“As soon as we get James and Lily to the house we will send out a search party,” Andrew affirmed as Tony picked up Lily’s heavy suitcase and they left the shattered apartment. She took a glance at James in the back of Andrew’s car and gasped in horror. Someone had partially covered him with a blanket, but all of the skin she could see was crisscrossed thin bloody red marks. She hated the guy but not so much as to enjoy seeing him so injured. Her hate was more along the lines of replacing his shampoo with orange hair dye.
“Are you sure he is going to be okay,” she asked her father wondering how anyone could survive that, and he nodded grimly.
“It’s going to take a few days though even with our healing speed,” he replied and she shook her head sadly.
Once they arrived at the house, Sandy swallowed Lily in a suffocating motherly hug showering her in kisses while Andrew Chris and Tony took James out of the car. Sandy released Lily for a moment to check on James. Lily heard her take a sharp intake of breath as she looked over him. “My poor boy,” She said with a saddened tone. “Go on and take him to the guest room. It’s already been prepared, thank goodness,” Sandy added then turned back to Lily and gave her another hug.
“It’s good that James went over there when he did,” Sandy stated. Lily remained silent not wanting to admit vocally how right her mother was. “Go on upstairs and put your things in your old room Sunshine,” Sandy told her, and Lily gave her a tight squeeze. She hated to have to depend on them again. Especially since she wanted nothing more than be able to stand on her own two feet, but she knew that if she didn’t want to end up dead or a monster she was going to have to accept help.
“Thanks, Sandy, you guys are the best,” she said with another squeeze and walked up the stairs with her heavy suitcase. She entered the nostalgic room with a small smile. It was exactly like she left it when she moved out a week after she graduated school. She laughed at the old posters of her teen crushes mostly Johnny Depp and Nick and AJ from Backstreet Boys. She pushed her suitcase over by the closet and laid on the bed feeling drained. Little by little she began to relax until she drifted off to sleep.
Lily opened her eyes slowly and sat up on the bed stiffly. She felt as if she slept for a hundred years. She released a jaw-popping yawn and got up from the bed wondering if this was what it felt like to be a zombie. She laughed and started to fan herself, suddenly feeling incredibly warm. Did someone turn up the heater? Lily left her room and started down towards the stairs. She pulled out an elastic band from her pocket and pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail.
A delicious smell drifted out of the kitchen that made Lily’s mouth water and stomach growl. She licked her lips with anticipation and hurried quickly down the rest of the stairs and into the kitchen. “There you are I was starting worry,” Sandy told her with a shake of her head and Lily gave her a sheepish shrug of the shoulders.
“I guess I was really tired,” she said sitting down at the round wooden table, and the older woman set a plate down before her. Her stomach grumbled loudly, and Lily didn’t waste time in shoving the food into her mouth as quickly as possible.
“I told you; you work too much Lily. A full-time job and three classes daily are too much for anyone to handle. I am not surprised you slept nearly twenty-four hours!” Sandy explained, and Lily choked on her food. Her eyes watered, and she drank almost a whole glass of water to get it all down.
“Nearly twenty-four hours!” She exclaimed when her mouth was empty, and the older woman nodded. She had never slept so much in her life.
“Wow… I guess you’re right… I really must’ve been in need of some rest,” Lily added still amazed by the number of hours she slept. “So what has gone on while I been dead to the world,” she asked before resuming to stuff food into her mouth. Sandy gave her a skeptical look of disapproval as she cocked her head to one side. Lily shrugged but kept eating her food similar to a starved pig. Sandy shook her head with a sigh.
“The search for Greg goes on. No one has heard from the poor young man since you’re father sent him over to your house,” Sandy explained, and Lily felt a wave of guilt strike her. If she hadn’t caused such a fuss with Andrew, Greg wouldn’t have gone missing. “James hasn’t woken yet, but his burns have scabbed over so I am sure by tomorrow or the next he will be awake.”
“Is the heater turned up, Sandy? I am so hot… Look I am sweating like a pig,” she asked suddenly changing subject holding out her arms that were covered with beaded droplets of sweat. Sandy looked at her concerned.
“No, it’s not,” Sandy told her putting her cool hand on Lily’s forehead. “You’re burning up Lily. You’ve caught a cold not that I am surprised! They don’t call fall the cold season for anything. Especially when you add the workload you’ve got and I bet you haven’t been eating properly either,” the woman scolded her.
Lily had to admit she hadn’t bothered in really taking care of herself lately. Sometimes she would only eat once a day and usually something out of a vending machine or quick and microwavable. “Sorry Sandy, I guess I just got caught up in everything,” she told her mother apologetically, and the blonde made a “tsk” sound while she shook her head. She went over to the large wooden cabinet to her left and pulled out some bottles.
“Take some of these and go back up to your room for some more rest,” she ordered, and Lily nodded taking the pills. Before she went up to her room, she decided to check up on James. She opened the door slowly and quietly trying not to disturb his rest. He was lying on the bed with brownish-red marks scarring his body. She would’ve thought he was dead if it wasn’t for his chest rising and falling with his breathing.
Guilt filled her again, why did she have to be so stubborn? She brushed some of his hair out of his face carefully and admired how attractive he was asleep. Lily pulled her hand away from him as if she had been burned and chastised herself. He may have saved her life, but he was still a cocky and arrogant jerk that she hated. “Thank you for saving my life, Mr. Lacrosse but if you think that makes up for what you done then you are sadly wrong,” She hissed angrily and stuck her nose up in the air then stalked off towards her bedroom.
Lacy entered Lily’s room during the evening with a steaming bowl of Sandy’s special chicken noodle soup. “Hey Lily pad how are you feeling,” she asked with a soft tone and Lily smiled at her.
“I am fine just really hot,” she told her friend who set the little tray on the bed. Lily had opened the window and made a paper fan to fan herself with. She’d changed into a small tank top, and small thin short but she was still sweating like crazy. “My luck sucks right now,” she added pulling the tray into her lap. “I get threatened, beaten, robbed, threatened again, lied to; witness two giant beasts fight each other and now a cold,” She listed grumpily and Lacy smiled.
“Did a black cat cross your path or something,” Lacy teased, and she smiled a little at the blond.
“Not that I know of, any luck yet finding the real Greg?” Lily asked, and Lacy’s face darkened as she shook her head.
“Nope and they’ve searched half of the forest and nothing. His scent goes half way to your house then suddenly vanishes. There is no trace of him anywhere,” she explained.
“How is that possible? How can he just disappear without leaving at least a trace of his scent?” Lily asked, and Lacy shrugged with an expression that told Lily that she was just as confused as her about it. She finished her soup and they talked a little longer before Lily decided to get some more rest and Lacy had to go to back to her house.
Lily didn’t get much rest that night; she kept getting hotter and hotter until she thought she was going to burst into flames. As the dawn approached, she started feeling better and didn’t wake up until late that afternoon. She got up from the bed feeling cool enough to close her window that was wide open despite the December cold.
She grabbed some clothes and headed off to take a nice long cool shower, feeling well enough actually to do something today, and she had a lot to do. She’d missed days of school, her apartment was an unnatural disaster, and she was jobless. She had some money in the bank to cover her for a while, but she wanted her savings to stay just that, savings. She let out a sigh of relief as the cool water washed over her. That was incredible how screwy things had gotten.
Lily hopped down the stairs attempting to keep her good mood; she forced the thoughts of the heavy tasks she would have to do out of her mind. “Hey Lily, how are you feeling?” Andrew Roberts asked her and she smiled at him brightly.