by Jade Frances
Fifteen minutes later, I was only a street away from my home when I remembered that I needed to grab a few essentials. I crossed the road to the small newsagents at the beginning of my street. As I entered the shop, I felt a chill roll down my spine. It was so much cooler in here than it was outside. The shelves were fully stocked with all your essentials and oddly some tourist bits and bobs, keyrings, and the likes. Quickly, I picked up milk and bread, balancing them in my arms so I could grab a notebook that caught my eye. Finished, I made my way towards the till. A strange feeling crept over me, almost like I had to get out fast. The chills I had felt when I first entered were getting more intense the deeper into the shop I walked.
As I approached the back where the cash register was, my eyes fixed on the older woman sitting there, her name badge read Payton. Staring at me awkwardly, she tilted her head to give me a thorough once over; I gave her a smile in return, trying to squash the cold vibes I was feeling.
“Young lady, if you don’t mind me asking, where did you get that necklace from?” she muttered so fast and low. She had a strange accent.
Until now, I had forgotten about the necklace.
“I was gifted it,” I stated boldly, but I could feel the colour rushing to my cheeks and I prayed she asked no more.
I heard a loud gasp from behind me but by the time I had turned around, I only captured a blur of grey as someone rushed out the shop, weird. Turning back, I saw something flash in Payton’s eyes. I passed her the money I was due, which she took hesitantly. It was almost as if she was being careful not to touch my hand. Slowly, as I started walking, edging backward to leave and heard her mutter to herself.
“Not here, not a Siren, surely not.”
What a strange woman. With that thought in mind, I tucked my necklace into my shirt and walked out, wondering what the hell that was all about.
Lost in my own troublesome thoughts, I didn’t notice the guy standing in the center of the sidewalk until it was too late, and we collided. Without looking up, I reached towards the notepad that had fallen beside me. His hand reached toward it at the same time. The instant his fingers brushed against mine, heat flashed up my arm. The current reverberated through my entire body. I whipped my hand back, making sure to grab the notepad. The warmth from his hand had given me such a shock. It had taken my breath away. Peeking a glance up, I looked straight into deep green eyes. It was as if there were two colours swirling and mixing inside them. They are the most mesmerizing green eyes I had ever seen. The kind of eyes you could easily get lost in. Standing up slowly, I stared back at the ground and mumbled a sorry.
“Watch where you are going next time,” he called after me as I hurried past him. The hostility in his voice shocked me, and I had a sudden desire to put him in his place.
“Says he who just stands in the middle of a sidewalk!” I bit back, quickly realising I had shouted. People in the street had stopped to look. Rushing toward my block, I shook my head, sighed, and tried to get my short temper under control.
I stopped at the main door and fumbled around in my bag for my keys, noticing that everyone had continued walking after realising there was no drama to be seen. I had a strange feeling like someone was watching me though. My fingers felt around clumsily for the keys. After what seemed like an absolute age, I found them and bound up the four flights of stairs and into my flat. Exhaustion hit me and I laid back on the sofa staring at the ceiling, thinking of the bizarre goings-on of today. What a strange small town I was in and populated by even stranger people. I could feel myself drifting off to sleep into a sea of green, and slowly the room and the day’s events faded away.
Jolting awake, I realised it was the middle of the night, but something wasn’t right. I was freezing and my bones felt like ice. Squinting in the dark, I could see that the balcony doors were slightly ajar. I’m positive that they had been shut and locked. Getting off the sofa, I winced slightly as pins and needles shot through my legs. Hopping across the room, I reached the balcony. Half hidden by the curtain, I snuck a quick look outside, my breathing coming in hard and fast. It was so dark. I froze. I’m sure I glimpsed an outline, but it was still and silent. As a car rounded the corner below, the lights lit up the balcony.
There, standing in the corner, was a guy. My brain wasn’t acknowledging the danger I was in. Instead of screaming at myself to run, something drew me closer. I felt myself involuntarily reaching out my hand. The guy didn’t move. My hand connected, heat spread into my arm, burning as it worked its way up. Closer now, with my eyes focused, I could see a little better. It wasn’t human eye’s that were looking back at me; they were black with a red rim. So familiar. I was sure I could sense pain and anguish, but they weren’t coming from me. He still hadn’t moved.
“Are you ok?” I whispered. When I glanced up to his face again, his eyes were normal although I couldn’t quite make out the colour. It was as if I had imagined them, which was comforting. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t run from some stranger on my balcony with black eyes?
“What the hell are you doing on my balcony?”
The guy raised his hand slowly toward me. He wrapped his fingers around mine. Something about him seemed pained. Slowly his mouth opened.
“It’s not safe,” he said. He let go of my hand and pushed himself away. The heat left my arms. Watching, I saw him fade away into the night and darkness washed over me once more.
I heard my phone ringing in the hallway. Shivering, I opened my eyes. I was lying uncovered on the sofa. What a strange dream that was. My head was pounding, and I needed water. That was the first full night’s sleep where I hadn’t had the same recurring nightmare that I suffered every night. So how come I felt so drained. It was all so clear, the guy on my balcony, I was almost certain his eyes had been black. The same eyes as the people in my nightmares… Wonder who that could be.
“Hello… hello… hello,” I yelled down the silent phone. When I got no reply, I hung up. Not in the mood for prank callers today.
Shuffling into my room, I remembered I was supposed to visit the children’s home today. That would have to wait, I thought, far too tired. Climbing into bed, I prayed I could get back to sleep.
CHAPTER THREE
Another morning and another new day. Weeks had passed by since that odd night that I’d had the new nightmare, or dream, I wasn’t sure what to call it. After getting out of the shower, I snuggled down on the sofa wrapped in my fluffy as hell, white dressing gown with my notepad and pen. I had used it as a diary of sorts. Writing about every strange experience I’ve been through. That, and my nightmares. I thought maybe it would help me figure things out. A knock on my door interrupted and drew me away from the pages. As I opened it, I looked up into the eyes of Taylor.
“Aw come on Tay, it’s my day off!” I proclaimed.
“Chill, chill, mine too sweet cheeks. What do you want to do?”
I raised my eyebrows questioningly. We never had days off together. As if reading my thoughts Taylor continued, “kitchen flooded, closed for a couple days,” with a shrug he walked past me to the living room. An idea formed in my head.
“Would you mind if we stopped at the orphanage?” I asked. “Just a quick visit.”
“Whoa bit early in our relationship to be adopting a child,” he smirked at me as he held his hands up and stepped back slightly.
Feeling heat flush through my cheeks, I gave him a thump on the arm. Wind up.
“I’ll go get dressed back in a minute,”. He was chuckling as I walked away, and I tried to hide the small smile creeping onto my face.
Half an hour later and I was stepping out of Taylor’s car outside the children’s home. I suddenly felt slightly nauseous. Something that he must have sensed because he wrapped an arm around my waist and gave me a light, reassuring squeeze. I looked up at the big daunting building. It had once been a chapel; the stain glass windows had remained and gargoyles still sat on the tall towers. They had always given me the creeps, always watch
ing. The building had grown a lot over the years. They had extended new wings at either side. To house more children, I suppose. I flinched as I felt Taylor drop his head close to mine.
“Just breathe,” he whispered in my ear.
Feeling slightly comforted, I let out a deep sigh and carried on toward the building. Taylor’s hold on me didn’t waver. The main door opened before we had even reached it and out bounced a few of the younger kids shouting my name with excitement. I laughed as they all huddled around me. I started patting each of their backs and ruffling their hair.
“Hi Guys, nice to see you! Let’s get inside before you catch a cold.”
They didn’t budge though, and I realized they were all looking at Taylor with wide eyes. Laughing, I knew they were just a little frightened. He was a stranger. It’s rare for people to come back to visit, let alone with someone new in tow.
“Guys, this is Taylor, my new friend.”
I was still laughing as I looked down at them, but I watched as the fear faded and small smiles replaced it.
Katie moved forward first; she was the youngest. Taking the lead, she grabbed Taylor’s hand and tugged him towards the door. His grip on my waist tightened, and I hid a smile. Maybe it was his turn to feel uncomfortable. Something drew me to look back up at the windows in that moment, and I saw a face glaring down at me.
“Ava,” I gasped, stumbling slightly.
Taylor quickly rebalanced me, a look of worry or maybe it was confusion on his face. They quickly led us into the dining room, where everyone was, even Heather. All of them were asking questions about my new life, but I couldn’t focus. Taylor was the one talking and answering most of them, acting just the charmer that he always was. Ava still hadn’t come down; I scanned the room over and over, expecting her to appear.
“I’ll be back in a second,” I whispered into Taylor’s ear.
He looked panicked about being left on his own for a second, then threw me a beaming smile and focused his attention back on the children.
Slipping out of the room, I made a beeline for the stairs. Pushing my doubt aside, I bound up them and towards Ava’s room. Letting myself in when I reached it. She was sitting on the bed with her head in her hands.
“Ava,” something made me nervous, an energy I haven’t felt before coming off of her.
“I’m not coming down, Evangeline.” She stated in a robotic voice.
Looking up at me, her eyes seemed empty and lost.
“Ava come on now don’t be silly, I came to see you,” I reached for her hand, but she recoiled.
I could feel frustration building up, but concern coursed through me more.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Evangeline ... just go... with him. The rest of us don’t have to grow up just yet... you know the people you left behind!”
What the--? Why was she so upset with me?
“You promised Evangeline!” she sobbed.
Realization dawned on me.
“At least now it’s obvious why,” she spat towards me, between the sobs.
Every part of my being wanted to get out of that room, something didn’t feel right in here. Ava was acting differently to the girl I was used to, and I thought I knew her very well.
“Ava I’m leaving, if you come down, I will talk,” and with that I stalked out of the room confused and angered by her outburst.
As I reached the door, I heard her mutter “there’s a darkness in you Evvy, so dark.” Weird.
Taylor was standing outside the dining room when I got there. Oddly, he seemed to sniff me as I approached him. More weirdness.
“I was just coming to find you, are you ok?” A look of concern on his face.
“I’m fine, we are leaving,” I snarled back.
He looked surprised, but I was already heading for the doors. Once I got outside and in the fresh air, I could breathe again and thought of the way Ava had acted. She felt abandoned. Maybe she thought I would visit every day. I had other priorities now, Taylor hadn’t been one of them like she had made out. If only she had come down to talk, she would have seen we were just friends. Sighing, I decided to just forget it all. I wouldn’t let it ruin my day. Taylor was in friendly spirits. We never have days off together, so we should focus on doing something fun. A small part of me hoped that we were building an actual friendship. God only knows I could use a friend right now.
CHAPTER FOUR
Since the day at the orphanage, I had filled my time with work. The weeks had flown by. I even took a few overtime shifts when they were available, anything to keep me busy. Taylor and I had formed quite a strong bond. At least I thought so, anyway. He was fun to work with, a windup and always flirting with the customers, but he was entertaining to be around. I hadn’t had anymore strange encounters like I had in my first few weeks here, and no one had asked about my necklace since then. But when it occurred to me that morning, that I had pushed aside what the woman had muttered when I walked out the shop, my mind buzzed with curiosity again. Looking down at my laptop, I searched for necklaces that looked like mine, but couldn’t find any at all. Deciding to take a different route, I looked for women with wings, just to see if anything popped up. Hundreds of links appeared before me, each with a unique description underneath. They all had one thing in common, though. The word Siren. Searching further, I came across some images. A bird with a woman’s head and body and mermaid type women, both had popped up the most frequently. My hand gripped the necklace that hung loosely around my neck. It strongly resembled a mixture of both images.
Reading through one of the links, I quickly learned that Siren’s came from Greek mythology. They were water creatures and dangerous. Although this seemed to be the general consensus, they are also depicted in different ways, kind, lost souls of the water. The portrayal that jumped out most to me, described the most powerful sirens as possessing the gifts of individual elements, they could manipulate them at their will. Air, Water and Earth they were categorized into. As far as the myths went, sirens lived on a small rocky island possibly in Italy. Whether they were placed there or born there was unknown. Beautiful creatures with beautiful voices that could cause love or destruction. Sitting back, I let out an enormous sigh. The history was sparse on these Sirens. I couldn’t feel a connection to any story. Nothing that would explain where my necklace had come from, anyway. One mythologist had stated that sirens, only on very rare occasions, had an insight into the past and the future. Suppose I could relate that to myself with my outstanding instincts. Ha, what a joke. Giving up, I got ready for work.
As I walked into the restaurant, I noticed how serene it was. The old wooden tables had white linen cloths draped over them with a red rose in a small vase taking center pride. The silverware was neatly placed at every sitting. Waving at Taylor, I passed through to dump my stuff in the staff room. I jumped as he came up behind me, silent as a cat.
“Looking slow on bookings today, mind if I nip out for an hour?” he asked.
I grinned at him, twirled, and motioned to the door.
“Sure, knock yourself out.”
As I watched Taylor leave, an odd feeling came over me. One minute, I was standing perfectly fine next to the small lockers and the next I was on the floor, with the contents of my bag spilled out around me. I rubbed the bottom of my back, that was sore.
“Hello,” I whispered.
I was certain I had heard someone call to me, but there was no one else in here. Probably picking up on a conversation in the restaurant. Shaking my head, I stood slowly. Strange, it was like I had blacked out for a split second. I could feel the beginning of a headache coming on.
Back in the restaurant, I could see that the tables were filling fast. Slow on bookings, my arse. Damn Taylor, he better get back soon, or they would swamp me. We both knew I was useless at making any fancy cocktail. I hurried to put my apron on and prepared what I could. I had served all the tables their drinks by the time I spotted him coming through the back door. I glared
at him as he walked toward me. My hair was damp, I was hot, and the muscles in my arms were burning with fatigue.
“Whoa, you look like you’ve really been through it,” Taylor stopped to inspect me.
“You think!” I snapped back and made a point of nodding my head towards the busy restaurant.
“I’m sorry, it took longer than I thought, but you survived right! Go take a seat, I’ll take over and make you an awesome… mocktail!” he cocked his head to the side and grinned at me. Sometimes, but not all the time, he was impossible to stay mad at.
“Fine,” I huffed, but my heart wasn’t quite in it.
I walked round to the other side of the bar and sat on a stool at the end. I watched as Taylor worked his magic, making four fresh drinks at once. At one point he spun two bottles in his hands, threw them up in the air, then caught them and poured them into separate glasses.
“Show off,” I told him as he placed my drink in front of me. “Don’t be jealous,” he ruffled my hair playfully, which so did not need to happen. I probably looked a state as it was.
“Tay, have you ever noticed anything unusual about me?”
It felt like a silly question, and I couldn’t look him in the eye as I asked it.
“Nope, perfectly normal to me. Why?” he replied.
“Nothing don’t worry.”
Taylor propped his head on his elbows on the bar and looked at me.
“You’re a little crazy, you know that. Just enjoy life. Not everyone has a greater purpose, you know.”
My shoulders dropped, he’s probably right.
“I just want to know who I am,” I whispered. Maybe I was just longing for something that didn’t exist.
“Hey, you know the guy at the back table has been staring at you for ten minutes now and you haven’t even noticed,” he said.
“What?” I asked and quickly turned in my seat to check out the furthest table at the back. Green eyes met mine from across the room. Aw great, the guy I had banged into outside the shop.