“Jake is comfortable now, but he was suffered a bleed on the brain. We need to monitor him for now. He is in a coma and has been intubated to help him breathe, but you can go and see him if you want to.” He said then left. We could see the police talking to one of the nurses.
“We’re going to see Jake ok?” I said to them.
“Of course, honey.” Sarah replied, and as we left the police walked in.
The nurse showed us to his room. When I saw him lying there I felt so angry that someone had done this to him, and worse had done it to get to me. They had bandaged his head and he had bandages around his arm. He was covered in bruises. I couldn’t take it. I walked back out and went to the toilets to throw up.
Chapter 12
Evelyn
We walked into Jakes room and I froze. I could feel the tears falling. It didn’t look like him. His face was swollen, and his skin was almost black. His head had been covered up, but a lot of the cuts on his body were visible. I thought back to his warm smile now replaced with a tube. I stepped forward, but I turned to look at Aiden as he walked back out of the room. I wanted to follow him, but I knew he would need space. I sat on the bed just next to his legs.
“Jake, I know you can’t hear me, but I’m so sorry this happened to you. Please wake up.” I grabbed his hand, but it was so cold. I tried rubbing my thumb over his skin to warm him up, but it didn’t work. “I want to thank you Jake, you’ve done so much for me. You’ve been an amazing friend and brother. Please wake up soon. Aiden needs you, I need you.” I was resting my forehead on his cold hand.
Looking at him was hard. He looked like he was sleeping. I was hoping he’d wake and make some kind of joke about my face on his hand but there was only silence.
I couldn’t live with myself if he died. It was my fault in the first place. If I hadn’t had a stupid argument with Sarah, he never would have gone out. I’d torn this family apart in a matter of weeks. If it really was someone looking for me; maybe if I left, they would leave them alone. I’d have to go soon while Aiden was distracted. I knew it was selfish in a way to leave now, but I’d do it to save their lives. I stood up and leaned over Jake. I kissed his forehead and all my love for him went into that kiss. I turned and walked out the door. I knew Aiden was still in the bathroom, so I slipped in the elevator quickly. It felt like forever waiting to get to the bottom. I started shaking. I almost went back. I should have gone back but I didn’t. Once I got outside I looked around, but it was dark. I couldn’t see much. I ran a little way up the road when I spotted a forest in the distance. I ran straight for it. I need to clear my head and running in the woods always helped. I got there in about five minutes. I stopped and looked at the darkness inside. It looked menacing, but it didn’t frighten me. I took in a deep breath and bolted through the trees.
The feel of the fresh air on my skin and the smell of leaves felt like heaven. It was pitch black, but I could see everything. When I let myself go, I could run for hours. I never fell. I seemed to fly like the forest was welcoming me home. I stopped when I came to a clearing. It was so serene. I could see deer in the distance grazing. I decided to stop and watch them. Sometimes they came over to me. I always had a way with animals, but mom wouldn’t let me have any pets. I closed my eyes, sat down and just listened. I could hear and pinpoint every animal from bird tweets to fox kits crying for their mom. I knew the sound well, I was also crying for my mom. I felt something rubbing against me, and when I opened my eyes a fox was nudging my hand. I moved it out of the way and let him climb up and curl up on my lap. I stroked his head and he seemed to fall asleep there. I could see he had been in a few fights as his ears were a little roughed up. I wondered if it was another fox or if he was hunted, like us. Except we didn’t get any battle scars. Only the ones we loved did. I remembered when Aiden said he’d been sitting in the forest petting bunnies. It didn’t seem so crazy now. I could stay here forever.
Then I saw something moving in the shadows. It was coming closer and it was big. I thought maybe it was a hunter, but it was too dark for that. As it got closer it got bigger. When the fox looked and darted off I thought maybe I should to, but I didn’t feel I was in danger. Once it came into view I could see it was a black bear, but I didn’t move. I just watched as she walked towards me, and I could see two little bear cubs trailing behind. She didn’t seem to notice me, but one of the cubs did, He came over sniffing me. “Hello” I said to him. I gave him my hand and he sniffed that too. Then he climbed up onto my lap and started sniffing my face. I was getting little bear hairs in my mouth and eyes. I started laughing and the mom bear came over and shooed him off me. I watched as they walked away when a familiar feeling came over me. “Aiden” I whispered. I could feel him getting closer. I jumped to my feet and ran. I didn’t want him to catch me. I wasn’t ready, but it wasn’t working. No matter how fast I ran he was catching up.
“Evelyn!” He was screaming. “STOP!”
And I did. I stood still. I was out of breath and covered in mud and sweat. I wiped my wet hair from my face. I knew I looked a mess and I didn’t want him to see me like this. He stopped as soon as I did. I was a good 30 feet away from him.
I turned and stared him down. Anger was rolling off him and my defences went up.
“What the fuck are you doing?” He shouted at me.
“I need to leave. I need to get away from you!” I shouted back.
He stepped back when I said that. He pointed to his chest.
“You’re trying to get away from me? Why? What the fuck did I do? My brother is lying in hospital and you’re putting yourself in danger, scaring the crap out of me so I have to leave him to get you!” He started to walk towards me.
I knew how selfish I had been by doing this. I felt ashamed of myself and it made me angry. “I never asked you to come for me!”
He burst out laughing and continued to walk closer to me. I wanted to retreat but his stare had me rooted to the spot.
“You’re joking, right? I didn’t have to come for you? You mean everything to me! You’re the only real family I’ve got left. I care about you. I worry about you.” Now he was nose to nose with me. He grabbed my face in his hands. “I love you. You’re my sister.”
The last three words hurt, but they weren’t meant to. That should have made me very happy. He let go of my face and walked back in the direction we came from.
“Come on we need to get back. Jake will be wondering where we’ve gone.” He said plainly.
“What? Jake is awake?” I was shocked when I last saw him I thought he’d never wake up again.
“Yeah I thought you knew? He said you were with him when he woke up, but he said you walked straight out. He must have been dreaming though he said you kissed him. I wanted to punch him.” He laughed.
Oh my god I did kiss him, and he remembers. I stopped walking. I had to think.
“Evelyn what’s wrong?” He asked.
“That happened.” I said quietly.
Why did I feel bad that I kissed him on the forehead? I thought he may never wake up and now I’m scared what that might do to our relationship. Well our brother-sister relationship. Aiden pulled my face up to meet his.
“Did you say that happened? You kissed Jake?” He was searching my eyes for the answer.
“No! Yes... maybe?” I said trying to not squirm under his gaze.
He was angry again. “Yes or no?”
“He was laying there unconscious. I thought he was dying. I could feel his pain and your pain. I kissed him on the forehead. I thought I was saying goodbye.” Now I was crying, but Aiden pulled me in and hugged me tight. I felt his relief and guilt for asking me, but that didn’t matter now.
We ran back to the hospital. I had gotten 10 miles away before Aiden stopped me. When we got back to the hospital I looked even worse. My hair was drenched. I had bits of leaves and dirt all over me and a mud patch on my bum where I’d sat down. I was mortified when I saw my reflection in the glass door; I just stopped and
looked at myself. I can’t go in there like this. Aiden grabbed my hand.
“Come with me.” He pulled me over to one of the toilets and took me in.
“Excuse me you can’t go in there together.” A nurse called over from the station. Now I felt worse.
Aiden told me to stay there when he shouted at her. “She’s my twin sister and she hurt herself outside. I’m sure you saw her walking in covered in mud. I mean you couldn’t miss her, so I’m going to give her my clothes. That OK with you?”
Cheeky git. Did I look that bad? I’m guessing the nurse nodded as he came back to the bathroom and locked the door. Aiden started pulling off his sweater and I could see his stomach as he pulled it over his head. I shouldn’t have looked. He passed me his sweater and told me to take off my top and throw it. Well I would have done but he didn’t turn around,
“You want me to undress in front of you?” I asked with uncertainty.
He went red and turned around quickly. “Sorry I wasn’t thinking.”
As I pulled my top off and threw it on the floor I could see Aiden looking down at it. He tensed up, so I quickly pulled on his sweater. Luckily it was thin as I was really hot. It was long on me and covered my mud patch on my butt. Aiden got some wet tissue and carefully wiped my face clean. I really enjoyed this. It felt like he was actually my brother, the way he was looking after me. He even made a beep noise as he wiped the mud off my nose.
“You know when Jake first woke up he said he saw an angel when you kissed him, but as the angel moved away he could see it was you. He could hear you calling him begging him to wake up. He really wants to see you.” Aiden said as he pulled me out of the bathroom and took me to Jakes room.
As we walked in I looked at Jake and he was sitting up. “Look who I found” Aiden said to him.
“Evelyn hi.” Jakes voice was croaky. I ran and threw myself on him. Which I’m sure hurt, but I was so relieved he was ok. “Oh my god Aiden she’s hugging me.” He said in a very happy tone, and that’s when Aiden pulled me off.
“Ok enough he’s fine, see he looks better already.” He said.
That was the odd thing though, he did look much better. The bruising on his face was already starting to fade, but that was impossible. Only moments ago, the doctors weren’t sure if he would wake up from a coma. Sarah and Pete walked in and came straight for me and I ended up in a group hug.
“Oh my god honey what happened to you we were so worried.” Sarah said while Aiden was trying to peel their arms of me like some kind of banana.
He knew I didn’t like the hugging, but I was so happy that they still accepted me. I started to cry.
“I’m so sorry this is all my fault. I didn’t mean for all of this to happen, I panicked.” I started shaking. Aiden pulled me onto a chair, the adrenaline was starting to wear off. I had run a long way.
“None of this is your fault ok?” Pete said. I just nodded in return. I felt weak and tired. I leaned my head back and the world went black.
Aiden
I could see Evelyn shaking, so I moved her to a chair to rest. Within a few seconds she collapsed.
“What happened? She’s in your sweater and covered in mud.” Pete asked. I knew I was going to have to lie a little here.
“When I came in I saw Jake was awake, but she’d vanished. I was only gone a few seconds, so I went outside and saw her running towards the woods and I chased her. I found her sitting on the ground. I brought her back and gave her my sweater and told her to get changed.” That’s all they really needed to know.
“You were gone for nearly an hour.” Sarah said.
“Oh well I couldn’t see her straight away in the woods. I had to search a bit.” Landed myself in that one! Couldn’t very well say she ran ten miles and I can sense her exact location.
“Poor thing she’s obviously exhausted.” Pete said.
“Well she ran pretty far so she was bound to crash out.” I replied.
“Aiden it’s probably best you take her home. We’re still going to be in here for a couple of days and I know she wants to go to and see her friend. I give you permission to take her to Michigan, but you must stay with her and keep her safe. It might be safer somewhere else at the moment. The police said the man in the car seemed to be targeting us. He died at the scene but there could be more.” Sarah looked very worried.
I said my goodbyes and picked up Evelyn who was now snoring and carried her to the car. I strapped her in the seatbelt and got in the driver side.
“Huh? Where are we?” She asked sleepily.
“In the car. I’m taking you home.”
I revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
“What happened to Jake?” She was trying to sit up.
“He’s OK the doctor said it was a miracle. One-minute he’s close to death in a coma and the next he’s awake and looking normal. It must have been that angel.” I smirked at her. then she closed her eyes and fell back to sleep.
I was starting to feel a little paranoid. I could feel myself watching every black car we passed. I didn’t know if they could be following, but I didn’t see anybody tailing us. I pulled into the drive way and looked down the road, but it was silent and deserted. I looked around towards the woods as well but couldn’t see anyone there either. I pulled Evelyn out of her seat and took her upstairs. I laid her on her bed and I remembered her jeans were covered in mud. I tried to wake her, but she wasn’t budging. I couldn’t leave her in muddy clothes. I paced for a bit wishing Sarah was here to do this. I pulled up the sweater, so I could see the button and undo it. Her skin was so soft... no stop this isn’t right. That’s when I noticed she had little black and orange fur on her trousers; I must ask her later about that. I started to pull the zipper down and I could see the top of her underwear. No, I couldn’t do this! I was going to leave her there. I walked out and back in again. I couldn’t invade her privacy like this, so I pulled her duvet over her. I managed to pull the jeans down a bit without looking, but I became hard as soon as I felt her skin under my hand. I moved her jeans down and they came off. Thank god.
I decided it was time to have a shower. I let cold water hit my body first. It was necessary to have at least two cold showers a day now. As I was thinking about it I realised before she came I didn’t have any sexual needs at all. We learned about sex in school and about all the feelings we would experience, and they just never happened to me. I thought maybe I was broken inside. I had even tried to do it myself, but nothing really happened. I didn’t feel anything. Jake was always talking about his dick and usually to everybody who would listen. He loved sex and wasn’t shy about it. He couldn’t understand why I wasn’t the same. I just told him I hadn’t met anyone I wanted to do it with. But in reality, I didn’t want to do it with anybody or at all. Not till her I saw her sitting at the table looking down trying to avoid me. I knew then she was the only one I could ever want. I knew sometimes it happens when siblings meet as adults they can feel attracted to each other, but this was different. This was much more than that. It was like we were destined to be together.
After the shower I got dressed and went downstairs. I checked to make sure all windows and doors were locked. I was a little shaken after today if I’m honest. Sarah said they had been expecting this day. They knew when they adopted me that they may come after me and now, Evelyn. Sarah and Pete built this house shortly after my 8th birthday. The Andrews became worried that they were being followed, and after talking to the police we decided to move here. It was far enough away from town and with the forest nearby as an escape route. They made sure it was huge, so they could have a concealed panic room right in the middle of the first floor. They thought we would be safe. Maybe that’s why they decided to take in Evelyn. May as well have us both to protect. I never put any of the lights on when I came home. I could see pretty well in the dark. I thought I saw movement outside, which normally wouldn’t bother me as we have a lot of wild animals around this part and the trees are always swaying,
but I was on edge. I knelt slowly. I could sense them outside the house.
They found us
Chapter 13
Aiden
I had to get to Evelyn. They were coming, and they weren’t going to wait for an invite. I kept low and headed for the stairs. I knew I had to get to the room quickly. They may not know if were here. I went to the airing cupboard and took a file out from the secure safe. Then I went to Evelyn’s room and grabbed her photo album, some clothes out of her closet and put them in a rucksack. I put it on my back then lifted Evelyn out of bed.
“Whoa... what the…?” She was still drowsy.
“Evelyn you need to be quiet, ok? Trust me.”
I carried her around to Sarah and Pete’s room and plopped her on the bed. The fact she has only got my sweater and knickers on shouldn’t be the first thing on my mind, but it was. I pulled a few books down until I saw the keypad. I entered the password and the bookshelf came away from the wall. I pulled it open. Inside was all lined with reinforced steel. When I turn to Evelyn she looked both confused at what I was doing and embarrassed that she was half naked. She tried to pull the sweater down, so I couldn’t see her underwear, but it was a bit late for that. We had no time for this I picked her up threw her over my shoulder walked in to the safe room. I plonked her on the floor, closed the door and set all the security up. The lights came on and the door bolted. The TV screens were starting up now I waited patiently to see if I was right. I was so panicked I forgot to explain to Evelyn what was going on. When I looked at her she was still on the floor with my sweater now stretched around her legs with her knees to her chin.
“What the fuck is going on? Where am I? And why am I naked?” She was wide awake now.
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