by Kristie Cook
“Brycin … stop, now,” the voice commanded me.
I didn’t want to listen; I wanted to destroy her. Yet as much as I fought to ignore the deep voice, there was a part of me wanting to oblige it. As if a switch had been hit, the darkness left me, and I was overcome with emotion.
I turned again, blinking. A heavy fog was lifting from my brain. “Eli?”
Eli let out a sigh. “Come back to me, jailbait.” His cocky smile filled me with welcoming warmth.
“Ember!” Mrs. Sanchez’s voice ripped through my protective shield as she ran toward me.
Reality, logic, fear, and emotion crashed down breaking my shield. The last tentacles of the darkness released me, throwing me back into reality. My legs gave out, and the world spun around me as I collapsed to the ground. Eli’s hand was there cradling my head before it hit the pavement. His touch was the only sensation I comprehended before everything went black.
TWENTY-FIVE
I heard voices before I was fully awake. Sharp jabs of pain ruthlessly worked their way through every inch of my body. My lids lifted enough to see I was lying on a cot in the nurse’s office. Mrs. Sanchez paced the room frantically, while Eli sat calmly in a chair not far from me.
“My God, Eli. What the hell happened?” Mrs. Sanchez exclaimed. “I have a student who’s been beaten to a pulp and a missing advisor who should be in intensive care. How did this happen?”
She moved back and forth behind the nurse’s desk. “I expect fights to happen because of the kids who attend here. From their backgrounds, you know it might get dangerous and volatile. In all my years, though, I have never seen anything like this. I could have sworn Ember’s eyes were completely black … obviously my imagination getting the better of me.” She rubbed her eyes. “But your windshield? I don’t understand. There is no way Ember could have thrown Samantha with that much force. It’s impossible. Tell me again what you saw?”
“Marisol, I got there just before you did. I don’t know what happened or how it started,” Eli replied. I could sense the lie.
“Did you notice when Samantha disappeared? I looked up and she was gone.”
“No, sorry. My hands were full at the time.”
“Yes. Thank you, Eli, for your help bringing Ember here,” she said, pressing her lips together. “I simply can’t get over this. Samantha seemed so sweet, and she was an instructor here, for goodness sakes. From what I heard, she was the one who attacked Ember first. Ember was simply acting in self-defense. It all seems so odd to me. Why in the world would she want to attack Ember?”
“I don’t know.” Another lie.
“But you and Samantha are … close. I can’t believe you don’t know where she has gone or what this is about?” The snappish tone in her voice showed Mrs. Sanchez didn’t fully believe Eli. She knew this kind of fight usually was over a guy. “You are clear about the rules set in place here, right? We do not permit fraternizing with students.”
“Yes, Marisol.” Eli’s tone was sharp and clear.
She nodded, looking relieved. “Well, I still think we should call the hospital. I’m worried about Ember’s injuries.”
“No!” Eli jumped out of his chair. “I mean, the nurse checked her and said she only had cuts and bruises. She’ll be fine and will heal before you know it.”
“Okay …” Mrs. Sanchez sounded unsure, but something about Eli’s manner made her agree and forgo protocol. “I’m going to go speak with the rest of the students who were there. If she wakes up, come and get me, please.” She glanced at me, and I shut my eyes before she saw I was awake. “Okay, I’ll be back as soon as I can get statements from the other students. Keep me updated on how she’s doing.” Mrs. Sanchez sighed and headed out.
Eli leaned over the desk as the door shut, taking in a deep breath. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath.
“People usually use bathrooms for that,” I croaked.
He was at my side before I could blink. “Hey,” he said softly, his hand brushing back some tangled hair from my face.
“Hey,” I responded, soaking in the only pleasure my body felt. I was afraid to move. I knew as soon as I did I would find pain in areas I never knew I had. “You lied to her.”
He smiled, knowing what I was talking about. “No, I didn’t. She asked me if I was aware of the rules, and I said I was.”
I gave a small snort, which caused pain to spike in my chest. I closed my eyes, not wanting to throw up.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve had the crap beaten out of me.” I looked at him again.
A slight smile curved his lips. “I’m thinking about signing you on with the WWF.”
“The World Wildlife Fund?”
Eli scoffed. “Yeah, jailbait, the World Wildlife Fund. You can wrestle those scary panda bears to the ground.” It took me a while to realize he meant the World Wrestling Federation. Okay, so I was a little slow. I tried to sit up and groaned with pain.
“Take it easy. I think you have some bruised ribs, but I’m pretty sure nothing is broken.” Eli moved over to the desk and grabbed a cotton swab and some ointment. Everything in my body felt like it was cracked, broken, bruised, or cut. I touched my cheek and flinched. The swelling caused my left eye to only partially open. Dammit, I had almost gotten rid of my last set of cuts and bruises.
“You think you’re hurt, you should see my car’s windshield.”
Everything that happened between Sam and me started flooding back—things which shouldn’t be possible. But I knew they had occurred. They were too real to ignore. Without touching her, somehow I had thrown Sam across the parking lot into Eli’s windshield, as if she were a mere rag doll. I knew I was capable of moving small stuff like leaves or a cue stick, but a whole person? There was no way I should have been able to do it—no possible way.
My mind flipped through the memories: Sam’s eyes flaming like fireballs, her nails turning into talons, her face twisting into some beast-looking thing. I began to riffle through all the other incidents since I arrived in Olympia. Things I had tried to push aside and ignore began to pour into my consciousness in an unrelenting stream.
“What is going on, Eli?” I whispered hoarsely, even though talking made my jaw hurt like hell. The coldness that gripped me needed answers.
“Well, I’m going to finish patching up your wounds and get you home,” he replied. “Not sure how, since I can’t drive my car in its present condition.”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.” My eyes cut into his. He looked away from me. “Eli?” I pleaded.
“This might sting a bit,” he said, ignoring me. He knelt down in front of me and patted my cheek with the damp swab, cleaning the deep nail scratches on my cheek. I jerked back and hissed through my clenched teeth. “Sorry, told you it might hurt.”
I frowned, which made his eyes glitter with amusement. He moved on to my neck and paused. The look in his eyes grew dark as he inspected the cuts there. Old, faded scratch marks and bruises lay beneath the new ones. A reminder of another moment we pretended didn’t happen.
“What am I?” I asked quietly. “You know, don’t you?”
A faraway look settled into his eyes as he absently ran his fingers along both the new and old lines on my neck. He looked up, our eyes connected, and even through the pain, I felt electricity pulsing through my body. My breath grew short and clipped as he continued to touch me. The truth was trying to break through, wanting to be free, to be heard. His soft, moist lips parted, as if he was going to speak.
A hard slam of a door from somewhere inside the school snapped us both back to the present. “All done.” He moved quickly away from me. I looked away in disappointment. Whatever he was going to say, whatever he was going to tell me, was now gone. He headed for the door. “Marisol wanted me to get her when you woke up.”
“Eli?”
His hand hovered above the door handle. Something had shifted. His body was rigid and defensive now. There w
as nothing I could say to reach him, to make him open up to me. I was smothered by pain and exhaustion. I fell silent as he opened the door and walked out. He didn’t return.
***
After the commotion died down at Silverwood, Mrs. Sanchez offered to drive me home. As much as I tried to convince her I was okay to drive, she wouldn’t have it. Eventually I gave in, knowing Mark’s truck would be okay at Silverwood. Eli had left without a word to either one of us. I couldn’t say it didn’t hurt, but nothing about him was predictable or reliable—or unexpected. Mrs. Sanchez seemed quite confused by his disappearance and thought he might still be around until we saw the broken glass and twisted metal where his Bronco had been and the discarded remnants of his windshield left behind.
“Ahh, he must have gone to deal with his car.” She nodded toward the empty space. “Or maybe he went to find Samantha.” I bit my lip, looking at the ground. “Well, this will give me an opportunity to speak with your stepfather.”
“He’s not home. He’s on a business trip till next Monday,” I uttered as I hobbled after Mrs. Sanchez to her car, gripping my ribs in pain. Everyone seemed bewildered I was even up and walking. I wasn’t surprised, not anymore.
“What? Not until then? He leaves you alone for that long?”
“Well, I am eighteen, and we have a very trusting relationship. I’ve never been quite the typical teenager.”
“No, you are not.” She smiled knowingly at me. “You are different from any other young lady I have met before.”
As she drove me back to my house, she used the opportunity to bombard me with questions. Most of them I couldn’t answer with more than an “I don’t know.” I could sense the aggravation building in her as I shrugged my shoulders and looked out the side window. I’m sure she was hoping for more insight into the mystery of Samantha’s attack and disappearance. I felt bad since I could provide some answers, but those wouldn’t provide clarity, only more questions, so I kept my mouth shut. As we drove I felt a tingling sensation crawling over my skin, and I shifted my gaze out to the dark forest that rolled by at a steady pace. We were going too fast to see anything clearly, but I could feel something was out there. Something dangerous was calling to me—again.
At home, Mrs. Sanchez made sure I was settled and even fixed me a cup of soup before she felt comfortable leaving. She also made me call Mark, but I only reached his voicemail. I was about to hang up when she grabbed the phone from my hand and left a long message about what had happened. I cringed, as it was not the sort of message you left a parent who was thousands of miles away. I had no doubt I would be getting a frantic phone call from Mark soon.
At first I was grateful when she finally left me by myself. That quickly changed. Memories and thoughts began to berate me, letting me stew in the unexplained and the impossible. Twisted, dark, nightmares haunted me every time I shut my eyes. Even sleeping on the sofa with the TV on didn’t stop them from coming.
My body was exhausted from trying to fight off another high fever engulfing me; this one even worse than the one before. I went from having violent chills to burning hot and sweating through several layers of clothes. I wanted to sleep so I could heal, but my thoughts conspired to keep me awake. The memories of my fight with Sam were making me face all the other things I had pushed deep down—things I had kept in a tightly latched box, which was now too full to hold anything more. I had to grasp for air a few times, as fear sunk deeper into my chest.
The empty house only made matters worse. Every noise and creak had me jumping up and grabbing the steak knife I had placed next to me on the coffee table. I couldn’t wait for Mark to get home. I felt lonely without him here.
He called a few hours later, waking me up from my restless, fever-induced sleep. He was frantic, as I knew he would. I assured him over and over I was fine and to not jump on the next plane home. I fudged on what had happened a bit and made it sound like less of an incident than it was. The entire time I talked to him, I wanted to cry—cry because I missed him, cry because I felt scared and lonely without him, and cry because I knew I was lying to him. But most of all because I knew something wasn’t right about me, even more than we kidded about. I didn’t fit into this world somehow.
He could sense something was wrong, but I kept reassuring him it was because I missed him. After I had him convinced enough I was fine, we said goodbye. My head pounded, and I felt like I was in a furnace. I needed sleep, which was easier said than done. After taking several ibuprofen tablets, a PM pill or two, and a whiskey shot for good measure, my brain finally relaxed around 4:30 am and let me drift.
***
Trees, flowers, and other foliage that flourished wildly covered the green, luscious grounds rolling in gentle waves in front of me. The beauty was breathtaking and glistened under the warm sun in colors so intense I couldn’t quite grasp them. I had been here before. I had dreamed of this place.
A voice floated into my ear. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
I turned to see a man standing next to me. If this man was some brilliant figment in my dream or real as he claimed, it didn’t matter. He was one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen, especially seeing him in those tight leather pants.
“Torin.”
“Miss me?” He gazed into my face. I found it almost painful to look at him. I realized with the thumping of my heart I had missed him. I missed him the moment he left each time.
“Yes.” The truth seemed to come out without my knowledge. His smile brightened at my reply, making my legs feel weak.
“I have missed you, too.” He forced a smile as he touched my cheek lightly, but the pain and fear in his eyes were great. “Ember, she is coming for you. I don’t know how to protect you anymore.”
“Who is coming for me?”
“Remember, I will try to help you any way I can. I will do anything to keep you safe, mo chuisle.” Torin leaned in closer to me.
“But …”
He cut me off, cupping my face in his hands. Before I could protest, he kissed me deeply, sending sparks of heat and lust through my body, making me forget everything except the feel of his lips on mine. His hands followed the curves of my body, over the sides of my breasts, moving lower and lower …
***
My eyes shot open, a strangled gasp escaped my lips as I awoke with a start. My body tingled with pleasure and pain, feeling the ache of being unfulfilled. Through all the nightmares I was having, Torin was my only relief. I tried to recapture the dream, closing my eyes and desperately seeking a return to sleep, but I could not. I placed my head in my hands and let out a whimper. “Of course, I had to wake up then,” I mumbled.
When I did fall back to sleep, the dreams were not of Torin but of fire and death.
***
Mrs. Sanchez had told me to take a few days off, so besides peeing and getting something to eat or drink, I didn’t move off the sofa for the entire next day. I did feel better. The fever had gone down, and some of the bruising was already disappearing, but the scratches and cuts down my neck and cheek still really stung. It was making me extremely tired.
At least during the day, while resting on the sofa, my nightmares abated a little and let me sleep. I ignored my cell phone. The only phone call I wanted was the one number not showing up on my caller ID.
I couldn’t control my dreams, but when the night terrors started again and I woke up screaming, I wouldn’t allow myself to think about them. I would angrily roll over, punch my pillow, and try to go back to sleep, usually with my iPod on to drown the shadows clawing at my consciousness.
By Wednesday morning the scratches and bruises healed enough so I wasn’t in terrible pain. I was driving myself senseless with questions and fear. I used to enjoy being alone, but now it only left me with thoughts I couldn’t handle, questions I couldn’t answer, and questions I didn’t want to answer. I tried my best to shut down my mind from any thoughts except for what was in front of me.
I decided to head back to school thi
nking it would distract me. I regretted it the second I stepped on campus. I felt sick as I walked across the parking lot. Was Samantha back? Had she been fired? What about Eli? Would he act strange around me? I wasn’t strong enough to deal with him, yet at the same time all I wanted was to see him. For my own sanity, I desperately needed answers, and for some reason, I felt he could provide them.
I walked up to the front of Silverwood, immediately noting Eli’s car was nowhere to be seen. Tiny pieces of glass were scattered across the parking lot, reflected in the sunlight. I turned away. The shards confirmed it had happened and wasn’t some strange dream.
Josh came running over to me. “Are you okay? You didn’t call me back, and I’ve been so worried about you.” His eyes moved over me. I guess he was checking to see if I was in one piece, to see if I had grown another head, or to see, if merely by looking at me, he could tell if I had been bitten by a radioactive spider.
“I know, I’m sorry, I really wasn’t up to talking to anyone.”
Josh shook his head. “I can’t believe I left right before it happened. So many people have told me about it, and all of it sounds completely outrageous. Did Samantha really attack you? Did you really throw her into a windshield?”
“Is she back?” I asked, ignoring his questions.
“No, she’s completely disappeared. No call, no show. I heard Mrs. Sanchez tried to contact her, but the cell phone had been disconnected and the address she gave was a fake.” I looked down, my brain trying to absorb this information. Josh shrugged. “Looks like she and Eli got the hell out of town together.”
My head snapped up. “What?”
“Yeah, he’s disappeared, too. He didn’t show up yesterday either.” Josh looked at me steadily. “But I guess that makes sense, you know, since they’re a couple.”
Heat filled my body, making me itchy and agitated. Maybe when he told me he wasn’t “with” Samantha he meant it literally at that moment, not figuratively. Next time I would make sure I was clearer, because leaving a job and running off with a girl was certainly a boyfriend move.