Chapter 46: Emerging Friendships

Chapter 46: Emerging Friendships

Samantha first noticed the dryness of her throat. She tried to say something, but could only make a gurgling sound. Water dribbled into her parched throat until she could at last say, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” growled a familiar voice. Samantha opened her eyes to find herself in her bedroom at Mr. Pryde’s house with Mr. Pryde standing at her bedside. “About time you woke up. How’re you feeling?”

Her head felt as though someone had filled it with cotton while the rest of her felt limp as boiled pasta. With Mr. Pryde’s help, she managed to sit up in bed. “I’m feeling better, I guess,” she said. “What about you?”

“I’ll survive,” he said. “I’ll let your cousins know.”

Mr. Pryde got up, leaving Samantha alone in the bedroom. She pulled her arms out from underneath the covers to see the familiar bronze tone of her skin. She wiggled her long, knobby fingers before she reached up to feel the acne, short hair, and big ears that had driven her to using Joseph’s potion.

She didn’t have long to consider this change before Prudence and Wendell came in, the former with her left arm in a sling and the latter with a scar on his forehead, reminders of the damage she’d done to them. “Mr. Pryde said you were awake,” Prudence said. “We weren’t sure if you ever would wake up.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Two weeks,” Wendell said. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t have time to test the formula before I gave it to you.”

“It’s all right. At least now I’m caught up on my sleep.”

They all shared an uneasy laugh about this. “How much do you remember?” Prudence asked.

“Everything,” Samantha said. She couldn’t stop herself from crying at this realization. Prudence leaned down to put her good arm around Samantha’s shoulders. “You must hate me now. All those awful things I said. And what I did to you. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course we can. You weren’t yourself. We know that.”

She thought about what Mrs. Milton had said. “No, I was myself. For the first time, I was myself.”

“How can you say that after all you’ve done for us?” Wendell said. “If it wasn’t for you we would never have gotten rid of Reverend Crane.”

“You’ve been my best friend. My sister,” Prudence added. “You’ve cared for everyone in Eternity.”

“It was our turn to return the favor.” They shared an uneasy laugh before Wendell and Prudence got up at the same time. “We’ll let you rest.”

“Now that you’re awake, we’d better start loading up the supplies to take back,” Prudence said.

The supplies. Samantha had almost forgotten about the children on Eternity waiting for them. “You got everything on your own?” she asked.

“Mr. Pryde and Mrs. Schulman helped,” Prudence said.

“We didn’t tell them about the island,” Wendell added. “They think we’re taking everything somewhere up the coast.”

Samantha couldn’t believe it. In less than a month Prudence and Wendell had gone from knowing almost nothing about the world outside Eternity to being able to manage the entire resupply operation by themselves. Now that she looked closer, Prudence looked as though she’d lost at least ten pounds. Tears came to Samantha’s eyes as she felt like a mother whose children leave home to go out on their own. Proud and yet with a sense of dismay that she would no longer be needed to kiss their boo-boos and tuck them in at night. “Are you going to be all right?” Prudence asked.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll see you two later.” They walked out together and before the door closed, she saw Wendell take Prudence’s hand. What had happened to them in her absence? She would have to ask Prudence later.

She lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. With everything that had gone on since arriving in Seabrooke she didn’t know if she could go back to Eternity with Prudence and Wendell. She couldn’t bear to hurt them again as she had under Joseph’s spell. She’d been a fugitive before coming to Eternity; perhaps it was time to go back to that life. Better the beast within escaped around strangers than people she loved.

She heard a shy tap on her door. “Samantha? Can I come in?” Joseph asked through the door. His voice sounded higher and a little more nasal than she remembered.

“Of course,” Samantha said. Two weeks of sleep had changed Joseph back into the boy she’d met that first night in his bedroom. He wore a set of blue pajamas and his hair stuck up from all angles, meaning he must not have woke up long before her. He pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat but didn’t say anything. He paced around back and forth until she asked him to sit down, feeling dizzy from watching him.

“Sorry.” He cleared his throat again and then said, “I wanted to apologize for what happened with us. I know I said some terrible things and did some terrible things.”

“It’s not your fault,” she said. “It was the potion.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. I hurt you. On purpose. The worst part is I enjoyed doing it. I wanted to hurt you. At the end I wanted to kill you.” He took off his glasses and pressed both hands to his face. “I can still see it when I close my eyes. I see myself doing these things and I want to stop, but I can’t. It’s like there’s something else inside me. Something dark.”

“A beast,” Samantha said. “A beast you’ve kept in a cage and all the sudden it’s on the loose.”

He took his hands away from his face and nodded. “Exactly. I don’t understand where it came from. Maybe it’s been there under the surface since Mom died.”

“Me too,” she said.

Neither of them said anything for a moment. Joseph finally put on his glasses and stood up. “Dad and I were talking and we think it’d be best if I stay over at Mrs. Schulman’s until you and your friends leave.”

He started for the door; he had started to pull it open when she said, “You don’t have to do that.”

“That’s nice of you to say, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable—more than I already have.”

“I want you to stay.” Samantha kneaded the blanket in her hands as she worked up the courage to say what she wanted to say. “I know we got off to a bad start, but I think—” Her voice had begun to tremble to the point that Joseph handed the cup of water back to her. She drank the entire glass before continuing, “I think I’d like another chance.”

“Really?”

“If you want. If you don’t—”

“I want another chance. Of course I do. Unless you’re not sure. I don’t want to push you into anything.”

“I’m sure. Really, I am,” she said, trying to sound confident, but a quaver still came through.

“OK. I guess I should let Dad know then. I’ll see you later.” He stood there in the doorway for a moment, his face turning red. He took a step towards her, stopped, and then waved on his way out. Samantha waited until he left to smile.