Rishi's Wish

Chapter 4

4

Fire beckoned her closer even as flames licked painfully over her skin, singeing hair from her face and arms. Still, she continued forward, drawn by a compulsion so strong the fire’s sting wasn't enough to turn her away.

Then, a crash; a loud crack of wood splintering before burying her in smoldering fire…

Dee sat up fast, clutching the sweat-soaked sheet to her. As her brain released the last of the dream, she fell back to the pillows.

When Mike left the house that morning, she'd crawled from his guest room, limping gracelessly through the trees like some prison escapee to her own home to settle into her own bed.

Now, late morning, she had every intention of sleeping for a week.

As she was drifting back off, her phone rang, startling her.

Mike's voice was in her ear before she'd found her voice, "You're not here."

It must be lunchtime. Of course, he would waste the break in his day to check on her. She squeezed her eyes shut. She could have at least let him know she'd gone back to her place.

"Yeah. I just wanted my own bed." Her voice, laced with shame, was a pathetic apology.

There was silence on the line for a few seconds, and Dee held her breath, waiting for Mike's hurtful, yet justified, response.

"I don't know how you can stay there." His voice was quiet, distracted.

It was a running conversation that Mike thought Dee should sell the house. He couldn't understand why she surrounded herself with a shrine to the man whose absence continued to shape her life.

"I just like it here."

Mike grunted, a response that said both nothing and everything.

Silence stretched again. Dee closed her eyes, falling back to lay against the pillows, sadness replacing the gladness that her friend wasn't mad at her. He might not be angry but the chasm that existed between them was real. And that was all her fault.

"I'll swing by with dinner, okay? It'll be late, though."

-Why he doesn't just write you off, I'll never understand.-

She made a mental note to make more of an effort to be a better friend. The best friend.

-Will you? You're going to give up your nightly jogs? The thing you actually promised you'd stop doing, but kept doing anyway?-

"I'll be here."

Unspoken sentiment kept the line open. Dee held her breath, silently urging him to voice his concerns. Just as the silence grew heavy enough to reach awkward, he hung up after a quick goodbye.

Dee flung her phone down, watching it bounce forward on the bed like a skipping stone before resting near her feet, its silver exterior a shining mark against the charcoal of the bedding.

Her first instinct was to ask how things had gotten so bad between them, but she already knew. She was the reason. Her leaving, taking off for so many years with barely a whisper of where she was or how she was doing, ruined any relationship between them. He'd been like a brother to her. A best friend. And she'd abandoned him, too caught up in her own existential dilemma to worry about anyone else.

She took a deep breath, then another, forcing her mind to a place where getting out of bed possible.

Her naked form moved slowly across the room to the window whose heavy curtains, colored the same charcoal as her comforter, kept the daylight locked away. Blinking at the onslaught of sun, she stared across the front lawn that ran thirty meters to the tree line.

Fall. Last night, she'd been thinking of fall. How the humidity of these last days of summer would thin out into perfect nights. Then, she'd been hit from the side by a creature no amount of wishing could make just a dream. Closing her eyes, she traced the night's events, focusing on details she'd lost as they were happening.

She'd been lucky.

She should be dead.

-You should be dead.-

She didn't like that her inner-voice agreed with her.

Shoving the thought into one of many compartments in her mind, she pushed past the frightening idea and on to another.

Vampire.

-Does vampire really explain what that thing was?-

What should we call it, then?

Great, now she was having full-blown conversations with herself.

She sighed, moving to the connecting bathroom to start a shower, thoughts continuing to repeat last night's adventure.

Were there more of those—whatever they were—nearby? Should she go after them? Protect the town?

-Now chasing after them is a good idea?-

She couldn't ignore the point. On the other hand, if someone got hurt by one of those things, it would be her fault. Did she want that sitting on her conscience?

-It's not your responsibility.-

Letting the spraying mist gather heat, Dee took a seat on the pillow top chest that housed the thick, long towels she loved. She was still so tired, though the throb of her injuries had faded to a dull background pain. Had she healed so much overnight?

Her eyes moved to the gauze on her arm. Having prolonged the moment when she'd have to acknowledge the limb that would never be the same, she now unwound the thick layer of porous material. As the binding slowly came loose, she wasn't sure if she was more worried the last of her wounds would be healed, or wouldn't be. If she were healed, it would mean her powers had increased. But if the wounds weren't healed, could she admit she was in trouble?

Unwrapping the last layer, she flung the tangled material away. Smooth, clean scars zigged and zagged, intersecting around the skin from elbow to wrist. The marks were all that remained of an injury that should have crippled her permanently. Less than a full day for her body to repair shattered bone, torn muscle, and build new skin.

Clenching and unclenching her hand to loosen the tightness she knew should be much worse, then rotating her arm to probe how the muscles reacted, she was ecstatic, and frightened, by her recovery.

Closing her eyes, she took in a shaking breath.

-Let's not get overdramatic. This is a good thing.-

Sure, this was a good thing. Too good. What the hell was she?

-Who cares. You're like a super-hero.-

She'd known about her superior strength, heightened speed, and fantastic agility, but her self-testing had never involved severe injury recovery. She knew she'd heal. She'd gotten other scrapes and sprains before, but never had she thought one night of sleep would knit bone, muscle, and skin back to almost new.

A spike of adrenaline surged through her, so she forgot her exhaustion and the running shower. She sprinted down the stairs and ripped open the front door. Once on the wrap-around porch, she stopped short. Where was she going? There was no one to tell. No one to ask about what was going on. Nowhere to run.

-And you're naked.-

Lifting her face, eyes closed, she allowed the humid rays of the sun to bask her in their nurturing light.

Thankfully, the voice in her head allowed her this quiet moment.