Beth was concluding her call with Serena when the night’s sky filled with an unimaginable trio of screams coming from nearby, turning around she saw that her daughters were no longer there, and concern immediately filled her body as she wondered where Alexandra and Carrie could have gone too in a strange town. “Oh god, Alexandra…Caroline, where are you?” she called three times in quick succession.
“Girls” she cried…
Alexandra was staring down at her fallen sister. Carrie frozen by her side, while Elizabeth immediately moved towards her friend, “Grace…grace…” she said quietly.
In a quiet motion, Sue got up and was heart broken to see her friend on the ground, eyes closed, and she wasn’t even sure she was still breathing. “Is she breathing” she croaked in her sore voice.
“Barely,” Elizabeth said as she checked as she reached for her phone and struggled for her brain to tell her what to do. “I need to call her father.”
“Should we be taking the knife out,” Sue asked quietly.
“They say never take it out, so we need to leave it in until the authorities can handle it,” Alexandra said a small voice as she had read up on medical procedures in her mother’s textbooks and as the daughter of a doctor and fascinated with all knowledge even if she didn’t think she would end up in the medical field. “We don’t know if the blood will be out of control.”
“She’s right,” Sue said not sure who the strangers were, and how they knew Elizabeth or her fallen friend. “We don’t have the capacity to stop the bleeding.”
“You have no idea how right you are,” Elizabeth muttered softly as she sat next to her friend. “Grace is the one with the real healing ability in this family,” she said as she reached her phone, and dialed the Evans household. “Damn, no one is home at her house,” as she looked over at the attacker. “Anyone have any rope?”
“I have a cord or something in my purse, I was picking it up for my brother as he has a project to do or something,” Sue whispered as she looked over at her attacker. “What are you going to do?”
“Restrain him,” Elizabeth swore. “He’s still unconscious,” as she took the rope out of the bag and went to work at tying him up. “There, he’s not going anywhere.”
“We have to call 911,” Sue offered.
“Oh god,” Carrie said as she woke to the reality of what they saw on the ground and the fact the sister they didn’t even know could be dying before their very eyes.
“Alexandra, Caroline... Girls” came a scream from behind them.
“God it’s Mom,” whispered Carrie out loud. “I forgot we vanished on her.”
“Call 911,” Sue said more adamantly as she quietly got up from her sitting position and looked at Elizabeth. “Call 911.”
“We can’t,” Elizabeth said quietly.
“Why the hell not,” Sue asked as she stared at her best friend as her voice started to recover from the attack.
“Because…because…” Elizabeth said as she wasn’t sure how to explain the fact they were alien human hybrids and not completely human.
“Mom’s a doctor,” Alexandra said. “She can help,” she said and that shut down her dreaded conversation. “Mom…we’re over here,” she shouted.
“Whoa, who are they?” Sue asked as she now fully concentrated on the twins and there was something in their looks that made them familiar to her.
“They are Grace’s sisters.”
“Isn’t Grace an only child?” Sue asked, confused by her knowledge of her friend’s home life and she always believed Grace to only have her father after her mother died when she was a toddler.
“No,” Elizabeth said as she said simply “Her mother seems to be alive.”
“Holy crap…” she said as Beth came running at the sound of her daughter’s voice and stopped short when she saw the calamity in motion. “Oh my god, what happened” as she focused on the twins first then looked to Elizabeth and then to Sue, and then “What is going on” when she spotted Grace on the ground… “What on earth happened”
“You have to help her Mom,” Alexandra pleaded as she took her mother’s hand. “Please you have to help her.”
“It’s Grace, isn’t it?” Beth asked the twins for confirmation.
“Yes,” Carrie nodded.
“What happened to her,” Beth said as she moved to the girl, and checked her pulse. “Have you called 911.”
“Apparently, they can’t,” Sue muttered.
“Why the hell not?” Beth asked as she looked at Elizabeth. “You look familiar, do I know you?”
“Not since I was a baby,” Elizabeth muttered. “The name is Elizabeth Guerin.”
“I should have known as you’re the picture of your parents and especially your mother.”
“As I have been told,” Elizabeth said as Beth took the pulse and relieved to see one, but it was growing faint and taking stock of the injury and horrified to see how serious it was and with Grace unconscious, there was no telling how badly it was impacting on the teenager. “Why aren’t you calling the authorities.”
“It’s complicated,” Elizabeth said as she looked at the twins and it suddenly dawned on her that if these were Grace’s sisters, and Uncle Max were the father than they would be also alien human hybrids and it was evident that their mother didn’t think anything suspicious about calling in the authorities. “We have tried her father, and he’s not home.”
“I don’t care. She needs hospital care,” Beth insisted as she checked the wound and suspected the worst and hoped for the best but knew that in this environment it was best to keep the knife in despite the severity of the wound. They would have to be very careful with how she was moved. “Any of you girls have anything in your purse I can use to try to control the bleeding?”
“We tried her father,” Elizabeth said as she checked her bag, as well as Sue to see if they had anything. “I have some tape, but nothing gauzing. You, Sue.”
“No,” Sue shook her head. “The rope is all I had.”
“You keep saying that,” Beth said. “I need to know why we can’t call the police.”
“It’s because she’s special,” Alexandra admitted as she guiltily looked at her sister, and then back to her mother and knew if she and Carrie were special and unique than their older sister must be to especially since they heard their father was like them. “And I guess they don’t know what going to the hospital would mean.”
“How special can she be,” Beth asked. “She was in the hospital just a few weeks ago, and everything worked out fine.”
“Because she’s an alien human hybrid,” Elizabeth announced. “She’s not like a regular human and we have to be careful with how she’s treated.”
“What on earth,” Beth looked stunned at the teenage. “What in the hell does that mean?”
“It means she exhibits at times, just like she is right now.” Elizabeth said carefully as she pointed to the green energy that was starting to come out of Grace’s finger’s as her condition became more critical.
“Holy hell,” Beth whispered as Alexandra and Carrie looked at the confirmation of what of what was turning out to be a family trait. “I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t,” Elizabeth whispered as Sue was looking at all this with stunned silence as she remembered back to the attack, and how they had subdued him and the knife prior to that and now her friend wasn’t looking that normal.
“We’ll deal with this when we have to,” Beth said as she processed it as she put her doctor hat on. “Call the authorities. She needs medical care immediately regardless of it means for her status. Alexandra, let me have your sweater.”
Alexandra immediately took off her sweater and passed it to her mother. Beth took it and yanked a large section off, and took the tape from Elizabeth and pressed down on the wound, while keeping the knife in, taped as much as she could so that they could move her and hope that they didn’t do too much damage.
“Okay,” Elizabeth swore as she dialed her grandfather’s number and waited the eternity it felt until her grandfather came on the line. “Grandpa.”
********
Ten minutes later, Jim Valenti walked onto the scene and he immediately looked at the fallen teenager and then looked at his granddaughter. “Why on earth are you and your friends making your parents exploits look tame,” he swore. “What is going on here Elizabeth?”
“I am sorry Grandpa,” Elizabeth said looking as young as her age told her she was, at fifteen years old she always felt older than she was but at moments like this, she was cruelly slapped on the face about the realities of growing up.
“You better be,” Jim muttered as he looked at Grace on the ground. “How long has been she been down.”
“Fifteen minutes, give or take.” Elizabeth said. “She hasn’t regained consciousness, and I tried Uncle Max, but he’s not home.”
“Damn it,” he muttered yet again and noticed Beth taking a hold of the situation. “I’ve called the paramedics and they should be here any moment. How is she doing?” he asked Beth. “I know this has to be hard for you.”
“I am not even thinking about that,” Beth admitted. “Did you know that she’s special.”
“You know?” Jim asked.
“Some of it. Apparently, there is a lot more at play here than I know, but Grace was exhibiting some green glow that has now subsided. But it was apparent something was odd.”
“It’s odd, alright.”
“Grandpa, we have a present for you.” Elizabeth said with a crack of a smile. “Look over there.”
Jim looked over with shock and raced over the unconscious individual. “Do you want to explain what happened here?”
“He grabbed Sue, and was going to attack her like rape her or even worse.” Elizabeth admitted to the wide eyes of the adults on scene. We came and rescued the situation, as she didn’t want to acknowledge that she and the twins had something to do with the bastard reaching the level of unconsciousness he was in at the moment given all the legal trouble she was already in, only just Jake’s escapade.
“Is that true Sue,” Jim asked.
“Yes,” Sue nodded as she tried to grasp all this wealth of sudden information and she wasn’t even processing it yet. “They saved my life.”
“You said you tried to reach Max?” Jim asked as he could hear the sirens to indicate the ambulance was to be there shortly.
“No answer at his house,” Elizabeth sighed.
“Did you try his cellphone?” Jim asked and saw the eyes of his granddaughter. “You didn’t think about it.”
“No,” Elizabeth admitted.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” as he dialed Max’s cell phone and got his voice mail. “Max, this is Jim Valenti. It’s imperative that you call me immediately. ‘1999’. “Call your parents and see if you can get them to meet us at the hospital.”
“Why did you cite 1999?” Beth asked as she checked the pulse of Grace again.
“It’s a code word. It’s when this all started,” Jim admitted as in came the gurney. “Knife wound, close to the spine.”
“It’s pretty damn close,” the lead paramedic indicated.
“Oh god,” Elizabeth and Sue whispered in unison. “I am going with her,” Elizabeth demanded.
“No,” Jim shook his head. “You and Sue are coming with me because I notice the bruises on Sue’s throat, and she needs to be checked over by a doctor.”
“I am completely fine Sherriff Valenti, it was more of a scare more than anything” Sue tried saying but was shut down. “Do I really have to call my parents.”
“Yes,” Jim nodded. “They will have to green light if any hospital treatment is needed and plus they need to know what happened to you.”
“God!” Sue groaned as Beth was supervising as the paramedics managed to put Grace on her stomach as they moved her to onto a stretcher and strapped her down and put an oxygen mask for the transport while checking the wound to make sure it was compacted and would not move as Elizabeth and Sue had tears coming down their face as they were witnessing this all. And the twins too as they saw their older sister being medically attended to.
“I am going with them. I can supervise as I am a doctor,” she told the paramedics. “And I am also her mother,” she stated out loud for the first time and it made an impact.
“Fine,” the paramedic nodded. “Let’s go, time is against us.”
“Beth, you don’t have to worry about the twins as I’ll meet you at the hospital. Go….be with Grace.”
“Thank you Sherriff Valenti.”
“Call me Jim,” he smiled as the scene moved out and vacated the scene which left the Sheriff alone with four terrified teenagers.
“You four, don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I’ll leave that to your parents,” Jim muttered to Elizabeth and when he focused on the twins, he said “and I don’t have the jurisdiction with you two unless you did something to warrant my attention.”
“No,” the girls said in unison even though it was a lie.
“Good,” Sheriff as he didn’t believe the unison
No for a moment but knew he had to deal with that lie at another time. “So, before we go, I have to get my deputy out here to get our friend over there. Do you want to tell me how he became unconscious?”
“You probably don’t want to know Grandpa,” Elizabeth said. “You known unnecessary paperwork.”
“God you’re a Guerin, through and through,” Jim muttered to Elizabeth. “Make yourself useful, call your parents.”
“Sure Grandpa!” Elizabeth nodded as she dialed the home phone number, and waited the moments until her mother came on the phone. “Mom!”
“Sheriff Valenti,” Sue piped in as her friend stood with her phone away from her ears to stop her mother’s screaming, before returning to the conversation while Sue talked approach the Sheriff.
“Yes Ms. Adams,” Sheriff asked.
“When the man grabbed me. He didn’t know it was me.”
“What do you mean?” Jim asked.
“He thought I was Grace and while he was still under that belief that I was Grace, well, he said that ‘he was supposed to get rid of her, but first he was going to enjoy himself, but in the end, and whatever he going to do to Grace, it would get him a million dollars.”
“Fu&k!” Jim swore as he heard deputy arrive.
“And in the mayhem that occurred once Grace and Elizabeth came into the situation; the knife was knocked to the ground and we didn’t see him go for it until it was too late as he stabbed Grace.”
“How did the knife get knocked away?” Jim asked as he instructed Sue to stop talking and turned to instruct his deputy to take in the suspect. “I want him in holding on charges of assault. He isn’t to be released on any form of bail unless I sign off on it.”
“Grandpa,” Elizabeth said as she came into the situation and went quiet for a few minutes as the deputy took away the suspect. “Mom says she’ll meet us at the hospital.”
“Fine,” Jim nodded and took that as a sign to get to the hospital. “Grab your stuff, and let’s go.”