Blood Land, J.R. Lawson [electric book reader .txt] 📗

too at the sight of his sadness.  She hated so much to see him unhappy like this.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Will then said.

“Of course I’d come.  You know he was like a father to me too,” Nora responded.

“No,” Will then said with the utmost seriousness, “I’m glad you’re here.  With me.  Always…right?”

A gentle smile appeared on Nora’s face as she heard these words.  She nodded and pulled Will in for another hug, “Of course, Will.  I’m always here.  I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good,” Will said as they broke away.  He looked back over at his dad lying in the bed and sighed, “Well, I’ve said all of my goodbyes,” he then turned to look back at Nora, “You can have a moment alone with him if you want.”

“O.k. yeah,” Nora nodded.  Will then proceeded to walk around Nora and the bed to the door.

“I’ll be down in the cafeteria getting some coffee.  Come meet me down there when you’re done?” Will said before he exited the door.

“Sure,” Nora answered with a soft smile.  Will returned the same smile to her before leaving the room.

Nora heaved a huge sigh as she sat down in the chair next to the bed that Will had been in earlier.  She stared at Will’s father in the bed and tears began to form in her eyes again.  She desperately tried to think of what she might say.

“I…I just…” Nora’s forehead began to scrunch up and she felt a lump welling up in her throat as she tried to continue, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but…you were more of a dad to me than my real one.  You and Amy were amazing parents to Will and I and I don’t know if you know how much that meant to me.”

She then put her head down, looking at her hands in her lap.  She began to really cry now.  She sniffled as she watched the tears fall from her eyes and onto her hands.

“You…” she continued as she kept looking down, “You don’t know it either, but…you taught me who my parents really were,” she now looked up and attempted to wipe the tears from her eyes, “And even though that hurt me, I knew I had another set of parents watching over me.  I thank you for that every day.”

All of a sudden, the door to the room opened, interrupting her and causing her to jump slightly startled.  She looked over to see who it was, expecting that Will might have forgotten something, however, the person standing in the doorway was one she did not expect.

It was a tall woman, with long, dark brown, straight hair that fell over her shoulders.  Her face was pale and she wore a white blouse with a faded denim jacket over it.  The dark orange skirt she wore went to her knees and she had brown flats on her feet.  Her step was quiet as she began to enter the room.  Nora just looked at her with much curiosity and even more familiarity as the woman finally looked up and the two of their eyes met.

“Oh!  I’m so sorry…I’ll just come back later,” the woman quickly tried to apologize as she noticed Nora in the chair.  She then turned around and began to exit the room.

“Mrs. Davis?” Nora then uttered, somewhat in surprise, causing the woman to come to a stop.  The woman turned around and Nora stood up in her chair and walked slowly over to her.

“Mrs. Davis, is that you?” she asked again, looking into the woman’s eyes now.  They were a dark red color; and she couldn’t help but notice the very pale skin covering her face that accommodated them.

The woman furrowed her brow and looked back at Nora, “N—Nora?” she then whispered.

Nora then let out a laugh in relief as she covered her mouth with her hands, “Oh my god!”

Mrs. Davis laughed also, “Oh my god is right!  Nora!  I can’t believe this is you!”

The two of them then hugged each other tightly and continued to laugh happily.  When they broke away from one another, Mrs. Davis still had her hands on Nora’s shoulders as she looked her up and down.

“My goodness, honey, you grew up so much!”

Nora chuckled, “Well you look just the same! Haven’t aged a day it looks like!”

“Oh, I’ve aged, just not as much as you,” Mrs. Davis looked into Nora’s eyes and smiled sincerely, “You have really grown into a beautiful woman, sweetie.”

Nora looked down, blushing slightly, “Thanks,” she then looked up again, “So how are you?  What are you doing now?  Where are you living?”

“Oh you know, just one of those Blood Lands near here.  I’m doing real well actually.  How are you doing?” the two of them then walked across the room over to where Mr. Davis lay in the bed, “How’s….how’s Will doing?”

Nora smiled sweetly, “He’s doing fine.  We both are.  We’re taking care of each other.  Especially now, ya know.”

Mrs. Davis now looked over at her once husband lying in the bed next to them and heaved a huge sigh.  Nora noticed this and put a hand onto her shoulder.  Mrs. Davis looked back at her and gave her a weak smile.

“Well that’s good.  I’m glad he’s doing well.  I’m glad you both are looking after one another.  That really does make me happy.”

“Oh, well, did you want to see him?” Nora then started to walk past her, “He’s down in the cafeteria.  I can go get him,” but Mrs. Davis grabbed Nora’s arm to stop her.

“No, no, honey, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why?” Nora turned around to face her again, “You’re his mom!”

“Do you really need to ask that question?”

The two of them stood in a few seconds of silence before Mrs. Davis spoke again, “He just lost his father, Nora.  I think seeing his vampire mother might not be what’s best right now.  Besides, you know how he feels about me.”

Nora sighed and looked down for a second, “I guess you’re right,” she then looked up again, “But would it be o.k. to tell him that I saw you?  In case he does want to see you?  Maybe later…after everything…”

Mrs. Davis gave Nora a small smile, “That’d be fine I think.”

Nora smiled back.  She then noticed Mrs. Davis look back at the bed where Mr. Davis lay.  She then couldn’t help but ask a question she had been wondering, “Mrs. Davis?”

Mrs. Davis looked back at her and lightly chuckled, “I think you’re old enough to call me Amy now, Nora.”

Nora laughed a bit too, “O.k. Amy?”

“Yes?”

“How did….how did you know about Will’s dad’s death?  How did you know to come here?”

There was silence for a few seconds before Amy responded, “Someone told me about it.”

“Who?” Nora was extremely curious now.

“Just someone.  He didn’t really tell me who he was or how he knew.  He just told me.  The whole thing was really odd, to be honest.”

“He?  You don’t know who it was?”

Amy now gave Nora a very confused expression, “No I don’t.  Why do you want to know anyway?”

“Oh well…” Nora felt slightly embarrassed, “I don’t know, just curious,” she watched as Amy now made her way around to the other side of the bed and sat in the chair that was there.  Nora couldn’t help but remember how she had told Rogan only a while ago about Will’s father’s passing.  Was it a coincidence that after that a “stranger” had come to Mrs. Davis and told her about it?  She wasn’t sure what to think.  It seemed very out of character for Rogan, but then again, he’s surprised her before.  She shook her head slightly, trying to get that thought out of her head.  She didn’t want to spend her time thinking about him.  She hadn’t forgotten the other part of their last encounter either.

“Well, it looks like you want some alone time with him,” Nora then said softly to Amy.

Amy turned to look at her, “Oh, are you sure?  I didn’t interrupt you when I came in, did I?  I could wait,”

“No it’s fine,” Nora shook her head smiling, “I was done.  I didn’t really need a whole lot of time anyway and…and it was worth it to see you.”

Amy smiled warmly at her and she did the same.  Nora then turned to head toward the door before Amy said something else and made her pause for a moment.

“Nora?” she spoke softly behind her.  Nora turned around, “Tell Will I love him…won’t you?”

Nora smiled as she nodded, “Of course I’ll let him know.”

“Thank you,” Amy thanked as she then turned back to look at her husband in the bed.  Nora then proceeded to quietly exit the room and walk down the hall toward the elevators that would take her down to the cafeteria to meet Will.

CHAPTER 9

 IT WAS ONLY a few nights later and Nora was sitting on the couch in her living room.  She sat with her knees up against her chest and rubbed her jeans with her hands, hugging her legs.  She watched the final moments of the television until the screen went to static and she then reached for the remote to turn it off.  She sat up, putting her bare feet on the floor and reached up to tighten her pony tail and flatten the strays around her face.  Once she was done, she flopped backward onto the couch again, leaning against the back and letting herself sink in comfortably.

Soon Will appeared, making his way around the coffee table to sit next to her.  He was wearing his favorite worn brown pants and a blue flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows.

“I lit all the lamps,” he stated as he sat down, “I put the rest of the oil in the kitchen.”

“O.k.” Nora responded.  She was twirling a stray section of hair with her fingers while picking off lint on her purple tank top with the other hand.   Will watched her for a bit before then breaking the silence, “So, what do you want to do?”

Nora adjusted herself on the couch to face him before answering, “I don’t know.”

“Well,” Will looked down for a bit as he pushed his glasses up further on his nose, “We could talk.”

Nora was a little surprised now, “Talk about what?”

“Just some things I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of days.”

Nora could tell Will was being serious and she gave him her utmost attention now, “O.k.  what is it?”

Will adjusted his position on the couch as well, resting one of his arms against the back of the couch as he faced Nora.

“Well, you know how we were talking about what we would do when….when my dad died?”

“Not really,” Nora answered in a sort of sarcastic tone, “I wanted to talk about it several times but you never did.”

Will sighed and nodded, “Yeah I know, I’m sorry.”

Nora looked down as she wrung her hands in her lap, “Its o.k.”

“Well anyway,” Will continued, “I think you were right.  We don’t need to be here anymore.  There’s nothing holding us here and it would definitely be safer somewhere else.”

Nora now looked up, a little taken aback at his statement, “Really?  You really think that?”

Will nodded assuredly, “Yes.  I really do.”

Nora smiled, “I’m so