Raindrops: A Story of Life and Circumstance ; Chapter Nine: Stars Shining Brightly

 Long story short, I had a sneaking suspicion that Sam was very, very angry at me. And, to be honest, I really didn’t know why. The world was great, though. No more surprises for me that day. The doctor, through Natalie, officially consigned me to bedrest for the day, marking off the faint as ‘mental stress’. Perhaps he was right, but I didn’t really think it was that simple. But, regardless of why, I got to spend the rest of my day in bed. And, with Natalie sleeping beside me, I couldn’t say It was wholly unpleasant. 

 I’d really forgotten how it felt to be around people like this. Even Aunt Vi had always given me space, just as much needing it herself, and I had spent my days alone. I suppose it was comforting, to hear her measured breathing, in and out. Something simplistic in her sleeping face, free of worry and trouble, made me feel calm enough to think. 

 I didn’t know what we were anymore. If I’d been asked the day before, I might have said she was just a stranger... But now, I didn’t know. Where we best friends? I didn’t know much about those things, but my only friend from grade school hadn’t even really associated with me until we’d been together for years. Apparently, though, she felt for me strongly enough to worry about me, and nearly murder Minnette. 

 Minnette was another matter entirely. I didn’t know why, but something about her was just infuriatingly confusing. No matter how many times I raked my mind, the only memory I had of before was her playing a note on the piano. That was it, nothing after. Every minute after that was covered in a black haze, blurry and inconsistent. I felt something... Definitely, that she was trouble. Some innate warning system in my body had thrown itself on when I’d first seen her. And then, she’d somehow managed to leave me sore and exhausted, unable to even walk. What kind of person could do that? 

 I sighed audibly, and Natalie stirred slightly, and I stilled. After a moment, her breathing resumed its deep sleep pace, and I looked at her sleeping face. She’d changed back into her old shirt at some point, the sky-blue top glowing slightly in the light of the window, a gray sheen overlapped with small rivulets of darker shade.  Her eyes were closed, peaceful and serene, a small smile etched on her, as if she’d made it so often, it was affixed to her, even when sleeping. Thunder rolled outside, and slowly, the smile faded away and her eyes began to clench, as If she was having a nightmare. I watched quietly, not wanting to wake her. Suddenly, her expression changed to one of fear and pain, and I sat up, concerned. 

 “I’m sorry Nicole, I’m sorry.” she murmured gently, grabbing onto my arm and squeezing. It hurt, but I didn’t really care. With a slow and measured motion, I slid down beside her again, and curled my arms around her, a firm embrace. She twitched, but remained asleep. Gently, I leaned my head against hers. With a long shuddering breath, she relaxed, and she slowly returned to wherever she’d been dreaming. 

 I felt her arms against mine, and noticed the chill that had seeped into the room from the cold rain outside. With my free hand, I drew the blanket from where it was to cover both of us. As she warmed, she seemed noticeably less tense, and I breathed out relievedly. I barely heard the light knock on the door. 

 Mindful of Natalie’s sleeping form, I quietly called out a quick ‘come in’ to whoever was there. Silently, Sarah slipped in around the door, making sure to close it without any noise escaping. Cautiously, she made her way over to the unused bed and sat down, a very odd mixture of sadness and worry on her face as she looked at Natalie curled up against me. 

 “Is she okay?” She inquired quietly. I didn’t quite know about what, exactly, she was asking. 

 “She’s fine, just tired, I guess.” Sarah nodded, eyes still glued to Natalie’s sleeping face.  

 “She’s lucky to have someone like you, then.” I glanced up worriedly at Sarah, but she didn’t follow up the comment with any suggestion in her voice. It was an honest statement, but one that held something else in it that I couldn’t quite pin down. 

 “Yeah, I suppose. Really, I’m luckier to have come across her. She’s something else, for sure...” Sarah looked up to me, curiosity burning in her eyes.  I didn’t feel comfortable under her inquiring gaze, and for some inexplicable reason, I felt my cheeks heating up as she stared at me and Natalie.  

 “What?” I inquired sharply, keeping the mild frustration in my voice from raising the volume extraneously. Sarah sighed and fiddled with her fingers before nervously glancing up to Natalie. 

 “I was joking around earlier, but seeing you like this, and in the plaza, I...,” She took another breath in before meeting my gaze, “ARE you two together?” I shook my head, still unsure of what she kept seeing between us. 

 “I just, you two don’t ACT like you met yesterday. I mean If I’d just met someone, I certainly wouldn’t be so comfortable... sleeping with them...” My face warmed up farther, a dark red pluming, no doubt.  

 “For the last time, we did not Sleep together.” Sarah joined me, her face blushing even more than mine. 

 “No, no, that’s not quite what I meant, although you did save me an awkward question, I meant staying in the same bed, like you are now.” She gestured, flustered, to the object in question. “I don’t understand what happened to you two to make you act all lovey-dovey, without romantic influence, at least.” I frowned. We weren’t acting ‘lovey-dovey’. Although, a thought chimed in the back of my head, I was kind of holding her to me, so I saw perhaps were she was coming from.   

 “Look, I... Why do you care?” She stiffened and started looking around worriedly. 

 “Well... It’s kind of my job...to?” The flimsy excuse fell apart under my close scrutiny.  

 “No, it isn’t.” I stated, firmly. It wasn’t her business, any of her business. So something else had to be prompting her.  

 “Well, I don’t..." She took a deep breath and stood up. “I don’t really think it’s my place to say this, but She needs you, and you need her. I was just asking. I don’t see strangers do that for each other, okay?" And without another word, she stormed out, closing the door a mite louder than she should’ve. 
 Natalie stirred, and I tried to relax back into the pillow. It would be alright. It would. Of that I had no doubt. At least... I wanted to. I wish I’d the same goofy optimism she did, able to sleep even as the world went on around her.  I quietly lowered myself down beside her and resumed my position. Still sleeping, Natalie rolled over, her arms wrapping around me as her head burrowed against my neck.  

 “What the hell, why not?” I quietly gave in, unwilling, and without the energy, to move her. She could do what she wanted, and the devil take Sarah for judging us. I pulled her closer and wrapped her up in my arms again. She was very warm... I tried to clear my thoughts, deeply breathing in and out, unconsciously mirroring Natalie’s gentle breathing rhythm.  Slowly, I calmed myself down, letting the soreness within and without slowly unknot until it was mitigated, if not unnoticeable. I felt a curious heaviness overcome me, staring at the peaceful pale face curled against me, her breathing warm under the blankets. A flash of white slowly wove into the periphery of my vision, but for some reason, I felt like it was all fading away. Until all I could hear was the faint sound of the door closing, and a tired voice breathing against my ear. 

 “Sweet Dreams, Maddie.”  
 
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  I was alone. In the darkness, a sheet of stygian nothingness that pressed into me on all sides. Blinking, I opened my eyes and closed them experimentally. Nothing happened, there was no difference between my eyes being closed or open. So, I closed them, feeling out into the void. My searches proved futile. It was a pocket of nothingness. Silent, and dead. The air, or lack thereof, was neither cold, nor warm, had no determinable scent.  With measured care I breathed out, and in. Nothing at all. 
 
“Hello?” An eerily familiar voice echoed into the void. I looked around, trying to locate the source, but Wherever it was, it was beyond my perception. There was no way for me to move, no way for me to look. How to search for a voice in the void... 

“You didn’t mean to sweetheart...” Natalie’s scream echoed into the darkness as the world fell away and a bright light finally broke me away from staring at my own mangled corpse. 
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 “Madeline! Wake up!" I jolted awake and sat up straight, accidentally hitting Natalie out of the way, and out of bed. My face felt drained, and I felt cold and tired, warm streams of tears falling down my face. It was dark outside, stars twinkling above, oblivious to the small drama unfolding inside my head. I couldn’t help but see it, repeating, seared into my retinas. My hands slowly wrapped around my throat, feeling the constriction of the rope tightening, I shakily held up one of them, almost expecting to see the blood and skin clinging to them. Natalie lurched up from the tangled mess of blankets she’d collapsed into, eyes sick with worry and a terrified expression etched deeply into her visage. 

 “Maddie? Hello, are you okay?” She frantically waved her hands in front of my eyes. I couldn’t respond. My whole body was locked up, tightened to a honed point from the horror and revulsion coursing through me. She started to panic, trying to move me, but I still clenched, my eyes frozen, staring dead ahead. I couldn’t move. I felt so cold. Nothing, I felt nothing As I thought of my own eyes in death, and the grim cadaverous frown that had been my last legacy. The helplessness it had conveyed, a hopelessness so profound it was breaking. I shivered, and she slapped me, hard. I barely felt it. The cold had numbed me, and I slowly collapsed to the side, into the arms of a rapidly panicking Natalie. 

 “No, no, stay with me Maddie. You’ll be fine, I promise.” She scooped me into her arms and tried to stand. I watched, in morbid fascination, as a small drop of red ran down from where she had clipped her head against mine. A series of spasms shook me, repelled by the sight of blood, pictures flashing through my mind again and again, flaying me alive. Natalie nearly tripped, but held me firm, unwilling to let go as she hurried towards the door. “It will be fine, it will be fine. It will be fine, Maddie, You’ll be okay.” Natalie chanted over and over again, whether to herself or me, I did not know. I wanted to speak to her, to tell her I was fine, but My voice would not come to me, and only hushed sighs flowed through my open lips. Fog condensed around the breath, Despite the room’s median temperature. Natalie all but threw open the door, nearly running over a terrified Sarah. She tried to stop Natalie, but one look at the deathly pallor of my skin shut her up. 

 “Where is the doctor’s office?” Natalie demanded, her voice well over the edge of panic.  

 “Follow me.” Sarah broke into a quick walk, opening doors for Natalie and helping her carry me down the stairs.  As they navigated through the maze of corridors and halls, Sarah kept looking over her shoulder at me, worry plain on her face. 

 “What happened?” Natalie shook her head, clearing her thoughts for a response. 

 “I don’t know. I woke up, and she was thrashing and kicking beside me. I tried to calm her down but...” Her eyes hardened and melted, reforming in a swirl of emotions. “She stopped breathing.” The silence suddenly became deafening. I had... stopped breathing? Through the numbing pain that clouded my thoughts, I started to panic. What was happening to me? Natalie started to hyperventilate, fresh tears coming to her eyes. “I tried to help her, but she was so cold.” She shuddered, still feeling the icy chill radiating from me. “I did CPR, and everything else, but she was just lying there... and then after I started to really panic, she screamed. It was the most terrifying sound I’ve ever heard.” She pulled me closer against her. 

 “She’s still ice cold. Hand me your jacket.” Sarah instantly complied, and Natalie tucked in the edges around me, trying to warm me with her own body heat. It was a futile effort, but some feeling began to worm its way back into me. Through her thin shirt, I could feel her frantic heartbeat, loud and fast. As Sarah swung open the door to the lobby, Natalie froze suddenly. Curious, I tried to move my head, making it loll to the side to see what had blocked us. Minnette stood, head cocked innocently, watching with polite interest as If I was no more than a strange bug that had crawled up beside her. 

 “Feeling better, Maddie?” The voice was sweet and innocent, but the eyes told a story of their own. She wasn’t lying. There was an inner light behind the pale pink. She, for whatever reason, thought I would be better. Something within me recoiled at the gleam she held, the same primal part of me wanting to run and hide far, far away. She laughed quietly before heading through a side door, the sound of it echoing slightly as she skipped into the darkness of the hallway. “See you later!” She called gaily behind her. Natalie started cursing beneath her breath, and Sarah followed, confused. 

 “Who was that?” She asked as she opened the door into the windy night.  Natalie turned on the pavement, a grave chill underlying her voice. 

 “A dead woman walking.” The seriousness she spoke with left no room for question. 

 Above me, I watched more cloud roll over, obscuring the failing moonlight, and bathing the world in a quiet darkness, accentuated by the howling of the wind. And in the wind, I heard soft tinkling laughter, gay and bright. And above, the stars twinkled softly, distant, even as they were swallowed up by the oncoming wall of night. As if they would care...

 Far above the world… I turned my head out of the wind and buried it against Natalie. Feeling was returning to me, and I became acutely aware of the aches coming from every inch of my body. I felt like I’d run two decathlons in twenty minutes. I groaned slightly, and Natalie picked up her pace. 

 “N…Natalie?” I chattered, shivering beginning to overrule the paralysis. She kept walking, but pulled the jacket around me more tightly, hugging me closer to her chest. 

 “I’m right here, okay?” I nodded and curled up even further, survival finally beginning to set in. I was cold, very cold. The jacket was helping, but the combination of wind, night air, and thin clothes was not helping dispel the chill. I tried to concentrate on the meager warmth escaping Natalie’s body. It was slight, but it was all I had. In front of us, Sarah stopped at an intersection, watching the traffic, or lack thereof.  

 “I think the clinic is just across from the administration, so…” She paused, mentally referencing her map. “This way,” she announced, walking across the quiet street. Natalie followed without hesitation, and we entered the cluster of buildings that comprised the majority of the campus. In daylight, they might have been beautiful. At the moment, they stared down at us, silent monoliths in the night, buried in shadow. Another gust of wind blew through the narrow street, and the temperature began to fall alarmingly.  

 Sarah began to shiver visibly, her own arms being bared to the wind without her jacket. I felt sorry for her, but couldn’t bring myself to do anything but breathe in the icy air, and feel the alarm as it sapped away what warmth I had managed to steal from Natalie. I coughed, a plume of white fog extending outwards with each rasp. Natalie covered me as much as she could, but I saw on her face the blue lips and the rapidly blooming red splotches on her cheeks and nose. She was probably as cold as I was. 

 “Come on, we have to keep going. This way, right?” Sarah nodded and quickened her pace. Slowly but surely, the storm that had been hovering threateningly began to sprinkle down, further dousing us. Natalie all but ran, following Sarah as we rushed to get under cover. We tucked ourselves into the pavilioned corner of a darkened building, trying to huddle against the cool brick walls. Sarah shakily pulled reached into her pocket, but began to cuss under her breath as she withdrew her hand. 

 “I l...left my phone..” We quietly despaired together. We were wet, cold, and alone, in the middle of a storm. I had much experience with them, and I knew for a fact that this one was only going to get worse. Natalie and Sarah sat in the corner, close together, and cradled me between them. The soreness made itself know as I was passed over.  

 “I probably… should have th...thought this out more, Huh?” Sarah didn’t respond, simply drawing herself as closely as she could to Natalie.  

 “Hey, Natalie.” I breathed out wearily, feeling an overwhelming wave of exhaustion. She looked down at me, worry and fear in her eyes. “It… it will be… fine.” She nodded and draped the jacket between the three of us, sitting me up in her lap to make it easier. I groaned slightly as muscle stretched and ached.  

 “I know.” She replied, still worrying. Her breath out was weak and shuddering, but still vital in a way. She hadn’t given up yet, at least. Sarah reached out and hooked an arm around us, and Natalie did the same, until we were about as close as we could get comfortably. 

 “D…Don’t read… into this. I’m cold.” Sarah laughed out shakily. Her smile faded as she tried to conserve her warmth against us. We sat there, trembling, for quite a while, and the storm continued to grow worse. The wind picked up, and the rain began in earnest. Under the jacket, and between the three of us, It was warm enough, but not quite what I would call comfortable. Each gust of wind still made me want to duck down, but at the least, I could feel my extremities. 

 “Anyone ready to start wishing for a miracle?” Natalie laughed quietly, her face almost back to its normal color.  She shivered lightly, and breathed out a sigh of relief. 

 “Already had one for the day. I don’t think I’ll get another one for a year at least.” I pondered at that through the heavy blanket over my mind. A miracle? It hardly seemed like it. Not only had she dealt with me falling unconscious, but having to literally resuscitate me. If anything, she needed to take a break from disasters for one day. A roll of thunder sounded overhead, sobering the thoughts in my mind. Normally I loved the sounds of a storm. But, by the same token, I wasn’t usually sitting between two girls huddled in a corner, nearly freezing after going comatose twice. As it was, it broke me from the slow descent into sleep I had been unconsciously drifting towards. The last thing I needed was to fall asleep now. No more dreams tonight. I was still… recovering from the first. Which brought up a question I had wanted to scream at Natalie the moment I’d woken up. 

 “Natalie?” She turned her head curiously towards me. 

 “What is it?” I looked her in the eyes. Something was on her mind. Royal blues where warring against the lighter tones and grey shards interspersed between them. 

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” She had a puzzled look on her face as a response. I also noticed in my periphery, Sarah’s head slowly shifting to allow her to hear me better. Now was not the time then. I didn’t know how Natalie felt, but I hated spilling my troubles when strangers where watching, and I couldn’t put anyone else in that position. 

  “Tell you what?” I breathed in, trying to think of a way out of the predicament I’d walled myself into. Before I could think of a legitimate answer to the question, however, I was saved by the bell.
Literally. Not the clock tower bells that chimed by the hour, but a small bell attached to a door. Peeking out from said opened door was a face, one I immediately recalled, though no name was associated with it. 

 Curly black hair, and a familiar look of worry in the green eyes as he looked out of his front door to see three girls shivering in the corner like wet rats that had crawled in from the storm. He immediately cursed under his breath and ran out, slightly tired, still, by the grogginess of his movements. 

 “Hey, you three okay?” He asked sincerely, and We all smiled slightly. He seemed to take that as an Affirmation and stood back, somewhat relieved. Natalie, on the other hand, looked at him strangely, as if looking for something. Her eyes brightened suddenly, and she flashed a quick and sarcastic grin.

 "I've never been so happy to see you, Matthew."