“Please don’t leave me, sweetheart. I just found you. We still have so many years ahead of us. Please come back to me.” I hear Connor say near my ear. Why can’t he hear my thoughts? Usually, he knows what I’m thinking all the time. I still feel thehand on my own, giving it a big hand hug. I want to give it a hand hug, but I’m just so tired. Maybe he will come and give me more bacon.
“Time of death 8:48 Midsummer 21.”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”
12
Connor
“Time of death 8:48 Midsummer 21.” It keeps repeating over and over in my head. I know I screamed but Gods why. Why would you do this? Why couldn’t she have had something good in her life? She could have had so much happiness and love in her life. Why would you take her from us so soon, when I’m the only one to have known her?
I rip all the wires off of her, throwing them at the wall, screaming my misery to the Gods in my head. Unsure of when all the doctors left the room, but it is just me, Farlen’s empty body, and my misery now. I place my head on her hand and cry. It’s my fault she is like this. She collapsed after she grabbed my hand. I don’t know if it was the shock of seeing me hurt or what. My mother can feel the pain of my fathers when they get hurt. I haven’t even told them I found my match yet. I wanted to ease her into meeting them, not knowing how she would react to them. My Dads are pretty awesome and my mother is super protective of me seeing as I’m their only child. I know they would have loved her. If given a chance, we all could have loved her.
The hand I am crying against twitches. In an instant, I stop crying and sit up and look at her, please Gods, let this be real. I am not expecting what I see. Her eyes are open, but they aren’t her eyes. They are a swirling mass of color. She cocks her head to the side and looks at me.
“The girl is not dead. She is healing. We will not allow her todie. Maybe one day when she has known actual happiness and knows the joy of life and is old, we will sleep for the last time, but this is not the time. Be at peace and make your plans. Her power is growing and is trying to get out, and this will happen more often until she can release it.”
I am at a loss for words. Spoken in her same raspy, damaged voice. But there was no inflection to it, no emotion. She looks behind me to the door.
“Send us to the school you spoke of. The girl will awake in about twelve hours. Her heart will not again beat until then. We are repairing what damage her magic did to her while she slumbers.”
I turn behind me and see Agnes in the doorway. Her face is red and splotchy, and fresh tears track down her face. She nods, looking back and forth between Farlen and me.
“I will get Doctor Owens to sign off on her papers. It may take an hour to get it all done. I know one of the Healers at the academy we can sign her care off on, though I will have to call him and get in touch with him to let him know you guys will be on your way there. Speaking of which, how are you guys going to get there, Connor dear? Do you have another car you can drive?”
“I will call one of my fathers and have him come to get us, Agnes. Thank you for all you have done for her.” I stand up and give her a hug. For a vampire, she is super emotional, though she usually is pretty stoic and no-nonsense about her job and her charges. She’s grown attached to my match. Speaking in a whisper so my voice doesn’t carry to anyone but her, “The police came. I found out some info. Her name is Farlen.”
Agnes gives me a surprised smile, nods her head, and leaves with a sad smile on her face. Only a few hours and then we will be heading out to the academy. I think we may be one of the first few there. Technically, the school semester doesn’t start up for another five days.
Well, if it’s only going to take an hour to get her discharged from here and transferred to the Healers’ care at the academy, I should probably call one of my fathers. I get my phone out ofmy pants and it has a massive crack on the screen. Thanks, tree for fucking up that too. A smile crosses my face. I know exactly which father to call. Flipping through my contact list, I find Stephen’s name and click dial.
“Hey dad, yeah it’s me. Hey, can I ask you for a ride to the academy? Yeah, I’m at the hospital. My car is having some, uh, technical difficulties, you could say. Do you think you could stop by my place on your way here and get me a change of clothes? Yeah, one patient puked on me. Yeah, I have a friend who is starting the academy and I want to check on them. Sure dad, see you soon!”
Well…let’s hope he isn’t too mad at me when he gets here. Man, I wish I would have had a sister so I could get some of her clothes for Farlen. I wonder if Agnes could arrange something. I open up the door to see if I can track down Agnes and there is a pile of clothes sitting in the doorway. Damn vampire and super hearing. These are going to be so big on Farlen, but at least she will be out of that damn hospital gown. Might as well call up the insurance company and figure out what is going to be done about my damn car while I wait.
13
Connor
Agnes came in a little while ago and let me know she’s all good to go. The healer at the academy is now in charge of Farlens’ care, and he is expecting us to check into the clinic tomorrow. Agnes looked a little pissed off about it, but we can’t do anything about it now, I guess. Farlen is still asleep. I keep checking on her to see if her heart has started beating yet, but still no change. She is just as cool as she always is, so at least she isn’t getting any colder. Her limbs still move normally, so at least the thing that spoke to me was right about that, and no rigor mortis has set in. Let’s hope it was right about everything else. I can’t do all of this just to lose her.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, saving me from my spiraling thoughts.
Stephen: Hey kiddo, I’m here in the parking lot. Where am I meeting you?
Me: Uh, meet me in the ER lobby. I’m close by.
Stephen: Sure thing!
I check on Farlen one last time and leave the room. Agnes is at the nursing station typing on the computer in front of her.
“Hey, thank you for the clothes for her. I, uh, didn’t want to invade her privacy and dress her. Do you think you could do it for me? She’s still sleeping.”
“Always Connor. If you ever need anything for her, let me know. Don’t worry about the clothes either. She can have them and hopefully, she will grow into them. I know we went over her discharge papers with you, and the healer at the academy isgoing to be in charge of her healing, but please try to curb your natural instincts to feed her and fatten her up. It’s going to be a long slow process trying to get some meat on her bones. If you take it too fast, it could end up hurting her.”
“Thanks, I will try, and I will make sure if we meet any of her other matches at the academy. They know that as well. I’m going to take care of her, Agnes, I promise.”
“I know you will, Connor. You are such a fantastic young man.”