Aftermath (7 page)

“Ana. Ana, wake up.”

Hayden.

I propped myself on my
elbows and tried to clear my vision by blinking. I saw Hayden at my
bedside, looking at me with worry.

“What’s wrong?” I
asked.

“It’s time to leave
for school. Your alarm clock has been going off for twenty –five
minutes. You wouldn’t wake up.”

“Oh,” I said
remembering my dream and how real it seemed. I felt as if I was
actually there in 1927, seeing New Orleans how Christine had seen it.
And I could tell she loved New Orleans then, just as much as I did
today. I felt a little smug knowing what I had experienced. I was
worried, though, about romanticizing it. She did say she was dead,
and she did say there was a murder. “Okay, I’ll hurry up and get
ready.” I nodded, having no real intention of hurrying.

“You okay?” Hayden
looked at me from the doorway as he started to leave so I could get
ready.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am,”
I nodded and stood to a wobbly stand. “For now.”

“Coffee?”

I smiled, he read my
mind exactly.

Thirty minutes and two
cups of coffee later, we arrived at school. I was yawning and it
wasn’t even first period. It felt like I hadn’t even slept that
night. It felt as if I'd spent the entire night awake. I wished I
would only have those kinds of dreams when I didn’t have to get up
at the crack of dawn for school the next morning. To top it off, I
had to work after school.
Thanks, Dad.
That meant I would have
to put off deciphering my dream. Until later.

After a very long and
tiresome day at school I prepared myself for an even longer night at
work. Hayden pulled up in front of Taylor Diving for my first day at
my dad’s job. “You should just get a job here since you insist on
driving me,” I joked with him.

“Mmm, I would love to
but they would find it suspicious if I was diving without gear.”

My eyes widened.
“Really? You can do that?”

He laughed. “I can
but I won’t.”

“But how? That’s
not humanly possible.”

He raised an eyebrow at
me.

“Oh, right. You’re
not human.”

He nodded once.

“That means you don’t
have to breathe?” I turned toward him, putting the pieces together.

“Ana…”

I threw my head back,
my throat exposed. “You always do this. Why won’t you just tell
me about being a Hunter?”

“Because it doesn’t
matter.”

“It does matter,
whether you like it or not, it is a part of who you are. And I want
to know you.
Every
part of you.” I had changed my mind about
knowing all I needed to know about him. I knew what was important,
but would my curiosity let that be enough?

“It’s not who I am,
Ana.” His voice softened as he looked at me. “But I get why you
feel so inclined to know who I am. You were betrayed by people you
didn't know. You have a guard up and it’s important to you to know
someone really well before you let them in, even a little. You don’t
know your mom and when you thought you knew who your dad was, he
abandoned you. I am just thrilled that you chose to trust me, to let
me in.”

I felt my jaw drop open
a little. “Do not psychoanalyze me, Hayden. How could you make this
about me? We were talking about
you
, don’t change the
subject.” My breathing increased in response to my rising anger. He
was talking about me, and he nailed it. I didn’t like to hear the
truth, or so my dad told me on more than one occasion. Still, we were
talking about him, and I would think if I was going to be with him
forever, that I’d have a right to know just what I was getting
into. Why did he keep closing down every time I asked about Hunters?
I learned more about it from Luke; he was always open with me, he
practically flaunted it. Then it hit me.
Pride
. “You’re
ashamed,” I exhaled in realization.

He closed his eyes
briefly and his jaw muscle twitched. “Of course I’m ashamed. I
know I can’t be who you need me to be.”

“You are everything I
need you to be.” Little did he know that I was afraid I couldn’t
be who he needed me to be. Could I be like Hayden’s mom, Elizabeth?
Could I be immortal? I shook my head to clear those negative
thoughts. “I love you.” I said my last thought out loud then
turned to open the car door.

I could hear Hayden
sigh from inside. “Do you want to know who I am?” he asked before
I could shut the car door. “I am not really living. Everything
about me is an illusion. I eat, but I don’t have to. I breathe, but
I don’t have to. I sleep, but I don’t need to. Everything about
me is an act to make me appear human. For you. Even my heartbeat. The
same heartbeat that you love to listen to while lying on my chest at
night, the heart beat that puts you to sleep. The only reason I keep
it beating is because of you. Is that what you wanted to hear? Have a
good day at work, Ana.”

The door slipped out
from my fingers and shut as the car sped off. I stared at the car in
shock as it disappeared into the distance. What, had I hoped that
Hayden would sit in the car and wait until I had finished work? I
certainly had a lot to think about; Hayden was pissed and revealed
more about himself than he ever had before. The things that I loved
about him were illusions? No, I didn’t believe it. I loved Hayden
for who he was, not his body. If I was upset about it, that would
make me shallow. I laughed awkwardly to myself; yes liking someone
because of their
human
traits is shallow. Nevertheless, I
couldn’t deny that it bothered me. Hayden made me feel whole, he
made me feel normal. That wasn’t an illusion, was it?

I walked across the
docks absentmindedly until I got to the warehouse that contained the
dive shop. My dad picked a great day for me to start working. My
dream, my sort-of fight with Hayden, it would all have to wait. And I
would have to endure the next few hours agonizing over it, dissecting
our conversation, deciphering the dream.

“Hello?” I
regretted the nervousness in my voice as I called out into the empty
warehouse.

“In here,” a small
voice answered. I followed the sound as I stepped into a makeshift
office.

“Mr. Christian,” I
felt my relief as he came over to give me a hug.

“Hey, Adriana. How
you been, sweetheart?”

“Oh, you know…” I
stated ambiguously, not sure what kind of information my dad gave up
to my uncle-like friend.

“Well I appreciate
you comin’. Lord knows we’ve had a lot to do since 'It' hit us.”

“My dad didn’t tell
me what exactly you need me for.”

“Here, have a seat.”
Christian cleared papers and dusted off a small folding chair, then
went around to sit on the other side of the desk. “Besides the
usual inspections, there is salvaging and cutting down wood pilings.”

“Okay, so what do you
need me to do? Answer phones?”

“A true comedian,
Ana. You know your father didn’t answer no phones. Plus you have
more experience than most of the new temporary guys we got.”

I groaned quietly. If I
was going to be scuba diving, that would make for a long day.
“Whatever you need, Mr. Christian. Just remember, I have school in
the morning.”

“That’s my girl.”
He smiled. “Come on. I’ll show you ‘round the shop.” I
followed him as he led me out into the small warehouse that shelved
equipment, hoses, air compressors and jet pumps.

“Your dad’s dive
hat is in the locker. Everyone is responsible for their own, so make
sure you check it before going out. I’ll put you in boat
inspections since that is least time-consuming, as you’d put it.”
He winked at me.

“Boat inspections?
Why would I need gear for that?” Christian would have to know that
I didn’t know as much as my dad probably let on when he convinced
him to hire me.

He laughed, drawing his
smile up so much his eyes were only slits. “You have to go
underwater to do the inspection. It’s cheaper to hire a diver than
to dry dock the boat. That’s where we come in.”

Metal clanked together
in the distance followed by the sound of muffled curses.

I looked at Christian
alarmed. “What was that?” Mysteries were no longer my thing.

“Zack, get in here!”
Christian called to the other side of the warehouse.

A boy jogged over and
slowed as he reached us. “Yeah, dad?” He was annoyed, clutching
his right hand in pain.

“Dropped a compressor
again? Where are you manners? You remember Adriana, right?”

Zack was in the same
grade as I was but he looked younger. Maybe I just felt older. I had
seen him a few times at random get-togethers with family. Zack gave
me a once-over. “No, sorry don’t think I do.” He had a boyish,
all-American look though his mouth was anything but.

“Oh stop. Y’all
used to love to play together when you were younger. I remember
when…”

“Dad,” Zack whined.

“Okay. But really,
she’ll be taking over some of her dad’s shifts. Why don’t you
show her around and then Adriana, get suited. You have to be out on
the docks by 1600.”

1600?
What time
was that again? I swallowed and managed to nod as I took in the array
of new information.
This is not what I agreed to, Dad
played
in my mind.

“That’s five
o’clock.” Zack said to me as Christian walked back toward the
office. “You should have what you need in your dad’s locker.
Umbilicals are over there.” His hand dropped before I could see the
direction he pointed in. “See ya.” Zack walked back to where he
came from. Something told me he either wasn’t too happy to see me
or wasn’t too happy to be interrupted.

“Oh and Annie?”

“It’s Ana…”

“We go by military
time here so you better learn it.”

“Thanks for the
advice!” I yelled back. Geez, what was I, a magnet for jerks?
Typical teenage boy. And he was always so nice around my family.
Although I'd hoped for a little more direction on what to do, I
couldn’t blame him for not wanting to train me. I knew exactly what
it felt like to have to work for your father. In his case he was
really working for his father, I was just working in place of my
father.

I nervously went
through all the inspections on my equipment before putting on my wet
suit. It felt like years since I'd last dived, not months. I hoped I
wouldn’t screw up too badly. After I was suited, I stood around
looking like an idiot until Zack came and got me and dragged me out
into the chilly Mississippi. I didn’t know what he expected me to
do, and I was ready to tell Mr. Christian that I couldn’t do this
and my dad would have to find someone else. That was until my head
submerged underwater as I lowered myself deeper into the river. I had
almost forgotten the serene feeling of being weightless underwater
and it was exactly what I needed right then. I was lost in thought
with nothing but the sound of my breathing and the vision of cloudy
water when Zack tapped me out of my reverie. I tried to read his eyes
but they showed neither disappointment nor annoyance as he signaled
me to follow him and watch what he was doing. My fears of screwing up
were eased by the time we had finished. It wasn’t as hard as I'd
thought and if this was all I had to do then I was in luck. The boat
we were working on was huge and definitely a two diver job. We had to
have our dive hats on for this one, and Mr. Christian was up top
monitoring our surface air. I cleared my mind and tried to pay
attention as much as I could, knowing on the smaller boats I would be
diving by myself. And I realized I really didn’t want to let Mr.
Christian down. This was his livelihood, and if I didn’t know what
I was doing now, I’d better learn fast. When Zack and I had
surfaced, he confirmed that he just let me watch this one but the
next time he would actually expect me to work. I shrugged, past
caring, and feeling relaxed after being in the water.

It wasn’t until I saw
Hayden’s car pull up that I realized for the past few hours I had
forgotten all my problems. Having time to step back and look at our
little disagreement, I saw it for what it was; inconsequential. And
maybe I had overreacted from the combination of stress and lack of
sleep. When his car finally stopped, I almost ran into it to
apologize. I gripped him into a hug and exhaled the day away.

“Long day?” He
laughed, obviously already past our earlier conversation, and seemed
to enjoy my possessive hold on him. “Who’s that?” he asked when
I finally let go.

“Who?” I turned my
head out the window to see who he referred to. Zack stood outside the
warehouse, smoking a cigarette of all things, glaring at us. I drew
my lips up as I was reminded of how he treated me after the dive.
“Oh. That’s Zack, Mr. Christian’s son. I had a really long day.
I just want to forget about it right now.”

He leaned in and gave
me a chaste kiss on the lips, then shifted gear. Soon work was long
behind me, both literally and figuratively.

“You don’t have to
work, you know. You don’t have to want anything ever again.” I
knew where he was going with this and noticed he deliberately left
out any mention of money. I knew he had money, but it didn’t matter
how much; I refused to live off of him.

“It’s not even
about that. I’m not just working to make money; I’m working to
help out my dad and Mr. Christian. They are so busy as it is and I
don’t blame him for not trusting the expensive temps.”

“You always worry
about other people. When are you going to do what’s best for you?
You are already volunteering and going to school full time. And let’s
not forget you have premonitions you have to deal with. You’ve been
picking up your dad's slack for too long.”

“I know you’re just
trying to protect me, but it’s not even about my dad anymore. After
seeing Mr. Christian today, well, he is like family. He took care of
me when I was just a baby and now I am old enough to help and he
needs it. I want to be there for him.”