Carolyn (keepsmiling7) - Thank
you so much for that lovely feedback
Eve (begonia9508) - The reason why Liz had to dance with David was just to try and preserve her working "relationship" with David. Liz knows that it will be hell every hour of every working day otherwise. Better to endure one dance than a whole day…
But I'm very much with you about stepping on the snake called David Perkins. Thank you so much for the feedback!
saori_1902 - Thank you!
dreamon - Thank you!
Roswelllostcause - Hihi, I'm with you on that one… Thank you for the feedback!
Thank you all for reading! Let's get going with the next part…
CHAPTER 15
Isabel
“Thank you for tonight,” Liz said when the company reached the front door to her apartment.
It hadn’t really avoided anyone’s attention at work that Liz’s general condition had severely diminished over the past two weeks and Isabel couldn’t help but draw parallels between Liz’s sickly appearance and her brother’s. But looking at Liz now, practically glowing, something had definitely turned for the better.
“Even though my dear sister is going rub this in forever,” Max shot a glance at Isabel, “I’m really glad that she convinced me to come tonight.”
Before Isabel could comment on that, Liz said, “Me too.”
They were doing that eye-thingy again, Isabel noticed. Silently staring into each other’s eyes. Even though Isabel was over the moon with happiness about seeing her brother happy for once, there was a limit to all this dreamy stuff. Cutting in between them and embracing Liz in a big hug (God, Liz really felt skinny), Isabel said, “I’ll see you on Monday.”
Liz was all smiles as Isabel pulled away, “Yep.”
Isabel watched Max bend forward and give Liz a (lingering) peck on the cheek. Isabel rolled her eyes at their antics; Liz looked ready to melt. It was like watching puppy love unfold.
“I hope we meet again,” Max said.
“Definitely,” Liz promised.
“Ah well, sleep tight,” Isabel was feeling the effects of it being 3 a.m. and wanted to get home to her nice soft bed.
“You too,” Liz replied and closed the door after a soft “Bye”.
“Max and Liz, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-“ Isabel started singing and erupted in laughter as Max lightly punched her arm.
Isabel playfully continued to tease her younger brother while walking down the hallway blissfully oblivious to the seizure that Max would have exactly nineteen minutes later.
*****
“Melissa?”
“Isabel? What’s wrong?”
“Max is having a seizure, what do I do?”
“Again? Ehm…”
“Please,” Isabel begged, looking down at Max convulsing at her feet, just inside the threshold of her front door. Foam was gathering around his mouth and his eyes were moving back and forth, showing off the whites of his eyeballs. There was a faint gurgling sound coming out of his mouth, as if he was suffocating.
“What do I do?” Isabel continued.
“Is he lying down?”
“Yes, he fell,” Isabel sobbed.
“Do you have a pillow?” Max’s ambulance colleague had first been groggy with sleep, having been woken up in the middle of the night by Isabel’s panicked phone call, but adrenaline was quickly clearing her brain fog.
“Yes.”
“Get one and put under his head, to protect him from injuring his head.”
Isabel raced into the living room, retrieved a pillow, squeezed the cell phone between her shoulder and ear to free up her hands and as gently as she could pushed the pillow underneath Max’s shaking head.
“Isabel?”
“Done.”
“Try and roll him onto his side, so that his mouth is to the floor.”
“Okay, hang on,” Isabel croaked and put the phone on the floor. Taking a hold of her brother’s lean body she rolled him onto his side, feeling the convulsions resisting her movements, but the adrenaline was making her stronger than usual. The gurgling sound from his mouth stopped. Thank God.
Isabel fumbled to get the phone off the floor. “Now what?”
“You wait.”
That was not what Isabel wanted to hear, she hated not be able to do anything. “How long?”
“I’ll wait with you,” Melissa assured her. “Has the seizure just started?”
“Yeah, shortly before I called you.”
“Okay,” Melissa said, her voice calm. On the other end of the line, Melissa was keeping an eye on her bedroom clock, recording the approximate time to be able to see for how long the seizure lasted. “Isabel?”
“I’m here,” Isabel breathed. Tears were running down her cheeks and she was seated up against the wall, her knees pulled up to her chest. She wanted to hold him, but the intermittent convulsions were so strong that she was afraid he might hurt her. Instead, she was four feet away from him. A distance which felt like several miles.
“Have you called an ambulance?”
“No, I called you first.”
She had been about to call 911, but reason had captured her at the last second telling her that she couldn’t. They would draw blood, they would examine him. What if they figured out that he wasn’t human? They had never been sick, never been to the hospital. She couldn’t call an ambulance.
“Isabel, I need you to hang up on me and call an ambulance and then call me back.”
“Maybe he’ll be fine. Maybe he won’t need an ambul-“
“Isabel,” Melissa said slowly. “You
need to call an ambulance.”
“Okay,” Isabel breathed. “Okay. I’ll call you right back.”
Isabel disconnected the call, put the phone next to her body, and allowed herself a minor nervous breakdown. Sobbing desolately into the arms she had folded tightly around her knees, she started to count seconds.
How long would it take to call 911?
Letting 25 seconds pass, Isabel retrieved her phone off the floor and redialed Melissa’s number.
“Isabel?” Melissa answered.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“They’re coming?” Melissa asked.
“Yes,” Isabel lied. “They’ll be here soon.”
Please, be okay. Please, be okay.
As if hearing her pleads, Max’s irregular body movements calmed down.
Isabel’s sobs stilled. “Wait. I think…I think he’s stopped…” She tentatively crawled towards his body, her hand reached out in front of her. “Max? Max?”
“Keep saying his name,” Melissa guided on the other side of the line.
Isabel’s movements were apprehensive as she patted Max’s arm, as if he would suddenly wake up as a monster and attack her.
“He’ll be confused when he comes to,” Melissa’s voice continued in Isabel’s ear. “Check him for injuries, he might have to be treated for a concussion. But the EMTs will know that.”
“Tell me anyway,” Isabel said. There would be no EMT. She was all Max had.
“Um… He has to be fully himself before he eats or drinks and let the EMT know that this is his second seizure. He should be investigated for epilepsy, metabolic imbalances…brain tumor.”
Isabel shook her head in denial. She didn’t want to hear anymore. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell them.”
“Iz?” Max groaned and Isabel’s whole being sighed in relief.
“He’s awake,” Isabel told Melissa. “Thank you, Melissa.”
“Have him call me,” Melissa instructed.
“Sure.
Thank you.”
“No problem, Isabel. I hope he’s okay.”
Isabel pressed ‘Disconnect’ and focused her full attention on Max who was now slowly, achingly, rolling up into seated position, simultaneously wiping saliva off his chin.
Tears of relief had now replaced the tears of horror rolling down Isabel’s cheeks as she cradled Max’s face in her hands. “Are you okay?”
“I had another vision,” Max mumbled, his eyelids heavy. He looked drained.
“Is your head hurting?” Isabel asked, worrying about a possible concussion like Melissa had mentioned.
“No,” Max shook his head, which was mildly hindered by Isabel holding onto his face with her shaking hands. “Iz…” Max breathed deeply, “I think he killed her.”
“What? Who?”
“The man. And it was Liz. I’m sure now. After meeting her, I’m sure it was Liz.” Max started crying and Isabel was momentarily surprised into inaction before she pulled his head against her shoulder, wrapping her arms around him.
“She’s not dead, Max,” Isabel soothed. “It was a vision.”
“I couldn’t help her,” Max mumbled into her shirt and his voice was breaking Isabel’s heart. “I watched it happen. I watched him force himself on her…” Max’s voice trembled with anguish and he had to take a couple of breaths before being able to continue. “And when she started fighting back, he killed her. Strangled her.”
“Max, no,” Isabel whispered. “It hasn’t happened.”
“I think they are premonitions. I think they
will happen.”
“There must be a reason why you’re getting these visions. It must be so that you can stop them.”
Max pulled back, clumsily wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, obviously trying to pull himself together. “I can’t see him. His face remains hidden from me. I can’t see whom I should protect her from.”
“Max,” Isabel took a hold of his shoulders. “Max, listen to me.” When she had his attention, eyes red and glistening, she continued. “She’s. Not. Dead. You can stop this.”
Max shook his head in desperation. “I can’t watch her every second of the day. I barely know her. What reason would I use to explain why I’m suddenly following her everywhere?”
“
I know her. And it wouldn’t be so strange for a friend to want to hang out a lot, right? So I’ll watch her.”
“It happens at night,” Max sighed. “I think it’s really late because there’s no one else there.”
“Okay, so we have to make sure that she doesn’t move around the city, alone, at night. That shouldn’t be so hard.”
“I don’t understand why this is happening. Why would I have premonitions? I’ve never had any before. Why now?”
Isabel shook her head. “Let’s not think about that now. Let’s just assume that this is real and protect her, okay?”
Max nodded, his fears slightly eased by Isabel’s words.
“You should probably know that I called Melissa,” Isabel added, wary of his reaction. She knew how much he hated people knowing about these odd kinks of his body. “I was afraid. I didn’t know what to do.”
Max gave her a tired smile. “It’s okay, Iz. I’m sorry I scared you.”
“She wants you to call her, once you’re okay. She suspects epilepsy or brain tumor or something.”
Max seemed to understand this, nodding slowly. “I’ll call her. We’ll think of something.”
TBC… On Wednesday
Have a lovely end to the weekend <3
