Cursed (22 page)

He sat perfectly still and then nodded slowly
not making any noise.

I frowned, “You have to tell the police.”

He shook his head, "I can't."

I leaned against the kitchen counter, “Are you
telling me that you know who is raping and attacking girls,
including me who you say you love but you wont tell me or the
authorities who he is?”

He nodded still sitting tight-lipped, "What kind
of proof do I have beyond seeing him running through the woods?
What kind of witness am I? I have no I.D. I have no address."

I pointed to the door, “No, you need to tell the
police."

He shrugged, "Aimee I can't get involved I'm
sorry. I have other things and people to protect."

"That could have been me. I could have been face
down in the dirty grass with my skirt around my waist. Get out of
my house. I’m fine, protect my sister and dad from bad karma but
leave me alone. I don’t believe in Karma anyway. I don’t even
believe in you.”

He stood and looked at me. His eyes were full of
regret as he turned and walked out of my house. Feeling sick as he
left I cried and went back to bed and slept some more.

I woke hearing rustling in my room, assuming it
was him I shouted, “Get out.”

My sister peaked her dark head of hair up at me
out of my closet, “I need that shoe you wore the other night. I
found one but where is the other one?” I looked around the room
seeing the mess everywhere. My room had slowly become my sisters.
It exhausted me to think about the mess around me even though I had
slept for days. I sat up feeling the best I had in a while and gave
my sister a look, “Why cant you just wear one of the millions of
other pairs?”

She frowned, “You okay Aims? Normally I really
wouldn’t care but you’ve been in bed for five days again.”

I frowned, “Huh?”

She nodded, “Yeah you’re sleeping a lot. The
doctor came four days ago and checked your vitals out when you were
sleeping and he said as long as your eyes and skin aren’t turning
yellow you would be fine, you’re just recovering which he said can
take a couple months.”

I looked down at the floor to see a cup I didn’t
recognize and a few dishes.

“Have I been eating up here?”

She nodded sitting on my bed looking confused,
“Yeah dad’s been bringing you dinner and feeding you. Dude you
don’t remember any of this, yikes. He called the doctor again today
and the doctor wants you to come back for a check up on Monday. He
said its normal after what you’ve been through to feel sick like
this. He said it could be another month. But now we’re getting
worried.”

I didn’t recognize this person on my bed. Her
steely silver glistened as she spoke softly, “Aims Jaime is awake
now. She said she doesn’t remember anything but the doctors
confirmed she was raped, he never got to finish because you and
that guy came upon them. You saved her Aimee.”

I felt my eyes light up, “She’s awake? So she’ll
be okay?”

Alise nodded, “Yeah I guess she didn’t have an
allergy like Giselle. Speaking of Giselle, your phone’s been going
nuts dude. It’s been like fifty messages a day and Shane’s called
about twenty times a day. He’s really worried. Dad wont let him in
your room so when he shows up he stays at the door and then leaves
after a while. A few times he stayed and watched Discovery with
dad, I think he’s hoping you’d wake up and he could see you one
time.”

I put a hand to my face, “Oh my god I’m like a
mono victim. I need to get out of bed and go see Giselle and see
Shane.”

I looked at her deciding to forgive and accept,
“How’s Blake?”

Her smile became so deep it hit her eyes making
them sparkly like platinum, “He’s the weirdest guy I’ve ever met. I
hate the way he just sits and reads sometimes for like hours. He is
like you but a dude. He wears all these shirts that make no sense
and I bought him this super expensive watch and he hates it and
keeps wearing that nerdy N.S.A one. And he never tells me I’m
beautiful or wants to you know, do it. I think he’s never done it
before which is cool with me but he seems happy to just lie on his
bed and read beside me. I’m so tired of him but I can’t stop going
over there.”

I laughed, “Oh my god you like him. It’s N.A.S.A
by the way, it’s the space ship people. This is you gushing sis.
I’m glad but please go easy on him, I know its not your nature but
try. He’s my best friend.”

She frowned, “He wont fight with me. He just
sits there. I accused him of flirting with Jessica at a hot tub
party we had at his house on Sunday. He sat on the couch watching
some special on how they’re making the astronauts retire and work
in tourism. I yelled at him and he cut me off mid screaming fit and
said, ‘Hey babe can you get me a drink of water?” She changed her
voice to mimic a mans for the question.

I smiled knowing the exact face he would have
used, “Guess you’ve met your match.”

She nodded, “I’m scared though. What if I mess
it up?”

I shook my head, “He wont let you. He doesn’t
buy into your drama.”

She put a hand down on my arm and rubbed a
little like mom used to, “Aims can you try to get better? I know
you’re sad about something but can you just try a little harder I
cant take this. Giselle is dying, Jaime is sick like you and you’re
scaring us with all this sleeping.”

I nodded gulping back a tear lodged in my
throat, “Yeah. I’m going to take a shower and get dressed now. Have
the police got any idea what’s happening?”

She got up from my bed and shook her head, “No
they’re still kinda lost. I guess they found the cup she was
drinking from though so that’s good. They know what the drugs are
that the rapist is using.”

I got up from my bed slowly, “Okay well what day
is it?”

She smiled, “Friday, the big dance is tonight. I
think Shane’s’ worried you wont be able to go.”

“I’ll go, I need to go to Giselle’s to get my
dress though. She wants me to wear her spring formal dress.” I felt
weird about it.

My sister’s face lit up again, “You’re gonna go?
I’ll drive you over when you’re done showering.”

I looked over at my open window and felt
lost.

The shower was relaxing on my aching back. I
hadn’t done anything in nearly a week, which seemed to be killing
me. I decided even if I was dead assed exhausted I wasn’t going to
bed until it was an actual bedtime.

I felt so many emotions all at once that my poor
little wall had been crumbled and ground into stone. I didn’t know
what to do about Shane who was the perfect guy for me and I really
didn’t know what to do about Aleks who was all wrong for me but for
some crazy hormonal and chemical reaction based reason my heart
seemed to need.

I pictured his face and I melted, I remembered
our kissing and touching even though he had never crossed the
second base line and I felt naughty like I wanted to lick my lips
and breath through my mouth. Everything about him turned me into a
person I didn’t know. Everything about Shane made me feel safe and
relaxed but more like the girl I was before everything had happened
and changed me. I put my face into the shower and turned the water
to cold hoping the shock was helpful. I had never been in real love
before and of course my first romance had to be a love triangle
with a supernatural being as the one I wanted instead of the guy
I’d always loved.

My brain still treated him as a joke, I couldn’t
help thinking about the fact my dad had been feeding me all week
long and I didn’t remember that. Perhaps my memories of Aleks were
also not correct.

Not feeling any more convinced of anything
beyond my absolute love for him I climbed out of the shower angry
with myself.

For all my grades and common sense I hadn’t
gotten any good taste clearly. I decided maybe I could force myself
to learn to love the person that was right for me instead of obsess
about the person who wasn’t even real.

I walked into my room to dry off to find Aleks
sitting on my bed, so much for not real, I was naked except for my
towel which really only covered the essentials. I wanted to jump on
him and kiss him but I stood my ground at the entrance to my room
and leaned against the doorframe.

He sat there quiet for a while staring at the
stuffed bear he was holding, it was my bear from when I had my
tonsils out when I was nine.

He squished him slightly feeling the density of
the fluff, I raised an eyebrow at him, “What are you doing
here?”

He smiled devilishly not taking his eyes off
Beary, “Watching over your sister.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at him, "You’re
cheating. I can’t get over you if you don’t let me and leave me
alone. Stop touching Beary, he doesn’t like you either.”

He looked up at me with his intense blue eyes
through his long black lashes, “I don’t want you to get over
me.”

I felt like I needed to back up, his stare
locked me in and was pulling me to him. If he stood up I would
scream I told myself.

“You’re bad for me. You’re going to leave in a
few weeks if that. Once the pervert is caught you won’t need to
hang around and that feeling is going to come back. You’ll need to
move on to the next people.” I spoke the words but to my heart they
were hollow.

He nodded still smiling dangerously at me, “I
know, it’s a predicament.”

“I have to get ready, I need to go to Giselle’s
and get her dress for the dance tonight. Plus I need to go see
Jaime, she’s awake no thanks to you.”

I remembered suddenly how angry I was with him,
‘just keep chanting Jaime’ I told myself.

He stood up looking deeply into my eyes, as he
seemed to fill the entire space of my room, “You’re going to the
dance?” His tone was not something I had heard before.

I nodded, “With Shane.”

He crossed the room in a step and looked down on
me, “This is what you want?”

I nodded again not able to speak seeing his lips
so close to mine. His scent filled the air around me making me
frown not at him but against my feelings for him.

He shook his head, “I don’t think its what you
want. I know it’s not what I want.”

“I can’t go with you.” The words were so much
bigger than the dance, they were everything. No matter what he did
from then on I couldn’t go with him.

I gripped my towel and walked past him and sat
on my bed. He closed my door and came to where I was sitting. He
knelt in front of me and took my left hand in his. It looked so
tiny and thin, “Aimee.” He spoke softly and kissed my hand once, “I
am in love with you.” He kissed it twice and then turned it over
and kissed my palm. He was driving my body crazy and my brain
started to get foggy again. I couldn’t think around him I seemed to
only feel.

I pulled my hand away and swallowed hard, “I
want to go to the dance. I want a normal boyfriend who isn’t going
to abandon me. I want something in my life to be regular again.” I
paused for a second knowing that if I finished my thought he would
hurt but I needed him to go away even if it was going to crush my
soul, “I want a boyfriend who will answer my questions not make
more.”

His left eye twitched as if his face would have
flinched but he fought it off.

He looked me overwhelmingly in the eyes and as
if his body grew in size he took up all the light in the room,
“You’re mine, mine.” His words were spoken softly but the meaning
was clear. His love scared me, I understood what my sister meant
when she said that she was scared of Blake and losing him.

Aleks leaned in slowly and brushed his lips
against mine softly and then he dove out my open window and was
gone.

I still felt the warmth of his lips as I
attempted to process him in my mind.

I got angry again but I smiled this time feeling
he hadn’t bested me, he had come back and made me doubt my ability
to be with anyone else but never answered a single question. His
plan backfired though because I, unlike him, was a mental case who
contemplated everything. I had learned to shut my heart off, not
around him, no, but when he was gone I could do it.

I got dressed more determined than ever to make
things work with Shane or at the very least make it through the
dance and then take it one day at a time. Shane was the boy I had
loved for a decade, it wasn’t going to be work with him.

I made it down the stairs to see my sister
watching TV with headphones on listening to her ITouch. I laughed
tapping her on the arm, “Hey, ready?”

She nodded shouting at me, “Yeah, lets go.”

I pointed to her ears and she pulled the baby
blue head phones off laughing, “Oh yeah.”

She babbled the whole drive over to Giselle’s
parents house. I tuned her out right away with my usual thoughts of
how annoying I found her friends to be and how the petty story she
was telling was nothing but dribble. I stopped my thoughts though
and looked at my sister, she was babbling and her story was dribble
but it mattered to her. She was a passionate person and where she
rarely thought about anything she felt everything. Suddenly I
admired my sister as I smiled still able to ignore the trashy story
she tried to corrupt my intelligence with.

She parked in the driveway and waited as I
walked up to the door to knock. The house wasn’t huge like Shane’s
or Blake's but it was bigger than ours. It was a very large split
level. Her dad opened the door looking very rough. His hair was
ruffled and his eyes blood shot. I knew I had woken him and he had
been drinking everyday he didn’t spend at the hospital with
Giselle.

“Hi sir, I'm Aimee James, Giselle told me to use
her dress for the dance. Can I just come in and grab it?”

He looked at me for a moment and then nodded,
“Yeah she told me about that. Come on in.” He looked out at the
driveway to see my sister wave at him. He waved back and closed the
door.