Chapter 19
I had no idea where they were taking me, but I couldn’t wait to get there. It appeared everyone but me knew what was going on but weren’t willing to tell me. Even when I asked William, he simply told me I needed to wait until we arrived, then I would be filled in on everything.
We drove far out of Haven. Asphalt turned to gravel and civilization was left far behind us. Grass was exchanged for snow as we drove further into the mountains. When I looked at William, he was looking straight ahead at nothing, but kept taking sidelong glances at me.
“How much farther?” I asked dryly. I was trying hard to mask my fear, but William could read me like a book. He slipped his hand around mine, gently rubbing his thumb inside my palm, but still didn’t look at me.
“We’re there,” Joshua answered and turned the truck into a group of trees.
I sat forward in the seat, watching as we pulled through the trees to an opening that revealed several run down looking shacks dotting a hill side. They were shaped similar to Luna’s house, not very wide, but they were long. Eskimo children were running around playing kick ball, or soccer, I really couldn’t tell which. A few Eskimo women were exiting what appeared to be a large greenhouse.
We pulled through heading toward the furthest house in the back, and Aunt Bev’s bright-red truck came into view. “Did you know she would be here?” I scoffed at William.
“I called her,” Joseph answered quickly, but didn’t look at me either.
“What… is this some kind of conspiracy? Everyone knows what’s going on but me?” I had said that more for my benefit, so I wasn’t at all surprised when I didn’t get an answer.
The truck came to a stop, and I scooted away from William to the other side and threw open my door. When I stepped down, I made the mistake of putting too much weight on my ankle, I fell to the ground wincing from the pain.
By the time Joseph managed to open his door William was already around the truck. At first, neither one reached to give me a hand. Instead they were having another stare down. Finally, William reached for my hand and I slapped it away and managed to get myself up.
“I’m fine.” I scoffed. “Why don’t you two go somewhere and have a pissing match.” I glared at them both and pushed past them, hobbling to the house Aunt Bev’s truck was parked in front of. I hated it, but I had to wait for someone to help me up the steps. There was no hand railing and my leg was killing me.
William was so in tune with me that he was by my side in a flash. I glanced at him, and he bore a pained expression, which tugged at my heart. I expected him to wrap his arm around my waist to help me climb the steps. Not William.
He gently pulled me close, his hand pressed against the small of my back. I thought he might kiss me and the excitement sent my heart into overdrive, causing my body to tremble. When I peered up at him my bottom lip quivered faintly. Our eyes locked, his lips parted slightly, and I closed my eyes and waited.
My eyes shot open when I felt him lift me up into his arms. The first thing I saw was that amazing crooked smile, and I knew he had been toying with me. I was furious, and relieved all at the same time. Even though I wanted him to kiss me more than anything, I wanted our first kiss to be special. Not on the front steps of an Eskimo Indian abode, not that’s there’s anything wrong with Eskimos or where they live. I just wanted it to be special and not with an audience.
When we got to the top step, he gently let my legs drop, but still kept his arm around my waist. Aunt Bev heard us and threw open the door.
“Genevieve! Oh my God, honey,” she cried out, and ran onto the porch. She wrapped her arms around me, squeezing way too tight. When she pulled back just enough to look at me, her eyes were red and puffy like she’d been crying.
“Are you all right?” Her eyes flew over me.
“Yeah, except for my leg…but it’s not that bad.” I tried to play it down so Aunt Bev wouldn’t be so freaked out, but the truth was, it hurt like hell. I let her dote on me for a minute, then I started with my own set of questions.
“What are you doing here, and why did they bring me here?” I asked skeptically, as she helped me inside the house.
The living room was quite larger than I’d expected. It was warm and felt very inviting. On one wall sat a fireplace big enough I could step into it, you know, if it didn’t have a blazing hot fire going inside it. There were two hand carved couches and three matching chairs. All of them had beautiful overstuffed cushions, which I assumed were also handmade, with bold colored fabrics on them. There was also a chair made from real antlers that I thought was awesome. I assumed they somehow had electricity, because there were two lamps in the room and they were both lit.
“Sit down, Gen.” Aunt Bev helped me to the couch, and then sat next to me. Aunt Bev, pulled the empty blood bag from my shirt and pinched the tubing because my blood had started to backfill into the tubing. “You need blood going in not coming out.” She smiled, but I still saw fear in her eyes. I placed my hand on her shoulder. “I’m fine…really.” I forced a smile.
William leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest on the opposite side of the room. I motioned for him to join me, but he didn’t move. Joseph and Joshua promptly disappeared somewhere into the back of the house.
She scooted down to the floor and sat back on her knees. “Let me have a look at your leg.” She examined the bandage.
The hospital had cut my pants leg off right above my knee, and after they stitched it, wrapped gauze around my leg. “It’s not that bad.” I forced a smile. “And besides, they have it all wrapped up.” I didn’t want her to see how bad it really was. It would just cause her to worry that much more.
“Don’t argue.” She said calmly and gently pat my leg. “Turn your leg.”
I lay against the back of the couch, turning on my side, and Aunt Bev started unwrapping my leg.
“Mary… come look at this.” She called out to Luna’s mom who was in the kitchen.
“Is it that bad?” When I leaned forward, my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe that was my leg I was looking at. The wound had already closed and the stitches were gone. “But… I don’t understand. How is that even possible?” I couldn’t take my eyes off it. “Where did the stitches go? There had to be stitches. I saw my leg before William wrapped it. There was a crater size hole in my leg,” I rattled frantically.
Aunt Bev held up the gauze and there were several little black knots stuck to it. I furrowed my brow. My mind had to be playing a trick on me. How could I be on the verge of death one minute and the next minute my leg was almost completely healed. It was like I was in a dream and couldn’t wake up. Suddenly, all the weird things that had been happening started to make sense. A million questions that I wanted answers to raced through my mind. Inside I was screaming, but on the outside I was shaking violently.
I looked to William for answers, but he just glanced at me for a second. His expression quickly faltered and he lowered his eyes. Even though I sat perfectly still, the room started spinning and I placed my hand on the couch trying to steady myself. My heart began to pound in my head and then the room slowly faded to black.