Surprisingly, when the nurses came by to do the check up, they didn't notice anything off about Jolyne. According to them, she had a stable heart rate, her breathing was fine, and she showed no signs of physical trauma or stress.
Suffice to say that it was abnormal given the state that she arrived at the hospital in. One of the nurses had to do a double take. Jolyne didn't blame them, especially since they had probably seen her as a corpse just a few hours ago. After a few papers were signed, and after all of her belongings were given back to her, she went to go get changed out of the God awful gown she had to wear.
When she finished getting changed in one of the women's bathrooms, she left the hospital and stood outside the entrance. Her shirt was still stained, although she had noticed that the blood looked faded. At least they tried to clean it while she was, well, dead.
Notoriously, blood was difficult to get out of fabric. She found that out when she accidently cut her finger when chopping up vegetables for dinner a few nights ago. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the blood stains came from. It came from when she had been attacked. If the damage had been as bad as it was, then it probably pooled underneath her.
It was morbid, but it was the truth. Thankfully, her pants weren't ruined, and neither were her undergarments. That was a huge relief, because she didn't feel comfortable not wearing anything underneath her shirt or pants.
Her phone still had charge on it, which was good. It had only been a half an hour since her parents had left the hospital, so there was no way that he was going to be able to pick her up. Which left Trevor.
Looking at her phone and staring at his contact, a part of her felt like it would have been better to just walk. Not because she had anything against Trevor—obviously not, he was a family friend. But, because he was the one who discovered her should-have-been corpse. Imagine if you got a phone call from supposed dead body you discovered on the side of a road? It would be pretty trippy.
But, at the same time, she wanted to go home. She didn't want to walk, and while she wasn't particularly tired, Jolyne wasn't going to risk attacking someone.
Her main reason for fearing that was due to the fact that she was, well, a vampire.
Externally, she was trying to remain as calm as she could. Internally, she was freaking out for a variety of reasons.
For starters, she was a God damn vampire! Vampires were real! If vampires were real, what else was? Was it just vampires? Was magic a real thing, too? What about werewolves? She was standing in the sun right now and she wasn't burning up, so was that just a myth? If so, what else was a myth?
A lot of things filtered in and out of her mind on repeat. Could she still eat regular food? Would her body even be able to process that sort of thing, or was she stuck having to feed on blood? If so, that would be problematic for several reasons, up to and including her parents being devout Mormons.
Excitement quickly paved the way for concern. Did she keep this a secret? Absolutely. She didn't need anyone to think that she was insane. It was already bad enough that most of the school thought she was weird anyway, outside of her small friend group. She didn't need to give everyone another reason to look at her strangely.
Although, she had to admit, she didn't feel particularly… vampire-y. She didn't feel super strong. She didn't feel like she could bench press a car or whatever else it was a vampire could typically do. She just… felt like herself, only with a bit of an appetite for blood, given that her brain was yelling at her to go find some poor sucker to drink from.
Which brought her to a very real concern of hers. Tomorrow, she promised to go to church with her parents. If she was a vampire now, did that mean the priest would know? Or, would she not be physically able to step on holy ground?
She didn't know. She didn't know what it was going to be like for her now. Obviously, she still had to go to school, that much Jolyne knew she couldn't avoid. But, something about this felt a little… off. Something didn't add up here and it was bothering her.
"Whatever, I can figure it out later," Jolyne thought, before finally dialing Trevor. Amidst her thoughts of her newfound existence, she decided that it would be for the best to just call Trevor anyway. The worst that could happen is that he didn't believe her, and thought she was some sort of sick prank caller.
A minute passed of the phone ringing, the sound echoing around the empty sidewalk. After what felt like an eternity, Trevor picked up.
"Whoever you are, and however you got my number, if you call me again using this number, I'll find you and drop kick you," Trevor spoke through the phone's speaker, his anger barely kept back under a pensive, furious tone.
"W-Whoa, hold on! Wait, Trevor, it's me! Don't hang up!" Jolyne frantically replied, only to be met with silence. She didn't speak for a second, letting the silence linger as she cleared her throat. "A-hem, um… Hi?"
"Jojo? But… No, this ain't right…. I saw you, dead. You didn't have a pulse, I—"
"I know, I know, but… look. The nurses called it The Lazarus Effect. I know, corny. Basically, if someone dies and they wake back up, it's called that. It's a one in a trillion chance of happening naturally, but I guess I got lucky," Jolyne said, trying to bring some sort of humour into the conversation, but the crushing silence curbed that notion before it could even sprout up from the ground.
"I—you know what, I shouldn't be questioning too hard. I'm just glad you're okay kiddo… I, um…" Trevor faltered for a moment, as if trying to reign his thoughts together. She could hear him suck in a deep breath, and if she had to guess, he was probably brushing a hand through his hair. It was something that Trevor did when he was calming himself down when he got overly emotional.
There was a long pause, and Jolyne could only feel bad for him. He was probably in the process of grieving, and she kinda just screwed that up. Which, technically, that was a good thing. Hard to grieve for someone who was alive.
"So…" Jolyne began as Trevor coughed.
"Right, um, You need to be picked up from the hospital, then? Your Dad came in station saying that he needed to talk to me about something later. I guess this was that?"
"Yeah, I kinda beat him to the punch," Jolyne joked, this time getting a laugh out of Trevor.
"You really are Karl's daughter," Trevor said. "Alright. Gimme a few minutes. Just wait there, and this time, try not to get your throat carved open."
"You bet," Jolyne said, a wry smile on her lips as Trevor hung up. It wasn't too long after that when a dark blue 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pulled up. It looked a little dirty, and there was a crack on the rear right window, which was the side that was facing her. Judging by the fact that all of the windows, aside from the windshield, were tinted, she didn't have a doubt in her mind that this was Trevor's truck.
Stepping up to the door, she heard the sound of it unlocking, and when it did, she opened up the door. Sitting in the driver's side seat was a short, portly looking man with ginger hair, a mustache and beard. Bright blue eyes glanced over at her, and a relieved smile filled his visage. He was still in uniform, meaning that he had just come down from the station.
"Get in, kiddo," Trevor said as Jolyne hopped into the passenger seat of his truck. The seats were made of grey leather, and the last time she had rode in his truck, it was comfortable enough to fall asleep in. In fact, that was what she had done the last time she had rode in here.
The drive from the hospital to where she lived on Cook Street was only a couple of minutes, and barely even a six minute walk. Really, it was an excuse to sit in Trevor's comfortable truck.It was silent. Neither said a word to one another. Not because of the awkward feeling in the air—although that definitely contributed—but for a different reason. What was there to even talk about?
To Trevor, Jolyne had died and somehow come back to life, and that was just something that, while possible, with her condition shouldn't have been.
To Jolyne, she was still processing that the events of last night even happened at all, and that she was a Gods damned vampire now.
Just as they reached where she lived—the second house on the right—and just as Trevor parked on the side of the road, he finally spoke. "Look… I know you ain't a believer in God, but, after last night…"
"Trevor, please, not now," Jolyne said, glancing over at him with a frown. "Look, I get it. "It's a miracle that I'm even alive", I get it. But please, I don't need a lecture right now."
"I ain't lecturing ya, Jolyne. I'm just saying. If ya lookin' for proof that he exists," Trevor said, gesturing over at her. "That's one hell of a piece of evidence."
"I never said I don't believe God exists," Jolyne said, crossing her arms as she looked over at him. "I just said that I don't believe in God. That's two very different meanings. It'd be like I'd say that me not believing in Mister Wilson to get to class on time means he suddenly doesn't exist. I'm sure God does exist, just not as The Bible portrays him."
"Hmm…" Trevor hummed disapprovingly, sighing. "I'll agree to disagree on that one. Now get goin', I'm sure your Ma's worried about ya."Without another word, Jolyne got out of his truck. As she did, her shoes hitting against the pavement, she closed the door behind her and walked up her driveway.
The house that her family lived in was a two floor, red and white house, red on the top, white on the bottom with a garage on the side of the house. Sitting in front of the garage door was her fathers orange 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. Off to the left of the garage was the actual entrance of the home, and next to that was an extended window that covered the whole front facing wall, blocked by a set of mahogany curtains.
Testing the door, she realized it was unlocked—a choice, given that there was a recent string of break-ins nearby, but then again, her mother was a bit of an airhead. Opening the front door, the entrance was nice and clean, where a welcome mat sat in front of the door. Over to the left on the wall was a picture of Jolyne, her mother, and her father when she was about five years old. Back when she liked to have her hair done up in pigtails.
Above the walkway, behind her, there was a cross that she knew was hanging just above the doorway, and just beneath the picture of her family was a shoe rack, where she put her shoes. The floor was wooden, and splitting off in front of her was an entryway into the living room, and the entryway to the kitchen. One went left, the other went straight ahead.
Jolyne walked straight ahead, where she entered the kitchen. She wasn't looking for anything inside the kitchen, rather what laid beyond it, that being an extension of the house where her bedroom was.
"Oh! You're home already? That must've been really quick. I didn't even notice Trevor pull in…. Is he already gone?" Her mother's voice snapped Jolyne out ofher trance of getting to her room. She turned to face her mother as she was hands deep in making key lime pie.
Her mother, the proud Floridian that she was, insisted on making key lime pie every time Jolyne's birthday came up, which just so happened to be in two weeks—five days after Halloween on November 5th. Not that Jolyne didn't like key lime pie; it was one of her favourites. But, she also wouldn't have minded a switch up for once.
The only thing that was confusing her was why she was making it so early? Or maybe she was just assuming. That was usually the case when she was either wrong about something going on in the house. Like how she once believed that her father was getting her an Oculus Quest for her birthday due to the size of the box the present had been in.
Instead, it was a PSVR 2, to go along with their PS5, which was conveniently in her bedroom. The same bedroom she was trying to get into.
"Hey mom," Jolyne greeted, glancing behind her. "Just trying to get to my room. I'mma little tired."
"Well, just so you know, we're having a guest over tonight. Do you remember Father Higgins?" Her mother asked as Jolyne blinked, before, eventually, her memory caught up to her.
Father Higgins was the man that led the church that her parents went to. Fitting that he was visiting today, given that she was going to be joining them tomorrow.
The question was, why? From her understanding, Father Higgins never visited people unless it was some sort of private intervention. So, unless her father was getting drunk on a daily basis again, she didn't know why Father Higgins was needed here.
"Yeah, I remember. Why?" Jolyne asked, confusion lacing her tone as her mother smiled."Well, we told him that you would be joining us in service tomorrow, and he wanted to meet you. In fact, he'll be over in a few minutes!" Susan said, a giddiness in her voice that really shouldn't be there.
From what she heard of Father Higgins, he was a bit of a weird guy. Rumours said that he might have been a predator, given that he seemed to always be talking to young girls and boys as if he had known them. Although, she had also heard good things about Father Higgins. He had donated to the Creston Valley Food Bank more than enough times to have earned a healthy reputation.
He had also donated to other charities, like the Children's Cancer Foundation, as well as a few other organizations that helped those in need. She couldn't name them off the top of her head, much as she tried. All she knew was that it helped those in need. He also did a monthly blood drive to donate it to the hospital.
"Huh, neat," Jolyne replied. "Gonna go to my room now," and just as she said that, there was a knock at the front door.
"Oh, could you get that before you go hide away, Jojo?"
Sighing, Jolyne walked back over to the front door and opened it. When she did, she was met with Father Higgins.
Father Higgins was a tall man, around 190cm tall to be exact. Rather than wearing what she assumed he would typically wear, that being priest attire, instead he was wearing something much more casual.
In particular, he was wearing a white button-up shirt with short sleeves and a popped collar. Alongside that, he was wearing a pair of black jeans, kept up by a brown leather belt. His shoes, those being black slip-on church shoes, had looked a little stained with something, but Jolyne couldn't piece together what it was exactly.
However, it was upon looking at Father Higgins face where she had a reaction to his appearance. It specifically had to do with his bright, crimson red eyes with slit pupils, and the combed back, black hair with the V-shaped hairline. His face was clean shaven, and he had a few wrinkles on his forehead. Jolyne's eyes widened as she stared at Father Higgins, and Father Higgins stared down at her with a slightly upturned smile.
"Hello, my lambkin. A pleasure to see you once again. May I please come inside?"