Lonely

Chapter 38, Sadie

After an entire day with our new friend, Jett, we still had no idea what his ability was or why he was hanging around in the hospital. He had told me he was six, and that he liked the hospital, but that was about it. He seemed rather happy to be with us though, and believed me completely when I told him why we were taking him.  He was mostly silent, and liked dark spaces. He reminded me of a cloud of dust, silent, and well, dust colored.

I was watching him and Libby while Libby tried to teach him how to play marbles. It wasn’t going so well, and he kept rolling the marbles into the fire to see what the flames did to them. Finally, Libby settled on playing tic tac toe with him, because he had told us that was his favorite game. I looked at the next name on my list. Ariadne Barowhits was her name. Libby snorted in exasperation and looked a lot better ding it than you might think.

“How is it possible you won again?” she cried standing up. Jett shrugged and scrubbed the game out of the dirt, then he and Libby started digging through the back pack for food. Suddenly, a branch snapped. I quickly stood up and Jett and Libby came to stand beside me. I couldn’t see past the orange colored ring the fire had lit for us, but I could hear something. A snorting sound reached my ears, and I realized it was breathing. Two dark red eyes appeared, followed by a elongated face with a large black nose, slavering jaws, horns, dagger like teeth and a forked tongue. After the hideous face came the body.

Well muscled and large, with no fur, just grotesque pinkish skin, tiny spines sticking out in random places on it body, four strong limbs with spines on its elbows. The claws on its massive paws dug into the ground. Hair like a Mohawk grew along its spine until the shoulder blades, then it turned to spikes that ran the length of its back. They looked sort of like claws sticking out, and the tail had spikes on it also. It stood, read to pounce, staring at us. I was shocked. I had never seen anything like it.

I started to push Libby and Jett further and further back, the monsters eyes following us. Libby squeaked in fear just as I shoved Jett up in a tree, and the monster pounced.

Right at Libby.

My mind went into over drive, adrenaline seeping into my veins. Right as he was about to land on Libby I brought my hands on his shoulder blades. He must have been shocked, because he crashed to the ground, but immediately stood back up. I couldn’t push him with my mind like I could a human. He snarled at me and lunged again, but I dodged. He skidded to a halt behind me and turned to face me, his red eyes shining. I heard Libby yell my name, and then she tossed me an iron spike. I had no time to ask her where she had gotten it, but I put it to good use. The monster lunged again, and I ducked to the side, scratching his side with the spike and leaving a deep gash. The monster didn’t appear to notice it, and swung his tail at me. I jumped back and he swung again. To my horror, I heard Libby cry out in pain. I looked over to find her lying in a heap on the ground, unconscious, the monster looming over her.

Furious, I knew I could send him away. It was to the death. He was about to bite into Libby’s throat when I jumped at him, avoiding the spines on his tail and back, and drove the spike deep into him howled in pain and whirled to face me, but I pushed it further in, and he collapsed to the ground, giving one final whimper before going limp. I knelt down next to Libby. She was breathing, but just barely. He whole left side was covered in scratches and some puncture wounds from the monsters spikes. I leaned over her, tears welling in my eyes. I grabbed my back pack and was about to ask for a medical kit when I felt small hands on my shoulder, gently pushing me away. I looked to see Jett’s troubled face, looking intently at me.

He pushed gently, and I scooted over, to busy to wonder what he wanted. Blood soaked the dirt under Libby and just as I was about to ask for a med kit, I noticed Jett was reaching for her.

“Jett, don’t do that! We don’t want it to get dirty.” I cried, but he paid no attention. His hands fluttered nervously over her wounds, finally, he let them come to a rest on the biggest scratch. I was about to yank him away when I realized he was doing something amazing. The scratch began to close up, leaving nothing but a puckered line behind. His hands continued to stroke her, the wounds that had been almost fatal closing up right before my eyes. Finally, Jett rocked back on his heels.  All that was remaining of her wounds was a ripped shirt and lots of blood. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around, her eyes coming to a rest on me and Jett. She sat up and winced, clutching her side.

“It’ll be sore.” Jett said in his soft, dusty voice. Her face told me she was confused, and she looked to me for answers. “I figured out what his skill was. He can heal. That thing hit you with his tail, and knocked you out cold. You probably would have died without him.” I said, nodding to Jett, who looked sheepishly around for somewhere to hide. Libby looked at her shredded shirt, the blood all around her, tears welling in her eyes. She threw her arms around Jett, who slowly put his arms around her thing shoulders, and hugged her back, looking a little confused. She let go and Jett quickly scampered off.

Libby peered over my shoulder. “You killed it?” she asked. I nodded. “Thanks to the spike you gave me. Where did that come from?” I asked, remembering how she had just thrown in to me. “I got it from the back pack. I would have gotten something better, but that was all I could think of.” She said, blushing. I smiled at her and squeezed her shoulders. “Can we sleep somewhere else?” she asked, glancing at the dead thing. I nodded and quickly put out the fire, leaving us in the dark. I sighed, wishing Hanger were here, for more than one reason, but right then, I missed his seeing in the dark specialty. Jett crawled out from inside a hollow log and we left the dead monster behind, much to Libby’s relief, and mine.

                                                                                     *******

I sat, staring at the flames. Libby had curled up next to me so I could tell her funny stories, and even Jett had come out from his hiding place to curl up next to me and listen. They had quickly fallen asleep, Libby’s head on my shoulder and Jett’s head in my lap. I was beginning to change my perspective on kids. Maybe I would even have a few of my own one day.