Eternal Shadows: Moonlit Justice

Chapter 7

 While he's eating, Ellie appears in the archway of the kitchen. Upon seeing her, he stands up and asks, "Ellie, are you okay?"

"I don't know," she mumbles. "What's going on? She falls forward.

"Ellie!" Thomas rushes over to her and catches her. "Hey, it's okay. I've got you."

"Thomas, I don't..." "I..." She crumples onto the floor.

"Ellie! Hold on! I'm calling an ambulance."

"No," she answers, 'don't..." "call.." Her eyes close. Thomas dials 911.

The operator answers, "Hello, what's your emergency?"

"My sister! Thomas answers frantically, "She came downstairs this morning and collapsed!"

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"
"No!"

"Please sir, calm down. What's your address?

Thomas takes several deep breaths before answering, "It's the Maxstin Apartments. We're on the very top floor..."

"Ok..."

"We own the building."

"Alright, an ambulance is on the way. Please stay with your sister to make sure she's still breathing."

"Okay." He hangs up and turns his attention to Ellie. "It's okay," he whispers to her, "it'll be okay."

Gray, who is still in his highchair, begins to fuss. Thomas gets up, without taking his eyes off Ellie, and takes Gray out of his highchair. Gray toddles over to his mother. "Mama?" she asks.

Ellie's eyes open. "Hi baby," she whispers.

"Mama!" Gray gives her mother a look of uncertainty.

"I'm okay, baby." Thomas kneels down next to them.

It feels like an eternity before the ambulance arrives. Thomas lets the paramedics into the penthouse. The paramedics gently lift Ellie onto a stretcher. They carefully carry her down the stairs and outside. Thomas follows them, with Gray in his arms.

Once Ellie is in the ambulance, Thomas climbs in, with Gray in his arms. Once the ambulance is at the hospital, the paramedics rush her inside. He follows and interrupts a nurse talking to the receptionist. "Excuse me!" he says

"Yes, how can I help you?" she answers.

"My sister, she came here about half an hour ago, could you tell me where she is?"

"Um, I'm sorry but..."
"Forget it! I know where she is!" He pushes past the nurse and runs up the stairs. He stops at room 204 and knocks.

"Come in," says a voice that isn't Ellie's. He comes in and there's a doctor who is talking with a now conscious Ellie.

"Can I help you?" the doctor asks, clearly irritated by Thomas bursting into the room randomly.

"No," he answers. He turns to Ellie and asks, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," she answer, "sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I guess the fatigue got to me and it made me faint."

"You were so tired that it caused you to faint?" the doctor asks, "How did you hear of sleeping?"

"Yeah," Ellie answers, "my job and my life and generally cause me a lot of stress. I have trouble sleeping too, so that's why I'm always tired."

"That isn't good? What could you possibly be doing that's causing you to be so stressed out?"

"Well, my job sort of involves catching bad people, and um I have a tendency to attract trouble, so I end up getting hurt a lot."
"What is your job exactly?"

"Well..." She looks at Thomas, who nods at her. "...we're detectives for the police in town."

"You're detectives! How old are you?"

"14."

"When did you start working?"

"After our parents died."

"Which was..." "How old were you?"

"Ten."

"For god's sake! No wonder you're stressed out, you've been working since you were young!"

"That's not the reason why. I mean it could be part of it, but the main reason is because..."

"Because what?"

"I watched my parents get murdered."

"Oh god."

"Yeah, I still have nightmares about what happened that night."

"Can I take her home? Thomas asks.

"Well yes. Make sure she doesn't stress too much."

"Will do. Here." He hands Ellie some of her clothes. Ellie gets up and goes into the restroom that's attached to the room.

Ellie comes out within a few minutes. Gray reaches out to his mother. Ellie takes him from Thomas and coos at him.

"Mama! Okay?"

"Yes, baby I'm okay. I hope I didn't scare you too much."

They walk out of the building before Thomas carries them home in his wolf form he tells Ellie, "I've told Marie what happened. She and Matt are sort of at our penthouse waiting for us to come home. Ellie doesn't respond, instead she raises her eyebrow at him. He shifts into his wolf form and carries her and Gray home. Once they're at home, Matt, Marie and another girl around Marie's age are waiting for them inside of their penthouse. .

"Matt!" Ellie cries out. She walks over to him and kisses him on the cheek.

"Hey," he says.

"Hi, Marie. Who's this?" She eyes the young woman who's with her.

"Hey, girl, hey." They hug each other. "This is Blake, my...friend. It's been awhile hasn't it?"
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you, Blake."

Blake smiles and softly says, "It's nice to meet you too. Marie's told me a lot about you and your brother."

"Oh my god! Is that Gray?" Marie interrupts.

"Yeah."

"He's grown so much!" Gray buries himself into his mother's chest.

Ellie laughs softly, "It's okay Gray. This is your aunt."