Entry #658759, added on 08-14-09 @ 9:15 am EDT
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7. News
I woke the next morning and kept my eyes squeezed shut, willing everything that had happened the previous day to all have been a bad dream. My pretending was ruined through, when I felt Riley’s steady breath on the back of my neck.
I curled into his side, feeling utterly safe, wishing I could stay there forever. I no longer felt afraid of what Riley was, or of losing my best friend. Somehow while I had slept, all of my fears and misgivings had dissipated entirely. I felt him stir beside me, and tried to lie as still as I could, unwilling to wake him. He looked so serene when he slept; all traces of the hurt I had caused him gone from his face – for now.
His arms curled around me, hugging me closer to his chest. I sighed, knowing that when he woke it wouldn’t be like this anymore. He probably wouldn’t want to be anywhere near me. My stomach twisted itself into painful knots at the thought of my behaviour the previous night, and I stared up at Riley, treasuring this peaceful time with him.
I rested my head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat while I studied his features, still amazed by the elegant beauty I had somehow missed. Every line of his face was perfect, from his angular jaw to his strong cheekbones. My fingers yearned to touch his face, to trace the contour between his eyebrows, down to the tip of his nose and along his jaw line, but I was loath to risk waking him.
Just then his eyes flickered open, his pupils contracting as they reacted to the early morning light. My heart thudded painfully somewhere around my middle as I waited for him to recoil away from me, too hurt by the night before to stand being in my presence.
It’s what I would have done.
But he just smiled down at me, his dark blue eyes creasing at the corners as he took me in, lying across his chest, wrapped up in his arms. I shrunk away from him, awaiting the hurt, the anger, but it didn’t come. He just wrapped his arms even tighter around my middle, stopping my retreat before it had even begun.
He stared down at me wordlessly, the smile never leaving his face. It was as if he had somehow forgiven me already. My heart refused to slow to its normal pace though, fear building inside my chest that this was some kind of trick. I’d deserve it after what I’d done. Maybe I was still asleep and dreaming.
“Aren’t you… aren’t you mad at me?” I had to ask, but I was terrified of hearing his answer.
“Of course not, Bekah.” The reassurance in his expression did little for my anxiety -- I would never have forgiven me if I was in his shoes. “Ever since I told you I was waiting for something like that to happen. You’re not the first person to have an unfavourable reaction to what we are.” I raised one eyebrow at him; ‘unfavourable reaction’ was a major understatement. He laughed at my expression, obviously knowing that he hadn’t convinced me. “Alex screamed at me for weeks when I told her what she was,” his shrugged, as if that explained his seemingly unconditional--and obviously undeserved--forgiveness.
I relaxed slightly, but his words just raised more questions in my mind that I didn’t want to ask. Suddenly his smile faltered, and I braced myself, still half convinced that he was just pretending not to be angry at me.
“I knew what to expect when I told you,” he started, his eyes sad as he looked down at me, and my stomach twisted at the knowledge that I was the cause behind his melancholy. “But I didn’t realise how much it would scare me.” He was whispering now, his eyes boring into mine, and I fought the automatic urge to look away. “I thought I was going to lose you, Bekah.” The pain in his expression was clear now; an echo of what it had been the night before. My heart thundered in my chest as I searched for the right words to take away his pain.
“I meant what I told you yesterday.” I stared into his eyes, making my expression stern. “I will always want you around.” My tone was level, certain. And so was I. “I need you, my very best friend. And that’s not changing any time soon.”
The relief in his face was overwhelming, and it hurt me how unsure he’d been about my loyalty to our friendship, but I knew it was a lot less than I deserved. I wrapped my arms securely around his torso, and for the first time that morning I was confident he wouldn’t push me away.
******
I was still lying curled around Riley when I felt his body stiffen beside me. I opened my eyes to look at him and saw his face carefully arranged into a neutral expression, his eyes fixed across the room. I turned to follow his gaze, dreading what I would see. My fears were confirmed as my eyes fell on Alex, standing frozen in the doorway, one hand still resting on the doorhandle, the other clutching a rolled up newspaper.
I’d thought that she’d hated me before, but that was nothing compared to how she obviously felt now. Her face was twisted in silent anger as she watched us, and the phrase ‘if looks could kill’ passed briefly through my mind. I lay frozen against Riley’s side, and even though we were both fully clothed, I knew how it must look. Explanations and excuses ran wildly through my mind, but I knew it would be useless voicing any of them -- she would never listen to anything I had to say after this.
Without warning her arm flicked up and behind her head before swinging back down to throw the newspaper towards his Riley, but his hand whipped in front of his face to deftly catch the blurred paper moments before it met its intended target. Alex spun around and stormed out of the room without a word, slamming the door behind her. Only then did I slide away from Riley, feeling enormously self conscious. He let me go, removing the arm that had been wrapped around my shoulder and unrolling the newspaper.
I sat up beside Riley, staring blankly at the wall ahead of me. I’d never felt so horribly embarrassed in my entire life. Even though I knew that there really was nothing to feel embarrassed about, I couldn’t get rid of the sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach. I glanced at Riley, my face colouring as I once again imagined us through Alex’s eyes. His eyes were narrow as he read the newspaper in his hands, his brow falling lower and lower as he read.
I leant towards him, trying to catch the title of the piece, curious about what was causing this reaction in him. He jerked the paper out of my view when he realised what I was doing, but not before the front page headline had jumped out at me. My blood froze in my veins, and my heart shuddered, trying to leap into my throat.
“Massacre at Middle Lakes”.
My stomach heaved and I swung myself off the bed, racing to the dingy bathroom off the side of the room. I dry retched into the toilet bowl, horrified. My mind went straight to my mother, all alone at home, unprotected. Straight away I knew that this was what we were running from, and images of terrifying monsters flashed through my head -- who knew what was real and what wasn’t any more?
I heard Riley behind me and spun around, hundreds of accusations on the tip of my tongue, and the worry in his face as he looked at me just made my blood run hotter.
“How could you take me and leave her there?” I screamed at him, sickening images flashing unbidden through my mind. Malachi featured in all of them, his eyes black as night and his teeth crimson with the blood of my only remaining family.
“Your mother is fine. I left Matthew to keep an eye on her.” His voice was calm, quiet, as if to remind me not to shout, but it just made me want to scream louder. I sucked in a deep breath of air, relief at knowing my mother was okay flooding through my veins and almost deflating my anger. Almost.
“Don’t you ever, ever do that to me again.” I hissed, pushing myself to my feet, stumbling slightly on the slippery bathroom tiles. Riley’s hand shot out to catch my elbow but I slapped it away, the movement almost making me fall again.
When I had my balance, I stood in front of him, arms crossed as I treated him to the filthiest look I could conjure. He met my gaze levelly, seemingly determined not to back down.
“I did what I had to keep you safe,” he said evenly, his expression firm.
I glared up at him, still fuming.
“What the hell is going on here, Riley?” I demanded -- my anger and the need to know what was happening temporarily overpowering my fear of the unknown.
I pushed past him and went to sit in the middle of the bed, crossing my legs beneath me as I waited for his answer. He stood for a moment longer in the doorway to the bathroom before moving across the room to sit next to me. His hand searched for mine but I pulled it out of his reach, only just managing to stop myself snapping at him in agitation. He sighed resignedly and instead clasped his hands in his lap.
I kept my eyes on his face, scrutinising his every movement, and he fidgeted nervously under my gaze.
“Well?”
He took a deep breath, weary of my anger. “There have been some… attacks recently, around Middle Lakes.” I nodded impatiently--reports of suspicious deaths had been plastered all over the news for months--but he held up his hand before I could say anything. “I mean lilitu attacks--vampire attacks--among other things.”
I gaped at him wordlessly, all of the recent murders taking on a new light. “And that?” I asked, pointing shakily to the newspaper lying beside him on the bed. He nodded grimly and my stomach twisted itself into painful knots. I’d suspected that something inhuman had been the cause of the newspaper headline, but having my suspicions confirmed made bile rise thickly in my throat. I swallowed uneasily. “Why are we running?” I demanded. “I thought that you were supposed to protect people from monsters, not run away from them.”
His eyes tightened and I knew I’d hit a nerve. “We’re not running away from them,” he snapped, a bitter edge to his voice. “There are more of us who stayed behind to keep an eye on the town while we left to gather a bigger force. Everyone should have been safe. That was the plan.” The newspaper article beside him made it painfully obvious that the plan had gone devastatingly wrong.
“What happened?” I asked quietly, trying to force down quickly surfacing images of my neighbours mutilated and pale skinned, drained of their life blood.
“I don’t know,” he replied brusquely, the muscles in his neck twitching as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. “Something must have happened that we didn’t account for”--he was cut off by the door to the room swinging open a second time, and I swung around, dreading facing Alex again.
To my relief, it was Aaron at the door, his expression solemn. He looked to Riley, who nodded briefly before speaking.
“What have you heard?”
“Nate, Isaac, and Jared were all wounded, and badly, by the sound of it. A few of the others received minor wounds, but nothing serious. They attacked--” he paused, his eyes sliding to me, and a flicker of something that looked like pity crossed his face--“they attacked the school. In full daylight.” I gasped, my vision blurring as I thought of my defenceless classmates, and I dimly registered Riley swear under his breath.
“How many fatalities?” Riley’s voice was cold and emotionless, but I could see the suppressed pain in his eyes, and the way his entire body was rigid.
“Six.” My head swam as Aaron’s words registered, and I felt a renewed urge to empty my stomach. I clutched my middle as I watched the room spin around me, determined not to think about the death and destruction that I’d missed by hours, possibly minutes.
A sudden memory from the day before flashed through my mind, of Malachi on his knees in front of me, his face contorted in pain. “They’re coming,” he groaned, his eyes squeezed shut. “It’s too late.” I gasped, realisation hitting me like a blow.
“Malachi…” His name slipped from my lips unintentionally, and suddenly both Aaron and Riley were watching me, their gazes sharp.
“What?” Riley instantly looked livid, as if Malachi was standing in the room beside him.
“He knew,” I murmured, annoyed at myself for having forgotten his words entirely up until now, too focussed on his terrifying transformation. “He knew they were coming.”
Riley and Aaron looked away from me momentarily and at each other, their expressions confused. “What?” Riley repeated, his voice rough.
“‘They’re coming,’ he said. ‘It’s too late.’”
Riley and Aaron exchanged another look, but the confusion was gone from their expressions, replaced with rage.
“We’re leaving,” Riley barked, pushing himself off the bed and striding towards the doorway.
“We’re going home?” I asked, hope blooming inside my chest. Even knowing that there were killer vampires back in Middle Lakes couldn’t detract from how desperately I wanted to return to my family.
“No.”
My heart fell, and I nodded numbly at Riley’s retreating back. “Of course not,” I murmured, but if he heard me he showed no indication of it.
*****
After eating a hasty breakfast of cold bacon and eggs from the small motel kitchen, I trudged outside and into the pale early morning light. Riley loaded our things into the boot of the Ford while Alex and Aaron took their places in the driver and passenger seats. I slid into the back seat of the car, carefully looking anywhere but at Alex.
We sat in stony silence for the duration of the car trip; the only noise the rumble of the engine and the sound of the road passing steadily below us, the only indication of the distance we travelled.
The sun was hanging high above us in the sky when we passed a road sign that read ‘Now entering Victoria, please enjoy your stay.’ I swivelled in my seat to stare it as it disappeared into the distance, unease gnawing at the back of my mind.
“Where are we going?” Alex and Aaron both started slightly at the sound of my voice--no one had said a word since we’d left the motel that morning--but Riley kept his gaze forward, apparently unperturbed by my question.
“Melbourne.”
I gaped at him wordlessly. This was the first time I’d so much as left New South Wales, and the largest city I’d ever visited was Canberra, on a school excursion when I was twelve. I’d heard about big cities like Melbourne and Sydney from people at school, but the thought of so many people in one place seemed beyond belief. I searched for something else to say but came up blank, and instead turned back to the window to watch the endless countryside roll by, contemplating my first trip to a big city.
About two and a half hours later, we began passing the first signs of the city ahead of. Small border towns with one main street and a few houses turned into housing developments and outer suburbs, with huge McMansions filling up entire blocks of land. I could feel excitement growing inside my chest.
As we drove closer to the heart of the city, huge buildings loomed ahead of us, even the smaller of which were many times larger than the largest building I’d ever seen in my life. I stared, awestruck, at the crowds of people milling across the streets as we passed through the CBD, all seemingly unaware of the thousands of others that surrounded them. I blinked in shock at a horse and carriage that passed us in the street, a sign offering rides around the city attached to its side.
Everyone else in the car seemed entirely unsurprised by the wonders surrounding us, and I wondered briefly if I could ever get bored of such sights. I stared up at a sky scraper that towered hundreds of meters overhead and thought that it was unlikely.
As we drove out of the CBD and into the inner suburbs on the other side of the city, things seemed to become a little more like home. The houses were still too tall and thin to have come out of Middle Lakes, but at least their heights didn’t reach beyond three stories. I was still watching the passing scenery when the car pulled into a driveway on the opposite side of the road.
I stared up at the building that was now in front of us with wide eyes, hoping that whatever was housed inside it was a little more tastefully decorated than its facade. Red brick walls rose three stories into the sky, with huge open windows on the first and second floors, but only small, highly placed ones on the ground floor. The entire thing was rectangular and ugly; its large double doors looked like they’d be well suited to a docking bay.
“It looks like a warehouse,” I murmured apprehensively, and Alex snorted from where she sat and shot me a look that told me I’d said something stupid.
“It is,” Riley replied, opening his door and motioning for me to do the same. He stepped out of the car and stretched his arms behind his back before he continued, “Well, it used to be.” I slid from my seat and outside into the cool Melbourne air, relishing the freedom to move my arms and legs, and stared at our surroundings with different eyes, trying to gauge the feel of this new and slightly unwelcoming place. Tall oaks rose out of the ground along the side of the road, looming above me and casting the entire street into deep shadow in the afternoon sunlight. The homes surrounding the red brick building were varied in size and shape, with some terraces and a few more factory-looking buildings that seemed to have been split into several dwellings, mixed in with the single and two story detached houses.
An expensive looking car drove slowly by, and I could see the outline of a woman through the tinted windows as she stared at us. Something about the way she sped up after she’d passed us made me uncomfortable. I turned back to look for Riley, and saw him moving towards the house, followed by Alex and Aaron. I pulled my bags from the boot of the car before slamming it shut and making my way after them.
I caught up with them standing in front of what looked like the entrance and moved to stand beside Riley. I reached for his hand as he rapped sharply on the huge wooden door with the other, holding my breath as I waited anxiously to see what would happen next. Silence from inside the building answered his knock, and I‘d started to wonder if no one was home, when abruptly the door swung open seemingly of its own accord. I stared inside hesitantly, and Riley squeezed my hand reassuringly before pulling me through the doorway.
"8. Oraculum"  |
© Copyright 2009 Caitlin Stafford (UN: caitstafford at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Caitlin Stafford has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
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