The Wild

-26- Resurrection

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 Ten or so minutes were then spent by me, thoroughly shocked and wandering like a lost zombie to the kitchen where I must have spent half the time in front of the sink with the water running. The smell—the smell was unbearable. Whenever I tried to get it out of my head, it would clog my senses again and send me into a tizzy. I could see it all happening before me again, and what hurt the most was that I knew just where the smell came from and the sight that waited there, eyes open and glazed over.

It was his blood, and it was like it was everywhere. On my clothes, my hands, seeping into my skin. By the time I scrubbed my arms raw, I realized that I couldn't undo any of it. I wanted to cry, or at the very least, talk to someone.

The first person to pop into my head was Mary. Mary would know what to do. She had to, because I didn't know what kind of insanity would cling to me if she didn't.

I grabbed hold of the phone to my right and shut off the water, still holding a damp washcloth in my free hand so I could scrub my face and neck. There may not have been much blood there, but I wanted to desensitize and get rid of any fingerprint Tyler left on me. In the midst of all of this, Mary picked up the phone at last.

"Lily? How are you doing? Is everything all right?" she asked in a panic. I paused, realizing that I couldn't speak without the tension snapping and breaking down right there on my kitchen floor.

After blinking rapidly a few times and stammering stupidly into the speaker, I said, "I-I don't think so. Mary, I need help..." The last bit got all jumbled and squeaky. A sob broke loose and I couldn't keep it in any longer. "I-It's Tyler- he's- I didn't mean t-to-"

"It's all right, everything's going to be okay. John and I are on our way. Is he there? Did he hurt you?" She didn't know the half of it.

I was barely able to keep standing when I hastily told her to hurry before shutting the phone off and dropping it onto the counter. I was a complete and utter mess when I dropped my elbows onto the edge of the kitchen sink and knotted my hands into my hair. It was at that point that I got that same, limb-numbing warning that I got before Tyler's "visit", and I nearly went apeshit crazy when it happened. By the time I was able to calm myself down by reminding myself that it couldn't be Tyler at all, I'd gone and torn the blinds closed on my kitchen window and knocked a potted plant into my sink.

Dear Lord I wasn't even wearing pants.

I didn't have much time to run across the cabin and fetch a pair of shorts when a series of rapid knocks hammered away on my front door. I had a hunch as to who it was, but just to be sure, I opened a drawer and fetched a fork from it; I knew the kind of damage a fork could do.

"Lily! Open up, I know you're in there!" I wanted to scream and bawl my eyes out at the same time. It was Brian.

I abandoned the fork and rushed to unlock the door. I pulled it open, being sure to keep myself behind it as Brian came into view, looking more like Edward Cullen by the second with how pale he was. His eyes were flickering around like mad before he settled on me, still breathing hard like he'd run halfway across the nation to get here.

I could only stare at him when he said, "Where's Tyler? S-Something's off, and-" He stopped with the frantic hand gestures to finally take a look at me and see that I was practically naked except for a ratty T-shirt and underwear. His eyes were glossy as he looked at me then, looking even more panicked than before. "Jesus Christ, what happened? Where's Tyler? Tell me what happened, Lily-"

No matter how hard I tried to talk straight, it came out wobbly and disoriented as I still clung to the door handle. "I didn't mean to- I-I'm sorry, Brian," I blubbered, sobbing like crazy, even when he came forward and kept me from falling when I let go of the door. He kicked it shut and held me with my face against his jacket and his arms around my shoulders.