In the Image of Grace (24 page)

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” I babbled. My hands were
shaking. I was so scared for Jeremy. Then I heard a scream. I
realized it was Isabelle and then I asked myself where’s Clarissa?
“I’ll be right back,” I told Jeremy, not wanting to leave his side.
I got up and ran across the porch where Isabelle and a crowd of
others stood. I saw why she was screaming. Clarissa was on the
floor of our foyer with her arms splayed out to the side, her face
the palest shade of white, lying in a pool of her own blood that
appeared to seep out of a wound in her chest.

I tried to scream, but nothing came out and then I
was looking at the underside of the porch roof again. Then I heard
a bunch of thudding like running feet on wood and a lot of
commotion. I felt somebody step over me and then a middle aged
woman’s gently wrinkled face appeared and asked where I was hurt. I
responded with, “Clarissa.” I didn’t bother to move. I figured I’d
let the woman figure out if something was wrong with me, too bad
she couldn’t see in my head. I felt her take my pulse and listen to
my heart and pat me all around. I then decided to sit up, but did a
little too fast and stuck out my hand to catch myself. The woman,
who I realized was a paramedic, with her white shirt and black
pants, then started to inspect my head. She concluded that I might
have had a concussion and had to go to the hospital. I was going to
protest, but then decided to go along with whatever she said.

Clarissa and Jeremy were then loaded onto stretchers
and taken out to the waiting ambulances. The street was lined with
emergency vehicles; ambulances, police cars’ and for some reason a
fire truck. Cops tried to hold off the crowds. They put up a
barrier, but the crowd was going wild. They looked hungry and
wanted in on some of the action. It looked like the cops
apprehended whoever shot at us because they were loading somebody
into one of the police cars. Then I was forced to sit on a
stretcher and was the last to be taken out to an ambulance.
Isabelle rode with me, but she appeared to be okay so she just got
to sit like a regular person in there.

At the hospital we were met by a shiver of very
hungry sharks wanting to get a picture or a word from us. Cops held
them back as we were taken inside. A doctor took a quick look at
me, asked a few questions and made me get my head scanned all to
find out I was okay. Reginald actually showed up, signed off on my
paper work and I was sent to wait in the waiting room. Isabelle and
I paced as we waited to hear word about Clarissa. She was rushed
into surgery and the doctors didn’t say too much to us. As we were
waiting Jeremy’s mom and stepdad came in and had a seat with us.
They didn’t have much to say. His mom just scowled at me. His
stepdad Brett looked pretty indifferent.

“The doctor says he should be okay,” I told his
mom.

Jeremy was going to be fine. He lost a lot of blood
and had to get a transfusion because he was shot in his brachial
artery, but he was going to be okay.

“Yes, I know. I have been informed. I am his mother
you know.”

I bit my tongue trying to hold in some snide
comeback, trying to remember my manners even in a tense situation.
I looked around the waiting room. Jeremy’s mom and stepdad sat side
by side in a couple of the mauve waiting room chairs. A couple of
fake potted plants were splattered about trying to make the room
look welcoming. Florescent lights buzzed overhead. Isabelle paced
back and forth. Ms. Dunderfeltz sat in a corner reading a book with
some bifocals on the tip of her nose, and Reginald and Mr. Carl
were nowhere to be seen. Nobody else was allowed in. The door to
the waiting room was actually guarded by a cop who stood in a wide
stance with his arms crossed across his chest.

It was pretty quite in there, nobody said much of
anything. Isabelle and I didn’t say a lot to each other. It was as
if we spoke of what happened it somehow made it more real and true
and yet unbelievable. I was still sorting things out in my head. I
still wasn’t exactly sure on all the details, but what I knew was
that somebody had an intention to kill us. Luckily Jeremy had
awesome reflexes and got Isabelle and me out of harm’s way. The two
of us could have been in the same boat that Clarissa was in or even
dead. Clarissa was shot center mass, right in the middle of her
chest and that was all I really knew. I kept pacing back and forth.
Isabelle chewed on her nails as she paced and occasionally shook
her head back and forth. She still wore her jacket. A nurse tried
to get her to take it off, so she could relax a little, but she
refused.

At some point I must have sat down because before I
knew it I was being woken up. I felt a hand gently shake my
shoulder. I opened my eyes and Mr. Carl was standing there.

“How about we get you home,” he said.

I sat up rubbing my eyes. “No, I’m not going
anywhere.”

“Charlotte, you need your rest.”

“I said no.”

“All right,” he said placing his jacket on the chair
next to me.

“What are you doing?” I asked him suspicious of his
actions.

“I’m staying here with you and your sister. She too
refuses to leave.”

“Why you staying?”

“I’m not leaving you girls here alone and your father
had to go take care of some things.”

“Reginald,” I chided.

“Yes, that’s right,” Mr. Carl said sitting down in
the chair with his jacket.

“Sometimes you actually almost show that you care,” I
told him. “Reginald never has.”

“He does care.”

“No he doesn’t.”

“He cares in other ways. Ways that don’t have to do
with the human heart.”

“That’s because he doesn’t have a heart,” I sputtered
in anger.

Mr. Carl just nodded. He couldn’t disagree with me. I
looked across the room. Isabelle was still pacing.

“She hasn’t slept,” I told Mr. Carl.

“No, she hasn’t even sat down.”

“Geesh,” I said. “What time is it?”

“It’s around eleven.”

“In the morning?”

“No, night.”

“Holy crap! How long was I asleep for? How did time
go by so fast? How are Clarissa and Jeremy? Are they okay?”

“Clarissa is outta surgery, but she’s in critical
condition, you can probably go see her if you want and your
boyfriend, he’ll be just fine.”

“But what about Clarissa? Is she going to be just
fine?”

“The doctors still aren’t sure,” Mr. Carl said bowing
his head and looking at his hands.

“I can’t believe this,” I moaned rubbing my face with
my hands. “What do you know about what happened?”

“Well,” Mr. Carl said. “I talked to one of the
officers and there was a gentleman set about on killing all of you
girls. He was outside waiting in the crowd just waiting for you
girls to walk out that door. Jeremy must have caught a glimpse of
something and shoved you and Isabelle out of the way. If it wasn’t
for him, gosh,” Mr. Carl paused at the thought of it. “The guy had
a shotgun shoved down his pant leg and pulled it out just when the
time was right.”

“But why?”

“The officer said he was screaming that he was doing
God’s work, that since God didn’t create you he didn’t want you
here or something along those lines. The guy is a raving
lunatic.”

“You and Reginald did this to us. You put us in the
situation we are in, just by our mere creation.”

“Reginald and I have made many mistakes, but bringing
you girls into this world wasn’t one of them.”

Maybe he was right. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t
have been there, but then that could have been an okay thing if I
really thought about it, but then I thought of my sisters and
Jeremy and thought it was okay that I was there, so I replied to
Mr. Carl with a head nod.

“I’m going to see Clarissa,” I said getting up.

Clarissa was in the intensive care unit where there
was a lot of beeping and it smelled like bandages and disinfectant.
She was hooked up to a bunch of machines. Monitors and screens with
squiggly lines and numbers were all around. She had IVs and
different sorts of lines taped and punctured into her body. She was
intubated with plastic tubing in her throat. Her skin had
absolutely no color, all her veins seemed to be clearly visible. I
was afraid to touch her. Afraid my touch would send her over the
edge onto death’s step. I wept for a while and prayed to a God I
didn’t know and then just sat and watched her, trying to make sure
she didn’t slip away anywhere. I didn’t know how long I was there
for, but I saw Isabelle’s face looking through the window. I got up
and we switched spots. I went to go check on Jeremy.

When I got to his room I heard the TV, but he was
fast asleep. I pulled up a chair next to his bed. I crossed my arms
next to him, placed my head on top and once again entered the realm
of sleep.

In my nightmare I was being buried, but I knew
exactly where I and who was burying me. I looked up from the hole I
was laying in while Reginald shoveled dirt on top of me. All else
was dark except Reginald’s face. His face looked crazed. His
eyebrows were raised high on his forehead and his eyes attempted to
pop out of their sockets. He bit his lip in determination to bury
me. We were in our basement. I couldn’t actually see the basement,
but somehow I knew I was in the basement to our house. It was
strange because it felt like it was me being buried, but he kept
calling me Grace. I tried to scream for help, but every time I
attempted to scream my mouth would fill with earth. I could feel my
lungs filing up with the dirt and soon I had no breath left and my
eyes flew open.

I tried to scream and wake myself up because even
though my eyes were open I somehow still seemed stuck in my dream.
I died, but somehow I was still alive. Somebody was shaking me and
yelling my name. I looked around and I was still in Jeremy’s
hospital room.

“Charlotte,” I heard Jeremy call. I slowly sat
up.

“You were screaming,” he said. He was sitting up on
the edge of his bed.

“I was?” I asked because I didn’t think I was.

“Yeah.”

“Nightmare,” I answered. “I know where my mother
is.”

“What?”

“I have to get into my house. I have to go now. It’s
like it was meant to be. All of this happened for a reason.”

“I’m not quite following you.”

“My mother is buried in the basement and Reginald
killed her and put her there.”

“What!” Jeremy’s eyes were wide.

“That’s what my nightmare was. I was Grace and saw
Reginald bury me. I should have put my dreams together sooner.” I
paused wondering if it would have made a difference. “I have to get
into the basement of our house and now, while nobody is there or
watching it.”

“Well, I’m coming with.”

“Somebody shot you yesterday. You’re not going
anywhere.”

“I’m fine.”

“You got a blood transfusion, you almost died.”

“But I didn’t. What about your sister? She’s the one
we should really be worrying about.”

“She’s in the intensive care. They’re not too
sure.”

Jeremy grabbed my hand. “She’s a little spitfire. I
bet she’ll be fine and bounce back in no time.”

“I hope so,” I sniffled with tears welling up in my
eyes. “You’re still not coming with.”

Jeremy embraced me with his good arm. He kissed my
cheek. “Just wait for me to get dressed.”

“You need to rest. You’ll pass out or something. Just
looking at you I can tell you’re in no condition to be running
around the city with me.” He really didn’t look well. His face was
pale and he had these large dark circles under his eyes. The cut
from the fight was still there.

Jeremy cracked a smile. “Thanks.”

“Seriously, nothing else can happen to you. I don’t
know what I’d do.” I stood up and embraced him in a hug not wanting
to let go. After a bit I pulled away and gave him a kiss. “I’m
going to go and check on Clarissa. Then I’ll come back and say bye
before I leave.”

…………………………………………….

I stood next to Clarissa’s bed with her hand in mine.
I somehow knew she was going to be okay. I didn’t say anything. It
was weird, almost like I didn’t have to because I knew she could
sense what I was thinking. Somehow we were all connected, her with
Isabelle, Elizabeth, me and Grace. I wasn’t quite able to explain
it. My mind was so full of other things before I didn’t take time
to recognize or feel the connection we all had. I squeezed
Clarissa’s hand and I swear she was smiling when I left.

After visiting Clarissa I found Isabelle getting
coffee from a vending machine.

“Since when do you drink coffee?” I asked scaring her
almost making her drop her it.

“Jesus,” she yelped trying to steady her cup to keep
the magic brew inside. “Oh, and since yesterday.”

“You look like crap,” I informed Isabelle looking at
her disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes. “Have you slept yet?” I
asked.

“No,” she mumbled.

“Go in Clarissa’s room and sleep in that chair in
there, okay. Hold her hand and let her know she’s going to be
okay.”

Isabelle gave me an inquisitive look. I told her what
was going on and she agreed to stay with Clarissa. I then went back
to Jeremy’s room. I didn’t knock. I just opened the door and went
in. He just finished pulling on his pants. He looked up, his face
turning red.

“Uh, sorry, I should have knocked.”

“That’s all right,” he stammered fumbling to snap his
pants.

“What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

“I’m coming with you whether you like it or.”

I sighed walking across the room. “Where did you even
get clothes?” I helped him snap his pants.

“My mom dropped off a bag of stuff earlier.”

“Where’s your shirt?” I asked while taking in his
half naked body. He had a nice teenage musculature to him and a
warm olive tone to his skin.

“I can dress myself.”