In the Blood

Harry sighed as he drove the car into the garage. Home, finally. No more long hours of asking people if they'd tried rebooting their computer, or watching their confusion when the problem disappeared as soon as he walked in the room. Though Ms. Newton's computer actually was on the fritz; it had been an engaging two hours of getting the firewall to behave. But now he could spend time with his daughter Elizabeth. Since Patty was visiting her parents, the two of them planned a night of pizza, video games, and absolutely atrocious horror movies.

Harry's parental instincts went to Defcon 1 as soon as he saw Elizabeth. She was sitting at the table, pale, wrapped in a blanket, staring straight at the wall. She didn't even turn as he came in the room.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? Are you OK?" Harry set his bag on the floor and pulled up a chair next to her. 

Elizabeth kept staring, but held out her arm. Harry gasped; there was an enormous cut across her skin. He decided she must be in shock. "What happened? Wait here, I'll grab the gauze." He glanced around the table and grabbed an unused napkin left over from breakfast. "Here, hold this on it until I get back. Put pressure on it to stop the bleeding."

"It's not bleeding." Her voice broke, and Elizabeth finally turned toward him. Tears hung perilously at the corners of her eyes. "I was going to do all that, but it's not bleeding."

Harry looked closer. The cut was pretty bad; he could see where the skin was forced apart. It wasn't especially deep, but it was long, more than enough to be dripping blood. He couldn't see a single drop.

He gagged, but quickly pushed down his feelings. If that was his reaction, Elizabeth needed him to be strong. "I'll get the gauze anyway. We don't want it to get infected." He squeezed her hand. "I'll just be a second." Harry ran to the closet and grabbed the first aid kit. Soon Elizabeth's arm was wrapped in white cloth.

Harry put his arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Can you tell me what happened yet?"

Elizabeth broke down in sobs, then used the napkin to dry her tears. Her body jerked up and down as she suppressed her crying, and then she swallowed. Finally she met her father's eyes and nodded.

"I was walking back from the bus stop when I heard shouting. I went to see what was going on, and--" Elizabeth paused, swallowed, and took a deep breath. "There were two guys. They had knives and they were shouting at a third guy that he must have more money. I screamed, but that just got their attention--"

Harry swore and stood up. "Where are they? They did this? When I find them I am going to feed them their own--"

"Dad, wait!" More tears ran down her cheeks. "Let me finish."

Harry clenched his hands into fists, but sat back down. He would hear the rest of the story, then go take care of those punks.

"I got scared and tried to run but one of them grazed my arm. Then... then..." Elizabeth started sobbing again.

Harry's fingers gripped the edge of his seat so hard he half expected it to break. It took more willpower than he knew he had not to hunt them down right then and there.

Elizabeth started breathing loudly, fast at first but then slow. Her voice was tense, a side effect of the control she forced herself to have. "Then I started bleeding, but it didn't stay. The blood just kind of dissolved, and then the bleeding stopped."

Harry felt his face contort in confusion. The conversation made less sense the longer it went on. "Your blood... it... what?"

Elizabeth hesitated. "It kind of... disappeared into a little orange cloud?" She dissolved into simultaneous laughter and tears as she rested her head on the table. "I didn't think it could get any crazier until I said that out loud."

Harry's anger was quickly changing into worry. What in the blazes was happening here?

"I saw it and the guys saw it, and it was so weird we kind of just stared for a second. Next thing I knew this... it kind of looked like orange light... came out of nowhere. It threw them against the wall, hard. One of them ran, but the other one didn't look too good. He was bleeding, and..." Elizabeth hid her face in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. "I was too scared to see if he was alive. I ran home and that's when I realized I wasn't bleeding anymore."

Harry pulled in Elizabeth for a hug. Maybe she was crazy, he didn't know. All he knew was his daughter needed him. "It's going to be OK. I'll take care of whatever it is. And I can make sure you never see those guys again."

Elizabeth squeezed him and cried. "What's going on? Am I some kind of monster now? Am I even alive? What happens if I ever get cut again? What if everyone around me gets hurt if I get hurt?"

Harry kept holding her. "You're not a monster. You're my daughter. I don't know about the other questions but we'll get through this. OK? You're safe now."

Elizabeth nodded and straightened. They both stared as the white cloth on her arm began to stain red.

Elizabeth broke down laughing again. "Well, that's one question."

Later they found out that the guy in the alley got picked up and taken to the hospital, then arrested after his accomplice ratted him out. Though the police were a bit dubious at first, what with the raving about how he had to go straight because of a sign from God. The initial victim coming forward clinched it. Elizabeth was relieved that he had the tact not to mention her.

A week later, she cut her finger on a can in the recycling. She held her breath and waited. Blood oozed out of the cut and began to drip on the floor. Elizabeth exhaled, then went to get a bandage.