by Leah Cook
“No, don’t, you might as well stay now,” Krystal didn’t even look at me, her gaze locked on the water. Her shoulders were slumped, her fingers playing nervously with the long sleeves of her top.
“Aren’t you hot? It’s like thirty degrees today!” I asked
“A little, but I have to cover my arms since they…” She trailed off as she spoke, her voice barely a whisper.
A little alarmed but curious as well, I leaned over and took her hand, she didn’t pull away just kept staring out at the water.
“Krystal…what the hell are they?” Her arms were covered in scars, the higher I lifted her sleeve the more scars I found. But they were more than that too, they looked like symbols of some kind. “Krystal?” Finally she gently pulled her arm away and I saw the tears falling down her face as she raised her shirt and showed the scar of a hand print. Not a human hand, more claw like, and it had been branded into the pale flesh of her stomach.
“I literally can’t tell you anything Ruby,” she said as she lowered her shirt and stood up. “I just wish you’d listened to me, that first time I’d tried to talk to you. Everything might have been different. Now it’s all up to you.”
“What are you talking about? Why can’t you talk to me?” I stood up next to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at me. I stepped back in shock, falling backwards over my bag. “Krystal?”
“You can’t stop it, He will come for you and you won’t even know it.” Her eyes had turned a bright emerald green, a perfect match for both Mikayla and Scott’s.
Suddenly the colour faded, like a light had been turned off within her, and she collapsed on the ground. I screamed for her to wake up. Turning her over so I could look at her face, her eyes were open staring at nothing, and they had returned to her normal blue colour. I felt for her pulse in her wrists and her neck, not knowing if I was even doing it properly, but I felt nothing. I kept calling to her, rubbing her face and her arms. After a minute or so, I felt a gentle breeze and knew that she was gone. That small gust of wind had felt like her. I grabbed my phone and called the emergency number then sat back and waited for help to arrive. I didn’t stop crying until my mother arrived and piled me into the car. She spent some time talking to a police officer and after shaking his hand, got in the car and drove me the short distance home.
I sat on the couch with a mug hot chocolate in my hands, my mother had added extra sugar to try and help with the shock of the day’s events. I was covered in a blanket to help with the uncontrollable shaking I’d had since I saw Krystal’s body being loaded into the back of the coroners van. I’d told the police what had happened through free flowing tears. I told them she’d wanted to tell me something but no longer felt she could. I told them about the weird scars on her arms.
“Ruby? I need to talk to you, Ruby?” I could hear her voice but she seemed so far away. I focused on her and eventually the fog cleared and I could concern etched into her face.
“I’m okay, I just don’t understand what happened.” I looked at her. “She had these scars up her arms…she wouldn’t tell me what happened…” The tears began to fall again. “She just…she just stood up and died right in front of me. I…I didn’t know what to do.”
My mother wrapped her arms around me while I cried, gently rocking me, soothing me. It reminded me of when I was ten and I’d been bullied by some kids at school and had come home crying every day. She held me the same way, gently rocking until the tears my tears finally stopped.
Eventually they did. I just didn’t have anything more to cry.
“Ruby, Detective Malone checked Krystal for scars, he said her arms had nothing on them. Nothing at all. He wanted to know if you’d taken any drugs. That’s why they did the swab test.”
I pulled my hands away from her instantly angry. “I have never taken drugs, I know what I saw!” I wanted to scream and make her believe me, that I wasn’t going insane, but part of me didn’t know if I was slowly losing my mind. “Her arms were completely covered in scars! The one on her stomach… it looked like…”
The doorbell interrupted my yelling, sighing my mother gave me the ‘we’re not done here look’ and went to the door. I heard her speaking quietly and then the door closing again. When she walked back into the room she was smiling and Scott was with her.
“Hey Rubes, I just heard what happened. Are you okay?” He reached for my hand and I let him take it. I looked at my mother who had an odd little smile on her face. Her eyes were slightly glazed and I put it down to the stress of the day.
“I’m going upstairs I’ll leave the door open.” I pulled Scott upstairs with me, expecting to hear my mother’s objections, but there was nothing.
When we got to my room I left the door ajar but nearly closed, I’d hear her coming up the stairs anyway. Scott went over to my desk and looked at my calendar and my white board which was covered in due dates for homework and assignments.
“Wow, aren’t you organised. I don’t even own a calendar or a diary.”
“I like to be organised.” I snapped.
“Hey I wasn’t criticising you, just making an observation.” He put his hands up in defence.
“Look Scott, last Friday we kissed, and I thought we had something…I don’t know, something different. Then something changed in you. You went all cold at school and now you just show up and expect what… exactly?” I took a deep breath, trying to stop myself from yelling at him. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m not in the mood for you to mess with my head, but I just watched Krystal die right in front of me!” I fell onto the end of my bed, my head in my hands, utterly defeated.
“I’m….I’m sorry. I didn’t know if you wanted to see me. I wasn’t sure how you felt after we…kissed. I…” He paced for a minute before falling to the floor in front of me. “Ruby, look at me…please?”
I looked at him, his beautiful eyes pleading with me and I felt my anger melt away. “I thought you felt it too? You said you did.” My voice was quiet, almost a whisper, “and then Monday you just seemed so distant and Mikayla didn’t say anything either. You didn’t even try to make me blush.”
“I asked her not to, she said I should tell you something…I just didn’t listen to her. I’m an idiot. But when I heard what happened at the lake I just had to come. Mikayla was coming to get you for youth group but I said I would come and see if you wanted to go. It’s okay you don’t have to.” He held my hand and rubbed his thumb back and forth over the skin on the back of my hand. I felt the tingle right up to my elbow. “I felt every bit as much of that kiss as you did. It was the most intense kiss I’ve ever had.”
He blushed as he said the last part and so did I. He was being a lot more honest than I had expected him to be. Looking into his eyes I almost forgot about Krystal. He must have noticed something change in my face because his thumb stopped moving and his eyes took on a harder tone.
“I’m not sure I’m up for going out, everyone is going to know by now that I was with her when she…died. The cops even did a drug test on me.” I pulled my hands away from him.
“Why were you with her?” He stood up and went over to my window staring into the fading light over the lake.
“I saw her on my way home, I was just seeing if she was okay because she was crying. I’m not the type of person who just walks away when I see someone upset Scott. No matter who I might piss off in the process.”
“There are reasons for Mikayla being so protective that you can’t even begin to comprehend. Krystal was bad news for you, you didn’t know her well enough to see it for yourself. We just saved you the trouble.” His voice was neither angry nor upset, simply matter of fact.
“I’ve known you a whole two weeks!” I stood up angry and annoyed at his protective attitude. A girl had died right in front of me. “Who are you and Mikayla to tell me who I can and can’t talk to? You are aware that I already have a control freak for a father?”
“Just trying to look out for you. I know you don’t un
derstand, but you will. Just don’t let this get in the way of what we might have here. There is something special between us, it’s different than anything else I’ve ever felt before.”
“Did you ever see her scars? Krystal’s?” I asked.
“No, I didn’t know she had any.” Again the flat tone of voice, I wasn’t entirely convinced but I was still drawn to him and when he reached for my hands I let him hold them.
“Look, a few of us from the group are meeting up for a bonfire. Nothing strenuous, I promise no speakers will try and fall on you tonight.” He scooped me up for an embrace that felt so normal, like we’d done it a thousand times. “It might do you some good to get out, feel normal.”
“Since moving here, nothing has been normal.” I cuddled into his warmth, feeling gentle pulls towards him with every part of my body that touched his. “I feel like I’m missing something important. Today I see Krystal with scars up her arms and then the police told my mother she didn’t have any. I know I’m not crazy, but I just…I just don’t know!”
“Is that all you saw? Just the scars on her arms? Did she have them anywhere else?” I shook my head, suddenly not wanting to tell him about the claw like brand that had been on her stomach. I’d already made myself look completely crazy.
I started to cry into his shoulder. Scott didn’t moved or say a single word until I finished sobbing, finally empty of tears. For now at least. He cupped his large hands around my face and gently kissed me. I moaned instantly, electricity pulsing around me, I felt his body radiating out just like mine. It was like there was a liquid around us that joined together when we touched. I was already starting to fall for him, I just wasn’t sure how hard the fall was going to be.
“Let’s go to the bonfire. You’re right, I think it will do me some good to get out.” He went downstairs while I changed into new clothes. I pulled on a flowing maxi dress and some slip on shoes and went downstairs pulling my hair up into a neat pony tail as I went.
“Mum…” I started saying.
“Not a problem Ruby. Go and unwind, just be home by eleven.” My mother was sitting in a recliner with a glass of wine. Scott sat on the chair next to her seemingly unfazed by the state my mother seemed to be in. “You’ve had a rough day, even your father would understand.”
“Mum, how much have you had to drink? You never let me out until eleven.”
“Its fine honey. I trust you. You’re old enough to start making some of these decisions for yourself. Just make good ones or your father will kill you.” She smiled at me her eyes glazed, I wasn’t sure if it was stress of the day or the alcohol, we hadn’t been upstairs long enough for her to drink that much.
I gave her a gentle kiss and walked outside with Scott, the fresh air filling my lungs and clearing my head a little.
“She’s just tired from worrying about you Ruby.” Scott said as he gently put a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “It’s been a long week, for both of you.”
“You could say that. With Krystal today it was…I think it might have been too much for her you know. In the city they were constantly worried about me, what might happen, despite the fact that nothing ever did actually happen. Primfield was supposed to be a safer place for us. This might make her start worrying again just like my father does.”
“Ruby, Krystal died today, she wasn’t killed, I’m sure we’ll find out the reason eventually. It wasn’t your fault.” Scott guided me to his car gently by my elbow.
We drove out of town for a while, turning down a small dirt road that you wouldn’t notice unless you knew exactly where it was, especially at night.
We drove into the bush, bouncing in and out of potholes. Scott drove the road well, he obviously knew where the major problem spots were. I couldn’t stop thinking about Krystal. Her scars. Her eyes. Nobody was going to believe me, I had to find the answers for myself.
“Ruby?” Scott asked.
“Mmmm?” I hadn’t noticed him stop and turn the car off.
“We’re here. Just try and relax, stop thinking about Krystal, it’s not going to change anything. You can’t help her now.”
“I can’t help it, I don’t understand why! She was the same age as me, she had the same future as me.”
“Oh no Ruby, you’re future is much, much, more important,” he said. Seeing that I was on the verge of tears again Scott quickly led me over to the large bonfire. A radio was playing some rock music, heavy with drums and guitar. People were gathered in a circle surrounding the bonfire, talking, laughing and dancing. When they noticed our arrival, most of the chatter stopped. If it wasn’t for the music that continued to play all that would have been heard would be the crackling of the fire.
“Ruby. I’m glad you decided to come, I see Scott has been working his powers of persuasion.” She smiled, the fire bouncing around in her eyes.
“Yeah, you could say that. I’m not sure that I’m going to be much company though, but it’s better than sitting in my room by myself all night.”
I snuggled in to Scott’s side as we sat to the right of Mikayla. On her left was the guy that had told me at school that I shouldn’t talk to Krystal. Scott introduced him as Dave. When he looked at me, his eyes were so dark they were almost completely black. I found it strange that there was no reflection of the fire in his eyes. When I looked again he had turned his head. Maybe I was starting to see things after all.
The chatting resumed and Scott didn’t even try to make conversation with me, he seemed content to let me stare into the fire. I laid my head in his lap, enjoying the contact as he gently rubbed my shoulder and arm, sending little shivers of electricity pulsing down to my fingers.
“You feel that?” He eventually said. He ran a single finger down the side of my neck, over my shoulder and down my arm to the very tip of my finger, making me shiver. I felt suddenly flushed, feeling how desperately my body wanted more.
“Yes, I feel it.” I answered my voice unsteady.
“Good. Imagine what it will feel like when I kiss your legs or your stomach or….everything.”
I took in a sharp breath as the image of him kissing me below my stomach flashed into my head. I didn’t look at him, but I knew he would have that tiny little smile at the side of his mouth accentuating his deep dimples, knowing that I would be scarlet from head to foot.
I didn’t understand how we had fallen so far so fast, especially after the last week. I had never experienced such a physical connection with anyone before, not even with Jake. I’d enjoyed kissing him, but I never felt like I wanted more, that I needed more.
The music died down and I sat up to try and see what was happening. Mikayla had stood up holding her arms up into the air. The fire roared up, metres into the sky. I gasped, looking at Scott for reassurance, he was still relaxed. I heard Mikayla muttering under her breath, another prayer like last week I guessed.
The fire went back to normal in seconds, she went around the circle, starting on her left, I would be last. I couldn’t see or hear what she was doing. The fire was crackling too loudly.
Eventually she came to Scott, gently she touched him on the head, leaving a small smudge of what appeared to be charcoal on his head. When she touched my head, it felt like her touch had burnt me, but it only lasted less than a second. I ran my fingers over the spot where she had touched me, sure enough a smudge of black appeared on my fingers. It was definitely charcoal. Scott looked at me, smiled and nodded silently telling me it was okay.
“It’s just a part of our prayers that’s all, nothing to worry about,” he said quietly after Mikayla had passed.
I wasn’t so sure. I hadn’t signed up to a church group, and nothing on the website had said it was affiliated with any of the local churches. I made a mental note to ask Scott on the way home.
The music started again and people resumed their chatting, the circle broke up a little more, with people forming smaller, less structured groups.
“Come on” Scott said standing up and lifting me with him
. “Let’s take a walk.”
I walked with him for about ten minutes in the dark. Every time I tripped he managed to catch me before I face planted on the ground and laughed at my clumsiness. I wish I had had the sense to put on my combat boots, I hardly ever wore flats and now I knew why. Other than the easy laughter, we were quiet. We came to the edge of a small river, a fallen tree providing the perfect place to sit.
“That was a little weird for me.” I stared at the water, letting its smooth sound soothe me.
“The prayer thing? It’s just something we do, it’s our own little thing. It’s not a church thing or anything like that.” He said as he fiddled with his phone until gentle classical music started to play, the light from the phone just enough to illuminate us in the dark.
“Oh, I’m just not that into religion, that’s all. I believe in heaven and hell. I believe in God. I just don’t feel the need to be active I guess.” I paused for a second to gather my thoughts. “If you pray, surely that’s a church thing? It has to come from somewhere.”
“It’s not forced on anyone, they are all here of their own free will. Not everyone joins in though. The ones that are here tonight are here because they have a belief but not necessarily just in God.”
He turned my face towards his, leaning in and whispering so quietly in my ear that I could barely hear it. “I’ve wanted to get you alone all night, Ruby. I need to feel you against me.”
Before I could even blush he lent into me and kissed me softly, cupping my face in his hands. My whole body instantly aware, covered in goose bumps, and aroused. I kissed him back. After a few minutes it became less gentle, my breath started to come in quick bursts and my heart hammered in my chest. I felt his hands slide down from my face and over my shoulders following the deep neckline of my dress. Instinctively my chest rose to meet his hand as he gently found and caressed my breast through the thin fabric. I moaned into his mouth as my nipple hardened as he gently pinched it. I gasped and pulled away from his mouth at the onslaught of so much arousal mixed with the sliver of pain. I lifted my head up to look at him and instead Scott took the opportunity to kiss my neck, nibbling and licking his way up to my ear.