Retribution

Chaper Twenty-Three

I awoke from a deep sleep, not remembering anything that had happened between the whole siege and the drive to the hospital. I must have been sedated. I felt dizzy and was sore all over. The thin sheets covering most of my body and my wounds stitched up gave me a clue that I had arrived to the hospital in one piece.

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

"Of course, sweetie."

My mom and Reyna were the first people I saw. Mom was delighted to see me and Reyna looked relieved. Mom kissed my forehead tenderly and gingerly embraced me.

"I'm so glad to see that you're okay," she said sol voce, "The doctors said you had a fractured rib and multiple bruises, plus some head trauma, but you're to heal up just fine."

"Okay."

"Nate will be here in a little bit. Do you need anything?"

My lips were parched and my mouth felt like a Sahara desert. "Some water, please?"

"I'll be back in a little bit." Mom left the room, and now Reyna and I were alone.

After an awkward moment of silence, Reyna started to say, "Mom, about what I said in the closet. I didn't mean it..."

"When we're on edge, we would say things that we wouldn't normally say," I advised her, "Don't apologize."

"But Mom..."

"It's all over now. It's in the past."

My mother came back with a cup of water, and Nate behind her. He looked like he was holding something.

"Hey," Nate greeted me.

"Hello."

He showed me a black hardcover book and placed it on my lap. I opened it, and to my surprise, it was Vanessa's sketchbook.

"I talked with Vanessa's brother, Josh," he said as I flipped through the pages, "Apparently they're related to the late John Grant, who was one of the former leaders of the League. He also told me about Crystal."

"Who's Crystal?"

"She's one of the members. Weird hair. Dark blue, with one streak on top. Some people would usually do it on the side or something, but she's unique."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"Couple things. We have Vanessa's body still, but Nina's was promptly given to her family for a proper funeral. No one knows what to do with Vanessa's since she doesn't have many relatives. And I feel that you should show that you cared about Vanessa to Crystal. That would mean a lot to her."

This gave me an idea. "We'll give her a burial."

"You really want to do that?"

"Who else is going to do it?"

I flipped through her sketchbook some more. There was a whole streak of pages that were blank. However, there was a drawing at the bottom of the blank pages that caught my eye.

She drew me. The unfinished woman that she didn't want to show me was myself. I smiled. I guess she drew the people she cared about the most, for there were drawings of Reyna and Nina in there as well. Vanessa may have been very withdrawn, but she had a heart of gold and a hidden talent.

I passed the sketchbook around so that the rest of my family could take a look at them. I felt bad for exposing her art, but everyone needed to see how much of a person she really was.

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Nate picked out the casket, Reyna and Mom chose the outfit, and I arranged everything for Vanessa's funeral. Amidst the chaos for Vanessa, we still had time to go to Nina's.