Post by StoryGirl83 on Nov 9, 2011 9:46:58 GMT -5
Chapter Twenty-Four – Reality
Wyatt stared across the room at Olivia. She had awakened during his conversation with his mom and he had chosen to end the conversation quickly before she heard something she shouldn’t hear.
“You’re not real,” Olivia insisted suddenly.
Wyatt looked at her wearily. “Of course I’m real.”
Olivia shook her head hard. “No, you’re not. Wyatt’s covered in blood, so much blood.”
Wyatt shook his head and took a step toward her. “No, Olivia. You called the paramedics. You got them here in time. You saved my life, Olivia.” Had she not been there his family wouldn’t have known about his injuries in time to do anything to save him. Though she had no magic, Olivia really had saved his life.
Olivia shook her head and hugged her knees to her chest. “No, Wyatt’s dead. There was so much blood, so much blood.” She started rocking back and forth, back and forth. “So much blood. How can you stand it? I see it everywhere.”
Silence her.
Wyatt shuddered as the thought ran through his mind.
Make her quiet and make her stay that way.
Wyatt forced the thought back. He didn’t want to hurt Olivia. “Olivia, I need you to come with me. Kelly’s around here somewhere and I need to makes sure she’s alright.” He walked over to her and stopped when she tried to back up closer to the wall.
“Not real,” she announced. “You’re not real.”
Wyatt sighed and reached out his hand, taking hers into his. “I am real, Olivia. I am real and I am alive. I am also Wyatt. You saved me, Olivia. You saved my life, so that I didn’t die.”
Olivia stared down at his hand holding hers. “You’re real?”
Wyatt nodded. “I’m real.”
Olivia pulled her hand out of his and wrapped her arms around her thighs and sobbed. Not sure what else to do, Wyatt sat down next to her and hugged her. It wasn’t as if she could infect him. He already was infected.
It was several minutes before she stopped crying and Wyatt just held her, uncertain what else to do. He knew he needed to check on Nathan and Andrew. He needed to find Kelly and determine if she had been infected or not. And he needed to try calling his brother now that he had another phone to use.
Right now, though, he had a scared coworker who needed him here.
When she finally stopped crying she sniffed and looked up at him. She was shaking as she said, “I’m glad you’re not dead, Wyatt.”
He smiled. “Me, too.”
She grinned and a tiny laugh escaped her lips. “The blood’s gone.”
Wyatt looked around. “You actually saw blood?”
She nodded. “Lots of it. And now I feel a lot better.”
“Do you feel up to coming with me?” he asked, knowing that was really the only option. He couldn’t leave her here.
“No more blood?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. I’m trying to prevent that. You tried to kill yourself, Olivia.”
She nodded. “I know. I remember that. I just wanted to escape the blood.” She looked down at her wrists. There was no sign of them having been cut. “I don’t understand how they healed so quickly. Do you?”
“You must have a guardian angel looking out for you today,” he suggested as he stood and offered her his hand.
Olivia clasped his hand and let him pull her up. Then, she looked at him with a smile on her face and wiped away her tears. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he replied easily. “I’m glad you feel better.” Because I sure don’t. At least the voice hadn’t made any more suggestions to harm Olivia. “Do you remember banging on one of the doors earlier?” he asked as they exited the room.
She nodded. “Lauren’s office. The auditor is in there.” She frowned as she looked down the hall. “It was locked. I found that odd.”
“Blame me for that,” he admitted. “Strange things were going on downstairs, so when I went up to see him, I warned him to lock himself in.”
She looked at him, confused. “Why didn’t you just suggest that he leave?”
Wyatt froze mid-step. He sighed. “I had already attempted to leave. I wanted to see if I could reach my brother if I left the building and found I couldn’t leave the building. Someone locked the door.”
Olivia stared at him stunned. She started breathing hard and rocking back and forth again. “Someone wants us dead,” she decided when she managed to gasp her breath again.”
“I don’t think it’s that simple,” he commented. “Olivia, I really need you to come with me.”
“Come where?” she asked cautiously.
“I am going to go down and check on Nathan and Andrew,” Wyatt informed her.
“Are they okay?” she asked almost wistfully.
“Not even close,” he admitted, thinking of how he had left his two friends.
“What’s wrong?” she asked looking scared.
“Can you trust me?”
She stared at him for several seconds and shook her head. “I just don’t know, Wyatt. Something is wrong here and you seem to have all the answers. That’s not always a good thing.”
“I can’t just leave you here,” he protested. He closed his eyes and tried sensing through the building. He had no trouble identifying that Nate was still unharmed. The other three were more difficult, farther away, but something didn’t feel right.
“Sure you can,” she argued. “I’m fine, Wyatt.”
“You tried to kill yourself, Olivia,” he reminded her. “That’s not fine.
“I feel much better, now,” she informed him. “Well, I still am quite uneasy, I no longer see blood, and I no longer feel the need to do anything to escape it.”
“And if it comes back?”
“It won’t,” she decided.
“You can’t know that.”
“I can,” she announced stubbornly.
Wyatt closed his eyes, again, and focused on his three coworkers. He wasn’t sure where Kelly was, but he figured the two together had to be Nathan and Andrew and something was wrong with them. He sighed. “Olivia, I have to go. Please, just come.”
Olivia shook her head. “I’m going to get out of here.”
“The doors are locked,” he reminded her. “And don’t you dare touch these windows. You wouldn’t survive the fall.”
She scowled at him. “Fine. I’m still checking the doors. Maybe they missed one.”
Wyatt closed his eyes and as soon as he tried to sense Nathan and Andrew, his senses started screaming. He ran out of Kate’s office without another word. As soon as he was out of sight, he orbed out. Olivia was in control, at least for now. Somewhere in the basement one of his friends was dying.