I shrug. “It’s my birthday. I have a Jeep.”
Dereck leans over. “Yes, sir. That’s me.”
“Mr. Hamilton, are we expecting special privileges today?”
“No, sir. That would be David Alexander Hamilton—my brother.”
My memory rushes to the news on TV. Oh, this makes much more sense now. The officer must’ve run the plates and thought he had him an infamous Hamilton. The officer asks, “Ma’am, have you been drinking today?”
“No, sir.”
He reads my license again with a puzzled expression. “This address seems familiar—” His eyes snap to mine as his face pales. “You have a good birthday, ma’am. Mr. Hamilton, you are free to go.” He walks away.
Dereck’s jaw drops. “Damn! Pretty girls do get away with everything. If that were me, I’d be calling my mom from the backseat of that cruiser by now.”
We’re driving again, and Dereck says, “Serenity? I planned on putting the Jeep in your name, once I knew you were going to keep it.”
“Dereck, I prefer it in your name, whatever that means. You handle the paperwork mumbo jumbo while I have fun doing more of my great driving.”
“Will you stay with me tonight?”
Refusing to look at him, I shake my head. It’s my birthday—he won’t push for a yes.
He grips his chest. “But you will come to me, if it gets bad?”
I nod. My eyes water as I lie.
“I’m in love with you, Serenity.”
A tear slips from me. My throat closes up so I can’t say, I love you, too.
My dream picks back up where it had left off. The cloaked one and I are holding each other in the white light. I know her embrace is preparing me for something. “I’m scared.”
The darkness rolls in, changing the sky. “You won’t always be.” She does not hum to settle me. This time, she sings a hauntingly eerie melody that reminds me of how my life is:
“No one can see them but you.
No one can tell you what to do.
Alone, alone in a cold, dark night. Alone, alone, nothing feels right.
Wanting to save her but losing the need for flight…
You feel and see his empty heart. Trapped in hell, never to part…”
Her voice is so familiar, but I have no time to ponder. The wind, once again, is trying to rip us apart. My legs wrap around hers, desperate for us not to be separated. “Don’t leave me.” We both spin like tumbleweeds—soft, controlled, but spinning.
She keeps singing:
“I’m here, baby, feel me. I’m with you, baby, you know me.”
I tell her, “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Past the mist, confusion they show you—hold on, he’s coming.”
Her voice builds with heart, as if trying to lead me away from the pain.
“They’re just shadows in the night.
Get up, Sugar Plum, get up and fight.
Don’t let them make you hide, those damned shadows in the night—”
My mother’s screams jolt me awake, demanding action.
I shiver as my world trembles…
I sit straight up in my bed when my bedroom door slams shut. My mother leans against the door, frantically trying to lock him out. Her inebriation makes the simple task impossible. Alarm races through my whole body. The enraged man, Father, will try to open the door the traditional way only once.
The violent ones who profess to know the truth…
Even in her drunken state, she knows the routine and rushes backward to avoid the explosion. She stumbles into my dresser. My perfume bottles tumble, and my heart attempts to slip into the all-too-familiar numbing sensation my soul requires to survive. Her body needs to flee, but it won’t—it has consumed too much alcohol and doesn’t know how. Once again, I am left to protect her.
Consume the air I need for life…
With one shoulder-blow, my door flies from its hinges. It crashes into Mom, tossing her to the ground. For an instant, I freeze as his dark eyes search for her, but when they find her, I react. I must. The giant verses the fairy, and the giant is on fire.
Adrenaline burns through me as he reaches for her. Scrambling out of my bed slows me, and I am too late. I can only watch her body crash into my bedroom wall and slide to the floor.
A flash of despair…
My heart is racing so fast it feels as though my chest is fighting to contain it. As I cover her body with my own, he grabs hold of her feet, then we both go flying into my bookcase. The rug burns my skin. My weight crushes her against the shelves. I wonder if I’m helping her at all.
Away from the sun and in the shadows…
The books come down on both our heads. I check her face but find no emotions. The emptiness of our lives takes over her will to live—the battle is mine for the night. This is the moment I feel lost. Even though the war has raged for years, I’m swallowed by its loneliness.
Is how it feels when I’m awake…
His fist, full of her hair, pulls her from me, forcing our bodies to separate. If I hold on, there is that much more weight her scalp has to endure. As I struggle to my feet, I trip on the books and slam back to the floor. From the ground, I look up to see how far I’m already falling behind. Mom is being dragged down the stairs. As my head drops onto the books that have caught my fall, tears fill my eyes.
No, I don’t feel like the teenager I am.
My heart and soul say I am not what the mirror reflects…
With no moments to spare, I scurry on my hands and knees, lurch from the debris sprawled on my floor, and run down the stairs that seem to have consumed my mother. Maybe she will be spared Father’s repeated agony.
A moment of hope…
Once at the bottom, I see her feet strain to grab a foothold while he pulls her hair, lifting her higher and higher into the air. Mom’s body is partially limp from the vodka, but her face still shows pain. With brutal force from his other hand, he stifles her scream.
My eyes close in helpless despair as my mother is catapulted into the dining room table. When my eyes open again, I see her lifeless body, slumped to the floor. Her chest rising and falling is the only sign she is still alive.
These are the things I hold on to
The giant has tired, and if I leave the fairy where she lies, the battle will end for the night.
The things that won’t let me shatter into pieces
Not wanting to, I turn my back to her and go up the stairs with an indefinable sadness. I know that to move her will stir the beast. At least, that is how these nights usually go. But hearing the buzzing that haunts my soul, I stop midway up the stairs and look through the iron railings. Mom is suddenly flying through the air again. Her collision with the wall echoes through the house. Echoes to my heart.
It’s not just mist circling the cruel man who used to be my dad. Now it’s black shadows of hungry entities. The sight of something else invading my home makes me lose my footing when I try to run for her again. I tumble down the rest of the way, my body ramming into the front door. The back of my head hits so hard it jars my eyes out of focus. The room spins, but another scream forces me to my hands and knees in attempts to crawl to her. She isn’t just fighting Father and mist this time, she’s fighting some sort of spawn from hell.
My hand slips in vodka that must’ve been thrown earlier in the fight, and my chin hits the floor with a crushing blow, announcing the concrete under this thin carpet. My teeth slam shut, and my hand slices across a piece of broken glass that stabs me with a vengeance. Shaking terribly, I close my eyes and pull the glass from my palm. I have no time to react to all the blood. My mom needs me. She’s now lying in a fetal position while trying to block the blows.
My God! He’s kicking her! Like a nigh
tmare—a terrifying nightmare—I scramble to her, but she keeps getting farther away. Her body flails, and her face cringes with every contact of his boot. She curls up, anticipating every hateful blow. I scream for him to stop, but his rage has taken his mind far away from this place, leaving shadows flying around our home as if they’re caught up in a windstorm.
My body wants to enter flight mode—to save myself—but I refuse and keep pushing forward. I fling my body over hers, hoping Dad is in there somewhere and will save us from Father. An explosion of pain flashes behind my eyes, but I muffle my scream so as not to feed the fire. Yelps of pain only anger him further. The shadows exude laughter.
Before I can catch my now painful breath, I’m being pulled by my ankles. When far enough away, Father releases and marches past me. I frantically crawl on my stomach to reach for her again. But once I’m to her, trying to gain control, the shadows chase my hands. I retract in fear of the shadows touching me, contaminating me as they do Dad.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see his enormous hand grab a fistful of her hair. She’s on her stomach, and he drags her. Desperately, I crawl to catch up. I leap from my knees to her back, but he violently rolls me off her. I continue to roll until I slam into the TV. I look up just in time to see the shadows pushing it. I roll out of the way as the TV crashes next to my head. The shadows rush back to my dad like evil cheerleaders. He’s choking my mother! She’s on her back with him sitting on her stomach. The mist, like a swarm of bees around his whole body, is making me ill. Pulling on his wrists, she’s no match for his mad strength.
I’ve almost reached her when one of his hands lets go and pushes on my chest as hard as he can. As if weighing nothing, I fly into the fireplace. My skin rips and sticks to the bricks that catch me. My small tank top and panties provide almost no protection.
Ignoring the pain, I race back to the dark, misty madness. Next to her, I drop to my knees, daring to put my hands in the cloud of insanity, and pull at my father’s hands. But something causes me excruciating pain, and I have to keep retracting my hands. Every time I find an ounce of courage, I throw my hands back into the smog of violence.
The alcohol seems to be clearing, and her eyes look horrified. He’s actually trying to kill her this time. The shadows are the jury, and the verdict is… death. My father, the executioner. The war I’ve been fighting, battle by battle, is now exploding into a realm of evil I didn’t know existed. Dereck said I could win this war, but I didn’t even know that I was up against this particular opponent.
Once again, I fly backward, my back hitting the wall. While sitting on the floor, half unconscious, I open my eyes. Her feet are in front of me, so I pull on them, but my father is too heavy as he continues to sit on her. I think of my cloaked friend and silently beg, You said you are always with me! Help me! They’re going to kill her! I close my eyes and pull with all I have.
Remarkably, my mom breaks free. Refusing to open my eyes and see him or them coming for us again, I drag her body to mine then wrap my limbs around her and tuck my head over her, just as I have so many times before.
“Grab his hand!”
“His other one got free!”
“Watch his legs!”
“Roc! He’s going to punch you!”
Josh? My hopes are making my ears hallucinate. It’s a trick.
“I got him!”
“Serenity… Serenity!” yells more trickery.
I begin crying but won’t open my eyes to the lie. Instead, I scream back to the mist that is so cruel to my heart to use Josh’s voice like this. “Shut up!”
I lean away because it’s closer now. “It’s me. Serenity, it’s Josh.”
My eyes stay slammed shut as I sob for him. “I want it to be you.”
It’s shaking, but I know this hand when he touches my face. “Baby girl?”
My eyes slowly open. “Josh?” I timidly reach out to touch him, making sure my eyes aren’t tricking me. At this point, I’m clueless of the shadows’ powers.
His hand holds my palm to his face. “It’s me.”
“Josh! He’s getting up!” Roc screams.
Father has pushed Rocco off his back, rising to his feet… with me as his goal.
Josh turns around and yells, “Rex! What are you doing?”
Ignoring Josh, Father takes a step, and I gasp. No one is going to be able to stop him this time.
From behind, Rocco’s big arm wraps around my father’s neck and twists him back to the ground as if that is what his size is meant to do. My eyes widen with realization. Rocco is good at football, but I just witnessed his true purpose. He has fierce strength, even against unknowns. Josh leaps through the air, leaving me, and lands on top of Father, without a shred of fear. His bravery and persistence are astonishing as he starts giving heated instructions again.
Faintly, I hear voices entering my head. My Crew may have abnormal physical strength, bravery, and ability to lead, but I’m not sure if they have the powers to stop this mental invasion. I need someone who can affect these shadows on a whole other level as Rocco did for Sky—
“Where’s Dereck?” I wail.
I had dropped him off at his house, a decision I may always regret. The static grows, promising more whispers. Finally, one makes it through. “They can’t help you.”
My body jolts in horror, and I slam my hands over my ears. It’s as if these entities are reading my thoughts. In fear of losing my mind permanently, I slide out from under my mother in search of the only one who can save me now.
Josh yells for me to stop, but his hands are full with Father. I run to the front door and grab the handle. “Serenity,” the voices sing. To hear them say my name rocks me to the core. I’m so stunned, I can only stare as an officer approaches the open door. “Ma’am?”
I open my mouth to ask for help, but his face suddenly shifts into a distorted creature, like something in a funhouse at a fair, full of image-shifting mirrors. Air leaves my lungs as panic sets in. I don’t know if he’s part of this evil or if the entities are forcing this change in my mind, but I’m not sticking around to find out. I turn on my heels and run for the back door.
I hear a “Wait!” but I don’t dare look back. Male voices rise as they try to subdue Father. I don’t want to see that, either.
Out my back door, I turn to the right and run along the side of my house, farthest from the driveway and all the blinking police car lights. My goal is my street so I can run to Dereck’s house. At least that was the plan. This buzzing in my ears is confusing me. It’s so hard to stay focused. I’m crossing the front yard, no longer sure of where I’m going, when the voices scream, “Yes! The street!”
As soon as my feet hit the old pavement, bright lights are in my face, and tires screech. I throw my hands up to protect my head from a hit I can’t avoid. The voices shriek as the vehicle stops mere inches from me. The heat of the large engine blows over my skin. The shrieks are so intense I can hear nothing else. Not until a hum I know so damn well gently breaks through. “Sugar Plum, the spring.”
I run.
I run harder and faster than I ever have in my entire life. I pass my house in a blur and run straight into the woods. Racing between trees in a rush, I barely feel the sticks and twigs cutting my feet. I know nature doesn’t mean to hurt me as I run for my life. It will offer me the spring soon.
When I see the moonlight shimmering off the promising water, I hurtle my body through the air like a well-trained Olympian. I soar, my arms and legs flailing in the air to help me get farther from the shore. My form slides deep into the cool water. The spring welcomes me, soothing all my scrapes and bruises and shutting out all the surrounding noises, including the ones in my mind. Before I resurface to face whatever has followed me, I take a few seconds to silently thank the cloaked one for such a beautiful idea.
With only my head emerging, I glance around, my heavy breaths the only sound. The spring is dark and quiet—a tranquil opposite of the hell I just came from. No snakes or creatures that I might have disturbed concern me. Nothing out here is as scary as what I just went through. My breathing hasn’t even settled down before I hear fast, heavy footsteps headed toward me. Trying to hush my breathing, I tread water. I’m safe here. I’m safe here.
“Serenity!”
Arms and legs I no longer have command over fight desperately to swim to him. I’m splashing water in the dark.
“Serenity?”
I climb out of the spring, crying too hard to answer.
As if he can hear my gasping hysterics, he darts toward me. “I’m here. I’m here.”
Soaking wet, I dive into Dereck’s arms. My bare legs and arms wrap around him, squeezing him so tight. I sob as he kisses me all over my face and head.
“I almost ran you over!”
I can barely talk through my delirium. “Th-That was you?” The voices wanted me to get hit by Dereck!
His lips keep touching me. “Yes. Oh my God. You’re okay, you’re okay.”
In between his panicked kisses, I ask, “How did you know to come for me?”
“I-I don’t know. It’s crazy. My mom suggested I go and check on you ’cause you weren’t answering your cell, and I was extremely agitated. Then, oh God, then, while on the way, Skyler called, crying.” He’s kissing me again. “I raced to you, baby. Next thing I know, you’re in front of my truck—I called for you, but you ran!”
That is why the cloaked one had me run to the spring, so I could hear him again.
“Baby Doll, what happened?”
I don’t know how to answer that, nor do I want to think about it. So I tighten my hold around him and rest my exhausted head on his big shoulder that I need to carry my weight for a while.
He nods against my head. “Okay. I understand.” He rubs my back as he turns and we start back.
Serenity (Forever Book 1) Page 23