Love Immortal (25 page)

“What? Did someone die?” Collin laughed. No
one laughed with him.

“Collin, we’re leaving.” His uncle said with
little emotion. Collin knew that when his uncle said it this way,
it meant they were leaving soon. He looked around and noticed for
the first time the boxes stacked in the corner.

“When?”

“Tonight.” Collin looked at his uncle, and
then glanced around the room at the rest of the sober group. A few
of them nodded, Gladys was the only one who looked like she cared
about what this news would mean to Collin.

“Fine. Have a safe trip.” Collin turned and
started walking toward the door. His uncle caught up with him and
gently grabbed him by the arm.

“Collin, you need to leave too.” His tone was
gentle, but the authority in his tone was unmistakable.

“Why?”

“It’s…complicated.”

Collin moved to a chair and sat down, with
his arms crossed over his chest defiantly. “Fine, explain it
then.”

Collin’s uncle glanced at the others in the
room. Why does he always do that? Collin thought. Every time he
asks his uncle to explain what’s going on, he looks at everyone
else. Apparently, everyone was in on the secret but Collin.

“I can’t.” His uncle replied, defeated.

“Well it’s settled then. I’m staying. If I
can’t stay in the house, I’ll find an apartment. I’ll get a job,
I’ll keep in touch.” He stood, waiting for his uncle to try to stop
him.

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” His uncle
sighed. “Your aunt Gladys made spaghetti and her huge meatballs. We
were just getting ready to eat. At least sit down and have dinner
with us.”

Collin looked at his uncle, suspicious. He
knew that this was just going to be one more attempt to convince
him to leave with them, but as he started to tell his uncle that he
didn’t want dinner, Collin felt his stomach rumble. He could smell
the garlic and spices drifting down the hall. “Fine. But I want you
to know now; I’m not leaving with you.”

“I understand.”

They all moved into the dining room and sat
down. Gladys and Percy went into the kitchen to fix plates for
everyone. Percy brought in Collin’s plate last, with his own, and
sat down next to him. Collin glared at him before taking a bite of
his food. His uncle sat and watched him eat. All of a sudden,
Collin started to feel lightheaded. As he looked across the table
toward his aunt the room started to spin and he fell sideways in
his chair. Kendryck, on his other side, caught him and laid him
gently on the floor.

He heard his aunt Gladys moving around the
table. “What’s wrong with him?” Her voice was filled with fear and
worry.

His Uncle Percy’s voice seemed to come from
far away. “He’ll be fine.”

As he slipped into unconsciousness, he heard
Gladys’ voice, “You drugged him?” It was more an accusation than a
question.

* * *

“You know, you’re going to have to tell him,”
Gladys called to Percy who was in the back of the van monitoring
Collin who had been switched to an inhaled anesthesia for the
duration of the trip. “You should have told him years ago when you
first figured it out.”

“I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to tell him
something like that and then have it turn out wrong.”

“Oh baloney. There’ve been plenty of signs.
You just didn’t want to admit it was true. After the accident
though. You should have told him then. There was no doubt after
that.”

“Well, he was…fragile. I didn’t want to upset
him.” Percy replied from the back.

“That’s crazy and you know it. I don’t know
why you don’t want to tell the boy.”

“Because if I don’t tell him, maybe it won’t
be true.” Percy mumbled under his breath.

“I heard that. Percy, admit it. If you had
just told him from the beginning, maybe he wouldn’t be in this
position. It’s not your duty to live his life. He has a right to
make his own decisions, right or wrong. But it’s not fair to let
him make those decisions without having all of the facts. Haven’t
you noticed that ever since the accident he knows you’re keeping
something from him? Do you think that prolonging the inevitable
will make it any easier for him to understand, or to accept? The
longer you wait, the worse it gets. He knows and he’s going to find
out, one way or another. It would be better if he heard it from
you. If he has to figure it out by himself, he’ll just resent you
when he finds out you’ve known all along.” Impassioned, Gladys
didn’t realize that she was going faster. The van hit a bump.

“Hey! Slow down, will you! It’s bad enough
that I need to do this while we’re moving, I don’t need you making
it worse!”

Gladys eased up on the accelerator, “Well,
maybe if you’d told him the truth, both of you could be sitting in
seats like normal people, rather than drugging and kidnapping your
own nephew!”

“I did not kidnap him. It was for his own
good and whether he knows it or not, it’s better for Jewell this
way. When those people find out we’re gone, they’ll leave Jewell
alone and go back to being lunatics! Besides, I haven’t known all
along. You know as well as I do that he should have been a skip.”
Percy laid his hand lovingly on Collin’s arm. “He should have been
a skip.” He mumbled, wishing for something he knew would never be
true.

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda!” She retorted.
“Have you tested him for telepathy?”

“No.” Percy replied like a child being
scolded for forgetting his homework.

“If you had tested him, you could have had
Kendryck help him to develop it. Now it’ll take years longer, and
he’ll never be as talented.”

“I know. I just wanted to do what was best
for him. I don’t want him to end up like his parents. I’ve made so
many mistakes in my life. I don’t know how I could have lived this
long and still be so ignorant! I just couldn’t hurt him like that,”
Percy was nearly frustrated to tears. Gladys let the matter drop,
nothing more could be done about it until they reached the
House.

The drive was long. Kendryck drove Collin’s
car, Dot and Carl were in Percy’s SUV with John and Ann. Percy was
in the back of a rented van with Collin and what medical equipment
he could squeeze into the van comfortably, while Gladys drove.
Every four hours or so, they stopped for gas, stretched, and
swapped drivers. The only two that never took a turn at driving
were Collin, who was in an induced coma, and Percy, who was the
only one qualified to monitor Collin’s condition while under
anesthesia.

When they finally reached the House, nearly
twenty four hours later, everyone was tired. The House hadn’t been
opened in several years and the air inside was thick with time.
While Ann and Dot went around the house opening windows, Kendryck
and John carried Collin upstairs to one of the bedrooms. Gladys ran
ahead, carrying a set of clean linens and pulling protective covers
off of furniture, trying not to stir up too much dust. In Collin’s
room, she made the bed quickly so that John and Kendryck could lay
Collin in the bed.

Carl and Percy followed behind, carrying a
portable pulse oximeter so that Percy could keep an eye on Collin’s
pulse rate and oxygen levels. Percy pulled a chair up next to the
bed and sat down.

“You can’t stay up with him. You’ve already
been up for almost twenty four hours. How much longer do you think
you can keep this up?” Gladys looked at him with weary eyes.

“I have to. I did this to him; I need to make
sure he’s okay before I leave him alone.”

“Can I bring you a cup of coffee?” Gladys
understood what Percy felt. She was worried about Collin too. Not
only about his condition now, but what he would face when he woke
up. Already Collin was beginning to stir, showing signs that the
anesthesia was wearing off.

“Please.” Percy said, rubbing his face with
his hands. He took up one of Collins hands, measuring the pulse
rate with his fingers. Then he touched his own cheek with the back
of Collin’s hand. “I wish that things were different, boy. I really
do.” He carefully ran a hand over Collins peach fuzz hair, shaved
to reveal the cut from the accident. The scar, which should still
be an angry red, was nearly impossible to see, looking as if the
injury were years old.

By the time Gladys returned, Collin was
moaning and starting to move his head from side to side. She had
two cups of coffee, one she handed to Percy, the other she set on
the dresser while she pulled a chair up to the other side of
Collin’s bed. She took her cup of coffee, and sat down.

“Gladys, you can go to bed. I can handle
this.” Percy said as he watched Gladys settle in next to
Collin.

“I don’t trust you.” She responded
succinctly. Percy shrugged. If Gladys wanted to stay, so be it.

* * *

Collin tried to open his eyes. His eyelids
felt like they were made of lead. His head hurt. He felt like the
battle of Thermopylae had been fought in his head, and his brain
was King Leonidas. He moaned, moving his hands. He tried to think
about what had happened. He thought back to his car accident. Was
he still in the hospital? Had anything over the last three weeks
actually happened? He carefully moved both arms, and then flexed
his knees. No, not the accident. His thoughts were a fog. He
searched for the last clear memory he had. Jewell. He had driven
Jewell to work and dropped her off. What had happened after that?
Suddenly, he remembered dinner. Maybe he got sick, it could be food
poisoning. His stomach was upset, and felt empty. His mouth was
also dry and felt like he had been sucking on cotton balls. He
licked his lips and felt a glass of water touch them. He tried to
gulp the water, but it just trickled in slowly. He wanted to grab
the glass from whoever was holding it and pour it down his parched
throat, but he couldn’t lift his hands. Too soon, the glass was
taken from his mouth.

“Collin? Can you hear me boy?” Percy
cautiously asked. Collin tried to speak. He could move his lips,
but the only sound that escaped them was a slight moan.

“Collin? If you can hear me, squeeze my
hand.” His uncle gave a slight squeeze to the hand he was holding.
Collin realized then that the reason he couldn’t raise his hand was
because his uncle was holding it. Collin gave his uncle’s hand a
light squeeze.

“Can he hear you?” Collin heard Gladys’ voice
on his other side.

“He’s coming around. Sevoflurane wears off
relatively quickly. He should be okay before too long.”

Sevoflurane. Collin searched his memories. He
had heard his uncle speak of this before. What was it? It was…the
memory escaped him, just like all of the memories following dinner.
His uncle brought the glass to his lips again. This time, his uncle
allowed Collin to drink a bit more. When his uncle pulled the glass
away again, Collin relaxed back into the pillow, trying to find
sleep.

Jewell! The thought suddenly hit him. He
could almost feel Jewell turning to face him, stopping as she
rushed through her day at the hospital. His uncle had wanted him to
leave Louisiana, but Collin didn’t want to go. His uncle hadn’t
argued. Collin winced. He should have known. His uncle didn’t put
up a fight because he knew that Collin was leaving, one way or
another. Collin forced his eyes open and worked to focus them so he
could see the room surrounding him. He could sense the air was
different; no longer the humid Louisiana heat, but a dry desert
heat. His eyes focused enough for him to see the color of the room.
It was a sage green. There were no rooms this color in the
Louisiana plantation home.

“Where…” Collin’s voice was hoarse, barely a
whisper.

“Shhhhh.” His uncle answered him. “Just
rest.”

“Jewell.” He choked out.

“We’ll talk about that later, when you’re
feeling better.” His uncle’s voice was irritatingly soothing.
Collin wanted to jump up and scream, but thanks to his uncle’s
drugs, he could barely think, let alone move.

“Feel…fine.”

“You just get some rest. I’ll come back and
check on you later.” His uncle stood, brushing Collin’s head before
bending down to kiss Collin’s forehead. “I love you. This is for
the best.” Collin didn’t hear him walking out. Carpet, he thought;
not the hardwood he had grown used to in the past couple of years.
He heard the latch on the door snick as it closed.

Chapter 31

Jewell walked out of the hospital and glanced
to the spot where Collin always waited for her. She was dumbfounded
that he wasn’t there, leaning across the wall, looking like the
romantic lead in an old film noir. Ashley noticed too.

“Didn’t he say he would be here to pick you
up?”

“Yeah. Even when he doesn’t take me home,
he’s here. Especially with everything that’s going on, I know he
should be here.” Jewell’s voice was worried.

“Well, maybe he ran into traffic,” Ashley
joked. Jewell didn’t laugh. “C’mon. Maybe he saw the car and
decided to meet us there.”

Jewell knew that Collin wouldn’t be there.
She could feel it. She suddenly realized that she felt an empty
spot inside her chest. It was the same empty feeling she had felt
when Collin had disappeared from the hospital. Collin was gone. He
wasn’t coming back. She fought to hold the tears back. Jewell
scanned the cars in the garage, looking for Collin’s familiar
silver corvette knowing she wouldn’t find it. When they reached the
car, Collin wasn’t there.

“I’m sure he’s on his way. Do you want me to
wait with you?”

“No, he’s not coming. Will you drive me
home?” Jewell’s voice was dead, devoid of all emotion. Ashley
recognized the voice.

“Hang on…I…I forgot something. Wait here,
I’ll be right back.” Ashley turned and started walking swiftly
toward the hospital. Once she had disappeared behind the door, she
pulled out her cell phone. “Tommy? Hey. We’ve got a problem.
Collin’s gone again.” She listened for a minute. “I don’t know, but
he wasn’t here this morning like he usually is. I just wanted to
let you know. I’ll keep her at my place until you get home.”