Life After Death

Chapter 11

Vivian's point of view.

It had been a week since we were followed and chased by the Reapers. Each day since, we had all been too alert to sleep, obsessively worrying that we would be hunted and killed in our sleep like some kind of prey.

Me and Nathaniel had spent most of it together, tensions between us and Jace still high. Jade feeling obligated to not be bitter towards her brother. However, as more days passed without dramatic car chases or any deaths, he seemed to despise us less and less. Progress towards something neither me nor Nathaniel knew how to fix. Jade began to feel more comfortable talking to us again- not feeling her brothers eyes burn into her side anymore- and occasionally if you caught him at the right time, he might even crack a joke.

Over the time, we ventured around the place. Picking up more fuel where we could and getting food from anywhere, we could. To the delight of Jade, I managed to find some old bottles of vodka, which we knew could not have gone bad, but we had all been so worried each night about being found and murdered that we had yet to indulge in any of it.

As for the brutal injury she sustained last week, today was the day she had decided the stitches were ready to come out. Supposedly, face stitches were supposed to last around five days- according to the encyclopaedia that is Nathaniel anyway- but Jade decided upon leaving them in a day longer, hoping by then it would definitely be safe.

"Nathaniel are you sure it's five days?" Jade asked, her knee bobbing up and down as she stalled more and more.

"Yeah, my old friend had them for that long anyway."

"Over his eye!?"

"Well, no. But I doubt it's much different. But uh, I'm not taking responsibility if your face like falls open or anything."

"Nathaniel!" I cried, whacking him with the towel I was drying my freshly washed hands with, though this seemed to only earn laughter in return from him.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'm sure your face isn't going to split in two."

Settling with a death glare, he returned to throwing some ball he had found back against the wall once more, Jace the other side of the room we were in reading a book that rested on his knees.

We had been in some old cottage for nearly two days now. Our car pulled out of sight by the help of the garage. Unless anyone came in investigating deliberately, they'd never know the vehicle inside was fully operational.

"Are you sure you want these out?" I double checked removing the handmade blindfold from her cheek.

The area was far less red, but the scar that would be there was undeniable. Her eye had completely changed colour to a light blue, maybe more of a white. All pigment that had been in her eye destroyed by the blade that went through.

"I don't have much choice really. They'll be grown over soon enough."

So, I tried my best to remove them as easy and quick as possible. Using the scissors, we had managed to find over the last few days to cut the knots lose and remove each one. I think in total she only winced once, though that may have been due to my own inability as a nurse. And overall, the scar was relatively thin, all be it extremely dark. Not even a drop of blood was spilled.

"Oh my god, the relief."

"It feels better?"

"By a million, it finally feels like my face isn't being held together."

Jace closed his book, coming to have a look himself. Perhaps to see if my job was adequate enough. But he seemed satisfied enough, giving me a simple nod and a 'good job', but I wasn't to complain. Just the fact he was speaking to me, let alone complimenting what I had done, was enough to please me. Hopefully just more of a sign that his hatred was slowly wearing away.