After Forever (8 page)

Hell, it would have been hard to handle on
its own, but on top of the fact that my parents were gone too, I
just, I didn’t know how to cope. I started crying. Someone put
their arms around me. When I finally looked up, it was Stella who
was hugging me. That surprised me. It was comforting though. I
tried to mutter an apology, but it was no use.

It was late when Rania and I finally left.
Stella stayed at the hospital. She said she wasn’t leaving until
Wyatt was awake. She left it up to us whether or not we wanted to
go to school in the morning. If we didn’t go, we could come back to
the hospital. I knew what I would have done, but left the decision
to Rania.

We stopped at McDonalds on the way home and
got something to eat. Luckily the drive-thru was always open. The
food was a welcome thing. We couldn’t even wait until we got back
to Rania’s house to eat it. I devoured mine within seconds and then
helped Rania with her food. We were about a block away from the
house. Rania was eating and not really paying attention to the
road. I couldn’t say that I was either, but when I glanced up, I
saw a small lump in the middle of our lane.

“Rania, slow down, there’s something in the
road!” I screamed at her.

“What the hell!?” she shouted as she slammed
on the brakes, stopping just in the nick of time. I was so afraid
she was going to hit whatever it was. It wasn’t very big, but it
was just sitting there in the road. “Go out and see what it is,”
she demanded. “I’m not going out there.”

“Just back up and go around it,” I
countered, not wanting to find out what it was either. But
curiosity got the best of me, or so I thought. I groaned and got
out of the car, stepping in front of it. The headlights were
glowing around me and it.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. This isn’t
happening. I rubbed my eyes and blinked rapidly, but he was still
there. I slowly started backing up. Once I hit the car, I used my
hands to guide me around the side to my door. I thrust it open with
all my strength, trying not to fumble. I jumped in and pulled the
door shut behind me.

“What was all of that?” Rania demanded.
“What’s out there?”

I started shaking. “It’s…it’s…its Cinder.”
That was all I could manage to get out.

Rania stared at me, mouth open. “You’ve got
to be kidding me,” she scoffed. “Are you insane!? There’s no way
that cat is out there.” I’m sure she rolled her eyes.

“Go look for yourself if you don’t believe
me,” I trembled, not really wanting her to go outside. I hoped she
wouldn’t listen. She did.

“Fine, I’m going to look for myself, just to
prove to you that he isn’t out there.” She opened the car door and
hopped out. When she stepped into the headlights, Cinder lunged at
her. Rania screamed in agony, as he dug his claws into her skin.
“Get him off me, get him off me now!” she yelled.

I wanted to help, I really did. But my body
was immobile. Cinder had taken control of me. I panicked. What was
I going to do? I couldn’t sit there and let Cinder tear Rania
apart, but I couldn’t move. I had to do something. Focus, Crimson,
focus. You can do this. You can beat him. You are stronger than
him. I closed my eyes and channeled all of my energy. I hoped if I
put enough energy into it, that I could shatter the hold Cinder had
over me. I didn’t know where the idea came from, but I just felt it
was the right thing to do.

I could feel energy radiating over me. Then
something snapped. I opened my eyes and reached out my hand. I
could move again! I leapt from the car and out into the darkness.
Rania was still struggling to get Cinder off her. There was blood
everywhere. It made me queasy, but I did my best not to let it get
to me as I pulled the cat off her. Rania collapsed to the ground
instantly.

I stood there, holding Cinder by the scruff
of his neck, not knowing what to do with him. Before I could even
think, my arms hurled him across the street and into one of the
lawns and immediately turned my attention to Rania. “Are you
alright?” I asked bending down to help her up. “Can you walk? Do
you need a doctor?”

She took my hand and pulled herself off the
ground. “I’m fine. That cat tore me up pretty good though. My poor
skin, think of all the scars I’m going to have now.” Of course
that’s what she would care about. “Let’s just go home. Can you
drive?”

I nodded, then helped Rania into the
passenger seat. I was shocked she didn’t whine about getting blood
all over the car, but was thankful that she wasn’t being her usual
overly obnoxious self. Walking around the car, I slid into the
driver’s seat. I was glad it wasn’t too far of a drive back to
Rania’s house.

Once we were there, I helped Rania clean up
her cuts and scratches as best as I could, then we went to bed. As
I fell asleep that night, I wondered what had become of Cinder. I
knew in my heart that this wasn’t the last we’d see of him.

“I had a terrible time sleeping last night,”
Rania complained, waking me up.

I sighed, but I understood. Everything had
fallen apart. “I’m sorry. Does it hurt?”

“Of course it hurts, like you wouldn’t
believe! Tell me the truth, how bad do I look?”

I looked her over, it wasn’t good. I looked
away. I couldn’t meet her gaze.

“That bad, huh? You know we have to tell my
mom now, right?”

I knew she wasn’t going to back down. I
nodded, still not looking at her. “I know. I just hope she’ll be
able to handle it, considering what happened with your dad.”

“We have no choice now. She’s going to flip
out when she sees me. It’s not like I can hide this from her. My
body is covered in scabs.” She was right. We had no other
choice.

“Everything?” I asked. “Do we have to tell
her everything?” I bit my lip. I already knew the answer.

“Yes, everything. It’s time we get it all
out in the open. We need help Crimson. We obviously can’t handle
this on our own anymore.” She was staring at me. “Okay?”

“Yes, okay. We’ll tell her everything. Maybe
she’ll know what to do. I want to take a quick shower before we
head back to the hospital. I’ll be ready in a few.”

I took my time in the shower to gather my
thoughts. How were we going to explain everything to Stella? Would
she even believe us? She’d think we were mad. But then there were
Rania’s injuries. They would be hard to dismiss. This had to be
done. It had to. There was no other way.

“Oh my god…what happened to you honey?”
Stella stammered when we met her at the hospital. She looked so
worried, even more so than before.

Rania and I looked at each other, but
neither of us could bring ourselves to say a word. I knew that it
wasn’t going to be left at that though. There was no way we were
going to be able to stay silent about last night, about the last
few days.

“Rania, honey, I only ask because I’m
concerned, especially after what happened with your father. Please,
don’t shut me out. Tell me what’s happened.”

It was me who started talking first. “It’s
kind of a long story, Stella. And most of it is my fault. Don’t get
mad at Rania for any of this. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t
have gotten hurt.” I could feel tears welling up in my eyes
again.

“No Crimson, I could never blame you, no
matter what. You’re family, never forget that.”

I tried to smile. “Thank you, but you may
change your mind after you hear everything.” I let the words come
pouring out, every last detail, even the completely insane ones.
Stella didn’t say a word through the entire thing. I’m sure she
didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t blame her for that. Who in
their right mind would believe half of what I was saying.

After a few minutes of silence, she
responded, and not in the way that I would have thought. “Why
didn’t you tell me about this right away? I could have helped. It
all makes sense now.”

Rania and I stared at her wide-eyed. Neither
of us knew quite how to respond to that. She understood…how could
she understand?

“What do you mean you could have helped?”
Rania and I exclaimed, almost at the exact same time.

She nodded. “Wyatt was like your mother,
Crimson. I don’t know everything there is to know about it, but
Wyatt has a lot of research and information on it in his
study.”

I was perplexed. I wondered if my mom had
any information we could use at home. I knew what we needed to do
though. “Would it be alright if I looked through Wyatt’s notes?” I
needed to arm myself, so I could fight back against Cinder.

“Absolutely, I know that he would want you
to. He would have helped, if you had told us from the beginning.
Though, I understand why you didn’t want to tell anyone. How were
you to know that Wyatt was like you? I think that’s why he
considered you one of his children. You had an unspoken
connection.” She then changed her tone slightly. “You had better go
and find a way to fix things. Wyatt won’t wake up until you’ve
defeated Cinder.”

Oh, great. The fate of my world, and my best
friend’s world depended on me. Could I handle this? Could I
actually defeat Cinder and put the world right again? I didn’t have
any other choice, now did I?

Rania accompanied me to my house, so we
could look for any information my mom might have on the witches. I
was hoping that she would have something we could use. I didn’t
even know where to begin looking. I didn’t know where she would
keep things like that. It wouldn’t be in plain sight, that’s for
sure.

We decided to split up. It would be easier
to search the entire house if we did it that way. There was a lot
of ground to cover. Rania took the downstairs, and I the upstairs.
I started with my parents’ bedroom. It seemed like the logical
place to look; under the bed, through every single dresser drawer,
and lastly, the closet. It was there that I found what I thought
was what we needed, a small, antique trunk. It was locked. Crap!
Where could the key be?

I didn’t even have time to process that
thought fully. There was a knock on the door. Now who could that
be? “Hey Rania, could you get the door please,” I called down the
stairs. I quickly shoved the box back where I had found it and then
headed downstairs to see who was at the door.

“Are you Miss Ellis, Crimson Ellis?” the
police officer asked when I appeared.

I nodded. “Yes, I am.” This can’t be a good
thing.

“I have something I need to speak with you
about, privately. Is there somewhere we can speak?”

Yeah, this really can’t be good. I tried to
stay calm. “Yes, of course, right this way.” I lead him into the
kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?” I asked, trying to cut
the tension.

“No, but thank you,” he said as he took a
seat at the kitchen table. He took no time getting straight to the
point. “When was the last time you saw or spoke to your
parents?”

“Sunday evening, it was dinner time,” I
whispered, it was almost inaudible.

He nodded, and wrote it down. “Can you tell
me what happened that night?”

I was about to tell him the truth, but
stopped myself. I couldn’t tell him the truth. It would sound
crazy; it would sound like I did something stupid. The last thing
that had happened was me screaming at them and storming out of the
room. Instead, I said, “Why, what’s happened?” I had to know before
I said anything else.

“Please, just answer the question Miss
Ellis,” it may be important. “What happened that night?”

I was on the verge of tears yet again. “I
got into a fight with them, over something silly. I brought a cat
home, a stray cat that I had found. They were furious about it. I
stormed out of the kitchen and locked myself in my room. I fell
asleep, and when I woke up, they were gone. That’s all I know,
honestly.” That was as much of the truth as he was going to
believe. None of it was a lie.

“You don’t know what happened after you
locked yourself in your room?”

“No, I have no idea. Like I said, I fell
asleep. When I woke up, no one was here.”

“You heard nothing?”

I nodded. What was he getting at? What
wasn’t he telling me? “What is this about?” I demanded. “Please
tell me what’s going on?”

After he had finished scribbling in his
notebook again, he looked up at me, concern in his eyes. “I’m going
to need you to come down to the station and make a formal
identification.”

“No…no! You’re lying. They can’t be…they
can’t be dead.” I was sobbing.

Rania, who had been hiding just outside the
doorway the entire time, entered quickly coming to my side. “I’ll
come with you. We’ll call my mom; she can meet us down at the
station.”

I couldn’t speak. I just nodded through my
tears. Rania helped me up and out to the police car. Once I was in
the car, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed her
mom’s number. Stella picked up right away. Rania quickly explained
what had happened. After she hung up, she climbed into the car next
to me.

“She said she’s on her way, and that we
aren’t to do anything until she gets there.” I nodded again. Words
failed me.

Stella arrived at the station shortly after
we did. She immediately hugged me. “I’m so sorry Crimson. You’ll
stay with us indefinitely. We’ll get through this together.” It was
nice for the reassurance. It was nice knowing that I’d have
somewhere to stay, somewhere to go.”

The officer interrupted us, “Are you ready?
You can bring them with you, if you want” motioning to Stella and
Rania. I was thankful for that. I wasn’t sure I could handle it on
my own.

The officer led us back, so I could make a
formal identification. The coroner pulled back the sheets on the
first table. It was my mom. Once she was covered again, the same
was done for the second table. It was my dad. Once he was covered
again, I nodded, fighting back my tears. “That’s them. Umm, is
there a bathroom? I think I’m going to be sick.”