“You did better than I thought,” he said. “You didn’t collapse.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thanks.”
“You going to collapse now?” he asked.
“No,” I spat, offended.
When the entrance to the hospital was close, I cleared my throat. “I’ll have to visit my mom by myself. They’re only letting immediate family into her room.”
“Okay.”
“I didn’t think about how boring it would be for you to sit around the hospital and wait for me,” I said, suddenly sorry I’d invited him. It had been for selfish reasons, because I wanted to be sure he didn’t just take off, but here I was leaving him alone.
“I’ll manage.”
“Usually, after I visit, I get a ride from the hospital security guard, Colin, back to my car.”
He nodded. I bit my lip, looking down at Gran’s car keys in my hand. “I guess it would be okay for you to go grab the car and meet me back here—in the parking lot—in like an hour?”
Riley smirked and snatched the keys from my hand. I scowled, already regretting my decision. “Listen, I’ve already trashed one of Gran’s cars. If you trash this one, you’ll be sorry.”
“What are you gonna do, stab me with a fork?” he said with a smirk, looking at my pocket.
I looked down and saw the ends of my weapon sticking out of my pocket. The run must have jostled it upward. I narrowed my eyes. “It might not kill you, but I promise it would hurt.”
“Fine,” he said, exasperated, and held up his hands. “No funny business with Granny’s car.”
“It’s Gran.” I growled, irritated that he knew how to push all my buttons.
He nodded and shoved the keys in his pocket. “Better hide your fork,” he said as we walked through the wide glass doors.
The information desk was empty and I didn’t see Colin, but I was sure he was around somewhere. I pointed at the hospital directory on the wall and told Riley, “The cafeteria is around here somewhere, if you want to check it out.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Riley said, ignoring the sign and looking at me. “I can take care of myself. Take your time. I’ll meet you in the parking lot later.”
“Don’t make me regret giving you those keys.” I warned.
He waved me away, already turning to size up a pretty, young candy striper. I sighed. Hopefully that girl was hiding a fork in her uniform.
At the nurse’s station outside my mother’s room, I learned there was still no change in her condition. The nurse looked at me with sympathy and I was beginning to see that no one thought she was going to wake up.
Even though there was no medical reason that she shouldn’t.
“Hi, Mom,” I said when I entered the room. I was relieved to see the curtain around her bed was completely open today. There was no chance a demon could be hiding on the other side of the room. For good measure, I went to the other bed and yanked back the sheets. I sighed in relief. There was no deflated demon in here today.
I dropped my bag in the chair and poured myself a cup of water from the pitcher next to the bed. It was fresh, cold water and I wondered why the nurses kept it filled when clearly they thought Mom wouldn’t need it. Maybe they hadn’t given up all hope like I’d thought.
After draining the cup, I went into the bathroom to splash cold water over my face, wash my hands and quickly clean myself up. It seemed superficial to care about what I was wearing when Sam was going hungry. I did take a minute to comb through my hair and pull it snugly back in a ponytail. I added a thin black headband to help keep back my side-swept bangs as I wondered why I bothered to cut it… At least when it was long I could pull it out of the way. What was the point of a cute haircut if I never styled it?
I left the bathroom and went back to Mom’s side to spend a few moments brushing through her long hair. I paused when I noticed a small faded scar on the back of her neck. I leaned in closer to get a better look. It was an odd shape—circular—and it was very close to her hairline. I had never noticed it before, but she barely ever wore a ponytail and I never had to brush her hair like this, either. I shrugged, figuring it was nothing, and traded the brush for some lotion to smooth onto her face and hands.
The whole time I worked, I made a conscious effort to talk to her, telling her about mundane things like clothes and music and the weather. I told her about how her church group was praying for her and about the beautiful flowers they had sent yesterday. Finally, I sat down, pulling the chair close and taking her hand. I stared at her lying there, helpless and clueless, and I felt a pang of sorrow that I couldn’t talk to her about what was really going on in my life.
My mother was a very religious woman and I wondered if she would agree with Airis about forgetting about Sam. I couldn’t think that my mother would tell me to turn my back on someone I loved. I would like to think she’d tell me to follow my heart, that a heart as good as mine wouldn’t lead me wrong.
Tired, I leaned back into the chair and curled my legs beneath me. I shut my eyes and thought of Sam. Of his golden locks and honey-colored eyes.
When you come home, what’s the first thing you want to do?
Touch you.
What’s the first thing you want to eat?
Your lips.
Where’s the first place you want to go?
Anywhere with you.
Sam’s responses rippled through my mind, the deep raspy quality of his voice sent goose bumps racing down my arms. It’s exactly what I was thinking, I told him.
We’re going to be just fine, Hev.
I know.
There was a light sound from beside me and my eyes sprung open. Mom’s eyes were open, staring up at the ceiling.
I jumped up out of the chair. “Mom!” I grabbed her hand and she turned her head toward my voice. “Mom! Oh my God. You’re awake.” I turned to yell for the nurse, but she gripped my hand and I turned back. “We’ve been so worried about you.”
She stared at me for a few long moments and I wondered if she understood anything. But then she said, “Where am I?”
“You’re at the hospital, Mom. You fell and hit your head. But you’re okay now. You’re doing great.”
“Heven.”
“Yes.” I reached out and filled a cup with water, grateful that the nurses never stopped filling it, and lifted it to her lips. She took a sip and her eyes seemed to clear a little more. “I’m going to get the doctor. He’ll be so happy you’re awake!”
I ran out and alerted the nurses and went back into the room. I was half afraid that she wouldn’t be awake anymore, but she was. When I entered, she turned her head and stared at me. I smiled. The nurses rushed in, followed closely by the doctor. They all hovered around her, checking the monitors, taking her vitals and asking her questions. I stood on the other side of the room a few feet from the foot of the bed and watched quietly as the doctor assessed her. She answered his questions without problem and her eyes returned to me again and again.
Her aura was a little dull and had a few clouds of gray and brown, but not predominately. I figured the presence of those colors were because she wasn’t quite feeling as well as she should. After such a fall, who wouldn’t have a muddy aura?
It seemed like the doctor spent hours checking her out, but finally he turned to me and smiled brilliantly. “Our patient seems to be in wonderful health. She’ll need to stay here a few more days as a precaution, but I think that she’s going to be just fine.”
“That’s great.” I returned his smile.
“Well, I’m sure you two have a lot to catch up on,” he said and ushered the nurses out of the room. “Press the call button if you need anything at all.”
“Thank you,” I said, noticing my mother was still watching me.
When the door shut behind them all, I let out a breath. “I thought they’d never leave!”
Mom didn’t say anything. She just sat there, watching me.
“Are you feeling all right? I could call the d
octor back to get you some medicine if you need it.” I walked over toward the bed and her eyes widened.
“Don’t come any closer.”
I stopped, but I was confused by her words. “Mom?”
“What happened to your face?”
My hand slid up to the newly forming scar. A heavy feeling began forming in my belly. “I had an accident. It shouldn’t be that bad once it heals.”
“Do you know what happened this time?”
“Yes. I accidently fell out of one of the orchard trees when I was pruning.”
“I knew it. Didn’t I tell you?” I hadn’t heard this tone of her voice in a while.
“I—I don’t know what you mean.” But I was afraid I did. I just didn’t want to believe it.
“Evil wants you.” Her voice dropped lower and she sounded horrified by the thought. “It’s all my fault.”
What was she talking about? “I thought we were past this. You said you didn’t think I was evil.”
She looked momentarily confused, like she couldn’t understand why she would say such a thing. But I knew. She hadn’t really meant any of those things she had said before I went to Italy. She hadn’t really wanted to be close to me again. That was Beelzebub influencing her, making her act that way.
This is the way she really felt.
“Mom, I’m not evil.”
“Don’t call me that!” she yelled.
I jerked like she slapped me.
“You are not my daughter.”
“Of course I am. Who else could I be?” I should have known that things weren’t going to stay good between us. I should have seen this coming.
“You’re the devil taking over my daughter’s body!”
“I’m not evil,” I ground out. I was very tired of telling her that.
“Leave my daughter be!” she yelled at me. “You can’t have her!”
“Mom—really,” I said, but she cut me off.
“You are not my daughter. My daughter is gone. You are just a shell of what she once was.”
“You can’t really believe that.”
“I do.”
“What about this summer? The good times we spent together?”
Her face stayed blank, like those times never even existed, like she didn’t remember. “Leave.”
“What?”
“Leave and don’t ever come back. My daughter is dead and I will not stand by and watch her body be defiled.”
“Mom.” I ran to her side and grabbed her hand. “You don’t mean that. It’s me… Heven.”
She began screaming and pulled away from my touch. “Get out! Get out! Get out!”
Her monitors began beeping because her pulse and heart rate were going crazy. I took a step back, helpless, not knowing what to do. A nurse came rushing in and took in the scene: me standing there in panic and Mom still screaming for me to get out.
“She just started screaming,” I told her. “She doesn’t want me here.”
Pity flashed across the nurse’s face before she hurried to silence the monitors. “Mrs. Montgomery, I need you to try to calm down.”
“Get that thing out of here!” she wailed.
The nurse turned to look at me. I was already picking up my bag off the chair. I took a few backward steps toward the door, hoping Mom might calm down. She didn’t.
“I’m sorry,” I said, knowing that my words were lost in the noise.
She was still screaming when I rushed down the hall.
*
I didn’t even think to look for Riley when I stepped off the elevator. My ears were still ringing from the harsh words Mom had said. Colin was at the information desk. When he saw me, his face fell with concern.
He hurried to my side to ask, “Is everything okay?”
“My mom woke up, but she’s not doing so good,” I told him numbly. “She’s confused.”
“Ah, kid. I’m sorry. That happens sometimes. Give her a few days; she’ll straighten out.” He put his arm around my shoulders and guided me toward the exit.
I made a sound of agreement, although I knew Mom wouldn’t change her mind. My relationship with her was over. She wouldn’t accept me ever again.
Outside, I squinted against the sun and looked around for Gran’s car and Riley. Neither was anywhere to be seen. Figured. Colin was standing beside his cruiser, looking at me expectantly, and I figured the place to look for Riley was where I left the car. Maybe he was in it, taking a nap. I ignored the slight worry that maybe he took the car and left me here and he wasn’t coming back.
The interior of the car felt stifling when I climbed in. A moment of panic hit me and I almost climbed back out, but Colin was already shutting my door and hurrying around the front of the car to the driver’s side.
When he slid inside, I noticed that his aura didn’t look as it usually did. The colors were faded and I actually had to look hard to see them and distinguish between them. The colors weren’t different than usual, so maybe they just seemed faded because I felt so numb.
Colin didn’t put the car into drive right away like usual, but turned to look at me. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m just worried about my mother.”
He leaned across the seat and placed his hand on my leg. My thigh actually. I was so shocked I barely heard him say, “People who suffer head injuries sometimes act a little different when they first wake up. Give her some time.”
His words were kind and spoken with the thought of making me feel better, but I felt gross. The fact that it felt like he was groping me overshadowed his attempt at making me feel better. I shifted, trying to tell him that I was uncomfortable. He smiled and squeezed my leg before letting go and sitting back in his seat.
My fingers slid over to the door handle as he roared the engine to life and turned on the AC. When he looked over at me, I swear something dark and sinister slid behind his eyes. I blinked and he was smiling his usual friendly smile. “Ready, kid?”
“Sure,” I said, not sure if I was.
As we drove out of the parking lot, a fly flew past my face and swarmed around Colin’s head. He batted at it and cracked his window trying to shoo it out. “So how far did you run today?” he asked.
“Seven miles.”
“You must be awfully tired.” He turned his head just slightly to look at me and his aura blinked out. But within seconds it returned.
“Are you feeling all right today?” I asked.
“Right as rain.” He glanced at me and smiled. I studied his eyes; there was nothing there. It was like I imagined it.
We rode in silence for a few minutes and I tried to calm my nerves. Something didn’t seem right, and I had learned that if something didn’t seem right, it wasn’t. Another fly buzzed around his head and he craned his neck to see where it flew.
That’s when I noticed the goose egg on the back of his head.
“Did you hit your head?” I asked.
He gave up on the fly and turned back to the road. “No.”
“You have a huge bump on the back of your head. Doesn’t it hurt?”
He looked at me, surprised, then felt the back of his head. When his fingers slid over the bump, he winced. “I don’t remember hitting it on anything.”
“What did you do yesterday after you got off work?”
His brow wrinkled as he thought. “Went home and cut the grass, worked in the garage. The sun made me tired and I went inside and took a long nap.”
Warning bells went off in my head. “Did you hit your head in the garage?”
“Think I would remember something like that.”
Unless the Prince of Demons erased it from your mind.
“Stop the car!” I yelled.
Colin slammed on the brakes and the car fishtailed before righting itself and coming to a halt in the center of the road. “What’s the matter?”
“I think I’m going to walk the rest of the way,” I said, reaching for the handle. I had to get out of this car. I had to get some spa
ce so I could think. Think about what to do about Colin. He had a demon living inside of him. I knew all the signs.
I’d seen it before. With Logan.
Only this time, I was afraid it might not be just any demon. This time it might be Beelzebub… the body switcher.
Tirade Page 11
