Hunting The Dark Side

Chapter 7: Sapphire\'s Childhood

Jackson looked at the diary curiously. He turned to look at Sapphire to see that she was still in a deep sleep, and then he picked up the diary and opened it to read the first page, which reads:

19 July 1986

Well, diary, it has been the same day, as usual, Jackson and Leo outside with Daddy training to fight for their lives, while I am stuck in the house with no protection, no nothing. I am so sad and I feel like no one can see me, I feel like I am invisible to my own family, no one ever asks how I am, or if I need help with anything or even if I want to talk. No one ever talks to me anymore, since…since grandmother died. It’s always if Jackson and Leo are ok, it is never Sapphire, how are you coping? I got attacked again today, and no one even asked how I got the cut, they just left me to clean myself up as usual. I had to get the ghost away myself again, but now it is angry it pushed me violently down the stairs and now I am really achy and my leg really hurts when I walk on it, I think it is broken but I will just have to live with it and pretend everything is ok as usual because I don’t want to tell Daddy about it because he will just think I am lying like he always does, if I told Jackson or Leo then their automatic reaction would be to go and tell Daddy. So I am alone in my room in pain telling you my day, since I can’t talk to anyone else, I'm going now.

While Jackson was reading the diary page tears streamed down his face, and began to drop on the page he was reading, that was when Leo came in with a cup of tea for Jackson and he frowned as he saw where Jackson was and what he had in his hand.

“Jackson? What you doing in there? That’s private stuff in there, isn’t there? And why are you reading her diary?” Leo asked, appalled Jackson would do that.

Jackson jumped a bit. “How else are we going to find out about what happened to Sapphire? We weren’t like a family to her. Listen to this.” He looked at the diary and started to read from it. “I am so sad and I feel like no one can see me, I feel like I am invisible to my own family, no one ever asks how I am, or if I need help with anything or even if I want to talk. No one ever talks to me anymore since…since grandma …died” Jackson sighed and looked up from the diary to his brother. “You know, I never even noticed that she was sad, that is how bad of a brother I am, if I can’t even tell when she is sad and lonely, and even get pushed down the stairs violently by an angry ghost!”

Leo sighed then frowned, walking to his brother. “Pushed down the stairs by an angry ghost? Is that what it says in there?” Leo asked, shocked, as he walked to Jackson.

Jackson watched his brother as he walked towards him then he just nodded, then out of the corner of his eye he saw Sapphire stirring around on the bed. He put the diary back down in its place then he walked quickly to the bed in case she was waking up. He sat down on the edge of the bed next to Sapphire and wrapped his arm around her safely and held her close to make her feel like she was safe and loved. He held her close till she stopped stirring around and he looked down and Sapphire was awake. Jackson smiled. “Hey Sapphire, you OK?”

Sapphire looked around, all confused on what was going on; she looked up to see her oldest brother. “Jackson?” Then she looked across the room to see her other brother, the middle child. “Leo?” Sapphire looked at them, confused, as she didn’t know why they were there. “What are you two doing here?”

Leo looked at Jackson and Jackson looked back at Leo, then Leo said, “You don’t know why we are here?” Sapphire simply shook her head, and then Leo hesitated before he replied. “You called us here, because of the zombies in town, do you not remember?”

Sapphire thought about it and nodded. “Yeah, I remember now, but why are you two in my room, with my secret room?” then, without noticing what she just said, she shouted, “You went into my secret room! It’s coded for a reason; it means no one goes in except me or someone who I give permission to; you don’t just go in there any time! It has private stuff in there that I don’t want anyone seeing.” Sapphire was furious that her brother could have done that to her. They went through her stuff like that when she was asleep.

Jackson and Leo looked at each other, then Jackson looked at back at Sapphire and replied, “Sapphire, I didn’t know there was just a code thing on the wall and I was curious, you know what I am like, I am curious, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, it was rude to do that.”

Sapphire looked at Jackson angrily. “Yeah, damn right it was rude. Have I ever just gone through your stuff before? No, I haven’t, and don’t you dare say ‘I am older I should be looking after you’ because that don’t mean anything.”

Jackson looked down as he saw that his sister was furious with him. “No, I guess you haven’t done that before, I am sorry, sis.”

“Yeah so you should be, and you...” she said she looked at Leo, “...you should have stopped him.”

“I am not just sorry about that, Sapphire, I’m sorry that we didn’t notice all those years ago that you were getting hurt, but you should have told us. And don’t take this out on Leo, he had nothing to do with it.”

Sapphire got even angrier at what Jackson was saying. “You even went through my diary! Jackson! They are called diaries for a reason! So no one reads it! What do you think gives you the right to just go in my private area and read my private stuff?”

Jackson sighed. “Sapphire, please will you calm down? All this anger isn’t going to help you, if you keep going like this then you will end up changing and I don’t want you changing, I just want my sister!” Jackson ended up shouting at the end.

Leo nodded in agreement. “Sapphire, Jackson is right here, we don’t want you changing.”

Sapphire frowned in confusion. “What do you mean, change? I won’t change, I am fine, I have just been sleeping, how can I change?”

Jackson and Leo looked at each other, then at Sapphire and they both said, “You don’t remember anything? What happened to you?”

Sapphire looked at them, scared and worried, not understanding what they were talking about. She shook her head slowly. “No, what are you two going on about?” Sapphire asked with a shaky voice.

Jackson sighed and sat on the edge of Sapphire’s bed, brushing his hand through his hair, not knowing how to say it. “Well…” Jackson started but couldn’t finish it. He looked back at Leo, hoping he would help, but he was as stuck as Jackson was.

“Tell me!” Sapphire said urgently, confused and scared.

Jackson struggled, “Please give me time, this is hard to say.” Sapphire narrowed her eyes, getting more worried, but waited impatiently, Jackson looking at Leo, so Leo started to speak as he knew it was too hard for Jackson to say. “Sapphire, do you remember when you and Jackson were fighting the zombies when they were in your house?” Leo asked, trying to find out how much she could remember.

Sapphire thought for a while, and shook her head again. “I can’t remember hunting with Jackson since I was little, and I left you two, fourteen years ago. Why, what happened when we were fighting these zombies?” Sapphire asked, trying to get her head round what was going on, she didn’t understand why she couldn’t remember.

Leo sighed. “Well, when you were fighting the zombies…” he hesitated stuck for words so he just came out with it, “…You fell or something lost your gun, you must have been distracted or looking for another weapon or something because you got bitten by one.” Leo watched for Sapphire’s reaction which took a long time, since it sunk into Sapphire slowly.

“So…so, a zombie bit me? How am I still like this? If what you are saying happened, then I should be out there killing people,” Sapphire said in a big rush, still not understanding. Well, she did understand it but it wasn’t clicking into her brain, she couldn’t believe it. Tears streamed down her face.

Leo hesitated, feeling bad, and Jackson stretched over and wiped Sapphire’s tears away as they fell, saying, “It's OK, you are fine, and yes, a zombie bit you. I was there, and I don’t know why you are still like this, but the doctor said you weren’t changing, which is a good thing, you don’t want to be out there killing people for no reason, do you?” Jackson questioned.

Sapphire looked at Jackson as he spoke and let him wipe the tears away. “No! Of course I don’t want to kill anyone for no reason, that is not who I am and you know that. I save people, it is my job description in both of my jobs, hunting and hospital.” Sapphire hesitated then frowned deeply, wrinkles showing on her forehead. “Where is Dominic?” she asked with curiosity.

Jackson looked at Sapphire, and smiled a little. “Dominic is at his work place at the moment, he took us to the doctor there. But he said he would come by to see how you are doing.”

Sapphire smiled slightly, “That’s good then, and I wanted to thank him for helping.”

Jackson smirked, “Oh yeah, you like him really, don’t you?” he teased like his usual self.

Yes, I like him, he seems to understand me, he always seems surprised by me when I don’t do anything exceptionally different, the way he looks at me, he can defend himself, he is strong, I don’t have to hide anything…well except that one big thing, but I think I can tell him, I trust him an awful lot. Sapphire thought but around her brothers she just rolled her eyes. “You haven’t changed one bit, have you, bro? And no, he is a friend; can I not have a friend that is a man?”

Leo laughed, and Jackson shook his head, chuckling, “No I haven’t changed one single bit, and you still love it.” Jackson laughed, then looked at Sapphire again. “And course you can have a boyfriend.”

Sapphire smiled. “Yes, I always love the both of you even when I got no clue where you are, what you are doing and if you are still alive, good then, I’m glad I can and he isn’t my boyfriend, he is just a friend.”

Jackson just studied her a little. “No, you like him, come on tell us about it, we are your family. What do you like about him?”

Sapphire looked at him, “It is strange talking about men to brothers, I wish I had a sister.” She folds her arms.

Jackson grins and says in a girly voice, “Come on, let’s talk boys.”

She laughs hysterically, “We met at a crime scene actually, he was obviously wanting to talk to me about what I saw and all that, he tried to act all intimidating and stuff, but you know he had to get the information from me.”

Jackson continued with his girly voice, “So he this manly strong guy then huh? Continue.” He claps excitedly.

She laughs again, “How do you know how to act so girly? It is scary how good you are.”

“Undercover job, he had to act like a woman and dress like a woman and even wear makeup.” Leo explained, looking at how close they were getting and he was so angry, why would he try so hard for her? She is just a girl, who can’t take care of herself.

Sapphire looked from Leo to Jackson then broke into laughter, “That would have been a sight to see, how did you get away with that? You work out and everything.”

Jackson smirks and carries on in his lady voice, “Women work out too, you know? I mean look at you, girl. Now come on, tell me about your crush.”

Leo watches them bond then grunts turning around leaving the room, Sapphire just looks at Jackson and smiles, “Well I took him to the scene and told the cop that he was my companion, that he was just running late, because he told me zombies existed, I tried to act like I didn’t know but I think he saw straight through me, I don’t think I could ever go undercover, anyways he said some stuff about thinking his killed them all, anyways even though I knew what he was going on about it, and since I have been living the normal life I automatically got afraid and ran away from him.”

Jackson grinned, “And he came running after you and you kissed?” making up a girly story to cheer his sister up.

She laughed, she didn’t think she had laughed this much in her life, it felt good for her to laugh this much, and she appreciated it, “No, we are not in a fairy-tale, he did follow me though, but I drove off to work, and he seemed to follow when I was looking at the changing victims they were changing quickly Jackson, I think something is going on in this town Jackson, it has been way too quiet lately then suddenly victims that are changing into zombie’s way too quickly.”

Jackson’s voice went back normal, when they got into a serious topic, “Sapphire, if something is happening in this town we will figure it out together, ok? I promise, you know I missed you, when you left, I didn’t understand why you did at first, but now I understand it all, and I’m just sorry I didn’t see it all and that I didn’t look out for you.”

Sapphire smiles a little, “It wasn’t your fault Jackson, it was dads, you done what you could for how old you were, you were the one that gave me the most attention, I appreciated even the snide remarks you gave me, least that meant you could see me. I am quite hungry, let’s go eat?”

Sapphire got up off the bed, Jackson helped her. Sapphire frowned. “I am fine, honest, stop fussing. Please.” She looked at them both, and they slowly and unwillingly let her go, and Sapphire sighed and walked downstairs, her brother following her. Then she sat back down in the living room and so did her Jackson. “What brought this on?” she asked, wondering why her brother suddenly cared so much.

Jackson looked at her, and said, “What brought what on?” frowning lightly.

Sapphire groaned. “I’m not five anymore, and I’m not stupid, I know you two are suddenly caring all of a sudden, you never cared, why now?” Sapphire was confused and anger was growing in her and she didn’t know why, they were just so close a second ago, where did all of this rage come from?

Zombie…zombie…zombie was all that she could think, she had to get out of here for their safety.

She stood up and walked out, saying, “Don’t bother,” as she noticed Jackson about to stand up. She walked out of the house slamming the door.

Sapphire you need to calm down, this isn’t good if everything they said is true it isn’t good, calm down, maybe this walk will help me out. Then she looked up and saw Dominic. Oh crap, he is going to see me like this, he is never going to like me if he sees me in this sort of state.

Dominic smiled at Sapphire then frowned slightly, as he saw her slam the door. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked, not sure if she was going to change or not, but stood in front of her.

Sapphire stopped in front of Dominic, talking angrily. “Jackson is treating me different ever since I told Jackson what happened when I was a child, and then he thought it was right to read my diary in the secret place when I was asleep, and now they are pretending to care when I know they have never cared because they didn’t show any sign of care when we were younger!” she blurted out so fast, though her voice sounded angry her eyes were full of worry, and sorrow, she didn’t want to be sounding all angry over nothing, she couldn’t control it.

Dominic looked into her eyes and saw it all, she didn’t mean any of this, her body was fighting a very dangerous disease and it was causing her emotions to go wild. It would be confusing for the whole system. I need to get her off the street, but I need to be cautious about it, she can’t control what she is doing at the moment, her body in defensive mode. He thought at the same time as Sapphire thought.

What is wrong with me? I have to get away from everyone before I hurt someone.