I didn't put the cryotank down since the first time I picked it up, not even once. I didn't remember exactly how many days had passed since Melanie, Jamie and Jared left to find Wanda a body, and honestly, I didn't really care. I didn't care about what she would look like. The only thing I did care about was for Wanda to be safe and come back to us. To me. They could search as long as they wanted, I didn't mind, as long as the body they brought back would be perfect. I wanted Wanda to be happy in her new body, that was why I could wait.
I didn't do much, but whatever I did, I did it with the tank in my hands, and I wouldn't let anybody else hold her, either. Yeah, it was pretty selfish of me, but I just didn't want to let go of her. I had just almost lost her and then gotten her back again. I didn't want anybody else but me to hold her until they got her a body. Until she was safe again.
I didn't go with them, I wanted to stay with Wanda until the moment she opened her eyes again. Eyes I wouldn't recognize, but know, because our eyes are the windows to our souls, no pun intended. No matter what she would look like I'd always recognize her, always love her. Always.
Footsteps broke the silence, and pulled me back to reality. I squeezed the tank and murmured soft words to Wanda as I heard the footsteps becoming louder an louder with each passing minute. I knew she couldn't hear me, but it made me feel better, calmer. Just having her in my hands made me feel complete. My heart beat frantically against my ribs, growing louder along with the sound of sand crunching under shoes. They would soon be in the hospital, I realized. I would soon see the body I knew they were carrying, what Wanda would look like for the rest of her life. I was sitting down, resting against the rough walls of the cave and quickly jumped to my feet with the tank still in my hands, almost toppling over, when I saw them enter the hospital. It was dark in here now, late night, but my eyes had long since grown used to the soft candlelights.
They stopped a few feet in front of the entrance and I could now make out their features. Jamie looked extremely tired and yawned as he rubbed his eyes, the kid definitely needed some sleep. Melanie stroke his dark hair with a small, fond smile on her lips. She must be happy to be able to do that after such a long time. Her other hand rested on Jared's shoulder, who was holding the petite girl in his arms. My glance wandered from Melanie's hand on Jared's shoulder to the body he was holding. The body looked so tiny and fragile, almost like a child. All of them were silent, waiting for me to do something. A few moments later I finally moved. With slow and heavy steps I got closer to get a better look at her. Her eyes were closed and her head and limbs were hanging limply. If I hadn't seen the slow rise and fall of her chest, I'd have thought she wasn't alive. She looked so peaceful, golden freckles dusting her pale skin. Her lips were full and pink, round like a baby's. Her wavy blonde hair made her look even more serene, innocent and beautiful - just like an angel. She really looked like an angel. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch with a smile. Yes, she was perfect. Wanda was our angel.
"Great, you're back!" I could hear Doc's voice from across the room. He jogged over to us, clearly excited. He stared at the unconscious girl for a couple of seconds before he extended his arms slowly and Jared handed over the body carefully. Doc turned away, walked a few feet away from us and put the body on a cot that looked huge beneath her tiny frame. He grabbed a cryotank, a scalpel and some of the Souls' medicines and mumbled their names to himself softly. His hands were moving so fast I could barely see what he was doing. He called Melanie to his side to hold the girl's thick hair out of the way. He was just about to cut into the back of the girl's neck when Melanie nudged him softly. He looked up and then straight at Jamie, as if he just remembered that he was there.
"Oh! Jamie, I think... Uh, Sharon must be waiting for you."
Of course we all knew what he really meant, this wasn't something that Jamie should watch, not yet. Jamie grunted, rolled his eyes and stomped out of the room. I could hear him muttering to himself until his voice slowly faded away. A movement in the corner of my eye suddenly caught my attention, and I turned my head to the right to see my brother sitting in a chair on the other side of the big room, right next to the cot where Jodi's still unconscious body was lying.
For several minutes, I found myself silently observing Kyle. Watching him slowly stroke Jodi's cheek, hair and hand. Hearing him talk to her softly, telling her to open her eyes. Telling her he missed her. Eventually, Kyle squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head over her belly, continuing the murmuring of soft words. They sounded like pleas, and I could feel a pang of sympathy for him. Without really thinking about it, I walked across the room, straight up to Kyle. After a minute of doing nothing but staring and feeling uncomfortable, I slowly extended a hand and put it on his shoulder. His head was bowed and I've never seen him this sad in my life, ever. He had done horrible things in the past year, things I wasn't sure I can ever forgive, but he was still my brother.
"It's going to be okay, bro." I whispered a few moments later.
He was silent for a while, but then he exhaled in a huff. He didn't look away from Jodi's unconscious body, just shook his head slowly, miserably. "No, I don't think she's going to wake up." he whispered, barely audible.
"What?"
"She's not going to wake up." he repeated, louder. He moved his glance from Jodi to the shiny metal tank, stroking it with his free hand. "Doc should... he should put her back."
Dropping my jaw, I could only stare at him in response. He wanted to put Sunny back? I thought he would never stop waiting for Jodi to wake up. I thought I would have to be the one to convince him to let go before Jodi's body became too weak, killing her for good. I could hear Doc's slow footsteps behind me. He stopped and sighed.
"Still nothing?" he sighed again. "Kyle..." he hesitated. "I know that this is hard, but we can't-"
"Yeah, I know. I know." he waited a few seconds before continuing. "Could you put Sunny back before... before it's too late?" Doc raised his eyebrows and nodded wordlessly, Kyle's cooperation must have taken him by surprise as well. Maybe he'd expected Kyle to yell at him, telling him that Jodi could wake up any second now. Kyle was quite stubborn, after all.
Suddenly, my stomach grumbled and I realized I haven't eaten anything in a really long time. Actually, I'd barely done anything since the day Wanda decided to... to give Melanie her body back. Not even sleeping. I had so many other thoughts spinning around in my head, and hunger or sleep was never one of them. My stomach grumbled once again and I decided to eat something, the hunger was really bothering me now when I was thinking about it. I turned around, away from Doc, Kyle, Jodi and Sunny, heading toward the tunnel that would lead me to the kitchen.
"Ian!" Doc called out before I could exit the hospital. "Just wanted to tell you, we have to wait a few days, with the body." He nodded his head toward the small body on the cot. "Just in case..." He shrugged awkwardly. "You know."
I smiled. "Yeah."
Wanda said she didn't want to be a... parasite. If there's nobody there to claim the body, she won't be one. She won't be a parasite. Doc nodded again and I made my way towards the dark tunnel. I caught a glimpse of Melanie and Jared sitting and whispering next to the cot where Wanda's body was lying. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, they had been so silent that I hadn't even realized they were still in the hospital until now. I exited the hospital and walked in silence. When I finally entered the kitchen I saw Jamie sitting alone in the corner, sulking and eating a sandwich. I grabbed four sandwiches, walked over to him and sat down on the bench in front of him.
"What's up, kiddo?"
He looked up at me and momentarily forgot he was supposed to be sulking, his tired face lighting up. "Ian! I've told everybody about our raid 'cept you! You gotta hear it!"
I grinned. He hadn't slept in a long time, but no matter how tired he was he couldn't miss out a chance to tell or listen to a story. "Sure thing."
"It was really exciting! We were in the car when we first saw her. She was just walking slowly and looking at the sunset. Jared said that he liked this face because nobody could possibly distrust it, she just looks so innocent, you know? Melanie agreed but I got the final say, because I was looking for somebody who was looking like... Wanda. And she was perfect, she just looked so much like her, like... like an angel!" He grinned and I smiled to myself. So I wasn't the only one who thought that. He continued talking as I finished my fourth sandwich and yawned. I patted his shoulder.
"Hey, I'm gettin' some sleep, kid. You should, too. You look exhausted." He pouted slightly, but nodded.
I made my way through the long and dark tunnel that lead me to Wanda's and my bedroom. Sleep would be the best way to make the time pass by faster. After many silent minutes of walking I finally entered our dark room, threw myself on the cot and closed my eyes.
The days passed, and the girl hadn't woken up. Jodi hadn't woken up either. Doc had put Sunny back before Jodi's body would have become too weak, sometime when I was snoring loudly in our bedroom.
We knew that it was useless to keep waiting for the body to wake up, she wouldn't wake up. We had waited long enough, almost as long as we waited with Jodi. The only one who would wake up in that body now would be Wanda. My heart was pounding against my ribs and the world seemed to spin around me. The day I've been waiting for had finally arrived, Wanda would soon wake up. So many days have passed since I saw her for the last time, but she was always there with me - inside the shiny metal tank. I couldn't see her, but I could feel her presence, and that was the only thing that kept me sane, knowing that Wanda was there.
I saw Doc running around and searching for the right medicines and scalpels. He cussed silently as he accidentally dropped one of them. Almost everybody was there, I realized, but I couldn't drop the feeling that somebody was missing. Yes, everybody was there, everybody except...
"Doc, don't do anything until I'm back!" He raised an eyebrow but I didn't give him any time to answer me. I ran down the tunnels, straight into the bright plaza. My eyes scanned the room and then I saw him. Jamie was once again sulking in the corner.
"Hey, kid, come with me fast!" I nodded my head toward the southern tunnel.
His big eyes brightened and a huge smile crossed his face when he saw me. He jumped to his feet and ran over to me. We jogged back to the hospital in silence, entered the bright room and crossed the distance between us and the unconscious body, the body that would soon be Wanda's body.
As we entered Melanie, Doc and Jared glared at me, and the others just gave me curious looks. Nobody said anything, but I knew what they were thinking.
"Oh, come on! It's not fair. Let him watch. He can handle this, he's not a little kid anymore." Nobody answered me, but their glares softened as they realized I was right, and Doc let out a big breath.
"Okay. Let's do this. Candy, could you please hold her hair out of the way for me?" Candy did what she was asked, and Doc gracefully cut through the skin on the back of her neck. I glanced at Jamie who watched the insertion with bright eyes, and I saw no hint of fear, only curiosity. I had been right, he could handle this. Doc dabbed some powder on the wound to stop the bleeding and then he walked up to me. It took me a few seconds to realize what he was waiting for. He extended his arms, ready to take the tank away from me. I looked down at the tank and clutched it tighter to my chest.
"I want to... I want to do it. Can I?" Doc hesitated but then he stepped out of my way. I walked up to the body and put the metal tank down for the first time in days. I opened the lid, and the air around me swirled and became colder. The tank made a low, buzzing sound. I slowly lowered my hands into the cold tank, cupped them and gasped as I felt something touch my hands. Lifting my hands from the tank, I held them in front of my face.
The soul - no, Wanda, - was silver and bright. She was glowing brighter than the moonlight, and her thin tentacles swirled around the air, giving her the appearance of a ribbon of silver silk. Every single person in the room was stunned into silence, staring breathlessly at the amazing creature floating in front of us. Even Kyle's mouth was hanging wide open. How could we ever had compared this to a worm? A centipede? Maybe it was because we'd never seen a soul like this before, they didn't look like this after we had cut them into pieces. Hypnotized, I slowly moved my cupped hands to the wound and let her slide inside. The room seemed to become so much darker as her light disappeared into her new body. Doc hurried to seal the wound, and it was done. I took a deep breath.
For a minute or two, nobody spoke and nobody moved. My footsteps sounding painfully loud in the silence, I eventually sat down on a chair next to the cot, grabbed Wanda's hand and rested my head on the empty space between our bodies, closing my eyes, waiting.
It could have been seconds, minutes, or even hours later, when I felt her fingers twitch. I sat up with a jolt, startling Doc and the others who had stayed back, leaning against the wall and each other. Another twitch, and a moan.
"She's waking up!" I all but screamed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jamie jump up from where he was sitting and trip over his own feet in an attempt to rush to our side. "Wanda! Wanda, can you hear me, Wanda?" I asked, squeezing her tiny hand. I followed the advice she had given Kyle; I talked to her and called her name, over and over again. Her body reacted to my voice and I saw her lips part and close, but no sound escaped.
"Wanda, come back. We aren't letting you go." Once again, I squeezed her hand and stroke her warm cheek. "Wanderer, we're all waiting for you. Open your eyes. Please." I whispered in her ear. I lifted my face and then softly kissed her on the cheek, forehead and on eyelids. Then, slowly, I lowered my face again and kissed her full on the lips.
Her eyelids fluttered open.