บท 16: Chapter 16
UNEDITED-
"Lu I... need you to.. stop."
Lucille managed to slow down, then stopped altogether.. letting Ellie's arm fall away from her mouth. Ellie, now weak from blood loss began slowly falling backwards, Lu quickly grabbed Ellies arm again, guiding her to fall onto Lucilles lap, Lu carefully held her head.. "Why would you do that?" Lucille frowned as she asked, gently sweeping Ellie's hair from her face.
"Crazy, I was thinking the same thing.." Phoebe spoke earning Lucille's attention, she was stood up now. The first thought on Lu's mind was to hypnotise her sister..
"I'm sorry you had to see this Phoebe.."
"Lucille there are holes in you. You drink blood now?"
"I know.." Lucille sighed..
"What the fuck Lu?.. What the actual fuck?.." Phoebe walked in a circle until she looked back to Sam.
"Can you look at me Pheebs?" The lump in Lucille's throat was audible..
"How did this happen?" Phoebe asked as she looked back to Lu.
Instead of an actual reply Lucille was just going to erase her sisters memories.. "Don't Lu.." Ellie attempted to sit up, Lucille helped her. "-She's still going to love you."
"Don't what?" Phoebe asked.
"Would you rather not know about this?" Lucille asked with Ellie still holding her arm, barely keeping her eyes open.. she rested her head on Lucille's shoulder as it was too heavy to hold right now.
"What do you mean?" Phoebe only seemed to be getting more confused.
"I can make you forget.. if you want too."
"No I don't want to forget, why would you ask me that?.. Is this what's been wrong with you? Why you're always wearing those stupid sunglasses, Oh my Lord.. the hair? I didn't think you'd ever be one to dye it."
"I did love my brown hair.." Lu sighed.
"You don't dye it?" Ellie asked, groggily..
Lucille shook her head "No."
"I always thought it was a choice."
Lucille chuckled.. "You think I'd pick white?"
"It does suit you.." Ellie chuckled tiredly.
"You do realise you're still sitting next to a dead body?"
"My offer is on the table Pheebs, we'll still be as close as we were."
"But this is your life?" Phoebe gestured to everything, the dead body, the blood, the fear.
"It doesn't have to be yours."
"If Ellie can handle it, I'm sure I can.. we're in this together right?.. Once this trip is over we're going to find the fucker that did this to you.".
Lucille paused then made a little nod. "Elizabeth, can you walk?"
"I think so.."
Lucille slowly stood up and helped Ellie up.. her knee crumpled a little but Lu easily held her in place.. "Phoebe come here, I need you to help Elizabeth back to the cabin."
Phoebe opened her mouth to talk but Ellie beat her to it.. "Why? Where are you going?"
"I have to do something about this.." Lu gestured towards Sam. Ellie stayed looking at Lucille.. "-I promise I'm coming back." After Lu spoke Ellie slowly nodded. Then Phoebe and Ellie began to make their way back to camp.. Ellie kept glancing back to Lucille until they were out of sight.
Lucille grabbed Sams arm and painfully dragged him all the way to the river that leads out into the ocean, wincing at every movement. Once there she undressed down to her underwear, and then began pulling some limbs from his body.. It was surprisingly easy despite the agony of tensing her back and stomach muscles, it seemed once dead all evidence of the virus was gone. After taking his head off and throwing it into the water, Lucille threw his body and an arm and a leg in aswell, she attempted to make it look like an animal attack.
Lucille cleaned herself off and rinsed her clothes out, luckily she'd worn all black today so no stains.. there were plenty of holes and tears though. Lucille tried to hide the cuts on her neck with her hair.. they were healing, but she hadn't taken enough blood from Ellie to heal completely.. She'd have to stay like this until they return home the next day and she can properly feed.
Phoebe and Ellie managed to get back to their cabin without any suspicion as the place was still hectic. Lucille returned an hour after them.. she was spotted straight away by two of the teachers. "Lucille? Where is Sam? What happened?"
"I'm not sure.. I think Sam was sick or something. He threw me out the window.. I don't remember much after that."
"Oh my, are you alright?"
"Yeah.. yeah I'm fine really.. I just woke up and, heard people calling."
The teachers still sent Lu to get checked out by the nurse.
"We have an ambulance on the way for Sam, for when we find him, but they can check you out aswell?" The nurse asked.
"No I'm alright.. I just need to lie down."
"Are you sure? If you have a concussion the last thing you should do is go to sleep."
"I won't sleep, I'll get my sister to keep an eye on me, okay?"
"..Alright." The nurse didn't seem happy about it but since they still have a missing kid to find he let her her go.. "-But if anything changes make sure you tell someone."
"I will.. Is it alright if I just sit here for a minute?" The nurse nodded with a smile and walked off. Lucille went through the medical equipment next to her bed and pulled out everything she thought she'd need. Finally the nurse came back and didn't notice a thing. As Lu was walking out she saw a bottle of multivitamins on the nurses desk.. she pocketed them and left.
After that Lucille finally made her way back to her own cabin, full of chattering students. A pair sat ten feet from each other throwing a paper airplane back and forth. Lu walked to Phoebe's and Ellie's bunk, they were both sat on the bottom one, leant up against the wall.. "Hey guys." Lucille spoke, Ellie was about to sit forward but before she could, Lucille sat down next to her. "-Are you okay?" Lu asked scanning the room as she covertly grabbed Ellie's arm.. "I need to check." Ellie nodded and Lucille undid the bandage, slowly peeling it away from the wound while Ellie hissed, trying to hide her pain. Lu checked for teeth marks.. luckily there were none. She surprised herself at how much control she had around Ellie, somehow her blood wasn't as alluring as everyone else's, it tasted slightly different too. The taste varied from person to person anyway, but this was a taste she hadn't experienced before.
"I'm fine." Ellie smiled tiredly.
"I told you not to do that.. you can't keep hurting yourself to prove a point to me."
"I wasn't about to let you die." Ellie spoke quietly.
"You've done this before?" Phoebe sat forward to see Lucille, a horrified expression on her face.
"No." Ellie and Lu answered at the same time.
"Whew, you had me worried for a second there... Lucille how did you end up like this?" Phoebe asked.
The truth is out anyway. "..I found an add in the library, someone wanted a cleaner and they were paying good money. I should have seen the warning signs but, I didn't."
"Were they, like you?"
Lucille glanced to Phoebe "No.. he wasn't like me at all."
"What was he like?" She asked.
"Satan." Lucille didn't pause or stutter. Ellie turned to see Lu's eyes fixed on a wall as she spoke, probably picturing him. Ellie grabbed onto her hand.. She'd noticed that Lucille's hair was behind her, leaving her neck on full view.. not only were there the three newish claw marks that peirced through the back of her neck, but also a scar that goes all the way around.. indicating that at one point in time she'd been bound tightly by her neck.
"What did he do to you?" Ellie asked in a whisper and Lucille straight away turned and saw where Ellie was looking.. she raised her hand to her neck and realised what was happening.. her ribbon had come off in the scuffle.
Lu pulled her hair back over her shoulder.. In that moment she had a thought. Her phone came out, she starting typing away and pressing, until eventually she passed the phone over so that Phoebe and Ellie could read it. It was an article about a man found dead in his home under mysterious circumstances, just over a year and a half ago. A young dead girl was found strung up in his basement on a home made contraption, two other contraptions were found empty. A picture of an empty one was shown. Crude metal wires and holes in the wood for them to be tied. There was evidence of torture, malnurishment and most bizarrely.. he had been periodically draining his captives blood into buckets.. until they ultimately died. He had womens bones stuffed under the floorboards throughout his house, and womens clothing dotted about. The detectives assumed that his family had passed down this art of killing throughout the generations, due to how old some of the bones were. Lucille could tell everytime Ellie read something she didn't like, as her grip on Lu's hand would tighten.
"He did that to you?.." Phoebe spoke first while Ellie looked to Lucille with tears in her eyes.
Lu sighed and gave Ellie's hand a little squeeze.. "More or less.."
"Is there more or less?" Lucille didn't reply.. she just glanced away. "-So there's more." Phoebe spoke again.
"Pheebs, if it was up to me.. you wouldn't know any of this."
"I just want to be here for you."
"You are. I know that look.. there's nothing for you to feel guilty about."
"I'm the reason you were there in the first place."
"Chris sent me there, Ma let him, and I took the ad.. Aside from Shiloh and Arthur you could put the blame on any one of us."
"But Lu-"
"Phoebe I don't care.. I know what you did, I've forgiven you, now let that be the end of it."
"Okay... So.. what is going on between you two?" Phoebe jumped straight back into it as she noticed their holding of hands.
Lu and Ellie glanced to each other.. "I don't know." Lucille answered.
"So you admit that there's something?" Ellie asked trying to hide her hopefulness.
"I never said there wasn't." Lucille clarified casually, Ellie looked a little stumped.
"I didn't even know you swung that way." Phoebe did what she usually does with Ellie and spoke her mind.
"Yeah.. neither did I, not really." Ellie shrugged.
"How can you not know?" The confusion was clear on Phoebes face.
"I guess I never had a reason to really think about it."
"Until my sister.." Phoebe added, not too keen on the idea of her best friend being closer to her sister than she is, and the other way around.
Lucille started to shift forward to get off the bed, she opened her hand but Ellie didn't let go. "I'll be back in minute." After Lu spoke Ellie nodded and sat back. Lucille walked off into the toilet.
"So what is it about Lucille?"
"Phoebe I really don't know why it had to be your sister, but it is. I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable.. hiding how I feel hurts, I don't want to do it anymore."
"I'm just trying to figure out where this came from.. I mean, I can see it now.. you were always acting strange when it came to Lu, but I thought that was because you cared about me."
"I think it was to start with."
"When did it change?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, around the second time we met? She's, an enigma. One I spend alot of time trying to understand." That was the honest truth.
"So the day Lucille had her date with Sebastian?"
"No.. the day we all went to the beach."
"You mean the day you met?"
"Well, actually.. we met before then, by accident. I didn't know she was your sister and she had no idea who I was."
Phoebe looked slightly horrified. "What did you do?" She asked as more of an accusation.
"No, nothing.. I walked into her and dropped my phone that's all."
Phoebe rubbed her forehead.. "I don't understand why you'd keep this from me."
"I was embarrassed, I kinda made a fool of myself, and Lucille never mentioned anything so neither did I..." Ellie spoke and Phoebe sat trying to wrap her head around everything.
The two hadn't noticed Lucille walking over. "Phoebe if you're worried I'm going to steal your bestfriend you can stop worrying. I mean.. I do need to take her for a minute though."
"Why what's wrong?" Ellie asked.
"We need to do something about your arm."
"I'm fine."
"It doesn't matter how many times you say that, doesn't make it true. Come on please."
"Alright." Ellie sighed unable to say no. Lucille held out her hand and Ellie took it, using it to steady herself.. Ellie linked her arm around Lucille's as not to fall over and Lu guided her to the disabled bathroom.. no one was disabled in their cabin so it wasn't like they were taking this space from someone else. Lucille unlocked the door from the outside and they both went in. The toilet was to the far left, the bath to the far right, and a shower seat straight ahead next to the sink. Lucille closed the door behind them, locked it, and told Ellie to sit in the seat. Ellie saw that on the side where the sink was there was medical equipment laid out on a napkin. "Um, what are we doing here? "
"I thought about taking you to the nurses, but I don't think I have enough energy to hypnotise them."
Ellie didn't look sure about this. "Isn't this abit.. unsanitary?"
"Everything I'm using has been sterilised.." Lucille spoke as she stood washing her hands.
"Are you sure about this?"
"I'm not going to let you walk around with a gaping hole in your arm."
"So you're going to stich it?"
"Yes."
"Do you know how?"
"Elizabeth.. I just need you to trust me for a minute."
"You know I trust you.. I'd just like to know.. where we're at in terms of experience."
"I have experience, okay?" Lu spoke and Elizabeth nodded.. After that Lucille knealt down infront her and removed the makeshift bandage from Ellie's arm, Ellie turned her head away to hide her pain. "-I still can't believe you did this just to prove a point.."
"My point was proven at least.. and in the end it helped save your life."
"Everytime I think I know you, you change." Lucille spoke as she grabbed the saline solution and poured it over Ellies wound.
"Maybe you just don't know me very well." Ellie smirked.
"Maybe you're right.." Lucille took the already prepared needle and began her first stich causing Ellie to hiss.. "-Really?"
"I don't like needles."
"Well at least now I know you a little better." Lucille smiled as she tied the stitch off.. Ellie hissed everytime the needle touched her skin. Lucille did her best to be as gentle as possible. "-And.. done." She spoke as she cut the final thread. "That wasn't so bad was it?"
"Yes it was.. now turn around."
"What? Why?"
"So I can see how badly you're hurt."
"No I'm fine."
"Lucille please." Ellie sounded like she was already tired of being told no.
"Why what will you do anyway?" Lucille asked as she stood up and started preparing the bandage to go on Ellie's arm.
"Clean it? I don't know.. we should do something.."
"I'm healing alright? Well be home tomorrow and I can deal with it then."
"But-"
"I'm pretty much already dead Elizabeth.. This isn't going to put me down alright?"
Ellie closed her eyes and nodded. Lucille knelt back down and placed a gauze on to Elizabeths wound. Then carefully began to wrap it in the bandage.. Once she was done she stood back up and began to clean away her tools. Ellie reached for Lu's forearm and Lucille froze to look at her.. "Thank you Lucille." Then she took her hand away.
"Don't thank me. None of this would have happened if I wasn't.. what I am." Lucille sighed.
"Neither of us are perfect."
"But your not a blood sucking monster."
"You're not-"
"Don't lie." Lucille furrowed her eyebrows.
Ellie frowned.. "I don't care what you think you are.. I know you." She said with conviction, but not too loud that people outside could hear.
Lucille just sighed and raised her eyebrows.. "I don't see us agreeing."
"Well then.. agree to disagree?"
"Fine." Lucille shrugged. "Come on then.. we better get out of here." Lucille helped Ellie to her feet and went to turn around.
"Wait." Elizabeth stopped her.. She looked at Lu for a moment taking in her features, then wrapped her arms around Lucille's neck and held her tightly. It barely took Lu a second reciprocate, loosely hugging Ellie back.
"I still don't understand why you want to be a part of this."
"Right now I just want you." Ellie spoke whole heartedly. Lucille wrapped her arms tighter and closed her eyes.. They remained like this for thirty seconds before parting. "Are you still going to leave?"
"I haven't decided.."
"But I'll never see you."
"Of course you will, I'll just be living in another city."
"Which city?"
"I don't know yet.. Why?"
"So I can move there." Ellie spoke straight faced.. Lucille chuckled. "Would you take me with you?"
"I don't know how you can even ask that. After finding out what I am.. After seeing me murder your boyfriend.." Lucille asked what should be a tense question in a casual manner.
"All I know is that I care about you.."
Lucille looked to the floor for a moment.. "I think you're making a mistake."
"You don't feel the same?"
"Of course I care about you.."
"Then stop worrying.. we'll get through this."
Lucille nodded and Ellie hugged her again for a brief moment before they covertly left the toilets. Two girls coming out at once wasn't an unusual sight for the rest of the girls, almost everyone of them had dragged their friend to the toilet at some point in time.
_______
NOTES
Thank you so much for reading!!
Can't remember if I said what the scars were from before, but if I did I probably changed it so I'm sorry for the inconsistency. I'd go back change it in the previous chapters but that means reading all the way through to find one error that I might not have even made.
For some reason I found this chapter harder to write, I'm not sure why.. hopefully the next few chapters will come easier.
-To the Power Stone People and anyone letting me know what they think about the story- THANK YOU!!! Really thank you so much, I sincerely hope it's worth it. Please feel free to leave a comment, your opinions could improve my writing and in turn improve your experience.. If you don't say anything I'll assume everyone loves it and carry on :)
Take care everyone, love love, peace.
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