Falling From Eternity (A Paranormal Love Story) (7 page)

“
Mom asked me to give you
these,” I said, handing him the pills and a paper cup of
water.

“
Did your mother tell you
when dinner will be ready? I’m starving.”

I looked over at the tray of food that
sat on the table beside his bed. Lisa obviously didn’t know that
Edgar hadn’t seen it. There were many mornings when I had to clean
up a full tray of food from the night before. I’d always thought it
was because he either didn’t like what was being served or the meds
were bothering his stomach again, but now I knew the
truth.

I walked over and picked up the tray,
removing the lid before setting it on the end table beside his
radio. “Meat loaf tonight,” I said, glancing at the
tray.

“
Good, good. Next time let
me know when dinner is ready. You know how much your mother likes
it when we eat together like a family,” he said, scolding me like a
child. I watched for a few moments as he ate, and I had to remind
him to take his pills.

Since Jason was reneging on his duties
I had two bio spills to clean up, and more bed pans than I cared to
count. Luckily, Maryann and Dawn finally arrived, offering to help
finish cleaning while I went to the employee break room and cleaned
myself up.

“
Ewe, Will,” Dawn pinched
her nose closed as I walked past her. “Where’s Jason?”

I gave her an
are you seriously asking me that
glare.

“
Duh! It’s Jason, I know.”
She gave me a sheepish grin before pushing a mop and bucket into
Walter’s room.

“
Go get yourself cleaned
and we will finish up with this. Did you finish the med rounds?”
Maryann asked. She was one of Shady Willows’ senior staff, and
although she looked old enough to be a resident she was far from
it. If I had to guess I would have thought she was in the military
at some point, just by the way she held herself, but we’d never
exchanged small talk so I didn’t know much about her.

“
No,” I answered, looking
down at my puke covered scrubs. “I’ll throw on my spares and finish
up the rest of the drops. I only have a few patients
left.”

“
Fine.” She’d already
turned her attention away from me and was instructing Dawn on the
correct way to mop up vomit. “Will!” she called out, as soon as my
hand touched the doorknob. “Do me a favor and check on my new
resident before you finish your rounds and go on break.”

“
Sure thing,” I answered
quickly, then recalled that I didn’t see a new resident listed on
any of the med sheets. “What room?”

“
Uh…” she tapped her chin
as she thought on it, then wagged her finger in the air like a
brilliant idea had just come to mind. “She’s in Hazel’s old
room.”

My heart dropped. They’d already
replaced the space, as if she’d never been there at all. It was
just as I imagined. Life goes on, people forget, and the cycle
repeats.

By the time I’d hit the locker room of
the employee break area and changed, I’d built up an animosity for
this new resident. I knew I was being completely ridiculous. It
wasn’t like they’d specifically chosen that room just to piss me
off, but I couldn’t keep my heart from thundering in my chest. Such
is the nature of creatures like me; we are very possessive and I
apparently felt an ownership to that room. Or, more accurately, a
kinship; at least with the person who used to live in
it.

The fact that they’d moved someone
into that particular room was rather surprising. There were several
other rooms available to choose from. Not to mention it had only
been a couple of days; they had to have moved Hazel’s personal
items out rather quickly for a new person to move in. The rooms at
Shady Willows were more like mini apartments. There were the living
quarters with a small kitchenette and eating nook. The bedroom was
just a small space off the sitting area with no door separating it
for safety purposes. It was imperative for us to be able to step in
and ensure the residents were sleeping safely and not having any
kind of medical emergency. There was a private bath for each suite,
complete with an easy access walk-in tub that resembled a petite
Jacuzzi.

I saved the room of
the
intruder
for
last, letting my imagination run rampant until I found myself
standing right in front of the door I knew so well. Couldn’t I just
skip the room, or just make up some excuse so Maryann had to check
on them? The idea was incredibly tempting, and my body ached to
walk away. No, I had to do my job. I couldn’t let my personal
feelings get in the way. My fingers closed around the knob, but my
hand wouldn’t turn; all I could do was squeeze it with all my might
until I felt the metal begin to crumble under my grip. I released
my hold, revealing a small indentation where my thumb had been.
Maybe I wasn’t ready to do this. Hazel’s funeral had made me lose
control, and there was a very good chance I wasn’t ready to face
the sight of someone else in her room. I had been too on edge
lately to trust myself.

Stepping away from the door, I ran my
fingers through my hair until I found my feet carrying me down the
hallway. Suddenly I stopped, my feet frozen to the linoleum, my
body heat beginning to rise at an alarming rate and my fangs flew
from my gums like switchblades. I hurled myself back down the
hallway and threw open the door to Hazel’s room until I was
standing over a sleeping mass, hidden under a familiar quilted
blanket.

They were sleeping
in
her
blanket!

In
her
bed!

My eyes shot around the
room like daggers, scanning every item I had seen countless times
before. How the hell did this…this
thing
get admitted to this room when
all Hazel’s personal belongings were still here!?

I was seething with anger, hovering
over the body that was sunken into the mass of blankets and
pillows. How dare they! Did they get some sick enjoyment out of
using other peoples stuff? This was completely against all
regulations! I knew the board of directors were a bunch of sleazy
flesh bags, but how could they allow this? Maybe…maybe this person
wasn’t a resident at all. I’d heard of things like this; rumors
that employees rented out empty rooms to make extra cash on the
side. I couldn’t imagine Maryann doing something like that, but I
didn’t know for sure. If a person is in need of the money bad
enough, they’d be capable of anything. This person could be some
junky, vagrant off the streets! If that were true then why did she
ask me to check on them?

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.
I took a step closer to the bed, fighting between grabbing this
person and throwing them out the window, or latching onto their
throat and then draining them to a husk. I felt my body twitching
as the internal battle raged on. My eyes darted around, taking in
the proof that this person truly wasn’t a resident. There were no
IV bags hanging from the stand, no emergency med station that was
standard in each room, and no pill bottles on either night stand.
There wasn’t a person in this place that didn’t have at least six
bottles on their night stand, ranging from vitamins to holistic
remedies. All that was there were a pair of glasses and a cell
phone with a string of hot pink headphones spiraling around them.
No, this definitely wasn’t a resident at all.

They rolled around under
the covers, an arm flinging itself over the sheets and a growl
rumbled in my chest. I couldn’t see the person’s face, but I could
tell by their arm that they were young. Shady Willows didn’t have
young residents. Maryann was renting out Hazel’s room to some
delinquent kid! What was she thinking? Why
this
room?

I watched as my hand rose
on its own, reaching for the curl of hair that covered the person’s
face. I wanted to see them, but more importantly, I wanted them to
see me. I wanted them to truly realize how wrong they were to have
chosen this room.
Then
, I would make Maryann sorry she’d ever met me. Sorry she’d
ever asked me to check on this new “resident”.

Just as my fingers touched the silken
strands of hair, the cell phone on the nightstand began to ring. By
the color of the hot pink ear phones and rhinestone case, I would
have expected some brainless pop lyrics to fill the air but instead
it was something I was entirely not expecting. Although the beat
was like nothing I’d ever heard; the notes were ones that I could
never forget. It was Vivaldi; except the pace had been quickened
with twangs from altered violins, and drum beats skewed it into
something otherworldly.

The girl reached for her phone,
sitting up quickly as the quilt fell away from her. I was
motionless until her beautiful, emerald eyes met mine. They
connected to something inside me, sinking in like a magic that
could pull every secret from the depths of my soul. That fleeting
moment passed like an eternity before I gulped down the angry lump
in my throat and sped out of the room without a word as the sound
of her gasp followed after me.

Rushing through the
entrance, I shoved my way past the double doors and outside into
the cold, winter night. The icy air consumed me instantly, doing
its best to pacify my sizzling anger. I had no idea what I should
do, but I did know that I needed to get my anger under wraps. I
paced back and forth, the glacial breeze whipping around me. Why
did I care so much that some kid was in Hazel’s room? I was
planning on leaving soon, so what did it matter? If Maryann wanted
to make extra cash why didn’t she just put them in an empty room?
Why
that
room?

The questions continued to fire
through my mind, but I was able to draw my focus to my breathing in
an attempt to quiet my rage. Two weeks. I only had to make it
through this for two weeks and I could put this town and its
memories in my rear view mirror. I would just avoid this situation
completely and then I would never have to think about it, again.
Yes, that was my plan. I obviously couldn’t govern my own anger, so
I would just avoid the things that were fueling my rage.

As I readied myself to head back
inside, the sky above me exploded in color. Just a few short miles
from Shady Willows was the lake; the hot spot for every New Year’s
and Fourth of July celebration. Bright blues and vibrant reds
speckled the starry sky as other colors replaced them in a burst of
flashes and crackles. I’d almost forgotten how beautiful fireworks
were, and realized how cynical I had become. It wasn’t just Ming,
Hazel’s death, or even the fact that someone was using her room; I
was angry at the world. How had I gotten like this? Had my hatred
for what I was spread like an infection to everything around
me?

“
Happy New Year,” I said
sadly to myself as I walked back inside.

~

5

It Was You

My plan worked perfectly over the next
week and a half. I avoided the new resident using every trick in
the book. But despite my tactics of evading her, I couldn’t help
but overhear bits and pieces of conversation regarding her. I
originally thought that Maryann was selling the room out on the
side, but this new resident was actually legit. I hadn’t read the
file, but I did hear that she’d paid a hefty fee to be admitted;
using cash to avoid any red tape. I couldn’t figure out why someone
would do that just to get a room at Shady Willows? Rumors cycled
through the hallways, and some nurses even started a pool to guess
what was wrong with the girl, but no one knew. Several thought she
was some celebrity type who was hiding out from the paparazzi to
recover from some drug or alcohol abuse. I didn’t think that was
very likely. Why would she come here when she could go to some
swanky five-star spa; also known as celebrity rehab. No one except
Maryann appeared to know the whole truth, and she wasn’t telling
anyone.

As much as I hated it, I was curious.
Completely enthralled with intrigue. It still infuriated me that
she was using Hazel’s room, but there seemed to be more to the
story. But did I really want to know, or would it just get me into
more trouble than I was already in? What really puzzled me was that
she had never left the room. Until today. Word spread like wildfire
when the girl had opened her door, and walked directly to the
outdoor patio. But that wasn’t the most unusual thing about it. She
was sitting outside in twenty degree weather, sipping a cup of
coffee while quietly staring off into the distance. I fought the
urge to look, but I couldn’t help myself, she was just so…there was
just something so…curious about her.

Her back was to the small crowd that
had gathered to catch a glimpse of her. Long, sandy ringlets hung
over the back of her chair. She had wrapped herself in the quilt
from Hazel’s bed.

“
What’s she doing?” the
nurse who’d asked me out for drinks whispered with
annoyance.

“
She’s drinking coffee,”
Jason answered with sarcasm. The nurse slapped his arm.

“
Duh! I can see that, but
its flippin’ freezing outside,” she snapped at him.

“
Get back to work!”
Maryann ordered when she caught us spying. “You’re not paid to
stand around!” Several people groaned in disappointment like
watching this mystery girl drink coffee was the most interesting
thing they’d ever seen.