The Immortal Design (6 page)

   “You are NOT going out with that FREAK! I won’t allow it John Stokes! I just won’t.” She had snapped totally and completely. She no longer even remotely looked like the self-confident head cheerleader she was. She looked demented and for the first time in our lives she looked like she hadn’t even showered. Her hair was a mess, she looked like she had slept in her make up for the past three days and hadn’t bothered to remove it before applying a new coat of paint. She came at me again swinging that backpack that felt like it had rocks stuffed inside. I backed away quickly. One hit from that bag was enough for me.

   “Damn it Kelly knock it off! I’m being serious now, stop it.” She kept swinging and missing as I ducked the blows of the backpack from hell. I backed up into my car and jumped inside quickly. It didn’t stop her from attacking though. She swung the bag down on the hood of my car, denting it. Shit, my dad was going to freak.

  I turned the ignition and gunned the engine in reverse getting out of the parking lot without any further damage to my car or my head. 

   I drove on to the hospital for my daily visit with Pete. Leaving the crazed Kelly screaming in rage in the school parking lot. Psycho Kelly wasn’t enough to keep me from it. I admit though, I was starting to get a massive headache from the blow. Lesson learned; I’m going to have to start paying more attention to who is around me from now on.

   I got to the hospital and parked the car. I got out and checked the damaged hood, it looked bad, but at least there wasn’t more serious damage done. I would have to deal with the damaged car later and made my way up to the second floor where Pete’s room was located. I heard laughing and people talking coming from the room. 

   Pete was awake sitting up in bed, laughing with his mom as I entered the room. “You’re awake!” I shouted as I made my way across the room quickly. The excitement had me forgetting why Pete had originally landed here in the first place. The look on Pete’s face quickly reminded me. His laughter had come to an abrupt halt, and the glare he gave me was enough for me to know he hadn’t forgiven me yet.

   “Mom, can you give me a minute alone with John please?” There was definite tension in his voice.  His mom smiled at me briefly and left to go to the cafeteria. “Mom says you’ve been coming here every day.”

   “Ya, I have.”

   “Why? Kelly not what you expected?”

   “Huh?” I was shocked. He really thought I had taken crazy Kelly up on her offer.

   “Oh. That’s right you stormed off before you heard me tell her off for what she did. By the way I told her off formally and royally in front of the entire senior class for your information” I tried desperately to remain cool and calm, but his attitude was pushing my limit.

   This time it was Pete’s turn to look surprised. “You really did that?”

   “Ya you idiot I did, I can’t believe you’d think I’d stoop that low to get a girl, or that I even had one little bit of interest in her at all. Especially after I had practically demanded that you get all the Intel on Willa, come on man, you saw how crazy I was about her, why would I want Kelly? You are my best friend Pete. I would not do that to you, how many times do I need to keep repeating that to you before you finally get it?” I was at my limit now and I swore to myself if he kept pushing it, I was going to unload on him fully. I was done with the Kelly crap once and for all.

  Pete swallowed hard and looked down at his bandaged hand then up at me “Maybe one more time.” Then he began to laugh. Pete had a terrible sense of humor. He knew I had told her off, he had to of. I know I wasn’t the only person visiting him.  The sheriff had probably been here straight away once he learned that Pete was awake.

    I laughed and took my usual chair next to the bed. “You’re crazy ass delusional girlfriend has officially gone off the deep end. She just freaking attacked me in the parking lot by the way and my dad is going to be beyond ticked off when he sees the damage” I felt the back of my head where Kelly had ambushed me. I was bleeding. “Shit, she got me better than I had thought she did.” I said as I showed Pete my bloody hand.

   Pete looked at the blood and made me bend over so he could get a good look at the fresh head wound his crazy woman had handed me. “That looks bad. You probably ought to have it looked at before you leave here.”

  “Ya, maybe. Anyway enough about me. What the hell were you thinking when you left that night? You can’t be seriously that mad to try to hike down the mountain. Not to change the subject but do you have any Tylenol or something in here? My head is killing me.”

   Pete looked at me in confusion. “I didn’t hike down the mountain John. I was walking along the road. I was pissed. All I kept thinking was that Kelly finally wanted me, and then the bitch had used me to get to you. The next thing I know a wolf came out of nowhere, and had me by the arm. It drug me off the road into the bushes. I tried fighting it off, and then the next thing I know I wake up here. I don’t know how I got here. I don’t know if someone found me and dropped me off, or if I crawled here.”

   “Wow that is seriously messed up. I haven’t seen a wolf around here in a long time. Are the cops going to try to hunt it down and kill it?”

   “I have no idea. Listen, I’m going to tell you something that I didn’t bother telling the police.” Pete looked over at the door and then back to me. He leaned in close and whispered “I don’t know if I was dreaming this, but I saw Willa. I saw her while I was being attacked toward the end of it. If I didn’t know any better I would swear that I saw her beat that wolf back and then picked me up and brought me here. But that’s crazy right, I mean she’s a tiny little thing, there’s no way she could beat off a full grown wolf and then pick me up like a I was nothing… Right?”

   I had been listening intently to Pete’s story. The thought of Willa taking on a full grown wolf was laughable to say the least. Pete was right, she was pretty tiny too, no way could she pick Pete up, and he was at least 200lbs, in muscle alone. He was no small guy. “I think you were right to keep that to yourself. They’d think you were nuts.” Pete sat back and grimaced slight as he adjusted his legs.

   “You’re right I won’t be telling anyone what I think I saw happen. I have had enough of hospital food and I’m ready to get the hell out of here. By the way, I get out tomorrow. Doc says I gotta use crutches for about a week until the stitches come out.”

   Pete’s mom entered the room carrying a tray covered in an assortment of snacks. She laid it on Pete’s lap. “Snacks! Mom you’re the greatest.” Pete began to tear open a bag of chips and a snickers candy bar.

   “John would you like anything to eat?” Pete’s mom asked.

   “Oh no thank you, I’m going to go ahead and go. I need to stop down to urgent care and have my head looked at.”

  “What on earth are talking about John?” she asked as she walked over and gently took my head in her hands and started examining it.

   “Kelly went psycho on him after school today.” Pete told her. Pete’s mom, gave a disapproving look and shook her head. “Pete from now on you stay away from that girl. First her nonsense at the bonfire lands you in the hospital and now she’s attacked your best friend. Do you need any more proof that the girl is unstable?” Pete hung his head and sighed. I no longer wanted to be in the room. I excused myself in the middle of Pete’s mom going on and on about Pete needing to make better choices when it came to his love life. That was definitely not a conversation I wanted to be a part of.

   The urgent care center was on the main level of the hospital and since I was eighteen now I didn’t need my parents to be called to come and take care of me. I signed in at the front desk and was about to take a seat when I noticed Willa in the hall. I was just about to walk over to tell her about what had happened with Kelly when I heard shouting. Willa was having a heated discussion in a foreign language with the guy from the elevator that I had seen the day before. He had his hand tightly wrapped around her upper arm and was attempting to drag her out of the hospital. I stormed over to them and was about to put the jerk in his place when Willa, pushed the guy off of her and slapped him across the face. The guy looked completely stunned by her reaction.

   “I am staying and that is final, do you understand me
Ce
Rau
?” She spat the last two words at him like acid. He flinched at whatever she had just said. He brushed himself off and walked away, before he left he looked over at the two of us and smiled a dark and disturbing wicked smile.

   “There are ways to make you see things my way Mina.”

   I looked at Willa in confusion. Who was he talking to? Who the hell is Mina? And just who the hell was this guy to her? When Willa looked back at me I saw the storm fading from her eyes. “Are you ok” I asked. Willa stepped back from me, apparently she wasn’t ready to talk.

   “I am fine Johnathan Stokes. Why are you here and why is your head bleeding?” It was a demand and not a question.

   “Who was that guy Willa?”

   “You did not answer my question, why are you bleeding?” She was beginning to get that stormy look in her eyes again.

   “Kelly attacked me after school. She hit me over the head with her book bag. I think it had rocks in it or something like that.” The storm had just went nuclear. The hatred in her eyes practically glowed.

   “I’m fine. Pete’s mom thought I should come down here and make sure I didn’t need stitched up or something. Now, are you going to tell me who that guy was you were just yelling at?”

   “Just someone from my past. He is of no concern of yours or mine for that matter.” Her accent was thick with her emotions.

   “Is that an ex-boyfriend or something? Did he come all the way here to stalk you?” I was feeling very defensive and protective of her at this point. Willa turned her back to me.

   “No. He is my brother Mihial.”

8.

   “That guy is your brother? Why is he so pissed?” Willa slowly relaxed her shoulders and turned to face me. For the first time that I had laid eyes on her she looked sad. Willa was usually so full of life and laughed easily, but now she looked as if all life had been sucked right out of her. My heart ached for her. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight. I could feel the tension leave her fully as she relaxed into my arms. My heart raced, she felt perfect here in my arms as she melted into my embrace. I breathed her in deeply and the mixture of scents that came from her were overwhelming my senses “Mm, you smell so good.” Willa chuckled as she released me from our embrace. A smile returned to those perfect lips. “It is wild jasmine and my hair conditioner, but thank you for the compliment.” I was slightly embarrassed. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. I just couldn’t help myself when I was with her. She had me saying things I meant to keep private. I was starting to think I was coming off as desperate.

   “John Stokes. Is there a John Stokes here?” The nurse was calling my name. I had been caught up in the whirlwind of Willa and her brother fighting and forgot I was next to be seen by the urgent care doctor for my head wound. Willa pulled away from my embrace “You are being called John. You should go and see to that injury.”

   I looked over to the nurse and acknowledged that she had been calling my name. “I got to go, you can tell me about your brother tonight ok?” I told her. She smiled at me and I released her fully and walked over to the nurse. I waved goodbye to Willa before I was escorted back to the patient exam room. I turned one last time to look at Willa before the door had closed behind me, and she had vanished.

   I wasn’t sure what her and her brother were arguing about but from the sound of it, it wasn’t anything good. The nurse checked my head and took some notes for the doctor before she left me alone in the room. I made myself a mental note to learn what language Willa and her brother were speaking so I could take a crash course online to learn her native language.

   The doctor came in and looked at the cut on the back of my head, he quickly began to wash it out with some saline solution before he numbed the area. I ended up getting four stitches to close the wound. The doctor said I was lucky to have only received a superficial cut and that I could have been knocked out cold and ended up with a serious head injury. It didn’t stop him from getting a chuckle at my expense when I had informed him of how I had gotten the injury in the first place. “Women” he laughed. “Do you need anything for the pain?”

   “No I can just take some Tylenol when I get home thanks.”

   “Ok, I’ll have the nurse discharge you, I want you back in one week to remove the stitches, for now though, no sports and no more hits to the head. The next time, you could end up with a concussion. I certainly don’t want your father breathing down my neck for that. Please be careful John and for the love of God pay attention to your surroundings from now.” The doctor left the room and sent the nurse in with my discharge papers. As I left the hospital I looked to see if Willa was still around. Her hearse wasn’t in the parking lot so I assumed she had finished her business and had left for home.