Afterlife (Afterlife Saga) (4 page)

That night my dreams were strange and hard to decipher. I was back in the forest but I was panicking because I was lost. The weather was stormy and wild, producing a downpour that drenched my skin and the cold stung with invisible shards making my face numb. I kept slipping on the muddy ground where twigs and branches tore at my clothes from all angles. I was frightened as I heard the night’s creatures come alive and one sound cut through the storm and caused my blood to freeze.

It was the sound of a large bird calling out what sounded like a warning cry. I
automatically ducked and cowered with my arms above my head as it was directly above my shaking body. I couldn’t tell whether or not I was crying still, as my cheeks were both soaked from the storm and from fear. With quivering lips I pleaded, “I want to go home” in a whisper to myself but it was as if someone else heard my frightened plea. I looked up to see a bright glow, light the angry sky and only when I blinked fresh tears back could I make out the purple orb that started to pulsate and grow bigger.

It lit the forest life around where I knelt as it descended and all the black shadows of demons that had surrounded me backed away and began to retreat from the kill they had engaged. My fear doubled at the sight of hundreds of creatures all scuttling backwards like crabs in a desperate attempt to get away, leaving me with no chance of an escape.

By the time I got from my knees it now looked like a huge ball of gas that was effervescent. I could feel the power it emanated like a small sun burning my face in heat causing little beads of sweat to mix with the tears of fresh fears.

At first I was locked into place as my mind generated a mixture of possibilities, but in the end sheer impulse took over and I started to move my feet. It seemed to like this, as with every step I took the more it grew, like feeding from my actions. When I stopped in a mixture of horror and killer curiosity, it spoke.

“Come to me.” The voice was purely hypnotic and hummed in my mind making me move my stumbling feet again.

“Yes, come to me…you belong to me.” I felt my fear melt away with every syllable that flowed from it and into me. As if the energy was surrounding me in a heat source so comforting I could do little but obey.  I took the last step before reaching out to touch it, my fingertips so close I could feel the tingle of my blood beneath the skin that covered them.

“Yes…be mine… Electus..... The chosen,
my
chosen one,” it uttered before a huge hand plunged out from the purple mist and encircled his fingers around my arm, encasing my limb in strong flesh and bone. He used his strength to pull me forward and I stumbled into the fiery heat of darkness until a solid band of arms captured me into an embrace, holding me locked to a concrete chest of muscle. I screamed out in fright as my eyes came up empty in the black air, relying only on the strong touch of a male.

Once my tired lungs had me gasping for more oxygen to produce any more sound, the arms around me tightened possessively, pulling me even closer as the words of a very authoritative male spoke of his dominance.

“MINE!” He shouted out as I felt my restraint slipping away into an endless abyss and my body collapsed into the arms of my dark possessor.

Chapter 2 –Visitor

When I finally awoke my mouth felt like I had swallowed a ton of sand. I looked at the clock on the bedside table. Wow, it was six thirty in the morning. I had slept nearly twelve hours for once. I got up and got out of my pyjamas. Libby must have helped me to bed yesterday, because I was pretty sure I wasn’t wearing my pyjama's on the plane unless I really had lost my mind and these days it wouldn’t have surprised me.

I found my baggy jeans, my warmest sweater and changed as quickly as humanly possible before the cold could fully register. It was so cold that I could see my breath and as I walked over to the window I noticed the ice that had formed around the edges, like tiny white spiders trying to make their way to the centre.

The cold however still seemed to penetrate my clothes and I couldn’t stop shivering. I thought that the chattering of my teeth was going to wake Libby and Frank it was so loud. I grabbed the throw Libby had put in the chest and wrapped myself up in it like a small child.

I went to sit at the window seat of my quaint little attic room and curled up to keep the warmth in like a cocoon. I stared out to what I had expected to be a green mass of beauty but instead I found something totally different than the picture I had encountered yesterday. This looked as if it belonged in some horror film. I imagined werewolves or some crazed beast eating tourists. The headlines “Campers Missing” came to mind. The forest was surrounded by the thickest fog I had ever seen, but everything was so still it looked more like a painting. This just enhanced the eeriness. The way the early morning light reflected off the fog made everything a dark gloomy grey.

Then my mind started to think about the day ahead. I had to plan my days like a timetable, never giving my mind chance to think back to darker times.  Sleeping hadn’t been a problem thanks to the sleeping pills the doctor had prescribed, which also helped with the nightmares. But it was times like now, when there was nothing physical I could do, nothing to keep my mind concentrating on, that it wandered back to the past.

I spent a long time trying to control my brain not to remind itself what it had been through. It was like when you wake from a bad dream and you try to get back to sleep, you keep telling yourself not to think back to the nightmare but it pulls you like a moth to a flame. Gripping the edges of your mind with black hands made from the darkest fears any sadistic creature could contemplate.   And none of it makes much sense why it does this. I call them self-inflicting minds. The minds that seem to like the hurt and dwell on bad memories. I had been battling with my mind for so long now I felt almost crazy lost, but the fear of a padded room kept me from speaking to anyone fully on the matter.

I decided to read Jane Eyre. I had read this book a million times before but I just
lov
ed the story, t
he forbidden love of master and governess. The thought of nothing but this unstoppable force they held for each other, a love so strong that it could call out to one another between space and time. OK, a crazy wife held up in the tower did get in the way a bit, but show me a love story that didn’t have its ups and downs. I always skipped to the part of the story where they meet for the first time and missed the depressing childhood bit.

I must have fallen back to sleep because I woke suddenly when a knock on the door scared me into not remembering where I was. I hated that feeling but I knew that it wouldn’t take my brain very long to get used to its new surroundings.

“Good morning!” Libby said with a cheery bounce to her voice. She was always happy in the morning. This was another trait we didn’t share. I was
not
a morning person.

“Hey, what you doing over there? Surely the bed wasn’t that bad?” She teased.

“Nah, the bed was great, but the chair’s got a better view,” I smiled then noticed what was in her hand.

“You’re an angel!” I said as I jumped up and took the hot cup of tea from her hands. I took a sip and went to heaven. It felt good, warming me up from the inside as it slid down to my stomach.

“Mmm…
nectar.”
This had been my only request
before moving here. M
y mum was going to keep sending me a good supply of real English tea. I already knew from my sister’s complaints that this was hard to come by as most Americans drank coffee. So this rule suited her just fine.

“So what do you want to do today?” Libby said this with hope in her eyes. I think she had been starved of a good shopping partner for far too long.

“I’m easy, if you want to drag me around the shops
,
then that’s cool wi
th me,” I said trying to sound
as if I meant it. I didn’t take as much pleasure in shopping any more, but it made my sister happy.

Her blissful face stared back at me and then glanced to my long sleeves. I instantly knew what she wanted to ask but she stopped herself at once, not wanting to upset me by asking difficult questions.

Ever since the incident I hadn’t shown any skin on my arms. I just couldn’t bear the questions that would follow. And pity was not what I needed. So I kept my scars concealed at all times, it was bad enough for my eyes to have to see them as a constant reminder. At least in this cold place I could get away with it, with no questions asked. It was quite normal for everyone here to be wearing lots of layers to protect them from the bitter temperatures. So I would fit right in.

“
It’s
fine, people won’t notice,” Libby said after reading my thoughts.

“Thanks,” I said with a sad sort of smile that matched my very pale face.

“Right, what’s for breakfast?” I said with loads more enthusiasm than what was needed. I was over compensating again for the melancholy in my voice earlier.

“Umm, cereal, sorry I do need to go food shopping.” I giggled thinking that my sister’s idea of food shopping consisted of a quick
rundown
the frozen food section. At least if I went with her then I could get some actual ingredients.

“Cereal is fine, and I wouldn’t say no to another cuppa,” I said giving her a cheeky grin.

We had finally made it to Evergreen Falls mall before lunchtime. Libby took quite a bit longer to get ready than me. Of course, thanks to my new views on my appearance, I hadn’t needed to apply make-up and my long hair was always pulled back and tied up in a secure clip.  I used to dress and look quite different, making the same effort as Libby did. But now I just wanted to fade away into the crowd and not draw any attention to myself.

I had wanted to cut my long blonde hair short but this had been one promise I had made to my mother - never to cut it. She loved my hair, calling it her golden fleece. It was something I used to be proud of too, but all I wanted to do now was hide it away. So it spent every day knotted up into a big thick twist, instead of how it used to look, long and thick, golden blonde waves down to my waist. Libby used to say I looked like a surfer chick when I wore it down, even though I had never been surfing in my life.

The mall wasn’t as small as it had looked from the outside, having all the usual shops from shoes, sportswear, formal wear and a funky looking alternative shop. Libby knew I loved shops like this so she automatically crossed to the other side of the mall, knowing I would want to go inside. It had all the usual stuff you would see in a shop like this, Goth, rock, punk and Emo. But the reason I liked these types of shops weren’t for the clothes, although they were cool. No, it was for the fingerless gloves that Goths seemed to love so much.

I walked over to the accessories and looked at my options. Libby didn’t look comfortable in a shop like this, but that was because she was a complete girlie girl. We had always been different that way. I liked the alternative look, never really following a fashion. Just wearing what I liked whether it was “in” or not. My favourite look had always been my pair of faded jeans and a fitted T-shirt. But now I was looking for a way to wear some of my short sleeve t-shirts without having to keep my jacket on.

I picked up a pair of black and grey striped long gloves that could be classed as sleeves. They didn’t have holes for your fingers to go through but just a hole for your thumb, the rest of the material came down past the knuckles. This suited me just fine, the longer the better. I already had a few tops with sleeves like this. The thumb hole had always been a sort of comfort to me, like knowing that with my thumb securely in place, no one would ever be able to see the scars from my past.

I grabbed another couple of pairs, one in plain black and the other in white and made my way to the counter.

The girl behind the counter was tiny and almost elf like. She was skinny thin, as if you breathed too hard in her direction, her bones would shatter. Humans were so breakable after all. She wore all black, which made her bright pink hair stand out like a loud beacon, screaming for attention. The dark make-up around her eyes didn’t make her look as fierce as she had intended. She still looked very friendly as she smiled at me. The girl took my items with spotty black covered nails and rang them through the till.

“Your new here, aren’t you?” She asked in a bouncy, friendly voice which didn’t match her appearance.