It seemed so long ago since they laughed and played like this. “Don’t burn it, if you do, I’ll have a real reason to throw up.”
“What will it be, ma’am, well done, done, medium rare, or rare?” He held his arm up like a waiter. She was about to answer before she started to seriously think about it. Lately, the smell of blood seemed to rouse her, she used to find it appalling.
“Medium rare.”
He was shocked, she shocked herself too when the words came out of her mouth.
His brow creased. He didn’t move. “Are you sure? I thought you hated the smell of blood, let alone the sight of it.”
She nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Okay.” He turned and walked to the kitchen, he still doubted her choice, but she was sure. She was getting hungrier, more aroused as she thought about it. She shook her head and laughed, as if she wasn’t weird enough!
“Wh
She was in their home in New York. She ran from room to room trying to zero in on her dad’s voice. But this nightmare was different, she wasn’t five anymore. She got to the living room, there was blood splashed all over and there were several men staring at her moving closer to her. She ran out of the room when she heard her mother scream. She ended up in a redder room alone then her father started calling out for her again.Merilee run!Daddy…Run Merilee!I can’t see. There is too much red. Daddy, where are you? Daddy the red is scaring me, where are you!Before it could get worse she heard Ash’s faint voice in her head, and it got louder each time he called her name pulling her out of the red room.“Lee, Lee! Wake up!” Ash’s anxious voice pulled her out of the red hole she was in. “Wake up!” He held her tight, r
“Just because I’m sick day in day out doesn’t make me a weakling, neither does the fact that I’m a woman.” She was gentler than she meant to be.“Correction, girl, and no, it’s not that. You should be in pain.” He ran his fingers through his hair, releasing more strands of hair and making them fall across his forehead.“What?” She ignored the girl statement and focused on his confused rambling.“When I tried to get out of your hold, you shouldn’t have been able to hold me down, and your legs…” He was looking even more confused, then he smiled, raking his hand through his hair again. “I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”“Didn’t you sleep last night?” The question sounded ridiculous, of course he didn’t sleep. I kept him up with my screaming. She felt guilty.“Hey, I like watching you sleep, it sooths me.&r
She pulled away and sat upright, still between his legs. “Why stir me up if you’re going to shut me down!” She didn’t hide her impatience. This game was getting frustrating. He sat upright, keeping her where she was. “Because the next time I make love to you, it will be special, magical, binding.” She pulled the neckline of his shirt and looked down in it, at his bare chest, and then she pulled hers and did the same. He pulled her hand and held it against his chest. She lifted her head up fast as the shirt snapped back into place. “What are you doing?” His brow was raised and his lips were curved down. “I was just checking between the two of us, who is the woman in this relationship, and after the survey, I can confidently conclude that I am.” He laughed, and lay back, pulling her down with him. She smiled, seeing him happy made her heart skip. Then her smile faded, she pulled herself up when she remembered what he said.
The finals were finally over. They weren’t that bad but she wished she had more time to prepare, and then maybe she would have done better on them. She was sure she’d done well in history because Ash turned out to be a better teacher than Mr. Scott. Ash kept telling her not to fret, that he was sure she’d done well. Easy for him to say, he wasn’t in the hot room, but she never contradicted him.His moods seemed to be connected to hers, whenever she was sad or worried or depressed, he made it his job to cheer her up and if she were still in that rotten mood, he would get depressed too. She found it silly, but at the same time, it showed her how much he loved her. So she made it a point to try and stay positive and happy when she was around him.Ann and Maria were moving back into the apartment now that exams were over and so were Lee’s nightmares. She was happy to have her sisters back, but she knew she would miss the alone mome
“Do you think it was the bite?” Billy was pacing in the living room, agitated confused and scared.They had waited for the girls to leave before they talked about Lee and how she was able to hear their telepathic conversation. Ash had put up a fight, trying to prevent Lee from leaving the apartment. He tried to forbid her but it had only made her even more adamant to go. After thirty minutes of arguing he gave up. He called Dave the second the door closed behind them, and asked him to keep an eye on them. He felt at ease knowing that someone was watching her, but he was troubled by Lee’s ability to read their thoughts.“No, it couldn’t be I didn’t bite her that hard.” Ash was at the edge of the couch, cradling his head in his hands.“You bit her hard enough to leave a scar!” Billy yelled panicked.Ash’s head shot up. “How do you know that?” His voice was urgent.“Ann told
It was a happy picture, with her seated on her father’s lap and Alice in her mother’s arms with her little fingers in her mouth. Jayson was standing behind her mother and father with his huge dorky smile on. She’d missed that smile.The first day she spoke after her family got killed was the day she saw their picture in the newspaper. Her social worker had to file a motion with the court, declaring that she hadn’t died in the fire. It was a long process but she was finally legally alive. She was glad that the newspapers hadn’t found out that she was still alive, she didn’t want the attention and maybe not physically, but a part of her had died with her family that day.She looked up. Ash was standing at the door, his face distressed. She stood up and walked to him. She took his hand in hers and walked back to the living room. Without a word, she handed Ann the clipping then led Ash back to the couch. He sat down before she climbed back onto his lap, burying her head in his chest. He h
“Merilee.” He had a wide grin on his face, his voice sounded relieved, like he had finally found what he was looking for. She stayed quiet and just stared at him, half expecting he would disappear, or she would wake up from a cruel dream.Ash tried to turn her whole body around to face her father, but she wouldn’t dislodge. He kissed her head, pushing it slightly; he did this till he reached her ear. He kissed it then whispered in her ear with his silky soft voice, “Mi amor, he’s real. You are not imaging him, neither are you dreaming.” He tugged at her hand at the front of his shirt. “Touch him, and feel that he is real.”She didn’t do anything, she just stared at him, and then he did something with his face. She recognized it immediately! It was his impatient face. He always did that when he was trying to be patient with one of them, except for one person.“You never dared to do that with Mom
“Don’t worry, I know them all.” He sounded so casual.“Oh, you had time to talk to them when you came?”“No, not really.” There was a shadow across his face, his eyes shifted and looked behind her. She turn around, he was staring at Ash.“Dad, what’s going on?” She could see the silent conversation they were having, the trepidation in their faces was so evident it couldn’t have been clearer if the word were stamped on their foreheads.Ash stood up and moved toward them slowly, dragging out the seconds he had left to reach her. He sat on the table facing her. He took her hands in his and buried his face in them, her palms felt wet, was he crying? She’d seen him sad, angry and in agony, but this was very new to her. He kissed the inside of her palms and whispered in them. The words sounded like ‘forgive me’, but she couldn’t be sure. He was scaring her.She plac