Everlasting Bond (22 page)

“Thank you,” Katrina smiled, as she climbed inside.

Donovan made his way to his side of the vehicle and started the engine. Katrina looked up and found his eyes fixated on her. His stare made heat rise in her cheeks, and she was glad it was dark out. He hardly took his eyes off her, as he drove out of the windy dirt path and onto the pavement. This only added to her awkwardness.

“So, what do you think of Stacy?” she asked, in a poor attempt at small talk.

“She’s great. A lot of fun to hang out with—”

“She’s definitely a lot of fun to be around.” Katrina quickly tried to hinder the “but” he was about to throw in. “And she’s really into you!”

“True, but I’m looking for more. For someone who has depth—who captivates me in more ways than one.”

“Uh-huh.” Katrina tried to hide her anxiety in hopes he wouldn’t say what she was expecting. She would have an easier time keeping her feelings for him bottled up if he would stop talking right now.

“
Someone like you,” he finished.

Flinching as if she'd been punched in the gut, Katrina tried to swallow the new, but not entirely unknown revelation. “Donovan
, that’s sweet, but Stacy’s my best friend and I’m not going to hurt her like that.”

“If she’s truly your best friend, she’d understand and want you to be happy, wouldn’t she?”

“True, but I would never ask her to do that.”

“I
’ll tell you what—why don’t the three of us hang out and just let the chips fall wherever? I like you and if being friends is the only way to spend time together, I’m okay with it,” he shrugged his shoulders. “For now.”

“Donovan, I won’t change my mind. I’m kind of seeing someone.” Her chest began to burn.

“Where is he?”

“It’s complicated,” she explained, as he pulled into her driveway.

“Life usually is.” He got out and headed to her side of the car. She let his words resonate in her head. He was right. Cole wasn’t there and he was. Still, that was a line she wouldn’t cross.

“Thanks.” Katrina gave Donovan an awkward smile, as he opened her door.

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ll see you around.”

“Looking forward to it.”

She gave him a polite smile and began making the never-ending journey up the porch. The whole way, she could feel Donovan watching her. She kept it together and walked through the fr
ont door without looking back.

Once inside, she rested against the front door, let out a deep sigh, and took a moment to steady herself. It was an interesting night to say the least. Soon after, she could hear the tires crunching against the gravel, as Donovan’s car made its way to the end of the street and disappeared. Katrina then started to head upstairs to check on Stacy. A sudden vibration made her jump. She reached in her back pocket and fumbled for her phone.

“Hello?” Katrina started pacing through the house.

“Caroline, it’s Andreas,” he said, in a condescending tone. “I haven’t heard from you all day and wanted to check in to make sure you’re not dead.”

“I’m fine,” she answered curtly.

“My uncle wanted me to let you know your mom’s doing better and that you don’t need to worry.”

“That’s a relief. How’s my brother?” Katrina turned off a light that was left on.

“He’s fine. Why?”

“Just making sure.” Her eyes began to settle into the darkness.

“Honestly Caroline, I’m hurt,” his sarcastic voice snickered.

“Whatever!” she snapped back.

Andrew laughed. “I have to go, but I’m going to have to check on you tomorrow. So, do me a favor and keep your phone on you, like a good girl.”

“Will do, mom.” She carefully walked around stacks of papers on the floor.

“Someone’s in a bad mood.”

“Only when I talk to you.”

“I’ll take that as a huge compliment.”

“I’m sure you will.”

“I’d love to continue this conversation, but I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said before the line went completely dead. Katrina slammed the phone closed and s
hoved it into her back pocket.

She headed upstairs and found Stacy passed out cold on her plum velvet comforter. At the moment, the bed did look very warm and inviting, but she had a feeling Stacy was too drunk to remember to text her mom. Katrina grabbed Stacy's phone off of her nightstand, sent Mrs. Reynolds a quick text and then threw herself on the bed next to Stacy. Shutting her eyes, she let all of her problems fade into a dist
ant memory.

“My head,” Stacy’s hoarse voice wailed. “What happened?”

Katrina was going to give her crap for it, but one look at her and she changed her mind. Stacy was in pain. Black streaks of mascara were smudged around her eyes like a raccoon and she looked like she'd been hit by a truck. Her clothes looked the same as they had the night before except they were wrinkled and smelled like alcohol. She curled her body into the fetal position at the foot of Katrina’s bed. Pieces of her hair were stuck to the sides of her fac
e and she looked like a zombie.

“You don’t remember?” Katrina laughed and scooted next to her.

“No.”

“You drank too much. Donovan had to bring you home.” Katrina couldn’t remember the last time Stacy had let herself indulge in so much alcohol. In fact as far as she knew, Stacy rarely drank. Getting that drunk was to
tally out of character for her.
Maybe she was trying to impress Donovan?
That had to be the only explanation for her odd behavior.

“Weird, I don’t really remember drinking,” Stacy scrunched her eyebrows at the thought. “Come to think of it I do
n’t remember much of anything.”

“
I figured that. I sent your mom a text for you.” Katrina pushed up off the bed and stood.

“Thanks.”

“Do you need anything?”

“Water,” Stacy whispered. “
Lot’s of water.” Stacy moaned and grabbed a pillow off of Katrina’s bed. She hugged it over her face to block out the morning sun.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Katrina ran down the stairs and could still hear Stacy groaning, but that was the only sound in her house. Sadness hit her when she neared the kitchen and found it empty. Usually her mother or Jake would be rummaging through here at some point. Today, it might as well have been a ghost town. She exhaled a depressed sigh and carefully took a glass out of a nearby cupboard. It was difficult to do with one good hand and the last thing she wanted to do was break another one of her mother’s glasses.

Standing in front of the sink, she became irritated. Having to go through the motions of setting the glass down to turn on the faucet one handed was becoming annoying. Doing things with one hand was more of a challenge than she thought it would be. It had been a week and half since she’d fractured it and it was still hard to adjust.

Shutting the faucet off, Katrina was about to turn when she looked out the kitchen window. Something blurry moved in the overgrown fields across the way. She was about to panic, when she did a double take and found nothing. Katrina shook her head.
You're losing it, Kat!
Having too much time to herself made her mind wander. Now she was starting to hallucinate and see strange shadows. She shook it off and made her way back up the stairs. There, she found Stacy in the same position and half conscious.

“Here you go.” Setting the glass down on the nightstand, she gave her friend one last look. Katrina knew she would be dead to
the world the rest of the day.

“Need anything else?”

“Sleep,” Stacy faintly uttered throwing the overstuffed plum pillow onto the floor. Katrina grabbed the covers and threw them over the top of her head, shutting out the world.

“I’m going downstairs. Holler if you need anything.” Katrina slowly crept out towards the hall. She shut the door behind her without making a sound.

Once downstairs, Katrina tried to pass the time by keeping herself busy. Watching television only worked for so long. Eventually, she grew tired of the same repetitive infomercials that seemed to never end. She could only listen to them warn her she couldn’t live without their knife set so many times. This only added to her frustrated mood. She angrily slapped the button down and shut off the TV.

Katrina walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. Staring out the window at the sun, she could see clouds off in the distance. It was odd. Normally towards the end of September everything cooled down and by mid October they would start to get th
eir first of many snow storms, but that hadn’t happened yet. Like her, the weather had been all over the place lately.

Judging by the slight breeze that was slowly increasing, she guessed she had about a couple hours of descent weather. Outside sounded better than being cooped up inside all day. She still had some history homework to finish and the distraction was just what she needed. Anything that would help take her mind off her troubles and keep her mind busy was fine by her.

She quietly crept back upstairs and grabbed her books. It wasn’t easy to do. Her books were inside her backpack and every little noise she made sounded twice as loud. She was almost done, when the zipper got stuck. Katrina yanked on it, but it still wouldn’t close.

“Come on you stupid thing,” she mumbled to herself.

Katrina tried one more time and put as much force as she could behind it. That caused a huge backfire. Her backpack slipped onto the floor. The crashing sound was so loud, Katrina cringed. She glanced at Stacy and to her relief she was still out cold. Taking a deep breath, she tiptoed to her closet. Katrina reached for one of her jackets when her eyes wandered onto the green dress that hung in her closet.

Tears filled her eyes, as she ran her fingers through the velvety fabric. It was still hard to wrap her head around the truth of who she was. Only the bits and pieces her memory allowed to surface helped her try and understand it all. Not wanting to have a meltdown, she quickly shut her
closet and threw her jacket on.

As quietly as she entered, she closed the bedroom door and went back down stairs. Katrina slipped on her shoes and headed into the living room. She glanced around for her mother’s favorite blanket. It took her a few seconds, but she found it behind a pile of other blankets. She tossed it over her
shoulder and headed outside.

On the front porch she stopped and smiled. The fresh air felt good. It rejuvenated her tired and frail body. Katrina shook out the blanket before placing it on top of the moist grass. It was extremely oversized and misshapen, but Katrina knew the amount of work put into it. Many painstaking hours were spent knitting each section of yarn by her mother. Her mother put lots of love and care in
everything she made. When Katrina was little, she would watch her mother attempt to knit anything she saw in a magazine. Katrina on the other hand was the exact opposite. She never had such desire or discipline to attempt such a feat. Being clumsy, she preferred less involved activities to occupy her time.

Sitting down in the fresh air and staring at her blank paper, Katrina couldn't focus. There was too much going on in her head. Soon, she found her thoughts drifting elsewhere. She was wondering where Cole was or how Jake and her mother were doing. Her thoughts soon took over and any hope of finishing work went out the window. She laid back against the blanket and lifted her cast into the air. Her fingers ran along the cast,
as she stared at it. It served as the only vivid reminder of the past few weeks and that they had even occurred.

Feeling the sun warm her skin, Katrina rested her cast against her chest and shut her eyes. The slight breeze in the air hummed into a steady background noise, as her mind wandered onto the very subjects she had been trying hard to suppress deep into her subconscious. As much as she knew her mother was safe in Alaric’s care, she was still concerned. The monsters were ruthless. They wanted her so bad
ly that they were willing to go after whoever she cared about. Then chills hit her as images of the strange creature jumping in front of Cole’s car replayed itself in her head.

All the bad things were happening because of her. Guilt set in and her stomach turned. Maybe she wasn't directly to blame, but in some way or another it was all traced back to her. Now, she was alone and it was all her fault.

Tears fell down her cheeks, as her mind revisited that horrible night. Jake’s pain stricken face was all she could see, as she rushed to his side.

“Jake!”

Katrina screamed, as her brothers face morphed into something else. His ocean blue eyes were gone and in their place were the vengeful yellow ones that haunted her so. Looking down at the still body next to her, Katrina noticed her brother’s body had vanished. In its place was the dark fur-wrapped abomination. Its monstrous features were very similar to the strange looking creature she had seen.

Katrina watched in frozen horror, as the creature lie limp in her arms. Then something happened she never expected. The creature’s golden eyes burst open and it let out a blood curdling snarl. Katrina had no time to react, as it lunged for her. She could feel the steel prickly fingers reaching around her throat. Katrina screamed convulsing in a cold sweat, as a warm hand grabbed her shoulder.

“Whoa. It’s me.” Donovan’s brown eyes were staring down at her.

“Sorry. Guess I was having a bad dream.” Katr
ina's heart was beating wildly.

“It looked like more than a bad dream. You’re out of breath.”

Sitting up to meet his face, Katrina grabbed her chest. The amulet began to sear her skin like a wild fire. “You just scared me, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“What are you doing here?” Katrina asked, as she pulled the amulet over her shirt to avoid skin contact. Lately, the necklace had been possessed with a life force all its own. It was as if it to had been missing Cole too and taking it out on her in protest.

“I came by to check on Stacy.” His eyes fixated on the amulet resting against Katrina’s chest.

“Stacy’s fine. A little sick, but she’ll live.”

“And you?”

“I’m good.”

“What are you doing out here?” He helped himself and sat down on the pink blanket next to her.

“Stacy’s not feeling good, so I’m letting her rest in peace. I thought I’d try and finish this.” She gestured towards her book.

“I see,” Donovan smirked. “It looks like you were studying pretty hard.”

“I was. I took a little break when you interrupted me.”

“Right.” Donovan p
layfully stroked her good hand.

Unfortunately for Katrina, the warmth of his touch was a huge comfort to her. It consoled the loneliness she was feeling at the moment. If she weren’t careful she could easily get lost in the moment and do something she’d regret later. Inhaling deeply and determined to keep herself composed, Katrina pulled her hand away and quickly stood up.
“I need to go check on Stacy.”

She turned to walk towards the house and tried to turn off her convoluted thoughts. Her heart began to race and her head started to spin. Katrina was fighting for control over her emotions. She couldn’t understand why her body was betraying her at his slightest touch.

“Katrina, wait up. I’ll come with you.”

Katrina could hear his steps, as he ran to catch up to her. She ignored him and kept walking through the front door. Without missing a beat, Donovan had caught up with her. He followed behind her the rest of the way up the stairs. It was a little too closely for Katrina's liking.

Reaching her room, she slowly creaked open her door. Stacy was right where she had been hours earlier. She hadn’t moved even a fraction of an inch. Katrina debated whether to wake her or let her sleep off the pain. It would be nice to have her bubbly insights to keep Donovan occupied. Being the good friend that she was she let Stacy sleep. Stacy never was one to lie around, so Katrina knew she must be really sick. As much as she wasn’t looking forward to it, she could handle Donovan’s company by herself for a bit longer.

Katrina motioned towards Donovan and the two of them stealthily crept out leaving Stacy undisturbed. Katrina quietly closed the door behind her and tip toed to the bathroom. She rummaged through the medicine cabinet for aspirin, but came up empty. Her mom hadn’t been home since the accident, so the medicine cabinet among other things in the house, was desolate
and waiting to be replenished.

“What are you doing?”

“I was looking for aspirin. I know she’s going to have a terrible migraine when she wakes up. Guess I’m going to have to make a trip to the store.”

“How?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have a car.”

“Oh, that.” Katrina felt like an idiot. She forgot about the truck situation.

“My car’s right outside. Would you like a ride to the store?” Donovan offered, as his dark chocolate eyes glistened against the light from bathroom’s tiny skylight.

“I don’t know. She’s—,” Katrina tried to think of a random excuse he would buy, but came up short when his suave voice interrupted her.

“She’s out cold. We’ll be back before she even notices.”

“Are you sure?”

“I promise,” Donov
an grinned.

“I guess so. Let me just leave her a note, in case she wakes up.” She grabbed a notepad that was resting on a small oval wooden table next to the bathroom and wrote a brief message for Stacy. Then she slowly crept inside her room and set the note beside the still untouched glass of water.

On her way back down the stairs Katrina exhaled a deep sigh and tried not to let her mood ruin the rest of her day.