Taking a break from posting after this update. The plan is to be back in March and to have A Twist of Fate final chapter up before then (ugh or so I hope) ~pixelephant
A Twist of Fate: Dark Fate
Chapter Fourteen
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To be honest, Kami admitted to herself that school life was even more depressing with the absence of the main and side characters in her drama. She had even all the less of a reason to stick around. It took every ounce of her self-control to not steal Kim's truck and disappear to Seattle when she made her exit after school that day. If she wasn't so sure Kim would file a stolen vehicle report, she would have been tempted to do so.
Well, whatever. She had survived day three of the school week and after school detention. More than halfway there. If she hadn't twisted her ankle in the school parking lot, she would have missed out on the best evening ever by going on some stupid run instead. No run this evening for Kami Bell. Instead, she was home alone and feeeeeeeeeling goooooooood. No scratch that, she was feeling great! Superb. ¡Fantastica!
Kami had long given up on replaying what Kim had said to her during lunch and when this mysterious backstabbing event occurred, when she heard a light knocking sound in her bedroom. No, Kami was actually humming to herself as this odd sense of peacefulness had been flooding her senses these last few minutes or possibly an hour? It was hard to tell time when, if physically possible, one's body could melt into a puddle of contentment. In this bubble of ease did not exist detective Kami sleuthing over when and why Kim became a willing citizen of Crazyville. She had packed up that specific baggage and dumped it into the 'I don't care' compartment of her brain for the time being.
Next the doorbell rang, and Kami couldn't help but sport a relaxed smile at the thought of unexpected company as she moved to the door in an easy, unhurried manner.
However, even an uber relaxed Kami had the good sense to still moderately panic when she found Leah was on the front doorstep of her house. With a black eye and purple bruises tracing the column of her tan neck.
"Holy shniiiiiiikes!" Kami grabbed Leah's arm and dragged her inside before slamming the door shut. "You 'kay? 911?" Kami had assumed she added "Do I need to call" before mentioning the emergency number. But she had not. Leah was more amused then concerned though, assuming Kami's incoherent reaction was from shock. A perfect case of crossed signals for both girls.
"You should see the other guy," Leah laughed off before shaking her head.
"Who did thess?"
"No one worth spending another second thinking about." With the emergency alertness in her mind no longer needed, Kami slipped back into her vacant mind space. A certain warmth spreading through her chest. She made a mental note to herself to vacation in this state of mind more often.
"I wanted to come by and..." Leah rubbed the back of her neck while briefly pausing. "Apologize for not being available yesterday morning. I had some...family issues." Leah hissed out the word family like it was a foreign word that didn't belong on her tongue. Perhaps yesterday Kami would have jumped to the conclusion that Leah had deep running family issues like herself. Today was a different story though. And while some part of her wanted to dig into that more, instead she found herself nodding along with Leah in agreement while taking a deep, satisfied breath.
Kami was at ease as her posture relaxed and she gestured Leah to the living room. "That shouldn't be a problem anymore." If Kami had been more intune with her houseguest, she would have focused on Leah's lips forming a grin that conveyed secret knowledge. However, Kami just moseyed on to the living room, her eyes half-closed were directed at the couch. She knew it was rude to feel so drowsy in the presence of a houseguest- her ally #2 in La Push. But the lack of tension and stress, almost equating to a feeling of nothingness, she was feeling for the first time in a long time was too good to give up. Even for Leah's most welcomed presence.
"Hey are you alright?" Leah sounded concerned or so Kami thought. But it was difficult to be positive since when she turned to face Leah, her ally's face was blending together.
"Yeeeeeeesh shhh shhhhhhh," Kami slurred before stumbling back to the couch – a much preferred landing then the wood floor when her body gave up on supporting itself in an upright position.
"Hey," Leah began to snap her fingers in front of Kami's face in an urgent matter. Kami blinked, an unfocused, glazed-over look took form in her mocha eyes. She was living in the moment, so utterly present in the peaceful serenity she found herself in. Yet she was now unsure where that moment was taking place or why it was occurring. Her eyelids were becoming heavier as she mentally asked herself if she drank more than one beer.
"What did you drink? Or take?" Leah's voice sounded so far away. A galaxy away. But she understood the question despite her brain's insistence she submit to sleep.
"Un cerrrrr-veeeeeeeeeeey-shup." Kami's head slinked to her right shoulder. Sleep sounded good. Nothing else made more sense. Leah could show herself out when she was ready. Bye Leah, Kami forgot to mutter before giving in.
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"Cer-vey-shup?" Leah squinted her eyes and focused on some hazy memory where she had her a similar word before.
Again, she snapped her fingers when the ah-hah moment occurred.
"Cerveza. A beer! But shit, girl, you can handle your alcohol if Tuesday showed us anything," Leah mumbled to herself as she used her nose to find the basura. Less than ten seconds later, Leah was elbow deep sifting through the trash can in the kitchen. Nada. But she had smelled the faint hint of booze on Kami's breath. Leah closed her eyes again and scrunched her nose to concentrate on picking up that particular scent of beer. Where were they empty cans though? A heartbeat later she zeroed in on the familiar scent and tracked it to the kitchen pantry where a small paper bag claimed an assortment of recyclables. Leah cursed under her breath, it was just like Kami had said… only un cerveza was in the recyclables area.
Leah hurried back to her unconscious friend and tapped Kami on the face with her fingers. At first, the tips of her fingers grazed on Kami's flushed skin with light touches when calling her name. When she continued to be unresponsive, Leah when into hulk mode and began to shake Kami's shoulders in a vigorous manner, letting her rage take form.
"Fucking wake up, Kami! What did you take? Do I need to take you to the hospital? Jesus, Jared would flip his lid if he saw you right now. You're lucky I just switched packs."
Kami remained unphased by Leah's determination to wake her up by physical or vocal means. This sleeping beauty was not to be stirred. Leah did her best to calm her chaotic, furious thoughts to focus on when Kami had answered the door minutes ago. She seemed… fine then? A little drowsy but fine. What did she take? Leah replayed the scene again. She knocks on the door. Kami answers that door. Kami walks to couch and passed out like an overboozed chica. But something had seemed off before then too. What was it? Her steps had seemed stiff. Or was it… that she had limped? Leah had been too pre-occupied in the victory of breaking away from Sam's pack that she hadn't taken notice of her friend's injury. Kami had limped when she let Leah in. Why did she limp? Which foot?
Leah hiked both of Kami's feet up to the couch, enclosed in blue sneakers instead of the black strappy heels she had dawned to school. Leah released a soundless gasp as her eyes reviewed Kami's right ankle -double the size of her left ankle, colored in a mix of ugly blue and purple.
"Okay, you hurt yourself... Did you take some extra strength pain killer?" Before she finished her question, Leah was rifling through a cabinet of the first bathroom she could find.
It was in the second bathroom she found the only pain killer in the house. A small white bottle that described a generic aspirin. Leah was about to throw it back in the drawer she found it in and toss Kami's room over until curiosity got the better of her. She twisted the blue cap off...
And she found small white pills that didn't belong in that particular pill bottle. If Leah hadn't been prescribed those same pills after her father died, she wouldn't have recognized them. But oh, she was familiar with that little pill. The only thing able to get her to sleep when terror and guilt gripped her the first few weeks when she began phasing and was in the beginning stages of her grief.
Her friend had mixed Ambien and alcohol. And while Leah couldn't say she knew Kami very well, she had the strongest feeling the girl wasn't that stupid to mix such drugs.
"Fuck, I was supposed to go back on leech guarding. This is more important." Leah went back to the living room and checked on Kami once more before briefly exiting the front door of the house to tell her new pack she wasn't coming back anytime soon. She needed to stick by Kami in case things took a turn for the worse. Best case, Kami would just sleep the drug mixture off. Worst case, Leah would take her to the hospital and add more fuel to the animosity between the two freshly separated packs.
"Damn, girl, you don't keep things boring at least. Tomorrow I am chewing your ass out though," Leah informed Kami in an admonishing tone before snuggling up to her friend on the couch. Leah knew she deserved the sleep too. Tomorrow would be a game changer for Kami's time left in La Push going forward, that was for sure.
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Author's Note:
Did I love this chapter? Not really. But I posted to let readers now I am going on a writing break while I regroup my mojo on writing and figure out where this plot is going AND how to end the original story. I will probably re-edit this chapter to sound better before I post chapter 15.
Response to reviews:
Guest (ch13): Haha same! I feel like she is confused/vulnerable post break-up and it doesn't help with Paul's over friendly nature- what girl wouldn't be a bit interested? But a breakthrough will come in a future chapter that will solidify their friendship bond ^_^
Kyr (ch13): I like the way you think. Perhaps him or Leah though with this new development ! :D Kami is itching with her countdown clock and the boots are made for walking seems like the perfect fit! That will stir up the wolves into a frenzy! I like your ideas about Rachel accidentally telling Kami. I may marinate on that for future storyline hehheh Thanks for the juju! I need much to replenish this writer's brain that is currently crapping out! I am glad you find the original great as well! I do hope that last chapter comes to me when I least expect it because everything, I am writing for it currently is pure garbage.