Me Without You (31 page)

"Yeah, let's just go home!" Jonah
urged.

"Don't you get it? I am pretty sure
that Fr. Ulysses will go to the hunters now to tell them what just
happened. We might find Jenssen there!" Jervais replied.

The Lion's Lair

Jervais had won over Jonah and Jane and
finally followed Fr. Ulysses. They were not led to the hunters.
Neither did they find Jenssen. They never expected that the priest
will end up driving to Xavier's house.

Although, there was one healer inside
the house and that was Gilda Byrne, they couldn't fit two and two
together to solve the puzzle. If the hunters were after the Blood
siblings and Fr. Ulysses was involved somehow, why would he be
working side-by-side with a known healer like Gilda?

Hugh met Jonah and Jervais in the
driveway. He had been expecting for them to arrive a couple of
hours ago but they came in late. When they finally made it, Jervais
had looked like a soldier dragging a prisoner down a lion's lair.
In which case, Jonah was the prisoner. With the manner Jervais was
looking at Jonah, it was as if she was holding a whip and making
Jonah moved.

Jonah had other reasons for being
reluctant about coming to the Lively mansion. She did not want to
be in the same room with Hugh and Xavier. Although, she knew she
had to see Xavier. But she did not trust herself not to betray the
way she felt deep inside, which was not so clear to her
yet.

"Fr. Ulysses knows something alright,"
Jervais blurted out even before taking the first step on the front
porch. "And guess what, we followed him earlier and he ended up
here. Did you know that?"

Hugh looked uncomfortably behind him
checking if somebody heard Jervais. "Yeah, he did show up. He
personally comes around to get her monthly donations. Then, he
announced earlier he was travelling to Rome and his request for a
re-assignment has been approved. Then, they had a closed-door
meeting afterwards."

"What? He's leaving?" Jervais asked.
"Then, he's clearly guilty! He won't be running away if there was
nothing he's hiding."

"But we don't have anything to prove
it," Hugh argued.

"What's your—er Gilda got to do with
this?" Jonah asked.

"I really don't know," Hugh said. He
took her hand and led her inside the house. Jervais was following
closely behind. "And I wish I could just ask her. But I
can't."

Jonah looked at Hugh sympathetically.
There were a few things that even a regular mother-son relationship
could not share, how much more with Hugh and Gilda? Jonah was not
even sure if Hugh shared anything mundane with Gilda—even perhaps
the most mundane of calling her by her name. Jonah had not heard of
Hugh spoke of her other than referring to Gilda in the third
person. Without thinking, Jonah squeezed Hugh's hand comfortingly,
which made him stop on his tracks to stare at her
peculiarly.

"You don't have to," Jonah said and
disengaged her hand from Hugh.

"But I bet X can pull it off," Hugh
said and grinned mischievously. He continued walking
upstairs.

"How is X, by the way?" Jonah asked
just as they were turning the corner to Xavier's room.

"You'll see for yourself," Hugh replied
cheerfully. He opened the door to Xavier's bedroom and the two
girls entered.

Xavier was sitting all propped up with
pillows behind him. There was shadow of hair growth in his face and
dark rings around his eyes. But he looked cheerful enough as he
smiled from ear to ear when he saw Jonah.

"Hey, you!" he called out.

Jonah saw various bottles
just hanging above Xavier's bed with the fine tubes like a spider's
web dangling limply downward instead of being attached to Xavier's
Port-a-Cath. The bottles contained medicines ranging from
antibiotics, saline solution, plasma, to
platelets all ready to be infused inside Xavier's body. But the
containers appeared unused. She was almost hesitant to approach
Xavier in his condition thinking she could make things worse for
him than it already was.

"It's a miracle they say!" Hugh said
happily. He gave Jonah a little push towards Xavier's bed. "The
doctors were ready to bring him kicking and screaming to the
hospital where he belonged. They were pretty sure he had a sepsis
attack and he needed to be in the ICU for at least 48 hours. But as
you can see, the guy is as strong as a bull! Even Dad could not
explain what happened."

Jonah sat on Xavier's bed facing him,
with Hugh standing closely behind her back. Jervais had chosen to
sit comfortably on a couch nearby.

"I know it's you!" Xavier spoke softly.
"I saw your face when I have fallen asleep. I heard your voice. It
was you."

"I'll get a soda," Hugh announced. He
turned around and looked at Jervais meaningfully. "Let's get a
soda!"

"I am not going anywhere this house
without Jonah," Jervais said firmly.

"Oh, come on!" Hugh said. "Nobody's
going to harm you here as long as you're with me."

"That's what I am afraid of!" Jervais
replied and rolled her eyes. She threw Jonah one of her whipping
glances but she eventually conceded. "Fine, let's get your soda."
And to Jonah she added, "We won't be long, so hurry up! Say what
you have to say. And do what you have to do."

"Jervais!" Jonah cried out, blushing in
embarrassment.

When the two had gone out, Jonah went a
little bit closer to Xavier. She reached out her hand towards
Xavier's face but he tilted his head a little away from
her.

"No, Jonah please," Xavier
told her. "
Unless you seal your fate as a
healer, which I believe you are, you will be weak around me, until
you yourself will get sick and yes, die. Aunt Gilda
said."

"So where will that leave us? You don't
want me to seal it but at the same time you won't let me touch
you—" Jonah answered in a small voice. "One way or another, we need
to make a choice, X!"

"We don't have to make a choice,"
Xavier said. "We will just let nature run its course—"

"Are you saying, I'll just watch you
die without doing anything at all?" Jonah asked
unbelievably.

"Yes," Xavier replied.

"That is so selfish of you!" Jonah
cried out.

"I want you to live your life, Jonah!
Live and die the natural way. Then, we will be together again,"
Xavier said.

"That will take years and years from
now. By God, if I can help it, I want to grow old!" Jonah
said.

Xavier chuckled. "Okay, then grow old
by all means and I'll still be waiting!"

Jonah momentarily closed her eyes and
said nothing. She was hurting. And she couldn't even fathom the
root of her pain. She extended her hand towards Xavier.

"Jonah, no!" Jonah heard Xavier told
her.

But she held her hand firmly just a few
inches above his chest. "Sssh! I am not touching you," she told
Xavier. She could feel his warmth like she was somehow seeping it
away. As if she could really pull whatever weakness Xavier was
feeling, she continued to imagine drawing his warmth towards her.
And on and on she went, until her hand felt like she was placing it
under a hot plate.

And when Jonah opened her eyes again,
Xavier's eyes were closed in a soft slumber. Knowing what will
happen next. Jonah stood up and went for the door handle. She was
barely out of the door when she slumped forward receiving the hard
punch on her stomach, leaving her out of breath.

"Help! Jervais!" she croaked as the
familiar sense of the inevitable end engulfed her. She began to
crawl towards the direction of the stairs. The kitchen seemed a
long way to go that it was an impossible feat to reach Jervais and
Hugh in her state.

On top of everything else, Jonah was
anxious to be discovered by Gilda Byrne, whose voice and scent had
gone ahead of her that Jonah was hearing and smelling from a
distance coming up the stairs. With the distinctive taste of
defeat, Jonah passed out.

"Jonah!" Jervais cried out.

Hugh immediately sprinted towards
Jonah. Fortunately, he and Jervais did not have to go down to get
the sodas. The small fridge he kept in his room which he stuffed
with food and drinks, mainly to avoid walking into Gilda at certain
times of the night when he craved for food had certainly saved them
the time to find Jonah before Gilda walked into her in such a
condition. It was also Jervais' idea to go to his room, which was
only a couple of doors away from Xavier's bedroom, to get the belly
chain.

As if Hugh was just scooping up a
life-sized rag doll, he carried Jonah back to his room just as
Gilda and Helen arrived at the top of the stairs.

Following Hugh with Jonah in his arms,
Jervais had hastily closed the door behind her and began to prance
around in Hugh's room.

"Why did this happen to her?" Jervais
was saying. She kept glancing at Jonah who was lying motionless on
Hugh's bed among a comforter which was hanging halfway down the
bed, two pillows on top of each other, a shirt and some of Hugh's
stuff.

"Don't you know? She weakens around
sick people! That's why X wouldn't want her near him." Hugh
said.

"But of course, she couldn't help it,
right?" Jervais said angrily. "Foolish girl! What was she thinking?
Does she know?"

"I believe she has an idea," Hugh said.
"She is the new one, Jervais. However, it happened, she is it! And
she will get weaker every time she heals. And she can die as well,
until she seals it."

"Stupid, stupid girl!" Jervais said
again and again until she was on the verge of tears. "Plain, plain
stupid!"

Jonah was stirring slowly. Her eyes
fluttered before she finally opened them. A smile gently spread
through her face when she saw Hugh. However, her lips were dry and
pale. She tried to sit up. But her body felt tired.

Hugh came forward and helped Jonah in a
sitting position. He had to pull one of the pillows from under her
to put it behind her back.

Jervais strode towards Jonah and
scolded her, "What were you thinking, Jonah? Why give us a fright
that way?"

Jonah looked away from Jervais and
grinned apologetically. "I—"

"You what?" Jervais chided,
occasionally chattering her teeth with the muscles on her beet-red
face tightening with anger."Are you trying to kill yourself? Are
you trying to be a healer now? Why don't you do it with your
mother's
habak
?"
she added. Jervais was thrusting the belly chain towards Jonah. And
when Jonah refused to take it, she pulled Jonah's hand and forcibly
handed the jewelry to her.

"No!" Hugh cried out.

But Hugh's warning came in too late.
Jonah threw the belly chain away from her and collapsed sideways
clutching her stomach. She crawled and dragged herself to every
direction until she was lying again with half of her legs dangling
on Hugh's bed. Her breath was cutting her off that she was lunging
for air helplessly. She was feeling her heartbeat almost leaping
out of her chest and yet her thoughts were running amok telling her
any moment her heart would stop beating.

Then, she saw a flash of images rapidly
consuming her— Jenssen's eyes dilated with trepidation surrounded
with half a dozen aggressive hyenas. Their foaming mouths and their
bone-crushing canines were very prominent. She also saw a fuzzy
picture of Jane choking and a mysterious hand mixing a poisonous
substance of some sort.

Although, Jonah did not lose her
consciousness, she could not feel anything on her arms and her
legs. And the urge to sleep was so strong. She just lay there
motionless with her eyes which she kept open
compulsorily.

Hugh reached out for Jonah gingerly. He
supported her neck with one hand and with his other hand wrapped
around her body, he moved her in an upright position. Then, he
gently pulled her to his lap like a child as she leaned her head on
his shoulder. He slowly went through the motion of massaging her
hand to her arm. Then, he did the same to the other
hand.

A tear trickled through Jonah's cheek.
Her eyes were directed at Jervais, who stood rooted to her spot
unable to move. Jonah was whispering, "I saw Jenssen! I saw
Jenssen!"

At that moment, there was loud knocking
on the door.

"It's her!" Hugh said in a panicky
voice.

Gone!

Hugh lifted one of Jonah's arms and let
it go. The arm just slid back to Jonah's side limply. He squeezed
her right hand with urgency pumping life to it. Then, he did the
same thing to the left.

Jonah was able to feel a little bit of
tingly sensation down her arms. However, from her past experience,
she knew the worse isn't over yet. Before she could feel her arms
and her legs again, there was still the expected rush of current
which felt like volts of electricity for a minute or two which will
totally render her immobile.

"Can you at least sit?" Hugh asked
Jonah.