Earth Keeper

Chapter Three

                                                                            Dekker.

The first time I saw her, she was beat up bloody and half-dead. David and Brandon brought her here; they looked desperate. Max went to work right away as if he had done this all his life, perhaps he had, although it was news to me. I watched as she fought for her life after Max extracted the poison from her blood amongst other things I didn’t recognize from her body. She was busted up bad and I had my doubts about her making it, but somehow she survived.  Now after her crazy fight for life, she just had to appear out of nowhere in front of my jeep. I slammed the brakes as hard as I could but the impact was brutal, maybe fatal. I prayed that she would still be alive as I flew out of the car to her side.

“Oh God please don’t be dead” I screamed.  She is unconscious but breathing, I see her chest rising and falling slowly. I sigh with relief. Blood trickled out of the side of her head, and a bruise was starting to form on her cheek but the rest of her looked ok. I fumbling around my pocket for my cell, I had to call Max; he would know what to do. Busy, crap, OK what first, I have to stop the bleeding.  I didn’t bother taking my shirt off, just ripped it in two. I sloppily folded one-half and eased it under her face. I pressed the other half on her forehead applying pressure to her wound, desperately trying to imitate the doctors on those TV shows. I hope it works. With one hand on her wound, my fingers searched for the phone I clumsily dropped while ripping off my shirt.  I was freaking out and cursing at my self simultaneously. If I didn’t get her back soon she could…what the? I heard someone behind me; I shifted my body to get a better view. 

“Your gonna have hell to pay boy!” A deep thunderous voice shouted.  Then I saw a big booted foot coming my way and into my chest catapulting me into my jeeps bumper. He scooped her up and took off running towards the house leaving me shocked, scared and I think with a few broken ribs.  I had a splitting headache and I as I rubbed the back of my head and felt warm liquid I thought; Blood of course, what else?  I knew what it was but still couldn’t help looking. I’ve never actually seen my own blood before and there it is painted on like a glove dripping from my fingers onto my favorite jeans. Damn! Now I have to go buy a new pair. Max was by my side now, he was talking but he sounded far away. I tried to breathe in but the pain was bad, I tried to tell him my ribs were broken but it came out in a slurred jumble of incoherent words. I’m not sure I was speaking in English; I was dizzy as hell surely from the loss of blood. I tried to get up and almost succeeded, until I lost my footing and slipped hitting my head on something hard. I heard Max yell out but he sounded so far away, I wasn’t sure he was by my side anymore. I felt cold and numb but I didn’t care.  I was worried about her, Leila, the one who appeared out of nowhere twice in my life and both of those times were bad and bloody. This time for the both of us.

    I sat up in the bed, taking extra care not to put any pressure on my ribs, which were healing fine. I was in the same room we placed Leila when she arrived half dead. David wouldn’t come in for days; he was upset and lamented in private.  Brandon slept here, the sofa bed is gone (probably in her room) replaced by a single white chair at the foot of the bed. Everything here is white. The walls, the painting frames, curtains, sheets, the tile, everything.  It looked like a murder scene, when Leila was in here. Drips and splatters of red everywhere made the place look like a bad art project. Hell, this room hadn’t seen any action in quite some time. I was born in this room. My mother died shortly after I came into the world and I shuddered at the thought. This room’s creepy vibe confirmed it was a place of death and apparently life. I hear shouting in the other room. Leila and David are going at it again. It had been going on for days.  He rushed back after the accident. He assisted Max in patching me up. Overall, I had some broken ribs, a cracked skull and bruises everywhere. No biggie. During my period of recovery, I constantly asked if she was ok and apologized repeatedly to David explaining how she appeared suddenly and how I tried to stop but it was too late. He assured me she was fine and not to blame myself, but I couldn’t help but worry about her. I asked to see her but he said now was not a good time. Then the screaming started and he darted out of the room, Max told me to be patient and get rest and assured me that she was fine. He said that she was a fighter and tough as nails.  I think Leila is winning this argument today. I can’t make out the exact word exchange but some words were coherent. I gathered a few things from their fights over the past few days, Leila wanted answers about herself and David wouldn’t supply them. Pretty good grounds for an argument I would say and I was amazed at her relentlessness her unwillingness to give up. She was a fighter and if she were a lawyer, she would be a damn good one. Today isn’t so bad; there are no sounds of things breaking and Max isn’t frantically trying to calm her down. I heard him say words like, unstable and dangerous to David a lot when they were outside my door. That part creeped me out and kept me in the room.
She is crying and Brandon’s trying to console her. I hear David tearing into her and her responding fiercely. Then, as quick as it began, it was over, The front door slammed and I heard the hum of David‘s six point one liter Hemi from under the hood of his midnight blue Chrysler 300.  Everything was silent, for a moment I thought I was alone in the house until the door opened and a figure peeked around the frame. I felt my jaw drop as the slim curvy figure slipped into the room and strode towards me.

“Hey, your looking better, how do you feel?” she said. I could not believe it, she looked unscathed, as if nothing happened to her and here I am lying incapacitated with broken ribs and a busted skull. She smiled. Her being here is a complete shock. I am stunned. I know this sounds cheesy but she is breathtaking. I can’t help but stare at her. I am practically swallowing her with my eyes, unable to tear away.

  “So, I uh came to check up on you and um Max said you were worried about me?” She said awkwardly.  Her lips were plump and I could smell the sweet lip-gloss she wore. Strawberry. She swept a strand of her light brown hair behind her ear.

“Huh? Oh yeah. I’m sorry bout’ the uh you know, accident. I uh…” was all I could get out. I was lost in the intensity of her eyes. Her hazel eyes burned through me, invigorated me. Green I see some green in there. She smirked and chuckled a little.

“Looks like you were in a bigger accident.” She teased motioning towards my wounds. She was right, I did look worse, and although I felt better, I knew my recovery time was long ahead of me. I sat up and let the cover fall to my lap. I’ve been working out and hope she notices my abs underneath the bandages. As for Leila, she looked perfect and in goods spirits despite the scream fest that happened a few minutes ago.

“Are you alright?” I asked. “I heard you arguing out there and you sounded pretty upset.”  Her smile disappeared and sadness crept up in her eyes. I instantly regretted asking her.

“You should get some rest. I’ll be here in the morning to start your recovery training.” Then she walked out sliding the door closed. I threw myself backwards on the pillow, instantly regretting that too because an intense discomfort erupted in both my head and torso.  I am such an idiot! Out of all the things I could’ve said, it had to be that. And to make it worse I was gawking at her, practically drooling. She probably thinks I’m a jerk, great move. She did say she would be here in the morning for recovery training. What ever that meant. I went over our conversation trying to figure how to salvage my dignity, I was utterly curious about what she had planned in the morning but even more overjoyed that I would see her again. 

  The warm breeze swept through my hair and the sun shone bright making this a perfect morning for a nice walk. I made my way towards her taking slow and deliberate steps.  I crossed the gravel road and onto the forty-eight acre stretch of land. She stood in my favorite place, under the weeping willow and her back was towards me. The view isn’t so bad. She didn’t sport a flowing white dress and hold her arms out towards me while the wind blew through her honey brown hair like in my dream. Instead, she was leaning on the trunk looking out over the landscape. I can’t blame her; it is a beautiful sight. Her standing there in tight black cargo pants and a black tank top completed the image.  I had no idea what to expect when she turned towards me obviously hearing my slow slogging footsteps towards her. Walking up hill was no joke with broken ribs. 

“You made it. Thought you were going to turn back halfway up.”  She said smiling. Her lips were full and naturally pink.

“I thought so too, could have used some help back there.” I said still panting. I sat down, reclined on the trunk, and extended my legs out for a stretch. I looked at my tattered sneakers and wished I grabbed the nicer ones. I don’t get it. I never try to impress girls. My “as is”, take it or leave it policy always worked for me. She sat next to me and held out a plastic cup.

“Here drink this. It will help.”  She said. There was a hint of concern in her eyes.
      I held it up to my nose expecting some foul smelling elixir of some sort that you gag on the way down, but instead it smelled sweet and fruity. I sipped at it first, and then practically inhaled it.

“More.” I gasped.

“Not now.” she said handing me a bottled water that I guzzled down equally as fast. Then instantly my head swirled, my vision began to blur, and I felt drunk and disoriented.

“What did you give me?” I asked pressing my hands to my ears to smother the high pitch noise that pierced them. “You poisoned me.” I said. She pulled my hand down and replaced them with hers. Her face was close to mine now; I could smell her sweet breath but couldn’t focus on her face.

“It’s not poison. Your body is adjusting to it that’s all. Relax, it will pass.” She said.  I tried to relax and breathe but everything whirled faster. Then I couldn’t feel my body anymore just her warm hands on my face. I blinked repeatedly to gain focus but that just made her fuzzier. 

“Dekker, breathe and please relax. Don’t fight it; it will just take longer. “Trust me, please.”  She said. I felt her arms wrap around me, cradling me. She whispered something in my ear. I don’t know if I heard it or not, but what ever she whispered calmed me, soothed me and I let go and went with it. She was right, it was over quickly and I felt better than I had in a week. Actually, I felt different, better, improved somehow.  When she let me go I sprung to my feet feeling like I could run a marathon. I felt stronger, healthier, invincible maybe. A few minutes ago I thought my chest was going to explode and my head split in two, while I tried to walk up a little hill I‘ve trekked a million times.

“Wow, what is that stuff?  I feel so good, thanks.” I smiled wide and flexed my arms imitating a bodybuilder. She laughed. It sounded melodious.

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, this is just temporary, to help with your training. You won’t feel any pain but don’t over work yourself, you’ll regret it tomorrow. Shall we begin?” she said. Her eyes focused intently on mine and all I could do was nod. She enamored me, she was not only breathtakingly beautiful, but she had this aura of something I couldn’t put my finger on. It was many things really, mysterious, beautiful as mentioned before, tough, but troubled and dangerous.  A normal person would run, keep going and never come back, I on the other hand am intrigued, and she intoxicates me. She is a puzzle I want to figure out.
   
I snapped out of my revere when I saw Brandon rounding the tree toward me, his eyes focused on Leila the entire time. She lifted her eyebrows daring him to speak but he grunted and playfully shoved her. She laughed again and shifted her eyes towards me.

“Brandon is going to train you today. I will be back in a few hours to check on you. Good luck” she said walking towards the small knoll. I watched her until she became a small figure strolling towards Max’s house.

“Ahem.” Brandon cleared his throat. “If you’re done gawking, we can get started.”  He said haughtily.

“Wasn’t gawking. Just observing.” I said avoiding eye contact. I was not a good liar.  He snorted.

“If that’s what you want to call it, fine by me. Just keep it to a minimum. By the way, sorry about almost killing you.” He said.  He looked somewhat apologetic but I wasn’t sure. His large body towered over me, made me feel small. What was he 6’2, 4? His body is buff and strong, proof enough that he could destroy anything if he wanted to. 

“S’okay. You did what you had to do. The whole protector thing right? I would have done the same.” I said. He eyed me approvingly.

“Alright let’s do this. Don’t worry I’ll go easy on you; Leila’s the one you should worry about. She‘ll be training you tomorrow.” He said, laughing and shaking his head. 

“Why not today?” I asked. He sighed.

“She’s with max, examining the claw and some other stuff.” He shrugged. “Can we start now, or are you too scared?  If you are, we can go back and you can lay in bed all day long suffering, alone and miserable. He teased. I shook my head. This guy was a crack up. I know we will get along great. 

“Okay, okay, come on.” I said. I don’t know what to expect but I’m definitely up for it, especially after drinking that stuff earlier. It was like liquid steroids, not that I ever tried it but I’m betting this stuff is much better. 
   
    This training is unbelievably cool. I can jump higher, run faster, climb, swing, you name it I am better at it. I feel like a new person, like nothing can stop me. Brandon kept me on my toes, jumping out at me, and threw things my way that I dodged without effort. My instincts were sharper too, my vision magnified, even my thought process was rewired, faster, better. It’s incredible.

“Is this what you feel like?” I asked while I ran next to Brandon. I easily kept up even though we had been running for an hour nonstop and very fast.

“Nah. What you feel is just a sliver of what I am. Just a taste, but you’ll get there maybe, if you survive today, and Leila.” He laughed and took off leaving a trail and an echo of laughter behind him. Damn! I thought I was doing good. The way he picked up speed made me look like I was jogging.
I didn’t catch up to him but I was close, and for the rest of the day we trained.