Chapter 18: Chapter 18

“He won’t make it. I tried everything but he’s stuck between life and death, and there’s nothing I can do to bring him out. By the time he’s out, there’s no life for him.”

I had never seen a grown man pass out until the last word came out of Amara’s mouth and Tobias went down as flat as a plank. Amara rushed to him immediately and I just stood there frozen to the ground because I didn’t trust any of my senses to work well at that point.

Have you ever wanted to scream so hard but for some reason you couldn’t even open your mouth? Well, that was how I felt. There was so much pent up emotion I wanted to let out but it just kept piling up as my body wasn’t willing to help me get what I wanted. I glanced at Amara kneeling beside Tobias, crying herself, and I felt like I had lost everything.

“Where is he? Can I see him?” I was finally able to say and I was shocked that I didn’t stutter or start crying like I was tempted to.

“Second floor, first door on the right,” she said without even looking at me.

I took a deep breath in and walked in the direction she had gone with Leon. I saw the very long stairs that unfortunately had no railings and began to walk up, each step heavier than the last. The dread in me was more than I could possibly explain and when I was finally at the door, I felt like I would have rather done a lot of things than see the possibly dead body of my best friend.

Despite all my brain said, I opened the door and walked into a dimly lit room. I looked around and found what I was looking for then turned on the lights. Leon was there lying on a bed with this peaceful look on his face that simply unnerved me. I walked closer and his smile made the tears that had been so scared to fall start rolling down my face.

I found it amusing that the walls of the room were painted white and everything in it was also white when a dying person was it. I’d never understood how hospitals felt so comfortable with the white. To me, white was a sign of life and it was less calming when you knew the person there was dying.

I walked to the side of the bed with a heavy heart and sat cross-legged on the floor while folding my arms. I stared at his face, maybe expecting him to stand up and say he was pranking me, but he was just as still as he had been when I walked in. It was even sad that he didn’t look like he was breathing and as this wasn’t a hospital, there was no life support.

“I can’t believe this is it. There is so much we haven’t done. Hell, I didn’t even get to see you get married or have kids.” My voice broke. “It can’t be over.”

As expected, I was met with silence and I had to deal with seeing his peaceful smile like he had died knowing something all of us didn’t. Amara did say he wasn’t dead yet but with all she had said, it was just as good as saying he was dead.

“I’m so sorry. If I had come to your place a bit earlier, maybe you would still be alive and with me.” I began to wipe all my tears away knowing that if he were there, he’d have told me to stop crying. “I know what to do. I’m going to play our favorite song.”

I brought out my phone from my pocket and was about to choose the song when I saw that I had twenty missed calls from Teagan. I frowned and reminded myself to stop leaving my phone on silent almost every time. As much as I felt bad for missing her calls, I found it weird because she hardly ever called me. We weren’t even friends.

I was about to ignore her calls and play our song but she started calling again so I knew it was urgent and picked it up.

“What is it, Tee? You’ve been blowing up my phone with calls,” I said not even trying to sound as perky as I usually did.

“Are you okay? You don’t sound…you,” she said and I could tell she was worried.

Our relationship was just that way. We weren’t friends but we always looked out for each other in case there was any problem.

“I’m fine. I just had a lot to deal with and I’m too exhausted to be happy.” “Then you’re not going to like what I have to tell you.”

“What is it?”

She took a deep breath in and said, “Your apartment was on fire and not just that, one of our branches also caught fire. The problem was that Delilah was in your apartment as usual during the weekends and as we speak, she’s in the hospital. I’m not sure she’s going to survive it.”

“How did it happen?”

“There’s no place the fire started from. The fire department said so. It’s like someone purposely set them on fire.”

I groaned and slapped my hand on my face. “Can this day get any worse? First, Leon and now, this?”

“What happened to Leon?”

“That’s a long story and I’m not sure what’s going to happen to him now but he was shot. I don’t think I have the mental energy to handle all this.”

“I’m sorry,” she muttered.

I sighed. “It’s not your fault. Someone is obviously targeting Leon and I even though I have no idea who it is.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Just help me take care of the situation in Westhaven while I try to figure out what is going on. I might need Camila’s help on this one.”

“Okay, I’ll do just that and I’ll let you know anything that comes out of it. I’m really sorry about Leon and everything. I hope you guys get out of it.”

“Thank you,” I said with a sigh feeling slightly bad for her because of her crush on Leon. She was another person the news would break badly.

“Bye,” she said and she hung up.

I raked my hands through my hair and fought the urge to scream. I cast a glance at Leon’s still body, sighed and stood up, then made my way down the stairs to find Tobias so he could take me back home. What I wanted at that point was quality rest that would help me forget everything.

When I got back to the living room, I met Amara talking to Tobias who looked way worse than he did when we came there. It was good to know that I wasn’t the only one beating myself up over Leon’s current situation.

“What kind of statement is Avyanna trying to make that she hasn’t already made with Leon?” I asked crossing my arms as soon as I was in front of them. “I mean, isn’t it enough that she took the life of someone dear to me?”

Tobias tightened his fists and his eyes lit up with fire in a manner that would have scared me if I didn’t already know he wasn’t human. “What did she do this time?”

“I don’t know if she thought I’d be there but she set my house on fire and unfortunately, Delilah was there. She’s in the hospital now and things are kind of bad for her. Do you know how bad this is for me? If she dies, her parents could sue me or something.”

“It’s not our fault.”

“Tell that to grieving parents,” I said as I started pacing. “I just don’t get why she’s doing this. What is her problem?”

“I swear I’m going to kill her. I am going to make sure I watch her bleed to death in a way that is so gruesome even I will be shocked by it,” Tobias said, the fire flaring as he cracked his knuckles.

“Calm down with your temper,” Amara said as she rolled her eyes. “If you kill her, you’re going to get in big trouble that will get you killed. You need to go about this smartly.”

He stood up and started pacing like I’d been doing. “Is it still a murder if I give her a heads up?”

Amara laughed and shook her head. “The word for that is a threat and yes, it is.”

“Damn,” he muttered and shook his head before sitting down again then had this faraway look like he was thinking about some other way to hurt Avyanna.

I was about to say something but my phone started ringing and I groaned not wanting to talk to anybody until I saw that it was my mother calling. She hardly ever called me and the last thing I wanted was to miss one of her oh-so-important calls.

“Mama,” I said with a smile. “How are you doing? It’s been long since your last call.” “Well, I talk to Leon often so I know you’re fine,” she said with a chuckle.

I sighed. “You almost love him more than you love me.” “That’s not possible.”

“Anyway, why are you calling.”

“There’s a problem.”

I stopped pacing. “We can’t have a crisis. My schedule is already full.” I raked my hands through my hair furiously. “What is it this time?”

“Your father just fell through the floor of our room. I’m still trying to understand how that is humanly possible but it happened and I saw it. We’re at the hospital now and I just thought I should let you know.”

“Oh God, Mama, is he fine?”

“He’s alive so I think that’s good news. When he fell, he didn’t fall directly on the floor and landed on something that cushioned the fall. He’s still incapacitated though,” she said with a sigh.

“Mama…”

She cut me off immediately. “Don’t worry, baby, you don’t have to come home. I just thought I should let you know. Your father and I can handle it.”

And just as always, she knew what to say and when to say it. She was that kind of mother and I guess I didn’t realize how much I’d missed talking to her.

“I really want to come back but I’m in a lot of trouble right now and there are a lot of things that need my attention. I promise I’ll be back home for the New Year,” I said as I placed my left hand on my hip.

“It’s fine, my dear. Come whenever you are free. I’m fine,” she said and I could imagine her giving me her wonderful smile. “Take care of yourself, love. I have a feeling that things aren’t okay with you.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said with a sigh.

“I know you will. It’s in our blood,” she said and she hung up immediately.

I sighed and stared at my phone. I felt so bad that it was my fault my parents were going through all that. I just didn’t understand what problem Avyanna had with me. I’d thought about it but I just couldn’t get why she was doing all she did.

“I don’t get it. Did I do something to her that I’m not aware of?”

“Don’t tell me she did something else,” Amara said rubbing her hands on her face obviously as exhausted from all these as Tobias and I were.

“I already know that look on your face,” Tobias said with a sigh. “What exactly did she do this time?”

“My father fell through the floor in his room. How does one even fall through that? I don’t even want to think about the logic but I want to know how she knows where my parents live because this is obviously not a coincidence.”

Before Tobias could reply, Amara said, “Just calm down. You don’t have evidence that she’s the one. I don’t want you getting in serious trouble because of this.”

He stood up immediately nearly hitting her in the process. “What other proof do you need? There is no other werealke alive in the world. You and I know it so where else do you want us to get proof from? That alone is enough proof.”

Amara stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We need to deal with this carefully. You know who she is.”

“And that’s why I’m trying to rid the world of the evil that is her,” he snapped.

Amara looked like she was about to argue with him so I sighed and stepped in. “I don’t know about both of you but all this shouting and crying has made me tired. I’m going to sleep with Leon. Good night.”

“He could be dead, you know?” Amara muttered but she was loud enough for me to hear and I glared at her with the last bit of strength I had left in me. “I’m just telling you that because I know you still have faith and sometimes, faith isn’t the best way to go about it. Accept the truth so it doesn’t hurt you later.”

“Anything is possible,” I said and didn’t spare her another glance before turning away and heading to Leon’s room.

With each step I took, her words weighed on me and I felt that all she had said was nothing but the truth. There was no way Leon could survive something that was devised to bring an end to is kind. As much as I didn’t believe in impossibilities, there was just a first time for everything.