by C L Walker
His eyes snapped to mine, but I looked away quickly, got out of the car and slammed the door.
“There you go again with your lies,” he said when he caught up to me, and he sounded every bit as unhinged as I felt.
“I’m not lying, I won’t stop hating you for anything I swear it!”
“Sure, you won’t.” He walked ahead of me. “Just you wait, woman.”
“Wait for what?” I sped up to match his steps.
He slowed down to a pace that was easier for me to keep up with. “Don’t you find it odd how easily you have managed to keep a cool head?”
“I’ve seen evil and you’re not it,” I said with confidence. “If you’re wanting me to be scared of you or lose my mind because supernatural beings and other worlds are real, don’t bother because it’s not going to happen.”
He stopped, so I did the same and put my hands on my hips and readied myself.
“Had it been anyone else you would have run screaming,” he said, and he took a step towards me, but I held my ground despite knowing I was staring into the eyes of a demon. “I mean look at you, you’re either a fool or you have a soft spot for me.”
“Neither.” He gave me a look of disbelief before he brushed a finger down my cheek forcing my heart to immediately pick up speed.
He smiled as he let his hand fall away before he muttered, “You and your lies that roll off your tongue so easily as you look at me with eyes that betray your every word.”
He seemed to measure my silence for but a moment before he turned and walked away.
I let him go without a word because there was no point in arguing with him when I knew my reaction to the situation wasn’t normal and of course he would realize that as well. But it wasn’t because I had a soft spot for him, it was because I trusted him, and that reality was almost harder to bear.
I trusted him and I found him even more attractive than I had before and that was the real head scratcher.
What’s next, dummy, are you going to beg him to take your life outside of your dreams!?
“No, I’m not doing this right now,” I said quietly to myself as I walked into the building. “Everything is fine, I just need to go about my business.”
I went to the cafeteria and found Sai who was eating cereal out of a bag again.
“Your mom is going to kill you.”
He nodded his head, unfazed by the thought. “She keeps leaving me to fend for myself and she’s going to have to live with that.”
“I know that you know how to cook.” I gave him a look. “You’re being lazy.”
“Yep.”
I opened the wrapper of my breakfast bar and took a bite as I looked around the room for Micah, I knew he was near because I could feel his presence even more than before.
“Woah, what happened to your hands?” Sai asked as he noticed that my palms were both bandaged, and my knuckles were scabby and gross looking.
“I worked last night, and the town was unusually eerie and quiet after my shift was over, so I ran home like a little chicken shit.” I took a sip of my coffee and when I looked up, I finally spotted Micah and he was glaring at me from across the room. I wondered if he could hear me from that far away.
“And?” Sai prompted.
“Anyway, so I was running home when I slipped and fell and slid down into the ditch, it was terrifying.” I looked at Micah again as he seemed to relax, he could definitely hear me. That was entirely unfair.
“Geez, Skylar, you should have called me if you felt scared, I would have picked you up,” Sai said.
He was right. I should have called him; everything would be different had he given me a ride home. Jack would be alive, and I wouldn’t know the truth about Micah, the truth that made so much sense when I considered the darkness that I had seen in his eyes on so many occasions.
And in my dreams… they had sort of been foreshadowing of things to come. But did that mean Micah was going to be the death of me as well?
No. Never.
But how was it possible that I had seen the other side of him in my dreams, and did it mean something?
“I didn’t want to bother you,” I said.
He and I got up and walked out of the cafeteria together. “You’re never a bother to me. Please don’t hesitate to call if you are scared, uncomfortable, or if you need to talk.”
I nodded my head and felt ashamed when his eyes met mine and I saw disappointment in them.
“I thought you knew you could do that already,” he said, before I could say something to make it better.
He was someone that wanted to be there for me, but I had been so worried about keeping him at a distance and not being a burden that I didn’t allow him to be a friend.
I wanted to tell him that I had ran towards his house when Jack had shown up to make him feel better, but then I would have to explain so much more and things would get messy.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry it won’t happen again. I will call you next time.”
“Okay, you better,” he said. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye.”
I spent all morning going over the events of the night before with a fined tooth comb but there was still something I didn’t understand, and I wasn’t ready to brush it off as sheer luck.
Why had he been there so late at night? Did he somehow know I was in danger?
He said no more questions, but I had to ask, I just didn’t know when the best time to approach him was because he was going to get mad at me.
I arrived in class before him so when he entered the room and our eyes met, he looked like he wanted to turn around and walk back out as if he already knew I was going to irritate him.
And I was, but he could deal with it.
He refused to look at me during class and I let him think we were carrying on as normal, and we would once I got my answer.
I could deal with leaving other realms and supernatural business largely unknown because it was for the best. I would never see them for myself anyway, so I didn’t care to know. But I wanted to know more about him specifically, and what brought him to the lake at the perfect moment.
He left before me and I went to my sixth period where I watched the clock anxiously until the bell rang and once it did, I ran out of the classroom straight for the student parking lot.
I got to his car before he did, and I leaned against his door as I waited for him.
Twenty minutes later when the parking lot was nearly empty, he still hadn’t shown. As far as I knew he wasn’t a part of any after school activities, so he had to be avoiding me.
Tired of waiting, I kicked his tire before I turned to leave, but I stopped when I heard him swear behind me.
“What took you so long?” I walked back to resume my spot against his door as if my body were enough to prevent him from leaving.
“Why did you kick my tire?” he asked. “Wasn’t my mirror enough for you?”
“I’ll set the whole thing on fire if you keep pissing me off.”
For some reason that made him smile. “Then I guess I should start looking for a new car and consider what your punishment will be this time.”
I found his resolve amusing and pondered his use of the word punishment as his dark eyes flashed in my mind and I imagined him running a sharp nail across my bottom lip.
WHAT THE HELL?
I’m officially a freak!
I cleared my mind of unwanted thoughts, I had to stick to the plan.
He gave me a predatory look as he took a step towards me and I backed into the car. “Move.” His eyes went to my mouth and back up again.
What in the world is happening?!
“Why were you there?” My words rushed out quickly as if they could save me from whatever nonsense was brewing inside of me that felt nothing like fear. Which was exactly what I should have felt around him.
His body moved closer to mine, but we still weren’t touching. “I told you not to bring it up again, didn’t I?�
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“Yes.” My palms were against the car as I leaned back and tried to maintain what little space we had left between our bodies. “But it’s the one thing I can’t get past, even if it was extremely good timing.”
“I enjoy the scenery.” He wrapped a piece of my hair around his finger and gave it a light tug.
“Now you’re lying.” I brushed his hand away. “Stop trying to make me uncomfortable, I’m not letting this one go.”
He looked annoyed as he looked away. “Damn it, Sky, you don’t want to know, so move and let me leave.”
“We both know you could leave anytime you want.”
He glanced around the parking lot. “Not without making a scene, so consider yourself lucky that people are still leaving school because I would have tossed your ass out of the way already if they weren’t.”
“What were you doing at the lake, Micah?” I pleaded even though I didn’t know why it was so important for me to know.
He put his hands on the car on either side of my head and leaned in closely to my ear. “If you want to know so badly, I’ll tell you but don’t regret asking me when you can’t comprehend, or deal with what I am about to share.”
“I’m not scared.”
“I was watching tv when all of a sudden I was struck with such fear I couldn’t fathom what was happening, I had never felt that scared in my entire life and I have seen some shit.” His chest heaved against mine, our bodies finally touching. “I knew that it belonged to you, so I bolted out of my house and the feeling led me straight to the lake and to you.”
“What?” I barely managed to get out. “How–no, what I want to know is why?”
He started to chuckle as he pulled away and when he nudged me with his hand I moved without protest.
“Why?” He pulled open his door and sat down. “That is the question, isn’t it?”
“You have to know, so explain it to me!”
“I’m barely hanging on as it is,” he said, “so I’d rather you leave it alone. I’ve told you enough for now.”
He shut his door, so I glared at him through the window. “Barely hanging onto what?”
He rolled down the window a few inches and said, “My sanity.”
He left me more confused than ever.
Sixteen
Skylar
You would think that after everything Micah and I had been through and considering what he was that I would leave him alone.
But I didn’t. In fact, I couldn’t.
So much to his dismay I kept bugging him to give me more answers, it didn’t make sense given that he was capable of killing someone with a single hand, but I wasn’t scared of making him angry.
He was the first person I had ever knowingly pushed despite them asking me not to and I didn’t even feel bad about it.
Not even a little.
“Why are you glaring at me?” he asked as he came to a stop in front of the lunch table that I was occupying by myself because Sai was at a dentist appointment.
I had been glaring at him for nearly all of lunch. “Why did you feel my fear, is that normal?”
His face fell before he turned around and walked away without a word.
I got up and dumped my tray quickly and ran out of the cafeteria to catch up with him but when I stepped out, he was nowhere to be seen.
I glanced at the doors that led to the courtyard, I had a feeling that he was in there, so I walked over and swung them open.
I took one step outside when I was grabbed, twirled around, and pinned up against the wall.
“What are you doing?” I looked into Micah’s furious eyes. “Let me go.”
“Me?” he asked in surprise as he nudged his knee in between my legs. “What are you doing?”
“Uhm, nothing?” I managed to say as heat swept through my body.
He glanced down and looked at the space between us as his breathing became unsteady. “Really?” he asked in a hushed tone. “Because you’ve been following me around all day, which you said you wouldn’t do, and you’re asking me questions I specifically told you not to ask.”
“It’s not like I want to follow you around, you gave me no choice because you walked away yesterday, and then again this morning before school and every time I caught you in between classes.”
He looked at me like I was dumb. “Because you asked me something I told you not to, and I’ve already explained that I don’t want to keep talking about this. So, you need to go on as if it never happened. Trust me it’s for the best.”
“For whom?” I searched his face and for once I felt like I was seeing past his mask. He didn’t want me prying for personal reasons, it wasn’t about preserving the general mystery of the supernatural, it was one hundred percent personal.
“For you obviously, and for me because I don’t want more reasons to interact with you.” He grabbed my chin and tipped my face up before he said more firmly, “I do not like you.”
“Weird of you to say that when I never suggested that you do. Who are you trying to convince?”
He dropped his hand from my face and stepped away as if I had burned him. “No one.”
“I told you,” I said, “I’m not going to latch onto you just because you saved me, this is not what is happening. I want to know how or why you knew what I was feeling, because judging by the way you’ve acted about it, you don’t like the answer.”
“So what if I don’t like it?” He glanced down at my mouth for probably the fifth time since I came outside, and it finally struck me as odd.
“Are you sure you don’t like me?” I asked quietly instead of answering his question, because sometimes he had a way of looking at me like no one ever had before that made me weak in the knees.
We stared at each other, both of us searching each other’s eyes for answers neither of us was ready to give when finally, he said, “Do you want me to like you?”
“No.” I was too quick to answer, and he smiled in response. “Why are you smiling? You never believe anything I have to say so again why do you bother asking?”
“Because I like the way you react.” He looked my face over as he continued to smile. “Just look at you, Sky, you are entirely overrun with emotions right now and your heart is beating so fast… why I’d even go as far as to say that it is you who likes me.”
I chuckled but it sounded forced to my own ears and I could tell by the look on his face that he knew it as well. I was in so much trouble, I didn’t know how to work myself out of what I was getting into. I didn’t like him, I could say as much and mean it, but I was ridiculously physically attracted to him as well and it was hard to hide it.
Then there was the little problem of him being a demon, vampire or whatever, essentially a predator in nature, that could hear my heart racing from several feet away. I never stood a chance hiding my attraction to him, but I still wasn’t ready to admit it out loud.
“I don’t like you.” I glanced away and back again quickly.
He waited with keen eyes as I began to squirm.
“You mistake my physical reaction as something it’s not, it’s simply anger. You bring out the worst in me,” I said.
“Right.” Clearly, he wasn’t convinced.
“Anyway, this is about you.” The bell rang, and I couldn’t have been happier about it. “You need to answer my questions.” Especially the new one that was burning within my mind that he avoided answering: ‘Are you sure you don’t like me?’
“I’ll make you a deal.” He held out his hand. “If you admit that you want me, I’ll tell you the how and the why of my long-distance empathy that night.”
“You’re nuts!” I stomped my foot and didn’t feel an ounce of shame over acting so childishly. “I’ll admit no such thing because I do not want you!” I slapped his hand away as he laughed at me before I pushed past him, making sure I shoulder checked him in the process which made him laugh harder.
“Another lie, you’re doing this everyday now, it’s becoming a habit,
” he said, before I made it to the door.
I almost stopped but there was no point in arguing with him. The more I reacted the less he would believe me anyway, and the last thing I needed was Micah thinking I wanted him. I’d never live it down, as it would be his new weapon to use against me.
I was about to reach for the door when suddenly he was in front of me blocking it. I looked behind us around the courtyard to see if anyone was around.
“Risky wouldn’t you say?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t want your lies anymore.”
I sighed and turned around so I could walk back to the doors I had come through, but he appeared in front of me again. “Let me go.”
He smiled but said nothing.
I folded my arms across my chest. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Fine, but I meant what I said, the lies have got to stop,” he said. “I’ll see you in an hour, Sky.”
“You’re one to talk, you lie just as much! Yeah, I’ll see you soon…unfortunately.” I spun on my heels and left.
After fourth period I headed to the computer lab without stopping by the class first as Mr. Burks had instructed us to do.
“Hey Bodin!” I heard Devin call from somewhere behind me as I was about to enter the library so I could walk through to the computer labs.
I let go of the door and let it close behind me as I walked towards him with a smile that I hoped hid my irritation. He was nice and I enjoyed his company, but he made a point of talking to me literally every time he saw me, and it was a bit tiring.
He stopped just shy of me and I took a step back to maintain a more comfortable space.
“What’s up?” I had just talked to him in the lunch line, and before that during third period so I wasn’t sure what could have happened that caused him to approach me with such urgency.
He beamed at me, oblivious to the subtle signs I was sending him. “I totally forgot I wanted to ask you something earlier.”
“Oh.”
“I was thinking since you said you’re going to the party–” he began but didn’t finish as he had started chuckling nervously instead. The odd thing about it was that it didn’t seem genuine, I didn’t think he was nervous at all and it bothered me that he was faking something so silly.