My Three Cousins

Chapter Fourteen

"That's my cousin," I said and I tried to run to Helen, feeling all of my drink hit me at once when I did.

Before I could get to Helen, John grabbed me and pushed me behind him.  He approached the guy and shoved him away from Helen.  The man Helen had been with was laying unconscious on the ground and Helen was cowering away from the man that was threatening her.  I thought fear was supposed to sober me up, but I was struggling to make sense of the situation.  "Watch it bud," John said.  "Leave her alone."

A snarling smile came across the man's face and a blue aura appeared around him.  "John watch out," I yelled, wanting to help, but he didn't hear me over the crowd and the man grabbed John by the throat and John began to convulse.  Everyone was staring in disbelief.  The bartender jumped over the bar, holding a gun and shot at the man.  The bullet missed him, but he dropped John who crumpled to the floor unconscious.

"You need to get out of here," the bartender said with the gun still pointed on the man.

The man looked from the bartender to Helen and Helen rose to her feet.  Even in my dizzy state across the room I could see the panic in her eyes.  A large man in a leather jacket stepped between Helen and the man.  "Get the F out of here," the man said gruffly.  Helen touched the man's back and whispered something to him.  The man pulled a gun from his pocket.

The electric man just stared at the large biker now blocking Helen, he wanted to get to her, and it was clear he wasn't going to let a gun stop him.  As he started to turn blue an idea occurred to me and with no one's eyes on me I snuck around the side of the bar, picking up John's nearly full beer and my drink as I went.  I paused to pour both in a cup, making them easier to dump and snuck closer to the man.  Soon I was only a foot away, pressed to the wall.  I waited until the electric man flared a bright blue and took a step toward Helen and the biker.  Then I threw the drinks.  They hit him and he sizzled and popped.  The blue aura around him disappeared and he paused just long enough for the biker to shoot him in the leg and someone else to whack him over the head.

"You could have got yourself shot," the bartender yelled angry.  Then we all stopped to look at the unconscious man.  He wasn't bleeding from the bullet wound and if we hadn't all seen him attacked it would seem like he had just gone to sleep.  

"What the hell," the biker said, and Helen sprang into action.  She moved quickly from person to person, laying a glowing hand on them and telling them this was just a normal bar fight, and they shouldn't be worried.  When she had touched and calmed every person in the bar.  She grabbed me and headed toward the front door.  The bouncer moved to stop us, but she just put her hand on him too, "we just want to go home.  You feel sorry for us and your worried about all of the unconscious people in the bar.  You will want to move them before they wake up."

He let us pass and immediately began walking toward the unconscious people.  Helen and I sat on the curb outside the bar.  She was in tears but all of that had done nothing to sober me up.  "That was awesome," I said too loud, "did you see me?  I kicked ass."  I felt like I was floating and riding a roller coaster all at once.  "We don't need anyone, Helen."

"Yes, I do," she sobbed, "I need my big sisters."  She continued to cry, and I tried to calm myself down enough to comfort her.  

Despite my best efforts, I knew I was still smiling when I put my hand on her shoulder.  "They're at the house," I said, "let's go."  I pointed to the car keys in her hand.

"We can't drive."  She said, still crying.  "Do you not see how many people got hurt because of me?"  I understood her words, but I couldn't get myself to feel as guilty or worried as she seemed to.  She clearly recognized this.

"Let's go," she got to her feet as she spoke and walked up to two men walking into the bar.  "Excuse me," she said putting her glowing hand on one to stop him, "we need a ride home do you think you could help us?"  

"Sure," he said sympathetically.  He looked from me to Helen like we were puppies he found drowning in the gutter.  His friend was confused but Helen put her hand on him too and they soon wore matching expressions.

It was quickly decided that one of them would drive us in our car and one of them would follow in theirs.  They drove slower than Helen had so the drive took long enough for me to stare out the window and realize how bad the situation was.  By the time we pulled into our long driveway I was fighting tears and felt as miserable as Helen looked.  She thanked the men who quickly drove away.  It seemed like they were becoming confused at how their night had gotten so off track and they weren't entirely sure why they had left the bar to drive us all the way here.  Once they were gone, we snuck back in the front door, trying to be careful to close it softly behind us.

We only made it a few steps into the dark entry way when I felt a hand grab around my forearm.  The grip was too tight, and I couldn't squirm away from it.  It took all my effort not to scream as I tried to flail around and see if the man had somehow beaten us back here.  Helen didn't panic, she just sighed defeatedly.  "Let go of us, Joan.  We were just coming to find you."

Somehow hearing my oldest cousin's name didn't calm me and I only began to feel worse as she dragged us up to Aunt Maggie's room.