“None, and that would be the point. Today is it. I can tell you where we are and what you need to know to be up to date with class, but that’s it. You can do the rest on your own.”
“Not exactly,” he said, flashing a beautifully dark smile.
“No? Why’s that?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Because you have my book.”
Crap! I looked at him defeated, as he leaned back putting both of his arms behind his head, raising an eyebrow. A see-I-told-you-so plainly visible in his expression. He had me there, and he knew it. I realized what that meant, too, that he was going to need me every night there was English homework. Which was every night. There was no way around it, until Mr. Hadam gave him a book. Either that for fail the class.
I was seriously considering the F when actual reason made a visit.
“Fine. Can we just get it over with?”
He sat up as I walked over to the bed and I positioned myself as far away from him as possible. He watched me closely as I did it, and laughed when I had finally found a comfortable, yet cramped position in the far corner.
Still laughing, he grabbed his bag and got up, walking around the bed he came to sit right in front of me, cornering me. I inched back as far as I could go, up against the head board of my bed, but that was it. I was stuck.
“What exactly is your problem with me?” he asked almost laughing as he inched closer.
“Maybe it’s that you like to invade my personal space.”
“You don’t seem to have a problem when Kamdyn invades your personal space.”
“That’s what happens when you’re dating someone, he’s not just some stranger.”
“Yeah, I guess it didn’t take you too long to go after the best looking guy in school, huh?”
“I wasn’t going after anyone. Not that it’s any of your business, but I wasn’t looking for anything when I got here.”
“That’s not what Samantha said.” He smirked again, obviously knowing he had said something to get a rise out of me.
“Speaking of, it didn’t take you very long to go after the best looking girl in school. You and Samantha, huh? Sorry to hear it, you poor thing.”
He laughed again, a deep laugh that sent a shiver down my spine and made me almost want to smile, but I didn’t. I forced myself not to.
“There is no me and Samantha. And she isn’t the best looking girl in school, by far.” He righted himself from his bought of laughter and leaned forward, catching my gaze. There was no way for me to look away, I tried. Something in my mind wouldn’t let me do what I wanted. Instead it told me to stay, to listen to him, to not want to move away. I sat there unmoving as I watched his hand reach out, moving my still damp hair away from my eyes and pushing it behind my shoulder, revealing my slender neck. His hand traced a thin line down my neck as he spoke. “You, on the other hand, are more my type.” Still holding my gaze, he inched his way closer and closer, leaning in toward me. At the last second he dropped his eyes, just before his lips touched my neck.
Even though his eyes were no longer locked on mine, I still couldn’t do anything to reject him, there was no need to push him away. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the headboard of my bed as his hand wound up in my wet hair, pulling my head back. I felt his mouth moving gently over my neck, kissing over the mark that appeared after my dream. Without even an attempt to do anything else, he pulled slowly away.
My eyes opened as he moved away. His dark hair was in his face and shielding his eyes. But it didn’t block what I saw. His deep amethyst eyes were now a blaze with red.
Suddenly my mind cleared slightly, but the only thing I could think to say was, “Can we get started on the work now, please?”
Long after our homework was over and Halo had gone, I found myself lying in bed, trying to sleep. But I couldn’t. My room was completely dark with only a hint of moonlight splashing through the closed curtains. I stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours, trying to think of something other than Halo. I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t get him out of my mind. It really made no sense. He was so pushy and cocky, but his mysteriousness drew me in. And there was just something, I didn’t know what, that drew me to him. Something I couldn’t push away, no matter how hard I tried. Every train of thought I followed in hopes of pushing away Halo’s existence, always seemed to lead back to him somehow, even when the thought made no sense to begin with.
Slowly, I began to close my eyes and even though my thoughts couldn’t escape the mysteriously dark, I finally drifted off to sleep.
It was still very dark out when I awoke to a sound in my room. I opened my eyes and looked around in the near blackness. Nothing seemed out of place, that I could tell, so I plopped my head back down on my pillow and closed my eyes. Now that I was awake I could feel that something wasn’t right. I kept my eyes tightly closed in hopes that it was my overactive imagination, but I couldn’t escape the feeling. Within seconds there was a slight scrapping noise that made me bolt upright observing everything around me. I felt so foolish -like a little girl afraid of the dark- when I got up, looking in my closet and under my bed. But nothing was there. To escape the freezing air I jumped back in bed, snuggling under the covers, when I realized that my curtains were blowing in a breeze. A breeze created by an open window.
I sat frozen in place. A sudden jolt of fear ran through me. I didn’t open that window! As cold as I was -knowing that someone else had been here, had opened my window to get in- I couldn’t bring myself to get up and close it.
I lay there, bundled up under all my blankets, pulled up high over my head to keep me warm, when something moved in my room. Somewhere near my bathroom the door creaked slowly as it was opened. I didn’t make out any footsteps or any other noise anywhere in the room. I strained to hear but was too afraid to look. I couldn’t look.
My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I could taste it. I curled up into a ball and squeezed my eyes tight hoping my imagination had taken over until… my mind started telling me to relax, to breathe and calm down. I didn’t move, but I tired to do what it told me. My parent’s faces flashed through my mind and I mentally slapped myself. I was stronger than this. I was being childish.
My body moved on its own accord, uncurling and throwing the covers off, leaving me exposed to the chilly night air that seeped into my room. But when I looked, there was no draft, no wind blowing my curtains. My window was closed.
I stared straight ahead, into the darkness of my room trying to figure out if I had been dreaming, when a figure appeared from the shadows. Strange as it was, I was no longer afraid. I didn’t feel threatened as it approached. I watched as it moved slowly but confidently across my room and crawled up onto my bed. It started at the end, by my feet and slowly pulling itself along the length of my body.
I watched it carefully, examining its movement, so animal like. But everything that made it seem unreal only made me feel more comfortable with it’s being here. Almost like, the more unrealistic it was, the more likely it was that my imagination was uniquely exaggerated and I was dreaming. It’s unrealistic, so it isn’t real.
It was about to reach a strip of pale moonlight just over my chest, illuminating just enough for me to glimpse what it was, who it was. I anticipated the approach into the light, to see who I was being so intensely drawn to, when I should be scared to death. But once it reached the moonbeam, the face, his face, was hidden behind a fall of dark hair. I couldn’t stop him from moving forward.
I didn’t want to.
He stopped a little past the beam, an arm and leg on either side of my still body. I could see my breathe forming in fast white puffs in front of his face. He unhurriedly lowered himself down, placing all is weight on me. Resting on one elbow, he reached the other hand up to lightly touch my cheek, trailing along my skin until he reached my lips. Without even a hesitation in his movement, he pulled his body up to meet his hand against my mouth. In that moment my mind whirled. I knew with all my heart that
this wasn’t right. I didn’t know this person. I didn’t know what he even looked like. But I couldn’t push him away. Couldn’t make him stop. I knew I should be scared, but the place inside my head that should have been telling me to run was currently on vacation. A little sign swinging over its place saying ‘Gone fishing. Be back in two weeks’.
His hands slide slowly away from me and under the cover of the darkness, he lifted himself up to pull off his shirt. Although his face strangely stayed in the darkness, his broad, muscled chest was illuminated in the moon light. Pale and looking like carved marble. In a swift and fluid motion, he landed weightlessly back down over me. I didn’t want him to stop. As if he heard me, his hands rubbed down my sides, to my waist, and started tugging at the band in my sweats. I felt them slowly sliding down my thighs and tug off at my ankles. I couldn’t see where they landed, but I heard them fall after they went soaring across the room.
Nothing about the experience seemed real, it couldn’t be real. Things like this didn’t really happen. In real life, inhuman things didn’t just show up in your room in the middle of the night and make you feel this way. Because I knew he was anything but human. In real life they didn’t make you feel like you could lose yourself in them with just a single touch. For some reason beyond me, I knew it was him. He was doing this to me somehow. He was making me forget anything and everything else existed. Why? But he did, and my mind wouldn’t let me think any other way.
He started kissing around my shoulder. His mouth felt like velvet on my skin and made me shiver as he dragged it over my collar bone, slowly along my neck and back to my mouth. I pulled him closer as his mouth met mine, winding my arms around his broad back and up into his tousled hair. I heard him gasp and slightly pull back, but I wouldn’t let him leave. He made another noise, louder, trying to pull away and this time, he succeeded. My nails were digging into his skin, begging him not to go. He reached in an impossible position, removing my hands from his back and taking my wrists into his hands, tightly, holding me still. He looked into my eyes then and even though I still couldn’t see his face, I saw the glow of his eyes. Red. His eyes were red. Before I had a moment to respond, his mouth was back on my skin.
I heard him growl, something completely otherworldly, just before he kissed me again, roughly profound. I slowly felt that his resilient grip was loosening as he moved down to kiss along my jaw line and without knowing exactly why, I pulled my left arm free and pulled my hair to the side, exposing the soft skin of my neck. The difference between this compulsion and all the others was this time, nothing in my mind was telling me, pushing me, to do it. I was doing it all on my own. I could feel it was my choice.
When he saw me, he lifted his head slightly and looked down at me, his body language expressing his utter astonishment. The glow in his eyes flickered, losing some of the red and fading back to a dark color I couldn’t see. But he still hesitated, looking down on me with those blazing eyes.
He made no attempt to move, no effort to do what it was I was apparently offering. Still, without knowing exactly why, I sat up to mirror his position and brought his mouth to mine. He kissed me back, but was reserved. I forced him to respond. Was aggravated by his restraint. When he finally relaxed, I gradually pulled him back down and with one hand on the back of his head, guided his mouth from mine and toward my neck.
I got impatient as he lingered. My hand that still rested on the back of his neck tugged at him lightly. Another rough noise came from him as he pulled back slightly, just to look deep into my eyes, searching. He let himself fall back down, trailing his mouth over my throat until he found the right place. I felt him nibble a bit before I felt his body stiffen and he bit down.
I sensation of his teeth in my skin caused a sharp stinging that traveled down to my toes, but quickly turned from pain to a bliss I could never put to words.
I arched my back under his weight and with my free hand pulled his head harder into my neck, closing my eyes at not only my gratification, but being able to feel his.
I bolted upright in my bed, my heart pounding and my lungs thirsting for air. I pulled in three deep breathes before I looked around and took in my surroundings. My room was dark, very dark, but I could see through the small space in my curtains that the sun was rising. I heard a noise that seemed to be so far away and turned over in my bed to find my alarm going off, only just audible. I shook away any remaining confusion upon awaking and rolled out of bed for school.
I had woken up on time, but for some reason was extremely sluggish and running late. This ultimately meant that Jayson, who drove me to school, was also running late. Since we timed our trip so we would make it just before the bell -because who goes to school early?- we would be tardy for school and possibly in trouble.
I apologized at least ten times on our way to school, but Jayson kept swearing it wasn’t a big deal. I smiled and hugged him, hard, when we got out of the big truck to walk into school.
“What would I do without a friend like you?” I asked against his warm chest.
He hugged me back, nearly lifting me off the ground. “Maybe, if I wasn’t such a good friend, you might give me a chance and fall madly in love with me. Maybe I should be a little meaner to you to give myself a leg up.” He smiled down at me when I looked up at him and bent down to kiss my forehead. Still keeping an arm around me, he said, “Come on, before we are really late,” and dragged me toward the door, groaning.
It turned out we were about twenty minutes late for first period. So after we got our slips from the office, we took our time getting to our lockers and making it to our double period class. When we entered, naturally all eyes turned toward us. I tried my best to ignore the snickering, handed my pass to the teacher and walked directly to the back, to my seat. I sat down swiftly and took out my things, placing everything on the desk, and looked forward.
“Here,” A voice whispered next to me. I turned to see Halo smiling, not his usual arrogant smile, but a pleasant, welcoming smile that I couldn’t help but smile back at. I caught the action before he saw and locked it down.
“What’s this?” I asked taking the paper from his outstretched hand.
“The notes you missed this morning, I’ll keep taking them and you can copy them later when I come over.” I saw him do a quick once over of me and return swiftly to my face. His expression, his whole demeanor was different today. I was getting ready to say something when he spoke. “You feeling okay today?”
I nodded and shrugged, “Guess I didn’t sleep very well last night.” and turned in my seat to face front and start copying the notes. But I noticed, when I turned, Halo didn’t. He sat and stared at me for what seemed like forever, before he finally turned his attention back to the front of the room.
Completely unnerved, my usual state in his presence, I ignored everything and started copying.
The day went by pretty quickly and the changed classes from last semester and this one were an easy switch. I decided during lunch today to hide away with Kamdyn. So we thought our new place, starting yesterday, would be the darkroom in the photography room.
Luckily, the photography teacher had the same lunch as we did, so the room was unoccupied everyday. We slipped in, not turning on any lights and pushed our way through the spinning door, falling into a room of utter darkness. Kamdyn decided it would be funny to go in first, than hide from me in a room he knew I couldn’t see a thing in. He finally thought it not funny anymore when I walked into something, whacking my shin pretty hard and fell to the ground.
He went down beside me, pulling me onto him. I relaxed against the tingling of his skin against mine. Slowly, I inched higher up on his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. It felt like I hadn’t seen him in weeks, when I knew well enough he was just at my house with me yesterday. I didn’t need to tell him how much I loved him, how much he meant to me, because he always seemed to know and always responded with his body right before the words were going to leave my lips.
&nb
sp; I laid there, Kamdyn’s arms wrapped tightly around me, my face rested gently on his shoulder, when I felt him release one arm to find my left hand. Without feeling around, he reached right for my middle finger, touching the ring he gave me for Christmas.
“I told you I would never take it off.”
“I know you did, but feeling it and seeing it one your finger makes me feel so… whole. I feel like I was just coasting through life, going through the motions, before you got here. Now that I found you, I feel like I have a direction, a purpose. I don’t know what I would do if I were to lose you.”
I felt my chest tighten. “Don’t even talk that way. You aren’t going to lose me, unless you leave yourself. And if you leave, you better take me with you.” I laughed at the thought, but after I said it, I truly did mean it. Besides all the mystery surrounding Kamdyn, all the things I know he can do that he shouldn’t be able to, I loved him, everything about him. I had never felt anything like it before in my life and was sure I never would again.
I felt a smile pulling at his cheeks as he pulled me in tighter. It was so curious that he had these physical responses to my thoughts about him, without me needing to say a word.
As ridiculous as it sounded, Kamdyn was different from me. I knew he was. So that would mean, if he wasn’t going to tell me, I would need to figure it out. And to figure it out, I would have to treat this in a completely abnormal way. Think outside the box, if you will.
Then a thought came to me, while I lay there in his arms. Focusing specifically on him, on him hearing me, I screamed. In my head. Kamdyyyyyn!
He jumped up and scrambled to his feet. I couldn’t see where he was in the dark, but I could hear him panting.
“Why the hell did you do that?”
“Do what?” I asked innocently, trying hard not to laugh, which was very unsuccessful.
“You know exactly what! And you can’t even hide it. I can see you laughing.”
Beautiful Nightmare Page 21