Notes: SO SORRY about the wait.. I know, its been horribly long. This is
due to circumstances utterly beyond my control, i.e. family trip to Salem,
MA and total sickness and crashing. But, you guys made me feel so guilty so
here it is.
*****************************
Haunted
Chapter 7
"Susannah!"
Someone was calling me, but I couldn't see them. I was laying on something hard and leafy. It would be just my luck if I was lying on poison oak.
I tried to sit up away from the possible poison oak, but it didn't work as well as I would like. I succeeded only in sending shooting pain throughout my body. I could still feel the leafy stuff around me. If there were leaves where I was, then couldn't there be snakes?
"Susannah!"
Now I could see leaves as my vision cleared. And dirt. I appeared to be lying on the ground. I was relieved to find, however, that there did not seen to be any snakes in the area I was looking at. But everything did seem a bit fuzzy, so it was impossible to tell.
Someone nearby said something that sounded like a swear. I wondered why I couldn't understand what he was saying.
The leaves around my head moved. I tried to move my head to see if it was a snake.
"Susannah! Can you hear me?"
"Yes, I can hear you. Is that a snake?" I said, but what came out was more like "Mmphmm." Smooth, Suze. I thought about elaborating more on my ever-so- clear statement, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to care enough about talking, due to the splitting pain all over my body. Someone touched my bruised cheek, and I flinched. For some reason, I couldn't see anything anymore. My shoulder, I noticed ruefully, felt as if it had been run through a Cuisinart. Twice.
There was more rustling of leaves, and more swearing. I vaguely realized I couldn't understand whoever kept sending bits of dirt and leaf up my nose because they were speaking a different language. Spanish, maybe. I should probably take Spanish next year. If nothing else, it would help me with ordering at McDonalds'. They never hire people who speak English as a first language, even in California.
The leaves rustled again, farther away, and I told whoever it was to stop moving, I was about to choke on all the dirt in my nostrils already, but I didn't hear myself saying anything. I found this revelation strange, but the pain everywhere was taking up most of my concentration.
I realized the person was saying something, but it sounded impossibly far away.
"Stay here, Susannah. I will be back."
I wasn't going anywhere, I said to the leaf-rustler. Again, I didn't hear anything. What was with this?
I wondered if this was going to be a problem later on, if I couldn't hear myself talking. Maybe I wasn't talking at all. It was hard to be sure.
The leaves, probably poison oak leaves, with my luck, hadn't rustled in awhile. This, I felt, was a good thing, considering I could breathe a bit better, but the pain in every other part of my body was getting worse.
The evil leaf-rustler was back, with a vengeance. I could feel things touching me and even more leaves rustling. I could hear these somethings moving, and I had a strong suspicion they were snakes. I tried to swat one weakly, but I couldn't seem to get enough energy to do any actual damage. My swatting arm, and my other arm too actually, was killing me, but the noises were getting farther and farther away.
I was too tired to care anymore. Maybe if I just slept, they'd leave me alone.
***
"No, it wasn't poison oak," Cee Cee said, much to my relief. "Why would you think that?"
"No reason."
Adam snorted. I glared at him.
Cee Cee and Adam were in my hospital room filling me in on what had happened while I lay insensate on the leaves.
It turned out I'd been unconscious for quite awhile. I'd woken up on Monday to the worried face of Doc peering at me from the safety of my bedside chair, accompanied by the rest of my (live) family. They seemed mighty relieved I was awake, and collectively, except for Doc of course, voiced their skepticism in my choice of guy friends. I even saw Andy giving Adam a second look.
Adam gave Andy a "who, lil' ol' me?" look, and Andy warily returned his attention to me.
I had to turn away or risk further injury to my bruised ribs from laughing.
Luckily, they left soon after, saying they were going to see if there were "frequent injury" benefits on their way out and did I want anything from the cafeteria?
Cee Cee scooted her plastic chair over to make room for Elsie, my nurse, as she adjusted something on my IV. Elsie, despite her unfortunate name, was a nice old lady. She'd snuck a cookie to me out of a vending machine earlier, when I'd refused to eat the disgusting stuff they called food for lunch.
"I'm on shift until five if you need me," Elsie smiled at me on her way out.
"Thanks," I said, smiling back, before turning back to Cee Cee and Adam.
"So what exactly happened?" I asked.
It turned out, as Cee Cee, reporter extraordinaire, was only too happy to report, that after I'd gone on my ill-fated trip with Paul, Father D had torn up some turf racing after us a few minutes later. Cee Cee and Adam had followed, to find me alone near the woods, in a pretty sorry state. Adam had gone back to call the police and ambulance. The hospital had admitted me with a concussion (again), bruised ribs, a fractured wrist and assorted sprains and "contusions". Adam also informed me that Father D was in a pretty sorry state worrying about me. It seemed he blamed himself for admitting Paul, who, strangely, was nowhere to be found.
"What do you mean, nowhere to be found?" I asked.
Cee Cee and Adam shared a look. "The police didn't find him. They searched the woods and the beach and found no sign of him. His car was still in the parking lot," Cee Cee said.
My head was starting to pound. I lay back on the pillows, trying to get comfortable.
Cee Cee stood up. "We should probably get going," she said, looking pointedly at Adam, who got the hint and rose out of his plastic chair. "We'll check in on you later."
And then Cee Cee took Adam's hand! She took his hand and they turned to leave.
"Cee Cee," I called from the bed.
She turned in the doorway. I raised my eyebrow at Adam, who was walking through the door. Cee Cee blushed.
I laughed, albeit painfully. "We have a lot of talking to do when I get out of here," I said pointedly. Cee Cee managed to smile through her blush. Adam looked confused, and was about to say something, but Cee Cee pulled him away and shut the door.
I smiled, and squished into my pillows. I had missed quite a bit while I was asleep, it seemed.
My smile quickly faded, though. A lot of things didn't make sense in Cee Cee and Adam's story. Why did Father Dom come after us? He'd been across the beach "supervising" a volleyball game. He had no way of knowing I was with Paul, or even of knowing Paul was there.
And speaking of Paul, what was up with the supernatural powers? And why did he think we were alike? I guess I'll never know, seeing as he vanished. And why didn't he kill me when he had the chance? Well, that one was easy. Jesse had-
I sat upright, jostling my arm. Jesse! I hadn't seen him since he had pulled a WWF on Paul on the beach, saving me. Yet again. How many times had he saved me so far? And how had I repaid him, by being a jerk to him. Well, not always. I had saved him once.
I suddenly felt faint. What if Paul had exorcised him again? I fell back against my pillows, barely noticing my ribs protesting. After all that had happened, I still never got to apologize to him.
Well, I was going to. No matter what it took.
I sat up again, pulled back the covers with my good arm, and swung my legs over the side of my bed. I fought back a wave of nausea as I stood up gingerly, adjusting my ever-so-stylish hospital gown. I'd need to get some clothes before I went off to rescue Jesse. Just thinking about it made a dull ache in the pit of my stomach, and I was pretty sure it wasn't from my injuries.
But I'd only made it halfway across the room when the door opened and Father D came in.
He looked aghast that I was out of bed. "Susannah Simon! What do you think you are doing? You should be in bed!" He tried to shoo me back to the bed, waving his arms around and looking more than a little agitated.
"Father D, you don't understand," I said, trying to make him see reason. "Paul might have exorcised Jesse!" I took a few more steps toward the door, but he caught me and guided me back to the bed.
And he was chuckling. Chuckling! I glared at him. "What is so funny about Jesse being exorcised again?" I said, a bit louder.
Father D stopped chuckling, but he was still smiling. "Jesse has not been exorcised. I assure you he is fine," he said calmly.
"Oh," I said, pausing. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," he said, starting to chuckle again as he helped me back onto my bed. "Jesse was the one who saved you."
I knew that already.
"He told me Paul had attacked you and that you were in bad shape," he continued.
Oh. Well, that was nice of him.
Father Dom gave me a dirty look. "I must say, Susannah, you showed remarkably bad judgment in going with Paul to a secluded area. Although, I suppose I am not entirely surprised."
It was Father D's turn to get a dirty look, but I didn't feel like explaining the sordid details of my non-existent love life to him in order for him to understand why I'd gone with him. I settled for just telling him what had happened when we got there through when I'd been knocked unconscious.
Father D looked physically ill when I told him how I'd gotten knocked around, but confused, too. "I don't understand, Susannah. Much as it pains me to admit it, you are more than a match for most men in fighting."
I was? How sweet. I grew a bit misty-eyed in spite of myself, although it was probably due to all the meds they had me on. "Thanks, Father D. I didn't know you cared."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. But he should not have been able to affect you this way."
I thought about explaining that he had the powers of the dead while not actually being dead, at least to my knowledge, but Father D looked like he hadn't been getting enough sleep lately, and I figured he didn't really need to know right then.
"Look, Father D, I'm kind of tired right now," and I yawned for effect, "so can we..?"
He got out of the chair Adam had used. "Of course, Susannah. Get some rest, and feel better soon. I should be getting back to the mission anyway."
I waved half-heartedly from the bed. "Bye."
**************** You happy? No cliffie at all.
Next: the Conclusion! Where is Jesse? What exactly happened with Paul? And more.. ****************
Aaaaand muchos gracias to: Steph (good suggestion! Keep em coming!!! Also thanks for reviewing more than once. and I did follow your suggestion!), Impulse_k9 (haha!! I loved your review! It's so sad you haven't read Darkest Hour yet! I'm sorry if this spoils it for you), Vi(hugs thank you! Absolutely spiffing review! *I love that phrase*), Hannah Abby (*sniffs* evil witch? *bawsh bawsh* I'm sorry.), smiley (I don't know. I hate Paul too much to have them have a conversation), ashleysangel2009 (lol! Thanks!), Angel (love ya girl! Lol I'm glad you liked that part! It seemed like something Suze would say.), Jessica (lol Thank you! (), Lexi (thanks! At least SOMEONE appreciates my cliffies!), DarkFairy (WICKED awesome! Go Texas! Also thanks for reviewing more than once! Motivation baby.), Tina N. Blair (thank you! Well, I don't know if it is a crime. but I personally think Paul is CREEPY. go figure.), Judith (thank you for reviwing! TWICE! It guilts me into it. and the romance is coming, I promise!), {anonymous}, Yoi (omg I LOVE your reviews! And Chichiri! Lol keep going!), cashmere (love ya! I don't know why you hate my cliffies tho. sigh), Morgaine (lol thank you! Jesse's my hero too! And the more reviews the better!!), {anonymous please please put your name so I can thank you for goodness sakes!), RunnerNDA (lol I never said there wouldn't be any more cliffies! I said probably not maybe one more.. Hehehehe), Elizabeth Wiley (thank you so much! That is one of the best compliments a person can give me!!!), Heather (lol thanks!!), Raquel (you and Shae made me do this, otherwise I would have waited until next weekend. Let's give you a big hand! Thank you so much!!), Shae (see Raquel's. you guys are awesome! Thank you for the wonderful review!)
And, as always, Review!!! There will be a credits chapter at the end! Also: please give me the good, the bad, and the ugly! I'm going to revise all the chapters to make them longer and easier to read!! And, what do you think should happen at the end?
IMPORTANT!! I may make a sequel to this story, but only if people want to read it! Tell me if you think I should!!!!
*****************************
Haunted
Chapter 7
"Susannah!"
Someone was calling me, but I couldn't see them. I was laying on something hard and leafy. It would be just my luck if I was lying on poison oak.
I tried to sit up away from the possible poison oak, but it didn't work as well as I would like. I succeeded only in sending shooting pain throughout my body. I could still feel the leafy stuff around me. If there were leaves where I was, then couldn't there be snakes?
"Susannah!"
Now I could see leaves as my vision cleared. And dirt. I appeared to be lying on the ground. I was relieved to find, however, that there did not seen to be any snakes in the area I was looking at. But everything did seem a bit fuzzy, so it was impossible to tell.
Someone nearby said something that sounded like a swear. I wondered why I couldn't understand what he was saying.
The leaves around my head moved. I tried to move my head to see if it was a snake.
"Susannah! Can you hear me?"
"Yes, I can hear you. Is that a snake?" I said, but what came out was more like "Mmphmm." Smooth, Suze. I thought about elaborating more on my ever-so- clear statement, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to care enough about talking, due to the splitting pain all over my body. Someone touched my bruised cheek, and I flinched. For some reason, I couldn't see anything anymore. My shoulder, I noticed ruefully, felt as if it had been run through a Cuisinart. Twice.
There was more rustling of leaves, and more swearing. I vaguely realized I couldn't understand whoever kept sending bits of dirt and leaf up my nose because they were speaking a different language. Spanish, maybe. I should probably take Spanish next year. If nothing else, it would help me with ordering at McDonalds'. They never hire people who speak English as a first language, even in California.
The leaves rustled again, farther away, and I told whoever it was to stop moving, I was about to choke on all the dirt in my nostrils already, but I didn't hear myself saying anything. I found this revelation strange, but the pain everywhere was taking up most of my concentration.
I realized the person was saying something, but it sounded impossibly far away.
"Stay here, Susannah. I will be back."
I wasn't going anywhere, I said to the leaf-rustler. Again, I didn't hear anything. What was with this?
I wondered if this was going to be a problem later on, if I couldn't hear myself talking. Maybe I wasn't talking at all. It was hard to be sure.
The leaves, probably poison oak leaves, with my luck, hadn't rustled in awhile. This, I felt, was a good thing, considering I could breathe a bit better, but the pain in every other part of my body was getting worse.
The evil leaf-rustler was back, with a vengeance. I could feel things touching me and even more leaves rustling. I could hear these somethings moving, and I had a strong suspicion they were snakes. I tried to swat one weakly, but I couldn't seem to get enough energy to do any actual damage. My swatting arm, and my other arm too actually, was killing me, but the noises were getting farther and farther away.
I was too tired to care anymore. Maybe if I just slept, they'd leave me alone.
***
"No, it wasn't poison oak," Cee Cee said, much to my relief. "Why would you think that?"
"No reason."
Adam snorted. I glared at him.
Cee Cee and Adam were in my hospital room filling me in on what had happened while I lay insensate on the leaves.
It turned out I'd been unconscious for quite awhile. I'd woken up on Monday to the worried face of Doc peering at me from the safety of my bedside chair, accompanied by the rest of my (live) family. They seemed mighty relieved I was awake, and collectively, except for Doc of course, voiced their skepticism in my choice of guy friends. I even saw Andy giving Adam a second look.
Adam gave Andy a "who, lil' ol' me?" look, and Andy warily returned his attention to me.
I had to turn away or risk further injury to my bruised ribs from laughing.
Luckily, they left soon after, saying they were going to see if there were "frequent injury" benefits on their way out and did I want anything from the cafeteria?
Cee Cee scooted her plastic chair over to make room for Elsie, my nurse, as she adjusted something on my IV. Elsie, despite her unfortunate name, was a nice old lady. She'd snuck a cookie to me out of a vending machine earlier, when I'd refused to eat the disgusting stuff they called food for lunch.
"I'm on shift until five if you need me," Elsie smiled at me on her way out.
"Thanks," I said, smiling back, before turning back to Cee Cee and Adam.
"So what exactly happened?" I asked.
It turned out, as Cee Cee, reporter extraordinaire, was only too happy to report, that after I'd gone on my ill-fated trip with Paul, Father D had torn up some turf racing after us a few minutes later. Cee Cee and Adam had followed, to find me alone near the woods, in a pretty sorry state. Adam had gone back to call the police and ambulance. The hospital had admitted me with a concussion (again), bruised ribs, a fractured wrist and assorted sprains and "contusions". Adam also informed me that Father D was in a pretty sorry state worrying about me. It seemed he blamed himself for admitting Paul, who, strangely, was nowhere to be found.
"What do you mean, nowhere to be found?" I asked.
Cee Cee and Adam shared a look. "The police didn't find him. They searched the woods and the beach and found no sign of him. His car was still in the parking lot," Cee Cee said.
My head was starting to pound. I lay back on the pillows, trying to get comfortable.
Cee Cee stood up. "We should probably get going," she said, looking pointedly at Adam, who got the hint and rose out of his plastic chair. "We'll check in on you later."
And then Cee Cee took Adam's hand! She took his hand and they turned to leave.
"Cee Cee," I called from the bed.
She turned in the doorway. I raised my eyebrow at Adam, who was walking through the door. Cee Cee blushed.
I laughed, albeit painfully. "We have a lot of talking to do when I get out of here," I said pointedly. Cee Cee managed to smile through her blush. Adam looked confused, and was about to say something, but Cee Cee pulled him away and shut the door.
I smiled, and squished into my pillows. I had missed quite a bit while I was asleep, it seemed.
My smile quickly faded, though. A lot of things didn't make sense in Cee Cee and Adam's story. Why did Father Dom come after us? He'd been across the beach "supervising" a volleyball game. He had no way of knowing I was with Paul, or even of knowing Paul was there.
And speaking of Paul, what was up with the supernatural powers? And why did he think we were alike? I guess I'll never know, seeing as he vanished. And why didn't he kill me when he had the chance? Well, that one was easy. Jesse had-
I sat upright, jostling my arm. Jesse! I hadn't seen him since he had pulled a WWF on Paul on the beach, saving me. Yet again. How many times had he saved me so far? And how had I repaid him, by being a jerk to him. Well, not always. I had saved him once.
I suddenly felt faint. What if Paul had exorcised him again? I fell back against my pillows, barely noticing my ribs protesting. After all that had happened, I still never got to apologize to him.
Well, I was going to. No matter what it took.
I sat up again, pulled back the covers with my good arm, and swung my legs over the side of my bed. I fought back a wave of nausea as I stood up gingerly, adjusting my ever-so-stylish hospital gown. I'd need to get some clothes before I went off to rescue Jesse. Just thinking about it made a dull ache in the pit of my stomach, and I was pretty sure it wasn't from my injuries.
But I'd only made it halfway across the room when the door opened and Father D came in.
He looked aghast that I was out of bed. "Susannah Simon! What do you think you are doing? You should be in bed!" He tried to shoo me back to the bed, waving his arms around and looking more than a little agitated.
"Father D, you don't understand," I said, trying to make him see reason. "Paul might have exorcised Jesse!" I took a few more steps toward the door, but he caught me and guided me back to the bed.
And he was chuckling. Chuckling! I glared at him. "What is so funny about Jesse being exorcised again?" I said, a bit louder.
Father D stopped chuckling, but he was still smiling. "Jesse has not been exorcised. I assure you he is fine," he said calmly.
"Oh," I said, pausing. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," he said, starting to chuckle again as he helped me back onto my bed. "Jesse was the one who saved you."
I knew that already.
"He told me Paul had attacked you and that you were in bad shape," he continued.
Oh. Well, that was nice of him.
Father Dom gave me a dirty look. "I must say, Susannah, you showed remarkably bad judgment in going with Paul to a secluded area. Although, I suppose I am not entirely surprised."
It was Father D's turn to get a dirty look, but I didn't feel like explaining the sordid details of my non-existent love life to him in order for him to understand why I'd gone with him. I settled for just telling him what had happened when we got there through when I'd been knocked unconscious.
Father D looked physically ill when I told him how I'd gotten knocked around, but confused, too. "I don't understand, Susannah. Much as it pains me to admit it, you are more than a match for most men in fighting."
I was? How sweet. I grew a bit misty-eyed in spite of myself, although it was probably due to all the meds they had me on. "Thanks, Father D. I didn't know you cared."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. But he should not have been able to affect you this way."
I thought about explaining that he had the powers of the dead while not actually being dead, at least to my knowledge, but Father D looked like he hadn't been getting enough sleep lately, and I figured he didn't really need to know right then.
"Look, Father D, I'm kind of tired right now," and I yawned for effect, "so can we..?"
He got out of the chair Adam had used. "Of course, Susannah. Get some rest, and feel better soon. I should be getting back to the mission anyway."
I waved half-heartedly from the bed. "Bye."
**************** You happy? No cliffie at all.
Next: the Conclusion! Where is Jesse? What exactly happened with Paul? And more.. ****************
Aaaaand muchos gracias to: Steph (good suggestion! Keep em coming!!! Also thanks for reviewing more than once. and I did follow your suggestion!), Impulse_k9 (haha!! I loved your review! It's so sad you haven't read Darkest Hour yet! I'm sorry if this spoils it for you), Vi(hugs thank you! Absolutely spiffing review! *I love that phrase*), Hannah Abby (*sniffs* evil witch? *bawsh bawsh* I'm sorry.), smiley (I don't know. I hate Paul too much to have them have a conversation), ashleysangel2009 (lol! Thanks!), Angel (love ya girl! Lol I'm glad you liked that part! It seemed like something Suze would say.), Jessica (lol Thank you! (), Lexi (thanks! At least SOMEONE appreciates my cliffies!), DarkFairy (WICKED awesome! Go Texas! Also thanks for reviewing more than once! Motivation baby.), Tina N. Blair (thank you! Well, I don't know if it is a crime. but I personally think Paul is CREEPY. go figure.), Judith (thank you for reviwing! TWICE! It guilts me into it. and the romance is coming, I promise!), {anonymous}, Yoi (omg I LOVE your reviews! And Chichiri! Lol keep going!), cashmere (love ya! I don't know why you hate my cliffies tho. sigh), Morgaine (lol thank you! Jesse's my hero too! And the more reviews the better!!), {anonymous please please put your name so I can thank you for goodness sakes!), RunnerNDA (lol I never said there wouldn't be any more cliffies! I said probably not maybe one more.. Hehehehe), Elizabeth Wiley (thank you so much! That is one of the best compliments a person can give me!!!), Heather (lol thanks!!), Raquel (you and Shae made me do this, otherwise I would have waited until next weekend. Let's give you a big hand! Thank you so much!!), Shae (see Raquel's. you guys are awesome! Thank you for the wonderful review!)
And, as always, Review!!! There will be a credits chapter at the end! Also: please give me the good, the bad, and the ugly! I'm going to revise all the chapters to make them longer and easier to read!! And, what do you think should happen at the end?
IMPORTANT!! I may make a sequel to this story, but only if people want to read it! Tell me if you think I should!!!!