Chapter 6: Healing
When I shifted back to Earth I immediately was overcome with a killer headache. Of course! I do something nice, an I get a migraine in return!
I noticed that Hailey was still lying on the ground. I crawled over to her side, her eyes were closed.
The rain pelted down onto me as I slowly lifted her up, being careful of her ribs.
"Hang on Hailey," I whispered.
I started to walk when she groaned in pain.
She was more injured then I thought…
Closing my eyes and picturing my room I felt the power flow through my veins. When I opened my eyes, we were both in my room.
I lay her down on the bed carefully and rushed out to get the first aid kit.
When I came back Hailey was shaking all over. When I felt her forehead it was burning hot.
"Shit," I said to myself, "she needs to go to the hospital"
Picking her up again I shifted to the garage and lay her down in the back seat. As soon as I knew she was secured I ran around to the drivers side and got in.
Pulling out of the driveway I sped down the road to the nearest hospital.
I looked back at Hailey in the mirror. Her fists were clenched and a bead of sweat formed on her brow.
Gritting my teeth, I turned into the emergency entrance and got out of the car.
"Sir!" a nurse walked out the building exclaimed, "sir! You can't park there!"
"Shut up!" I yelled back at her, "Get me a god damn doctor! She needs help!"
The nurse's eyes widened when she noticed Hailey and she ran back into the hospital. When she returned she was followed by two men in uniforms pushing a stretcher.
As the carefully pulled Hailey out of the car, the nurse pulled me to the side.
"What happened to her?" she asked, "I need to know for medical reviews."
What was I supposed to tell her? That a ghost beat her up?
"It was a mugging," I said quickly, "I was walking through the park when I saw her being attacked. By the time I got to her, they ran away."
The nurse looked up at me skeptically. Suddenly her hand shot out and she ran her hand along my jaw. I could feel a dull pain where she touched.
"Then what happened to your jaw?" she raised an eyebrow
Shit…
"I went after the guys who…did that to her…and um…they did this," I stammered.
The nurse sighed, "I think you should come with me and wait for the police to arrive, they will want to take a report."
"You called the police?" I exclaimed.
She nodded, "when a girl shows up looking like that because of a 'mugging' it's procedure," she glared at me.
What the…
Oh my god.
Oh my fucking god.
She thinks that I did this to Hailey…
"You think that I did this to her?" I hissed at the woman.
She looked shocked at my sudden outburst, "sir, please clam down. Its just procedure."
Procedure my ass…..
Ignoring her, I went into the hospital and followed the man who was pushing Hailey down a long white hallway. He turned into the emergency room and I tried to follow but was held back by two doctors.
"Did you come in with her?" one asked.
I nodded.
"Come with me," he said and grabbed my arm, pulling me into a small room.
He nodded to a chair, and I sat down while he sat behind a desk.
"Can you tell me what happened exactly?" he asked.
I recited the same story that he had given the nurse and he sighed, writing down a few things.
"Can I use your phone?" I asked, "I should probably call my mom and tell her where I am."
The doctor nodded, "I'll be waiting outside."
As soon as he got up and left I grabbed the phone and dialed the number I had never thought I would use. I didn't call my mom….
It rang twice and I twisted the cord between my fingers impatiently.
On the third ring, someone picked up. Their voice seemed tired, like they had just woke up.
"Hello?" the voice said groggily.
"Father Dom?" I said softly, "it's me, Paul."
"Paul? What on earth happened to you? You never showed up for school. You never cancelled your attendance at the school. Where are you?"
"I'm back in Seattle father D. I had to get out of Caramel, I needed to come home. I'm not coming back," I said quickly.
"Susannah was worried you had been in some kind of accident," he said, now fully awake.
She was worried?
I smirked, good.
"How is she?"
"She is fine," father said, "why is it that you called Paul?"
"I met another shifter a while ago. Her name is Hailey."
"That's wonderful Paul!" he exclaimed. I could practically see the old man's eyes light up.
"Well we had a little trouble tonight. She had an old ghost boyfriend that has been stalking her. She moved to Seattle to get away from him, but eh found her and beat her up pretty bad. Lucky I was there. I shifted him to the shadow land and left him there-"
"Paul-"
"Yes, I know you don't like it when I don't try to 'help' them, but this guy was bad news. Anyway, I'm at the hospital right now. Father Dom, they think I did it! They think I beat her up! They have cops coming to take a statement and I don't know what to do!"
"Have you thought of telling them that it was a mugging?" Father Dom asked.
"Yeah I already told them that, but they don't believe that," I said, running my hand through my hair, "she's in surgery right now. Father Dom, I know I was never the best person back in Carmel, but, what do I do? I really need help right now…I…I'm scared father."
There was a long pause on the other line.
"You really care about this girl don't you Paul?" he asked softly.
I sighed, "Yeah, I guess I do…"
"Then stick with your story Paul. Unless you want to tell them the truth, although I think that that would only get you in even more trouble. It sounds like she needs you right now Paul. Make sure that you stay close to her. Assault can be very traumatic to most people and she will need a lot of support. That's all you can do for her right now," Father Dom said.
I nodded, "Thank you Father Dom. I really needed that. Tell Suze I said hi, and tell Rico that he better be good to her."
"Good luck to you Paul, and keep in touch."
I said good bye one last time, then I hung up.
Walking out into the hallway, the doctor was already talking to a cop. When they noticed me, I was ushered into the doctor's office again.
"I'm just going to ask you a few questions, ok?" the officer sat down across from me.
I nodded.
"How do you know the girl?"
"Her name is Hailey. We are good friends and we both go to the same school," I replied.
He asked about the incident, and I told him the mugging story and about how I got involved. After I was done the officer nodded.
"Is there anything else that you want to tell me? Like what the attackers looked like?"
I shook my head, "I'm sorry. It was too dark, I couldn't see any faces."
The officer sighed and shook his bald head.
"Can I go and see her?" I asked.
"She is through in surgery. We couldn't do much for her except bandage her ribs and give her pain killers. She is in room 37B." the doctor said.
Not bothering to say good bye, I got up and headed to her room.
When I entered the room I was hit with the smell of rain and antibiotics. Hailey was lying in the hospital bed closest to the window. She wasn't wearing one of those hospital dresses like I had expected. Instead, all that was covering her was the thick white bandages the doctors had used to brace her ribs. Her hair spilled over the pillow in dark red curls. The humidity from the rain must have made her hair curl out a bit…
I sat down on the chair beside her and took her hand in mine. It was as cold as ice. Rubbing it softly to get the blood flowing in them I watched her sleep.
After a few minutes her eyes began to flutter. When the opened she looked at her surroundings and her eyes widened. She sat up in bed in shock, but grabbed her side and gasped in pain.
"Whoa Hailey, lay down. You are way to injured to move," I put my hand son her shoulders and pushed her back into the pillows.
"What happened? Where am I?" she asked hysterically.
"You are in the hospital. I brought you here after Kevin attacked you."
She stared at me in shock as everything seemed to come to realization to her.
"What…what happened to him?" she asked, looking around the room cautiously.
I squeezed her hand, "I shifted him to the shadow land. He is never coming back."
Her eyes widened.
"You did what!" she yelled.
"Whoa! Why are you yelling at me! I got rid of him didn't I? He can't hurt you anymore!"
She shook her head and put her head in her hands, "You don't understand Paul…"
I sat on the edge of the bed and lifted her chin up so she was facing me. Tears were forming in her eyes.
"What do you mean Hailey? What's going on?" I whispered.
"When Kevin was alive, he was a mediator Paul," she said, "when he started to harass me, the first thing I did was shift him to the shadow land. But his previous mediator powers make it so the shadow land cannot hold him there. He keeps escaping and coming back, even more pissed off each time."
Oh shit…
How the hell was I supposed to know that?
"Then how do we get rid of him?" I asked.
She shrugged, "I don't know. I suspect that if he was to actually open one of the doors in shadow land, then he might disappear, but he always just gets sent directly back to earth."
"Then we may have to force him into one of those doors," I smirked.
She looked at me, "Paul you know that that would be just stupid. We don't know that we might get sucked in along with him. The only option we have is to do whatever it is he was left on earth to do."
"Do you know why he stayed on earth?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Before he died, he got in a fight with an old friend of his. His friend stole a very valuable ring from him, and then killed him before Kevin could get it back. I've tried numerous times to get the ring back, but his friend is almost never in the same place twice."
"What is he, some kind of drug dealer or something?" I asked.
She shook her head, "No. Kevin and him had worked for an underground conspiracy that stole and murdered for money. They are a hard bunch to follow."
Whoa. This time…I was in way over my head.
And I thought Carmel had been full of drama and danger…
"What do they call themselves?" I asked, "maybe we can ask around for some clues."
Hailey seemed to be thinking for a moment.
"They call themselves," she paused, "the Zodiac."