Beautiful Demons

22. I Wasn't Supposed To Forget

Light streamed in through the open curtains, and I pulled the comforter over my head to block the pain of it.

"Harper? Are you awake?"

Reluctantly, I pushed aside the fabric and squinted up at the figure above my bed. "Agnes?"

"You're awake! How are you feeling?" Agnes didn't wait for an answer. Her footsteps clattered across the room toward the door. "Ella Mae? Harper's awake!"

More footsteps on the stairs. I closed my eyes. Simply opening them made me tired. The inside of my head felt dense and fuzzy, as if someone had stuffed a thousand cotton balls inside.

"Harper, honey, how are you feeling?" Ella Mae this time. Her worried face appeared as she sat down in a chair next to my bed. She placed a cool wet cloth on my forehead.

"That feels nice," I said. My voice didn't sound like my own. It was scratchy and hoarse. What the hell happened to me? The last thing I remembered...I couldn't even figure out what was real and what wasn't. Thinking about it too hard sent a stab of pain through my temple.

"We were so worried about you. You have no idea," Agnes said. She sat at the foot of the bed and placed her hand on my covered feet.

"Here, drink some water." Ella Mae propped me up on a bunch of pillows, then handed me a small glass of ice water.

The water was so cold on my throat it almost burned. "Thank you," I said. Some of the raspy sound was already gone. I cleared my throat and drank some more.

"There is so much to tell you," Agnes said.

She bounced a little on the bed and the room went temporarily spinning. I pressed my hands against the mattress, trying to make it stop.

"Agnes, stop bouncing. You're gonna make her sick," Ella Mae said.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed Courtney had joined Agnes at the foot of the bed. She smiled shyly up at me, her blonde hair falling into her face. Mary Anne stood silently in the doorway. When I looked her way, she turned and left.

"What happened to me?" I asked.

"You've been sick with the flu," Ella Mae said, replacing the warm cloth on my head with a fresh cool one. She put a thermometer in my mouth and told me to keep my mouth closed.

"You've been in here running in and out of sleep for the past five days."

"Five days," I mumbled, talking around the thermometer. How could I have been sleeping for nearly an entire week? I suddenly felt very hot. Almost claustrophobic. Why couldn't I remember what happened? I threw the covers off my legs and tried to stand up.

"Calm down," Ella Mae said. "You don't want to wear yourself out when you just woke up. Agnes, go down to the kitchen and get some juice and toast."

The room spun violently and I fell back onto the pillows. Ella Mae lifted my legs onto the bed and covered them back up. I was so incredibly tired, but I knew it was important that I remember. But remember what? I closed my eyes and tried to think. School. Something terrible happened. Tori Fairchild was dead. I remembered sitting in class when the news came about her death. But then what? Everything grew dim after that. I lifted my hand up to touch my mother's sapphire pendant.

For a moment, I was worried it wouldn't be there. But that was silly, right? I always wore her necklace. At the back of my mind, though, a memory tugged at me.

But the necklace was there where I expected it to be. I curled my fingers around it and ran the pendant back and forth along the silver chain.

Ella Mae took the thermometer from my mouth and shook her head. "You've still got a fever, but it's not as bad as it was before. I think you're still going to need a couple of days at home before you go back to school. I'll talk to Mrs. Shadowford about it. You just rest up, okay? Agnes'll bring you something to eat, and I want you to try and get something down. You need to start building your strength up again."

I nodded and closed my eyes. Sleep threatened to suck me back down, but I knew there was something more to remember. Something important that I wasn't supposed to forget. But it wouldn't come to me.

Behind my eyelids, all I could see was the glowing light of a single candle. I heard voices chanting. A silver knife sliced into my hand. I gasped and sat up in bed, eyes wide open. The room was darker now that the sun had gone down. Agnes had left the juice and toast on the side table by my bed, but that must have been hours ago. Had I been dreaming?

I lifted my hand. A fresh bandage was taped around my palm. With my other hand, I pulled off the tape and unwrapped the gauze. There, in the middle of my palm, still throbbing slightly, was a diagonal cut that ran the length of my hand.