That evening after the unexpected kiss with Shay I went to visit my mom. I'd thought maybe she'd be able to give me her motherly wisdom and help me figure out what to do. She was up when I entered the private room she had been moved to, and looking much better despite the casts, bandages, healing scratches and bruises.
"Hey Mom", I greeted with a smile.
"Ray!" My mom smiled hugely upon my entrance and indicated with her not-broken arm that I should sit next to her on the bed. It hit me just then how deeply I'd missed just having her around at home. The house seemed much more bigger and emptier that it really was without her vibrance to fill it.
"I've missed you", I said, smiling back.
"I know, honey. I miss you too. The doctors insist on keeping me here until I'm fully healed. They say it's a miracle that I survived and they don't want to risk any complications due to the amount of damage I'd gotten."
"You need to rest anyway, Mom. Think of it as a small vacation." My mom chuckled.
"I'll do that. Your dad visits me every chance he gets between work. I have to keep reminding him that he needs to rest and take care of you."
"I'm big enough to take care of the both of us, Mom" I rolled my eyes. She frowned slightly.
"You shouldn't have to. He's your father, and don't roll your eyes at me."
"Sorry. Dad's still worried about you and I don't mind." Mom smoothed stray strands of hair back from my face.
"You're such a good girl, Raina Isabelle."
"It's 'cause you guys raised me right."
"Of course we did!" She poked my nose lightly before settling back against the pillows behind her. She motioned towards the fruit basket on her night stand. "Do you want my strawberries?"
"You have to ask?" I looked at her in exaggerated disbelief. Mom knew that strawberries were my favorite fruit. I picked one of the offered fruit out of the basket and returned to my perch on the bed's edge.I bit into it and savored the sweetness.
"So", my mom began,"how's Shay?" I almost choked on my berry. I coughed a few times and gulped down some of her water. She waited for me to catch myself. "Something happened, am I right?" I looked away from her guiltily. "So I am right! Come on, tell Mom what happened." I sighed, knowing she wouldn't let it go easily. I told her about my jealousy (Yes, I finally gave up on denying the truth.) and about how we'd both gotten upset with each other. I told her we had confronted each other and ended up kissing and that I was kind of confused as to what happens next.
"He told me he was in love with me, Mom", I finished. "It was so sudden that I just said okay and told him I had to come see you and i was already late." My mom 'tsked' in disapproval.
"You used a visit to me as an excuse to run. I don't know how I feel about that, Raina."
"I'm sorry, but I had to say something before I left. He's still important to me." Mom sighed.
"Well, what'll you do?"
"That's what I'm asking you, Mom." She laughed.
"Oh, honey, I can't tell you what to do in this situation. You have to decide on your own. Just ask yourself this: Does he make you happy in a way no one else can or does? Do you see yourself dating him and happy? Are you in love with him?"
"I don't know..." Mom shook her head.
"No, you do know. You just want me to confirm what you already know, and you're thinking too much."
"Maybe..." We sat there, my mom and I, in contemplative silence. She brightened suddenly, a sparkle in her hazel eyes.
"Just so you know, Raina, you're not allowed to have sex yet. There's condoms in the cabinet under your bathroom sink, however, because I'd rather you be safe if you're going to disobey me. I bought them for you four months ago and they don't expire for three more years. And don't forget to take your birth control pill."
"Mom! Eww!"
"What? You're eighteen. I know you know about these things."
"Yes, but- Mom!" It was just so weird for her to be talking to me about sex and protection. She was clearly enjoying my discomfort. She grinned fully.
"Just promise me you'll be safe." She reached out and took a handful of grapes out the basket and put one in her mouth. "I trust you, you know. You're a good girl. You're my good girl. Keep it that way."
"I promise I'll be safe. I'm not planning to give away my V-card any time soon - I know I'm not ready. Now can we please stop talking about this?"
"Fine, fine. You're such a baby." My own mother was poking fun at me. How lovely. I couldn't help but smile, though, because this was more proof of her recovery. "Well, one thing I can tell you for certain is that Shay didn't lie when he said he was in love with you."
"I know, Mom."
****
I left my mom's hospital room feeling much better and no longer confused. I went in search of my dad, who was supposed to carry me home. It was while I was on my way to the new wing he was working on that I stumbled into someone. I hastily steadied myself and took a step back.
"Sorry!" I apologised to the stranger. The girl looked at me curiously.
"You are Gray's partner, are you not?" Her voice lacked the normal level of inflection, and had just enough to barely avoid being totally monotonous. She stared pointedly at the sigil on my hand.
"Yes...and you are?"
"Riley Snow. I also reap." Riley had straight platinum blonde hair and cream colored skin. She was shorter than me by several inches and was wearing a black gothic loli kind of outfit, complete with a small black top hat secured to her head with a dark purple ribbon. Her eyes were a startlingly bright shade of blue. Riley kind of reminded me of a porcelain doll. She politely held out her hand for a handshake, which I took and was rewarded with the same shock-like feeling I had gotten when I had clasped Gray's hand that time. I was relieved because it wasn't just with Gray, after all, which meant it wasn't caused by the feared cliche of inevitable attraction-leads-to-love.
"I'm Raina Carlisle." She tilted her head slightly, those fascinating eyes of hers locked on me.
"I know." She offered me a ghost of a smile. "I was sent to find you."
"Me? Why?" Had Gray called in reinforcements to make me reap in the form of this intriguing girl?
"My boss wants you to come to our headquarters. It's time to pay your due, is what I was told." Was this girl always so eerily emotionless? And what exactly did her boss mean by that?
"And if I don't want to go?"
"I was warned that you wouldn't agree without an incentive. I was told to show you this."
The reaper handed me a sealed envelope. Opening it, I withdrew a single sheet of paper. It said simply:
WE HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO YOU.
What? Um...okay...? Two more items were in the envelope. I shook them out. There was a short curl of blonde hair and a very familiar wooden crucifix pendant on a black cord. Dread filled me as I examined the crucifix and found the inscription i had known would be there but had wished fervently wasn't. In small block letters with an ornate frame carved into the crucifix was the name I knew so well.
SHAY
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A/N: No sudden Gray appearance in this chapter. :( Awhhh
The song doesn't exactly fit the chapter, but I really really like it, so I put it there.
And now I'm going back to my notebook to work on the next chapter, wish me luck!
YOU ARE READING
Absolutely, Positively, 100% Normal
Teen Fiction(UNEDITED) Raina Carlisle refuses to be anything but normal - despite evidence stating otherwise. She one day helps her best friend Shay narrowly escape death and unwittingly gains the interest of an entity many people fear. When the mysterious Gray...
