Shatter

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Chapter Thirteen

“Melinda, sweetheart, lemonade.”  My mother’s soft, soothing voice called out.

“Coming mother,” the little girl answered, dropping her toys and running to where her mother was walking out of the sliding glass door.

The little girl ran over to her mother, her wavy black hair swishing across her back.  The girl, I could see clearly.  Every freckle, every hair was perfectly visible.  The mother on the other hand was like a blur of colors.  Black hair, I think, maybe it was short or maybe it was just pulled back.  Red lips that pulled back to reveal shining teeth.  Two glasses of lemonade.

The little girl reached out just as her mother did and their fingers brushed each other’s.  I could see the fear in the little girl’s eyes as if something inside her had just opened Pandora’s Box and released all the evil inside her.

Her mother screamed, feeling her skin flake away layer after layer until the organ was no more.  The muscles and blood came next, falling off the bone and evaporating into nothing.  Hair, long gone and red lips long left her deteriorating body, all that remained in that fraction of a second was the bone that soon left her too.

I turned to see the man come running up, right on cue.  But it wasn’t the man that came the first time, it was Jaison.  He walked up the hill and jumped over the low gate in our yard.  He stood beside me, watching as the little girl wept and cried out for her mother.

“You did this,” Jaison said emotionlessly.  “You killed her mother.”

“I didn’t mean to,” I told him, my eyes locked on the little girl who was screaming for someone to help her.

“You’re a monster, a murderer.  How could you?”  Jaison’s words struck nerve after nerve, driving me closer to tears with each syllable.

“Look at her,” Jaison commanded.  I did as I was told, watching as the little girl called out for her mother, begging her to come back, screaming that she was sorry.  “Do you know what she’ll have to deal with, the pain she’ll have to endure?”

“I said I was sorry,” I bit back at him.  He just laughed.

“Sorry isn’t good enough.  Sorry won’t bring her mother back.”

I spun around to face him, but he was gone.  I turned my attention back to the girl just as the back door slid open.  The boss stepped out, wearing protective gear and sporting a sickening smile.  The girl ran to him and wrapped her arms around his leg, clinging to him.

“There, there, darling.”  His voice was soft, gentle the complete opposite of everything that he was.  “Everything will be okay.”

With that he lifted her up, careful that she didn’t touch the exposed skin on his neck or face, and loaded her into the back of a van.  The van drove away, leaving me alone in the backyard with two glasses of lemonade and a hollow feeling in my chest.

“Mel,” Jaison called to me.  “Mel, wake up.”

I opened my eyes to see Jaison just inches away from my face.  I pulled away quickly, disturbing my ribs and wounds.  Jaison slid back against the wall on the other side of the bed and watched with concerned eyes.

“What are you doing in the bed?”  I asked, fear seeping into my voice.

Didn’t he know how dangerous I could be?  Being in bed while we were both awake was one thing, at least then I could control my movements, but while we both slept, there was no control.  What if my hand brushed his or if my foot hit his?  One little slip up was all it took and he would be gone.

“You were talking,” Jaison explained and lowered his head back to his arm.

“Jaison, we can’t sleep in the same bed, it’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t care anymore, Mel.  If it kills me, so be it.”

I stared at his face, searching for any trace that he may be joking.  There was none.

“How can you be so selfish?”  I asked in a whisper.

“What are you talking about?”  Jaison asked, lifting his head once more.

“You think it’s completely okay if I kill you?”  I asked.  Jaison’s expression changed from one of tired annoyance to understanding.  “Haven’t you thought about what that would do to me, Jase?  You’re the only person I have anymore.  If I killed you, I would have no one!”  I yelled.  His expression shifted once more.

“So that’s what you’re upset about?”  He asked.  “Not the fact that I would be dead, but that you would be alone?  How’s that for selfish?”  He raised himself out of the bed and onto the floor.

“It’s not like that,” I protested, getting to my feet and stalking over to him.  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Yeah, you have enough marks on that wall don’t you?  I’d hate for you have feel guilty because you killed me.”

“The point is that I don’t want you to die!”  I yelled in his face.

“No, the point is that you don’t give a shit if I die, you just don’t want to be the one that does it!”  He yelled back.  I could feel my anger welling up inside me.

“That’s not what I meant!”  I yelled.  Jaison grabbed my wrist that was thankfully covered by the blanket that was wrapped around my shoulders.

“So you’re telling me that if you touched me right now, and I disappeared, you’d be upset because I was dead, not because you were the one that killed me?”  He asked.

I glanced between him and my hand.  Seeing it so close to his face like that sent an icy wave through me.

“I don’t want you to die.  Period, end of story.  I don’t care if it’s because I killed you or because one of the experiments did, I don’t want you to die.”  My eyes were welling up with tears and for the first time I realized it was true.

I didn’t want Jaison gone.  I needed him here with me.  But as his foggy green eyes melted into sincerity and he released my wrist, I realized that he had become far too comfortable with me, and the only way to keep Jaison from disappearing would be to keep him away from me.

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April 30th is in nine days guys.  Nine.  We are only on chapter thirteen.  I am freaking the fudge out.

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