Her Dark Shadow

Chapter 30: Ezrynn

February 13:

I wake up to murmuring coming from Corbin's room.
"She's fine, I promise you. She's sleeping in her room now. Not the hospital."
"I believe you. What happened? Why was she at the hospital in the first place?"
"That I don't know. She won't tell. All we do know is that she fainted from shock, not from anything physical."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Well, I think that with Ezrynn it's a good thing, you know? She's always sad, I think. I try to make her happy, but...I don't think it goes deep enough."
"I understand. Camden's the same way."
"I'm not too surprised. Poor kid. He's not going to public school anymore, is he?"
"Nope. He was bullied. He's not allowed, even, I don't think. He's expelled for the year."
"Yeah, poor kid."
"He misses Ezrynn...What do you think happened to her? Do you think people are bullying her, too? Maybe she couldn't take all the sadness, I don't know. I think Camden blacked out with that Finnegan guy because of emotion and physical strain. He beat the nards out of that dude."
This last part makes me shudder. Beat? Not Camden. He cound't have. No, not Camden. But what about their assumptions with me? I'm not bullied. I can't let them think that. But I also can't tell them about Ky, I don't want them to know. It's too personal. He's the secret only I know about, the secret that gives me comfort, comfort that not everything was bad where I was, that there's always a light in the tunnel. That he was my light in that deep and dark tunnel.
Knock, Knock.
"Ezrynn, are you up?" Someone asks in a hushed voice.
I dare not answer the person, for I know it's not Dad or Corbin, this voice is female.
I close my eyes as they open the door to check on me.
"Veronica, let her rest, we're early and she probably wasn't attending school anyway. Come back to Corbin's room, when she wakes up she can talk to us, but until then leave her be."
"Oh, Zola, all I want to do is listen to everything you tell me to do. You know what? I think I want to be your maid! Do you have any idea how freaking fun that would be? Then I would get paid for doing what I love best, abiding by your every command!"
"Can it, Veronica, this is different. She needs rest, she just got back from the hospital for God's sake. Leave her be!"
"What if I don't want to leave her be? What if I was planning on jumping up and down on her bed until she wanted to whack me? Oh, yes, then I would assume my position as maid and listen to your most recent command. But what fun it've been annoying the crap out of her."
"Veronica and Zola, get back in here before you do wake her up, why don't you?!"
The door to my room shuts softly as Zola and Veronica listen to what must be their sister, Megan.
I would pretend to wake, head to Corbin's room, but the truth is, I'm exhausted.
So I drift back to a dreamless paradise, rid of worry and discomfort and even thoughts.

I wake up to Dad standing above me, talking with Corbin.
"Dad, what's going to happen? How will she react? I can't stay here forever, I'm turning eighteen next month, and I...I want to stay until she's comfortable, and with what just happened, I know she's not..."
"What could've caused the distress? This is getting out of hand...I think she needs help. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we're not going to be much help to this sadden-filled girl, Corbin. She's even worse than Rodney."
"So you want to give up on her? Send her off to some other family who probably won't give a crap about her, won't care about anything but the foster money? Tear her from her family and friends and life here, Dad?"
My breath catches, and I can't hold back the tear that falls as a result of the news. They're...They're giving up on me?
Corbin looks down to my wide, tear filled eyes.
"Ezzie, Ezzie, Ezzie, no, no we would never give up on you! We love you too much! I...I should think about company before I blab about pointless things, understand? We would never send you away. We love you too much. You...You have us wrapped around your finger." Corbin hugs me. "Sit up, you!" He says playfully, helping me do so.
"I..." I sigh. "I am sorry, I have caused you distress," Corbin tries to cut me off, but I convince him to let me go on. "I will tell you what caused my own distress to help deflate yours. Please do not get mad at me until the very end of my admittance." I wait 'till they give me their word. "For as long as I can remember at my old place, I was physically and mentally assaulted, including when I was punished for something admissible or not. I had a brother, he was...he was beaten to death. His name was Ky. He was the...the light in my tunnel, the warmth in my darkness. He died at the age of five. He'd have been six this January. January tenth is...was his birthday.
"I kept him a secret, my birth parents kept him a secret, there was no evidence of his identity anywhere, he was, according to officials, nonexistent.
"I kept him a secret because if I did...If I did, he would be safe, he would be a memory, he would keep me safe. I don't know how to explain, but he was mine, not anyone else's. He was a reminder that good can come from bad, that there's always something, someone, somehow that makes it better, or at least more bearable. He taught me to hold what I love dear close, because you never know when they may not exist, never know when they may...leave." I look at Corbin as I say that last part, understanding now that he can't stay with me forever.
"I was upset at school not because of bullying, but because of the new kid. He looked, sounded, and acted like Ky. When I discovered his name, Kyle, I was overwhelmed. I could't handle...the coincidence.
"Now that you know, now that you know the cause, I hope you will not regard me as lost hope, because I will try, I'll try to get over or around, or past my past, I will try for you. I understand the importance in my telling you, the importance there might be to report Ky as a...a murder victum. I understand now, and I will, to the best of my ability, be more normal, I promise, just please don't give up on me."
My voice is emotion filled as I finish my tellings.
Corbin looks at me, Dad looks at me, and they do not object verbally to anything I said.

"Ezrynn, I love you."
"I love you, too.

My life here with my new family, Dad, Corbin, Megan, Veronica, Zola, and even Mom, is better than any I'd have imagined three years ago, when I was a completely shattered and broken human being.
This life is still better and better, as I meet new people, discover new aspects of the ones I already know, as I discover how different everything looks upside down.

Corbin and Megan are married, they live together across the street.
Camden and I go to the same school, or house, you could stay, and his mom, Mrs. Conner, is our teacher.
Mom lives with us now, full time at that.
Everything is well, and I hope it stays that way.
And I'm sure it will.