TOUCHED

TOUCHED - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I willed myself to look away from Eric. My eyes seemed drawn to him without my awareness. I just couldn’t believe the resemblance.

One last glance at the couple only antagonized the pain I was fighting to keep locked away. Anna looked asleep in Dillon’s dark, strong arms. For a moment I envied her, envied the safe place she was going to die, that she wasn’t going to be alone at the end. It was fascinating to watch. In my darkest dreams I had imagined what such a thing would look like but I had never expected to see it. It looked so peaceful, so calm and safe. Anna could have just been asleep.

In fact, she was still just lying there in Dillon’s arms, without a sign of the shakes starting. How? Why wasn’t she twitching? I spoke before my better judgment could step in.

“She should be convulsing by now. Are you doing something to her or is she already-?”

Dillon shook his head. “No, she’s still alive. I’ve just been sitting here-”

He took his bare hand off her heart to adjust the blanket and immediately both of Anna’s hands began to twitch. Shocked Dillon pulled away as if she had become a poisonous thing about to strike him. We all watched in horror as the convulsions began to spread. The poor girls arms folded into her chest and her knees came up. Anna’s body began to fold as the clenching muscles in her abdomen drew all but her head towards her middle.

“Anna! Anna, No!” Dillon choked, distancing himself from Anna. Dillon’s cries seemed far away as I watched Anna on the floor. Something was different. I dropped everything, rushing over to Dillon. I knelt so we were eye to eye. I grabbed him by the shoulders to get his attention back.

“Wait, Dillon, WAIT! Listen to me! She was fine a second ago. What were you doing?”

Dillon just looked confused, his eyes wild with grief. Then I looked back at Anna and saw what Dillon’s hand had been hiding. Anna was not wearing the under shirt as she should have been, the undershirt or Second Skin, that I myself was not wearing. Dillon had been touching her for real. An impossible idea clicked into place in my mind.

“Dillon, put your hands back!” He hesitated so I pushed him back towards Anna, pulling back his long sleeves and Second Skin to expose bare arms.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Eric asked the horror in his voice obvious. No one answered.

“Put them back, exactly the way you had them! DO IT NOW!” I commanded the confused youth.

Eric watched in horrified anticipation as Dillon, heart pounding, timidly placed his bare hands on Anna, one back over her heart, and the other back behind her head at the base of her skull. In seconds Anna’s body was deathly still.

“Is she already dead?" Eric asked sounding like the answer was going to crush him.

Shocked, and still looking terrified, Dillon shook his head and turned to me, a confused and panicked look growing on his face. My mind raced as I considered the implications. This wasn’t supposed to be possible.

“Now, take your hands off again but be ready to put it back if she starts shaking again.” I instructed a little more gently.

“You can’t be thinking?-” Eric looked at me equally confused, then around the lobby, suddenly worried that someone else might be watching. “Are you insane? He shouldn’t have been touching her in the first place!”

Whether motivated by my suggestion or Eric’s accusation I could not be sure. Either way I watched intently as Dillon slowly pulled his hands away; immediately Anna began trembling again. Before I had to say anything he put them back and Anna went still again. We all sat for a moment, stunned.