The Hollow Root - Chapter 23
First time? Here’s the table of contents:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22
Room 207 was a large but standard size room for a roadside motel. It featured two king beds with about 2 feet separating them, a decently sized flat screen TV poorly mounted to the wall and a DVD player bought several years earlier. The room had a chair in the corner next to the window and small bathroom area with a jetted tub. Kavin entered the room and sat on the edge of one of the beds looking towards the blank TV. He pushed to empty his thoughts and clear his mind simultaneously to avoid providing the voice information as well as to just find some sense of peace.
“Kav, you gonna be okay if I hop in the shower?” Fasaani said, already walking towards the shower as though the question was really just a pleasantry.
“What? Yeah... whatever... I... Amy will be up soon,” Kavin said, pushing his mind to focus on nothing.
Fasaani entered the bathroom and looked into the mirror. Her face had long red lines drawn across it in blood. Her skin still smooth and her eyes seemed wild even to her. She pulled the skin on her cheek down and pushed it back up before chuckling slightly. She thought how different she looked than she felt. How the face looking back at her was not recognizable. The only thing that felt like her was the blood she had painted on. She took her knife out of her pocket and put it onto the sink. For the first time in years the knife brought a small tinge of fear to her as she looked at it. She turned to the shower and twisted the handles until the water brought some steam with it out of the pipes. Slowly she removed her clothing and folded it carefully onto the top of the toilet tank. Fasaani took a deep breath and faced the mirror again.
“I am me,” she said softly.
She grabbed her face again, released it, and slapped her own cheek firmly.
“I am me,” she repeated louder and firmly.
She shook her head and stepped into the shower. The hot water soothed her as she watched the red blood start to drain off of her body and flow down into the drain. Tears formed in her eyes and she started to sob gently.
“I am me,” she said through a gurgle of her own crying.
Meanwhile, Amy pulled the car into the new spot and sat with her hands on the wheel. She stared at the door to their room.
“Fuck... fuck... FUCK!” Amy said, slamming her hands into steering wheel.
Amy pulled her breath in deeply and released it slowly. Deep down she knew she had to be stronger than she felt. They needed her and they didn’t have time for her to have a meltdown. Amy pulled another deep breath in. Kavin is compromised, and Fasaani is wild. Amy had to be strong to pull them to North Falls. She needed to figure this out and then go back to the way life was. Her mind stopped. The way life was... didn’t exist anymore. No matter what the outcome of this was their lives were new. Even if she got her senses back, Amy was different now. She pulled the rearview mirror to show her face. Her eyes were red, bloodshot from stress, and unlike Fasaani, she felt wrinkles were forming on her face. As Amy looked closer she even thought she saw the glint of a white hair on her head. She didn’t dare look further on the off chance she discovered her suspicion to be true. Amy sat back in the seat of the Camry. She had to go in eventually but right now... Amy needed the silence of the Camry. She took a deep breath again and looked back at the door.
“Just 10 minutes, that’s all I need,” Amy said as she reclined the driver’s seat and closed her eyes.
Kavin sat at the edge of the bed listening to the sound of the water from Fasaani’s shower. He was dreading the thought of having a thought so he pushed his mind to focus on the noise. The crackle of pressurized water pushing out of the showerhead. Eventually his mind drifted from the room and found itself at the base of a waterfall. The vision felt real even though Kavin was aware he probably had just fallen asleep. The moss on the fallen trees was a vivid green and the small pool at the bottom of the waterfall seemed to invite him closer. Kavin felt himself move towards the waterfall slowly enjoying the relative calm of the scene. He walked closer and closer until he could feel the mist on his face. Something was off though, the mist felt warm. Kavin reached his hand out towards the fall confused by the warmth.
“WHAT THE FUCK KAVIN! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” a shrieking voice shouted at him as his hand hit the warm water.
“I don’t understand? Who is speaking?” Kavin said, pushing his hand further into the waterfall.
“KAVIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” the voice shrieked.
Kavin pulled his hand back from the water and felt confused. Was it the waterfall yelling at him? He felt the urge to reach in again but more forcefully. He would find out who this voice belonged to. As his hand broke the water he felt something soft and fleshy.
SLAP
Kavin’s vision steadied itself as he realized he was not in some dream but standing in the bathroom facing Fasaani who had just slapped him across his face. Tears mingling with blood dripping down her face as she stood horrified in the shower. Why was he here? Kavin’s mind felt fractured. He thought he was on the bed sleeping, but he was in the shower violating his friend’s much needed space. The color left his face and he backed slowly out of the room with a blur of motion and sounds surrounding him. Fasaani was saying something but the sound was muffled as his heart began to race and he fell back onto one of the beds. His chest seized in and felt as though the ribs were cracking.
Kavin let out a scream as he pulled at his shirt. His vision flittered through the hotel, memories, faces, places, everything he had ever experienced jumbled and flashing before him. He started coughing uncontrollably and finding even the smallest amount of air to be a struggle.
His vision blurred as his system struggled to find oxygen. Cough after cough his body contorted at the force of his wrenching. He didn’t even notice that he had fallen off of the bed and onto the floor at this point. His every muscle flexed as though they could help expel whatever was blocking his airway. Then with a sudden and violent hack, a dark mist slowly floated out of his open mouth forming a small head-sized ball in front of his eyes. Kavin’s heart started to race as he slowly found more air accessible. Panic took hold as he watched a toothy smile form on the ball of black smoke.
“I’ll see you soon. Oh, and Kavin, don’t think you won anything. I was always going to leave you here,” the grin whispered before it faded to nothing.
Just as the mist drifted out of the room, the door opened with Amy standing and looking very confused as to why she saw Kavin on the floor. Fasaani had wrapped herself in a towel and rushed out of the bathroom with her knife drawn.
“Kavin, I don’t know what the fuck is going on but I am this close to seeing if your blood flows like Vaino’s did,” Fasaani said.
“What... what is happening?” Amy said, looking confused.
Kavin opened his mouth but the only thing that came out was another cough. He pulled himself to a seated position on the ground and tried to steady his breathing.
“Faz... I... I never meant. I didn’t. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened,” Kavin stammered as his voice came back to him.
“Kavin what did you do?” Amy said, looking shocked.
“I thought I was dreaming. I walked to a waterfall but it wasn’t that, it was the shower and Fasaani was in it. I didn’t want to. It wasn’t me,” Kavin said.
Fasaani put the hand holding her knife down to her side.
“Kav. I get it. I’m mad, confused, violated and a million other feelings but I fucking get it,” Fasaani said, wiping a finger down her cheek and looking to see if it still came up red.
“I didn’t mean to, Faz. I... I would never intentionally hurt you,” Kavin said, stammering.
“Kav, I think you would never hurt me intentionally... anymore,” Fasaani said with an awkward laugh nested in her words.
“What?”
“The skin thing,” Fasaani said.
“Shit... that was pretty awful of me,” Kavin said.
“Yeah it wasn’t a day at the spa for me,” Fasaani said with a wink.
Amy sat stunned in silence for a second watching this all unfold. Her mind repeating the thought “They need me, I’m stronger than I feel.”
“Do you think this TV gets one of those channels that just shows home remodel shows?” Amy said.
“What?” Kavin and Fasaani said in unison.
“Hand me the remote, I’m going to check,” Amy said, motioning her hand towards the remote.
Kavin, confused, reached over and grabbed the standard hotel remote and handed it to Amy.
“Amy...” Kavin started to say but stopped when she glanced at him.
“I also get it, Kav. Right now though I just need everything to stop for 30 minutes,” Amy said. She pushed the power button that did not immediately respond. She pushed again more forcefully until the TV whirred on. She began flicking the channels as if she was on autopilot before calmly landing on an episode of “This Old House.”