I closed my eyes and they were there again, radiant and hauntingly beautiful. A mixture of deep blue and purple hues. Yet, no matter how hard I tried to match a face to them I couldn’t. Surely, with eyes that gorgeous, they would have a gorgeous face to match, right?
Footsteps carried down the hall and my attention averted to the open door. Colin sauntered passed the door without stopping. From my viewpoint, it looked like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. “Colin,” I called out to him. He froze, just past the door and all I could see was his right arm. “Colin,” I called again. He backed up slowly and placed his left arm on the frame of the door.
I studied his body language carefully. He was fidgety, like a drug addict, just coming down from their high. His shoulders were tensed and he seemed to be looking everywhere but at me. Something wasn’t right with him. Colin Martin had always been a direct person. That was something I always admired about him. This Colin Martin wasn’t the one that I knew.
“Oh, hey, Georgie,” he chuckled nervously. I stared at his fingers intensely as he twirled them around and played with them. “How are you feeling?”
I wanted to shout, lost, confused, and pissed off. Where was he when I came back? Did he think I died? He promised to protect me, and here I was severely injured. But what I needed most, was for him to fill in all the missing pieces so I glanced at his face and narrowed my eyes. “I’m okay.” I adjusted the pillow behind me with my head. “Colin, listen, I wanted to talk to you last night, but May wouldn’t let me. So, I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for slapping you.”
He looked over his shoulder and spoke with a detached tone, “Oh, you remember that?”
“Yes,” I said with a bit of uncertainty. What was going on with him? He was really starting to freak me out. I kept trying to read the expression on his face but he was constantly turning his head. “Why?”
He rested his forehead against the door. “I just heard you couldn’t remember anything, that’s all.”
“I can remember most of what happened up there.” He was looking at the floor again. “Would you just look me in the eye for God’s sake!” He looked at me but I still didn’t feel like I had his full attention. “I need your help. There is a huge chunk missing of what happened that I can’t remember. I thought that you might remember for me.”
Colin folded his arms across his chest and began tapping his right foot. “You ran off, remember?” There was a snarky tone to his voice.
“Oh, I remember that. You totally deserved it,” I added with a bit of attitude.
“It was a joke!” he snapped.
“And you were the only one who found it funny.” I sifted through everything that happened during that joke and I recalled the part where I said I loved him. “Are you acting weird because I said I love you? Or did we have another fight out there that you aren’t telling me about?”
My gut was telling me it was because I said those three big words. To be honest, I knew I cared for him deeply. I more than liked him. And he almost always sent my teenage hormones reeling. But love? That was too strong of a word and I shouldn’t have used it. It was a heat of the moment kind of thing and I wished I could have taken the words back. I mean, I thought he was dead. In any tragic situation, sometimes people said things they didn’t mean. Maybe I’d tell him that eventually, but I didn’t mean to say those words when I said them.
Colin stared at the floor, in a daze. “Neither,” he finally answered.
I was baffled. “Then what happened? I don’t understand. Why are you acting so strange?”
He took small steps away from the door. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.” He turned and walked down the hall, leaving me alone. His words sounded meaningful enough.
“Colin, wait!” I shouted, hoping that he might turn around and come back. “Come back! I have more questions!” He ignored me. The sound of his footsteps against the muddy floor continued then faded in the distance.
Minutes later, Grace poked her head through the open doorway. I smiled at her as she rushed to my bedside. “Oh, Georgie,” she exhaled. “I was so worried about you.”
I smiled. “I asked to see you last night, you know?”
“Yeah,” she grumbled. “My mom wouldn’t let me see you.” She picked up one of my hands. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Not really.”
“Did you see Colin?”
“He was just here.”
“Well, what did he say?
“Absolutely nothing.”
Grace raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“There is something really weird going on with him. It’s driving me crazy because I can’t remember a portion of what happened when we were up there and I feel like he knows and is keeping it from me. Have you heard him say anything?”
“No. You know I’d tell you if I did.”
“I know.”
Grace stayed with me for another hour. It was a Monday so she had to go to school, but she told me she’d be back to check on me.
Throughout the day, I had numerous visitors, but Colin never came back. After our conversation, I was pretty sure he was going to avoid me. But he would only be able to avoid me for a little while. Because I was regaining the use of my arms and it would only be a matter of time before I could use my legs. And when I regained the use of my legs, I would stop at nothing until I figured out just what exactly Colin Martin was hiding from me.
Frankie remained by my side for most of the day, always eager to help me or get me something I needed. My mom let her miss school for the day so she could spend time with me. She had me convinced that she might actually make a great nurse in the future. “Here.” She reached behind my head. “Let me fluff your pillow.” Sitting up, I watched her punch the pillow several times, bunch it up and pull it apart, then she patted it, until it was extra fluffy. “There,” she said as she sat back down. “How does that feel?”
I nestled into it and smiled. “Great. Thanks, sis.”
She nodded. “Anytime.” Frankie lifted her knees to her chest and hugged them. “So, when did May say that you could get outta here?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Well, can you walk?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried to yet.” The upper part of my legs were still as stiff as a board, but I could roll my ankles. “Maybe in a day or two,” I said with confidence.
“Do you know why Colin Martin wasn’t hurt as bad as you?” Frankie asked, with a puzzled look on her face.
What I wanted to say was, “you tell me.” My sister was the colony gossip queen. Nobody would say anything important when she was in hearing range, because they knew better. Normally, I hated that she could never keep a secret but, her last question sparked a genius idea. I frowned. “No. I don’t know why. But you can find out for me.”
She pointed to her chest, looking astonished. “Who, me?”
“Yeah, you.”
Frankie scrunched her face together. “Well, what is it exactly that you want me to do?”
A wide grin spread across my lips. “Do what you do best, my little talking parrot.”
If Frankie, the one person with the best hearing in the entire colony, couldn’t pick up something about what was going on with Colin Martin, then I was pretty much screwed.
She nodded and smirked. “I like that idea.”
Chapter 13: Be Careful What You Say Around Little Birds
