Chapter 23: Comfort
Summary: As Dakota reminisces on Julia's death and unexpected phone call provides him with the comfort he needs.
PLEASE Read and Review! Sorry this has taken so long. School started up again last week and my publisher hasn't had time to get this updated.
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"What about Xander?" Dakota asked.
"If Xander find us, then the only one who can save us is God Almighty," Alex replied. He lit a cigarette and paced a bit. "I mean, you got a 156 year old psychic vampire arrested. Then, you denied him the pleasure of killing you. He is probably pretty hacked off at you."
Dakota sat down in the couch and chewed his knuckle. He pushed a cardboard box in front of him with his heel and rested his feet on it. Three months and we still haven't unloaded all the boxes, he thought. He waved a hand in front of his face to push away the cigarette smoke. "Alex, I'm thinkin', maybe I should find someplace else t' live. I mean, as long as you know where I am, and especially if you're the one hiding me, you're in danger, I should-"
"You should stay here and lay low," Alex cut in. "Look, I've all ready started to help you, there's no going back now."
Alex's little brother, Thomas, walked in. "That's disgusting Alex," he said motioning to the cigarette. He squatted down on the floor and plugged into a video game.
"Y'all wanna play?" He asked.
Alex glanced over at Dakota. He continued to stare off at the floor and rubbed his chin.
"Sure Thomas, let's go." Alex sat down next to him and leaned up against the coffee table.
Thomas twisted around and looked at Dakota. "You wanna play Dakota?"
Silence.
"Hello? Dakota?" He waved his hand in front of Dakota's face.
"Huh." He looked distracted.
"I said, do you wanna play?"
"No, it's OK, y'all have fun." Dakota stood and walked to his bedroom. He felt stupid. The thought of playing video games made his heart hurt. He and Julia used to play the same game.
"Puthetic." He said to the walls.
He put his mind on other things as he paced. Xander Collins, what can I do about Xander Collins? He wondered. His senses are strong enough to catch me a mile away. It's only by God's grace that I've not been caught already. Alex says he can handle the pressure but he can't hide his thought's for long. His power isn't strong enough yet. He cracked his knuckles. The phone rang and Dakota sucked in a breath in surprise. He had just gotten it coughed up when Alex came in with the portable phone.
"Hey Dakota- you OK?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just-uh gum problems."
"It's Stephanie, she wants to talk to you."
Dakota took the phone and flopped down onto the floor. "Hello?"
"Hey Dakota, how are you?" Came the voice from the other side.
He thought for a moment. He didn't want to lie, but he really couldn't tell the truth with out revealing everything. "I'm survivin', what about you?"
"Same. School's murder. Is something going on?" She asked.
"Ah, you know just uh...stuff."
"Girlfriend stuff?" She asked slowly.
Dakota leaned his head against his nightstand. "Yeah," he sighed. "How'd you guess?"
"You seemed sad in the bagel shop this morning. You wanna talk about it?" She asked.
"Oh boy..."
"You don't have to, if you don't want to, but.."
"It would feel good to get some of it out," Dakota paused for a moment. He decided to talk about Julia. "I don't even remember meeting Julia. Our parents knew each other before we were born. Her dad was my dad's best man, and they worked for the same company. Any way, she was always the pretty and popular one. Even in elementary school none of the boys could say, or would say a thing to her. I was a bit different. To say the least, I was a bit of a nerd. But she never treated me like that. She had...she was, I don't know, she made you wanna be better. It's hard to explain. She made me know who I wanted to be. She made me want to protect her, and do what is right."
He laughed.
"What?" Stephanie asked.
"Man I sound corny don't I?" He paused. "Oh, well, she made you not afraid to sound that way. She was one of the nicest people I've ever known. On my twelfth birthday I got a real bad case of pneumonia and got stuck in a hospital. She stayed with me until her parents made her go home. She brought me video games and called me and prayed with me...."
"How long were you in the hospital?"
"About ten or so days. I had been sick for about two days before and I woke up one morning and I just couldn't breathe. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. My parents called the doctor and we ended up rushing me to the hospital. It was a fun birthday. The doctors said I nearly died," Dakota said. "When Julia heard she came right over."
"Sounds like a great birthday."
"Well, um, when she was killed, my whole world fell apart. I didn't know what to do with out her. It's hard just to....to get out of bed in the morning now."
"You have to take it one step at a time huh."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Do you mind me asking how she died?" Stephanie could hear him struggling.
Dakota took a deep breath.
Hard question.
How can I answer this one without straight up lying? He asked himself. "Well...we lived out in the woods and...we were walking out there one night, not real far from my house, and we got attacked by wolves..."
Great now what? How can I explain that I couldn't save her? "They jumped on her before I could do any thing...I didn't have a gun...I didn't know what to do..."
Stephanie broke in, "No one can blame you for what happened Dakota, don't blame yourself."
Dakota didn't know what to say. He felt so guilty even though he knew the real story.
"Well, one attacked me, and I-I just ran.."
"Did it hurt you?"
"Yeah," Dakota said. He touched the scar on his shoulder.
"Well, you shouldn't feel guilty, I mean, you had a pack of wolves attacking you, right? As mere mortals sometimes all we can do is run."
Dakota shook his head.
Too bad I'm an exception.
After a pause Stephanie said, "You're one of those people who has to have control over everything don't you? When Julia was killed you could not protect her, and you feel responsible."
Dakota laughed and shook his head. "Am I that easy to read?"
"Like a book."
Silence crept in. Stephanie wiped a tear away from under her eye.
Dear God, please be with Dakota. I don't know how I'd feel if I lost someone that close to me. Please be his comforter and... comfort him through me....
"Well, thanks for listening, I really needed that. But I really have to go." Dakota had to get off before he started to cry.
"Bye."
"Bye."
He hung up fast.
Puthetic.
