to work.”

No, this isn’t happening. It can’t be
happening. We got rid of the witch. My mind was racing.

“Is…is he alright?” Rania asked. I’m not
sure if she wanted to truly know the answer. I know I sure
didn’t.

“He’s in critical condition. They don’t know
if he’s going to make it. I’d be at the hospital already, but I
wanted to wait for you. We need to get there right away,” she said,
still trying to fight back tears. She then turned to me, “Crimson,
dear, I don’t expect you to come with us. But if you want to,
you’re more than welcome to. Wyatt always thought of you as one of
his own daughters,” she continued, with a slight smile.

“Of course I’ll go,” I stated. There was
nowhere else for me to go. I didn’t want to be alone.

As we walked out of the house and to the
car, I could have sworn I saw Cinder sitting in the hedges, staring
at us. I blinked and he was gone. I must just be seeing things.
There was no way he could have found his way here. I climbed in the
car and didn’t think about it again.

When we got to the hospital, they wouldn’t
allow me back in the ICU, but Stella and Rania insisted that I was
family, even if I wasn’t related. Eventually, they got sick of
arguing with them and said I could go back to see Wyatt. He looked
terrible. Most of his bones were broken; he was on life-support.
More than likely he would have brain damage, that is, if he ever
woke up. It was extremely hard to handle.