by Dylan Keefer
John had spent the night in front of Milo’s room, staring down the darkness, hand on his pistol. Prudence could hear his breathing and heartbeat from inside. He didn’t fall asleep once. But when he came inside in the morning, it was clear that took a toll. He and Rick agreed to swap places every night. Charlotte wanted to stay up too, but Prudence convinced her that if she did, she wouldn’t be sharp enough to watch Milo during the day. Prudence didn’t feel any tiredness, and no one thought she stayed up all night, besides Charlotte.
While Philip observed Prudence a bit closer than usual, her effort to take care of Charlotte didn’t seem to go unnoticed.
“Thanks for that. She might be a pain, but that is because she cares a lot.” He said to Prudence as she was taking a snack out of the vending machine. Prudence had her daily dose of blood from the butcher’s in her bag.
“I know, she takes her family seriously.” Prudence looked Philip in the eyes. She wanted to know what that man thought. She couldn’t find out anything from those dark brown eyes. She was hoping her face was that blank.
“I hope you’ll take care of Milo well. Charlotte wouldn’t handle it well if he died. I was trying to convince her that if we haven’t had another attack in three days, he’ll be safe here, but she still insists on sending you and Milo away tomorrow.” Now Prudence saw something different in Philip’s eyes. Accusal.
Prudence turned fully toward him. She couldn’t keep the venom out of her voice. “Charlotte helped me when I was at my weakest. She’s still helping me despite what happened. Her and Milo are the most important people in the world to me.” It was the first time she had said that out loud, but she believed it with all her heart.
“That may very well be true, but I don’t know you. Or trust you that much.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Prudence walked away. At that moment she promised herself that if anything Philip did brought any harm to Charlotte and Milo, she would show him exactly what she was. When she came back in the room, she didn’t mention it to Charlotte, but just drank her blood from the thermos.
CHAPTER TWO
A tense day later, John had picked up the things Prudence, Milo, and Charlotte needed from their house and was now putting Prudence and Milo’s things in the trunk of Milo’s car. Prudence couldn’t tell if he saw the burned remains in the back of the house. Thinking about the remains, she thought back to the arrow that finished the vampire off. The archer couldn’t have been a full vampire. There was the sun from where the arrow came. Prudence kinda hoped that archer watched out for them these days.
Philip and Rick helped put Milo in the car. Charlotte was hovering over Milo, face twisted with worry. She kept repeating various versions of “Make sure they’re settled,” to Philip. John agreed to stay with Charlotte until Philip came back.
Prudence didn’t really want Philip to come with her. But she didn’t know how to drive, and Milo was still not healthy enough to take a different type of transportation. And Philip wanted to make sure his friend wouldn’t screw Prudence and Milo over.
Milo could still work. His job was not physically demanding, and while he preferred working on paper, he could translate things on the small computer Charlotte put in Prudence’s bag. But he still couldn’t make all the money they needed. Prudence offered to get a job as soon as possible, and Charlotte gave her the information for a bank account.
The heaviest thing in the luggage was Prudence’s notes. She now wrote down everything that everyone told her about the world. She now knew how to use an ATM, even though she didn’t quite understand how it worked. She also had supplies for Milo. She needed to change his bandages and make sure he doesn’t tear the stitches all over his stomach.
Prudence hugged Charlotte, made sure she promised to take care of herself, and then sat down in the passenger seat in the front. Philip sat in the driver’s seat.
Rick and John said bye to Prudence before they drove off. Rick clasped wrists with Prudence and advised her to ‘watch her back’ with a tone that Prudence would describe as fatherly. John shook her hand.
“Make sure Charlotte doesn’t work herself to death.” Prudence smiled. Just because she was leaving with Milo, didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried about Charlotte.
“I’ll knock her out if I have to.” John winked, indicating it was a joke.
“You might have to, she’s stubborn.” Prudence chuckled.
The car drove away, and Prudence felt secure for the first time since before the attack. The lull of the car, the sound of Milo’s breathing while he slept, and Philip’s sometimes sped up heartbeat, made Prudence fall asleep.
The crowds of people stifled her, everyone was looming over her and crushing her. They were shoving and yelling, and Prudence kept fearing they would knock her over. She pushed the people away from her with her elbows. The smell of dirty bodies and soot permeated her nostrils and made her cough. She kept fiddling with the necklace on her neck as a way to deal with the nervousness. Prudence found herself shoving through the crowd until she was face to face with the thing everyone was staring at.
There was a large pole in the middle of the square. A pile of wood was around it. People started cheering suddenly. Prudence looked toward where most people were pointing and saw the odd men again. Her aunt made her stay inside when they came over. There were two dry and lanky men dressed in what Prudence would describe as dark wide dresses and weird hats. Both men were walking with their hands crossed over their chest and their eyes facing the floor. Two guards were dragging a person behind them.
It was a boy in his early twenties, maybe late teens. There were shackles on his feet and hands. His body looked tortured and was covered with a large layer of filth. His light hair was matted and stuck to his scalp with grease. He was struggling against the guards that were twice his size so hard that he pushed himself off the ground growling several times.
The guards didn’t seem to notice him struggling though. They put him in front of the pole and took off his shackles. One of the guards was holding him down while the other one grabbed his hands and pulled them back. Prudence heard a crack, and the boy screamed. She could see one of the boy’s shoulders sticking out at an odd angle.
The odd men started chanting as the guards pulled back and lit the wood around the pole. The wood blazed on fire, and the boy screamed so loudly Prudence thought her eardrums would burst. His flesh was melting like the wax on a candle. Prudence felt like she was going to throw up. Her head was pounding with dull pain.
“Wake up!”
Prudence bolted up and found herself stopped by the seatbelt. She was back in the car. Her head was pounding, and she was drenched in sweat.
“You okay? You were screaming.” Philip’s voice was tiny. Prudence saw that he was extremely pale.
“Sorry, a nightmare.”
“Were you in a fire or something? You were screaming about it.”
Prudence didn’t know what to answer. She couldn’t exactly say to him that she had recalled someone being set on fire.
“She gets random flashes of memory," Milo spoke up from the back of the car. “But sometimes it’s something she had seen in class. She studied History.”
“Oh, so it’s not PTSD?” Philip rose his eyebrows.
“If it was, Charlotte wouldn’t have sent her with me.” Milo groaned and shifted. Prudence was glad the seat in the back pulled out. Otherwise, Milo would have been very uncomfortable.
Philip scanned both of them with narrowed eyes and then began driving again. Prudence made sure she didn’t fall asleep until they reached their destination.
CHAPTER THREE
There was a sea of people around them. The buildings were tall, and there were so many people around that Prudence wondered how there was enough room on the sidewalk.
Philip drove into the neighborhood he called Chinatown, where the apartment he got Prudence and Milo was. Prudence saw tall brown buildings, and small brick roads with colorful signs in a language she didn’t understan
d. She couldn’t help but notice that most people were similar in appearance to her. She made a mental note to read up on that.
Philip had trouble finding a parking spot. After a while, they exited the car, and Philip fished out the phone from his backpack. “I’ll get him to help us with Milo…”
Prudence had already taken out the wheelchair from the back, assembled it, took out Milo from the car and placed him in the wheelchair. “We’ll probably need help with the bags since one of us needs to push the chair.” Prudence furrowed her brows at Philip’s open mouth. “Why are so shocked?”
“How the hell did you pick up Milo?” Philip raised his voice.
“She’s deceptively strong.” Milo chuckled and squeezed Prudence’s hand. “Why do you think the dude ran away when she came home?”
Philip closed his mouth and shook his head. “I’ll get the suitcases if you can get the backpacks.”
“Sure.” Prudence picked up Milo’s backpack, her bag and backpack and Philip’s backpack. She hung one backpack on the back of the wheelchair, put one backpack on her back, one backpack on one side and her bag on the other side. She didn’t mind looking odd, and the bags weren’t that heavy for a person that can break a person in half with no effort. Plus, she didn’t like the idea of Philip carrying her blood.
“The apartment is here, above this restaurant. I’ll leave the suitcases on the stairs and help you lift Milo up the stairs.” Philip pointed at a building. Prudence looked around and found the entrance to the side of the restaurant.
“Where is your friend?”
“Philip dude!” A scrawny girl ran out of the restaurant. The girl was shorter than Prudence, with a round face and straight dark hair in a ponytail. She wore clothes Prudence had seen in a hospital.
“Cindy!” Philip waved. “These are the friends I was telling you about.”
“Oh, nice to meet you. I’ll get you the keys now. I’ll help you put everything up there when I change. I just drove here from my shift.”
“Sure, no worries.”
Cindy went inside the restaurant and came back with a pair of keys. She put them in the pocket and then took the suitcases Philip was carrying. Prudence waited for Cindy to open the door and then wheeled Milo inside. Cindy carried the suitcases and walked ahead, while Philip grabbed the other side of the wheelchair and lifted it so they could carry Milo over the stairs.
Prudence took most of the weight, not wanting for Philip to stumble since he was walking backward.
“Sorry if we’re causing you any trouble.” Philip started, huffing. Prudence took on more of the weight, and Milo grinned as his chair leaned back some more.
“You’re not. Mom and dad wanted to rent this out now that I don’t live here anymore. I found myself an apartment next to the hospital. And I know you wouldn’t be helping people that won’t pay rent.” Cindy dropped the suitcases on the landing and started unlocking a door. She opened it and put the suitcases inside, then turned around and helped Philip up.
Prudence wheeled Milo inside the apartment. It was much smaller than the house they were living in before, but it also wasn’t tiny. The walls were white, and the furniture was all one color, and the kitchen and living room were connected like in Charlotte’s house.
“It’s not fancy, but it’s clean. There are two rooms there and there.” Cindy pointed at two doors, “a bathroom there and of course the kitchen and the living room. Rent is due on the first Monday of the month.”
Prudence nodded. She wanted to open every window in the apartment to air out the stale air and then clean the room Milo was going to lie in. She knew that it might be a little offensive to Cindy. “Thank you for the apartment. Do you want to sit here or can I settle in Milo? He needs his rest, and he just had surgery.”
“Oh dear, what happened to that young man?” A tiny voice came out of nowhere, and suddenly a small old lady in her 80s was moving around the apartment.
“Um, we had an accident.” Milo smiled and extended a handshake. “I’m Milo Davenport, this is my cousin Prudence.”
Prudence mustered a smile that became genuine when the lady introduced herself as Mrs. Chen and immediately started opening windows and muttering about how she should bring new blankets and clean the room.
“This is my mom.” Cindy pointed at the old lady. “She’s your landlady.” She then turned to Philip. “How’s life in Maine?”
“Good.” Philip went to help Prudence, but Mrs. Chen was already helping.
“Who put him in this chair?” Mrs. Chen put his hand on Milo’s shoulder.
“I did.” Prudence put the backpacks down.
“Oh, so there will be someone with brains taking care of him. That makes me feel better. Let me help get this place into shape.” Mrs. Chen then turned to Philip and Cindy. “You two can go down and get some food and help your father.”
“We better leave before we get roped into the cleaning.” Cindy and Philip left them alone.
Prudence took a deep relaxing exhale. For some reason, the old landlady didn’t make her feel as tense as Philip or Cindy did.
Cleaning was surprisingly easy. They put a clean cover on the couch and put Milo there. He opened his laptop and worked. Prudence saw that the smirk on his face only got wider the more Mrs. Chen was talking to her.
“So, you’ve never been to where your mother is from?” Mrs. Chen asked while cleaning a wooden surface with a towel.
“Nope, I lived in Boston and Maine most of my life. My, father is from Maine.” Prudence lied, remembering what Charlotte told her. The Davenports had a lot more males than females.
“What about your mother? Are they still alive?”
“She was born in Boston. And no, they aren’t.” Prudence started thinking if that was actually true. She knew that one of her parents had to be human. She didn’t know if she wanted them to be dead or alive. She hoped that they were happy while they were alive at least.
“So what do you want to do here?” Mrs. Chen asked when she and Prudence finished vacuuming the house.
“I don’t know. I do need to find a job, but I have little experience.” Prudence didn’t think and lifted the bed so that Mrs. Chen could reach under. At least Prudence realized that she was not supposed to be able to lift something that heavy with one hand, and used both.
Mrs. Chen didn’t seem to care about it. “Well, I would give you work, but I don’t think you have experience in cooking?”
“No. I will go around and see if I can find something.” Prudence shrugged.
Mrs. Chen looked up. “Just don’t walk around at night.”
Prudence smirked. “I can handle myself.”
“Maybe, but you still need to be careful.” Mrs. Chen looked at Prudence in such a way that Prudence felt the need to promise that she would be careful.
“I promise I’ll take care of myself.”
Cleaning was done after about an hour, and Prudence was able to pick up Milo and move him into the room she cleaned for him. Mrs. Chen had left, getting back to work in the restaurant.
“I’ll change you dressing when I put you down.” Prudence checked the dressing with her hand, making sure she didn’t press too hard.
“This makes me laugh.” Milo leaned his head on Prudence’s shoulder.
“Why?”
“Well, I thought that I would have to support you because you were out of your element. You wound up being the one to save us.” Milo’s tone didn’t seem to indicate any negativity.
“Because you were pushed outside of your element.” Prudence urged. “Because they were looking for the person that left me in the mausoleum. Because of me.”
“It is not like you could control that.” Milo groaned when Prudence gingerly placed him on the bed.
“Sorry.”
“I’m fine.”
Prudence started changing Milo’s dressings. “I know, but it still annoys me that it happened.”
“Can I ask you something?” Milo cringed when he saw his exposed sur
gical wound.
“Sure.” Prudence smelled the blood and the antiseptic on the wound. It didn’t make her hungry, and that made her exhale in relief. She didn’t want to associate Milo or Charlotte to a meal. She didn’t know what she wanted to associate Milo with really.
“What did you dream about in the car?” Milo made an effort to look Prudence in the eyes.
“Well, it was a memory, I think. I was standing in the middle of a crowd, and they brought out a young boy, and they… tied him to a pole and set him on fire.” Prudence didn’t know why, but she felt that her eyes were tearing up.
“That sounds so sad.” Milo’s voice sounded weird. Prudence looked up and saw that Milo’s eyes were also wet.
“I could also smell it.” Prudence continued. “I have never thought I would know how that would smell. And I have a very good sense of smell.” She hugged herself.
Milo moved as much as he could and tapped the free space on the bed. “I can’t get up and hug you, so you’ll have to come here if you want one.”
Prudence smiled. She did feel like she needed one. The effort from the last few days crashed into her, and she fell asleep. When she woke up, she had stretched out on her stomach next to Milo. He was lying on his back, fast asleep and his hand was touching hers. She looked at his face. He was peaceful, his hair askew. His wasn’t wearing his glasses so he looked really different to her. She felt at peace, she didn’t want to leave the bed. It was comfortable, and she could hear his heartbeat and feel it and his breathing through the vibrations of the bed. She started wondering what would happen if she stayed. It would just be sleeping. In the end, she moved into her own room as to not hurt him if she had a nightmare. The last thing she wanted was to tear his wound open.
CHAPTER FOUR
Prudence was back in the crowd again. She now had more time to turn around and look at the crowd. She realized the smell came from them. There were weird crazed looks in their eyes. Their voices became clearer and clearer, and then suddenly they were bearing down on her.
