Love or Die

Needed

Travis sat in the emergency room waiting for Jade’s mother to come back from getting her stitches, and his mind continued to drift back to the look on Jade’s face when they left the house. The pain was so clear that it still felt like it was cutting into him and he couldn’t help but think it was all his fault. If he hadn’t been so selfishly drawn to her almost a year ago, then she would be human and sitting here in the waiting room waiting for her mother rather than cowering in her house afraid of what she might do. But even as much as he wished that he could make her pain go away and make her human again, Travis knew that he would never take back the moment he chose to speak to her. It was and forever would be the greatest day in his life and he couldn’t imagine his life for the rest of eternity had he not chosen to pursue her. Jade had a hold of his heart that no one could ever understand and he would never give that up. Instead, he vowed to try harder in his quest to help Jade deal with their unfortunate fates. But first, he needed to help her make it through the rest of this night.

*          *          *          *          *

            Jade scrubbed at her hands and the rest of her skin under the hot shower water, trying desperately to get rid of the blood that she swore was buried in her pores. She had scrubbed the kitchen counter, sink and floor until they sparkled the whitest color she had ever seen and once she was sure she couldn’t smell the blood there anymore she wiped it down with a scented cleaning product to block out the bleach. But the second she was done with the kitchen, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was blood nestled in the fibers of her clothes and in her skin. She ran to the bathroom, tearing off her clothes and jumping into the shower to rid her of it. She still felt like it was there, but knew that there was nothing else she could do for it now and decided to grab a change of clothes and dump the old ones in the laundry. Dropping more soap than was actually necessary, she finished in time to hear a car slow and park outside of her house and she knew that it was Travis and her mother.

            She stood in the living room, waiting for them to walk in and the moment they did her eyes immediately met Travis’. He smiled at her which helped her relax as her mom turned to her. “Everything is fine,” her mom said. “Only three stitches.”

            “That’s great,” Jade said, relieved that it wasn’t that bad.

            “Well,” her mom said. “I feel tired so I’m going to head to bed. Travis, thank you again for driving me to the hospital.”        

            “No problem,” he smiled at her. “Hope it heals soon.”

            “Me too,” her mom said before turning back to her. “Don’t forget to lock up when he leaves.”

            “I won’t,” Jade smiled tightly at her mother as she walked up the stairs. As soon as her mom disappeared from sight, Travis stepped towards Jade and she wanted to cry about the events of the evening but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she shuddered against him and said “Thank you so much. I have no idea what I would do without you.”

            Travis smiled as he rested his chin on her head and wrapped his arms around her. “The same thing you did with me around,” he answered. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

            “I’m not,” Jade said. “If it weren’t for you being here…Travis, I don’t think I could’ve stopped myself. And if I would’ve killed my mom, I just couldn’t live with that.”

            “I know,” Travis replied, rubbing her back with one hand. “But you didn’t hurt her and I didn’t have to do anything.”

            “You were here,” she said. “That’s all I needed. Will you stay?”

            “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t want to push your mom’s limits.”

            “We can stay down here,” Jade said eagerly. “We can pretend that we were watching TV and both fell asleep. She won’t be mad if we both fell asleep on the couch. Please Travis?” Her voice broke slightly at the end and Travis knew he wasn’t going to be able to deny her of her request. All he wanted was to comfort her as long as possible until she felt stable enough to be around her mom or anyone else human. “Okay,” he answered. “I’ll stay.”