Mom's House Just Got Worse

I was waiting at the front of the school for my mom to pick me up. I didn't really wanna spend a whole weekend with my mom when Zach was still in the hospital. I wasn't ready for her to be badgering me about what happend to Zach. Trust me. She would be. Just then her red mustang pulled up. She's always late. She had a smile on her face when she asked, "So, how was school?"

I was just getting in the car and she was already annoying me. "A death trap. As usual."

She was looking around like she was looking for someone. Please don't ask where Zach is, I thought. "Where's Zach?" Damn it! There it is.

"He had an accident and is in the hospital." I know I can't tell the whole truth to everyone but why go to a full out lie when you can tell the partial truth.

"Oh I hope he's alright!"

"Mom, he's fine! The doctor just need to keep him in for a couple days. Now can we stop talking about it?" I didn't want to talk about it. Anytime anyone today asked me about Zach, I just had to walk away because it was too hard to handle.

We pulled up into my mom's drive way and I looked at the old, run-down home. This was the home that I grew up in. My mom never made any changes eventhough the building is practically falling apart. The lining on the roof is falling off. The doors are creaking beyond belief. I just never felt safe in this home. I was brought out of my thought when Mom said, "I have some news Sweatheart."

I looked at her confused. "What?"

She sighed and looked at me, "We're moving."

I couldn't comprehend what it was that she was saying. Moving? Mom never even talked about moving. She loved it here, or so I thought. "Where are we moving?" Why was I saying we?

"To Spain. Oh! You're going to love it. Your school will have-"

"Wait, Mom! Stop! I'm not going. The papers say that I live with Dad and I want to live with Dad." In reality I didn't want to stay with my dad. I wanted to stay with Zach. It was better for me to stay here.

"Do you really want to stay with your father?" She looked at me with a sceptical look. I knew what she was thinking but I didn't care.

"Yes Mom. This is were Zach is!" I didn't want to leave Zach. It was hard enough as it is to be away from Zach the time that I was away from him.

She sighed and shook her head. I knew she didn't apporve that I was making my desicion over one guy. "Honey, you can't stay here because a guy. That's what I didn with you father, and look what happened."

"Mom, Zach is the first guy in my life that I've felt this way about. I don't know if I could just pack up and move across the world without him."

"Alright, let's compromise." I sighed. Mom was always trying to compromise with me. "How about you come to Spain for two months. Then, if you still want to stay here, you can come back."

I shrugged. With Matilta around I didn't know what was the safest chioce. "I don't know. I'll think about it." Then we went inside.

Zach and I were texting. He seemed to be doing much better today than he was yesterday when I left him. I thought that now would be a better time an any to tell him about Mom's compromise.

MOM'S MOVING!

WHERE???

SPAIN!

COOL! IS THAT ALL YOU WANTED TO TELL ME ABOUT THAT???

WELL, SHE WANTS ME TO GO WITH HER FOR A FEW MONTHS.

It took him a while to respond. I didn't know what he could be thinking. I THINK THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA RIGHT NOW.

YEA BUT I DON'T WANNA BE AWAY FROM YOU

ME NEITHER KATIE BUT IT'S YOUR SAFTY WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT HERE.

I KNOW BUT-

NO BUTS YOU SHOULD GO.

I sighed. OKAY.

BEHAVE THOUGH OKAY.

K!

"Mom!" I had to brace myself for the craziness that was about to come when I told her that I was going to Spain with her. Zach was right. Maybe a few months away from here will get Matilta off my back.

"Yes!"

I sighed. "I'm coming to Spain with you!"

"Oh that's awesome. It's only for a few months."

I didn't want to leave for two months and not see Zach first. It was going to be tourture being away from him as is. "I was wondering if we could go see Zach before we leave?" I asked her. I was hoping she wouldn't mind.

"Yea. That's fine sweatheart."

Then she drove me to the hospital. I was wondering if I should text Zach and tell him I was coming and then I thought that it would be better if I just surprized him. So I did. I wanted to see his face before we left. I needed to know that he was going to be alright with me leaving. When we got to the hospital, Mom pulled up to the front enterance. "Thanks Mom! I'll be out in a minute."

"Alright! Take your time." I rolled my eyes. She always says take your time but then she rushes me though things. I hated it.

I walked into the hospital and went right for Zach's room. I went into the blinding white room and saw that Zach was... sleeping. He's always sleeping. It made me smile to see that he was so peaceful. It showed me that he wasn't in that much pain.

I guess he heard the door open because he woke up with a startle. "Katie!" He sounded like he just got out of a dream. Then he really saw me. "Katie, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to Spain with your mom?"

"We're not leaving until tomorrow afternoon and I wanted to make sure that I got to see you before we left." I walked up toward his bed and grabbed his pale hand. It was surprizingly warm. He was always warm, especially for a vampire.

He smiled. "Great! You know I'm only agreeing to this because-"

"I will most likely be safer in Spain." I interruped. Something was bugging me about something that Matilta said when I met her. "I was just thinking. What if they know I'm leaving?"

He looked confused. I guess he didn't hear the part where she knew he told me about her. "What do you mean? How could they know you're leaving?"

"Well, Matilta knew when you told me about her and her family. I was just wondering if they would find out I'm leaving and just follow me to Spain."

"Katie, come here." He hugged me. I needed this. I can't believe I would spend two months away from this hug. "I won't let her get to you. And if, somehow, she does get to you. I will be right by your side before you know it. I promise."

All I did was kiss him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He stood up and wrapped his arms around me. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him. We never had a kiss like this. We both got so lost in it. I think we both for got that we were in the hospital. I wrapped my arm tighter around his warm neck. I didn't want this feeling to stop. The feeling that no one on earth existed except for him and me.

Zach pulled away, but only so slightly that he could say something. His lips were still brushing against mine. "Kaite. You're phone is ringing." He was right. I got so lost that I didn't even realize that my phone was ringing. Zach let me down and I pulled out my phone to see who was calling.

I laughed. "It's my mom."

"Well, I guess that means you should go." I looked at him. He had sad eyes. I knew he didn't want me to leave. I pulled him down to me and kissed him. I mean he was a good 5 foot 9 while I was only 5 foot 1.

"You know I'll hate every moment I'm over there right."

He nodded. "Just try to behave and don't give your mom any trouble." He laughed while his lips were still close to mine. It took every muscle in my body to pull away and leave. "I love you." He said.

"I love you too." How on earth was I going to live without him for two whole months? I have no idea.

Chapter 8:

Spain

I've been in Spain for about a week and my opinion of it is, that I hated it. I can't believe I still have a month and a half to go with this stupid trip. I don't really speak Spainish very well. The natives don't speak English all that well and it sucked. I think the only person who actually speaks English is the only person that I talk to. His name was Nicolas. He is really nice to me.

Nicolas was the kind of guy that you thought looked cute but he only looked like a little brother cute. He was about my hight which I liked because I didn't feel that I was straining my neck just to look at him. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He was also probably tanner than anyone that I've ever seen. It was hard to believe that not all the girls at his school were just fawning over him.

Nicolas and I were walking home from school. I was kind of depressed. Zach told me yesterday that he was having trouble with his oxygen. He was supposed to be out of the hospital when I landed but he's still in the hospital. I guess I was showing my emotions because Nicolas asked me, "What is wrong? You look upset or worried."

I sighed. I didn't really talk about what was going on at home. I was trying to get away from that. I just can't help the feeling that I was being watched. "Well, my boyfriend in America is having problems and I'm just worried about him." I hoped that was enough information for him about it because I didn't want to talk about it.

"What type of problems is he having?"

"It has something to do with his oxygen and breathing."

"Oh that is bad." I nodded. It was also kind of hard to tell him that vampires were trying to kill me. Matilta was texting me earlier in the week. She hadn't mentioned anything about knowig that I was in Spain. I am just parinoid that they know that I'm here and they are waiting for me to be alone. I really was making an effort to stay with one other person while I was here. I figured that they wouldn't attack if I was with someone who didn't know about vampires.

"What is your boyfriend's name?" Nicolas asked me.

"Zach."

"If he is having problems over in America, why did you decided to come here with your mother?"

Crap! How do I explain this kind of thing to him? He can't know that there are vampires. "Well, when I was leaving, he was doing really well. His issues didn't come up until I had already been here for about a day." That was a good explination Katie. Good job!

"It must be hard to be away from him." He had no idea how hard it was to be away from Zach. It was like someone was sticking a knife further and further into my heart. Just then I got a text message from Trent. It was weird because Trent never text me.

MATILTA IS NO WHERE 2 BE FOUND AND ZACH IS OUT OF THE HOSPITAL BUT HIS PHONE GOT STOLEN.

I shoved my phone into my pocket. "Great! She probably has his phone and she's probably on her way here!"

I didn't realize that I had said something out loud until Nicolas said, "Who probably is on her way here?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Nicolas really can't know any of this. He's a nice guy and all but I really just need to figure this out on my own. Plus we were at my house. "Thanks for walking me home Nicolas."

"You are welcome Katie." He walked away and I opened the door and walked in.

Chad was sitting on the couch in the living room. Mom must have been out job hunting. She didn't like just sitting at home with nothing to do. I went right up to my room. It really wasn't decorated but I really didn't care about decorating it. I need to know where Matilta is and I needed to know now.

Just then Zach's phone sent me a text. YOU THINK YOU'RE SO SMART GOING TO SPAIN TO HIDE. JUST LEARN NOW KATIE THAT YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM MY FAMILY AND I. -M

I had to tell Zach. I needed him here or I just needed to hear his voice. I had to call Trent. So I did. The phone kept ringing until Trent finally picked up. "Hello?"

"Trent! Is Zach around? I need to talk to him. It's important."

"Yea Katie, he's right here."

There was a pause. "Hey Katie!"

"She knows!" I'll admit it. I was sorta in panic mode.

"Wait, who knows what?"

"Matilta! She knows I'm in Spain! She has your phone! And she saying that I need to learn that I can't hide from her and her family! And-"

"Okay! Katie, just relax. We don't know for sure that she's in Spain. We will look for them here and you need to just enjoy Spain and not think about any of this. They won't hurt you. I promise that I won't let them."

Just then I heard Mom come home and I knew that we had to get ready to go to dinner. "Alright. I have to go. Mom's made a reservation for this fancy resturant down the street."

He laughed. "Okay. Call Trent if you get anything to tell you that she's in Spain."

"Okay! Love you!"

"Love you too!" Then he hung up. I was not looking forward to this dinner. I didn't want to pretend that I was calm when inside, I'm freaking out.

I hate fancy resturants. My mom knows this but she doesn't care. I was wearing the best thing I owned. A pair of jeans and a v-neck. Yes I know. That's not the appropreate attaire for a fancy resturant in a foreign country. I heard it twenty times from my mom in the last twenty minutes.

When I walked into the resturant I could tell that I was going to hate the food. I could tell that it was only made up of seafood. I hated seafood. It smelled disgusting and I just hated the fact that it was a bunch of dead fish and stuff from the ocean. It's just cruel what they do to these animals. Did I mention that I was also a vegan? Yea I know what everyone is thinking "hippie".

We sat down at our table and Mom was talking about what kinds of jobs are available for teenagers around here. She seems to think that I love Spain way too much to leave in two months. Well, guess what. I'm leaving in two months. I can't stand being so far away from Zach. Especially now.

Our waitress was probably the only waitress that spoke a little bit of English. This is the one thing I hate about being in a foriegn country was that no one spoke the same language. She was super skinny. She probably was finishing up college or just got out. She had long, black hair and green eyes. She was really pretty.

When she came back with our food, she handed me a note. "This note is from that family over there." She said as she pointed toward another table. I didn't reconize a lot of the face waving back at me. They all looked familiar in some way. Then I saw one face that I did reconize.

Matilta.

I opened the note. I figured that the other people at the table were the rest of her family.

Thought you were safe? Well, think again. The only way for us to truly get revenge on Zach and his family, is to get to you. If you don't do what we say, Zach will die. Matilta has Zach's phone. We are willing to give it back to you after you acomplish all the task that we ask you to do. This is your first assignment. You cannot tell anyone about this. Not even Zach. Matilta will text you more later.

-The Martins

Okay, so how do I react to this note? Do I freak the hell out like I'm just about ready to do? Do I tell Zach and risk the fact that they could kill him? I think I only have one option here. I have to silently freak the hell out and just do what they say.

Mom was being her nosy self again and asked, "What does the note say hunny?"

I had to make some sort of story up. I couldn't tell them that these people were willing to kill me just to get back at Zach. "Nothing. They know Zach and his family and wanted to say hi." That is the best answer that I could give her. I didn't want to worry about any of this. But this is the price of being in love with a vampire.