So many reviews! Ahh thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting my story. I don't like getting reviews just to know that my stories good (or not); I like input. I love it when you guys comment on what you think should or will happen. It's interesting to see a perspective of the story other than mine. Anyways, thank you guys! I'm glad that you like this story so much :)
I am sitting on my bed, rocking Sunny gently in my arms. She's been crying for the past hour or two, nonstop, and I haven't been able to get much of an explanation out of her. She's a total wreck; completely distraught, filled with fear, and torn between her own emotions and Jodi's.
Jodi.
Paige couldn't find Kyle anywhere. I sent Ian to go look for him, but he came back with nothing but the shake of a head. He's sitting beside me now, helping to comfort both Sunny and I. He knows I'm already in a vulnerable state from the latest events, and this just adds to the chaos. Melanie is leaning against the wall, her eyes locked on a spot of the wall, thinking hard. Jared and Jamie were here earlier, but I don't think Sunny liked all the attention, so I asked them to leave. Jared went to look outside of the caves for Kyle, though he only left a little while ago.
"Shh, it's okay," I whisper again, stroking her back gently. Ian tries to give her a smile but I can tell he's uncomfortable. He wants so desperately to be excited by this news- after all, Jodi is like a sister to him. But he can't do that to Sunny. It wouldn't be fair right now.
From what Sunny's let up, Jodi came back a few days ago, though barely. Sunny started feeling a presence in the back of her mind, though it wasn't completely formed yet. Then she started seeing more memories of Jodi's, closer to when she was captured. And finally, yesterday, she heard her voice. No one knows what happened between her and Kyle after she told him, and we're trying to figure that out. I don't want to push her, though. She's so scared, so fragile. I feel bad questioning her.
"Sunny? Do you think you could tell us what happened?" I ask after a little bit. She's still crying, though less harshly. Her sobs have grown quieter and more infrequent.
She sniffed and pulled away, brushing her long, black strands from her face. Her cheeks are matted with tears and her Soul eyes are glowing bright, puffy, red lids heavy over them. She nods slightly and gathers herself for another moment before talking in a small voice, like when she first arrived in the caves. "I went to tell Kyle yesterday, right before I talked to you. He was really happy. I . . . I've never seen him so happy. And he," Sunny stops, taking a deep breath. "He kissed me and told me that he loved me and that this was the best day of his life. I . . I didn't realize he wasn't talking to me." She looks awkwardly at Ian, probably not wanting him to hear this, but doesn't say anything about it. She's too sweet to say so. "And he went to go get Doc. He practically dragged me to the hospital, the whole time talking to her. Not me."
She takes another long shaky breath and I realize that Sunny is really in love with him. She loves Kyle. Not in the way that I loved Jared while in Mel's body, but really, genuinely loves him. How awful it must be to have him speaking to her, kissing her, when he only loves her body. I take her hand in mine and give it an enthusiastic squeeze. "Doc wasn't there. It was around breakfast time, so I guess he was eating. Kyle wanted to wait there. He . . he made me sit on the cot and got a new cyrotank out and everything. He was so excited," she sobs. Her voice is cracking again and I rub her back gently. I can't imagine what that must've felt like; if Jared had forced me into the hospital as soon as he knew Melanie was in my head with me. It must have been dreadful.
She swallows hard and continues on. "I finally told him to stop. That I didn't want to leave. That this was my body, too, and I deserved some say in it." She looks guilty, as if speaking up for herself in the moment was wrong. "He got so angry. So, so angry. He started yelling at me, calling me . . names. He al-" She topped, but I could tell where she was going. He almost hit me. But he must've stopped when he realized it would be like hitting Jodi. Just like once Jared knew Mel was inside; he started treating me better. "He told me that he hated me and he never cared about me. He just wanted Jodi back. And that I couldn't stay. I kept saying that I wasn't ready to go; that it wasn't fair. He got so terribly mad, Wanda." She looks into my eyes, as if pleading for me to change the past. Ian now looks more angry at his brother than when he tried to kill me, if that's possible. How could Kyle have said such horrible things? It didn't make sense.
"And then he ran off. And I came to you, hoping you'd seem him. And when he didn't come back to the room that night, I got worried. No one said anything about him being gone; maybe he was just avoiding me and not everyone else. Either way, I was scared this morning. So I came to you," she shrugs and sniffs again. Her eyes are bloated and gloomy, her nose and cheeks flushed red. I just want to wrap her up in my arms and make it all okay.
"I'm going to kill him," Ian mutters, his fists clenching.
"Ian, no! It's my fault! I should have let me take me out. It's Jodi's body, not mine. I was being selfish," Sunny protests.
"Sunny, stop that. You weren't being selfish. He was the one being selfish, trying to force you out of your body immediately. That wasn't fair to you."
Sunny nods, though I know she isn't convinced. Like me, she blames herself for everything. "I just thought that maybe, just maybe, he loved me to. That he wasn't only nice to me because of Jodi," Sunny whispers. It's almost inaudible.
"Sunny," Ian says, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you crazy? Do you think Kyle actually didn't like you? Sunlight Passing Through The Ice, please don't tell me you're that blind," he almost laughs. "Kyle loves you Sunny. Maybe not in the same way that he feels about Jodi, but he loves you. I know it. He talks to me about you all the time. He thinks you're beautiful and kind, sweet and understanding. When he said that yesterday- as horrible as it is - he was just reacting to his anger. Not his real emotions. Humans, we do that a lot. He was being rash. Sunny, Kyle loves you. That's a fact."
Sunny was smiling at him. She knew she could trust Ian, that he wouldn't lie to her. I look at Ian with so much relief and love. He is so perfect. I didn't deserve someone like him. "Really?" Sunny mumbles.
"Of course. God, Sunny he never stops looking at you. I'm sure part of it is because of Jodi, but he's a lot different with you than he was with Jodi. I can tell. He feels different," Ian says, smiling at her.
"Good different?"
"Yes, Sunny," Ian laughs.
"So why is he so mad? Why is he gone?" she says, now worried again.
"He's probably just angry that he can't have you and Jodi both. Not right now, at least," Mel says, finally chiming into the conversation.
"Well, that's easy. We just have to get Sunny a new body," Ian shrugs as if it's so obvious.
"See, that's the problem," Mel says and I have a feeling this is what she's been thinking about the whole time. "We can't just get her any old host right now. Not after what Fords said." I remember Fords talking, telling us of the horrible, deathly mutations in many of the humans. If we put Sunny into a new body . . . There's no telling what could go wrong. "If we were to get a body that's already been Souled, remove that Soul, and put Sunny in, there's a greater chance it will have some resistance. Even with Fords here, things could go wrong. He said it himself: he doesn't know how to cure this. If Sunny's host reacts to her insertion, she could die." Sunny's eyes go wide at that and Mel rushes to assure her of her safety. "No, Sunny, not you! You'd be fine as long as we removed you in time. The human, though. We . . can't do that. We have to find another way."
"Can't we just bring back a few hosts? Not all of them are going to fight back," Ian suggests, which I find strange. He would usually be opposed to such an act against humans, but he must be as desperate as I feel to save Sunny.
"We could, but I don't know how everyone would feel about that. That's not exactly safe: both for the secrecy of the caves and for the humans themselves," Mel sighs.
Sunny is holding her head now, covering her eyes. Tears puddle on her nose, then drip off slowly, one by one. "Sunny, it's okay. We'll figure it out!" I tell her.
"No, that's not it."
"What, then? If this is about Kyle, please don't worry. I'm sure Jared will find him soon. You can talk and work things out. I'll talk to him if you want. I'll beat the crap out of him first, but we can talk after," Ian suggests. I give him a warning look.
"Jodi," she mumbles. "She's talking."
Oh. Ian leans in, eager to hear what she's going to say. Mel walks over from her spot on the wall and sits on the ground in front of us, leaning her elbows on the edge of the mattress. "What is she saying?" Ian asks hesitantly, but Sunny doesn't seem to mind the question.
"She's . . she's mad at Kyle," Sunny laughs, a hint of a smile on her lips. We all smile at that. Ian's grin is the widest, as he knows Jodi the best. Mel looks at me and winks, probably remembering - as I am - all the times that she would get mad at Jared for treating me poorly. It's the same thing with Jodi, I guess. "And she's worried about me. And about you, Ian. She says . . she says that she missed all of you and that she's glad that you found her. And that, um, I was inserted into her rather than some mean Soul." I giggle at this. Ian's eyebrows twist as he tries to imagine a mean Soul. Jodi must not realize that that's nearly impossible. "She's not very strong right now. She can barely talk, since she just regained consciousness. But it seems like she doesn't want me to give up her body. Not yet, at least. She," Sunny squints, trying to focus on the glimmer of a voice in the back of her head. "She wants to make sure that, if I'm removed, I'll be safe. Otherwise she won't let me go."
More tears flow down her cheeks, but these ones are happy tears. Jodi loves Sunny like Mel loves me. They have that same bond, even if Jodi was unconscious for the most part. "See, Sunny? Everybody wants you to be safe. We'll figure it out, I promise," I tell her, taking her hand and squeezing.
"Okay," she grins and then focuses hard. Jodi must be trying to talk. "She wants you to punch Kyle, Ian." Ian bursts out laughing at this and pats Sunny on the back.
"Good to have you back, Jodes," he smiles and Sunny looks down shyly. "I promise I will punch him for you. Extra hard!"
"Ian!" Sunny and I scold simultaneously.
"Come on, Wanda! You're not seriously going to let him go for this one?" He raises an eyebrow at me. I may not be able to argue with that, even though I'm very against violence. "Anyway, we should go talk to the others. Maybe they'll have some ideas. Sunny, you should get some rest."
"Okay," she agrees immediately. Rest will do her well.
"Wanda, Mel, let's-" he stops as I stand up and cover my mouth, running off of the bed and over to a small bin that we've begun keeping in the room. I throw up into, gagging and choking. I feel Ian's hands grab me from behind, holding my hair up, and rubbing my back soothingly. I retch into the bin and finally finish, then lean back against Ian. "Sunny, will you pass me that water?" Ian asks, pointing to cup on the small table in our room.
She immediately runs it over to me and I drink gratefully, washing the sickening taste away.
"Oh, god, Wanda," Mel says, holding her head. "How could I be so stupid? Food poisoning? Really? How did I miss that?" she exclaims, thinking aloud. I close my eyes, not wanting to watch her expression as she finishes the thought. Ian tenses up and I have a feeling that Sunny is looking around, confused. "Thanks for telling me, Wanderer," she says sarcastically.
"Telling you what?" Sunny asks innocently.
"Oh my god," Mel just says. "Wanda is pregnant!"
That was a long chapter! What do you think of Kyle's reaction? And of Jodi being back? Will Sunny have to stay in her, will a new host resist, or will she be fine? And how do you like Mel finding out about the pregnancy this way? I feel like Mel's too close with Wanda to miss something like this!
Also, I probably won't get another chapter up until Monday. Maybe earlier, but doubtful. I have family coming in for the weekend, but we'll see!