The Wanderer

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

         Life at my house after Kori was very different, but the same. Within the week Mommy, Daddy, and Joe had gotten over it. They all pretended that nothing had happened, but Josh and I couldn’t get over it as quickly. I never noticed how much Josh liked Kori until she was gone. Although he was not bound to her as I was because he still had the ability to speak, but he was moping around more then usual.
         I still hadn’t said a word, although no one said anything about it. I think Daddy and Josh caught on, but didn’t say anything because Mommy had asked them not to after the incident in the car. I no longer wondered why I couldn’t talk; I didn’t wonder about anything any more.
         Every day was the same for about a fortnight; then Josh finally seemed too get over it. And while I didn’t understand what his problem was, I felt guilty for thinking this but, I was kinda sad to know that everyone else in the house was ‘fine’, and I still hadn’t said a word.
         At night sometimes, over the last two weeks, I had overheard my parents talking though the vents. My dad wanted to send me away to a place where they could help me. While my mom said I should just stay here and that sooner or later I’d snap-out-of-it. I didn’t know what to think; I didn’t really have an opinion, just an empty shell.
Tonight, the day Josh snapped-out-of-it, my parents where having yet another heated debate.
         “I think we should take her somewhere, at least to a shrink.” My dad said.
         “How’s a shrink going to help a nonverbal 5-year-old, traumatized by the suicide of her only friend?”
         “She needs some help; I would need some help if I were me, and she’s only five, she doesn’t know how to cope, what if she does something stupid, she’s not a normal five-year-old.”
         “Come off it, Josh finally came out of depression, and you knew how much Josh like her.”
         Now this was news to me. I didn’t know Josh had had a crush on Kori. I wonder if she liked him back. I knew that she knew that he annoyed me, so she might have not said anything. But I didn’t know she could have kept a secret for that long; I mean he must have liked her a lot for having mopped around for two weeks.
         “I still—“
         “I don’t care what you think.”
         “Fine,”
         “Fine,”
         I didn’t like that my dad had gotten his way. I didn’t know what kind of help I would be getting, but it sound weird and like it didn’t happen to anybody else but me. It’s not my fault I can’t talk.
         Then I remembered something that I hadn’t thought about in a long time, well two weeks. The ring. If I went away from home no one would be there to understand. And, while, I didn’t know anything at all about it. I still know that it’s evil, really evil.
It was late and as I settled sown to sleep I was afraid that I might have just broken my dreamless pattern. And it turns out, I was right.
         I was running. I was running as fast I could anyways from an unknown enemy. I ran faster, anything to escape this fate. I was running faster then I had even run before; I tripped. I had run too fast and now there was nothing I could do. I looked next to me and was surprised to see what I saw; a crashed hospital cart. Had I tripped over it? Or did it smash because I tripped? It had been Kori’s final resting place, where she had died. And then I noticed that Kori had been on the cart when it smashed. She had just been hidden from my sight except for a lock of shiny vomit coated jet black hair. Then, as though there was no wrecked cart, Kori began to rise.
         When she had risen her full length the sight that saw I was terrifying. I recognized her outfit as the same one she was wearing when she died. She didn’t have any shoes on. Her shorts were those that soccer players wear, black, and baggy, with a white strip down the side. The shirt she had on was a new yellow spaghetti strap tank-top; the right strap along with numerous small spots on the front was stained pale pink. Her body was strong as ever, her legs and arms bulged with well earned muscle; her arms held out in front of her, as though she was a zombie, the ring on her left ring finger ... offering. But none of this terrified me as much as Kori’s head did. Kori’s just-below-the-shoulder-length back hair was thickly matted with bloody vomit. Some of the vomit had crusted on the right side of her face, with one thick streak of sickly yellowish green in the pale pink going just to the right of her chin, thick in some places while other you could almost see her evenly tanned cheek. Her eyes, once shiny sepia, was now dull brown. And lastly her teeth; she had gotten braces in 5th grade, and ever since had perfect teeth, well, until now, the enamel on her teeth seemed to be dissolving, her teeth looked at though it had millions of worms feasting on them.
         I let out a piercing scream that could shatter bones, and the next thing I know I have four humanly shadows over my head. The shadows grew quickly into human forms, two large ones, a medium one, and a small one that one of the large ones were holding. The figures were vagly familiar, but I didn’t know how I could have known them. I heard them talking, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying, it confused me, and I didn’t like it. I tried to open my mouth to ask them who they were but only baby sounds came out. The things above me were talking again, and yet I still couldn’t understand. I heard another scream unlike the one I gave because it was lower and more airy, but after a few seconds I realized that it was I who screamed again.
         More talking that I didn’t understand; one of the large figures came down and started touching me on my shoulder. I didn’t like it, this time when I screamed I did it on purpose, more like the first then the second. There was more talking, differently this time somehow, but I didn’t understand anymore then the times before. Three of the figures left: one of the large ones, the medium one, and the small one. The one remaining figure had a different feeling then it had before, but I couldn’t quite describe it.
         The large figure that had left came back and said something to the large figure that had stayed. When the large figure had returned it had no little figure, instead, in the doorway of my room stood the medium figure holding the small one. One of the large figures said something to the medium and small figure; the medium figured carried the small figure away.
         Two other large figures barged into the room carrying a stretcher between them. The four large figures talked for about a minute; then, the two figures that had been with me parted, and the two figures with a stretcher came in-between them, right at me. I made the biggest racket I could, screaming my shrill shriek, but that did not stop the two figures with the stretcher, they kept coming for me.
         The bottom of the stretcher now fell, so it was parallel to the bed. The two figures grabbed me, despite my ruckus, and put me on the stretcher. I kicked and screamed as hard as I could, but that did not stop the strong figures from strapping me tightly to the stretcher, so tightly I could no longer move, but I could still scream.
         I screamed as loud and piercing as I could as the two figures moved me though the house, down the stairs, and out the door. We were now outside my house, the two figures were moving very fast, all the while I couldn’t move at all, strapped tightly to the stretcher. There was a big vehicle, with lots of flashing lights, but I couldn’t tell what it looked like or what it was because the flashing blinded me. The figures, now slowing, put me into the back of the vehicle, the door had been left open so all they had to do was put the stretcher inside; I still hadn’t let up on my shrill shriek. Inside it was dark one second, then the next it was light; other figures were around me now. They were all talking in a language that I still couldn’t understand. One of the figures came at me with a really big shot and injected it into my arm. My screaming stopped slowly, but not to my own free will. I also got really sleepy, I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and then I was drifting off.


         When I woke I was in a hospital, again. This time, like last time, I had no thoughts of aliens. I didn’t really know what to think, I just kind of was.
         “How. Are. You. Doing?” a nurse asked out of the blue.
         I jumped, not knowing that anyone else was in the room. I still didn’t know the answer to this question, and wondering why she asked me so funnily I shrugged.
         She looked at me funny, like she wasn’t expecting an answer or something. I pretended not to notice.
         “I’ll, go, get, your, mom.” She said in my silence slowly.
         I ignored her again, she walked out.
         I sighed wondering how I got here this time. I didn’t remember falling out of a tree or something like that. But there are a lot of different ways to end up in a hospital, hundreds, probably thousands. I though as back as I could, the last thing I could remember was my parents fighting, then I think I went to sleep. Maybe my dad had executed his decision faster then anyone could have guessed. Maybe he took me away when I was sleeping, but then the nurse would have said Dad, not Mom, but Mom was what the lady said. I didn’t think my mom would have let me go in the middle of the night and then come with Daddy, as if she had approved of his decision when she didn’t. I think it must have been something else, but I didn’t know what.
         “Kristi?” My mom said as though it was a question of relief. “Kristi? Are you okay? We’ve all been so worried about you; Daddy’s with Joe, who finally fell asleep, and Josh in the waiting room. None of the doctors are sure what happened, but then because they had to sedate you they couldn’t find out much.” My mom continued to drone on and on, “And then when you woke up, which they said would happen sometime around now unless you fell asleep while under sedation, they said you had shrugged, and that your … whatever it was had probably come some how to an end, because it appeared that you could understand the nurse. Although she did say that you ignored her a lot, and that maybe you were shrugging to say that you didn’t know what she had said, but at least you weren’t screaming and that I should come in anyways, whether or not you understood, because either way you would probably want to see me, but then again you might not. And I’m not even sure if you do understand me, do you understand me Kristi?”
         I nodded to show her that I did indeed understand her words, but didn’t try to say anything, whether or not my voice box would work or not.
         My mom gave a huge sigh of relief, then asked “Do you mind if I go get Daddy, Josh and Joe?”
         I shook my head, I didn’t care. She hurried away after I answered.
         I knew mothers liked to ramble, but usually it will make sense a little, but this left me completely clueless, why would I not understand? Was that why I was here in the hospital again, because I couldn’t understand anything? But I couldn’t remember, it didn’t make sense, I was confused, and I didn’t like being confused.
         “Hey, Crystal, what’s up?” Josh asked me quietly.
         I really wanted to answer, I really did, but I tried, and I failed, I couldn’t make the softest noise. Josh had sounded so sweet, so much like he cared, and I couldn’t say anything. Although I have to admit if I could have said anything I don’t know what I would have said, but just knowing that I could talk would be better then what I was going through now.
         Josh looked at me with his short medium brown hair in his eyes. Even though there was hair obscuring his vision I could see the concern reflected back at me in his big brown eyes. Then he touched my hand, I opened it, as his eyes changed, now telling me what he wanted to do. Into my hand his finger tapped ever so softly: short-short-short-space- long-long-long-space-short-long-short-space-short-long-short-space-long-short-long-long-space-space-long-short-long.
         I shook my head at him, no, it wasn’t him fault. His eyes begin to protest, but I shook my head again. I turned the hand that he had just tapped in into a quick figure, closed fist, pinky up, index up, and thumb up. Josh looked sadly at the figured I had made with my hand and gently closed his hand around mine pushing in my pinky, index, and thumb into my fist. I returned the sad smile; then he backed up so that I could see that Mommy and Daddy, and Joe were also in the room.
         When he had moved back it gave my dad permission to come running up to me and give me a huge hug. My mom put Joe next to me on the bed; he sat there looking at me with his big blue eyes with his back to the rail for support. I gave him the best smile I could. Then I reached out and tenderly grabbed his hand. Short-short-short-short-space-short-short. Then he babbled happily for a second, as though he understood what he didn’t. My dad squeezed harder as a reminder that he was still there.
         “How’s my favorite daughter doing?” My dad asked cheerily, finally releasing the hug after I turned my attention to him.
         I gave him and my mom who was standing right above him a smile, not the sad smile that I had given Josh, or the big smile I had given Joe, it was a different smile, one that I hoped showed through my eyes too, one that I tried to make it look like I was happy. I guess the smile worked and showed through my eyes, or maybe my parents just weren’t as observant as they could have been, but they seemed to think I was genuinely happy. My dad gave a smile so big that it stretched the scar about an inch the right of his left ear. My mom had a look of glee that shone right through her eyes, making them sparkle.
         “Are you hungry at all?” My dad asked.
         I wanted to answer ‘yeah, I am’ but I couldn’t so I merely nodded; I looked to the right of my bed, no IV, I looked the left of my bed no IV. No wonder I was hungry, I didn’t have any nutrition going into me.
         “Okay, Mommy, Joe, and I will go and grab you some breakfast, Josh, you can stay here with Kristi, and we’ll be back in a few, okay?” My dad asked energetically.
         I didn’t know how he could be so energetic if he had been up all night worrying about me, but whatever.
         “Okay,” Josh said. “I’ll stay here with Crystal.”
         My mom made a gesture that looked at if she didn’t think it wise to leave a five-year-old girl alone with her fourteen-year-old brother, but my dad shook his head at her, looking like he was trying not to be noticed but Josh and I saw.
         As soon as my mom picked Joe off my bed, and left with Dad, Josh spoke. “That’s really funny you know … about me and you.”
         I nodded to show that I had understood.
         “So what do you want to do in our few spare minutes?” Josh asked
         I didn’t know, so I shrugged.
         “Tic-tac-toe?” Josh asked.
         I shrugged again, then nodded. I looked around for somewhere to play. Josh pointed toward a blanket that was on my bed. Then he arranged the folds in the blanket to make up a board for us, worked for me.
         Neither of us really paid attention as we played ten, twenty, or maybe even thirty games. We just sat in the silence knowing that we wouldn’t have another moment like that in a long time. We knew that if any of the nurses were keeping an eye on us, which they probably were because we were in a hospital, and because the look my mother had given my father, they would think that it was just about the weirdest thing they’ve ever seen, but we cared not. We didn’t know how long we had been playing when the rest of the family came back with the food. Josh and I quickly smoothed the blankets so there was no evidence for our creative tic-tac-toe game.
         “Here you go Kristi, some hospital uncooked eggs, some hospital soggy toast, some random bottled orange juice, and whatever else is on that plate. Enjoy.” My dad said playfully.
         I smiled at him to let him know that I was grateful for the mystery breakfast he had put in front of me. Then while he grinned back I put fork full after fork full of the stuff that was on my plate into my mouth. He kept grinning, I didn’t see what was so funny, but if it worked for him, then good for him.
         When I was done eating a grave looking doctor came in; he wanted to talk to my parents alone. Josh and I thought that this was slightly funny as they went outside the door leaving Joe on my bed, this time at the foot instead of the head next to me. After a while, probably about ten minutes everyone came back in the doctors expression hadn’t changed a bit, although both of my parents looked a little more solemn then they were before.
         “Josh, time to go.” My mother called as she picked Joe up off the bed. “We’ll come back later.”
         “Buh-by!” shrieked Joe.
         We all looked at him surprised by him words. He was only nine months and we weren’t expecting words for him for another few months. And yet here he was his first word buh-by. My mother who was holding him gave him a huge hug; my father ran over there too, to hug him. Josh gave a sneaky smile, had he taught Joe to speak? I tried to catch him with my eyes but he wouldn’t let me, looking away at Joe, but not before I saw the look of amusement shining through. I smiled too, for while I was at a loss of words Joe could take my place by learning how to talk.
         “Good bye Kristi,” my mother called.
         They all stood, except for Joe, for a second by the door. A picture perfect family; Mom with her dark brown hair back in a pony-tail, brown eyes shining, almost with tears, at the though of her third child’s first words; Dad with his medium brown hair, a little darker then Josh’s, hanging around his face, and his blue eyes filled with sorrow, that looked like nothing more then sweet concern; Josh with his hair in his eyes, and his eyes as they always were, were catching everything that was going on; and then Joe, the only blond, with his small lock of hair sticking up in every which way, and his blue eyes taking in the room. Then all at once, they left, going through the door almost simultaneously.