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It seems like no time has passed before the sun has begun to rise and Aunt Betty has made her way down to the kitchen where I still sit, drinking my third mug of tea. She eyes me carefully before sitting down next to me.
“You couldn’t sleep?” she asks, as if already knowing the answer.
“Bad dream, I guess,” I mutter. “‘No offence. I loved seeing you again, but I can’t wait to get out of here.”
My aunts answering look is filled with sympathy. “I know, dear.” Is it just me or does it look like she’s aged since being here? I’m probably just being dramatic.
After a few minutes of silence, I’m not surprised to hear a knock at the door. Kade is here.
After talking about a few things and agreeing on terms, our conversation turns casual as he asks what I will do now that the property will be out of my hands.
“I think I’ll head back home and go to school. I’ve been saving the money to go,” I admit.
He looks both surprised and content. “What do you wish to take?”
I shrug, unsure. “Maybe psychology. I can’t decide. I hate school, but I need to do something with my life.”
He smiles and nods. “I could see that. Dr. May Thomson the psychiatrist.” He then extends a hand to me, and I reach mine out to his and shake it firmly. “Drive safe, May, and good luck.”
My aunt Betty left to catch her last-minute plane back home before Kade could finish, but she was sure to make sure that Kade was serious about the sale and wasn’t going to try and scam me out of my money. This means, that now that I’m done here with all loose ends tied up, I can go back home to Seattle.
I reach into my pocket and hand over the keys to the property. Kade shoves them into his own pocket and we head towards the door in silence.
I take a last look around the entry way before walking out the door for the last time. Kade shuts it behind us gently and locks it before we begin out walk down the long sidewalk through the trees to where our vehicles are parked.
“Are you going to miss this place?” Kade asks me casually.
I shake my head. “No, it’s time that I officially move on from this and go back to what I’ve found in Seattle. This place is just...”
“Filled with bad memories?” he finishes
I shrug. “And good ones, but it’s just time to move on. I can’t explain it. It all feels so long ago that my whole family lived here, like another lifetime. I think the only reason my mom didn’t ever sell it was because she kept hoping that my brother would come back. He went missing here when we were kids. He and his friend. I’ve never understood why she never sold it after dad died. It was a family property, it’s been in the family for generations, but that doesn’t mean it should remain in the family. I don’t feel that way anyway. It’s just a place.”
Kade nods and tucks his hands into his jacket pockets. It’s a little chilly outside today. It must be his day off because he’s not dressed in his usual formal attire but instead in a black jacket and dark jeans. His hair is tousled in short waves. “I lost siblings too. My younger sisters. One died of cancer and one was murdered.”
My gaze flicks to his quickly. “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“Well, at least I know what happened to them, you have no idea what happened to Daniel,” he says sympathetically.
I’m about to nod when I realize something. I never mentioned my brother’s name to Kade. “How do you know his name?” I ask, trying to sound casual although something about this just feels wrong.
Kade seems to stiffen and his eyes widen slightly. “Small town. Word gets around.”
Isn’t that the truth?
We approach our vehicles, and I stop dead in my tracks when I see that there’s no vehicle in the driveway besides mine. I search the yard again but come up empty.
“How did you get here?” I ask him in confusion.
“I ran. I run every morning, and I had to come by your place anyhow so instead of my regular route, I ran here.” He says this offhandedly like it’s completely normal.
“You must live fairly close then,” I mutter. I don’t run. I have never understood how people enjoy that activity.
Kade chuckles. “You look like you just bit into a lemon.” He points down the road and then to the left. “That way about three miles or so.”
“You ran three miles this morning? And now you’re about to run three more back?” I gape. “Do you want a ride back? I don’t mind.” And he thought I was the one training to be a navy seal.
He chuckles again and shakes his head, his hair bouncing. “No thanks. I don’t keep in such good shape by skipping my morning workouts,” he quips.
I can’t help but laugh with him. “Well, alright I guess. Have a fun run then. If you have any questions about the property, feel free to call me.”
I open my car door and jump in, feeling as though a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
“Drive safe,” he says with a grin and then turns and begins running in the opposite direction.
I check the back seat to make sure that all my boxes and things are in a good position where I can see through the back window. Then I start the car, shut the door, and pull out of the driveway slowly, heading down the gravel road towards the nearest highway.
I’m so tired that I’m not sure how I’ll make it home in one shift. I figure I’ll probably have to get a hotel room for the night somewhere along the way. I turn up the radio but find that I’m too far from any prominent civilization for FM radio, and I have to instead switch to AM where an old country song blasts through my speakers, but it’s all I have so I turn it up to keep me awake.
As I look up from the radio, I see too late that a deer is making a mad dash across the road. I instinctively slam on my brakes and swerve left in the opposite direction of the deer, but my car clips it’s rear end and the deer somehow flips up into the air, landing on top of the roof with a bang. I hear one of my windows shattering and the jerk from the impact sends my head into the driver’s window, which also bursts apart. Still managing to be alert, I pull my wheel back to the right to keep on the road, but the sharp action sends my vehicle violently fishtailing on the gravel and then rolling into the ditch when I attempt to correct my situation. The roof of my car hits the ground harshly with a screeching crunch and my head snaps in a very wrong direction. Before the car comes to a stop, my vision goes black and I lose consciousness.
I wake up, my head resting on wet grass instead of the window that used to be there, my pulse racing. The sun is setting so I know I’ve been here a long time. I muster up my strength and reach to unbuckle my seatbelt before searching rapidly for my cellphone which is nowhere in sight. By the time I see it in the back seat, I am starting to really feel just how injured I am. My head pounds furiously and my left shoulder, ribs, and neck ache ferociously. I snatch up my phone to find the screen absolutely smashed, the glass not even fully intact, it’s fallen out somewhere. I push the on button and as I assumed, nothing happens. Great.
If this road wasn’t in the middle of nowhere then maybe someone would have driven by now that could help.
I curse and debate just how I’m going to get out of the passenger side of the car through the window. I place my feet on the side of the center console and then peek my head out the window before resting my hands on the outside of the car and attempting to push myself up. I fail, not having the strength and instead have to bring my feet up to the right side of the passenger seat which takes more effort than I have to give, and I barely manage to lift myself out of the car and on top of it. Maybe it’s the adrenalin. I sit on the passenger side door for a few minutes, gathering myself and taking in the scene around me in disbelief. About a hundred feet away is what remains of a white-tailed deer, it’s back half destroyed and the rest of it scratched up. I have no doubt that it died at impact by its appearance. Then, ahead of the deer, I can see the sparkle of glass hitting what’s left of the sun above the horizon, then there’s my erratic tire tracks to the point where my car took to rolling and then finally I see a trail of glass and blood into the ditch. I lift my hand up to my head where my scalp burns from being cut by the driver’s window. My hair is soaked, and I’m not at all surprised to see blood when I pull away my hand. Why did I have to speed? Why did I have to fiddle with the radio?
Down the road I can still see the driveway to the property I just sold to Kade. If I can make it there, I can try the house phone, that is, if it’s still connected. The power and water were one thing that my mother never stopped paying, but the phone? I’m just not sure if that’s something she would’ve thought of in her state. The only reason that the power and water were on was because they were on automatic withdrawal that no one ever told her to shut off. The phone though, I remember recovering monthly bills for, but that doesn’t mean she stopped paying it or that it wasn’t also automatically withdrawn.
I slide to the front of the car which is closest to the ground and then I leap down, stumbling a bit but not falling. Then I take a deep breath and begin heading towards the house, debating how I’m going to get in. Perhaps one of the windows isn’t locked. The people who vandalized my mom’s room had to have gotten in somehow, so I should be able to, too.
I try not to give attention to my aching body or the blood running down my face as I walk, but that’s next to impossible, and I know my heart is racing erratically.
When I reach the house, I feel light headed and dizzy. I first try the door, hoping Kade didn’t lock it; although, I know he did. Next, I try the large window on the porch and all the basement windows. By this time, I’m not even sure how I’m still on my feet. It begins to rain large droplets of water, not helping my situation.
I wobble back to the front and then pull off my sweater, standing in front of the front door window. I ram my fist into the window with everything I have, but I don’t even crack it. I’m going to fricken die out here in the rain. No, no I’m not. I am not dying. There’s no fricken way.
Sighing, I try again with a renewed strength but just come up with a sore hand. Annoyed, I turn and find some old two by fours lying under the deck and fetch one, before ramming it into the window. No luck. I’m about the give up when I have one more idea. I go down to the overgrown lawn and find a medium sized rock. I then get fairly close to the window and chuck it towards the glass as hard as I can. The window presents spider like cracks from the place of impact but does not break. You got to be kidding me right now! I then use my sweater covered hand and send my fist flying into the glass one last time. The glass breaks and large shards fall towards my feet. I move the rotted old patio chair to just below the window and then stand on it while knocking any sharp remaining shards out of my way. Then I lift myself through the window, landing on the floor in a heap of pain and taking a minute before scurrying up to the old house phone, which is no longer covered in dust thanks to all the cleaning we did in the kitchen. I place it to my ear, praying for a dial tone, but I’m greeted with utter silence. With a curse, I then dial 911 and hold it to my ear, hoping to hear ringing. To my dismay, I hear nothing. Dropping the phone to the kitchen floor and sliding down the wall to lie beside it, I let out a whimper, not even having enough energy to cry. Upon physically giving up, my mind also gives in and I give into the exhaustion wracking me; although, I’m aware that I quite possibly have a concussion and I shouldn’t sleep, my mind and body give me no choice.
I am awakened by a loud clatter and a door slamming. I open my eyes to complete darkness. I roll over on the hard linoleum and groan when the pain hits me.
“May?!” I hear a frantic voice calling. “May?! Where are you?”
I blink, not immediately able to react. What is going on? Why am I on the floor?
A light flicks on and I’m startled enough to sit up painfully.
Kade stands in front of me looking extremely worried. “Oh my god, May. Are you alright? I drove by your car and thought...I thought you were dead. Oh, Christ, May, you’re just covered in blood.”
His hands fly to my shoulders and he looks me over carefully. My vision blurs and I wonder how long I’ll be conscious.
“I need a doctor,” I whisper, speaking taking more effort than I can handle right now.
His hand flies to my head where it hit the window of my car and he winces. “Tell me what hurts.”
Knowing this is a good idea since I’m about to pass out and the doctor will need to know, I answer, “My head. It broke the window. I probably have a concussion. My ribs need an x-ray, I think some are broken. My left shoulder. My neck but that’s probably just whiplash seeing as I can still move it and I’m not paralyzed or anything.” I try to muster and reassuring smile but I’m sure it looks more like a wince.
He nods. “Alright. Okay. I’ll get you help right away. Until then, you need to relax. I know you’re in pain but just try to stay awake and don’t move, you could make something worse.”
I nod, knowing that I won’t be able to stay awake long enough for an ambulance to get all the way out here.
He pulls out his phone and presses some numbers before putting it next to his ear. By this time, I’m doing all I can to keep my eyes open, but it just isn’t working, and I fall to sleep.
I awaken for a third time, but this time I don’t recognize my surroundings at all. I’m in someone’s home. Not a hospital like I thought I’d wake up in. I reach up to my head to find that the matted hair and blood is no longer there, but instead my fingers meet dry brushed hair. The pain is still there, but clearly my wounds have been treated. My shoulder is stiff but no longer aching, and my neck feels perfectly fine. I wonder how long I’ve been out. I look around for a clue. It’s daylight, and I’m in a room with frilly purple curtains and a bed spread that smells like old people.
Confused, I swing my leg over the side of the bed and stand, gauging my physical reaction, but to my surprise, nothing hurts. This both relieves me and worries me. I don’t want to be in pain, but I also wonder how long I’ve been out for the pain to be basically completely gone. I think back to those tv shows where people go into comas and wake up years later. I shiver.
The mirror across the room reassures me that I’m not fifty, and I haven’t fully healed yet or else I wouldn’t have a bandage across my neck. Wondering, why exactly it’s there, as I don’t remember being injured there, I peel back the adhesive bandage to find a nearly healed wound of a cut the length of my hand. By the looks of it, it appears to have been very deep, but then why don’t I have any stitches? Have they already been taken out?
I creep to the door and press my ear against it. I can hear muffled voices seemingly coming from downstairs, so I carefully drop to the floor where I then press my ear against the soft carpet.
“She’s out of the woods. Her internal injuries are healed and most of her external ones. I’ve done all I can do,” a female voice chimes with annoyance.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t like seeing her hurt. What are we going to tell her, Clarissa?” Kade asks, I recognize his voice.
The woman sighs audibly. “Lower your voice. She will be awake soon. I don’t know. She is immune to compulsion, so we’re going to have to just tell her she went to the hospital and they sent her home, so you brought her here until she woke up.”
“The hospital wouldn’t send her home before she even woke up.” An irritated sigh from Kade.
I then hear a door opening and slamming shut. “Where is she?” A male voice demands frantically.
“Upstairs. She’s doing fine,” Kade relays.
“Is she still asleep?” The male voice asks.
“Yes,” the female voice, who I’ve decided must be Clarissa, responds. “Or she was five minutes ago anyway. I can hear her tossing and turning up there now and again. She could wake up soon. I’ve been meaning to give her another pill but Kade has been questioning me for the last half an hour. Make sure she stays asleep while you’re up there. We’re not ready for her to wake up. Give her the pill I left on the nightstand, please. She’s still resisting compulsion. She’s immune.”
“I will,” the unknown male says. “I just have to get out of this bloody shirt.”
I jump up from the floor and leap into bed, pulling the covers over me as quickly as I can before lying on my side and shutting my eyes. About a minute later, I hear the door ease open and soft footsteps on the rug next me.
Someone, I assume the man who’s voice I didn’t recognize, lightly runs his hand along my forehead and then tucks a strand of hair behind my ear before sighing loudly.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers. “My little Mayflower.”
The use of a nickname that I haven’t heard in over a decade nearly causes my eyes to spring open.
My mind races. The only person who’s ever called me that was my older brother Daniel.
Before my reason can overcome my curiosity and hope, I open my eyes. I stare into the dark eyes of a man a few years older than me. His face partially coated in a beard. The last time I saw Daniel he was only a kid, but the resemblance is uncanny. He looks surprised to see me awake, and I’m sure my expression mirrors his as I realize that my brother is still very much alive. Holy shit.
We stare at each other for close to a minute before his mouth falls open as if he’s about to say something. He closes it a minute later and smiles softly. “Go back to sleep, May.”
He wants me to sleep? Sleep after I just realized that my brother who went missing over a decade ago is still alive? Is he insane? “No,” I mutter with a croaky voice. Am I seeing things again? I have to be.
He seems surprised by my defiance, though I can’t imagine why. “Sleep, May. Sleep.” He insists.
I’m so annoyed that I sit up and glare at him. I reach out and touch his knee to make sure he’s real and not some hallucination from painkillers or something. “Sleep? Are you insane? I haven’t seen you in over ten years, Daniel, what is going on?
He winces at my outburst and appears rather shocked by it. “Sleep,” he mutters once more, more intensely this time.
By now I’m annoyed, shocked, and beginning to get angry. “Daniel!” I shout. “What in the actual fuck is going on?”
He cowers back slightly and looks at me as if he’s seeing a ghost. By now, my outburst has caused Kade to race to the bedroom door where he stands gaping at me and Daniel.
“Put her to sleep,” Kade says frantically and fully enters the room, a young woman not much older than me entering behind him. I guess she’s the voice from downstairs.
“You don’t think I tried?” Daniel shouts loudly. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I told you. She is immune to compulsion, even Kade’s, which is why you were to give her the pill I told you to before she woke up,” Clarissa barks, pointing to the dresser.
Daniel shakes his head quickly and runs a hand through his dark hair. “Now what?”
The woman shrugs. “I’m not sure. Options are limited to say the least. She’s your sister and you’re an adult so that’s on you. Either way, you know what you have to do. I’ll make the arrangements now.”
Kade’s jaw clenches and then he says, “Daniel, we have two choices and you know very well what they are,” through tight lips.
Daniel doesn’t appear very happy with this. He rolls his eyes and then storms from the room.
The woman who’ve I’ve identified as Clarissa clears her throat and approaches me. “I’m sorry, he will be back to explain everything, but I just want you to know that your injuries have been tended to and you’re safe here. If you need anything, call for me. My name is Clarissa.”
I’m safe here? They were talking about drugging me so I wouldn’t wake up yet.
She then turns and Kade takes her spot beside the bed I rest in. “I know you don’t know me that well, but I promise that you’re safe here. Clarissa is a good doctor.”
“How is he here?” I mutter, still in shock, not caring about much else right now. My brother is alive and well.
“Well, that is for him to explain to you. I’m sure that once he gathers himself, he will be back to explain. He was surprised to see you too.”
Surprised to see me? I’m not the one who went missing. I’m so confused. “Where am I?” I ask next.
“This is Clarissa’s home. We’re a few miles from where I found you. When I found you, you were in pretty rough shape and the hospital was at least twenty minutes away, so I called Clarissa and she told me to bring you over. She looked you over and did what she could. She didn’t think you needed to go to the hospital, so we were just waiting for you to wake up. What happened?”
I want to ask him about their conversation downstairs, but I also don’t really want to let him know what all I know, though it isn’t much, it’s all I have. “I was changing the radio, tired, and speeding, and I hit a deer and rolled the car.”
He nods. “Well, you’re doing far better than the deer. That’s something.” He opens his mouth to say something further, but Daniel enters the room again and Kade dismisses himself, his hand resting on Daniel’s shoulder for a moment on the way out.
“How are you feeling?” Daniel asks me, one hand entangled in his brown hair. He looks beyond stressed. Why is he stressed?
“Alright, my head is a bit sore, though, but that’s not what’s really bothering me right now.” I can’t help but look him over again, making sure that what I saw a few minutes ago was real. This is my missing brother Daniel, standing mere feet away from me.
“I know. I guess I have some explaining to do.”
I wait for him to continue.
“I don’t really know where to start,” he admits. He sits down in the chair next to the bed and rests his forehead in his hand, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair.
I whisper, “The beginning.”
He gathers himself before starting. “We were playing in the backyard and I sent a slap shot at Kai. It missed the net and it flew into the trees, so...we both went after it knowing it was quite possibly lost for good. We looked for it for a few minutes and were about to give up when Kai fell into a hole in the ground that had been covered with grass. I think it might’ve been that old well that dad used to warn us about. I’m not sure really, but I went to see what happened and I couldn’t see or hear him down there, so I went back to the shed in the yard where dad’s cattle lamp was, and I brought it back to shine into the hole. I’m not really sure why I didn’t go get help, but I was young, and I didn’t realize how urgent things were I guess.”
He swallows and takes a second before he continues. “When I shone the light down the hole, I saw the top of Kai’s head and that was it. The hole was tight, and he knocked brush and dirt down with him. I shouted at him, trying to get him to move, but he was far down and stuck. That’s when I went to get help, but before I could make it back to the house, I ran into a man walking through the trees, so I got his attention, told him what happened, and he followed me to the hole. Instead of helping me, he pushed me into the damn thing with Kai, and I fell probably almost twenty feet before I stopped. There was mud in my mouth and it was so tight that I couldn’t move. I suffocated there.”
Shocked, I sit up and shake my head. “How did you get out? Why didn’t you come back home?” I have too many questions to get out at once.
Daniels head dips and he stares down at the grey rug. “May, here’s the thing...I didn’t get out. I died down there.”
Confused, I shake my head. “What?”
“We both died....in a way anyway.” Daniel meets my disbelieving gaze without faltering. He’s completely serious. Either he’s gotten a hell of a lot better at lying or he truly believes that he died and came back to life.
Oh my god. My brother is as crazy as my mom. I nod carefully. “Oh, okay, well you should probably tell the police what happened,” I prompt.
Daniel rolls his eyes. “May, I’m not crazy. I’m serious. As hard as it is to believe. I died but then I came back. Sort of. I woke up in Kai’s House, his sister washing all the dirt off of me. Kai told me I was immortal. Apparently, Kai woke up in the hole and he made me immortal before climbing from it and taking me to his house.”
I gawk at him. I clearly need to get him to a doctor. How has he not been noticed living around here for so long?
“You think I’m crazy. Of course, you think I’m crazy,” he groans to himself and then raises his head. “Kai!” he shouts loudly and then after a few moments a tall man with short jet-black hair, a black t-shirt, Black jeans, and bright blue eyes enters the room, looking bored.
“Yeah?” he asks deeply.
“This is my little sister May. She’s awake now, and I’m trying to explain to her what happened to me. She resists compulsion, so I need to explain things to her, and I just don’t know how,” Daniel explains sounding frustrated and directs his attention to Kai who now appears amused.
Seeing Kai again after all these years is strange. He’s familiar and yet so unfamiliar, like Daniel. Kai used to have blonde hair and wore superman shirts all the time, a far stretch from his goth-like attire now.
His eyes flicker to me, his stance relaxes but yet somehow alert. Something I can’t place passes across his face, and then he smiles gently. “May, it’s been a while. I’d say you look good, but you look rather beaten up actually.,” Kai greets me and takes a step closer.
The only thing I manage to get out is, “Uh, hi.” Then look back at Daniel. You want me to believe that you died and came back to life? If you’re trying to be funny, you’re just pissing me off.”
Daniel’s palm flies up to his forehead where he rubs it harshly and then stares up at Kai for help.
Kai looks between Daniel and me a few times before chuckling deeply. “After all we’ve been through to keep her ignorant of all this you’ve decided to let her know everything?” Kai sounds almost irritated by this.
“I wasn’t expecting her to wake up as soon as I came into the room. I didn’t have a lie handy, she recognized me, and she resisted compulsion anyway. What else was I to do? You know how terrible a liar I am, and I don’t know. The truth slipped out and here we are, alright? Can we talk about this later?”
Daniel gets up and begins pacing the room, one hand still sprawled across his forehead.
Kai glances at him, his brows furrowing and then turns back to me and one side of his mouth lifts into a half grin. “I hope you’re not as rash as your brother here. He’s always getting himself into all sorts of trouble.”
I swallow and take a deep breath.
“Look, I’ve never been human truly, I’ve always been a part of this world, so I don’t know what it’s like to not be able to freely accept it. I really don’t. I guess it’d be like you trying to tell me that unicorns exist or that’s what Daniel says it’s like anyway.” Kai shrugs quickly and he looks back to my brother with worry in his eyes and something else that I can’t place. Respect? Admiration? Clearly, they’re still best friends. Then Kai looks back at me again before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a jackknife and flipping out a small blade. He takes a weary step closer to me and I lean back. I’m in a room with two men who are quite possibly insane, and one has a damn knife.
Kai rolls his eyes. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to show you something. It’s the quickest way to prove that we’re not nuts.” He then out stretches his free arm and uses the hand with the blade in it to cut a very deep, very long cut from his wrist to the inside of his elbow. He winces and grunts.
I scream. I can’t help it. It’s involuntary. That is going to need a doctor, maybe even a surgery right now! I check my pockets for my phone before remembering that it’s destroyed from my accident.
“You’re scaring her!” Daniel hisses and points to the door. “Out!”
Kai rolls eyes at Daniel this time and then tosses the knife to him who catches it easily. Kai steps nearer to me and uses his shirt to wipe away the gushing blood.
By all hell, he’s going to bleed out right here in front of me if it keeps bleeding like that. I’m in such shock that I can’t even get a word out. I just stare at his arm, gaping. Thank god I’m not a paramedic or a nurse or something.
By the time his shirt is drenched in blood, which is only a matter of mere seconds, the bleeding has a nearly stopped completely. Wounds like that one do not just stop bleeding like that unless the heartbeat stops and causing it to discontinue spurting. It still bleeds lightly and Daniel hands him a pillow case from the dresser across from the bed. Kai wipes at his forearm and then presents it to me. The cut doesn’t appear nearly as deep as I thought. I watched the knife sink to the hilt in his flesh and then cut across it. I feel like vomiting.
Before my eyes, the cut, surrounded in dried blood, becomes fainter and then fainter yet as I gather my voice and rational thought. Then, nothing is left but a pale pink line of scar tissue. Before I know it, even that has disappeared. His unmarred forearm presents itself to me. I know what I saw. There’s still bloody evidence of the cut. Before I can stop myself, I clutch his wris