Chapter 4

Bill stood next to his sleeping father.

He had to take it on faith that it was sleep, natural sleep, and not a coma or some drug induced unconsciousness. Standing there, looking down at the bruised, bandaged form of the most important man in his life, the reality of how close he had come to losing him finally hit Bill. He almost lost ... Dad.

Something warm and soft entered his right hand. Without looking, he squeezed Julie's comforting hand as she leaned against him. She had gone through worse than this, he thought ... and at a younger age. Yet, she was comforting HIM! Memories of her own dad had to be flowing through her mind. Turning, he pulled Julie into a hug. Her face buried itself into his chest, the feel of her tears causing him to hold even tighter. What had he ever done to deserve the love of a girl like her...

Bill's eyes fell on his Mom. She was standing behind Betty, arms wrapped around her daughter as they looked on at Dad. Mom's chin rested on Betty's head, a mirror of how Dad would often stand with Mom as they looked out over a sunset. He caught Mom's eye, and let out a deep sigh.

"When can he come home?"

Her own sigh came back, unconsciously showing where her son acquired that trait. Shirley looked over at Gretchen, standing with Jenny by the end of the bed.

"They're going to want to keep him here a few days, at least. Make sure there are no complications, that they have everything back where it's supposed to be. Who knows when he'll be able to get back to work. Maybe not till sometime next month."

Gretchen nodded. Her own memories of her Nick, four years gone, were not as raw as they were for her daughters. She had said her goodbyes. Now her mind was remembering the practical lessons learned from that horror, ways she could help her old friend, ease her burden.

"Anything you need, just ask. Me or the girls would be more than happy to take shifts being nurse when you need time for yourself." Both Jenny and Julie nodded, although to Bill it seemed like Julie was wiping her nose on him. Gretchen walked over to Shirley, putting a comforting hand on her back. "Speaking of which, we're taking you out to lunch."

"I can eat here," Shirley said, shaking her head. Gretchen's hand slid towards her until she was gripping Shirley's arm near the elbow.

"You can, but you won't. I have rope in the car if we need it, but you're coming with us. He'll still be here, and you need a break."

"You always were a bitch," Shirley said with a sigh. Jenny gave her best friend's mother a long look, then glanced up at her Mom.

"I'm not allowed to agree with her, am I, Mom?"

"Not if you ever want to date."

Cindi sat back on the couch in the 2nd floor waiting area. Her hands were in her lap, palms up. Try as she might, she couldn't tear her eyes away from them.

These hands ... had saved someone.

They also hurt. Touching the orange things had been like grabbing solid fire, but much as Ai was freezing to the touch without having the same lasting effects as grabbing something sub-zero, so too Cindi had the pain of horrible burns without any actual skin damage. Her pain would fade ... once these small orange cats stopped licking her palms.

She could make them go away. Cindi knew that now. She could, with some struggle, stop at least this symptom of injury. But ... she wouldn't. That would be wrong. Selfish. She had earned this pain. It was the result of doing good, a badge of honor. She was more than strong enough to deal with this.

But, what of the rest of it? She ... had saved a life. Confronted the horrible orange things, and saved a life. God! What that MEANT! The ramifications! Mrs. Darrow would be thrilled! Cindi could ... could, what? Be seen as a freak? Studied, laughed at, persecuted, dissected, called evil, worshiped, burned as a witch...

Why should that worry her?

Mrs. Darrow could be trusted. All her new family could be. Cindi just had to be open and honest with them, about everything. They would help her. Make her safe. Make her happy.

... as happy as looking into the eyes of that beautiful girl had made her...

"May I sit?"

The unfamiliar voice came from above her. Cindi paid it no mind. The pain in her palms was starting to fade, the creatures licking slower...

Feeling the couch move under added weight, she looked to her left.

The woman was vaguely familiar. She was thin, amazingly thin- Cindi could see the bones in her arm. It was a healthy thin, though, born of genetics and not starvation. Long brown hair, held in a ponytail by a white scrunchy, fell past her waist. Her face ... her face was tired, worn with the ravages not of years, but of recent days. She was dressed in jeans and a light sweater, cute but practical. The stranger was looking at Cindi with kind, questioning eyes. Where did she know...

Cindi's eyes widened.

"You're from the room," she whispered. The stranger nodded slowly.

"My name's Taylor. I want ... well, we want to thank you. For what," and she gave a tired laugh, "we don't know, but something happened. Something wonderful."

Cindi looked back down at her hands. She was down to one orange cat creature, licking each hand in turn.

"What's your name, child?"

"Cindi..."

Taylor's eyes widened a bit at that, causing Cindi to narrow her eyes suspiciously. Taylor quickly explained.

"We have a daughter Cindy, next youngest after Violet. Did ... do you know Violet?"

"No..." Cindi closed her eyes. She could see the older girl. See the outline of her breasts, see those eyes...

"Violet ... she's OK, now. I mean ... she's OK! After all this ... she's OK!" Cindi looked at the woman again. What could she say?

"I'm ... glad."

"It's been..." Taylor turned her head and looked out the window. Snow was coming down again, the road only still visible because of the headlights. "There was an accident Saturday. Bad. We lost our..." She paused. It was a pause of suppression, of what Cindi didn't know. "Violet's dad died."

Cindi sat up, stunned. She didn't even know Violet, but her heart ached for the teen.

"And ... we thought we had lost our oldest baby. She's been unconscious since then. Till ... till you came." Taylor looked at Cindi like she was an angel, which made her blush.

"I..."

"She wants to talk to you. To her... 'Red Witch'." Cindi was shocked, first that the dark beauty wanted to see her, and then again at being called that! It took a moment to realize that she was still wearing a black dress. Of course she looked like a witch!

"I'm not a witch..."

"You can tell her that," Taylor said, smiling a knowing smile. "But ... not today. Or tomorrow. We..." She looked back down the long hallway. " ... we need time to mourn, as a family. Violet most of all, maybe, as she just found out." The woman paused, looking down at the simple wedding ring on her hand. A ripple of grief flowed over her face, then was pushed aside. Shaking her head, Taylor's hands went to her purse. Pulling out a wallet, she fished through it. For a moment Cindi had the disturbing thought that this woman was going to try and pay her, but a moment later she had pulled out a photograph and a pen. Taylor jotted numbers on the back, then handed the small picture to Cindi.

"Call her this weekend. After things have calmed down."

Cindi looked at the phone number, then flipped it over and looked at the photo. Once again the sheer beauty of the girl threatened to overwhelm her. Taylor noticed this, but made no comment. Fate was a powerful force in her family. If it was to be, so be it. She stood.

"Again ... thank you."

When Cindi looked up a few moments later, She was gone.

The two twelve year old boys made their way down the plowed, but rapidly filling in, street. Carrying snow shovels and other instruments of destruction, the two eyed shoveled driveway after shoveled driveway. The tallest, shifting his gear to his other shoulder, shook his head in disgust.

"Look at this. Because YOU wanted to sleep in, everyone beat us down here. 'Hey, ' you said, 'lets get up and make money shoveling!'. Then you sleep to almost noon!"

"I said I was sorry, man! You should have woke me!"

Keith wasn't going to admit that his friend had a point, that he himself had slept in till 10 AM. No, this was something to be lorded over Antonio for the next month or two. His gaze traveled up into the sky. Snow was coming down again, heavier now. Not good.

"Well, I say we turn around. Nothing down here to shovel, and it's just going to fill in again anyways. Who's going to pay us to do the job twice"

"What about that one?" Antonio pointed at a white two-story with some brick about four houses down, on the curve. There were no cars, but the driveway was full of snow. Keith shook his head.

"Probably nobody home."

"Let's see anyway. Be stupid to miss out on money because we stopped here."

Keith sighed. He was starting to hate his friend. They could be sledding.

A couple minutes later, the two trudged up the long, inclined driveway. The snow was up past their knees, making the trip more fun than either really wanted.

"What do you think," Antonio asked, "ten bucks each?"

"I say we forget it. Gah, look at this drift! Twenty each!" Pushing through the wind sculpted mound, they found the next ten feet much more reasonable at about a foot high. "Stupid wind."

Antonio made it up to the garage door, which had its own drift in front of it, peering in. Empty. Well, might as well ring the front doorbell anyway while they were up here. No pain, no pain. Turning, he saw no sign of where the walkway was. The drift went from a foot up the first set of windows, and flowed down till it settled at about two feet high. He looked down at his feet.

"You have snow in your boots?"

"Of course I have snow in my boots! The snow's twice as high! Let's go home!"

Antonio blew out a disappointed breath. So much for their first money making endeavor. Maybe they could declare bankruptcy ... Resigned to his fate, he took a glance into the large window behind the drift.

A blue face looked back at him.

"Gah! What the hell!" He instinctively jumped back, falling into the drift behind him. Keith looked at him with an amused expression.

"What?"

"Someone in there wearing a mask!" He scrambled to his feet, gaze going back to the window. A form was running away from him, and through a door.

"Was it a kid?"

"He ran away!" The thought struck Antonio. "Someone in a mask in a deserted house! Maybe some kid is robbing it!"

Keith was about to laugh at his friend's imagination, when the sound of a door banging open came from the rear of the house. He looked at Antonio with new found respect, and growing excitement. A robbery! Antonio quickly struggled past him towards the side of the house.

"Come on!"

The two dropped their shovels, running as best they could around the garage. The drifts weren't too bad here, but they were slowed enough that by the time they had a good view of the back yard, all they could see was a figure wearing white entering the fields. Glancing at the back of the house, they could see the rear door swinging wide open.

"Do we chase him?"

"And do what when we catch him? Naw. Let the the adults deal with it." Keith looked at the open door. "Let's leave a note with our name and phone numbers. If they call the police we can help."

Ai ran.

Bare legs and feet pumped as fast as they could. Like a deer, she practically leapt through the snow, graceful limbs slipping from the snow's grasp. The white sheet she wore fluttered behind like a cape, while her hands had a death grip on both the keys and the shovel.