Nora and Mary Louise: Death
From the moment I healed Nora, I became extremely protective over her. I wanted to keep her safe from anything and anyone. I began to trust people less; even if Nora trusted them, I did my investigating to make sure they were, in fact, trustworthy. Nora was the person I cared about most in my life, and I wasn't going to let anybody hurt her.
Two weeks had passed. Nora and I had just come back from our walk in the park when we heard a knock at the door.
Nora headed towards the door, but I put my hand out and said I would see who it was.
"Who is it?" I asked before opening the door.
"It's me. Adam," he said in a quiet voice.
I turned to Nora, and by her facial expression, I knew she was okay with me letting him in, so I did.
The three of us walked into the living room where Adam took a seat on the couch.
"Yeah, sure. You can make yourself comfortable," I said.
"Mare, stop. Be nice," Nora warned me.
"Look, I didn't come here to start anything. I just came by to see how you were. I heard through the grapevine that you were sick,"
"Yes, but I am fine now, as you can see," she laughed a little.
"Right," he laughed, too. "Thank god,"
She smiled, but I was not amused.
"Is that all?" I asked.
"I suppose so," he replied.
"Wonderful. It was great seeing you, Adam," I said as I walked to the door, opening it and motioning for him to leave.
"Mare, what's wrong with you?"
Nora turned from me to Adam and continued with, "Please stay. Would you like to join us for dinner?"
"Sure," he said with a smile.
"Great," Nora replied cheerfully.
I rolled my eyes and closed the door, realizing he would be staying for a while.
"Nora, may I speak with you privately?"
She nodded and we headed into the kitchen.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Why did you invite him to stay?"
"Why not?"
I started to pace around the kitchen.
"Mare, what's going on? You are acting strange,"
"I don't know. I guess I just want to protect you. Even since—you know—I have been scared to let you near other people. I just don't want—"
"I didn't know you felt that way," she interrupted, walking closer to me. "Why didn't you tell me?"
I shrugged.
"Listen. We have to move forward from that. Was it scary? Yes. For the both of us. But you can't live in fear of me getting hurt or getting sick. That's life. Things happen. And we can deal with it. It turns out we are heretics—vampires and witches. I'm pretty sure we can get through almost anything," she smiled.
Even though she had a point of not living in fear, I couldn't help my emotions. I would not change how I had been acting. I needed to keep her safe; that was my only job now, at least in my mind. But I didn't want to make her upset, so I made her believe I would change my perspective by saying, "You're right, my love,"
She inched closer to me, reaching out her hand towards mine, but I back away.
"Adam's here," I quickly said.
"Right," she looked down at the ground. "Let's get back to him, then,"
After about an hour of listening to Nora and Adam chat about unimportant and uninteresting things, I suggested it was time for dinner. As we walked over to the dining room table, the rest of the family came downstairs in order to join us. Lily had cooked dinner earlier that day, so we all sat around the table while she served everyone.
Nora and I usually sat next to each other, but she chose to sit on the other side of the table next to Adam, so I was left to sit next to Valerie instead. Valerie and I never really got along too well; our personalities just clashed—she also just annoyed me. But I would be able to make do for one night.
"So, Adam, how have you been?" Lily asked.
"Good, thanks,"
"We haven't seen you in a while," Valerie stated.
"That is true. I hope to be around more often now, though,"
I looked up from my plate of food and glanced at Nora and the rest of the family. Only I seemed to be shocked by this response.
"Is that so?" I asked.
"Yes. I feel bad I wasn't here when Nora was sick, so if it's alright, I would love to hang out here more often and look out for Nora,"
"Of course," Nora replied.
A rush of anger came over me. Why was Nora okay with that? Was I not enough? And had she not noticed that this was Adam's way of trying to get back together with her? I was furious, but I didn't want to make a big scene, especially since Nora would get mad at me. Instead, I got up from the table and bolted to the kitchen.
Nora came in after me.
"Mary Lou?"
I didn't answer. I was trying to get myself under control so I didn't scream at her in response.
"Mary Lou!"
I turned around to face her. She was very confused as to what was wrong.
"You said: 'Of course' when Adam asked if he could come over here more often to take care of you,"
"Not to take care of me. But okay. So?"
"So?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Yes! Yes, that is a problem,"
"Why? Adam was your friend once, too,"
"Yes. That was before you and him were—you know,"
"But that's over now. You know that. I know that. He knows that,"
"Are you sure he knows?"
"Yes, Mary Lou. Don't worry so much. Is this you being protective or jealous. I thought I told you you don't have to protect me. And there is no need to be jealous. We both know that. So whichever one it is, stop,"
I nodded and we both went back into the dining room.
"Everything alright?" Valerie smirked.
I rolled my eyes. She obviously overheard our conversation; she did have vampire hearing.
"What did we miss?" Nora asked.
"Nothing," replied Adam. "Nothing important happens when you aren't here," he smiled. She smiled, too.
After dinner was over, everyone seemed to be in a great mood, except me. They all thought Adam was such a sweet and funny guy, but I despised him for liking Nora. She may not have seen it, but it was completely obvious to me.
Everyone began to go upstairs to their rooms to go to sleep, so Nora agreed to walk Adam out. I was cleaning up the table as I looked out the window only to see that Adam leaned into a kiss. Once I saw their lips touch, I sped outside and pulled them apart.
"What is going on?" I screamed Adam.
"Mare, I didn't know he was going to—he just" Nora tried to intervene.
"What the hell, Adam?" I interrupted her because I didn't want to hear what she had to say. I was facing Adam and had my back turned to Nora.
He didn't respond; he was probably confused as to why I cared so much. I walked back into the house and headed upstairs in a huff. Suddenly, I heard a scream. I looked back out the window and saw Adam trying to do more things to Nora, but Nora was clearly saying "no".
"It's fine. I know you want this. Just kiss me," he said. She didn't want to hurt him, so she wasn't pushing him off. However, I had a different reaction. I sped back outside and plunged my fist into his chest. When I took my first out, I held his heart in my hand, and his body collapsed onto our porch.
"What the hell?" Nora yelled. "Are you crazy? You just killed Adam!"
"You should be thanking me! You weren't protecting yourself from him. Who knows what he wanted to do to you,"
"He was just trying to kiss me!"
"He wanted to do more than that and you know it!"
"Mare, what the hell is going on with you? I can't believe you just did that! Who are you?"
"I am your girlfriend! I guess you forgot that while you were out here with Adam," she rolled her eyes. "And I was just protecting you,"
"I didn't need you to protect me just then! You can't just kill anyone who comes close to me!"
I started to walk away from the house.
"Mare, where are you going?
"Somewhere far away from here!"
"Mare, stop. Come back here!"
I didn't respond. She continued to call my name, but I sped off too fast for her to follow or for me to continue hearing her voice. I knew that I needed some time to myself and that Nora needed time to herself to think about things as well. What I didn't know at the time was that I wouldn't be back there for another month.
