Unfortunately, he’s already at work, so that definitely isn’t going to happen.
I leave the house without saying anything to Ian, who is sitting in the living room as if he never even slept last night. I want to have a connection with him, but the truth is, he’s not the same person who used to be my best friend.
So, no matter how hard I try to stay friends, it isn’t going to happen. I realize it isn’t worth trying anymore, especially when I’ll only ever be met with resistance. I don’t need him anymore. Not since I have Degory to fall back on.
Even the thought of him comforts me more than the thought of becoming best friends with Ian again. I know that one day we’ll be okay, but I can wait for it.
Outside, the air is chilly, and there’s a small misty snow falling to the ground. I’m bundled up with my winter attire, including the marvelous scarf from my Reaper Captain. With that, and my body heat higher than normal, I barely feel the chill of the wind.
I’m grateful that the sidewalk isn’t slippery or icy, given the snow that dusts it. Knowing me, I would fall several times trying to walk to school if there is even a little bit of ice on the ground. Either way, I walk as carefully as possible to avoid embarrassing myself.
I’m passing Becky’s alley when I hear a strange roar and scratching sound coming from the back end of it. I know that isn’t a good sign. I should ignore it, but I can’t help myself.
I look towards the back wall to see a Malighost, with a black face covered in ooze and a spider-like body about the same size as me, clawing at the flowers I had placed in a hole in the wall for Becky.
I’m torn between running away to avoid danger and getting myself kidnapped by the leaders of Eden, and defending Becky’s memory. I had given those to her – a little girl who deserved so much more than she was given. I’m very protective of her and her space.
Suddenly, I’m so angry at the fact that the Malighost is trying to ruin the gift that I’m blinded. Not only is there anger radiating throughout my body, but I’m literally seeing fire, kind of similar to how some people see red when the get angry enough.
I can feel my body temperature rising, and it isn’t going to stop until it’s released. The pressuring building from the anger and fire is so intense that I feel like I might explode. But I’m not frightened. All I feel is anger and the need to protect Becky’s gift.
Walking towards the monster with a steady stride, I’m about halfway to it when it turns to face me. I can hear it sniffing at the air as I get closer. It sniffs for several minutes, unsure of what it smells. It turns its upper body towards me, getting a stronger whiff, probably hoping it will help it decipher what it is in front of it.
“What are you?” it croaks, confused and almost drooling. “You smell scrumptious. You aren’t a human, but you aren’t a Reaper either…”
It turns more, so it’s facing me and starts skittering towards me on its eight hairy legs. It stops a few feet in front of me and I stop, too. I can smell garbage on its body. We have a sort of staring contest for a few moments, trying to read each other.
The anger and fire continue to burn inside me, flowing through my veins and mix in with my blood. I can feel it building, the anger further fueling the fire inside. I have to let it out soon or I’m going to burn up from the inside. I don’t care of Eden finds me.
“Your spirit even feels different,” it snorts, the pincers clicking together in delight.
What in the world does that mean?
“You are going to be a treat!” it cheers. “I was looking for the little girl that was here. I can smell remnants of her spirit energy, but she’s gone. She wouldn’t have been fit for even a snack, though. I’m so glad you happened to walk by.”
The flames I’m seeing grow larger. The heat that’s flowing through me becomes hotter – I almost can’t handle it. I have to let it out. I close my eyes and scream as loud as I can while aiming my hands at the monster. I don’t know if it’s going to work, but I have to try.
I hear fire crackling and the monster yells loudly, moaning in pain. I can smell its hair burning from the flames, scrunching my nose from its horrid stench.
Opening my eyes, I see that the Malighost has retreated to the back of the alleyway in an attempt to get away from the fire that has spread all over its massive body. I wonder if anyone else can hear the screams coming from this thing. They’re making me cringe, but I can’t get myself to turn around and look for a gathering crowd.
I watch it continue to burn until it finally dies. Its body is limp on the ground, still on fire for only a moment before it explodes, sending the gray powder-like substance everywhere. I look around the alley and see that Becky’s flowers are unharmed, but the walls are charred. I’m a little curious whether anyone besides me will be able to see the scorch marks.
I’m aware that it was a bad idea to attack the monster, but I don’t care. I don’t regret getting rid of the ugly thing. I brush as much of the powder off of my clothing as I can before turning around and leaving the alley, relieved there isn’t a crowd.
I’m a little surprised since I had screamed loudly myself, but grateful I won’t have to give some random story about what I was doing in an alleyway screaming to myself. I debate skipping school, but I don’t want dad to have a conniption or anything. He’s really laid back for the most part, but he’s very strict when it comes to school.
It doesn’t help that I’ve never wanted to disappoint him. I can never stand that discouraged look on his face whenever I don’t do well.
I make it to school without any other problems. I don’t see anyone following me and don’t feel like I’m being followed, so I figure I’m home-free. This time, anyway. I promise myself to be much more careful from now on. That Malighost had just crossed a line and it needed to be taught a lesson. It isn’t worth taking another risk.
Chapter 11
School is school. It goes by normally, which I’m so grateful for. I need a little bit of normalcy back in my life right now, or I’m going to lose my mind. My peers walk right passed me as if I’m invisible, which is perfectly fine with me.
I don’t want to have a horrible day at school after the weekend I’ve been through. No one seems to know I had been ill, which I’m completely okay with. I don’t want to try and explain what had happened to anyone. I’m not that good at lying.
Walking home afterwards, I decide to go a different route. It takes me a little longer to get home, but I’ve had really bad luck walking my usual way home lately. I don’t feel like meeting up with any ghosts today – good or bad.
I miss Becky, but I’ve had two bad things happen in that alleyway – losing Becky to her sorrow, and killing that Malighost. Yeah, there has been one good thing that’s happened there: meeting the boy of my dreams who happens to be dead. Still, the odds are against me.
The snow that fell earlier this morning, and from the blizzard over the weekend, is now gone. It seems to have melted away while I was in school, which makes me sad. I always enjoy the snow. Christmas is my favorite time of year, so I’m always excited when I see it snowing.
Plus, I have a newfound appreciation for frozen things, now that I know someone who can manipulate ice. The sidewalks and streets are still damp, but that’s the only sign left that there was snow on the ground. Now, brown grass and decaying leaves are unearthed again, making the walk home seem very dreary.
When I arrive at the house, Ian is playing a video game I don’t recognize. It doesn’t look like he has even taken a shower today. If there hadn’t been dirty dishes sitting on the coffee table in front of him, I would have guessed he hadn’t taken the time to eat either.
I don’t know how dad puts up with him. He has classes on Monday but he doesn’t seem to have moved. If he did go to class, then he went without taking a shower. Ew. If that is what college is like, then I’m not sure I want to go.
Shutting the front door behind me, I walk straight up to my room. My sanctuary. I place my backpack on the flo
or near my television, and sit on my bed. All I can think about is how I want Degory here to hold me.
It’s strange how we just met, and I’m sitting here needing his company and his gentle touch. I’m growing fonder of him every single day, even without him by my side. I know that he would make everything feel okay again. My heart aches knowing that there’s no guarantee that I’ll see him any time soon.
I don’t eat dinner again tonight. I don’t have the stomach for it. Dad comes into my room to check on me, and to see if I have a fever. He tells me that I’m surprisingly warm – definitely a touch of a fever. I’m not surprised after finding out I have fire flowing through me, along with the blood in my veins.
I don’t tell him that, but he leaves me alone to rest. He threatens to take me to the hospital if I get any worse, though. I definitely don’t want that. Mom was always stuck in one hospital or another before she died, so I don’t want to be anywhere near doctors. Plus, it’s not like they will be able to help me. They can’t stop the fire burning inside me.
Being unable to sleep, I wait until dark when everyone was asleep except for Ian. I get out of bed, put on all of my winter gear, and sneak out my window as best I can. It isn’t easy, though. There is no fire escape, so I have to climb out of my window and shimmy down a drain pipe.
I regret my decision halfway down, and mentally kick myself for not going out the back door instead. With Ian so focused on gaming, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed me leaving.
When I reach the ground, I check up and down the street to make sure no one is watching me. I don’t know why anyone would, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Hopefully I don’t look like I’m leaving the scene of a robbery.
I feel safe enough, so I start walking towards the park where the old man had turned into a Malighost right in front of me just two days ago. That’s always been a peaceful park. I hope to gain some clarity by spending some time there.
Alone in the dark with no one to bother me – it’s the closest thing I have to a sanctuary besides my bedroom, and there shouldn’t be anyone there for me to put in danger. I’m hoping that the fresh air might help calm my anxiety over being able to burn down a house just because I’m afraid.
The evening is very cold – abnormally so after the warm afternoon. If my body temperature wasn’t being abnormal, I would have had to put on another couple layers to keep myself from freezing.
I walk as fast as I can down the sidewalk to get to the park. When I get there, it’s completely empty. I’m relieved – I don’t really know where else I would go. I don’t feel like talking to anyone, or trying to explain why I’m at a park so late on a school night.
Then there’s the whole ‘possibly setting everything on fire’ thing.
Sauntering, I sit down on a swing, gently rocking back and forth. My feet try to go straight to the bench the old man and I shared, but I force myself away. I’m not ready to face what happened yet. I lost another friend to sorrow, and sitting there would only remind me of what I’ve lost.
Instead, I perch on the swing for over half an hour, just letting my mind remain blank, staring up at the stars so I don’t have to think or feel anything. It’s refreshing to get away from everything and pretend to be normal again, even just for a moment.
It doesn’t take long before I start to get cold, though, so I stand up to head home. I freeze on my feet when a strange feeling washes over me. Not that I’m being watched, but it’s like I can sense someone coming towards me.
Panicked and unsure of what to think of this sensation, I run onto the jungle gym and hide at the entrance of a tube slide, so that I will be hidden from anyone coming towards me, but I’ll, also, be able to see in an instant who – or what – it is.
All I can think is that someone called the cops about a suspicious-looking girl walking around town at night. I wait for a few moments, but I don’t see anything or anyone. I can sense something coming closer, something familiar, but I can’t see it.
I’m starting to think I’m imaging things when, out of thin air, Degory appears near the old man’s bench in a huff. He looks a bit disheveled, out of breath, and is frantically looking around for something. I stand up from my hiding spot and whisper down to him, just loud enough for him to hear me.
“Degory?!” I call.
He looks straight in my direction and I can see panic written all over his face, similar to what I felt knowing he was on his way to me before I saw who it was. He uses the same shadow-step technique that got him here to instantly reappear in the space behind me. I turn around to see him breathing heavily, eyes wide.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
The pained expression on his face is starting to scare me.
“Did something happen?”
He searches my eyes for the words in his heart, unable to speak. He gently grabs my cheeks, pulling me towards him, and kisses me deeply. It’s only for a moment, but I can feel my body heat rising again, but not because I’m angry this time.
Suddenly, I’m not feeling cold anymore. I don’t want it to end. It seems like a lifetime has gone by since I last saw him. Since I had tasted his lips. Reluctantly, he pulls away. His gaze never wavers from mine as words finally touch his lips.
“We have to leave,” is all he says, his voice breathy and ragged from our kiss.
His eyes are serious and filled with an urgency I can’t question or ignore, even if I wanted to. I nod in response, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding onto him as tight as I can.
He wraps an arm around my waist and begins using his shadow step to get us out of there as quickly as Reaperly possible without being detected. I can’t even tell what direction he heads in. I wonder, momentarily, if anyone is awake at this time of night to see me flying by in a whoosh of colors, wondering what the hell can move that quickly.
I want to ask him what’s going on, curiosity more than worry getting the best of me, but I trust him. If there’s a reason we need to go without an explanation, I know that he will fill me in once we are safe.
My insides are crawling with nervous energy from him being back. Degory looking so scared has to mean something is wrong, though. Extremely wrong. Eden must have found out about my powers. I can’t think of any other reason he would show up so suddenly and so frightened. I don’t know what else could have happened.
The air that rushes passed us as we run is beyond freezing. Not even my elevated body temperature can keep me thawed. I want to use my newfound gift to warm myself up, but I know that is a terrible idea if we really are running away from Eden.
We are flying past buildings, homes, parks, and then nothing but trees. The shadow step is making me dizzy, so I keep my forehead planted firmly against the side of his neck and close my eyes as he travels. Each ‘step’ takes us over one hundred yards further away from the park he found me in.
“Hold on,” Degory whispers in my ear.
It is absolutely fabulous hearing his voice again. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until now. Though I know the situation is dire, his tone is helping me relax. I believe him when he reassures me.
“Just a little bit further.”
His grip on me tightens. I don’t notice I’m shivering until he holds me closer to him and angles his body so the wind won’t hit me as much. It’s better, but doesn’t stop the air from biting at my cheeks.
He’s not kidding, though. After a few more shadow steps, he stops running abruptly, holding me so I don’t go flying several feet away from the momentum. He lets me go, and I pull away from him slightly so I can see where we are. It takes a few moments for my eyes to get acquainted with the darkness.
I’m a little overwhelmed, because I don’t recognize the area at all. We are in a dense forest surrounded by the tallest trees I have ever seen. I didn’t even know there was a place like this around Everbloom.
Of course, we could be several thousand miles away from there, for all I know. I can’t tell if it’s after sunrise or not, either.
There’s no way to see the sky over the canopy and I doubt any sun would be able to peek through any of the branches.
I know it’s late in the evening with my walk, but I can tell by the clustering of trees that it will be almost as dark during the day, too. I have a feeling it’s always dark here. I look around to see a small log cabin that seems somewhat out of place amongst the trees.
“Where are we?” I inquire, still a bit dizzy from our escape.
I take a step towards Degory as a sort of reflex. He’s the only comforting thing in this unfamiliar place.
“Can we get settled inside first?” he requests, his tone cautious and careful.
He still looks worried we are being followed or are about to be caught. I can’t mirror his emotions. I feel safe just being near him again. Still, it bugs me that something is bothering him, so I’m attentive when he gently grabs my elbow and ushers me toward the cabin.
“I promise that I will answer any and all of your questions once we are inside,” he continues, stopping midstride to see if I will go willingly. “We’ll be safe there.”
Trusting his judgement, I nod and take the lead towards the cabin with him hot on my heels. I can practically feel the worry radiating off of him. I walk briskly to get clear of the woods, away from the perpetual darkness, and into shelter.
Opening the door, I walk inside but can’t see a thing. It’s just as unbelievably dark inside as it is outside. I can’t smell anything besides dust. There’s no light on inside and with no light able to seep through from the outside, it’s nearly pitch black.
“I can’t see anything…” I say faintly, not moving a muscle to make sure I don’t bump into anything and bruise a shin.
“Don’t worry,” he reassures me.
Hearing his voice again sends a thrill through my body, exciting me more than I anticipated. His form is mere inches away from mine, making it harder for me to think clearly. I take a deep breath to calm myself down. After all, we’re on the run.
Waiting a Lifetime (The Waiting Series Book 1) Page 10