Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2

by Dakota Lake

  “That's what you always say and I get stuck on the couch while you rock the bunk beds.” “Don't be such a bitch about it, the couch is way comfier than your bed anyway.” “Brandon we've talked about this. Drink, drugs and girls go hand in hand for you. It has to stop.” Brandon rolled his eyes and looked over at me.

  “Would you please tell my idiot brother that we didn't come back here to screw each other.” “No. We're definitely not doing that.” I said shaking my head looking at James as he continued to look me up and down.

  “See the girl is completely repulsed by me.” Brandon said laughing. “Now chill would you. Anyway where's mom I thought she'd be back by now.”

  “Who knows?” James answered.

  “Whatever. Ruby you hungry?” Brandon asked.

  I hesitantly nodded. I was hungry but this whole situation felt awkward and the judging look James was giving me wasn't helping. I was questioning whether I should leave or not.

  “We're feeding her as well.” James said not thrilled by the idea.

  “Would you shut up and stop being such a douche and make us some pancakes. Ruby you like pancakes?”

  “Erm....” I looked at Brandon then at James feeling extremely uncomfortable knowing he didn't really want me here.

  “Do you?” James asked giving into his brothers request, waiting for my answer.

  “Well if you're making some I wouldn't mind one.”

  “Cool pancakes. Yummy!” Brandon said putting his jacket on the back of the chair. “Sit, make yourself comfortable.” Brandon said pushing me towards the couch.

  “Would you like some help?” I called over to James.

  “No he doesn't. James is the master chef here. You'd probably just get in his way.” Brandon said sitting down kicking his sneakers off.

  “No it's all good. I think I can handle it.” James called over.

  I took off my hoodie and wedged it on the back of the couch and sat down next to Brandon. The TV was on the selling channel. A lady wearing too much make up and long dangle earrings was selling baking dishes.

  “What is this shit?” Brandon muttered changing the channel.

  I looked over at James to find him staring back at me. I sunk back into the couch trying to ignore his obvious glaring. Brandon switched it over to the kids channel.

  “Brandon not Adventure Time again, don't make her watch that.”

  “It's epic. I don't get why you hate it so much?”

  “For a start it's a cartoon aimed at children.”

  “Oh yeah, I forget you're like really old.”

  “I'm not really old. Twenty three is not really old.”

  “Older than me.” Brandon called over to him.

  “How old are you Ruby?” James asked mixing the mixture with a hand whisk.

  “Eighteen at the moment but I should be nineteen soon, I think. I forget.”

  Brandon looked sideways at me then back at the TV.

  “Brandon's nineteen in three months did you go to HPH with Brandon?”

  From what Jessie had told me I had gone to HPH. I was probably in the same year as Brandon, we may have even had classes together. I doubt he'd remember me though, he looked like the type of guy that didn't even know what day of the week it was.

  “Yes it was a while ago. I sort of dropped out.” I said.

  It wasn't like I could say I was kidnapped by this underground death tracker called Cam and he took me back to Under because he was planning on marrying me and making me his queen. “That must be what you have in common.” James said quietly.

  I didn't think it was meant for our ears but I still heard it. I looked over at Brandon who was too engrossed in his cartoon to notice anything.

  We both sat in silence watching a programme about a boy and his best friend that was a dog with magic powers. That's about all I got from it the rest was to bizarre to understand. “Do you work?” I asked Brandon.

  James started laughing. “Brandon doesn't know the meaning of work.”

  “You can talk you work at the public library.” Brandon snapped back at him.

  “There's nothing wrong with working at the library, at least I have a job. The only experience you have with customers is selling weed behind the bike shed at school and you weren't even good at it considering you got caught.”

  “Whatever. I'm in-between jobs currently.” Brandon stood up. “Here you pick something, I need to take a leak.” he said handing me the remote. I went to take it from him but he quickly grabbed my hand and pulled it towards himself.

  “Nice tat,” he said looking at the back of my left hand where my tattoo was.

  “My dad has the exact same one.”

  I looked at my hand then put two and two together.

  “What's your dad's name?” I asked.

  “Err it's...oh hang on,” His cell started ringing. “Yo Dean! What's up man?” Brandon answered his cell and walked off down the corridor, I looked over at James who was shaking his head. “Would you mind setting the table? Grab the other chair over by the computer table.” I picked up the chair and carried it over to the table. Then I cleared off the large stack of women's magazines and ashtray full of cigarette ends.

  “Cutlery is in the drawer next to the sink and plates are whatever you can find in the sink.” I laid the table and washed up three plates. The whole time we could hear Brandon down the corridor having a conversion about the best way to brake into the scrap yard.

  “Please excuse my brother and ignore everything you can hear right now.” he said stacking another pancake onto the pile.

  “He told me he was in a twelve-step programme is that true?” I asked quietly.

  “Yes he is but I don't know how long it will last with friends like that?” he said referring to whoever Brandon was on the phone to.

  “You know you look so familiar, do you live close by?” he asked.

  “Um no, well I did used to live with my brother here in Heaven's Point but I've been gone for about a year now.”

  “Are you just passing through town?”

  “Sort of.”

  “So you did go to HPH before you moved away.” he asked.

  I nodded wondering why he was so interested?

  “That must be it. You look so familiar I must have seen you when I used to drop Bran off at school.” “Probably.” I replied. But there was no good asking me, I couldn't remember a thing. “I don't suppose you know anyone called Micah Greenwood?” I asked.

  “No can't say I've ever heard of that name before.”

  Brandon walked back into the kitchen and James served the pancakes. I chose to butter my pancakes with a sprinkle of sugar, James helped himself to lemon juice and sugar and Brandon covered his in chocolate spread.

  “Thanks for the pancakes.” I said to James as I handed him the last plate to dry.

  “It's no problem.” he said smiling.

  Over pancakes and washing up James had become more accepting of me. We had gone from him telling me all the jokes he knew about pancakes to the fishing boats at Copeland Harbour and how much he liked fishing. Brandon had taken himself off to bed and left me with James. Thankfully I didn't mind, James was friendly enough and seemed to like talking to me. He offered me his bottom bunk bed to sleep in but I politely refused I wasn't going to turn him out of his own bed plus I could hear Brandon snoring from the kitchen.

  James found me an extra blanket and left me alone on the couch. They were very trusting seeing as they didn't know me and had left me alone to do what I want. I could be anyone, I could have stolen anything, not that there was much to steal. They didn't have many things and nothing looked new or modern even the computer looked ancient. I pulled the blanket over myself and snuggled down into the couch. Thinking only I could end up in such a weird situation. Why couldn't I have had a normal life like other teenagers my age? Instead I was sleeping on a strangers couch, passing time before I could get back into the underworld trying not to get caught at the same time. It was crazy I had spent
months trying to figure out where I was or a way out of there and now I was trying to sneak back in. The pitter-patter sound of rain on the roof soon soothed me to sleep.

  “It's her. It's definitely her.” James said in a hushed voice.

  “No the hairs all wrong.” Brandon replied.

  I blinked my eyes open to see the room was lighter. The sun was up. I turned over to see James and Brandon standing in the corridor whispering to one another.

  “Look her name's Ruby Summers.” James added pointing at something.

  “Will you shut up, she'll hear yooooou. Too late you woke her up with your newspaper rustling.” Brandon said smacking the newspaper James was holding.

  “What time is it?” I mumbled as I looked at my watch. It was 8.40pm according to my watch which meant it was 8.40am here. I didn't feel tired which was no surprise, realistically I would have only finished dinner just over an hour ago. I wonder if anyone's missed me yet? What am I thinking of course they would have missed me. When have I not turned up to dinner? Cam probably had the whole manor under lock down searching for me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked looking over at them. “Well, what is it?” I stood up and took a step towards them and James folded the newspaper in half. “What's that?” I asked walking over to them. “Nothing.” James said.

  “You didn't say that a minute ago when you dragged me out of bed.” Brandon said moaning. “What are you talking about?” I asked trying to get a look at the newspaper.

  “Well ask her, so we can all go back to bed.” Brandon said knocking James with his shoulder. I looked at James waiting for an explanation.

  “Is this you?” he asked unfolding the newspaper and holding it open for me to see. There was a small picture of a girl with the word 'MISSING' above it and the name Ruby Summers underneath. The girl looked identical to me only with blonde hair.

  “How old is this?” I asked searching for a date. Not that I even knew what the date was today as we only went by days of the week back at the manor.

  “It's last years just over ten months ago. I dug it out of the neighbours shed. He likes to collect things. I thought I recognised you. I laid in bed thinking about it for ages about where I'd seen you. Then I remembered seeing posters of your face all over town when you disappeared.” “So she's a run away. Now can we all go back to bed.” Brandon whined.

  “Have you...” James started to speak but Brandon cut him off.

  “Wait is that why you wouldn't go back into that house last night because your rents still think you're missing?” Brandon asked patting his pockets down.

  “No. I never said that was my parents house. You just assumed it was.”

  Brandon lit up a cigarette watching me carefully.

  “Have you notified the police you're back? Does your family know?” James asked waving the newspaper in front of my face to get me attention.

  “No. No and no. Look can we just keep this low key for now and I definitely don't want to speak to any police.”

  “That is you then?” Brandon asked curiously.

  I nodded. I wanted to find my brother and let him know I was okay. The thought of him worrying about me and not knowing what had happened to me made me feel sad. It was strange I had no memory of Seth but I felt strangely sad when I thoughtful about what he must have gone through not knowing where I was for so long. But I had no idea where he even was and I didn't have very long left before I had to go back, I would never find him. The only number listed under the picture was for the local police station.

  “So is it true, did you run off with your boyfriend?” Brandon asked.

  “What are you talking about?” James said looking back at the picture. “There's no mention of any boyfriend on here.”

  “Nothing. Forget about it I'm going back to bed it's too damn early” Brandon said brushing it off and walking back to his room.

  “Speaking of early I don't want to be late I have to start work soon. So are you going to go to the police or let someone know you're safe? Where was this house? Even if you don't want to go home yet I think I should speak to your parents and let them know you're safe and not lying in a ditch somewhere.” James said bending down to tie his laces.

  “I don't have any parents living here. There's my brother but I wouldn't know where to find him and I'm not talking to any police.”

  “What's your brothers name?”

  “Seth Summers.”

  “So you don't have an address for him?”

  “No I don't. Oh wait a minute,” I said digging in my pocket. “I have this though, do you recognise it?” I asked holding up the address. Now I knew I was in Heaven's Point I wondered who's address it was.

  “104 Green Oak Park, Ridge Road, Heaven's Point.” James read the address out loud and looked at me curiously. “Who's is this?” he asked.

  “I'm not sure. Do you know where it is?”

  “Well yes we're on Green Oak Park. It's the name of the trailer park. 104 is on the other side somewhere.”

  “Huh,” I said. Seeing as I'm so close it couldn't hurt to take a quick look.

  “Will you be here when I get back from work? I finish at five. I really think we need to notify someone that you're safe and well.”

  “Sure.” I replied. But it was a lie.

  The last thing I wanted was to be questioned by police, how would I possibly explain where I'd been for the past year. They would have me committed to the loony bin. James was only trying to help but I could see he was going to become a nuisance more than a help, but I would be gone by the time he retuned. I had planned to spend the day scoping out Rose Cottage and trying to figure out who lived there. Did they know they had a gateway to Hell in their basement? I was still imagining what Cam would do if he found out. Most likely he'd lock me up and never let me leave my room again. Just thinking about my room made me feel homesick, I actually missed my bed. The couch was nice but it wasn't my bed. As much as I felt like I'd been living in a prison back at the manor I still considered it the closest thing I had to home.

  “If my mother comes home just tell her you're a friend of mine and she won't question it or she'll still be too hung over to even notice you. She normally spends the day sleeping it off when she's had a night on the town and Brandon will probably be in bed until I get back and wake him up. He's becoming nocturnal.” he joked.

  James left me sitting in front of the TV. I helped myself to a juice box and sat watching a programme about different ways to slice a pineapple, it became so boring I eventually turned the channel back to the kids channel Brandon had it on before. I soon became restless and decided it was time to go.

  Outside the sun was trying to shine through the gaps in the clouds. Last nights downpour had left behind large puddles and a really muddy floor. I put my hood up and quietly pulled the trailer door shut behind me.

  I tread carefully down the muddy driveway trying my best not to slip over. I walked along the main track passing a variety of trailers. Some were painted bright colours and others had plants and flowers hanging from baskets. Then there were the plain beige and brown trailers with rubbish littering the ground and rusted old cars sat in the drives. Loud music pumped through the walls of one of the trailers, I felt sorry for the neighbours it sounded as though the walls were made out of paper it was so loud. I followed the numbers looking for 104 but some of the trailers didn't even have numbers and the others weren't in number order. The whole park was a jumbled mess of trailers and numbers. I finally found a stretch of trailers that started from 92, so I was getting closer. I walked passed 92 where a loud mouthed woman was shouting at her child, the young boy jumped over the railing and ran off barefoot across the track in front of me. I quickly looked away from the woman eyeing me up and kept walking. The trailers along this section all had mailboxes which were all clearly marked with a number. I was just coming up to 96 when a bird flew down in front of me and landed on the mailbox. I stopped and edged closer for a better look, to double check I wasn't seeing
things.

  “Merlin,” I whispered.

  The bird squawked and flew over to the porch railings. I knew it was Merlin from the tag. There were six ravens at the manor and each one had their own number. Cam's bird Rocky had 4/6 printed on his tag and Kenzie's bird Merlin had 6/6 printed on his. The bird sitting on the railing had 6/6 on his tag, without the tag he'd look like a regular raven he had no distinct markings. Only Rocky Cam's bird looked different with his white splodge. I looked around, how had Merlin even got here? A car was coming towards me on this side, I stepped back but obviously not far enough as the car drove straight through a puddle covering me. I looked back at the car to see a group of teenagers laughing at me through the back window as it drove off.

  “Hilarious!” I said to myself shaking off the water.

  I turned back towards the bird but instead found Kenzie looking back at me leaning against the mailbox.

  “Where did you come from?” I asked jumping in my own skin. I panicked and looked around for Cam.

  “Relax he's not here,” he said reaching into his pocket and checking his cell.

  Today he had his usual skinny jeans on with a pair of red sneakers that matched his oversized red hoodie finished off with a black cap on backwards.

  “I think all Hell would break loose if he knew you were here.” he said lightly.

  “What?” I replied hoping he was joking.

  “No if Hell was about to break open I don't think I'd have time to spend all day looking for you.” “How did you find me?”

  “The bird he seemed to have a good idea. Good job too I was looking in all the wrong places.” “How did you know?”

  “You weren't at dinner. You're always at dinner.”

  “Does Cam know?”

  “No he wasn't at dinner either. Everyone thought you were upstairs and didn't want to come down. I found Senka and he said you weren't up there. You've been acting really strange and distant the last few days and then it finally dawned on me what you were doing camped out on that bench outside your room. You'd been watching the elevator. So I checked everywhere for you, even Senka went off looking for you. In the end I had to make something up so I told him you'd probably found a hiding place to read and wanted to be left alone. I don't know whether he believed me or not.” “Are you mad?”