The Secret Keeper

My heart stopped. He died, I knew it.
“What about him?” I demanded, my voice sounding much louder that it had been a second ago.

He died.

“He’s out of surgery. Everything looks fine, he should be okay.”

I just about collapsed. Luckily, Holly was there to catch me before I hit the ground. Ivy just smiled.

“He’s okay?” I vaguely heard Holly ask.

Ivy nodded. “We’re not completely out of the woods yet, but the doctor just came and told us that he’s back in his room.”

I sat down hard in one of the chairs. Bo was alive. He survived.

“What happened, exactly?” Holly asked.

Ivy thought about it for a moment. “The bullet went into his right shoulder, so it was in no danger of hitting his heart to begin with. And I’m not really sure what happened, but he pulled through. He’s going to be real loopy the next few days, that’s all I can say right now. You know, those real strong medications.”

I just smiled weakly.

Bo was going to be okay. I couldn’t really wrap my mind around it at first. He was going to be okay.

I beamed at Holly. She smiled back, and pulled me into a tight hug.

-[-]-

Three hours. Three freaking hours we had to wait to see Bo. Well, let’s just say I’m not the most patient person in the world, and we’ll leave it at that. I’m almost sure there were tracks in the ground from my pacing.

“Eve, just sit for a second,” Arkarian groaned, resting his head in his hands. I looked at the clock on the wall. Three in the morning. Huh. I wasn’t tired.

Holly, Ivy, and Arkarian, however, looked about ready to pass out. Holly already was, actually. Ivy was resting her head against Arkarian’s shoulder. Arkarian himself was closing his eyes.

I sighed and took a seat.

“Now,” he began groggily. “Tell me again. Exactly how did you… erm… kill Faye and Evan?”

I bit my lip. “I used these two stake things to put it through their hearts. The left side, I know,” I added, after he looked like he was going to interrupt. “They both dropped like rocks. And… well, then the Creatures took care of the rest.”

He looked visibly relieved, but wasn’t completely satisfied. “I didn’t expect all of this, Eve. If I knew…” He stopped, unable to continue.

“It’s okay, Ar – Dad. You didn’t know. And besides, we all made it out okay.” Well, that wasn’t really true.

This whole experience had given us too many emotional scars to even count. Things happened that most people only see in horror movies. But I think that what they say is true. “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

I feel stronger, now. I feel like I can handle anything, with Holly and Bo by my side and Ivy and Arkarian behind me, 100%. I feel…

…loved.

But Holly was right. I had some growing up to do. Thinking back, I can see just how immature I’ve been about the whole thing, and it’s made me realize that things have to change. For the better. I can’t be exactly the same person I was before all of this happened.

“Are you the family of Boris Cromwell?” a nurse asked us, jolting all of us awake.

“Yes,” Ivy responded quickly.

“He’s awake now. If you would like to see him…”

My eyes lit up. “Yeah, we would.”

-[-]-

“You look terri- OW!” I elbowed Holly in the side, making her cut off.

Bo really didn’t look too good. His normally tan skin looked pale and sickly-looking, but not in the Changed person way. He just looked like someone who’d had a cold for a few days. His eyes weren’t the glittering emerald I’d known, but just a dull green. Altogether, he really didn’t look like himself.

But he was sitting up and looking around, and that was all that mattered.

When he saw me, his face went from lit up to pained within seconds.

We all exchanged the customary “How are you feeling?”’s and the “We were so worried!”’s. Bo responded to all of them well, completely aware of what was going on.

After a few minutes, though, we were all silent. Completely talked out. Which, let me tell you, is not something that is easily done.

Suddenly Bo spoke up. “Can I talk to Eve alone, please?” His voice was hoarse, like he hadn’t used it in a while.

They all smiled, nodded, and got up to leave. As Holly walked by me, she whispered, “Just tell him.”

Tell him what? I wondered, staring at her retreating back.

I turned back to Bo. He was gazing at me intently, trying to pick the right words. He looked adorable.

That’s what I had to tell him. In everything that had happened, I’d never told him the simplest fact I’d come across. The one thing I’d known my whole life, yet never realized it until he was almost ripped away from me.

The one thing I’m sure he knew, but I’d never actually said out loud.

“I love you,” I blurted without thinking.

His jaw dropped for a moment before he regained himself. He smiled widely and patted the spot next to his good shoulder. I walked over hesitantly and sat down.

“You know I love you, too.”

I kissed him on the cheek quickly, feeling my own heat up.

“Eve, I… Wow. I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

I looked at him incredulously. “What could you possibly be sorry about? You were shot, Bo! I was so stupid, I hadn’t made sure Evan was completely dead, and-”

I was cut off by Bo’s lips crashing onto mine.

When he pulled back, he was wearing this goofy grin that I’d seen one too many times in my lifetime. “You know what? I don’t think it matters a whole lot any more.”

The others chose that moment to barge into the room. Or more like fall into the room. Holly, no doubt, had had her ear pressed up against the door. She smiled sheepishly.

“Listen, guys. Sorry to interrupt, but I just noticed something… important,” Arkarian announced.

I looked at him funny. “What is it?”

“The Creatures are gone.”

I beamed even wider.

Maybe everything would go back to normal now. After battling with Creatures, Nightmares, killer headaches, killer heartaches, and more than one good outfit… It was all over.

It was all kind of surreal.

But, like Ivy said, we weren’t quite out of the woods yet. Bo’s arm was still really badly injured, and he might not have full usage of it again. Holly had been gone for two months without any excuse, and something told me that “I was kidnapped by zombies” wasn’t going to be a terribly believable one. Ivy and Arkarian still had some issues to work out with the Book or whatever.

And we still didn’t know what the Secret was.

I think that after all of this – all of this madness – I’ve finally realized something.
Things change. It’s how we react to them that make up who we are.

“’All’s well that ends well,’” Bo quoted, smiling brightly.

“Wow. Shakespeare. I’m impressed.”

…And others, well, don’t.

-[-]

I told you, didn’t I?

You didn’t find out the Secret, because even I don’t know what it is. No one does.

But you know what? I think we’re all better off not knowing.

Ha. Fooled you.

THE END