Part 14 (2/2)
”No, there are plenty of willing partic.i.p.ants out in the streets, and I am really not sure at this time what I would look for.”
”You're not going to let me roam about, are you? You know as well as I do that I won't be me anymore.” Saying this made her realize how stupid she was for running after Bradley. ”Don't let me be one of them. If you can't do it, Guillermo can.”
”Then he will have to. I could not hurt you, Ema, alive or otherwise.” he touched her skin. It was no longer warm and soft. Her body temperature had rapidly declined throughout the night, and her skin was becoming dry and rough.
”All the pain is gone. I guess it won't be long now,” Before Jonathan could say anything, she continued talking. ”Take me outside. I want to see the sun and the sky.”
”Ok. Wait here,” he said without any hesitation.
Jonathan went out to the dining room to talk to Deacon and Sophia. He let them know that Emalynn had wanted to go outside, and that he was going to make up a nice place for her to lie down comfortably. Both of them agreed that being outside would be for the best.
”Hey Guillermo,” he said as he walked out from the garage and into the front yard. ”I am bringing Ema out. Honoring her last request. Well, second to last. Do you want to get Roger and let him know?”
”Roger left yesterday. Said he was responsible for Bradley and Tyson getting killed. He couldn't take it anymore.”
Jonathan took a moment for this to register. ”Oh, ok. Well, do not go get him. Anyway, Ema will need to be-taken care of when the time comes.” A tear broke through and ran down his face as he said this.
”Oh G.o.d. I hadn't thought of that. You want me to do it? I'm not sure I can. She is part of my family now, so are you.”
”Thanks, that means a lot to me. Still, we cannot let her become one of them.”
It took him a moment to respond. He looked as though he was pleading with himself to not have to be the one. ”I'll do it, but only after she's gone for sure. Don't think for a second that I want to be the one, though.”
”Of course not,” Jonathan replied.
As Jonathan carried Emalynn out into the sun, the warm breeze brushed gently against her face. This caused her pain as the wind felt hot against her skin, yet she would deal with it for the chance to die out in the sun. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were gray. From her looks, there was no life left in this young woman.
”The picnic basket is nice,” she said. Her voice was not much more than an exhausted whisper.
”I hoped you would like it. I have some sandwiches and drinks in here, if you are interested.”
”I'm not hungry. I don't think I could eat anyway. What do you have in there to drink?”
”Chardonnay,” he responded uncertainly. ”2002. I do not know if that is good or not. My parents did not really drink very often, so they probably just grabbed what looked good at the time.”
”I've never had wine before. I tried a beer one time at a party. Tasted like what I would imagine p.i.s.s with just a hint of dirty bath water would taste like,” She tried to laugh, but began to cough.
Jonathan held her while she coughed, patting her on the back. ”It is probably a bit early for alcohol, but how about we give it a try,” he said once her coughing fit had pa.s.sed and he'd opened the wine bottle. It may have been early for wine, but Jonathan felt the time of day didn't matter in their current situation.
He had poured them each a gla.s.s of the white wine and helped Emalynn take a drink of hers. The initial taste was a little bitter, and he began to think that wine was a bad idea. Emalynn seemed to enjoy the taste a little more though.
”It's pretty good, and definitely too early,” she said, her voice was a little less raspy, but it still sounded pretty harsh.
”So tell me about this party. I guess I did not picture you as a wild party girl,” he said playfully.
”Oh stop it,” she pushed him weakly. ”Some friends of mine were invited to a party one weekend and wanted me to go, as well. Being the only party I've ever been to it was probably pretty typical.” Her breathing was short and forced as she spoke.
”If it is painful to talk you do not have to.” Jonathan looked into her eyes and touched her face; she reached up and placed her hand on top of his.
”I'm having a good time. Anyway, it was just a bunch of teens drinking beer while some boy's parents were away for the weekend. It wasn't really like how you see parties in movies. Everyone was sitting around, just relaxing and laughing...you know, just having a good time. Everyone else there was much older than we were.
”The guy who was throwing the party asked me to have a beer with him. It tasted so bad. He never tried anything, but I thought he would. Anyway I panicked, called my mom to come get me, and went home. How about you? You ever been partying?”
”No. My parents barely let us out of the house. Study study study. That is all I have done my whole life. To be a great biologist in a world that has fallen apart.” He laid back and looked up at the sky.
”You do know that it will be you who makes this world a place people can live in again, right?” For the first time since yesterday, Jonathan caught a brief glimpse of life in her dying eyes. This had made him feel as though hope had been injected directly into his veins.
”Yeah, as long as you believe in me, then there will be no stopping me.” He smiled, sat up just enough to kiss her cold forehead but was taken by surprise as she pulled him to her lips.
Emalynn's lips were cold and dry and tasted of the bitter sweet Chardonnay. Jonathan found the wine to be much more appealing this way. If things had been different, if she had not been dying, he would take her. Here on the gra.s.s of his front lawn, he would take her.
Instead, after their kiss, he laid down on his back with Emalynn resting on his chest. His heart beating faster than ever.
”I'll believe in you long after I've left this world. You know, I think it's cute how you hardly ever use words like adon't' and acan't'. You're English is a little more...proper then mine is.”
”Contractions. One thing my parents were big on. My dad would always say, aYou can't use contractions because they make you sound lazy.' Even though he used them from time to time.”
The hours had pa.s.sed by while they both lay awake on the front lawn watching the sun raise high above in the cloudless sky. The silence was disrupted by the occasional cough or sob from Emalynn. The sound of the door in the garage reminded Jonathan that this was not the perfect summer day, and that they were not alone.
”I think that is the others coming out to see you,” he said as he ran his fingers through her hair.
”Yeah, it will be nice to say goodbye to them all,” said Emalynn slowly. Jonathan couldn't tell if her face was wet from tears or sweat.
Jonathan wiped away a tear from his own eye and held back more as he tried to stay strong for her, but he wanted to just hold her and cry. Footsteps alerted him that now would be a bad time for that, and he sat up just enough to see who was walking toward them.
”Hi,” Sophia said, as she walked across the gra.s.s. She was followed by Deacon, Guillermo, and the twins.
They talked for several hours, laughing for a while, then crying, then laughing some more. Emalynn tried her best to spend a little time with everyone. She played with the twins and their action figures. Sophia sat with her so they could have ”girl talk”. Their giggling (and Emalynn's coughing) could be heard in the garage where Jonathan stood watching. Emalynn even talked to Guillermo using the little bit of Spanish that she had remembered from school.
”The sun is beginning to set. Do you want to stay out here longer, or do you want to go back inside?” Jonathan asked as he knelt beside her. Everyone else had said their goodbyes and went inside, hoping they would not have to see what would inevitably happen.
”Let's watch the sun set together. It will be like a romantic date,” she pulled him down on the blanket next to her, put her arm around his, and laid her head on his chest again.
Jonathan opened his eyes. He was cold, the temperature dropped to the sixties after the sun went down, and he felt as though he had a gallon of p.i.s.s in his bladder. As the sleep washed away in the morning light, he remembered where he was.
The weight on his leg, and the tingling sensation in it, suggested that Emalynn must have used it as a pillow last night. Then he was. .h.i.t with the thought that maybe she was eating his leg. He sat up quickly to check on her.
”She's alright,” Guillermo said calmly. He was leaning up against the tree watching the sky as the morning light flooded in ahead of the sun. ”You fell asleep right after the sun set last night. She asked that I watch over you so you can sleep.”
”How long did you talk to her?”
”Long enough. She told me that she wanted me to be there when she changed into a fiend, and that I'm supposed to put a stop to it. She said it would be too hard for you. I've been here all night, waiting for it to happen, but she is really hanging in there. She's a tough one.”
”Yeah, she is,” Jonathan agreed as he looked down at her. She looked lifeless and cold, yet her beauty had not faded.
The two let Emalynn sleep while they watched the sun rise that morning. She tossed and turned in her sleep, and she would go almost a minute at times where she would not breathe. They knew it wouldn't be long.
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