With Her Wrists I Tremble Ch 5
Chapter Five
Artie had broken a sweat by the time he reached the hospital. He burst through the doors and ran to the front desk. “Claudia Donovan!” He barked at the receptionist.
“Room 302.” The young nurse shrunk under his glare.
He turned abruptly and sped down the hallway. Pete stood up as Artie walked toward him. He held up his hands to stop the crazed man.
“Where is she? Is she okay? What happened?” Artie tried to push past Pete.
Woah! Hold on. She just got out of surgery. The doctor said she is going to be okay. The bullet…” Pete threw his fist at the wall. “Damnit Claudia! I told her to wait in the car, but of course she didn’t listen!” He ruffled his hair. “She’s in there. Olive is sitting with her.”
Artie peered over Pete’s shoulder. “Who’s Olive?”
Myka didn’t know what she was doing. She wasn’t thinking when she dragged Helena to her car and sped off down the freeway. Now she found herself in a cheap motel with five packs of ace bandages, alcohol, and blood on her hands. Laying Helena on the bed, she found that the bullet had gone all the way through. Tears caught in her throat as she went to work cleaning the wound, then wrapping it best she could.
She choked as tears spilled from her eyes, clouding her vision. Helena looked so pale and fragile in the fluorescent lights. Myka felt she only just had to touch her and she would crumble to bits. She lay down next to Helena and listened to her breathe. Her eyes felt heavy. She didn’t realize till now how tired she actually was. She scooted closer to Helena, feeling the familiar warmth beside her and quickly drifted off to sleep.
Helena felt like she was on fire. Her breath came in short gasps. There was a light pressure on her chest and she glanced down. A pale arm was draped across her breast and a tuft of dark curls sighed softly beside her.
“Mm… Myka.” Helena’s voice croaked.
The body shifted beside her, Myka blinked the sleep from her eyes. “Helena?” She pushed herself to her knees, brushing away the hair that clung to Helena’s cheeks.
She watched as Myka lifted her shirt and started unraveling the blood stained bandages. She saw her pause before beginning the process of applying new bandages, holding a brave face.
Myka tried to stay as calm as possible. The skin around the wound puckered and swelled and Helena was already feverish. Myka felt her shiver and pulled the extra blanket from the closet, tucking it around Helena.
She needed help and she needed it now. She held Helena’s hand in hers and pressed her lips to the pulse point on Helena’s wrist. With each kiss, she trembled.
Olive tapped her fingers against the bed rail to the beat of “pumped up kicks” by Foster the Kids. This was her second time in a hospital in less then a week. She felt one was too many. She was lulled by the rhythmic beat of the heart monitor. She jumped as a large man with curly hair and caterpillar eyebrows burst through the door.
Pete shuffled in behind him. “Artie…”
Artie shoved past Olive, grasping Claudia’s hand in his.
“She’s going to be alright. They removed the bullet and she should be waking up in the next few hours.” Olive placed a supportive hand on Artie’s shoulder.
He shrugged it off and turned towards her. “Who are you?”
“I… um… I’m friends with…”
Pete stepped in between Olive and the crazed Artie. “Hey man! Back off! She probably saved Claudia’s life!”
Artie sighed, calming himself down. He fell into the woven armchair next to Claudia’s bed. This time he spoke in a softer voice. “Who are you?”
“My name is Olive. I’m a friend.”
Helena hadn’t said much during the few moments she was awake. Myka had been in enough hospitals to know the early signs of infection, and she would need more then a bottle of cleaning alcohol to fix it. She took her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. She dialed a number that had all but been branded into her mind.
“Hello…” A tired voice answered the line.
Myka ran her fingers through her messy hair and sat on the edge of the bed. “Leena.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Myka?”
Myka choked down sobs, her voice shaking as she spoke. “I need your help.”
“Okay. Okay. Myka…” There was a loud shuffling on the other side of the phone. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Helena… She’s…” Myka couldn’t hold back any longer, her fears spilling into her voice. “She’s dying.”
“Myka. Myka, it’s going to be alright. Okay? I’m coming to get you. Where are you?”
“Sunset Motel on frespoint.”
“Okay. I’m on my way.”
Myka was holding her head in her hands when there was a soft knock on her door two hours later. She paused with her hand on the door knob.
“Myka? Myka it’s Leena!”
Myke opened the door and rushed into Leena’s arms, squeezing her to her chest. She led her into the room.
Leena cringed at the dried blood on Myka’s hands. “Are you hurt?” she saw the bright red of her aura emanating around her. It rolled off her in waves, each one smacking Leena in the face.
“No. No. I’m okay. It’s Helena’s.”
Leena glanced at the woman on the bed, her aura coming out in yellows and blues, with dark red seeping from her core. She sat next to her, gingerly removing the bandages that were already soaked through. “Myka. I… I can’t do anything. She needs to go to a hospital now. Her wound is too severe to just be bandaged up.”
“No.” Myka paced back and forth. “No she can’t go to the hospital. They will find her there and take her back and I can’t deal with… I can’t handle losing her again.”
“Okay. I have an idea. I need you to help me get her to the car. Quickly.”
The Warehouse was empty. Myka’s heart froze when she entered the familiar surroundings. So many memories flooded her pores, leaving her with the stench of grief. Leena and Myka carefully lay Helena on the rug, she moaned in her feverish delirium. Myka brushed her hand against her cheek soothing her nightmares. She sighed and fell back into a restless sleep.
“I’ll be right back. Stay with her, keep her with us.” Leena ran down the warehouse stairs, leaving only the reverberating clang of flats on metal in her absence.
Myka sat with Helena’s head resting in her lap, stroking her hair. “Helena? Can you hear me?”
Helena’s eyes blinked open, glazed in confusion. She lifted her arm, brushing her fingertips against Myka’s cheeks. “I love you…”
Myka grasped Helena’s hand in hers. “I love you too.” She pressed her hand to her lips and inhaled lavender, which was now tainted by the metallic scent of blood.
Leena ran back into the room carrying a gold Ankh. She knelt beside Helena. “We only use this in dire situations. It can be addictive. Okay Myka I need you to help me hold her still. This may hurt a bit.”
Myka nodded and held Helena’s shoulders in place.
Leena set the Ankh against Helena’s stomach right above her center. Helena twitched as the Ankh glowed a blueish purple. “Hold her still.” Leena commanded.
Myka gasped as the blood lifted from her skin and rolled down her hands back into the wound. Spidery veins snaked across Helena’s skin rebuilding the missing tissue. With each pulse of the artifact, Helena twitched. Myka and Leena pinned her legs and arms to the carpet, keeping her from harming herself further.
Helena’s eyes opened wide and there was a sharp intake of breath before she fell back into Myka’s arms. Leena pulled the Ankh off her. All that remained of the injury was a pink scar on her abdomen.
Claudia remembered this smell. The smell of death and chloride. A hospital smell. Her mind was clouded when she opened her eyes and everything seemed brighter then it was. Three faces hovered over her, each one melding into the other. “Is there a hydra on the loose?” Her words came out in slurs.
“She’s awake.” A familiar voice echoed into one ear and out the other.
“Artie? Is that you? I love you!” A lopsided grin spread across Clauda’s face, giving her a dazed look.
“You alright kiddo?” Artie stood by the side of the bed, studying her through his glasses.
“Oh yea… dude… I’m peachy.” Claudia shrugged.
Pete laughed. “She’s high.”
Artie shot him a menacing glare and he quieted up, passing his laugh as a cough.
Olive sat in the corner, not moving. Artie had ordered her to sit there until he could decide what to do with her. She refused to tell them who she worked for, only that she was a friend and she was there to help them. She stared at the girl she had met only once before and watched as the life came back in her cheeks. Claudia’s short red hair fell across her face, revealing a chunk of blonde hidden underneath.
Olive pulled her cell phone out of her jeans and sent one text message. “Where are you? I hope you’re ok. Please Call me.” Then flipped her phone closed.
Myka was in the room. It used to be hers, filled with her books and mementos, but now it seemed empty. She folded her arms across her chest and breathed in the familiarity of a place that had been her home. Leena barged in carrying a tray in front of her. She passed a cup of tea to Myka who accepted it graciously.
Myka sipped the hot liquid and purred as hints of lemon and honey danced on her tongue. Leena sat on the side of the bed checking on Helena, who was still unconscious. Once she was satisfied with her condition she took Myka by the hand and led her down into the kitchen. Myka was reluctant to leave at first but Leena reassured her that Helena would be out for the better part of the day.
Myka was exhausted. She felt each movement with the scraping of her bones together. She felt heavy and sluggish as she sipped her tea at the kitchen table. Leena sat beside her quietly drinking and waiting for an explanation, anything that would clarify the ordeal they all just went through, anything that would tell her where she had been for the past several months.
“I missed this place.” Myka sighed taking in the familiar surroundings.
Pete found Claudia high on morphine very amusing. He knew he would tease her about this later. “How are you feeling?” He whispered, trying not to wake Artie who had drifted off in the armchair.
Claudia stared at him and smiled. “Hello Pete my man… I am doing good!” She giggled at him.
Pete smiled back. “Is there anything I can get you? Water?”
Claudia put her finger to her lips in contemplation. “I need… my green hoodie…”
“But that’s all the way back at Leena’s. Can’t I just get you another blanket?” Pete sighed.
“No, no, no… I need the green hoodie or the aliens will pick my brain!” Claudia gestured erratically.
Pete shushed Claudia as Artie stirred in his seat. “Okay! Okay! I’ll go get it! I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Okie dokie lemon peasey.” Claudia giggled again.
“You do know that doesn’t rhyme right? Oh never mind Ill be back!” Pete turned to see Olive sitting silently on the plastic chair. “You wanna come with?”
“But what about…” Olive pointed towards the sleeping man next to the girl.
“Don’t worry about him, you’ll be with me the whole time.”
Pete barged into Leena’s house like he had done so many times before, with Olive following quietly behind him. He heard the sound of movement from the kitchen. “Leena? It’s Pete! You wouldn’t happen to know where Claudia’s green hoodie is, would you?” Pete rounded the corner into the kitchen and smiled at Leena washing the dishes.
“Oh… Hey Pete. I thought you were staying with Claudia at the hospital?” She wiped her hands on her dress.
“I was, until a drugged up Claudia ordered me to retrieve her hoodie. So here I am.” Pete stepped aside, revealing the teenager standing behind him. “And this is Olive. She’s a… a friend. Yeah. So do you know where to I can find Claudia’s green hoodie?”
“Um… I think it’s in her room, but I’ll get it.” Leena walked towards the front hallway.
“No, that’s alright! I’ll get it.” He moved towards the stairs and began climbing the creaky stairs.
Leena ran up behind him. “No Pete I can get it!” Panic crept in her voice.
“Leena, what’s the big deal? I…” Pete spun around as he reached the second floor and froze. Standing with her hand on the door knob to her old room was the person he was least expecting to see. The person he had been searching for, for the past several months. “Myka?”
Artie had broken a sweat by the time he reached the hospital. He burst through the doors and ran to the front desk. “Claudia Donovan!” He barked at the receptionist.
“Room 302.” The young nurse shrunk under his glare.
He turned abruptly and sped down the hallway. Pete stood up as Artie walked toward him. He held up his hands to stop the crazed man.
“Where is she? Is she okay? What happened?” Artie tried to push past Pete.
Woah! Hold on. She just got out of surgery. The doctor said she is going to be okay. The bullet…” Pete threw his fist at the wall. “Damnit Claudia! I told her to wait in the car, but of course she didn’t listen!” He ruffled his hair. “She’s in there. Olive is sitting with her.”
Artie peered over Pete’s shoulder. “Who’s Olive?”
Myka didn’t know what she was doing. She wasn’t thinking when she dragged Helena to her car and sped off down the freeway. Now she found herself in a cheap motel with five packs of ace bandages, alcohol, and blood on her hands. Laying Helena on the bed, she found that the bullet had gone all the way through. Tears caught in her throat as she went to work cleaning the wound, then wrapping it best she could.
She choked as tears spilled from her eyes, clouding her vision. Helena looked so pale and fragile in the fluorescent lights. Myka felt she only just had to touch her and she would crumble to bits. She lay down next to Helena and listened to her breathe. Her eyes felt heavy. She didn’t realize till now how tired she actually was. She scooted closer to Helena, feeling the familiar warmth beside her and quickly drifted off to sleep.
Helena felt like she was on fire. Her breath came in short gasps. There was a light pressure on her chest and she glanced down. A pale arm was draped across her breast and a tuft of dark curls sighed softly beside her.
“Mm… Myka.” Helena’s voice croaked.
The body shifted beside her, Myka blinked the sleep from her eyes. “Helena?” She pushed herself to her knees, brushing away the hair that clung to Helena’s cheeks.
She watched as Myka lifted her shirt and started unraveling the blood stained bandages. She saw her pause before beginning the process of applying new bandages, holding a brave face.
Myka tried to stay as calm as possible. The skin around the wound puckered and swelled and Helena was already feverish. Myka felt her shiver and pulled the extra blanket from the closet, tucking it around Helena.
She needed help and she needed it now. She held Helena’s hand in hers and pressed her lips to the pulse point on Helena’s wrist. With each kiss, she trembled.
Olive tapped her fingers against the bed rail to the beat of “pumped up kicks” by Foster the Kids. This was her second time in a hospital in less then a week. She felt one was too many. She was lulled by the rhythmic beat of the heart monitor. She jumped as a large man with curly hair and caterpillar eyebrows burst through the door.
Pete shuffled in behind him. “Artie…”
Artie shoved past Olive, grasping Claudia’s hand in his.
“She’s going to be alright. They removed the bullet and she should be waking up in the next few hours.” Olive placed a supportive hand on Artie’s shoulder.
He shrugged it off and turned towards her. “Who are you?”
“I… um… I’m friends with…”
Pete stepped in between Olive and the crazed Artie. “Hey man! Back off! She probably saved Claudia’s life!”
Artie sighed, calming himself down. He fell into the woven armchair next to Claudia’s bed. This time he spoke in a softer voice. “Who are you?”
“My name is Olive. I’m a friend.”
Helena hadn’t said much during the few moments she was awake. Myka had been in enough hospitals to know the early signs of infection, and she would need more then a bottle of cleaning alcohol to fix it. She took her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. She dialed a number that had all but been branded into her mind.
“Hello…” A tired voice answered the line.
Myka ran her fingers through her messy hair and sat on the edge of the bed. “Leena.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Myka?”
Myka choked down sobs, her voice shaking as she spoke. “I need your help.”
“Okay. Okay. Myka…” There was a loud shuffling on the other side of the phone. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Helena… She’s…” Myka couldn’t hold back any longer, her fears spilling into her voice. “She’s dying.”
“Myka. Myka, it’s going to be alright. Okay? I’m coming to get you. Where are you?”
“Sunset Motel on frespoint.”
“Okay. I’m on my way.”
Myka was holding her head in her hands when there was a soft knock on her door two hours later. She paused with her hand on the door knob.
“Myka? Myka it’s Leena!”
Myke opened the door and rushed into Leena’s arms, squeezing her to her chest. She led her into the room.
Leena cringed at the dried blood on Myka’s hands. “Are you hurt?” she saw the bright red of her aura emanating around her. It rolled off her in waves, each one smacking Leena in the face.
“No. No. I’m okay. It’s Helena’s.”
Leena glanced at the woman on the bed, her aura coming out in yellows and blues, with dark red seeping from her core. She sat next to her, gingerly removing the bandages that were already soaked through. “Myka. I… I can’t do anything. She needs to go to a hospital now. Her wound is too severe to just be bandaged up.”
“No.” Myka paced back and forth. “No she can’t go to the hospital. They will find her there and take her back and I can’t deal with… I can’t handle losing her again.”
“Okay. I have an idea. I need you to help me get her to the car. Quickly.”
The Warehouse was empty. Myka’s heart froze when she entered the familiar surroundings. So many memories flooded her pores, leaving her with the stench of grief. Leena and Myka carefully lay Helena on the rug, she moaned in her feverish delirium. Myka brushed her hand against her cheek soothing her nightmares. She sighed and fell back into a restless sleep.
“I’ll be right back. Stay with her, keep her with us.” Leena ran down the warehouse stairs, leaving only the reverberating clang of flats on metal in her absence.
Myka sat with Helena’s head resting in her lap, stroking her hair. “Helena? Can you hear me?”
Helena’s eyes blinked open, glazed in confusion. She lifted her arm, brushing her fingertips against Myka’s cheeks. “I love you…”
Myka grasped Helena’s hand in hers. “I love you too.” She pressed her hand to her lips and inhaled lavender, which was now tainted by the metallic scent of blood.
Leena ran back into the room carrying a gold Ankh. She knelt beside Helena. “We only use this in dire situations. It can be addictive. Okay Myka I need you to help me hold her still. This may hurt a bit.”
Myka nodded and held Helena’s shoulders in place.
Leena set the Ankh against Helena’s stomach right above her center. Helena twitched as the Ankh glowed a blueish purple. “Hold her still.” Leena commanded.
Myka gasped as the blood lifted from her skin and rolled down her hands back into the wound. Spidery veins snaked across Helena’s skin rebuilding the missing tissue. With each pulse of the artifact, Helena twitched. Myka and Leena pinned her legs and arms to the carpet, keeping her from harming herself further.
Helena’s eyes opened wide and there was a sharp intake of breath before she fell back into Myka’s arms. Leena pulled the Ankh off her. All that remained of the injury was a pink scar on her abdomen.
Claudia remembered this smell. The smell of death and chloride. A hospital smell. Her mind was clouded when she opened her eyes and everything seemed brighter then it was. Three faces hovered over her, each one melding into the other. “Is there a hydra on the loose?” Her words came out in slurs.
“She’s awake.” A familiar voice echoed into one ear and out the other.
“Artie? Is that you? I love you!” A lopsided grin spread across Clauda’s face, giving her a dazed look.
“You alright kiddo?” Artie stood by the side of the bed, studying her through his glasses.
“Oh yea… dude… I’m peachy.” Claudia shrugged.
Pete laughed. “She’s high.”
Artie shot him a menacing glare and he quieted up, passing his laugh as a cough.
Olive sat in the corner, not moving. Artie had ordered her to sit there until he could decide what to do with her. She refused to tell them who she worked for, only that she was a friend and she was there to help them. She stared at the girl she had met only once before and watched as the life came back in her cheeks. Claudia’s short red hair fell across her face, revealing a chunk of blonde hidden underneath.
Olive pulled her cell phone out of her jeans and sent one text message. “Where are you? I hope you’re ok. Please Call me.” Then flipped her phone closed.
Myka was in the room. It used to be hers, filled with her books and mementos, but now it seemed empty. She folded her arms across her chest and breathed in the familiarity of a place that had been her home. Leena barged in carrying a tray in front of her. She passed a cup of tea to Myka who accepted it graciously.
Myka sipped the hot liquid and purred as hints of lemon and honey danced on her tongue. Leena sat on the side of the bed checking on Helena, who was still unconscious. Once she was satisfied with her condition she took Myka by the hand and led her down into the kitchen. Myka was reluctant to leave at first but Leena reassured her that Helena would be out for the better part of the day.
Myka was exhausted. She felt each movement with the scraping of her bones together. She felt heavy and sluggish as she sipped her tea at the kitchen table. Leena sat beside her quietly drinking and waiting for an explanation, anything that would clarify the ordeal they all just went through, anything that would tell her where she had been for the past several months.
“I missed this place.” Myka sighed taking in the familiar surroundings.
Pete found Claudia high on morphine very amusing. He knew he would tease her about this later. “How are you feeling?” He whispered, trying not to wake Artie who had drifted off in the armchair.
Claudia stared at him and smiled. “Hello Pete my man… I am doing good!” She giggled at him.
Pete smiled back. “Is there anything I can get you? Water?”
Claudia put her finger to her lips in contemplation. “I need… my green hoodie…”
“But that’s all the way back at Leena’s. Can’t I just get you another blanket?” Pete sighed.
“No, no, no… I need the green hoodie or the aliens will pick my brain!” Claudia gestured erratically.
Pete shushed Claudia as Artie stirred in his seat. “Okay! Okay! I’ll go get it! I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Okie dokie lemon peasey.” Claudia giggled again.
“You do know that doesn’t rhyme right? Oh never mind Ill be back!” Pete turned to see Olive sitting silently on the plastic chair. “You wanna come with?”
“But what about…” Olive pointed towards the sleeping man next to the girl.
“Don’t worry about him, you’ll be with me the whole time.”
Pete barged into Leena’s house like he had done so many times before, with Olive following quietly behind him. He heard the sound of movement from the kitchen. “Leena? It’s Pete! You wouldn’t happen to know where Claudia’s green hoodie is, would you?” Pete rounded the corner into the kitchen and smiled at Leena washing the dishes.
“Oh… Hey Pete. I thought you were staying with Claudia at the hospital?” She wiped her hands on her dress.
“I was, until a drugged up Claudia ordered me to retrieve her hoodie. So here I am.” Pete stepped aside, revealing the teenager standing behind him. “And this is Olive. She’s a… a friend. Yeah. So do you know where to I can find Claudia’s green hoodie?”
“Um… I think it’s in her room, but I’ll get it.” Leena walked towards the front hallway.
“No, that’s alright! I’ll get it.” He moved towards the stairs and began climbing the creaky stairs.
Leena ran up behind him. “No Pete I can get it!” Panic crept in her voice.
“Leena, what’s the big deal? I…” Pete spun around as he reached the second floor and froze. Standing with her hand on the door knob to her old room was the person he was least expecting to see. The person he had been searching for, for the past several months. “Myka?”