CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

“Scarlet?”

Her eyes flickered open to find Archie standing in front of her. She seemed happy to see his ginger hair and his brown smiling eyes looking at her.

“Hey, Archie. Thanks for helping me on Friday.” She smiled up at him.

Archie was puzzled, he carefully looked her over a questioning eyebrow raised. He couldn’t connect the cheerful girl he saw now to the sick one on Friday.

“Scarlet? Where have you been?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have been trying to reach you since Saturday. I have called you dropped by your place a couple of times too.”

Scarlet looked away, she didn’t want him to see the shock on her face. She hadn’t left the house since Friday and was sure she didn’t hear him knock. The same way she hadn’t heard his or Kayla’s calls. She put her arm on the crook of his arm and they walked towards the wards. She was going to downplay her disappearance as much as she could.

“I was out, sorry about that. And my phone has been on silent my best friend gave me an ear full about that.” She chewed on her lip letting the lie sink in.

“That’s cool. Why didn’t you call me we could have gone out for a movie or dinner?” his facial expression went back to its usual smile.

“I wanted to venture out into the world alone.” Scarlet deepened her voice mimicking his unsuccessfully.

“That is funny.” He chuckled. “So I have a little girl for you to see.” His tone changed.

Scarlet could read the gravity of the situation on his facial expression. Shee had told her about the child but never told her the extent of her injuries or her state of mind.

“How old is she?”

“She’s about eight and so was her friend. Her name is Kyla and her friend was Rachael. They were pretty close. She hasn’t spoken to anyone since the crush. And last night she woke up a couple of times screaming.”

“I have a friend named Kayla.” She thought of how she would be in a similar catatonic state if Kayla ever died. Died the second time and permanently that is.

Archie stopped at the door of the little girl’s hospital room. They looked into the room through the glass window on the door. Her mother sat on a chair holding her hand. The girl stared into the air, not reacting to her mother’s touch or light sobs.

Scarlet entered the room and asked her mother to leave them alone to talk. She didn’t think that she would talk to her having refused to speak to everyone else she knew, but she was determined to try. With her protruding belly leading the way, Scarlet stepped beside the bed.

She refrained from sitting beside her, she didn’t want to cause her any discomfort or make her feel cornered.

“I am here to talk to you about the bad thing that happened. But I won’t force you.” She took out a coloring set and placed it on the table, pulling it closer to the little girl.

“When you are ready to tell me about yourself I will be here waiting. In the meantime, you can color,” she smiled down at the child’s blank face. She was trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

Scarlet pulled the chair to a corner in the room away from the eye view. She wanted the girl to know she was there but didn’t want her to feel pressured.

When the girl picked up the colors and doodled on the drawing book, Scarlet smiled appreciating the little victory she just had.

She sat quietly watching and waiting for the child to confide in her. To open up to her so that she could help.

“Is that a baby in there?” The little girl pointed towards her belly.

“Yes, it is. Do you want to touch it?” Scarlet approached her when she nodded. She let the child feel the curve of her bump, something she never let anyone but herself do.

Her hands remained on her belly just as her eyes did. Scarlet could hear little sobs escaping the little girl’s lips. Then finally they had a breakthrough. She held her as she cried herself to sleep. Archie was watching from the peep window on the door. He had doctor Shee paged, Scarlet had done her part and now he had to step in.

Gently Scarlet laid the child back onto the bed and met the two doctors outside her room.

“I would like to stay on this case if you don’t mind. I feel like we made a connection.” She was determined to help her and the only way to do it was to get assigned on the case.

“That is fine but I also want Michele to be introduced to her, especially since you look like you are going to erupt any moment now.” Shee was making a joke about how big Scarlet was getting.

“When you go for maternity leave and Kayla is still getting treatment, we don’t want to destabilize her by introducing her to someone new.”

Scarlet couldn’t argue with reason. “Sure as soon as she wakes up.”

Archie leaned down to Scarlet to whisper in her ear when Shee walked away. “You are going to make a great mom.” He smiled at her then left.

Scarlet felt proud of herself, she had just begun accomplishing what she had wanted, what she had promised her parents she would. She joined Kayla’s mother in the room and sat back into the chair she had put in the corner. She wanted to be there when she woke up, she was excited about the little progress they had made and hoped for more.