Dear Theodosia: blow us all away (philidosia)

17: Hide and Seek

Blood. So much blood. Too much for Angie to be alive. Angie's dead and soon Philip and Theodosia will be too. Philip clutches Theodosia's hand. It's sticky with blood. He closes his eyes and waits for death. Philip keeps his eyes closed but death doesn't come. Nothing comes.

Philip suddenly hears a low whine and feels liquid splatter over him. He opens his eyes and standing in front of him is his mother and Aunt Angelica. His mother holds a bow and arrows and Angelica holds a lumberjack's axe. They stand back to back, fending off wolves. Philip and Theodosia stand, holding hands, watching in awe.

When all the wolves are either dead or have fled, Angelica and Eliza run over to Theodosia and Philip.

"Are you guys okay?" Eliza asks, taking Philip's face in her hands and examining it.

"Yeah, we're okay, that's just wolf blood on me. Ma, you were amazing! You and aunt Angelica just kicked those wolves' asses! How did you learn how to do that?"

Angelica steps forward, dropping her axe onto the ground with a thud. "When we were children, our home could be quite dangerous at times so, despite it being controversial for women to learn to fight, our father had us trained to fight."

Eliza steps forward as well. "There was one time when the house was being invaded and everyone was safe upstairs, but our baby sister was downstairs with the invaders, so Peggs went down into the fight and rescued our baby sister. Someone threw a tomahawk at her, but she ducked just in time and it embedded itself into the banister. We still have that mark on the banister, we kept it as a battle scar."

"Wow," Philip breathes. He has a faint smile on his face before he remembers Angie. The smile slips off his face. "Ma, Angie," Philip gestures over at Angie and upon seeing her, the smile slips off his mother's face as well.

Angelica and Eliza rush over to Angie. They begin to inspect her, feeling for a pulse.

"Oh my god! She's alive!" Eliza shouts.

"What?" Philip cries, rushing over. He grabs Angie and pulls her into his arms, crying.

"Wait, but I didn't feel a pulse earlier," Theodosia says, coming over to them as well.

"It's a very faint pulse, but it's there," Angelica informs her. "We could bring Angie back from this."

Theodosia bursts into tears and sinks onto the ground.

"We need to get her home, quickly," Eliza says. "Theodosia, I'm going to need you to come with as well, we'll need your help healing Angelica."

Theodosia nods and stands up, wiping her eyes. Philip stands up as well, holding Angie. He cradles her head close to his chest.

"Don't worry Ange, you're going to be okay, we'll get you home soon," he whispers to her, "you'll be fine, I promise."

Angelica and Eliza come over to them with horses. Philip climbs onto the horse with his mother and Theodosia rides with Angelica. They go as fast as they possibly can in these pitch black woods and actually get home pretty quick.

Once at home, Theodosia and his mother rush Angie into the infirmary. Philip tries to follow them, but the door to the infirmary gets shut in his face. He sinks down onto the floor, defeated.

After sitting on that floor for at least three hours, the door finally opens. 

Philip quickly stands up. "How is she?" he asks his mother.

Tears pour down Eliza's face.

"Ma, how is she?" Philip asks, more frantically this time.

"Just come in," Eliza grabs his hand.

Philip's heart pounds in his chest. Please let Angie be okay. Please.

The room is quiet. Angelica's small body lays on one of the beds. Her eyes are closed. Philip quietly walks over to her. He brushes her hair out of her face and gently kisses her forehead. Her skin is cold. 

Philip turns to his mother. "Is she alive?" Somehow he manages to keep his voice even.

Eliza swallows painfully. "I don't know."

Philip nods and turns away, brushing tears out of his eyes. He gently feels Angie's wrist, searching for a pulse. He can't find one. Just because she has no pulse and her skin is cold, doesn't mean she's dead. She can't be dead. Philip's alive still, so Angie has to be too.

Suddenly he feels like he's suffocating. The room is shrinking, closing in on him. The smell of his sister's blood fills the air. Philip gags as blood fills the room. It's filling his nose and mouth. He chokes on it. Blood. So much blood. Too much blood. Philip runs out of the room. He stumbles down the hall until he finds an empty room. He crawls into the armoire, shutting the door.

Philip wraps his arms around himself and takes deep breaths. Angelica is alive. They are just playing hide and seek. That's why Philip is hiding in an armoire. He hears someone calling his name. He can't come out though. Otherwise he will lose the game. Angie will find him soon. He just has to wait a little bit longer. Philip closes his eyes.

It's been a week. No one will admit that Angie is dead. She's had no pulse, no breath, cold skin, for a week. It's impossible for her to be alive. And yet. No one will admit she's dead. It's easier to pretend. Angelica will wake up any minute now. And that's why Eliza and Philip rarely leave her bedside. Except for when they're playing hide and seek. Philip and Angie. Angie loves to play hide and seek.

Philip is hiding right now. He's under someone's bed. He can hear Angie calling his name. He won't come out though. He wants to win. When they we're little, Angie would always call Philip's name and he would come out to her, then he would lose. Philip is smarter now. He won't come out when she calls. He'll wait for her to find him. The longer it takes, the better. Philip closes his eyes.

It's been two weeks. Theodosia left a long time ago. Philip hasn't seen her in forever. It's okay though, Philip is busy. Angie wants to play so much hide and seek. Right now she's sleeping. Philip is watching over her, waiting for her to wake up so they can play hide and seek.

When she finally wakes up, she grabs onto Philip's arm. Looking him in the eyes, she slowly begins to count. Philip stands up and runs away. He needs to find a hiding spot. Once he's wedged into a space under the stairs, Philip closes his eyes and waits for Angie to find him.

It's been a month. Angie doesn't like playing hide and seek anymore. She just sleeps. All the time. Philip tries to wake her up to see if she wants to play. She never does. 

Angelica is dead. It's been five weeks. She won't get up to play hide and seek anymore. She won't move. She's dead. Philip is in a fog. He doesn't cry. Or shout. Or feel anything. He's numb.

Six weeks later and Philip is sitting next to Angie's bed. He stares at her body. They really should plan a funeral. They really should do something with her body. They shouldn't be keeping a dead body in their house. No one wants to admit she's dead though.

Philip reaches out and grabs Angie's hand. He just wishes he could have said goodbye to her. Philip closes his eyes, feeling tears drip out. The first he's shed in weeks.

Someone reaches up and brushes Philip's tears away. Their hand lingers on Philip's cheek.

"I'm sorry," a hoarse voice says.

Philip slowly opens his eyes. A pair of green eyes, the exact same as his, stare back at him.

"Oh my god!" Philip says, "Oh my god!" The tears pour faster from his eyes and he pulls her into his arms. "Oh my god! You're alive!"

"I'm alive."