Falling From Eternity (A Paranormal Love Story) (9 page)

“
Yeah.” I smirked at her
attempt to attract me with her child-like antics.

“
Don’t you like it here?”
she asked, popping her hip to the side as she leaned against a
nearby locker.

“
Yeah, Will! Where you
going anyway?” another asked from across the room, her head poking
over the back of the sofa. “You’re like the only person around here
who knows what they’re doing!”

“
Hey!” Amy feigned injury
as she turned toward her friend to flip them the bird, but
plastered on a fake smile when she faced me again.

“
Some place warmer,” I
called back sarcastically, like I’d really tell them anyway. I had
two days left here, and I didn’t want to leave any trace of where I
was headed. The last thing I needed was someone snooping around
after me to find out where I’d gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if
Ming wanted to keep tabs on me.

“
Ooh, like California?”
the young nurse’s eyes grew wide with excitement.

“
You guessed it,” I lied
through my teeth as I pulled my time card off the wall and swiped
it through the time clock. It beeped in response, the little bulb
blinking green.

“
That is like, so cool!
You could go to the beach every day!” she squealed with excitement
and envy. “I’m so jealous.”

“
Me, too!” the other nurse
from across the room added.

“
I’ll send you a postcard
then,” I said, trying to end the conversation as I moved toward the
door.

“
Really?” Amy asked,
sounding hopeful with doe eyes.

“
Um…sure,” I replied,
trying to avoid eye contact with her. I really should have never
gone out for drinks with these ladies. They’ve been nothing but
clingy ever since.

I was ready to end the conversation,
but she was blocking the exit. “Anybody do the walk-ins yet?” I
questioned, trying to deflect the conversation back toward
something I was comfortable with. I didn’t need any of these girls
getting the wrong impression. It seemed every time I was friendly
to them they acted like I’d asked them to marry me.

“
I was going to start
after my break. You can go with me if you want,” she said, toying
with the lanyard around her neck.

“
Nah, that’s cool. Let’s
split it. You take the east wing and I’ll take the west. Sound
good?”

“
Sure,” she said, sounding
disappointed as she trotted away to go sit back in front of the
television.

I smiled as I made my way down the
hallway, knowing that I’d given myself the wing that Autumn was
residing in. Hopefully she wouldn’t slam the door in my face when
she saw me. By the way our last meeting ended I wouldn’t be
surprise if she did.

Before starting my rounds, I stopped
at the nurse’s station and grabbed a clipboard so I could run
through the check systems as I went through each room. I had to
check the chart for each room and make sure it had been signed off
for the day. If medical equipment was being used I would step in to
check it was working properly. One of our patients slept with an
oxygen tube on, and it had fallen off during the night. There was
no immediate danger to the patient, but not having it on made for a
very difficult next day. I also wanted to double check that the
medication delivery had been signed off, it could be very dangerous
if someone missed their dosage.

For the next couple of hours I went
room to room, checking charts and machines, bringing extra blankets
and even turning on the television for the residents who needed the
white noise to keep them asleep. The more time that passed, the
more nervous I was getting about seeing Autumn. I mean, what was I
even doing? I was going to be leaving soon, what was my goal in
getting to know her? There was no harm in making a new friend,
but…really, what was the point if I was leaving?

I kept talking myself in and out of
heading to her room, but somehow by fate or sheer will, I found
myself standing outside her door. As I’d noticed before, there was
no chart hanging on the wall, but of course there wouldn’t be. She
was only here because she missed Hazel. I didn’t even know how long
she was planning on staying. She could have already left for all I
knew, not wanting to deal with my less than stellar demeanor. I
couldn’t blame her; I wasn’t all that pleasant to be
around.

Lifting my hand to grasp the handle, I
stopped and decided to knock softly. Maybe she was already asleep?
I listened intently, not hearing a single rustle from inside the
room. As I was doing it, I kept telling myself it was wrong, but my
body wouldn’t listen. I turned the doorknob and slowly pushed the
door open as the old hinges creaked with every inch. I stopped
again, staring into the dark room. Everything was as I’d last seen
it. The throw blanket lie exactly the same way on the antique arm
chair as it always had, and the television remote still sat stop
the same Time magazine. The decorative couch pillows rested
crease-free looking like no one had sat there in ages. Had Autumn
really left? Certainly our little argument wouldn’t cause her to
leave so suddenly, would it?

I strode into the living room, turning
to face the bedroom area only to find the bed perfectly made. Even
the quilt had found its place back on the bed as if it had never
been moved.

A sigh of disappointment slipped
through my lips, and I retreated out of the room closing the door
silently behind me. It was better this way anyway. I would only
have brought trouble to the poor girl. Things like me weren’t
friends with people like her. It just wasn’t in the
cards.

My rounds were over quicker than I
would have liked, but with the desire to keep my mind off a
beautiful girl I barely knew, I had plowed into my work. I hung my
clipboard back at the nurse’s station and decided to go on a break
early. There wasn’t much left to do for the night except take
shifts with the other staff on checking on the
residents.

I wasn’t in the mood to
head into the employee break room. There was laughter coming from
inside, but I just wasn’t up for conversation. If I could even call
it that. The women I’d met lately held no appeal for me; we had
nothing in common, no shared interests. Tonight I just couldn’t
pretend to be interested. I never cared for conversing about
celebrity gossip, or the latest blockbuster movie that just hit the
theatres or even what reality show I liked the most. They were all
nice ladies, but I was from a different era, a different time that
they would never understand. I was an old soul…well, I was
definitely old. Whether or not I actually had a soul;
that
I wasn’t quite sure
of.

Wandering through the quiet hallways,
I found myself looking out onto the patio, as if I would find her
sitting there. Of course she wasn’t there; she’d be crazy if she
were and probably frozen to death. The bench she had been sitting
on earlier was covered in a soft layer of snow, looking lonely in
the dim moonlight. My eyes caught sight of my own reflection
looking longingly outward, silently hoping she would have been
there. What was it about this girl? Had she bewitched me? Never, in
all my years, had a woman generated such a reaction from me. In the
past, a woman of her beauty only made me feel one thing.
Hunger.

I shook my head trying desperately to
shake out thoughts of her as they rattled around in my brain like
loose screws. I needed to think of something else; focus on
something else. There was only one place in this entire building
that I could do that.

My feet carried me as fast
as they could without giving away how quickly I
really
could move. I wanted to run,
but I couldn’t risk anyone seeing me. Amy could still be walking
the halls for all I knew, and I didn’t want to chance her catching
me. Especially since I had to walk straight through the wing she
was working in to get to where I was headed. I hadn’t been there
since Hazel died, but it was time. We had shared many chess games,
and endless conversation there. It was probably the best
contribution the board of directors had ever given this facility.
They’d built it because it looked good in their brochures, but the
residents absolutely loved it and that was good enough for
me.

The atrium was attached at the
farthest part of the east wing. It had been a new addition last
year. The residents loved spending afternoons chatting or playing
card games, especially during the winter when it was too cold to go
outside.

I pushed my way through the glass
doors and drew in a deep breath as I entered the atrium. It was a
massive glass structure, much like a greenhouse with thick trees,
leafy plants and aromatic flowers. A flagstone path weaved its way
between the lush vegetation, opening up into a cozy courtyard. A
small koi pond sat underneath a faux rock waterfall. The sound of
the bubbling water hit me instantly, immediately soothing me to my
core. I should have come here sooner, but I’d forgotten how
peaceful this place was.

Plant life slapped against my shins as
I walked down the narrow path toward the courtyard. The scent of
wet soil filled my nostrils making me feel connected with the
earth, with nature. Eucalyptus trees towered above the tallest of
all the plant life, followed by some dwarf pine and ficus trees. I
ducked between their overgrown branches as the path spilled out
into the courtyard. Small, round, wrought iron tables were circled
by petite chairs speckled with rust.

My attention was focused solely on the
koi pond as I made my way to its edge. Large, round, river rocks
formed the outer wall of the pond, and I rested my weight atop the
structure. The multicolored fish splashed around in response,
hoping that I was there to give them their next meal. Their mouths
popped open and closed at water level; as their tails sloshed the
water, swaying the lily pads that floated above them. There were
four fish in the pond, and during the summer Hazel and I had named
each of them but only one was my favorite. The smallest of the four
was nearly all white, with only a few spots of orange and black
near its head and tail. I had named him Macho. Despite his tiny
size, he had no trouble wriggling his way past the larger fish that
were two times his size. The largest of the four we had named
Cheeto because he was completely orange, and completely
fat.

“
They’re hungry,” a soft
voice said from behind startling me, which said a lot since no one
could startle a vampire. Except maybe another vampire.

I jumped off the pond’s ledge, my
mouth falling open as my eyes fell onto Autumn. She was sitting at
one of the tables that were hidden under a canopy of leaves in the
far corner of the courtyard. A canvas sat on a stand atop the
table, surrounded by tiny bottles filled with a rainbow of colors.
Her hair was knotted up into a curly bun; a skinny paintbrush
poking through the curls. A smudge of bright blue paint was
streaked across her cheek, and I had to bite my lip to keep from
smiling at her. She was absolutely breath taking. I needed to play
it calm and cool.

“
You’re an artist?” I
asked stupidly as I pointed at the canvas before her. So much for
playing it cool.

“
Yeah,” she giggled at me.
“I guess you could say that, but I’m not very good.” She gave her
canvas a disappointed expression. “I just can’t seem to get the
colors right.”

“
May I have a look?” I
asked, taking long strides toward her as if magnets were pulling
me.

“
Sure, just promise not to
laugh.” She scooted her chair away, turning the canvas toward me as
I approached.

She was wrong. She was very good.
Instead of the thick brush strokes of paint, her canvas was covered
in a thin sheet of colors that bled together in a symphonic
landscape. She was painting the courtyard, catching the orange and
reds of the flagstone and the lush greens of the plants. Every
shadow was meticulously shaded accentuating the few beams of
moonlight that were streaming down from the glass ceiling above
us.

“
It’s beautiful,” I said,
honestly. I’d seen many artists in my time, but none of them
painted like this. Some were more modern with busy portraits and
dramatic splashes of color that had no rhyme or reason, while
others were purely traditional.

“
Thanks,” she turned the
painting back toward her, eyeing it as if she was still
dissatisfied.

There was an awkward silence as I
stood there, dumbly watching her. I fidgeted for a while, trying to
decide how to go about apologizing. I’d never done it before.
Probably because I’d never done anything I was sorry for. Well,
that’s not true. I’ve done a lot of things I was sorry for, but
there wasn’t anyone left alive to apologize to.

“
You going to stare at me
all night?” Autumn asked, dipping her brush in a cup of water and
then into some dark blue paint.

“
Uh…no.” I latched onto a
chair, and took a seat. I still couldn’t take my eyes off her. What
was wrong with me?

“
You’re still staring,”
she said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“
Sorry.” I finally pulled
my gaze downward, forcing myself to stare at my sneakers. But then,
there were her feet. She was barefoot, and her petite toes were
painted a delicate pale, lavender color.