Living in Darkness (Bloodbreeders) (3 page)

“Renee, you best be
gettin
’ up ‘fore your Pa
comes back in,” she hollered. When I didn’t come down, she came to my room.
“Child, what's wrong?
You
feelin
’
under the weather today?”

“No, Ma. I’m just tired,” I said as I attempted to get out of bed.

I tried to stand with all of my might, but just toppled back onto the
old mattress. My mother screamed for my father, and he came running.

“What in tarnation’s goin’ on in…?” That was all he managed to say. The
second he saw me, he put his hand to my head.

“Myrtle, send Sam Jr. into town and fetch Doc Taylor,” he instructed
her, then turned back to me. “What happened to you, child? You feel like you
caught
somethin
’?”

“I don’t know, Pa,” I said shakily. “I just feel a little weak. I’ll be
okay after breakfast.”

Ma left momentarily and came back with a cloth and basin of water. She
wet the cloth, and then tenderly started wiping down my face.

“She's burning up, Sam,” my mother said. “I think she's got the flu. Run
and get some more blankets out the closet, would
ya
?”

They were acting like I was on my deathbed. I didn’t feel
all that
bad, I just felt like I didn’t have much strength.

The doctor got there no more than an hour later and checked me from
head to toe. When he was done, he turned to my folks.

“We need to get her cooled down. Best get some ice from the icehouse,
Sam. And I need you to bring in all the clean sheets you have, and some more
water, if you would Mrs. Crocker.” As my mother was heading out the door, the
doctor called to her. “I think it might be best to send
the
youngens
over to the Miller’s farm for a few days,
just in case this is scarlet fever.” That’s when my mother really started to
cry. Not many made it with scarlet fever, and they all knew it.

*****

Later that afternoon, the doctor stopped back by to bring my mother
some salve to rub on me in case I started getting the infamous red spots that
are well known with scarlet fever. He gave me the once-over again and rubbed
his head.

“Mrs. Crocker, I just don’t understand. It
ain’t
like nothing I’ve seen before.”

“Doc, please just tell us,” she pleaded. “She's my oldest, and I
ain’t
looking to lose her.” She desperately covered her
mouth with her hands, and practically screamed into them, asking, “Is it scarlet
fever or not?”

“I don’t see
no
signs of scarlet in her skin,
and other than her being weak she seems fine,” the doctor replied slowly
shaking his head.
 

My mother fell to her knees and cried, until my father went over, took
her up under the arm, and sat her in the rocker. The doctor asked my folks if I
had been asking for lots of water, and both said no.

“So what is it, Doc? She can’t look that way, and not be able to get
up, if
somethin
’
ain’t
wrong,” my father exclaimed, standing up staring the doctor square in the eye,
angrily. “You best not be wrong about this, when you could be
treatin
’ her the way you should.”

Doc Taylor almost fell over the table, then tripped on his case, and
ended up on his backside on the floor. He, just like everybody in the area,
knew not to piss off Sam Crocker. He pulled himself up using the side of the
table, while my father stood watching, growing angrier by the second.

”Mr. Crocker…I truly
ain’t
never seen
nothin
’ like it.” Seeing that it wasn’t enough to satisfy
my father, he continued. “Tell you what I'm
gonna
do.
I'll call Doc
Macaphee
over in Brown County, see if
he won’t come up and take a look.”

“I think that's the best I heard out of
ya
yet,” my mother said, and with that she got up and came to my side.

He and my father spoke for a while longer,
then
the doctor was gone. It was getting late, so everybody that was still at the
house—my parents and Sam Jr.—started getting ready for bed. No one asked for
supper that night. I know they were all worried about me. Mother came in to see
if there was anything she could get me before she went on to bed, but all I wanted
was to just fall asleep. I was so tired, my eyes shut as she was talking, and I
don’t even remember answering her. Sleep had already taken me, and the dream
world was slipping in.

I don’t know what woke me, but when I opened my eyes, Martin was
standing there with his hand extended in front of him, as if waiting for me to
reach for it. I started to say something, but like a flash, he had his hand on
my mouth with his finger to his lips letting me know to be quiet. He helped me
sit up. Then, he very gently put my blanket over my shoulders and picked me up
in his arms. I laid my head on his shoulder, and he carried me out of the
house. I couldn’t even hear his footsteps, because he walked like he was as
light as a feather, even with me in his arms. My mind swam with questions that
I couldn’t answer. I kept asking myself,
where
are we going? Why is it that I can’t say no to this man?
All I wanted at
that moment was for him to never let me go, to hold me so close that we would
melt into one. It wasn’t long until he sat down on a log out by the field, with
me in his lap. I looked into his eyes and felt a heat rise from inside me that
I had never felt, so intense that my mouth suddenly became dry.

“I have longed for the hour that I could return to you, Renee. There
are things I must know,” Martin said, looking at me passionately.

I rose in his arms, and kissed his forehead. How was it that in two
nights, I could want him so badly, maybe even
love
him?

“What is it that you need to know?” I asked.

"Would you leave your family for me?” he asked, pausing
momentarily. “Never to return?”

“Of course not,” I sat there stunned for a moment. “They need me, and I
love them more than my own life.”

“That displeases me so,” he whispered, frowning down at me. “Renee, you
will be mine even if it be against your will. I will be able to explain more of
my meaning in the next few nights. You will understand more of this…I promise.”

I put my hand on his chest, leaning back to look him directly in the
eyes and just as I started to protest, my body went limp and darkness was with
me once more.

*****

The next morning, I awoke to my mother standing over me, crying. Next
to her was a man I had never met.

“Doc
Macaphee
, what do you think is wrong
with her?” my father asked the unfamiliar man.

“To tell you the truth, Mr. Crocker, I just don’t know. I can tell you
for sure it’s
not
scarlet fever,” he
answered.

My father walked over and tried to comfort my mother, while the doctor
began removing items from his bag. “Myrtle, why don’t you go down and make the
doc and me a pot of coffee?” he asked. Her eyes quickly darted back to me, and
it was obvious that she didn’t want to leave. However, she was not the kind of
woman to question her husband’s wishes, so she simply nodded and slowly left my
room. My father then turned and watched Doc
Macaphee
examine me. As he pulled down my lower eyelid and peered into it, he asked my
father, “When was the last time she ate?”

“Well, we got some tea down her yesterday, but that was all she’d
take.”

“In all my time, I
ain’t
never seen nothing
that would turn a healthy young lady
into a full blown anemic in two days’ time. Especially not one that was up and
around just days ago,” the doc said, as he continued his exam.

“So, how can we fix her, Doc?” he pleaded more with his eyes than his
words. “My girl can’t even talk. She’s worse now than she was yesterday.”

“I would say to take her on into the Brownwood hospital,” Doc
Macaphee
sighed heavily. “But I really don’t think she’d
make it.”

“And if we just sit here and do nothing? You want us to not even try?”
my father said just a little too loud, and my mother came rushing back into the
room, wanting to know what was going on.

“If she makes it through the rest of the day and starts looking better,
then we’ll take her on in, first thing in the morning,” the doc said. My father
nodded hesitantly, although he still wasn’t pleased. It was about that time
that I began to stir. My mother came and sat next to me on my bed.

“What’s the matter baby? You
hurtin
’?” she
asked. I shook my head, but touched my lips with my hand.

“You thirsty?” the doctor asked. “
Wanna
try
some tea?”

I nodded the best I could. What was going on? I was so weak that I
could hardly move. I wanted to ask these questions badly, but I couldn’t speak,
no matter how hard I tried. As my mother was walking toward me with a cup in
her hand, the doctor stopped her.

“Little bit of Laudanum will help her rest,” he said, mixing the
substance into the cup of tea.

With her help, I managed to get down more than half the cup, and
quickly began feeling the effects of the drug. The last thing I remember was
the doctor gathering his supplies, and my father stepping out to smoke his
pipe.

Chapter 3

I woke up later that night, no longer in my bed, but in the arms of
Martin, somewhere in the woods south of our farm. I was surprised to discover
that I could speak, but before I could ask how it was that I had ended up
there, Martin spoke.

“I am sorry, but I had no choice but to take your voice. I knew it
would not have been good if the others had known it was I you were with the past
few nights,” he said,
then
sat on the ground next to
the base of an oak tree with me in his arms. “I must finish this.”

“Finish what?” I sluggishly asked, puzzled at his statement.

“I will not be able to shield your mind from the pain that I must place
upon you this night, my sweet, and for that I am truly sorry. When it is over,
the next time that you open your eyes you will understand a great deal more
about what I am speaking.”

“I don’t think I’ll be around much longer for anything Martin, I think
I’m dying,” I softly whimpered, fully knowing my death was
close
at hand
.

“
Shhh
,” he soothed, pulling me closer to his
chest.

He slowly rocked me while we were sitting on the ground, Martin
cradling me in his arms as if we had been passionate lovers for years. He
pulled me close—so close it was as if we were one, and that’s when he looked
down into my eyes and said, “It is time.” He pushed my hair from my face,
laying me back just a little, and then leaned his face closer to mine. I closed
my eyes, waiting for him to kiss me, but what happened instead was the end of
my
life
as I once knew it.

He bypassed my mouth altogether, whispering the words “Forgive me” in
my ear as he nuzzled his face against my cheek. I thought to myself, what on
God’s green earth is he doing, and why would he need my forgiveness? He kissed
my neck, his lips as soft as the petals of a freshly bloomed rose. I will never
forget what happened next. Pain worse than anything I’d ever felt coursed
through my body, as each of his teeth sank into my flesh. My eyes flew open as
I attempted to scream with the little strength I had left. He gripped me
tighter, spoiling my attempts to push him off. My heart began to race faster
with each passing second, as my head began to swim.

I wretched my body, trying to fight harder, but he was too strong. Every
ounce of strength seeped from my body as I became limp in his arms. He held me
like a lover as I felt my life begin to slip away, and all I could think about
was how he had said that I would be with him forever.
Then, why God is he killing me?
I screamed a silent scream for my
mother, while my head fell slowly backwards.
Someone
help
me,
was my last thought…then
I was gone.

Martin carried my limp body back to the farm, and placed me in my father’s
barn where he knew I would be found.

*****

Early the next morning, my brother Sam Jr. came waltzing into the barn,
expecting to begin his daily chores no doubt. Instead, he found me lying at the
bottom of the stairs amongst the loose hay.

“Oh my God…Ma… Pa,” he screamed. He snatched up my lifeless body and
ran back to the house. My father saw him coming, and knocked everything
off of
the kitchen table, that had just been set for
breakfast. My mother just stood back shaking as my father helped Sam place my
corpse upon the table. No doubt she was in shock. She just stood back staring,
shaking her head in a manic fashion.

“Woman, get a hold of
yourself
and help me,”
he said in a stern voice, but she didn’t move.