With costume of a writer, a crazed hobo, and an injured man/mummy, Halloween proceeded with little trouble.  Wren and Ellie's residence, though in a child-deserted neighborhood, saw some trick-or-treaters.  By the end of the night, everyone was feeling that Halloween was a success.  Except Derek felt ill, and went downstairs to rest.  Trouble was he did not wake when Ellie came to check up on him.

 

Chapter 7: Return

 

            Nothing felt right.  Not a single thing.

            The last thing Derek remembered was burying his face into a white pillow.  Now, the situation was completely different.  He stood facing the flowing grain lines of a pinewood door.  The lines bulged and weaved within the wood.  Derek focused.  The lines became sharp and numerous on the door.  Except for the doorknob, however, the door itself was plain and boring.  Derek placed his palm on the door.  He felt nothing on his hand.

            Derek removed his hand and something caught his eye.  He looked to his left.  There was another door, as boring as the other.  Derek looked between the doors, then above the doors, and all around.  Around each door was black void.  Behind Derek, as he figured, was a black void hallway that he just previously transversed.  The only way forward was to enter one of the door.  Unsure of where that idea was coming from, he knew his idea was true.

            He gripped the first door's knob and turned.  He stopped before opening the door.  He allowed the knob to move slowly back to its original position.  He turned and grabbed the other knob, but again allowed the knob to return to its original state.  This door was incorrect.  Now Derek had a problem.

            The problem lied in that both doors were equally appealing.  The frustration of being unable to weigh in on which door was better-stayed Derek's decision.  Both doors were identical.  No logical route could determine which door would be better to enter.  The doors pissed Derek off.

            Both doors were equally accessible.  Both doors were equally pleasing.

            Derek reached his hand out and grabbed the left doorknob.  He twisted the knob, opened the door, and entered quickly.

 

            "What's wrong?"

            "Nothing's wrong.  Just, it's the new kids."

            "What about them?"

 

            Derek sat at the breakfast table.  Which, incidentally, was no different from the dinner table or the lunch table.  However, the sun hung low and the morning's sweet temperature made the table a breakfast table.

            Derek looked to his side, slowly.  Wren sat next to Derek, reading the newspaper.  She was leaning heavily on the swivel chair, wearing a red t-shirt, capris, and her hair was up in a messy bun.  Derek noticed she had a leg up on her knee in relaxation, and was reading specifically the newspapwe's book reviews.

            "What are you doing?”  Derek asked, then sighed at himself.

            "Reading the newspaper," Wren said through the faint paper of the Sunday edition.

            "How interesting," Derek said, turning bored and standing up.  Derek started leaving, deciding to search for Ellie.

            "Where are you going?”  Wren asked.  Derek turned to her.  She was glaring at him.  Her newspaper was rolled up in her right hand.  "Criminal," she added after, as a separate sentence.

            Derek frowned. "Criminal?"

            "Criminals like you need to be locked up.  Never know their next move; their next crime."

            "What?  Why the hell are you saying that?  If I need to be locked up, then why do you let me walk around free within your house?  Why not call the authorities?"

            Then, as though it was never in any other position before, Wren's paper was back up and blocking her face.  Her paper ruffled and flapped as she rearranged it so she could read it better.  "Derek, you're nothing but a nuisance to us.  But we cannot allow our own conscious being guilty for putting away a nice, and for all we know innocent, man."

            Derek thought for a minute and weighed in Wren's answer.  It came up short.  "I asked you why you allow me to walk around free.  That's not a real answer," he said calmly.

            "You asked us not to call.  We just listened."

            "No!  That is far to forgiving for me."

 

            "The little things..."

 

            "Derek, why are you yelling?”  Wren asked, seemingly dropping any knowledge of the conversation.

            Derek felt like something skipped in his mind.  He reexamined Wren's actions and became confused.  Derek dismissed his thoughts and sat down.  Wren's newspaper once again became rolled up and she was glaring at him.

            "Good," she said, smiling.  "Ellie never listens to me.  She's always running around, never being serious, always acting her own way, and saying her own mind."

            "Uh-huh...”  Derek trailed, not following Wren.

            Wren's paper was back up again in front of her face.  "Listen, it's the same-age, different sex comadarry thing.  You know, you don't swear in front of kids and old people, but you do in front of your friends.  Kindness and first impressions go a long way.  Not first action impressions, but first feelings impressions.  You understand?  A dandelion casually picked for a person is better than an instructed purchase of a dozen roses."

            "What?”  Derek asked, still not following Wren.  He wished the conversation to stay on one topic.  Then, possibly, he could follow her.  Her random path of thought was starting to make Derek nervous. "What are you talking about?"

            Wren drank some orange juice from a glass on the table.  A glass Derek could not place being there before.  However, it could have always been there.

            "Make no question, Derek," Wren said.  "You know more than anyone.  What are you really going to do when your leg heals?"  She leaned towards him.

            "Huh?"

            "What are you going to do?”  Wren repeated, grabbing a butter knife and plunging the knife into a tub of butter.  Both items Derek could not account for beforehand.

            "Well, it depends..."

            Wren caught his vagueness.  "Depends on what?"  She asked, with a small, sinister smile.  Her paper was nowhere to be found.  Perhaps she placed it under the table.

            "Well, if..."  Derek trailed.

            "Your leg heals?"  Wren said, her tone harshening and her face closing in on Derek.  Her knife carved into the butter.

            "No..."

            "When you leg heals...?"  Wren said, expecting Derek to finish her sentence.

            "When my leg heals...  I'm going to leave."

            "Don't believe you," Wren said instantly.

            Derek looked at Wren.  Her eyes burned into Derek.  Her body exuded hostility.  Her knife churned in the butter's meat.

            "Here's the deal.  Everything...  Between us and you.  The cops were not called because you pleaded.  You now walk around free because you said when your leg heals, you believe you will leave.  You also continue to interest us because behind that criminal label you're a kind, entertaining person."  The knife stopped gouging. "However..."  Wren's body dropped its stance.  She leaned back in the chair.  "We still believe you will be leaving when your leg heals.  You say you will leave, but I don't believe you.  Ellie might, and I did at first, but I just don't believe you want to leave.  Not to a prison cell or to a girl in a coffin.  Do you want to stay?"

            Derek paused for moment.  "Well...  Sure, I want to stay."

            "That answer's not strong enough!”  Wren screamed, her body turning hostile again. "Do you want to stay?”  She demanded.

            "Yes!"  Derek blurted, but at the same time placed some solid confidence behind his statement.

            "You want to stay?  With us?  To start something with us?"

            Derek felt his answer held some truth.  That it touched some hidden motives.  "Yes, I do!"

            "Then...  What about Naomi?"

            A name he did not want to hear.  Derek's heart burned.  "I don't know," he said softly.  "I just don't know."

 

            "Those two always keep to themselves.  One didn't for the first few months.  But then, when the new kid came, he started only playing with him.  They are always alone together."

            "Kids can be like that."

            "No, not these kids."

 

            Derek awoke in his bed.  He felt too hot for comfort and too wet to know this was not a normal morning's wake-up.  Derek wiped the sweat from his forehead.  For a while, Derek stared at his room ceiling, counting the flowing lines in the tile.  The sun peaked through the blinds, causing the dust to become visible before Derek's eyes.  From lines, Derek changed to watching dust.  Derek concentrated on a flake as it came into view.  He would watch it lazily float around, slowly sinking down towards the bed.  Then, the flake would reach the end of the sunbeam and disappear, causing Derek to pick out a new flake and start the process over.

            Watching flakes only entertained Derek for a few minutes before he rolled out of bed.  Soon, Derek was walking upstairs into the kitchen.  Ellie and Wren were nowhere to be seen and nowhere to be heard.  Derek slid open the sliding door and walked out onto the deck.  Neither girl was in sight.  Derek walked along the house, across the deck, and started down the deck steps.

            On the way down, Derek spotted Ellie's flowers and the fence.  The sight of the chain fence gate gave Derek an odd feeling.

            "Hello?  Girls, where are you?"

            Derek's eyes skewered the lawn.  He continued down the steps and headed under the deck.  Ellie and Wren were inside.  Derek waved at them when he approached the slider door.  Wren stood up from the couch.  Derek pulled on the sliding door and it failed to open.  Wren laughed and pointed at Derek.

            "Very funny."

            Wren still did not open the door.  She only shrugged.  Derek pointed at the door.

            Derek sighed.  He gave Wren an annoyed look and stopped trying to coax Wren to open the door.  She laughed and unlocked the door, then slid it open for Derek.

            "Very funny," Derek repeated.

            "Took you long enough to wake up," Wren criticized.

            "Don't you have work?"  Derek retorted.

            "No."

            "What are you to doing?  Sitting around?"

            "We were waiting for you to wake up.  You scared us Derek," Ellie explained.  She sat in a reclining chair the corner.

            Derek paused and thought about what he did to frighten the girls.  Nothing readily came to mind.  "I'm sorry," Derek said, apologizing for an unknown deed.

            Wren sat back down and Derek sat down next to her on the couch.

            "That's alright.  We were just worried."

            Derek looked at the two girls and looked outside.  "What time is it?"

            "Three in the afternoon," Wren answered.

            "Oh," Derek replied.  "I see.  I certainly slept in now, didn't I?"

            Ellie laughed.  "Yes, you did.  Why don't you join us?"  Derek saw both Wren and Ellie were reading.

            "Sure," Derek said, not particularly caring one way or another what he did.  Derek walked over to the bookshelf in the corner.  It was jammed full with what Derek assumed was Wren's book collection.  Derek grabbed a novel that caught his eye, a novel about a rising movie star.  It seemed interesting.  Derek picked out the book, plucked it out, and sat down on the couch near Wren.

            Then, the doorbell rang.  Derek looked towards the hallway.  No one was standing up.  "I guess I'll get it," Derek said, standing up.

            Derek opened the front door as soon as he was in the foyer.  A woman stood on the concrete step.  A woman Derek could never forget.

            Naomi stood on the concrete step, the majority of her weight leaning onto her left foot.  She looked horribly worn and sleepy.  Decent sized bags hung from her eyes and her hair looked unkempt.  She blinked and looked into Derek's eyes, stealing away any words Derek had rising up in him.

            Derek tried to speak, but no words came out.  Naomi had stolen his words.  All Derek could do was sputter slightly and fidget around on his feet.  His girlfriend, who previously was perceived dead, was now standing in front of his current residence.  There, in the flesh and blood, was a person whose blood had stained his hands.  There was his love, alive and well, while he had done nothing to try to find her.

            So, Derek did what he could only do.  He invited her in.  He could not predict how she would act, or what mood she was in, but she had yet to say anything to express any feeling, other than looking tired and worn.

            When Naomi took off her shoes, Derek embraced her in a powerful hug.  A warm hug could make Derek feel relieved and comfortable any time, and there was no other time Derek felt more of a need to be warm and happy.  However, Naomi stood coldly in place, until she reluctantly wrapped her arms lightly around Derek.

            Suddenly, a voice came from the steps.  Ellie's voice.  "Derek, who's that?"  Derek looked at Ellie from Naomi's shoulder.  Derek heart felt cold.  Ellie's tone hinted at pain and confusion.  Derek figured Ellie did not know why Derek was hugging this person in her foyer.

            She looked at him with a betrayed look.  Derek broke off from Naomi's hug and looked at her.  Naomi stared at Derek, with a stern look of anticipation for him to explain himself.  At least, Derek took her look to mean that.  She acted as if she did not notice Ellie.  Only at Derek, she stared.

            "Uh...  Let's all sit downstairs with Wren," Derek suggested to Ellie.  Everyone headed downstairs, with Ellie leading the pack.

            The three filed into the basement, but Wren was nowhere to be found.  Derek shrugged and sat Naomi down on the couch.  She continued to look at Derek.  Ellie, meanwhile, sat at the opposite end of the couch, staring continuously at Naomi.

            No one said a word for half a minute.

            The sliding glass door then opened and Wren stepped inside. "Sorry," Wren said, distractingly reading a book.  "I just stepped out for a moment.  Who was at the door?"

            "Wren..."  Ellie said, slowly.

            Wren looked up from her book as she shut the door and Naomi's presence seeped into Wren's attention.  Wren gave a confused look to Ellie, and Ellie returned with a slight nod towards Derek.  Wren put two and two together.  She closed her book and looked at Derek.  Then Ellie looked at Derek.  Naomi still stared at him.

            Derek sighed.  "Where shall I begin?  Or shall you begin, Naomi?"  Derek looked at Naomi.  She only responded with a stare.  An unnerving stare.

            "Well," Derek said, abandoning any expectation of Naomi answering. "Ellie; Wren... this is Naomi.  She's been my girlfriend for quite some time, and...  Uh, as of recently, I perceived her as dead."

            Silence.  Pure, unadulterated silence.  Derek looked at both girls with a conclusive expression.

            A moment passed.  "That's all?"  Wren asked.

            "What do you mean, 'That's all'?"

            Wren looked at Ellie, asking her silently if she also believed the oddities of his actions.  Ellie shrugged.  Wren turned back to Derek.  "Derek, you just introduced us to your girlfriend, who you recently thought was dead.  All you have to say is that you 'perceived her as dead'?  Aren't you happy?  Elated?  Are you just incapable of showing emotions stronger than light-humor and irony?"

            "So, this is Naomi, huh?  She does kind of look like me," Ellie said.  She gave Wren a knowing look.  Wren knew to what Ellie eluded.  This was who Derek screamed out about when he was in the bathtub; dying.

            In response to Wren's comment, however, Derek said nothing.

            Derek spoke.  "Well... she isn't dead, and despite current opinions, I could not be happier,” Derek responded.  After a short while, Derek felt a little cold inside.  Saying he was happy was, in truth, a lie.  He was more scared than happy, and more nervous than relieved.  Naomi was not acting normal.  She had yet to say a single word.  She would never do this normally.

            Her actions only caused Derek worry.  A truly scared thought rolled through Derek's head; that Naomi had lost all her feelings for him.  There was rightful, but painful reasoning behind it.  He was the one who abandoned her.  He was the one who had very little outward showing of emotion.  He was the one who coldly shed any such emotions to carry on living day to day.  Derek was scared that he made a horribly wrong decision, unknowing or knowing, by continuing to wait to search for Naomi.  Now, she was in front of him, unable to explain an excuse strong enough to convince her that he wanted to find her.  Whom was he kidding when he claimed that he would look for her?  His search would have needed to start immediately.  He wanted to search, but he has a broken leg.  She was dead!  He had no clue what had happened to her.  He had blacked out.  He had a terrible blackout, like the ones in his childhood.

            Derek stood up.  Naomi's eyes continued to borrow into his soul.  Her gaze set fire to Derek's soul.  Derek's guilt burned in him, and he could not help but feel hostility towards her.

            How could have he known?  How could he have known that she was still alive, that she was looking for him, and that she would find him in the house he himself randomly picked to find help at?  These circumstances did not add up.

            "How could I have known, Naomi?  How?"  Derek shouted.  Ellie and Wren both jumped, but Naomi continued to stare, unraveled by Derek's sudden outburst.  "I'm sorry, okay!  I'm sorry, but what happened, happened.  I thought you were dead.  I blacked out.  I don't remember.  I cannot recall anything.  There is a day's gap in my memory; somehow, I broke my leg.  By the kindness of these strangers, I was saved.  Now, the authorities are searching for me.  I don't know how hard they are searching or how thorough, but the media is bringing me out as a kidnapper or a murderer.  Now, you somehow find me only to stare at me as such, not even saying a single word!  How dare you accuse me!  I know you, and I know how you think.  You think that I abandoned you.  You probably thought what came about was my doing.  I did nothing!  Nothing!"  Derek stopped.  He calmed himself.  "You knew nothing from before I met you, and for that I'm sorry.  You didn't know.  You didn't know, so you're not to blame.  I should have told you...  But I didn't."  Derek stopped again.  He stopped before he spoke too far.  Derek started pacing agitatedly.  "Naomi, what you stirred up was something that neither of us could help.  I am sorry I did not start to look for you.  I believed you died in my arms, so I thought the best thing to do was to escape.  To run away.  We should both be dead."

            "Derek..."  Wren said, trying to comfort and calm him.

            "I thought you didn't escape and unfortunately I did.  I escaped.  I was saved.  But, we're both now alive!  We can start new.  Naomi, just say something.  I know what I said cannot really add up to much, but if you forgive me, say something."

            "Derek, what are you talking about?  You're still a wanted criminal!  You cannot just disappear," Wren blurted, cutting in between Derek and Naomi.

            Ellie only sat there, trying to find the feelings to take everything in.

            "Why can't we disappear, Wren?  Maybe you do not know how the work the system.  I do.  The cops have yet to find me."          

            "Derek, what's with the change of positions?  You said you were not a criminal!  Now, you're saying that you are going to 'work the system'?"

            "I'm not a criminal, and now Naomi and I can start over.  Naomi, if you would just say something...  We can leave, forever.  Just forget about what happened.  Come on...  Just say something."

            Naomi said nothing.  Not a word.  She only stared into Derek's eyes.  An accusing stare that Derek was unable to conceive an appeasement for.  He was not forgiven.

            Derek tried as hard as he could to keep the rage down, but sometimes he could do nothing to calm himself.  Everyone has a limit.  For some people its one question too far, for others it is an action too far; for Derek, it was a close friend accusing him of an action they would know Derek did not do.  This stare touched on that limit.

            "Say something."

            Naomi said nothing.  Her stare burned into Derek.

            "Say something."

            Nothing.

            "Say something!"  Derek yelled.

            "Derek, that's not helping," Wren said out of concern.

            Naomi did nothing.  Only stared.  Unmoving, unwavering, and completely inhuman-like.

            "Say something!”  Derek said, shouting right into Naomi's face.

            After she failed to flinch, Derek went silent.  He pulled away and waited for her response.  Wren and Ellie both looked at Derek with horrified faces.  Such anger from Derek was unexpected.

            Out of the two years of Derek' life, he had never seen Naomi act in this way.  She sat in that couch, unable to be roused into doing anything.

            Derek waited a minute, and when Naomi did nothing, he stood up to leave the room.  He walked by Naomi and went upstairs.

            Things began to feel slightly surreal.  He was unsure why, but the journey up the steps, through the foyer, and into the kitchen felt unnatural.  His broken leg felt stronger than ever, and did not hurt in any sort of real sense.  Derek still kept pressure off his leg, but he wondered if he actually kept pressure off his leg because he knew to do so, and not because the leg actually hurt.  Even the kitchen table felt cold and numb to his touch.  The table was not rough or smooth.  It felt like nothing.

            Derek sat down.  The combination of the surreal feeling and the anger from Naomi's actions made him feel dizzy.  He felt like he was about to pass out.  Dismayed, he bent over to place his head between his legs.  The kitchen chair's cushion did not feel rough on his forehead.  Voices began to float into his head.

 

            "One seems to always be the quiet one.  Little Derek on the other hand..."

 

            A voice spoke in front of Derek, "Derek, you need to hang on."  He looked up to see Ellie standing stiffly in front of him.

            Derek smirked.  A maiden with energy seeks to spend it.

            Why Derek made that connection was beyond his current state of reasoning, but with a clearing head Derek stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder.  He sighed.

            "I'll try my best.  No use giving up now, coming this far and all.  She's still my girlfriend after all."

            Derek walked downstairs and back into the living room, or was the room of conflict.  Derek was up for the challenge.  He stormed in and noticed Wren had left again, leaving Naomi still on the couch.  She turned her head to Derek.

            "Naomi, we need to talk."

            Unsure of how to go about saying what he needed to say, Derek allowed his thoughts to ramble.  Shortly after he started speaking, he found he could hardly control his words.  Every thought that crossed his mind blurted out.  Every feeling passed through him and came out through his speech.

            He talked and talked, and Naomi presumably listened.  Out of his entire speech, which contained a lot of bombastic wording and meanings, ended on one final note.  A note that formed as he was speaking.

            The life he led, though with its perks, was not something Derek would go back to.  The risk was not worth it.  Painful as it would be, in the long run, their lives would be back to normal.  Derek's previous feelings about staying together and starting new were out the window.  A fleeting idea that would not work.  Naomi and his relationship were too damaged from what happened.  He was scared that she hated him, but now realized that both their lives would be better for it.

            When Derek was finished, a distracted feeling fell over him.  The family room before him felt distant and lonely.

            "... He's the one that's most violent," Naomi said, speaking in a monotonic, factual voice.

            Derek said nothing.  That feeling of dizziness was back.  He looked hard into her eyes.  He hated those eyes.  He hated that mouth.  The thing she said; those memories from long ago, the few he remembered in a hazy blur of past times, were too painful to be uttered here.

            And yet, she spoke that one and only line.

            Derek's face turned brutal.  He lifted his left hand across his body.  The slider door opened.  Derek swung, intending to bring his backhand across Naomi's face.

            "Derek, no!"  Wren screamed from the slider door, before Derek woke up.  He did not finish the blow.

            Instead, Derek looked to a ceiling.  That same ceiling he saw not even a week ago.  Two girls had placed him there when he had nearly died, and now, he must have had crawled back to the same place, in the same house, for the same purpose.

            "Sweet Jesus, you're alive..."  A disbelieving voice came from Derek's right.

            Derek attempted to turn himself.  His entire body screamed with pain unmatched from before.  Any limb he tried to move brought nothing.  He felt feebly weak and eternally tired.  He had not the energy even to scream.  He finally managed to turn his head to his visitor.

            Wren sat in a chair with a book in hand and a disbelieving look.

            Derek gathered that his revival was somewhat unexpected.  From Wren's appearance, Derek also noted that she must have been up for extended periods of time.

            Derek managed to whisper only after breathing three deep breaths. "Hello," he said.  After saying that one word, Derek was already feeling more alert and some energy was returning to him.  The surrounding room gave Derek clues that he had been sleeping, or passed out, or dying for that matter, for more than one day's length.  The sun, for example, was shining with the intensity of mid-day.  Wren's posture exposed a woman who had been sitting for more hours than any given workday.

            "What happened to me?  Why does my hand ache like it’s broken?"  Derek asked after considerable strain.

            "We don't know, Derek.  We were hoping you would enlighten us to what happened."

            "I also don't know," Derek whispered.

            "Seems like every injury you suffer happens with no one around to witness it and you are unable to remember what happened."

            Derek found that amusing, but was powerless to laugh.

            A nagging question came to mind.  "What day is it?"  Derek asked.

            "Tuesday."

            Two days Derek had been out, and now he was awake on the problem day.

            "Tuesday?  As in, parents come and inspect, Tuesday?"

            Wren nodded.  She had a particular look.  A look that meant, as Derek figured, she was in over her head.  She must have been sitting in on Derek to escape the storm of her father, which was probably gathering in the living room.

            "Derek, when you're feeling up to it, you need to follow me."

            The thought of moving made Derek's body ache more.  "Why?"

            "My father did not come today.  Ellie's father did.  I'm not sure what to do, and I'm very much at a lost of what to do after he leaves."

            "I assume Ellie's father being here is a bad thing."

            "It's not a bad thing, but certainly troubling."

            Derek did not feel up to this challenge.  Naomi sure, but not this.  He then thought about his dream and wondered what he was trying to tell himself.  He did not want to forget Naomi, but his dream told him he was unwilling to leave fully.

            Perhaps this household was his new home.  The life he wanted to return to was gone.  It vanished, leaving Derek alive to contemplate why as he drowns in the drama.

 

 

End Chapter 7

 

            Revived from his coma, Derek is asked by Wren to help her deal with Ellie's father's arrival.  Ellie's father has come with fire and brimstone, demanding that Ellie finds a job or otherwise her home will be no more.  Ellie certainly has the ability to find a job, but the problem is if she will find one.  Chapter 8: What Ellie Decides to Do