Bonded With Love by Tiffany Heiser (the giving tree read aloud .txt) 📕

grasp on me.
“Drake, you can't tell her now. It isn't time.” Cecile cried.
I stared at him while he stepped away from me, but Cecile's words rang in my ears. She knew the truth and she hadn't told me? My breath caught, and bile rose in my throat.
With a shaky voice I yelled out. “I don't know why it's locked. My friend is coming to unlock it now. I'm fine, promise.” My eyes stayed glued on Drake. What could he know about my dreams? The nurse popped her head into the room, once Cecile unlocked the door.
“What's going on in here? Are you okay ma'am?” She asked wide eyed. She checked my pulse and I forced myself to relax. I needed to get answers from him.
“I...well...had a very bad nightmare. Freddy Kruger chased me, wanting to date me it was terrible.” A true nightmare from my childhood ever since I saw the first Nightmare on Elm Street poster.
“She was screaming and kicking. We woke her from it.” Drake continued for me.
The nurse sighed. “Do you need anything? Do I need to get the doctor?”
“No ma'am. Honest I'm fine. Just a bad dream.” I needed answers from Drake.
“Alright. Be sure to buzz if you need anything. I'm Mona and I'll be your nurse until about eight.” Her lips curled into a smile.
I returned it falsely. “Thank you very much.”
She nodded to Drake and Cecile and then headed out the door. I could hear her fading footsteps. I glanced over at Cecile, her focus on me had quickly turned to Drake.
She shook her head slowly and stepped in front of him. “You need to calm down, seriously.” She turned to me. “He can't tell you anything, Ren. Sorry, but he would be in serious trouble if he did.”
“Someone needs to tell me something, now.” I said through clenched teeth.
“I needed answers. It's too soon for your changing to start happening. I needed to know what you were going through.” Drake stared at me still. His thin lips were set into a straight line.
He took a few steps back.
“What change?” They both ignored my questions, as though I had become invisible.
“It is too sudden.” Cecile stated.
Deep in his own distant thoughts. “I bet he does not even know how far along she is. She is the one. That has to be the only explanation.” Drake paced back and forth, mostly talking quietly to himself.
“So, how can it be happening so quickly? What's going on with her? You promised everything would be fine.” Cecile said. The concern forced her voice to rise an octave. “This is too fast. I'm not even noticing anything yet.”
My eyes traveled between them, trying to catch recognizable pieces of their conversation.
“I have only seen this once before. Our generation has been waiting for her.” Drake said, continuing to pace through the room. Cecile paced behind him.
“Why are they waiting for me?” I asked.
“I doubt they are ready for her, but they need the chosen one.” His mumbling continued.
“Chosen what?” He still ignored me.
“Even if she is a stubborn high school girl.” He smiled then by his words, but that only pissed me off.
“Stubborn? You better not be talking about me you arrogant ass.” My self-control weakened.
A smile grew on his lips and that did it. His cocky smile tore into me and ended the miniscule amount of control I still had left.
The boiling fury filled my body, and threatened to break free from my veins. His sarcasm had rubbed me the wrong way, and my body shook, along with the little table which shook in tempo with me. It rattled against the hospital wall. My anger then lifted me effortlessly off the bed. The blanket wrapped around my body shuffled to the floor and I landed weightlessly on the balls of my feet onto the tile. Any other time levitating out of bed would've scared, or shocked me, but I couldn't control any of that with anger steering my emotions.
Alarms buzzed around me when the machines connected to my body detached themselves and clattered to the ground.
I made my way to Drake,and wrapped his shirt collar in my hand. “What the hell is going on?” I growled. “Someone better answer me now! And tell me the damn truth!”
Drake stared in disbelief when I lifted all six feet of him off the ground, and tossed him across the room..
A wild fury flared inside me, and I didn't even notice the table fly slamming into the far wall beside where Drake had landed. I only saw red, and I wanted answers- badly.
Cecile backed up against the wall, and the look in her eyes held true fear. She screamed and slowly lifted her shaking hand pointing at me. “Oh m-my god! It's n-not possible. Ren, oh my god, your eyes.
“What's wrong with my eyes?” Anger bubbled inside me.
“Don't worry. It'll go away soon, right?” Her eyes skimmed over to Drake for confirmation.
“I don't know how long it lasts. Her strength is phenomenal, and her power is quite spectacular.” He stood up and dusted himself off. “I didn't want to believe she was the one, but how else can you explain it? We came all this way, and he was right.” He shook his head in awe.
“I don't understand. You still didn't answer about my eyes.” I said.
Drake pointed to a mirror hanging above the sink in the room. I walked over to it, scared to look, keeping my face down standing in front of the flawless glass.
“You don't have to look Rena. It'll be fine. It'll clear up soon,” Cecile said.
'I can do this,' I whispered and looked up. The image terrified me. A scream escaped my lips and I slammed my fists into the glass. It broke into thousands of tiny glittering pieces.
I turned my focus to Cecile, who had tears streaming down her cheeks now. “And why is it that you know so much about this? Why didn't you say anything to me? Tell me what I'm becoming?” I asked, as my bottom lip began to quiver. Tears of confusion and frustration threatened to bust through.
“Calm down Ren. Your emotions are heightened right now. Just breathe and we'll get it all squared away,” Cecile said.
I ignored her and spun to face Drake. “Why did you and Cryder come here for me?”
Drake moved closer to me, finally looking me straight in the eyes. “You, my dear, are something very rare. My people, have waited for you.”
“Who are your people?” I asked. “An old race. Ones that have been here since the beginning of time,” Drake answered.
I heard footsteps pounding the tile headed toward my room. They sounded like herds of elephants plowing through the Savannah.
“Security,” I whispered, and panicked. I couldn't be stuck here any longer.
My room sat on the bottom floor, and a window to the outside world held me in. I ran to the window, not hearing any of the words being yelled at me- or to me. I just ran.
I raced around a corner and down the pathway to the woods behind the hospital. I wanted to escape drama, and civilization in general. I needed to think. I pushed my legs to run harder and faster until everything around me blurred. The trees and the bushes flew by me. But within seconds, the scene showed itself in high-def,and I could see an oak tree sway with the breeze as I ran past. A bush to my right held on to three limp flowers as they slowly withered by the sun, and a blue-jay splashed around in the small creek to my left.
I came to a stop, and didn't know how to feel. Fear swirled in me from my inhuman speed. The new super-power brought back the images of my red eyes and reminded me I was changing. But I had a random amount of excitement flowing out of my pores at the thought of being able to run side by side with the wind. I could also move things with my emotions or mind, or something like that, and I had Thor's super-human strength. Since I could lift up Drake without breaking a sweat.
With the red eyes, I pictured myself with Superman's laser vision. But I knew I wasn't like Thor or Superman, I had become something entirely different. A thing I had only read about, but would never in a million years have thought was real. Would I grow fangs too? Those made it obvious.
I was in the process of becoming a... as I started to admit the true answer, Cryder stepped from behind the old oak tree. His eyes. wide and bright as the moon, brought me out of my thoughts and into reality.
“Where the heck did you come from?” I asked, swatting at a fly that buzzed in front of my face.
“I'm so very sorry, Rena,” he said low and quiet as the wind.
“Sorry, Cryder? Now what in the world would you be sorry for?” Sarcasm dripped from my tongue.
“Drake called me. He let me know it was time for me and you to talk.”
“Well, I've been feeling a little different lately. Would you know anything about that?” I eyed him suspiciously. I waited for him to deny the truth, and I intended to toss every detail I had learned in his face.
“Yes, I do know what's causing you to be ill, however I don't believe the present time or place is appropriate for that discussion.” He glanced around.
“So, when would be the best time for you, exactly? I mean its not like it's affecting me or anything.” My face radiated with heat, and I had to physically keep my breaths steady until I could speak again. “I know I'm changing. I just don't know why. I also know that you're the cause of this, and I want to know why you did