Created

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Dead?" I whispered. "W-What happened, Adam?"
I was stunned. When Adam began his story, I hadn't know what to say. I still didn't know what to say. I didn't have much experience, obviously. Needless to say, I'd never been in a situation where the guy I was crushing on was... Well... A robot. I didn't know if anyone had ever been in that situation. What was I supposed to say to him?
"It's hard to explain," Melissa responded solemnly in place of Adam. I knew everything would be explained to me in good time, so I simply let them fall silent, each reflecting on the events of that day in Chicago and lost in their thoughts. So, I decided to get lost in mine.
I also didn't know how to respond to, much less consol, Melissa. She'd woken up when she heard Adam talking and sat with us, occationally adding bits and pieces of her own struggles, mainly concerning Erik. Which kept reminding me that these were only memories. And Erik was... Dead. I couldn't imagine the pain Melissa must be going through, knowing the only man she'd ever loved was gone.
So, there I'd sat. Silently listening. The sun had come up by this point, though and the golden rays spilled through the huge kitchen window where we all sat at the dining table. Th cookies I had woken up to get so many hours ago were untouched. But it didn't matter. It seemed like we'd been sitting there, reliving so many things, for ages and that was more important that cookies. The time had passed at exactly the pace Adam and Melissa wove their stories-slow and incredibly detailed. But I appreciated it. I felt like I'd been there with them as they explained their pasts.
But... Adam wasn't human. I couldn't stop thinking about that, which was understandable. Out of all the things I'd suspected he was, being an android hadn't even made it on the list. I remembered the books I used to read about girls who fell in love with vampires and werewolves and other unbelievable creatures and compared my story. But I couldn't see any of the similarites I thought I might. An android was no vampire and this was no Twilight. At all.
But... Knowing that he had wires and motherboards instead of organs and veins didn't change my feelings for him. I still really liked Adam, despite the fact that he wasn't who I thought he was. He was sweet and sincere, which was more than I could say for most guys. And he made me feel special. And for once, I had a true friend. So I could easily see past computers that kept him running.
"I guess...," Melissa muttered quietly and stood. "I'd better get dressed. I have to run back to the store. I left all my groceries on the curb, remember?" I remembered. She'd been on her way home from the store when she saw Adam and I, lost on the side of the road and Adam, who was too sick to move on. So she'd dropped her bags in the street so she could help us, then forgot about them.
"Hey, um," I stood as well, ackwardly shoving my hands in my pockets because I didn't know what to do with them. "I-I'll go with you."
"And me, if you don't mind," Adam added from his seat at the table. "I just... I think I need to get out for a while. Breathe."
"Yeah," Melissa muttered and rubbed a piece of her hair between her fingers thoughtfully and sadly. "I, uh, I know how you feel."
My gosh. I hadn't really recognized just how melancholy and sad these two were until they described their pasts. Melissa used to be so animated, so alive. And Adam was more smiley and had more of a sense of life in him. Now they both looked half-dead and depressed. It wasn't a great morning greeter, to be honest. Suddenly, I found myself missing Adam's warm, sincere smiles and Melissa's joyful laugh, the ones I had known while experiencing their stories. But, not knowing how to express this to them, I simply played around inside my pockets with my fingers and swallowed. The silence was almost too much to handle, but it's not like I really had anything to say. Nothing that I could voice, anyway.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one to have nothing to say. Silently, we all stood and shuffled out of the room, trying to suppress the sadness that was bearing down like lead on each of our hearts. This was not a good day already. Because no matter how hard you tried to pretend, or forget, or relive the past, one fact rang true in everyone's mind. Erik was dead.
I didn't know Erik. Not really. But through Adam and Melissa's words, I sure felt like I did. It was crazy, I know, but suddenly, I felt the same remorse and heartbreak they felt over hearing of his death. And it was painful. I felt like someone had cut into my heart and left the wound to keep burning me right down to the core. I didn't know how Melissa and Adam weren't having mental breakdowns as of now. Even I almost was, but that might just mean that I'm too fragile.
"You look awful," Adam said quietly to me once we reached the dark garage and, in turn, Melissa's car. But instead of getting into the front seat, as I had motioned that he do, he took my face gently in his hands and studied my eyes. A bit surprised, I wondered briefly if he could hear my heart pounding at his touch, but shoved the thought away because it was too embarrassing. If he knew how much I was coming to love him...
"Do you feel okay?" Adam's gentle voice in my ears brought me back down to Earth and, reluctantly, realized I'd have to pull away from him or he'd read my too easily. See written in my eyes just how shaken I was. And I didn't want Adam worrying about me. He already had a generous amount to worry about and didn't need my contribution. So, uncomfortably and reluctantly, I stepped back and away from Adam and dropped my gaze. Sadly, I swallowed and let my brown curls fall into place over my face to hide how upset I was from him.
"N-No, I-I'm fine. Honestly," I stammered and mentally kicked myself for stuttering twice in a row. How pathetic was I that I couldn't even speak?! "I just, l-like you said. I just need to get out. Some fresh air." Adam didn't look convinced, but let it go all the same. I could see that I was slowly making my way to his worry list and tried to offer a smile to vanquish his fears. But he had already turned and was getting into the car just in time to miss it. So, sighing, I gave up and opened the back door. But my first step was halted by the distinct cracking sound from under my black flats.
"What was that?" Asked Melissa, turning around from the front seat. Shocked, I stopped and pulled my foot away.
"Oh my gosh," I said quietly. "It's my phone." Heartbroken, I reached down and gently lifted the little Blackberry up off the floor of the car. A thin line split the blackened touch screen in two halves, but still attached. Gently and silently praying for a miracle, I pressed the green 'on' button in the back and watched as the screen fought against the crack to display it's opening picture. Though impaired, the little computer still worked. "It's still running," I offered my friends a small smile. "It must have slipped out of my pocket when you found us the other night, Melissa," I said and was about to continue but was interrupted by a long stream of beeps and alerts, just now coming in after being shut off.
"What's all that?" Adam asked, leaning over the seat to try and see the screen.
"Alerts," I responded and gasped to see they were all calls from one person. "Oh gal. Oh my gosh. My mom." How could I have been so stupid?! How could I have forgotten my mother, who I didn't even call or text to tell her where I was?! She must have been going out of her mind with worry!! Hastily, and fearful of the tongue-lashing I just knew I was going to get, I called her back. It didn't even have to ring twice.
"Oh my gosh, Claire!!!" I heard my mother's voice on the other line. "Where are you?! What happened?! Are you alright, are you hurt?! Oh gal, Claire!!" The stream of questions pouring from the Blackberry's speakers was loud enough for everyone to hear, and I watched helplessly as Melissa and Adam exchange worried glances.
"Mom! Mother, I'm fine!!" I cried, only have my mother's sobs of relief as a response. "Gal, Mum, I'm so sorry. I'm okay, I'm fine! It's okay, so don't cry!" I saw Melissa out of the corner of her eye bite her lip and swallow. Adam was being as quiet as he could, which was very nearly perfectly silent. The tension in the car was like nothing I'd ever experienced.
"What happened?! The police were here, they said there was some sort of attack on the hospital!!! They said eye witnesses saw a brown-haired nurse running off with some man." Awkwardly, Adam coughed and slumped down in his chair. "Claire," my mother said and her voice suddenly gained a stern anger. "Tell me exactly what happened. Every. Detail."
"E-Exactly? Exactly what happened?" I asked nervously and looked to Melissa and Adam for help, but both were just as nervously looking away. "W-Well, it, um... I-I-"
"Is there something you don't want to tell me, Claire Nicole Brummer?" Asked my mother in her most frighteningly stern voice.
"N-No, it's just... Unbelieveably hard to explain," I said as truthfully as I could. In all honesty, I had broken a lot of rules. I had run off with a guy I hardly knew, no matter how harmless, sweet and handsome he was. And I was staying in the house of another guy I didn't know at all. Period. And that was just the beginning. Oh gal, I was going to start crying myself.
"Try," came the response. Oh my gosh. But right when I was about to break down and start sobbing, Melissa came to the rescue. In a second, the phone was out of my shaking fingers and held confidently up to Melissa's ear. I guess she'd recovered from her own nervousness to realize that I was slowly melting away under my mother's angry voice.
"'Lo, Mrs. Brummer!" she cried cheerfully to the shocked gaze of both Adam and I. "I'm Melissa. Melissa Cooper! I'm one of Claire's friends!" There was silence both in the car and on the other end of the line.
"... One of Claire's... Friends?" Mom asked, sounding astounded.
"Yup! We met at, um, at the hospital! I kinda wanted to volunteer, too, you know? And we just because such good friends!" Melissa lied expertly through her teeth.
"Claire, how come you didn't tell me about Melissa?" Mum asked quietly. I think she was mentally editing her lecture upon realizing that I, the social failure, had manage to make a friend.
"I-I just, well, I didn't have time," I stammered, trying to lie like Melissa. "I'm sure I mentioned her once or twice."
"Hmm... Well, yes, maybe you did." Great! Her killer tone was softening and she was sounding calmer now. "Yes, I do think I recall hearing her name a few times." Silently, Melissa punched the air victoriously and mouthed 'She's falling for it!' Omigosh. I felt like a horrible person, lying to my mother. But we had no other choice. "But who was that boy people saw you with? The tall one you were running with?" With a shaking hand, Adam reached over and took the phone from Melissa and held it up.
"H-Hello," he said quietly. "I'm Adam."
"Adam? Are you a friend of Claire's as well?" She asked and he nodded, then remembered he was on the phone.
"I-Yeah. Yeah, I'm a friend of Claire's." With this, Adam relaxed a little and glanced over at me with a small smile. A bit embarressed, but smiling myself, I looked down and hoped I wasn't blushing.
"And you helped her escape those-those things that attacked the hospital?"
"Well, uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess I did help!" Adam's face lit up at the prospect of behing helpful. "I did!"
"Mum, if Adam hadn't been there," I said so she could hear. "I might have died! Those things would have totally gotten me."
"Um, hey," Melissa grabbed the phone back quickly before Mother had a chance to respond. "We want Claire to come with us. We're thinking about maybe taking a trip to Illinios. You know, um, see the sights and all. It'll be fun! Can she go? Pretty please?"
"Well, I-I suppose so, but-"
"Yes! Omigosh, thanks sooo much, Mrs. Brummer!! This rocks! We'll call you later with the times and stuff. Kay, bye!" And with that, Melissa closed the call and, smiling smugly, handed it back to me. "And that's how you do it," she grinned.
"So...," Adam said hopefully. "You said we were going to Illinios? For certain? You've accepted it?"
"Accepted?" Melissa scoffed and turned the keys in the ignition. "I haven't accepted squat. I said 'thinking'. I said 'maybe'. I'm being the nice person I am and giving you a chance to convince me that once we get there, Arta won't fry every circuit in your head."
"She won't!" Adam argued.
"And why not?!" Melissa asked, gripping the wheel hard as she began to pull out. "She didn't even hesitate to blow Erik to smithereens." I watched Melissa silently try to hide the tears sliding down her cheeks. "She didn't even think. So why would that evil woman even hesitate to rip out all your wires and dissect your brain, eh?
"You can sure think of a lot of creative ways to kill me," Adam muttered spitefully under his breath.
"Because I'll be there," I said, shocked at my own boldness. "I'll be there and I'll protect him."
"It's hard to protect anyone from Arta," Melissa said. "Especially when she hates them as much as she hates Adam." What the devil could that man have done to inspire such hatred in Arta? As far as I could see, Adam couldn't hurt a fly, even if he wanted to.