140. Recovery

glossary: matric dance = prom

Bridgeport, present day...

Michaela didn’t want to go to therapy, but to make her parents happy she agreed. After her second therapy session she admitted to her friends it wasn’t so bad. She liked Dr. Sanchez. She was easy to talk to, she didn’t judge the choices she was determined to make as soon as she was eighteen, and she didn’t blame her for the incident in Hollow Creek.

While she attended her therapy sessions with Dr. Sanchez, J.D and Krimsyn attended their own with Dr. Harlow in the next room. Therapy had helped them before, and they knew it would help them again, especially now that they’d decided on the date for their wedding.

In one of their sessions, Dr. Sanchez suggested hypnosis since Michaela found it hard to talk about Hollow Creek. Michaela was not convinced it would work but she agreed; she’d do anything to get her memories back and find closure.

Krimsyn and J.D. agreed to the treatment after numerous assurances on Dr. Sanchez’s part that Michaela wouldn’t be in any physical pain, and the moment she showed signs of distress they’d discontinue the session immediately.

In her calm, soothing voice, Dr. Sanchez took Michaela back to Hollow Creek, to that night two weeks earlier…

Michaela explained to Dr. Sanchez how she met her prey and picked him out from the crowd at Waylon’s Haunt, and she described the “demon” that had taken over her just before she attacked and drained him to the point of near death.

She found it easier to delve deeper into her memories with Dr. Sanchez beside her, holding her hand, her calm voice gently coaxing her to confront her past.

“…I can’t stop drinking from him. His pulse has slowed. It’s not as loud as before. It’s very weak, faint. Almost gone. I know I should stop, but I can’t…I can’t seem to. Please make me stop. Make me stop hurting him,” she convulsed on the couch, clutching the doctor’s hand tightly.

“It’s okay. You’re safe. Tell me what happens next. Where are you now? What do you see? How do you feel?” Dr. Sanchez squeezed her hand gently, her calm, soothing voice leading her deeper into her subconscious.

“It’s so dark, but I can see the rats scurrying on the ground. Something pulls me away from him.” She choked back her sobs; a single tear trickled down her cheek.

“Is it a sound, a person, what is it? What pulls you away from him?” Dr. Sanchez asked again.

“It’s me. The part of me that knows it’s wrong; the angel inside me pulls me away.” Michaela replied, her breathing came out shallow and forced.

“Now, look around you, are you still in the alley?”

“Yes. Yes I am,” Michaela, with her eyes still closed, nodded her head.

“Where is he? Where is your prey?”

 “He’s on the ground. I’m leaning over him trying to resuscitate him. But it isn’t working. He’s not responding,” she cried shrilly.

“What do you do next? Describe where you are and how you feel at this point.”

“It’s drizzling and it’s so dark. I’m scared I killed him. Scared I missed curfew. Mom and dad will be so mad at me. And he’s dead, on the ground. I have to save him. And I---I tear at…I tear at…” Michaela sobbed and shuddered all at once.

“Yes. Go on, it’s okay, you’re safe,” Dr. Sanchez cooed gently, squeezing her hand again reassuringly.

“I tear at my wrists and force him to drink my blood. He doesn’t want to, but he takes some in. And oh my God, I’m bleeding so badly, it’s falling all over him, on my hands, and my clothes, and on the ground. It’s everywhere!” Michaela jerked on the couch, her forehead damp with perspiration.

“You are doing so well, tell me more.” The therapist continued.

Michaela took her through the rest of her night, “I black out after that and when I regain consciousness he’s behind the trashcans. I think he tried to get away from me, but he was too weak from all the blood loss, I think that’s how he ended up there. When I see him, his empty eyes staring back at me scare me, and I panic. I run. I don’t know what else to do. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” Michaela screamed loudly, causing her parents to barge into the session.

“What’s going on here? What are you doing to her?” J.D. howled at Dr. Sanchez.

“Why is she crying? Take her out the trance,” Krimsyn also yelled.

Their therapist came in then and tried to pry them away, but they wouldn’t leave the room knowing their daughter was distressed.

 Dr. Sanchez, bewildered by the sudden appearance of her patient’s parents, forced herself to stay calm and bring Michaela out of her hypnotic trance, “Michaela, When I count to five, you will be wide awake, feeling good…One. Two...Three... Four...Five... open your eyes... fully coming back... fully back... wide awake... that's right...wide awake.” 

As soon as Michaela opened her eyes, her parents dived for her and cradled her in their arms. Dr. Sanchez and Dr. Harlow left the room to give them privacy.

“Mom. I remember. I remember everything. I didn’t kill him. But I think I turned him. I don’t know how though, I swear he was dead. His eyes were like Trudy’s mom. He had no pulse!” She told them everything she’d just discovered with Dr. Sanchez and J.D. cleared up the rest of her confusion.

His theory was when Michaela came to and saw her prey’s vacant eyes he was already undergoing his transformation. 

After exchanging blood with a vampire, human’s go through a short period known as the “change”. It’s characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing and it can last from a few seconds to minutes, and may occur five to thirty times or more in an hour, and that’s when their DNA mutates and the vampire gene takes root in their system. 

“The point is when you came to and saw him there, he wasn’t dead, he was going through his change, and that’s why you couldn’t pick up a pulse when you held him; his transformation though would have been complete three days later. Sweetheart, you didn’t kill him.”

“It doesn’t make it okay,” Michaela sobbed in her hands.  “I had no right to turn him. And if I could take it all back I would. I was just trying to save his life. I’m so ashamed of myself for what I did. Attacking him like he wasn’t worth shit”

“Hey, I don’t ever want you to feel ashamed of being a Vampire. It’s who we are. This is not your fault. If anyone has to take blame for Hollow Creek, it’s me and your father. We should have taught you how to hunt, we should have seen you were in bloodlust and there’s no excuse for missing all the signs. I’m so sorry, you had to endure that, so sorry your first hunt was so traumatic,” Krimsyn told her firmly as she squeezed her tightly, J.D. nodded his agreement.

“I have to see his family and ask for forgiveness. I have to find him and make amends,” she told her parents and they agreed.

They also agreed, finding him was crucial. As a new vampire, untrained and probably afraid, there was no telling what he would do when confronted with endless prey to choose from.

“We will. But one step at a time, Mickey,” Krimsyn promised her as they took her home.

Later, while Michaela slept, Krimsyn and J.D. called Carla and Gabe. The trackers were there in less than twenty minutes.

J.D. filled them in on Michaela’s hunt in Hollow Creek and Krimsyn handed them the clothes Michaela had worn that night. Caroline had washed them, but they hoped there were still traces of the boy on them.

Carla touched the clothes and closed her eyes, trying to get imprints of the boy; she brought them to her nostrils and breathed in the scent, but all she could smell was the washing powder and softener and Michaela’s scent, nothing of the boys had stayed behind.

“I can’t get anything,” she shook her head as she handed the clothes back to Krimsyn.

“Is there anything else she had on that night?” Gabe asked when he saw the disappointment in their eyes.

J.D. and Krimsyn were silent as they recalled that night.

“Yes!” Krimsyn cried suddenly. Without saying anything she raced to Michaela’s room and came back with the red hat she’d worn on her hunt.

This time, Carla had a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she touched the hat.

“We can work with this. Give us a few days,” she told them as they left the penthouse.

“And the payment?” J.D. asked.

“It’s on us. Mickey is like a daughter to us,” Gabe refused to entertain talks of payments.

Alone, Krimsyn and J.D. couldn’t wrap their heads around their situation. Krimsyn was grateful the boy wasn’t dead, but she was worried sick for him and petrified out of her head for whoever had the bad luck of running into him.

“Get some sleep. Carla and Gabe will find him,” J.D. whispered in the dark. They’d gone to bed a long time ago, but neither could sleep.

“I can’t,’ Krimsyn told him softly.

He pushed her on to her back, and began removing her underwear, and within moments they were wrapped up in each other and for a little while, they managed to shut out the world, and their problems, choosing to believe their love would carry them through their dark period.

________

Over the next few days, Michaela continued to see Dr. Sanchez, despite her parents’ protests. They’d wanted her to see a different therapist since they were still so angry with her doctor for putting her under so much stress during the hypnosis. But Michaela had insisted on sticking with Dr. Sanchez, pointing out they’d all agreed to the hypnosis, and it had helped unlock her memories. She knew that’s the only reason her parents had relented in the end.

In the evenings, her parents often took her hunting at local restaurants and dive bars. At first she found it gross and weird to be hunting with them and for the first few nights she’d refused to drink human blood; it reminded her of Hollow Creek and what she’d almost done. But with much encouragement from her mom, and a lot of guidance and training on using her mind-control ability from her father, she soon warmed up to her role as a huntress.

Once or twice they even raided the blood bank in Bridgeport’s Medical Center. As fun and exhilarating as it was, her parents warned her to try and stay away from blood banks, they were only meant to be used in emergencies, and there were people out there who needed blood more than they did.

On weekends they went camping and hunting in the woods just outside of town. She quickly learned the difference between human and animal blood. Maybe it was the guilt over what she’d almost done in Hollow Creek, but she quickly developed a penchant for animal blood, especially a mountain bear's.

With her life slowly starting to make sense again, Michaela poured all her energy into studying for her final exams.

And when she wasn’t studying, she was with her friends, looking for the perfect dress for her matric dance. As excited as she was about the dance, she couldn’t help but feel sad too. Everyone had a date; everyone was in love or in a relationship. Everyone but her.

She wanted to ask Cameron to be her date, but she’d seen less and less of him over the past two weeks. Whenever they did bump into each other around the penthouse, he was polite and subdued and she always lost her nerve at the last minute…

_______

When Cameron wasn’t at band practice, he locked himself in his house and worked on material for their next album.

He wrote everything he wished he could say to Michaela, poured all his feelings and his heartache on paper and when Katie, their song writer, saw what he’d been working on, she was blown away.

“Cam this is amazing,” she sighed, placing the music sheets on the table. They were on his patio, downing cocktails, and watching the stars.

Cameron shrugged carelessly and took a sip from his glass.

“Does she know how you feel?” Katie asked as she watched the ice cubes melt inside her glass.

“No. And I’m not going to tell her. She’s so young. She needs to go out there and have fun and live her life,” Cameron explained.

Katie sighed and shook her head. “You have to tell her Cam; maybe she feels the same way too?”

Cameron refused to entertain her ideas. “What’s the point, she’s going off to college after her finals, and we’re going on tour soon. It’s better this way.

Katie fell silent, her heart breaking for him. She’d never been in love, but the romantic in her still harbored hopes, and she wanted someone like Cameron, someone who’d write her songs and love her enough to put her needs before his own. But she also wanted someone who’d fight for her, regardless of circumstances…

______

Note and announcement: I apologize for the lack of shots in some parts, I was too lazy and too tired to shoot flashback scenes. Thank you to everyone who's still reading Krisis, I am humbled by your constant support and encouragement.

And now for the major announcement....

Calling all female sociopaths! The creators of Krisis are looking for one crazy and deranged (and I mean   "crazier and scarier than Tamsyn" deranged) K-Infinity female fan to guest star in the next two chapters. 

The role in both chapters is quite small but in Season 5 it will grow into something big and scary. The faint-hearted need not apply and if you have a problem with your Sim doing bad things to good people this role is not for her.  

Interested parties please let me know here or leave me a message on my Facebook page and we'll work out the details from there. Oh, and it is quite urgent. I need to start shooting the chapters soon. Thanks in advance to those who take an interest.

Oh, I almost forgot, your Sim must be prepared to lie, cheat and kill.

BTW, Rose, did you spot someone you know? LOL!