Order and Chaos

by Willow Rose

  "JAYDEN!!!!"

  Chapter Twenty

  "So, what did you answer?"

  My grandmother looked at me from behind her cup. We were drinking coffee in our living room when I told her what had happened earlier at the diner. My parents weren't home. They had a business meeting they told us, but we both knew they were probably out meeting with other vampires, making strategies for how to get rid of the spiders. After seeing one on the ceiling at the hospital, my mom had forbidden my grandmother even to leave the house. It wasn't very likely that Grams would actually do as she was told, at least not for very long, but so far, she was obeying.

  "I never got to give him my answer," I said with a deep exhale. "The next second, his parents were all over him, and after hugging him till he could hardly breathe, they took him to the hospital. To be sure he was okay. You know, have a doctor check him. He took a blow to his head."

  "He's a strong kid," Grams said and blew on her hot coffee. "He's probably fine. But what's more important is, what are you going to answer him? He's gonna want an answer at some point."

  I leaned back in the couch and cursed Sophie for calling his parents at the time she did. She could have waited maybe a few more minutes and then I would have been able to answer before Jayden was once again ripped away from me.

  But what would I have answered? I wasn't sure I knew. I felt so confused; my head was hurting.

  Grams tilted her head slightly. "You love him, don't you?"

  "I…I…yes, I do. I do love him. Always have," I said.

  Grams clasped her hands together. "Then what's the holdup? You go tell him right away."

  "But…what about Duncan?" I asked.

  Grams sipped her coffee. "What about him?"

  "I’m supposed to marry him."

  "Pah. I didn't ask what you were supposed to do. The question is, do you love him?" she asked.

  The question felt so rough, so abrupt, and so definite. Was it really that easy? Do you love him? Was that all I had to consider? To me, it seemed there was more to it than that.

  "I care for him. I have grown to care for him a lot," I answered, wondering if I did love Duncan. He was hot, yes, and he was stable and could give me a good life.

  A life as a vampire!

  But did I want the life he could give me? I wasn't sure. I wasn't keen on becoming what he and my parents were. But did I even have a choice? Part of me just wanted to take the easy way out, just marry Duncan and do what was expected of me. I had sort of come to terms with it and decided to let Jayden go. Now he was back and had turned it all upside down.

  "But you don't love him," Grams said.

  I shrugged. "I haven't known him very long. I think I could…get to love him, eventually."

  Grams gave me a look, then shook her head. "The choice is yours, sweetie, but no one ever regretted following their heart. Just sayin'."

  She finished her coffee, then rose to her feet and grabbed my cup too. "We should get rid of the traces of our crime before your mom gets back," she said with a grin.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  "How are you? Are you comfortable? Do you want another pillow?"

  Jayden's mom looked at her son with worried eyes.

  "I'm fine, Mom; I told you," he said. "There really is no need for all this…can't we just go home?"

  "Not just yet," the doctor entering the room said, looking at Jayden's chart in his hands.

  "But I feel fine," Jayden said.

  "You've been through quite the ordeal here, son," he said, looking at him above his glasses. "That kind of thing takes a toll on your health."

  Jayden sighed. "I’m fine."

  "Actually, you're not," the doctor said.

  "Excuse me?"

  The doctor looked at his chart again. Jayden's parents looked at him with worry.

  "Everything else looks fine, but I am very concerned about your blood pressure."

  "His blood pressure?" his mom said. "But…"

  "It's extremely high," the doctor said. "Alarmingly so."

  Jayden's parents exchanged a look.

  "High blood pressure kind of runs in the family," his dad said. "We all have it, but we're fine."

  Jayden's mom looked at her husband. "But…but Jayden isn't…he's not…an adult yet."

  Jayden’s dad answered with a shrug. "Maybe it began earlier with him; what do I know?"

  The doctor nodded. "He could also be in a state of shock with all he's been through. I suggest we monitor it for the next few days. You can do that from the comfort of your home with a blood pressure monitor we provide for you, then check in with me in two days, okay?"

  Jayden nodded, excited to go home. "That sounds great, Doctor."

  "Yes," his mom said. "That sounds good."

  "All right and don't hesitate to contact me should anything out of the ordinary occur. Other than that, you're free to go home."

  Jayden breathed a sigh of relief as the doctor left.

  "I can't wait to get home."

  His mom sniffled lightly. "And we can't wait to get you home, son. Here, I brought you some clean clothes. We can throw out those old ones you came back in."

  Jayden took the bag from his mom with a nod, then walked to the restroom to get dressed. When he came back, his parents were embracing in a deep hug. It made him smile.

  "All right," he said. "I’m ready."

  As they turned to leave, there was turmoil of some sort coming from outside in the hallway, and they could hear someone screaming. Seconds later, Ruelle came storming into his room, two deputies running after her, her face torn and swollen from crying.

  She stopped in front of Jayden, tears rolling down her cheeks, and as their eyes met, everyone in the room held their breath.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  "J-Jayden?"

  Ruelle stopped in front of him, her eyes wide and torn. Seeing her made Jayden pull back. His dad put a hand on his shoulder to let him know he was there and Ruelle couldn't hurt him again.

  The two deputies grabbed her.

  "Why are you saying those things?" she asked while fighting them off. "I would never hurt you. You know that. I never got to tell you this, but I love you. You love me too. You told me so in the car, remember? You said you loved me and you…then…then the window was smashed in. Don't you remember?"

  Jayden swallowed. Seeing Ruelle again made his heart begin to race. Those fiery eyes staring at him terrified him.

  "Y-you kidnapped me," Jayden said, stuttering. "You hit me in the head with a crowbar and kept me in that awful place."

  Ruelle gave him a puzzled look. She shook her head rapidly. "N-no, Jayden. Why would you say such a thing? I never did that. Why would I do that? I love you. We are supposed to get married, remember?"

  "I think that ship has sailed," Jayden's mom said.

  "Please, take her away," his dad said, addressed to his deputies.

  They grabbed her arms again and pulled her away.

  "No," she yelled as they dragged her out of the room. She was crying heavily now. "Please, Jayden. Please, tell them the truth. I would never hurt you. Don't you understand? I love you, Jayden. I love you!"

  Jayden reached out and grabbed his mother's hand as he watched Ruelle disappear. Even though he couldn't see her, he could still hear her screams. His mom pulled him into an embrace, and she held him tight while he cried.

  "Quite the actress, that one, huh?" Claire said and patted Jayden gently on the back.

  "She is suffering from amnesia, according to the doctor," Jayden's dad said pensively. "Maybe she really doesn’t remember what she did. I mean, we found her fingerprints all over the dead body of Alyssa Heckler. We found the chopped-up dog in her closet, and the bag had her fingerprints all over it too. There is no doubt she did those things to our son either. I just can't help…I mean you just saw her. You saw the look in those eyes. Either she's the best actress I have ever seen, or she truly believes she is innocent."

  Jayden's mom snorted. "Don't they
all say that? I mean the prisons are filled with innocent people, right?"

  "True. I just find it so hard to believe…that sweet girl. We welcomed her into our family."

  "And that just makes it hurt even more," his mom said.

  She put her strong arm around Jayden's shoulders, and they began to walk. "We'll just have to be more careful next time we let a girl into our son's life," she said. "It's not going to be just anyone. We’ve already lost one son and almost lost a second one too. God gave us a second chance with Jayden, and we're not messing up this time. From now on, we're going to watch over his every move."

  Jayden shot his mother a concerned look. "I think I can take care of myself," he said. "I am a big boy."

  "Nonsense," his mom said and held him in a tight grip as they walked down the hallway.

  "I’ve quit my job, so I can devote all my time to protecting my son from now on. Nothing bad will ever happen to you again, my boy. Nothing."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  "How's he doing? Have you seen him?"

  Amy's eyes rested on me in the cafeteria. It was Monday, and I was back at school, but not able to concentrate at all on my work. I had a test in science that might as well have been in Greek. I had no idea how to answer any of the questions and am pretty sure I would have to retake it later in the week if the teacher would let me. It was bad.

  "I haven't seen him since the diner," I said. "He spent the day at the hospital yesterday but was discharged late in the afternoon. I saw him come home with his parents around six o'clock. I still don't know how my parents feel about me texting him, so I didn't dare. Not yet. But I kept looking out the window toward his house."

  "Guess you really wanted to be with him, huh?" Amy added. "I can't blame you."

  She glanced toward Kipp, who was engaged in a chat with Britney, the cheerleader-queen, as usual. Four other girls were surrounding him, blinking their eyelashes at him, sighing at his every word. It made me sick to my stomach. I didn't understand why Amy didn't do anything about it, like confront him, but it was Amy's fight, not mine. I had enough on my plate right now.

  "I guess," I said. "I mean…I really wanted to be with him and talk to him, but I don't really know what to say to him. You know…after what he said."

  "About wanting to date you again? Why not?" Amy asked, mouth full of chicken.

  I looked down at my own food. My mom had made cauliflower bread with fried watermelon. It was dripping onto the table when I lifted it out of the box, and the bread was soaked. I put it back down with an exhale. I had lost my appetite.

  "I am actually glad he's not back in school yet since I wouldn't know how to act around him. I don't know how to answer him. I mean it's so sudden, right? I had given up on ever getting back together. I had moved on and was doing fine with Duncan. It's hard for me to trust that he won't change his mind again. I’m not sure I’m ready to risk getting hurt again."

  Amy took another bite of her fried chicken then bobbed her head. "Okay, I can understand that."

  She saw me staring at her food, then reached inside her bag and pulled out another chicken thigh. She held it out toward me.

  "Chicken?"

  "Can I, please?"

  "Of course," she said and gave it to me. "I always bring extra. Just in case."

  "You just like to feed us all," I said and took a huge bite of the greasy, delicious chicken. It tasted heavenly.

  "I really do," Amy said with a smile as she watched me enjoying it. "Good, right?"

  "Delicious," I said and took another bite, greedily chewing it.

  Amy glanced at Kipp again, then grumbled something.

  "Why don't you just tell him you don't like him hanging out with those girls?" I asked. "You've never been afraid of telling people the truth before. Why now?"

  "That's not why I’m grumbling," Amy said. "Well, that too, but there’s more to it today. He promised me he would talk to this girl…who saw him Saturday night out by the lake."

  I wrinkled my nose. "Saw him? What do you mean?"

  Amy gave me a look.

  "Ah," I said. She saw him, as in she saw his…and…?"

  "Exactly," Amy said. "His birthday clothes."

  I nodded, knowing she meant his merman and not him naked. Knowing the spiders were keeping a close eye on us and often listening in on our conversations, sitting on the ceiling or in a corner where we wouldn't see them till it was too late, we had developed a sort of code language. It wasn't perfected yet, but we understood what each other meant most of the time.

  "So, she saw him, huh? And now he needs to talk to her?"

  Amy nodded. "Exactly. But all he's doing is talking to all those girls."

  "It's bad," I said. "If she talks."

  "I know," Amy said with a sigh. "Believe me; I worry about it more than I let on."

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Later that same day, I was sitting by my computer in my room, doing my homework, while watching a video on YouTube, when there was an amber alert on my phone. The noise was excruciating, and I looked down at it and then realized it was for a missing girl from my school. I knew her name but had never spoken to her myself since she was a senior.

  The sight of her name on my screen made my heart start to thump in my chest, and I looked up the news story.

  Carina Robinson's face stared back at me from the screen, from a school photo taken last year. The article said she had been with her boyfriend on Saturday night, but he had told the police that she had only stopped by for a short while, as a surprise, but they had gotten in a fight and then she had run off. The article said the police feared the boy might have hurt her, but since there had just been another abduction case in the area, they didn't take any chances and put out the amber alert in case she was abducted.

  I read the entire article and barely finished it before my phone rang. It was Amy.

  "Are you seeing this?"

  "No, but I’m reading about it on NEWS12's webpage."

  Amy went quiet for a few seconds before she spoke again. "How is this happening again?"

  "Let's not jump to any conclusions," I said. "She might have run away. She was angry with her boyfriend. Or maybe he did something to her. It doesn’t have to be related to what has been going on around here. It could be a separate incident."

  "It could also not be," Amy said. I could hear that she was biting her nails at the other end and spitting them out afterward.

  "Amy. Stop it. Ruelle is in custody. Jayden is back. I don't want to worry about this anymore. It's over."

  I said the words. I heard them as they left my lips, but I wasn't sure I believed them. My mind had been tumbling with several ideas and theories, but I had to stop myself in order to stay sane. But no matter how much I tried to suppress it, I knew something was off with this entire case. I knew it wasn't over yet. I just couldn't bear to admit it. Not to myself or anyone else, for that matter. I wanted it to be over. I wanted it to end here. Why couldn't it just end here?

  "Okay," Amy said. "I’m calming down. I’m calming down now." She took a few very deliberate deep breaths.

  "Are you going to visit Jazmine today?" I asked. We were taking turns visiting her, so she would have as many visits as often as possible, but I hadn't been since Friday.

  "I can't," she said. "I have loads of homework."

  "Yeah, me too," I said and looked at the math book next to me. I had promised my mom that I would maintain good grades if she let me go back to real school. If I started to slide, she would pull me out, she said, and homeschool me once again. I couldn't let that happen. I had to prove to her I could do this by myself. I simply had to step it up.

  "I might go tomorrow," I said, all kinds of guilt rising inside of me.

  "Yeah," Amy said. "I'll go Wednesday then."

  We hung up, and I returned to my homework. At least for a little while. About fifteen minutes later, my thoughts pulled me in another direction, and soon I was back to researching articles from twenty-five years back
once again.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Why aren’t they coming to visit me? I need to show them I can wiggle my nose. I need to do it again, so I can signal them that I am awake.

  Jazmine felt such deep sadness inside. It had been at least days since any of her friends had been there to visit. Why didn't they come anymore? It had been so long since she had last heard any of their voices. Had they forgotten about her? Had they stopped coming? Or was she just fooling herself?

  She had no idea how much time went by or if it was night or day. In the beginning, she had tried counting the seconds and then minutes, but it had been too hard to keep it going inside of her prison, so she had to quit. She had then begun to take notice of the people around her and their routines. The nurse always came in at what she assumed was the morning, because she would sing good morning in that cheerful voice of hers, then ask Jazmine how the patient was doing today. She knew Jazmine wouldn't answer, but she probably thought it was good to talk to her anyway. Just like you would talk to a pet or a plant.

  A little later, the doctor would come in and talk to the nurse, asking her if there were any changes to the patient's condition. To Jazmine's regret, the nurse would always tell him there wasn't. She had waited and hoped and prayed that she would tell him about the tears, but so far, she hadn't. She wasn't even sure it was the same nurse. Their voices changed every now and then, and it was hard for her to distinguish between them.

  During the day, she would occasionally listen to the chatter and clattering that she assumed was coming from outside her room. That told her it was probably daytime. Then there were the nurses washing her with a cloth and turning her around, so she wouldn't get sores. They never spoke to her directly, but more to one another, and Jazmine had grown to know a lot about them and especially one of them who was in a custody battle with her ex.