Perfect School

"I'm not going to fight her head on. But I have connections, we can move. We disappeared from the world, I'm sure we could have it done for Kira too." I doubted my own words, but it was something to hope for. Something to try and strive towards. What else did we have to cling too? "Before all that though...what does Kira want?"

Krissy:

My heart beat hard. What if we took her and brought Marie's wrath on all of us? I could loose everything. Was Kira really worth it? I felt horrible for thinking it, but it was how I felt. "I'm not sure... We talked for a long while. I told her about us..." I swallowed, realizing now that I had done all the talking and that I still knew next to nothing about my own child.

"We should ask before anything else. Even if we decide we want to take her, we cant force her to come with us. That at least would make us no better than Marie." Gently I smoothed a hand down her back, rubbing in slow circles as I watched her face. "No matter what we choose this will not be an easy decision."

Krissy:

I nodded. My heart hurt. "Let's go see her," I said. I heard a soft rumble from his stomach and couldn't help a small smile out of pure love for him. He must have left in the morning without even eating, and come straight here after landing.

I leaned up to kiss him tenderly. "let's get food for everyone on the way," I suggested after. I had barely eaten today either, but I noticed it less than he would.

"And that's why I love you." I murmured in her ear. "You think of everyone else before you think of yourself. Tell me, and be honest about it. When was the last time you ate." I pecked her nose and squeezed her tightly as I gently removed her from my lap so we could stand and go.

She had a habit of not eating when stressed or worried. And more than once if she worried about someone else she would go out of her way to help them even if she herself could use some of the same help.

Krissy:

"This morning. I had yogurt parfait. It's Kira's favorite apparently. Kyle told me." I looked down at the ground as I stood up and pulled my shoes on. "Our whole family knows our daughter better than we do. Even my goddamned aunt," I said, my tone dripping with bitterness.

Michael:

"She likes yogurt parfait? I didn't know that. You knew it before I did. You want to know what you have me beat in for our daughter? I've never gotten to sit with her, study her, talk with her, or even touch her." I bent down to kiss her cheek. "Cheer up my love, we can make up for lost time."

Krissy:

I didn't know if that was true, but I didn't want to discourage him any more than I already had. I put my arm around his waist, and he put his around my shoulders as we left the room. We got soft tacos for everyone at a place down the street from the hospital and brought them back to Kira's room. Kyle texted me that she had been asleep for most of the time I had been gone, but she was beginning to stir again.

We didn't let go of each other for longer than a few seconds to get in and out of a car. Even while I was driving I held her hand. The taco's had my mouth watering and I scarfed one down in the car well before we ever made our way to the hospital. It was enough to help tide me over for the trip to the hospital. From Krissy I learned Kira had been sleeping for a while and was starting to stir.

I wanted to see my daughter again, I didn't like the idea of her being hurt or unwell. And I also felt guilty that I even felt that way. I wasn't close enough to her, I hadn't been a part of her life at all. Did I have any right to feel that way?

Krissy:

I was nervous returning to Kira's room. I held the bag of tacos with one arm and clung to Michael with the other. I saw their faces before they saw us, and it didn't look good. Kyle and Andrew had an identical expression of concern. Kyra looked stricken.


Jonah:

I couldn't say it to anyone, but Kira was on her last dose of painkillers, and it had been a lighter one. I would have preferred to give her a stronger dose and let her come out of that, but orders were orders. She was only awake because of the half dose.

I hated seeing her like this. I hated seeing her weak, and I hated even more so that others were seeing her this way. But I didn't have the authority to remove them. and even if I did, I had no doubt that Kyra would make the task nearly impossible. She loved Kira fiercely.

Kira:

I wasn't sure what had changed, but the fog wasn't as thick as it had been before. But everything just felt wrong. I felt like I was equal parts floating and equal parts being stabbed throughout my entire body. My eyes were open but I certainly wasn't looking at anything in particular. Unless someone touched me and actively worked to hold my attention I wasn't even aware anyone was with me.

Tremors occasionally wracked my body, my heartbeat was heavy and slow, and even with morphine I was in pain. Every bit of me ached, and also felt like needles were being driven through every fiber. And occasionally I saw things before my vision, things that weren't there or were old memories. But I was far too gone to know the difference between them and the hospital room around me.

Krissy:

I set the tacos on the table between Kyle and Andrew. After seeing how Kira had deteriorated, I was no longer even slightly hungry. What if she died? I thought in sudden dread. I had wished she didn't exist, that I wouldn't have to deal with her... What if my punishment for wanting that was to have her die right as I was beginning to change my mind? I went to the foot of her bed, towing Michael behind me.

Michael:

My heart broke at the sight of Kira. It was mostly just seeing this girl who couldn't possibly be anyone but our daughter, but also just seeing someone so ill was it's own form of pain. She was just gone, a shell of a human being right now. And it hurt to see.

Kira looked like she was dying. My daughter looked like she was dying. Before I got the chance to know her, before I had the chance to make it up to her. She was fading away and I didn't know what to do.

Jonah:

I could tell the medicine was wearing off when Kira’s whimpers became more frequent. The nurse came in to change her IV bag and, as per my instructions, it was simply saline. As she changed it, I moved to that side of the bed and leaned against the wall. This would be the hardest part.

The family was clearly distraught. A few times Kyle had attempted a suggestion that they leave for the night since there was nothing else that could be done for her until she had the proper medications. The suggestion was shot down each time either by Kyra or Krissy.

Kira was sweating and writhing and moaning. It was only getting worse. Then the insistence of more morphine came from the family. At that point I had to explain the situation. I still stood by the bed, close to Kira, and by her IV bag.

“Jonah. Be reasonable. She’s in pain. Surely she can have some. You can’t just leave her to suffer like this!” Kyra always talked back.

“It will still be in her system. How long are you planning on leaving her like this? If, as you say, the medicine will be here within a couple hours, then there is a likely chance it will react with the morphine. There’s not point taking her off it now,” The mother said. Because of her erratic emotions, I had not calculated her intelligence as very high, so her words came as somewhat of a surprise. And it was true.

I suspected that Kira’s medicine wouldn’t really react badly to the morphine, or else Marie would have had her stop it the minute she found out. Instead she had me wait only a few hours before it was due to arrive. It was a sick punishment. But who exactly was it meant for?

“This is our patron’s orders. And as Marie’s delegate, I’m the only one here who has a say in what happens to Kira. If you can’t accept that, you are welcome to leave,” I said coolly. It was very clear no one in the room was a fan of me.

“We’re her family, her blood,” Kyra said with venom. I looked straight at her. “The only concern we have with blood, is finding the best way to spill it.”

Kira:

As the morphine left and the fog drifted away there was nothing left to keep the pain from amplifying. I was still just as unaware of what was happening around the room as before but for entirely different reasons. No long was I attacked by apparitions or haunted by memories. Pain blotted everything out. It was the only thing left at all. I tried fighting it, but it was a losing battle. I was holding back everything I could as somewhere in my mind I knew I wasn't alone.

If I was going to die like this, I wanted to die alone.



Michael:

I stood at the end of the bed, holding onto the hospital bed with both hands. My focus was entirely on this young girl before me, as she grew worse and the pain fully set in. I didn't care for the conversations happening around me, both sides seemed in poor taste. Krissy's family wasn't known for sitting still and I knew this had to be killing them. To see their neice, cousin, and daughter in such pain but unable to do anything. However there was a pinch of admiration for the boy trying to hold his ground against their combined wrath. It was just the wrong place and the wrong time for him to hold any respect. Not when it came to Kira.

Jonah:

I was confident that, if it came to it, I would be able to prevent them from touching Kira. I thought Kyle would be the biggest threat. But Kira’s silent father seemed like he could be dangerous too.

They didn’t try to physically intervein, but there were a number of death glares sent my way. Eventually Kira passed out from the pain, and it was a relief for everyone. I watched the clock tick down to the time Marie’s runner was due to arrive. It was after midnight when it happened.

Kyra drew in a sharp breath. “Dad,” she said, alarmed. It was a second longer before what Kyra saw, came into my field of vision. While my face remained impassive, my insides twisted with hate for the woman.

Kyle stood up and placed himself behind the parents, placing his hand on Krissy’s shoulder. I stayed where I was, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. If something went down, I would restrain Kyra to prevent her from harm.


Krissy:

I looked up at Kyle when he touched my shoulder. I thought he was trying to be comforting, but then I saw the figure of an older woman walk into the room. I went completely ridged, the blood draining from my face.

“Hello. What a lovely family reunion. Thank you, Jonah for inviting me,” She said in a pleasant, mocking tone.


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