Double Trouble

Upon finding Calarasi, Eli had a very bad feeling as to the fate that befell his cousin. Only a very powerful blast could have ensured that Calarasi was dead. And, sure enough, his aunt called out only a few minutes later that Dawn was dead. Eli’s heart sank. Dawn was important to everyone; with Aunt Savannah, she was special because it was the only girl. Now that she was gone, Eli wondered how Aunt Savannah would take the fact that only two-thirds of her children were alive. It was difficult for even him to get over since it was usually Dawn that Eli needed to babysit. With her dead, things were going to be difficult for awhile.

Once he was far enough away from the rubble, Eli called his father. Reuben and Keith needed to know what happened to their sister. It wasn’t long before his father picked up. “Hello?” he asked

“Dad,” Eli replied. “Something happened.”

“Eli?” his father asked. “Eli, what happened?”

“Just come down to the hospital; bring Reuben and Keith with you. Everything will be explained when you arrive. I’ll be waiting in the lobby,” Eli informed his father. He knew it would be far better to tell them in person what happened rather than hearing it over the phone. If Eli was the one on the receiving end of the bad news, he’d want to be told in person. Plus, it would probably be better for Aunt Savannah if her brother and the remainder of her children were here to help her deal with what happened; Uncle Toby was still in recovery and had no knowledge that his daughter was dead. The entire Meadowbrook family needed to be together to deal with Dawn’s sacrifice; they couldn’t be grieving on their own.”

“Okay,” his father agreed. “I’ll be there shortly.”

As soon as he was certain that his father, Reuben, and Keith were on their way, Eli adjourned to the front of the hospital to meet them. This was only after going to make sure that Uncle Toby was okay, for sunrise was ten minutes earlier and there could be no sunlight pouring into the room. Aunt Savannah would surely sink into deeper despair than she was in right now if she lost Toby as well. After everything she went through to keep him around, it was merely adding insult to injury for Aunt Savannah to lose her husband.

Ten minutes went by before his father and male cousins arrived at the hospital to meet him. Reuben and Keith were both yawning heavily; Eli couldn’t blame them. He wanted to do so as well. “What’s going on?” his father asked, eyeing his son warily. “Why exactly would you call us here this early? And, where did you and Dawn disappear this morning? We woke up and you both were gone with only a note sitting on the counter.”

With that question, Eli launched into the spiel he prepared. “Dad, as you very well now, I fell asleep sitting at the table. Well, a few hours later, Dawn shook me awake and warned me that Aunt Savannah and Uncle Toby were in danger. We flew out here to the hospital to stop Calarasi, Jason, and Justin from attacking them when they could not defend themselves, or at least Uncle Toby couldn’t. We were able to stop Calarasi, but Mom got into Uncle Toby’s room and injected him with something. None of us know what with, but it began a chain of events that no one could stop. Aunt Savannah and I sat by Uncle Toby for the longest time before realizing that Dawn was nowhere to be found. It turns out Dawn did something that I don’t think that Aunt Savannah will ever recover from; to save us, Dawn sacrificed herself. While getting rid of Jason, Justin, Calarasi, and even Mom, Dawn lost her life.”

“My niece is dead?” Dad asked.

Eli nodded. “To save us,” he confirmed.

“How’s my sister through all this?” he asked.

“Upset,” Eli replied. “Of course, given what happened, that’s to be expected. I’d be more concerned if Aunt Savannah wasn’t upset because of what just happened to Dawn.”

“I wholeheartedly agree,” Dad said. “My sister has always proven to be very sensitive when it comes to death. I never exactly knew why that was, something to do with when she was little. Our parents’ deaths when she was thirteen didn’t help things all that much. There was no way that she would ever be able to deal with another death. Dawn’s death will not bode well. It may take a lot more than just Toby in order to get my sister through this death.”

“And, if Uncle Toby doesn’t make it through the you-know-what, I doesn’t know how Aunt Savannah would ever take that news,” Eli confessed. “She won’t ever be right if that happens.”

“Exactly. Now, where is my sister?” Dad asked.

“I think she’s still with Dawn’s body; she’s still upset over what happened, over the fact that Dawn sacrificed her life in order to keep us safe,” Eli said, glancing at his cousins. “We need to get away from Dawn; otherwise, she’ll never get over what happened.”

“I’ll take the boys over then,” Dad replied.

Following this exchange, Eli returned to his uncle’s room for awhile. Since he spent all night around his aunt, Eli wanted a little time to himself. Normally, this wasn’t a problem, but when she was mourning her daughter, Eli was not willing to be around her at the moment. He slumped down in the chair and sighed. “Uncle Toby, I really hope you come out of this. Whatever Mom did to you, you have to come out of it; Aunt Savannah is in a bad way and you’re the only one that might be able to fix what happened. Dad always did say that you were able to bring Aunt Savannah out of her depression; you need to do it again.”

Seeing Aunt Savannah so depressed was contagious; Eli was far more upset today than he was in his entire life. And, the fact that Dawn was gone didn’t help anything; he was upset about that—far more than he would ever let on—and being around Aunt Savannah was never going to help. Sitting alone was the best thing for him for the moment.

“What’s going on?” Uncle Toby asked weakly.

“You’re not going to like it,” Eli reasoned.

“Tell me,” his uncle insisted.

Eli was glad that he closed the windows. Uncle Toby was up and could probably stay up so long as there was no sunlight in the room. Of course, telling his uncle about Dawn’s passing might cause him to do something stupid. “Uncle Toby, if I tell you what’s been going on, you must promise me that you aren’t going to do something stupid. Aunt Savannah is in a bad way over this and I’m quite sure of the fact that you will do the same. Even Reuben and Keith would do the same if they knew the details of what happened throughout the night.”
“
Which is what?” Uncle Toby asked.

“Dawn’s dead,” Eli said simply.

“What? How?” his uncle asked.

So, Eli once again explained the events of the previous night. Though he knew that his uncle would not take too kindly to the fact that this happened, particularly Eli’s mother injecting him with something while he slept, it needed to be told. “…I know it’s never going to make up for your loss, but everyone else is dead: Jason, Justin, Iyana, and Calarasi. They’re all gone.”

“You’re right; it won’t,” his uncle said.

“You’re taking it better than Aunt Savannah,” Eli noted.

“How is Savannah taking the news that our daughter died sacrificing herself to ensure that my family never came after us ever again?” Uncle Toby asked. “Even your mother?”

“As expected,” Eli replied.

“So, not good,” he realized.

“Afraid so,” Eli replied. “Dad, Reuben, and Keith have tried pulling her away from Dawn’s body, but it’s been to no avail. If they were able to do so, Aunt Savannah would be here.” Eli doubted that it was going to happen anytime soon, not when Aunt Savannah got this upset when it came to death. He knew saw it firsthand until today and Eli was quite sure of the fact that he never wanted to see. Things would only get out of hand if nothing was done. “Uncle Toby, you need to talk to her; maybe there’s something you can do to ensure that Aunt Savannah doesn’t sulk over Dawn’s death for two years the way she did with her parents. From all the stories I’ve heard over the years, I don’t think she can take that.”

“It’s Savannah, so I really couldn’t say what might happen,” Uncle Toby said. “Your aunt has always been a stubborn woman. It took me three months to get through to her that she couldn’t just sit around and sulk over the fact that her parents were dead. I was able to get her through what happened, but it took a lot of convincing. This will be even more work since it was the death of our child. I’m not sure if it’s going to work this time.”

“But, you can do it?” Eli asked.

“With a little time,” Uncle Toby replied.

Eli knew that waiting would do nothing for his aunt. Aunt Savannah would surely slip into a deeper depression if nothing was done in a timely manner. “Uncle Toby, are you sure that there’s nothing we can do right now?” Eli asked. “I don’t think that this can wait.”

“You’ll have to get Savannah to come here,” Toby said. “Since I can’t go out in sunlight, she needs to come here so that I can talk to her. I’ll see what I can do about this.”

Hoping that Uncle Toby might be able to make some progress with his wife—especially after the last time he did so—Eli left his uncle’s room and went to find Aunt Savannah. Maybe Dad and the boys have made some progress in getting Aunt Savannah away from Dawn’s body. If this was the case, bringing Uncle Toby into this might not even be necessary. He hoped that was the case because Dawn had only been dead for a little over an hour and things were already getting out of hand. He just wanted things to return to normal, or at least as normal they could be now that a member of their family was dead.