C R I M S O N

  C R I M S O N

  C R I M S O N

  CAN SHE SURVIVE?

  OLIVIA SCOTT

  IngramSpark

  Copyright Page

  Copyright © 2021 by Olivia Scott.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

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  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

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  Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others.

  Crimson/ Olivia Scott ; edited by Judi Weiss

  ISBN 9780578928746 (paperback) ISBN 9780578928753 (ebook)

  [1. Romance-Fiction. 2. Mystery-Fiction. 3. Thriller-Fiction. 4. Vampires-Fiction. 5. Werewolves-Fiction. 6. Witches-Fiction. 7. Blood-Fiction.]

  To Nathan

  My beautiful, forever missed, Angel brother

  Epigraph

  In each loss there is a gain,

  As in every gain there is a loss,

  And with each ending

  Comes a new beginning.

  -Buddhist Proverb

  Contents

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  EPILOGUE

  One

  The scent of the dead summer air circulated through my body reminding me of the season of fall. Small goosebumps covered my skin, as the air was starting to cool. I looked down at my reflection in the cold canal water. Part of me wanted to jump in and never come up, because I didn’t want to go through another year of high school. I could feel myself inch closer to the edge of the side of the bridge. I was so tempted to jump in just to clear my head. The water started to cover my ankles, making its way up my legs. I pushed myself off the edge and slipped into the water. My head popped up a few seconds later. For a minute, I couldn’t catch my breath. The water was so cold. I kicked around and moved my arms and legs in a slow motion to keep my head out of the water. The water was peaceful and soothing. Cold, but definitely soothing. At the time, I didn’t even care that it was mossy, muddy, and contained all types of bugs. I didn’t care because, in that moment it was as if the chilly water just washed all of my worries away. I looked up into the plain, blue sky. Not a single cloud, and not a single bird. I felt like I was the only living thing to exist. It was nice to feel that way, nice to think I wouldn’t have to deal with anymore school. In that period of good feeling, I was interrupted.

  “Kallie, what are you doing?” My little sister, Kiley, asked.

  My heart skipped a beat because she startled me. I quickly swam to the side of the canal and crawled out.

  “I-I went for a swim.” I answered. I was shaking, for the start of the fall air was making me shiver with my body drenched with water.

  “Why? It’s cold out. I’m seven, and even in my right mind I wouldn’t go swimming in this weather.”

  “You wouldn’t understand, Ki.”

  “You wanna bet?”

  Oh great, she was in one of her sassy moods mixed with a dash of grumpiness. That wasn’t good.

  “What do you want?” I asked with annoyance.

  “It’s almost time for dinner.” She said.

  “Okay.”

  She turned around and skipped back to the house. Watching her tiny body move and her French braided pig tails bounce up and down, I smiled. I couldn’t live without Kiley, even though she was a handful. I couldn’t live without my family. And with the loss of one already, and barely hanging on, I couldn’t live with losing another loved one.

  “Are you coming or not?” She yelled at me.

  I hadn’t moved a muscle since I got out of the water. I was still standing right by the edge. I looked back at the water and smiled, then headed back to the house. It was a cold walk. The wind had picked up. By the time I got back to the house, there was still fifteen minutes left until dinner time. Just enough time to take a hot shower.

  I squirmed out of my black short shorts and tan and black tank top and hopped in the shower. The water burned at first but felt amazing once my skin got used to the temperature. Washing my hair and scrubbing down my body, I realized how dirty that canal water really was. The floor of the shower was brown colored. I heard a knock on my door and before any words were spoken, I knew that it was one of my family members coming to tell me dinner was ready. I got out and slid into my pink and black pajama bottoms and black t-shirt.

  At the bottom of the stairs, I could smell my mom’s dinner. She had made her homemade chili. My family, including myself, filled the chairs around the wooden, rectangular table. My eyes focused on the empty chair at the head of the table. Seeing the chair so empty sent knives through my heart. I wanted to throw my bowl of soup and leave. There was so much anger in me that any little thing set me off, and I had to hold myself back from erupting like a volcano. I just sat there and slowly ate. It wasn’t until halfway through the dinner, the awkward silence was finally broken.

  “Are you all excited to go back to school tomorrow?” Mom asked.

  Kiley and my younger brother, Will, jumped out of their seats with excitement. Sam, my older sister was also excited. But me? I just sat there, quietly, and ate my soup. I understood why Kiley and Will were excited. They were both young and full of joy, no matter what loss they faced. Kiley would be in first grade, and Will third. Those were the easy years. Easy lessons, easy teachers, easy everything.

  “Why are you excited, Sam?” I asked, my voice plain.

  “Because, Kallie, I’m a senior. Once I finish this year, I will be done with high school. New and exciting journeys will happen. Journeys and new people that may make me happy. I have to stay excited to go to stay motivated. Do you understand?”

  She sounded snotty. My sister was always trying to be the perfect child. She always went the extra mile to please mom. Somedays, it was too much. She was acting fake and cheesy. I bet the real reason why Sam was excited to go back was because she got to see her boyfriend every day. Something my mom wouldn’t let her do this summer.

  “Good for you, Sam.” My mom said reaching over to touch her hand in an act to show how proud she was. She turned to me. “Calm down, Kallie, you don’t need to be that excited for school.” My mother’s sarcasm cracked a smile on my face.

  “School is depressing. And I don’t see any new and happy journeys co
ming my way.” I said.

  “Not necessarily. Starting a new school year is considered a new journey. If it’s happy or not, I don’t know.” Said my sister facetiously.

  I darted my eyes at my sister. “You do seem to know everything. You’re so ‘perfect’ Sam, you’re just starting to seem like a phony.”

  I backed my chair out from under the table and stormed upstairs, straight to my bedroom, slamming my door behind me. I sat down on my bed and ran my fingers through my hair. I had been getting so upset with every little thing. Anger was consuming my body. I had stopped thinking before acting. Guilt and regret became two frequent feelings. Oh great, I thought. I shouldn’t have blown up on her like that. I felt guilty. I’m sure I upset my mom, too. But what was done, was done. A few minutes later to try and fix the way I was feeling and to make sure there wasn’t going to be tension between anyone, I got up to go apologize to my sister. I stuck my hand out for the door handle. The door swung open before I got a grip on it, hitting me directly in the nose. I fell to the floor with the impact, cupping my nose. Sam rushed to my side.

  “I’m so sorry!”

  All that came out of my mouth was a grunt because of the excruciating pain.

  “Come on, let’s go to mom.” She said, gently pulling me up.

  As the blood filled my hands, Sam helped me down the stairs. My mom, being a nurse, could hopefully help.

  “What happened?” She asked, rushing towards me, her voice worried.

  “I accidently hit her with her door.” Sam explained.

  “Get in my car. I’ll call Brenda at the hospital to let her know we’re on our way. I don’t have the right stuff with me at home. Her nose may be broken.”

  Brenda is my mom’s friend who’s also a nurse. They work together and through the years they have become good friends.

  Sam and I rushed out to the car, my mom not too far behind. She was on the phone. The pain was horrible. I just wanted something to hit me along the side of my head to knock me out so I wouldn’t feel the pain anymore. But instead, we hit every stop light, got behind three different cars that drove so slowly, my eighty-year-old grandma could pass them by walking. The pain lasted longer than I thought it would. Finally, we drove up and rushed inside. We only waited approximately ten minutes until I was called back to be treated. I got some pain meds in my body, Brenda stopped my nose from bleeding, and I could finally relax.

  Another nurse came in a few minutes later. “Follow me.”

  I got up to follow her. She led me down the cold hall to a room to take X-rays. It didn’t take long, and surprisingly it didn’t hurt. Before I knew it, I was back in the hospital bed where I started to doze in and out, waiting for the doctor to come in. After several minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door, and the tall, dark haired, muscular doctor appeared in the doorway.

  “I’m Dr. Steven Quinn. Your sister did this to you?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

  I gently nodded my head yes to not upset my nose.

  “She sure does love you.” He said. We all chuckled at his sarcasm. I instantly stopped because it hurt my nose to laugh. He turned towards my mom. “Meredith, it’s good to see you here off hours.” The way he was looking at my mom, I knew that he had a small crush on her. How cute was that, but no- just no. My mom smiled. I could tell she felt awkward. He turned back towards me. “And for you…you have a broken nose. No surgery or anything too serious. I’m going to put this strip of bandage over your nose and prescribe you some pain meds you can take during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Only one at a time. Keep as much ice on it as possible. The swelling should go down in at least a week, maybe two. The bruising should fade in about two weeks. So, for about three to possibly four weeks, you’re going to have a very sore and colorful nose.”

  Tears appeared in my eyes. That meant I had to start school with a broken nose! Could the day have gotten any worse?

  “Any side effects to the pain meds?” I asked.

  “They will just make you tired.” He answered. “Maybe a little nauseous, but not overly sick.”

  “And what about volleyball? I have tryouts soon.”

  “I suggest that you sit out until you’re completely healed. More damage to it from either getting hit with the ball or running into a teammate or whatnot could make it so you need surgery. Go to tryouts and do drills that don’t have a high chance of you hitting your nose.”

  After answering all of my questions and also my moms, he quickly bandaged my nose and then left. By the time we left and got home, it was already 12:30 a.m. I went straight up to my room to get ready for bed. It took forever. I had to brush my teeth and be very careful with every move. I couldn’t brush fast at all. With little energy left in me, I sat down at the foot of my bed. No matter what time and how tired I was, nights were always the hardest for me. That was when all the sadness just pounded me. That was when I thought about everything bad that had happened. I always thought about my dad and how much I missed him. Sam then walked through the doorway. I quickly wiped away my tears. She sat down next to me and put her left arm around me, comforting me.

  “I haven’t asked you this in a while, are you okay?”

  “The pain meds are helping a lot.” I answered.

  “Not about that, Kallie. How are you really doing?”

  That’s when more tears automatically streamed down my face. “I’m not good, Sam. But it seems like everybody else is. Everybody has moved on. I miss dad. I miss him so much. I miss the way life used be. I miss being happy.”

  “I know, me too.” She said.

  “I’m sorry for snapping and being rude to you at dinner. I feel like I’ve changed a lot. I’m just so angry with life.”

  “I wasn’t the nicest either. I also haven’t been there for you lately and I’m sorry about that. I’ll try harder for now on, okay?” I nodded my head okay and smiled at her. “I’m sorry about your nose.”

  “I deserved it.” I admitted. Sam started laughing. “What?” I asked.

  “Your face when it happened, and the way it knocked you to the floor was hilarious. I had such a tough time not laughing when it happened.” She said, her face turning red from laughter.

  Imagining it, I joined in on laughing with her. “Ouch!” I exclaimed. It hurt to laugh, but that was exactly what I needed at that time. We both needed it. I couldn’t remember the last time we laughed together. But since it hurt too much, we just sat in silence with her arm still around me.

  “Kallie, don’t worry about school tomorrow, okay? You will find a way to get through the year. And for your nose, it makes you look even more beautiful.”

  I smiled and wrapped my arms around my sister. “I just want to feel whole again. Ever since dad has been gone, there’s this big piece of my heart that is missing and I don’t feel whole. Having to get out of bed every day and be okay in front of everyone is dreadful and exhausting. It makes me exhausted thinking about it. Having to focus on lessons and do homework seems impossible. I only think about dad and daydream about how life used to be. I’m just really nervous, Sam.”

  “Everything will be okay. I promise. I’ll be there for you and you’ll have your friends. Some of your teachers will also understand. Trust me, it’ll be okay.” She ensured. I nodded my head okay, hoping her promise would come true. My sister got up and headed out the door. She turned back to me. “You will feel whole again, Kallie. I can feel it inside of me.” I gave her a slight smile. “Good night baby sis, sleep tight.”

  “Good night, Sam.”

  She gave me a smile, and then turned off my big light, closing the door behind her. I crawled in my bed and turned my lamp on my desk, next to my bed, off. I then told myself that I would feel whole again, and everything would be okay.

  Two

  Beep! Beep! Beep! The loud sound of my alarm clock rung through my ears. I slowly got up and turned to turn it off. The clock read 6:30 a.m. I let out a huge sigh and walked towards my bathroom to turn the water on in the showe
r. My nose was throbbing. I felt like crying and punching something. I was angry about my nose. Why did that have to happen?

  I quickly washed my hair, then let the warm water beat on my back. I could have fallen asleep, and no matter how much I wanted to, I made myself get out. I almost slipped getting out, for I forgot to lay my shower rug down. I caught myself, using part of the wall for support. The fast movement made my nose hurt even more. More anger struck my body.

  I decided to wear a navy-blue Tee-shirt that said, “Kiss My Sass” in white lettering with jeans and navy-blue Vans. I quickly dried my hair with a blow drier, then straightened it. I put some mascara on my eyes, so I didn’t look even younger. The bruising on my nose and face was dark. Looking at it, I wanted to jump in my bed and hide under my covers, so nobody would see me like that. But, with my luck, the whole school was going to see me. I thought about borrowing Sam’s makeup to cover up some of the bruising. I cringed at the thought of makeup. I used to wear it all the time and but then I just didn’t care. I didn’t care about a lot of things. I shrugged my shoulders with an “oh well” frame of mind. I sprayed myself with my favorite fragrance, Amber Romance, then grabbed my bag and phone, and carefully headed downstairs. I was the first one down. I looked out the kitchen window. My mom’s black Pathfinder was gone. She had already left for work. I headed for the pantry. Mom hadn’t had time to shop for groceries, so the pantry was nearly empty. I grabbed the only box of cereal there was- a healthy, nasty kind. By the weight of the box, there was only enough for at least one bowl. I thought about eating the rest of it, but then I reminded myself that Kiley only eats cereal for breakfast. Mom usually fixed something healthier to go along with it, but ever since she had to pick up early morning shifts for longer hours to pay for the bills, Sam and I had been in charge of fixing breakfast. At the beginning, Sam and I would take turns fixing breakfast each day during the summer. Sometimes, we even fixed breakfasts’ together. I would make the eggs and Sam would make the sausage or bacon. It was good teamwork. But lately, the only thing we were eating when mom wasn’t around was cereal.