The Emerald Talisman (6 page)

I heard the door slam and muffled voices
downstairs. On one foot, I hopped to my bedroom door and quietly
closed it. I figured keeping out of sight seemed prudent at the
moment. I dug around on my floor and found my favorite
loose-fitting jammies and gingerly put them on before crawling into
bed.

My tattered shirt sat on the edge of my
comforter. Picking it up, I felt the fabric in my hands. A memory
of Nicholas carrying me down the trail surged through my mind. Who
was he really? I bit my lip and thought through what happened,
replaying every gory detail. I brought the shirt to my nose and
inhaled. It still smelled like him.

I turned off the light and looked out the
window. The stars twinkled softly in the night’s sky. It didn’t
matter which way I lay on my bed though, every direction I tried
hurt something someplace. I picked the least painful position and
snuggled my face against the shirt feeling closer to Nicholas with
each inhale.

Was he looking at the same stars thinking
of what happened too?
I hoped so.

I felt someone approach before I heard the
gentle tapping on my door.

“Yes?” I said as I frantically stuffed the
shirt under my pillow. I knew it was my dad, who seemed to be a lot
calmer. But I didn’t want to be caught sniffing my dirty shirt.

“I wanted to say goodnight,” he said while
cracking open the door.

He walked over to my bedside and sat down.
His soft expression comforted me.

“I’m sorry I got so angry,” he said while
reaching out and squeezing my hand. “I just don’t want anything bad
to happen to you.”

A tear came to my eye.

“Oh, Dad; I’m so sorry.” I sat up and threw
my arms around his neck. He hugged me tightly while gently patting
my back.

“Just promise you’ll be more careful next
time,” he said.

Too choked up to speak, I nodded in
agreement. He kissed me on the forehead, smiled and left my
room.

I wiped away my tears and rolled over vowing
to never hurt my dad like that again. I sighed as I reclaimed the
shirt, holding it to my face and closed my eyes.

Since my dad and I made up, I didn’t feel so
guilty anymore allowing the memories of the night to run wild in my
head and let the more confusing aspects of it come into light.
There were just too many things that didn’t make sense. And the
nagging “lie” bothered me too.

What was he hiding? What was he doing
there?

Maybe it was illegal to kill mountain lions
and he feared he’d get in trouble.

I rolled to the other side and felt the
throbbing ache from my hip grow worse. Utterly exhausted, all I
really wanted to do was sleep, but my mind wouldn’t let me as the
scary “what ifs” played mercilessly when I closed my eyes. I
reached over to look at my pain pill bottle thinking it might be
time to take one.

‘May cause drowsiness’ it read.

Good.

Within minutes of taking two pills, my brain
began to grow hazy and visions of wild animals became rainbows in
fluffy clouds as my eyes closed sleepily and I drifted off to dream
land.

. . .

I tried to run but my legs were stuck as if
in quick sand and I didn’t have the strength to move them. I
fearfully pulled with all my might to make them move forward.
Everywhere I looked, the blurry forest seemed to close in on me. I
could hear the footfalls of something coming closer in the
distance. At its snarl, I turned and gasped. A very large cat lay
crouched down in the mist. Its yellow menacing eyes studied me,
lips snarled up to revealed large meat eating teeth glistening in
the moonlight. It sprung.

“Ahh,” I screamed sitting up, flailing my
arms trying to prevent the cat from attacking.

I blinked and caught my breath. My head was
covered in sweat but I safely sat in my bed. The clock read 2:20 in
the morning. I slumped back and thought about what I saw, my heart
still pounding against my chest. I felt my eyes grow heavy and
sleep took a hold of me once again.

. . .

I woke up the next morning feeling like I’d
been run over by a Mac truck. Everything involved in getting ready
for the day was a challenge and took twice as long as normal to
accomplish. I hadn’t realized how much I’d taken my ankle for
granted until it wasn’t a functioning part of my body anymore. I
barely made it down stairs in time for Luke to drive me to
school.

Earlier, I’d called Sam and asked her to meet
me in front of the school where Luke would drop me off. I knew I’d
need help with my books, but I didn’t tell her anything about what
happened, except that I hurt my ankle. I wanted to tell her all
about Nicholas in person.

“Oh my gosh; what happened?” she asked as
soon as I tried getting out of the Blazer. Both she and Luke had to
help me get out.

“You’ll never guess,” I said with a wry
smile.

I explained the whole story to her as she
helped me get to our first period P.E. class.

“You’re kidding!” she said wide-eyed as I got
to the part where he caught me.

I’d conveniently left out the “mountain lion”
part. I just changed the story slightly saying that the spider
caused me to lose my balance and then I toppled off the side of the
cliff. It didn’t sound as good, but a mountain lion sighting could
cause some to panic. If that information got back to my brother or
my dad, I would surely get it. It would be Nicholas’ and my
secret.

By third period, news spread like wild fire
around school about how I’d almost fallen to my death and some
stranger rescued me. Girls I barely knew stopped me in the hall to
ask me what happened. Each time I told the story, the reaction was
the same –mouths open, then comments of how lucky I was. Every one
of them astounded and a tiny bit jealous and I could only assume it
was because they wanted to have the same thing happen to them. I
would gladly trade my injuries and the attention with any one of
them, as long as I knew for certain I’d meet Nicholas another way.
But then, I’d be willing to fall again, just to feel the warmth of
his arms.

The endless questions grew annoying as the
day dragged on. I just wanted to get home and wait for Nicholas to
come see me. Plus, my armpits were sore from hobbling around on
crutches all day.

“What does he look like?” Dena asked me,
while Sam and Katie listened in during lunch in the cafeteria; the
boys talking about something else.

“Well, he’s probably six feet tall with dark
brown hair, green eyes, medium build and I think he’s my age. Oh
and he’s really strong. I couldn’t believe he carried me up the
side of the trail and then all the way home. He acted as if it was
effortless. And the weird thing was he knew me.”

“You don’t remember meeting him?” Sam
asked.

“No, I think I’d remember meeting
him
.”

Again, I tried to place when we could have
met. I wasn’t one for going to parties and we had a relatively
small student body. I’d also grown up in this town and knew a lot
of faces from the deli. I made a mental note to ask when I saw him.
Yet another question he needed to answer.

“Maybe he’s a peeping Tom and he was stalking
you,” Katie said with a smirk.

I shot her a look.

“He’s not like that.”
I would know being
stalked for real.

“Do you think he’s in high school still? Or
maybe he’s in college,” Sam suggested.

Dena and Katie giggled. I hadn’t thought of
that. What if he was in college? Would he think I was too
young?

“Now you have a date for the homecoming,”
Dena said in a sing-song sort of way, eyes beaming.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. We just met,” I
said quickly.

I wonder if he’d want to take me
.

The bell rang and we all groaned.

I tried to concentrate in Algebra, but I kept
daydreaming about what happened and the entire class faded into a
blur. I didn’t snap out of it until I saw our homework assignment
and panicked. I’d not paid attention one bit and now was behind in
two lessons. I’d forgotten to do my homework the night before. But
it wasn’t due until the end of the week.

But when sixth period Spanish finally came to
a close and I was free to go I started to get nervous. And seeing
Luke’s Blazer come into the parking lot to pick me up made me break
out in a sweat. The wait would soon be over. He got out and helped
me into the cab, putting my crutches in the backseat.

“How was it today?” he asked after pulling
away from the curb.

“It was actually a good day. Everyone wanted
to know what happened. It was crazy! I had girls I didn’t know
wanting to hear the story. I couldn’t believe it!” I gushed.

“No one had the guts to tell you you were
stupid for going out on that trail alone last night?” he said with
a smirk.

“No,” I chided back, sticking my tongue out.
He did have a point. “I think my school is just desperate for some
good gossip and my mishap fit the bill.”

“Uh huh.”

I could tell he only half listened to me.

“I still can’t believe it happened, you
know?” I babbled. “I mean, here I am, hanging off the cliff and
Nicholas is there to catch me just in time. If you think about it,
it’s so crazy.”

“Yeah, you are.”

“Shut up!” I said as I jabbed him in the side
deciding it would be better to remain silent the rest of the ride
home.

At home, I quickly changed and put on a light
pink shirt I always received compliments on. I also touched up my
makeup and fixed my hair a little bit, still trying to look
natural.

I decided that I would sit on the couch close
to the front window, with my leg propped up and work on homework
until he showed up. This would give me a perfect view of the street
and still look casual.

But I got nothing done. Every car that drove
by, or walker on the sidewalk, drew my attention and my head bobbed
up in anticipation. This constant back and forth made it impossible
for me to concentrate, so I gave up trying to do anything and just
stared out of the window instead.

I tried to imagine what he might be doing at
the moment. Did he have a job? And did he live close by? And how
old was he really? Maybe he would take me to homecoming. Visions of
me and him dancing on the floor with the “popular” guys looking on
made me smile. I would have a real date for once.

I also couldn’t wait to get a little better
so I could return to the place where we’d met. The thought of going
back to the cliff made my insides knot up, in a good way. Maybe I
could find some answers to my questions too.

“Don’t even think about milking this injury,”
Luke joked as he walked past the living room. “You’re still going
to have to do your chores.”

“Whatever! I’d trade this sprained ankle with
you in a second to do chores!” I yelled after watching him
disappear upstairs.

I hoped he wasn’t watching me a few seconds
ago when a goofy grin covered my face.

Dad cooked salmon for dinner and it made the
house smell like a seafood restaurant. I moved from my choice
location into the kitchen to watch him work. I needed another
distraction to help me in my quest for patience.

“How was your day?” Dad asked, turning for a
brief second.

“Okay I guess. I’m pretty popular all of a
sudden. Everyone was curious about what happened.”

“Oh?” he said, as he chopped up veggies to
stir fry.

I’d always felt like my dad was different
than other dads. For one, he loved to cook. So did Luke for that
matter. Most other kids’ dads that I knew enjoyed sports or news on
TV in their spare time, but not mine. When he wasn’t traveling on
business or in the kitchen, you could find him in his office, on
his computer doing research or reading a book.

If I wanted any of his attention at all, this
would have to be the time.

“I think the kids at school are just bored
for something to talk about.”

“Uh-huh.”

“The good news is my ankle feels a lot
better. I can move around the house without crutches, so I think I
won’t need them in a week like the doctor said.”

“I see.”

“I also think now is a good time to get my
gas gauge fixed since I won’t be driving until I do get rid of my
crutches. I was hoping you and Luke would take it in for me.”

“Okay.”

“Oh and when I woke up this morning, I had a
weird incision on my left temple. I think alien’s abducted me in
the night and returned me in the morning because I don’t remember
having to get stitches yesterday.”

“Uh huh… Wait?” He spun around, his face
contorted. “What did you say?”

I laughed. “Just checking to see if you’re
listening, Dad.”

Normally, Dad or Luke would make dinner and
I’d clean up. It became an unspoken rule since all I could cook was
cookies out of a pre-made package and scrambled eggs. But tonight,
someone else would need to do the dishes because of my injury. That
made me kind of happy.

“How was dinner last night? Is there anything
new going on with Auntie Jo or
John
?” I tried to hide my
disdain while saying his name.

“Dinner was nice. John got a new job and
likes it. But Jo said she misses you and would like you to come
over soon. Says you’re always so busy. Are you avoiding her for
some reason?”

I knew eventually someone would notice that
I’d completely stopped spending time with Aunt Jo and John. The
reason I avoided them happened to be that I couldn’t stand to be
around John. If I had an
unsafe
list, John would be the
first one on it. He made it impossible to spend quality
alone
time with her.

The last time I tried, he inadvertently
invited himself along and turned it into a “let’s analyze Julia”
nightmare. I secretly hoped his new job insisted that he travel
like my dad.

“No. I’m not,” I half fibbed. “I just don’t
want to intrude since she’s married now.”