Falling Darkness: The second book in the Falling Awake Series

by T. A Richards Neville

  Caleb stood next to her dressed in a black suit and white shirt. The top button of his shirt was undone and his jacket was open. He had his hands in the front pockets of his slacks and I unknowingly clenched my fists into balls when Tamara leaned over into his space, gripping onto his arms and whispered something into his ear. His eyes were cast down to the gym floor and he when he nodded his response, she kissed him on the cheek and drifted off over to the DJ.

  “Are you okay there, Pria? You look like a bull ready to attack.”

  Well I had just saw red, that was for certain. I shifted my body and turned so I was facing Mellissa, who was looking at me like she expected me to jump up and transform into the hulk.

  “I don’t know why I care,” I said. I picked my clutch up and banged it against the table.

  “He just left with Drake and Ressler,” Mellissa said. “I hope they beat him up.”

  I had to laugh at the idea. It was a nice thought.

  “Don’t let him get to you, babe. He’s an ass. If he wants to be with Tamara, we should feel sorry for him, not be angry.”

  I wished that was the case.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Really.”

  Mellissa smiled at something behind my back and the seat next to me was pulled out. A big brown and grey shaggy wolf in the schools blue and white letterman jacket and dark blue jeans sat down next to me. Bare hands pulled the wolf head off, and Jason Monroe smiled, running a hand over his short, dark hair. He smiled at Mellissa. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she said back at him. I was relieved that Drake wasn’t here to see the way she was looking at him.

  “You look amazing,” Jason said. His eyes were nearly popping out of his head just looking at her. He turned to me. “You too Pria,” he said, but with nowhere near as much lust on his face and only half like he meant it.

  “Thanks,” I grumbled. “I like your costume.”

  “The whole football team are dressed the same. We’re a wolf pack.”

  “That’s great,” I said sarcastically. He didn’t notice the sarcasm, though. He was much too involved in staring at Mellissa.

  “That was fun the other night at the party.”

  “Yeah, I had fun,” Mellissa agreed.

  “Apart from that guy. Who was that?” Jason asked. “Your boyfriend or something?” It was hard to miss the hesitation in Mellissa’s answer and I furrowed my brows while she just sat there with an awkward smile on her face. This was something we needed to talk about later.

  “Yeah,” she eventually said.

  “He looked pissed. Was everything okay?” Jason held his hairy wolf head in his hands, facing it in my direction and the ugly thing was snarling at me with its fangs bared.

  “No, yeah, he was fine. Just a little mad that I was so drunk.”

  “It’s too bad that you’ve got a boyfriend,” Jason said. He looked genuinely disappointed. “I did come over here to ask you to dance.”

  I shook my head firmly in Mellissa’s direction.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Maybe next time?”

  “Next time,” Jason said. “I’ll see you then?”

  “Absolutely,” Mellissa said with an obvious glint in her eye.

  WTF?

  “Bye Jason,” I said loudly, hurrying along the departing process.

  When he finally left, I leaned in over the table closer to Mellissa. “What’s going on?” I asked her. “You still like him, I can see that. But what if Drake saw that, huh? Don’t you want to be with him anymore?”

  Mellissa looked away from me to the dancing bodies that moved along to ‘monster mash’.

  “It’s not that,” she said, avoiding all eye contact. “I like Drake. Maybe even a little bit too much.”

  I sat back. “What does that even mean?”

  “Guys like Drake, they don’t hang around forever. One day he will leave here and find something better, and so I’ve decided I need to keep my options open. Besides, Jason’s cute.”

  “You can’t be serious,” I said.

  “Well I am.”

  “Does Drake know?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “No. But don’t worry, I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him tonight.”

  Mellissa was right. She didn’t know it, but Drake was a fallen angel, and wouldn’t age. Therefore, he would never look any different, which only meant one thing. Sooner or later he would have to leave before Mellissa, or anyone else, realized there was something strange going on. That was when it dawned on me that Ressler would need to do the same. Would I still see them? The night suddenly felt very forlorn.

  “You need to do what feels right,” I said to her. I could tell she wasn’t expecting me to say that by her unsure expression. “But don’t be too hasty,” I added. “Because once it’s out there, you can’t take it back. And are you really ready to see him with the likes of Tamara?” I knew from personal experience that she wasn’t.

  She nibbled on her lip anxiously. “I think I’ll just see what happens,” she said.

  I sat with Ressler watching Mellissa and Drake dancing like lunatics. Mellissa was doing well despite the restrictions of her fish tail skirt.

  “You look pretty damn sexy dressed as an angel, Angel,” Ressler said with a wry smile.

  I gave a quiet laugh. “Tom Cruise isn’t normally my kinda thing, but you’re the exception.” He reached his hand out and skimmed it over the feathers on my wings, keeping his eyes on my face the whole time. “You wanna dance?”

  “Why not?” I said. We snaked our way through the rowdy crowd and when the song slowed, I rested my head on Ressler’s chest and let him move me slowly to the steady beat. I looked up just as Caleb came to stand next to us.

  “Do you mind?” he asked Ressler. Ressler pulled back and looked down at me. I nodded. He left, and Caleb took his place. Caleb held me from a distance with his hands loosely on my waist and I put my hands on his shoulders.

  My dream from the night of the freaky storm I created had been in my thoughts ever since it happened. I wanted to ask Caleb if he was really there or if my imagination had just cranked it up a few notches thanks to my crazy wanting of someone who was so unattainable. I could ask him about it now, get it out there, but there was something stopping me. Embarrassment that it was probably just one big fabrication.

  “You didn’t dress up,” I said to him. I looked over his formal, yet casual attire.

  He cocked his eyebrow in typical Caleb fashion. “I’m wearing a suit aren’t I?”

  “What’s that got to do with Halloween?”

  “Everything,” he said. “I’m a fallen angel. I came as myself.”

  “You came with the Devil,” I pointed out. “No the wonder god evicted you.”

  Caleb let out a low rumble of laughter and looked down at me, smirking. His eyes were heavy and oh so undeniably sexy. When he looked at me like this, I found it hard to look back at him, it was so powerful. It was a look that made me want him, and I really didn’t need that. I swallowed and looked away. We moved slowly to the music and he smoothly pulled me a tiny bit closer to him. He leaned down so his lips brushed my ear and I shuddered under the warmth of his breath. “I love your costume,” he said, huskily.

  I gulped and gripped the fabric of his jacket in my fingertips. “Don’t do this, Caleb,” I ground out through my teeth.

  Leaving his head where it was, his breath caressing my bare shoulder, he said innocently, “Do what?”

  “Treat me like I’m an idiot. Don’t come here with Tamara and act like it’s not something that wouldn’t bother me.” I took a step back. I needed some space. He was too close for me to think rationally. Everything about him was invading my mind, and he was taking over like he always did. ”What are you even doing with her?” I asked, letting my emotions take over once again. As soon as I thought I had myself in check, Caleb stormed in and showed me that I was weak and predictable, and so far from over him that I couldn’t even see ‘over’ anymore. He was my weakness and I di
dn’t know what to do to change that.

  “She’s not so bad,” he said flippantly. Did he know her at all? What about her wasn’t so bad?

  I went rigid with anger. This wasn’t even about Tamara anymore. I knew right then and there that I would have this reaction if it was anybody. Anybody but me. “You are both as bad as each other.”

  “I might be fallen, Pria but I still want things. I still need things.” What the hell was that supposed to mean? He genuinely wanted Tamara. She was what he needed?

  “I told you why I fell. For freedom. Women. You know before-”

  “Before what?” I bit back, my voice full of venom.

  “Forget it,” he said. He broke his hold on me and his eyes hardened. “Anyway, the reason I came over here was to tell you that we need to leave.” He grabbed a hold of my wrist and turned, ultimately taking me with him. I dug my heels firmly into the hardwood gym floor.

  “Why?” I asked, putting all my weight behind me so Caleb had no choice but to stop.

  “Because you’re in danger here.”

  “How?”

  “I can just feel it. Something’s not right.” Caleb’s head scanned the crowd around us. “And I don’t like how everyone is dressed up. Anyone could be hiding out in here.”

  “I’m not ready to leave,” I said. “I’m having fun.”

  “That’s too bad,” he said, tugging me forwards with him. “We’re leaving.”

  A body moved like stealth, breaking Caleb’s grip on my wrist, and blonde hair whipped in my face.

  “I’ve been looking for you.” I heard Tamara say. “Come with me,” she purred. The tone of her voice told me exactly what she wanted with him and I coughed loudly, trying to ruin their little rendezvous. Tamara turned to look at me, startled that I was actually there. Her face soon turned to one of annoyance. “Yes?” she said. Her voice was clipped.

  “Nothing. I need to get past please.” I stepped around her and glared at Caleb as I passed him.

  “Get your stuff together, you’ve got five minutes,” he warned me.

  “No, you’ve got five minutes,” I warned him back. “That all you need, Caleb? Five minutes?” I set my glare onto Tamara. “Wow, you really are a lucky girl.”

  “Oh fuck off you skinny whore,” Tamara said behind my back and when I was just about to throw my fist right in her face, Caleb stepped in-between us. “Why are you even bothering with her?” Tamara asked Caleb with a face of disgust. “She’s a loser. Even her mother didn’t want her.”

  “Shut up, Tamara,” he said, pushing her behind him. “Pria, just get your things.”

  I elbowed my way through the crowd and went to grab my bag from the table. I would go to the bathroom and calm down, then say goodbye to Mellissa. I was so sick of Caleb and his arrogance but I knew I had to do what he said. If he said it wasn’t safe to stay here, then I had to leave. Caleb and Tamara were just ahead of me as I stepped out into the darkened hallway and they slipped out through the exit doors and into the grey, foggy night. I gripped the doorway next to me and fell back against the wall. I crouched down on my heels and hung my head in my hands.

  “Bastard,” I murmured. My hair fell my down around my face and I lifted my head high, drew in a deep breath and pushed my hair back. As much as I knew they were together, it still hurt to see it.

  The only light that shone dimly in the hallway, flickered above my head, before blinking out completely. I looked up. The whole hallway was now in darkness, apart from the only other strip of light at the end next to the exit, before it turned and split off to the left into the next hallway. Unexpectedly, that light blinked out as well. I stood slowly, walking towards it, and my heels clicked along the floor, the sound bouncing off the metal lockers at either side of me, sounding hollow. I stopped under the dead light, and looked down the next hallway. It was mind numbingly quiet. I couldn’t even hear the music from the dance anymore. It was more than quiet, it was secluded. Why couldn’t I hear anything? The gym was about twenty steps behind me, but it felt like miles. Something weird was going on and like a moth to a flame, I just had to find out what.

  Surely enough, at the very end of the corridor there was one light on, and as I took careful, steady steps towards it, it flickered out and I was left smothered by the pitch black. Just as I was about to turn back, curiosity got the better of me and instead, I stepped forward and stuck my head around to see down the next hallway. My locker was in the middle and directly under the only glowing strip of light. The rest of the hallway was cloaked in black shadow. Fear gripped my insides tightly and I could hear the sound of my breathing in my own ears. I looked back, but there was no one behind me. I was alone, but it really didn’t feel like it. Something was here, I just couldn’t see it.

  Movement caught my attention and my eyes darted over to a growing spot of… water? I scrunched my eyes tighter together, straining to see what it was. Coming from under my locker, the dark spot spread, growing bigger by the second, inching its way across the linoleum. The darkness seeped out, gradually getting closer to me, forcing me to take a sept back. It spread up over the lockers and grew like a tumor, lengthening and twisting into a deformed shape. This definitely wasn’t water. I cowered by the wall and hid my body behind it. I was ready to run if I needed to. The black as night shadow spread over the ceiling and killed the only remaining light in the hallway.

  I was in absolute darkness.

  A low groan grew louder and louder, until I couldn’t bear it anymore. The noise was inhuman and I covered my ears, and forced my eyes shut. The groan ripped through me and I screamed, clamping my hands harder on my ears. The foundations around me seemed to shudder with the noise and when I finally found the courage to open my eyes, I realized the only sound, was now coming from me. I let my hands fall from the side of my head and I looked around me in bewilderment. The light above my locker was back on and whatever was here a minute ago, was gone.

  I turned to get the hell out of there, when a strong wind whipped through the hall, sweeping through my hair and the noise of rustling paper stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned my head slowly. A single piece of paper was stuck to the front of my locker, curling up at the edge from the draft. The strange wind died down and I kept my eyes locked on the piece of paper. I took slow, deliberate steps forwards, unsure what to expect and stopped in front of my locker. The dog-eared, lined notebook page was pinned to my locker and I ripped it down savagely.

  Heavy footsteps sounded behind me. “There you are-”

  I spun around and thrust the note at Caleb, stabbing it against his chest harder than necessary. “What the hell is this doing here?” I demanded through fast, pounding breaths. My hands were shaking.

  Caleb took the note from me and stared down at it, before scrunching it into a ball and burying it in the pocket of his slacks. “Where did you get this?” he asked me.

  “Well, I found it last week actually, at your place.” I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at him expectantly. I was waiting for his stunned reaction, but his face stayed the same; calm and expressionless. “It was in my coat pocket and guess what? I tore it up and threw it down the toilet and somehow-” I gestured toward my locker. “It’s ended up here. How’s that, Caleb?”

  “How am I supposed to know?”

  “Is it true?”

  “What do you think?” His face twisted slightly when he spoke.

  “I don’t know anymore. I don’t know anything.”

  “You know this is just someone playing a game,” he said, like it was a fact.

  “Do I?”

  “I hope u do.”

  “I think whoever wrote this note, wants me to know the truth.”

  “The truth,” he snorted. “You think someone’s trying to tell you the truth? Wake up, Pria and stop being so stupid. If you pursue this, you’re just asking for trouble.” He grabbed my arm. “Come on, we’re leaving, and I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.”

  “Get off me!” I yelled. I ya
nked my arm free and pushed him away with both hands. “Once upon a time, Caleb, I trusted you. Now I don’t know you. You’ve changed and trust me, not for the better.”

  He stared at me with cold eyes. “So what are you going to do? Go and find your real dad?”

  I knew he was being sarcastic but I couldn’t care less. “Maybe,” I said stubbornly.

  “Then you do that. Go and find your real dad, while the person that’s looked after you your whole life, lies there, fighting to wake up. Don’t be too surprised though, when you don’t find him because all you have is this ridiculous note.” He dug his hand in his pocket and pulled out the ball of paper. He opened it up and threw it at me. It fluttered to the floor and I watched it drop through tear filled eyes.

  “Go away, Caleb,” I managed to choke out. My throat was restricted because of the huge lump blocking it.

  “I’m not leaving without you,” he said.

  “And I’m not leaving with you.”

  “I’m not giving you a choice.”

  “When do you ever give me a choice?” I shouted at him. “You took all my choices away from me. I didn’t want you here but you won’t go away. Then you hook up with Tamara and I have no choice but to have to see the two of you together even though I hate it. And I have no choice but to accept that you don’t care about me anymore. You have all my choices, Caleb. Every single one of them and you couldn’t give a damn.” He took a step toward me and I held out my hand. “Don’t,” I said. “Don’t come any closer. I can’t think when you’re too close.”

  “I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want to protect you.”

  “I need protecting from you, Caleb,” I said, swiping the tears from my soaked cheeks. “I can’t stand it anymore. You can’t be in my life like this, it’s too much.”

  “What are you saying? We’ve been through this, you know I can’t just leave you.”

  “Get Drake, or Ressler to protect me, I don’t care; anyone but you.” My voice was too loud and he probably thought I was over reacting but this was the end for me, I couldn’t be around him anymore.