Chapter Nine:

Fabian and Nina waited in the cold airport lounge seats waiting to board the plane. They didn't speak, just sat there staring off in different directions. It was going to be terrible. They both knew it. Eddie was really close to Patricia; Nina could tell he made her happy. Happier than she had ever seen Patricia. By telling Eddie he can't come back is denying Patricia, her friend, her happiness. Did she even have the power to do that?

However if she didn't tell Eddie what was at stake? Her life? His life? Of course she could stay away from the school, she could but that wasn't fair either. What was she going to say to Eddie? "I was here first"? Nina pictured herself saying that to him. The same sentence she must have said a thousand times as a child.

Then there was Fabian. The situation didn't really involve him, but of course he was involved. That meant Patricia had every right to be too. How could he do this to her? They had been friends for years and now he was going to test it for Nina? Yes, he would. For Nina.

/

Eddie knelt at Patricia's side for some time after Archie left. He watched her exhale and inhale, making sure she did. Her breaths were deep but they were breaths. Eddie knew he could relax a bit, but he couldn't. Not until she woke up. He didn't want to wake her though because she needed her sleep and to wake her would be selfish.

Carefully he moved his arms under her and lifted her onto the couch. She turned into him as he picked her up. Eddie placed her down gently on the couch, making sure a pillow was there to support her head. Patricia was small enough that Eddie could sit at the end of the couch. He flipped on the TV and went through the channels for a while. Patricia, next to him slept quietly for quite some time.

When Patricia had been sleeping for nearly over two hours, Eddie began to worry. She hadn't moved at all and her breaths were getting deeper and deeper. He leaned over her and nudged her shoulder. She sat straight up, alarmed. Eddie straightened up as well. She looked at him with big round eyes.

"What happened?" She whispered. Eddie didn't know how to respond. After all, it was his fault all this was happening to her.

"You don't remember anything?" Eddie asked. Patricia shook her head. All she could remember was the pain she was in, nothing else. She closed her eyes. Patricia's shoulders touched Eddie's yet she felt so distant.

She could suddenly picture what happened. She saw herself being flung from the couch and shaking violently on the floor. She saw Eddie screaming and lastly she heard her message to him. Patricia breaths quickened as she relived what had happened. It was like a horror movie replaying over and over again in her mind.

Suddenly she felt something cold touch her hand. It was Eddie. He had been watching her from the second she sat up. Her eyes opened and looked at him again with the same blank expression as before.

"They try and make me do things." Patricia whispered. Eddie stared at her with disbelief. Archie said the chances of that were very slim. Patricia continued.

"They wanted me to smash my hand through the glass door and take the shards and…" She couldn't.

Patricia took a deep breath and started again, "I don't know why they didn't succeed. But they were angry with me. That's why I ended up on the floor..." Eddie silenced her, by wrapping his arms around her.

He knew how awful it was to watch, he could only image what actually went on inside her head. Patricia folded herself into him so that her head was on his chest. She was shivering. Eddie absentmindedly stroked her arm with his thumb. It seemed to sooth her and he could feel her heart beat slow to a normal pace.

"I'm so sorry." Eddie said after a while. Patricia moved her head only slightly so that she could look up at him.

"You would do the same for me." She said.

"I would do anything for you." He replied. Patricia moved her head slightly again, this time so that she could give him a small kiss. It was only brief but it was also like a sigh of relief for both of them. Patricia laid her head in his lap, the way she had before she fell asleep. Eddie pressed play on the movie that had been waiting for them and all was good. All was never good, not for them. Sure enough after the second preview aired they heard a car engine nearby. Lynda was home and Eddie was sure she would not be happy to see him.