Natasha placed her hand on Tyson’s face and then Katie’s. “He’s much worse than she is,” she determined. “But I think he’ll be fine. I can get the poison out and heal him. Katie will also be fine, her body is fighting the poison well.”
John let out a sigh of relief, kissed his wife on the top of her head and murmured, “Thank you.” He soon left the bathroom so that his wife could work in peace. He waited in the living room, pacing back and forth and eventually resorted to sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. Twenty minutes later, Natasha came back in.
“Done,” she said. “They’re sleeping now. The poison has drained from their bodies, and they won’t feel its effects.”
John sucked in a breath for a moment and then released it. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t know how this happened. I don’t know how I missed it.”
Natasha came over and sat next to him.
“We knew that this day would come,” she said. “And we’ve done everything we can to protect our daughter and ourselves from the threat. But the forces that we must face are almost inevitable.”
“Yes, I knew this would happen, but so soon?” John asked and looked up at his wife in despair. “I hoped that she would be an adult before we would have to go back.”
“And maybe that’s still possible,” Natasha replied. “This was one attack and from a child at that.” Natasha looked at her husband. He looked back with a worried face, still hunched over in his position on the couch.
“You don’t think Sabrina was hers, do you?” Natasha asked.
“She must be,” John replied. “You saw the condition Katie and Tyson were in. This wasn’t normal. It must have started.”
“Maybe, but we can’t know for sure,” Natasha reassured.
1
A Visit from the Past
About ten years had passed since the incident with Sabrina. Both Katie and Tyson’s families had moved to New Jersey to chase work opportunities. Tyson’s father had passed away shortly after the move, right before Katie and Tyson started high school. As for Sabrina, after she left, no one remembered her. She had completely left their lives as if she had never existed.
Katie and Tyson’s very last class of their very last day of senior year had ended, and they were walking down the hall, on their way to freedom. Students lined the hallways, standing and chatting away as they emptied their lockers, realizing how much junk they had stashed away over the years. Their graduation was scheduled for the following evening in the school auditorium.
“So, this is it. Our last year, Tyson. Our last day. After tomorrow we won’t have to deal with any of this,” said Katie, happily as they walked down the front steps of the school and into the parking lot. “It’ll be weird though, not going to school every day, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” agreed Tyson. “It’s like we’re adults or something. Who would have guessed? After tomorrow’s graduation, our lives are in our own hands. What a thought.”
Before Katie could respond to Tyson’s sarcastic reply, they heard a voice come up from behind them.
“What are you two lovebirds doing?” Tyson and Katie’s friend, Emily, had caught up to them, carrying a backpack stuffed with books and awkwardly holding another four in her arms. She had pushed through a crowd of unaware girls who were talking excitedly in the middle of the parking lot.
“We’re just friends,” Katie informed Emily, who very well knew that. Emily had met Tyson and Katie on their first day of high school and the three had been close friends ever since. Emily’s black hair had three blue streaks that shot through it. She dyed it regularly to keep its vibrancy. Her dark hair accented her skin tone, which had a tan to it.
“Enough talk about us,” Katie said excitedly. “I heard that you and Vince might have something going on!”
Emily sighed. “Been there, done that, and so over it now,” she replied. “The guy was a jerk. He didn’t want to know me, you know? He wanted to, you know, know me.”
“Which he probably did,” Tyson replied. “My name is Emily Orchard and if you don’t want to know me up here,” he pointed to his head, “Then you don’t get to know me down here.”
“Shut up,” Emily said, attempting to hit Tyson in the arm but barely grazing his shirt. She laughed though, they all did.
“You know, if I didn’t see you date about five girls over spring break alone, I wouldn’t have ever guessed that you were straight,” Emily said.
“Hey, I didn’t date five girls,” Tyson said. He started to speak but was interrupted by Emily.
“Date, sleep with, who cares what you call it. Either way, it was gross. Right, Katie?” Emily’s words snapped as they left her mouth.
“Sorry?” Katie asked. “I spaced out a bit.”
Emily looked at Katie for a moment before Tyson started to speak again.
“Hey, I’m not that kind of guy,” he objected, defending himself.
“Let’s see, star of the football team, and you’re not even a quarterback, your mom owns a company that makes you the richest kid in school, you can show up late to classes and don’t get assigned detention,” Emily was counting on her fingers. “Shall I go on?” she said with a wide, sarcastic smile.
“No, no,” Katie stopped Emily, pulling her hand down, “Give the poor player a break.”
“I just want to say that I don’t hang out with any of the other guys on the team, I don’t have any of my mother’s money, just what my dad left me, which wasn’t that much, and I had detention last weekend.”
“Oh,
