After the Earthquake

Part 8

The sun was just rising above the earth's surface, casting long shadows over the earth. Pink, gold and red shimmers seeped their way into Hazel's heart, making it feel light and free. She felt all her worries melt away as the horrific events of the night before all drifted into the past. A strange sense of calm overtook her senses as she fondled gently with her mocha-coloured hair. "Mam, I wish you were still here. I miss you. You would know what to do." Despite her desperate longing to shed a tear for her mother, she found that the time for mourning had passed. She did not know whether it was the glimmering ray of the morning sun upon her or the peace she was currently feeling, but she knew she had come to terms with her mother's death.

A hand briefly touched her shoulder, and Hazel's gaze whipped around in a panic. Her utopian image had been shattered. Her gaze rested on her dearest Jordan's face and she relaxed again at his familiar figure. "I forgot you were there. Sorry."

"Don't apologise," Jordan responded. "It's not your fault that you're jumpy this morning. You must still be shocked from what happened last night." He gently began to massage her neck and quietly, he told Hazel, "Your mother would be just as confused as you." He smiled at her and continued, "You're doing amazing. Keep going, Hazel. You're the strongest woman I know."

Her heart warmed again at his kind words, and she found herself folding into his embrace. "I love you so much. I don't know where I would be right now without you."

"I love you too." His hand rested on hers and they spent a quiet moment sat there together. "I should call the locksmith." He stood up to go to the phone, and Hazel jumped as a loud sound erupted from beside her. Fright washed over her until she realised it was only Jordan receiving a phone call. She read the name on the phone and her anxiety returned. 'Doctor'.

"Jordan, what is this? Why is the doctor calling you so early? I thought your foot was fine. Did it get worse?" She grasped his wrist and he tried to gently prise her fingers off him, but she was determined. "Tell me. I need to know if you're not doing well."

He grabbed the phone with his other hand and answered it. "Hello, Doctor, how are you?" He continued to fumble nervously to escape from Hazel's grip, but her anger and frustration was growing by the minute. "No, I haven't told her yet..." His eyes planted themselves on Hazel and a frown overtook his face. "She's right here beside me." After a few moments, he closed off the phone call and put his phone on the table. "Hazel, listen to me – I'll tell you everything. You have to be patient and let me finish first."

"Why have you been hiding this from me? I need to know what you're dealing with. We're a team – you know that!" Her emotions were flooded by both anger and sadness that Jordan might be ill and not have told her. She didn't know whether to cry or scream, so instead she just decided to wait until Jordan had explained everything to her.

"When the doctor rang the first time... it wasn't about my foot. That was just an excuse I made up so you wouldn't worry." He rubbed his forehead, clearly trying to think of a way to tell her this. Tears flew down his face as he realised that what he was about to tell Hazel would change his life forever. "It was about something that happened during the earthquake. I didn't lie when I told you that the roof nearly missed me, but it did do more damage than I told you about."

Hazel suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to breathe, and inhaled a shaky breath. "What's wrong? Do you have a fracture that didn't heal properly? What is it?"

"No, Hazel... it's my eyes." Upon seeing Hazel's look of confusion and horror, he continued, "In the earthquake, my eyes were damaged by all of the rubble that fell. It's not visible, but the doctor said that it's serious."

"What does this mean? What do you mean? Do you need glasses? A surgery?"

"No, Hazel. I can't do anything... I can only see shadows now. The doctor said that my condition is permanent, but it shouldn't get any worse than it is. I've just been contacting him to make sure that things are going well."

Hazel's heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. She felt her gaze going blurry and she fell to the floor. She started sobbing in anguish, and her breathing became so shallow that she felt she was going to die. Why was she being like this? Hazel wanted to shout at herself, but the emotions flooding her were too much to handle. Her entire body began to quiver. Jordan was the one who was ill – not her. But then... why did it hurt so much?

"Hazel, please, get up. It's fine. I'll be okay."

"Everything's not fine!" She knew she was screaming, but she couldn't control what was happened right now. She flashed out her arm and hit Jordan in the chest. He stumbled back slightly and approached her again, but she screamed as he neared. "Don't come near me! How could you not tell me this? You'll never see my face properly again, and that's okay for you?"

Most of all, she blamed herself. How did she not see it coming? The mysterious phone calls from the doctor were all for his condition. The bricks he had dropped during volunteering – she had joked about it at the time, but now she knew that he actually couldn't see them in front of him. Even Thomas being able to escape from him. Of course he couldn't see what Thomas was doing – it was dark, and the shadows wouldn't be any help to him there.

"How..." She felt her voice beginning to quaver, and she took a deep breath before carrying on. "How much can you see? You managed to attack Thomas even in the dark. Is it not bad yet? Can you still see me?"

Jordan paused for a moment, his mouth half open as though he wanted to speak, but couldn't. He looked down at the ground ashamedly and murmured, "No. I can't see your face, just your body. He was in the glare of the headlights, so it was easy to spot his figure. I didn't know he didn't have his knife out, but I attacked him anyway. I couldn't let him hurt you."

Another moment passed in which Hazel felt as though her heart had been wrenched out of her chest. "Go away. I don't even want to talk to you right now. I'll ring the locksmiths."

At this moment, she almost fell to the floor at the loud bang that rattled the house. She suddenly came to a realisation and gasped, "Dean! We forgot about Dean!" Rushing up the stairs, she almost collapsed as she made her way to her brother. How could she not think of Dean when the entire household had been drugged? "Dean! Are you okay? Dean!"

As she eventually reached the top of the staircase, she saw Dean slumped on his bedroom door, holding tightly to the doorknob. He looked ready to tumble down the stairs any second. "Hazel, I don't feel so well..."

"I know, I know, Dean. Just lie down in your bed and I'll fetch you some water." She helped him over to his bed and then did as she had said. Upon her return, Dean looked at her and reached out his arms feebly to take the glass. Unfortunately for him, Hazel was still in a sour mood, and she splashed the water over his face. "You'll wake up in no time, just like I did."

After saying this, Hazel pondered over why she had been asleep for such a short amount of time. Surely she should have been drugged for the same amount of time as Dean? With a snap of understanding, she came to her senses. Of course Dean would be sleeping for longer; he ate three times his normal Chinese takeaway portion, whereas Jordan had decided to not eat any, and even Hazel was feeling a loss of appetite after her argument with Jordan, so she only ate a small amount. Dean had taken a huge hit, but thankfully Hazel was alert enough to stop Thomas.

Hazel immediately ran out of Dean's room and into the office. Why had she not thought to look before? What was Thomas looking for? Was it money? She pulled open the desk drawers, and found all of the papers were mismatched and in the wrong places, but none appeared to be missing. Even more odd was that she found all of her money in one place, although it was easily accessible for a robber. What was it that Thomas had said? 'I'm almost done with the job.' Hazel's mind was a flurry of confusion and annoyance. She hated not having any power over this, but she shook her head violently and told herself to calm down. Perhaps he was lying to whoever he was working for, and in fact he had not even started to take the valuables of the house. Hazel found that it was easier to reassure herself of this than to continue worrying, so she found herself believing strongly that this was the reason for the strange tidiness of her home.

Hazel had not slept in so many hours that her body was willing her to sleep. Despite her fierce determination to stay awake longer and sort out things involving the robbery and to help Dean wake up, she found herself drifting towards her bedroom as though in a dream. Completely against her will, her body pulled itself into the bed and the second her head touched the pillow it was lights out.