Falling Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 1 (14 page)

“That would have been worse than not going. Do you know how odd it would look you following
me around all night. Not to mention you don't know how to be normal. Look I don't want talk about
it anymore today has been really weird.”
My eyes wondered in the direction of the dead deer from this morning. I looked at Micah, he
probably knew what I was thinking.
“Don't worry I took care of it,”
I frowned wondering what he had done with it?
“Me and Gunner had a bonfire.” he grinned.
Seth opened the front door. “What are you two doing? Micah you're missing the best part,” I
followed Seth into the house he was watching some action movie. I left the pair of them downstairs
watching the movie and went to the bathroom looking for any form of pain relief for my head that
was now pounding.
I stared at myself in the mirror. I needed to talk to someone about what was going on, I really
wanted to talk to Micah but I knew he wouldn't give me any answers and he didn't want me
bothering Seth with whatever was going on with me.
Seth was waiting until I turned Eighteen but why? Micah made it seem like Seth still viewed me as
a child and I couldn't handle whatever it was he wanted to tell me.
Things were happening and I couldn't explain them, I felt lost.
I switched on my laptop and waited for it to load up, then I sent Carly an email letting her know
everything. I knew she wouldn't have the answers to anything that was going on but it felt good to
write it all down.

It was a sunny day and a little girl sat on a red blanket shaded by trees. She had lined her dolls up
in front of her and was feeding them crumbs from her plate. She picked up her toy teapot and was
about to fill the cups in front when something caught her eye. She looked up and smiled as a tall
hooded figure appeared out of nowhere.
“Do want a cup of tea?” she asked the stranger.
“I better not, otherwise there won't be enough for the others.” he replied in a friendly voice.
“How about some cake?” she asked.
“But then there won't be enough for the teddy bears.” he said gesturing to the bears lined up at the
other end of the blanket.
“Did you bring me my present?” the girl asked.
“Of course I would never forget your present.”
“Where is it?”
“Well let me see,” he said patting his pockets down. “that’s strange I was sure I put it one of these
pockets,” he held up his hands. “I can't find it, someone must havee taken it out of my pocket.”
“Oh, now I won't get my present.” she whined.
“It's okay because I think I have a pretty good idea who took it. See if you can guess. He's black
and has feathers. Makes a lot of noise most of the time.”
“Rocky took my present,” she huffed.
“I think it's because he wanted to deliver the present to you himself.”
“Where is he?” she asked getting upset.
“I don't know, why don't we call him. On the count of three. One, two, three.....”
“ROCKY,” Out loud they called at the same time.
They both looked around waiting. After a few minutes a large black bird flew down and landed on
the blanket. It had a white spot on it's head.
“Rocky,”she said excited.
The bird was holding a red ribbon between it's beak, the ribbon had a bracelet attached to it. The
bird dropped the ribbon in front of the girl. She stroked him and picked up the bracelet.
“Is this my present?”
“Sure is, I made it just for you little princess.”
He knelt down next to the little girl and unclasped the bracelet.
“Here it's adjustable so you can always wear it. It's a very special bracelet made from something
called black rock it's very rare found only where I come from and as long as you are wearing it I
will always be able to find you.”
“It's very sparkly.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Yes I love sparkly things. It's really pretty. I'm never going to take it off. Thank you Cammy.”
The little girl held her arm up in front of her admiring the bracelet, as it glittered like diamonds
against the sunlight.

I opened my eyes and rolled over in bed, the sunlight was shining through the gaps in the curtains.
The dream was still vivid in my mind. I pulled my hand out from under the covers looking at the
bracelet I had on my own wrist. It looked exactly the same even in this dim light the black stones
glistening like diamonds. I wore it everyday and had, had the clasp replaced a number of times
loosened from wearing it everyday. I tried to remember where I had originally got the bracelet from,
but I kept coming up blank.
I pulled on my dressing gown and found Seth in the kitchen attempting to flip a pan cake.
“Want one? Don't worry this one hasn't been on the floor,”
“Sure, they look great.”
“I wasn't sure how you eat your pancakes anymore so I laid out everything.”
I sat down picking up a lemon. Gunner trotted over and rested his chin on the edge of the table
trying to see what was on the plates. Seth placed a plate overloaded with pancakes down on the
table.
“Breakfast is served.”
He pulled back a chair and I helped myself. I hungrily tucked into my breakfast, pushing Gunner's
head away repeatedly with my elbow every time it made it's way on to my plate.
“So this will probably sound a bit random, but do you know where this bracelet came from?” I
asked holding my arm up to show him. “I've had it since I was little and now it's bugging me that I
cant remember.”
He smiled. “Yeah I remember. Only cause mom made such a big deal out of it. She was convinced
you had pinched it from Grandma Opal's jewellery box, but Grandma had never seen it before. Then
mom wanted to get it valued and you screamed the house down cause you refused to take it off.”
“So where did it come from?” I asked.
He laughed. “The story you told everyone was your friend crabby, I think that's what you used to
call him, whatever you used to call him apparently gave it you.”
“Cammy,” I said, remembering the name I had heard in my dream.
“Cammy, yeah that's it. I didn't think crabby sounded right.”
“ I still don't understand, who was Cammy?”
“I guess he was your imaginary friend or something. You used to spend hours in the garden talking
to him, you would read stories together, you were always making him things or drawing pictures to
give him. I think he had a pet sparrow or something like that.”
“What?” I blurted out, this was becoming strangely familiar.
“Maybe it was a parrot, I can't remember it was years ago you had such a big imagination back
then.” The dream flashed across my mind of the little girl and the black bird, it looked exactly like
the raven I had seen outside.
“Don't suppose it was a raven?”
“I dunno, I never saw it, your imagination not mine. But he had a name as well. Please don't ask me
to remember that as well, we are going back over ten years here.”
I sat frozen like a statue. This was probably the weirdest conversation I had ever had with my
brother.
“Does Rocky sound familiar?”
“Actually yeah, wow you have a good memory, you were only little at the time. Why are you asking
me this, you're not seeing black birds are you?” he said joking.
“No of course not, I just wanted to know about the bracelet.”
An imaginary friend named Cammy and his pet bird. I thought about my dream with the tall
stranger and the bird. I was beginning to think maybe it wasn't a dream but an old memory
resurfacing.
Then my thoughts wondered back to the raven I had seen outside the cabin it had the same markings
as the one in my dream, except that one wasn't imaginary cause Micah had seen it, he'd even tried to
kill it at one point.
Maybe that was my problem I was going crazy from spending too much time with Micah and too
much time in this cabin.
I was certain I wouldn't have stolen the bracelet, maybe I had got lucky when digging for treasure in
the backyard and I'd randomly dug it up. At least that's what I was telling myself. To say that some
stranger who used to visit me with his pet bird had given me the bracelet was just plain creepy and
rather scary.
I spent the day in a daze pacing back and forth between my bed and the window. Nothing could
hold my attention I didn't feel like reading and Carly still hadn't emailed me back. Seth went to
work in the evening and I was left on my own. I started to question whether I was actually going
crazy when I found myself sitting at my window with mixed feelings as to whether I should call out
the name Rocky or not.
In the end I closed the window deciding against it, I was being silly it was just a stupid dream. I still
went to bed that night wondering, what if?

The following morning the school was buzzing with gossip from the weekend, mainly about the
after dark activities that went on at The Jump and who they were going on with.
I spotted Brandon a few times in the corridor he was walking round with two black eyes and a fat
lip. He diverted his eyes every time he spotted me and stared at the floor instead.
Apparently he had got beaten up on the way back to his car on Saturday night and Mack's name
came up a few times amongst the hushed gossip. Caitlin was convinced Mack had gone back to The
Jump and tracked down Brandon because he'd tried to give me a spiked drink. She was convinced
that Mack had a thing for me.
I didn't know what to believe and I couldn't ask Mack because he was making a real good job of
avoiding me.
The week passed quickly and Mack managed to skip every English class we had together.
He had even walked the opposite way when he saw me walking down the corridor towards him. I
know he said he was going to stay away, but I didn't think he meant it this seriously.
Cam on the other hand was everywhere I went, it was like he was lurking around every corner I
turned. Even after school at the The Bowler, he would be there somewhere in the background. Each
time I saw him and we made eye contact a chill would creep up the back of my neck.
I got the feeling he was actually following me but I tried to brush it off as me been overly paranoid
at least I hope that's what it was. Each time I had no other choice but to pass him in the corridor I
would keep my eyes pinned to the floor. We hadn't spoken much and I wanted to keep my distance
from him.
Every morning he would catch me at my locker before the first bell and say 'Good morning,
princess'. I wasn't sure whether I should tell anyone about him and his weird behaviour.
Monday morning rolled round and I was awoken early to the sounds of the forest, birds chirping
and the trees rustling in the wind. I had grown somewhat found of the sounds that came from
outside the window. The noises usually stirred me awake every morning that my alarm was no
longer necessary.
I got myself washed and dressed like every other morning, ate breakfast by myself and waited on
the porch for Micah to turn up. Seth left for work early most mornings, with the occasional late shift
where I was left on my own all night. Even though I didn't see much of Seth, I still didn't feel as
alone as I did living with mom, I actually looked forward to Seth returning from work.
I heard Micah's trucks before it came into view. He swung in next to Seth's truck, got out and
switched to Seth's truck.
The ride was quieter than normal. He wasn't saying anything and he kept fidgeting. He usually
commented on my messy untamed hair or made jokes about my dress sense. But today we drove in
silence. This wasn't like him I think I preferred him picking holes in me. He pulled up outside
school and waited for me to get out. I said bye to him and got no response. I climbed out and started
walking towards school, I had only gone a few steps when I realised he was following me.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I thought I'd walk you in.”
“I'd rather you didn't.” I noticed people were looking at us. There were all sorts of rumours going
round the school about the older guy that dropped me off each day. People thought he was my
boyfriend and we had got in a jealous row last week and that's why I had a bruise on my face.
Obviously that wasn't true and him following me would only make the rumours look true.
“Okay,” he said falling back a few steps but still following me.
“Stop it. What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Stop following me, it looks weird. Go away.”
“Fine.”
He turned and headed back to the truck. I didn't know what was wrong with him but he was acting
strangely, not that he ever acted normal in the first place but he seemed worried about something.
I had just got my locker door open when my cell started going off in my bag, I rummaged around
trying to find it. I finely dug it out and looked at the caller I.D Micah was ringing me.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“If I tell you to do something, will you listen and do it with no questions asked?”
“I dunno. Depends, is it legal? I'm not going to jail for you Romeo.”
“I'm heartbroken. Now listen carefully there is a corridor in your school with a display cabinet full
of trophies and photos,”
I knew the cabinet he was talking about it was just around the corner.
“Yeah what about it?” I asked as my eyes searched the corridor then made their way back to Mack's
locker. I was quietly wishing he would walk round the corner.
“Stay away from it don't walk anywhere near it.”
“Huh...what!”
I realised I hadn't been listening to Micah.
“Just don't walk anywhere near it today or the rest of the week. Do you think you can manage that?”
“Wait what are you talking about?”
“Have you been listening to anything I've been saying,” he was speaking too quickly and his tone
had gone up a notch.
“Sorry I was distracted, say again,”
“The cabinet, don't go anywhere near it. Avoid walking past it today or any other day this week, you
got that?”
“Right.” I said, still having no idea what he was going on about.
“You know I think you've been drinking too many of those energy drinks they're killing your brain
cells.” I joked.
The bell sounded loudly above.
“Ruby do as you're told for once and stay away from it.” was the last thing he said before he hung
up.
I shut my locker and walked over pausing at the end of the corridor he had been talking about. I
looked down at the cabinet everything looked fine to me, people were rushing back and forth like
normal. I had no idea what he was worrying about but it didn't matter, I had no reason to walk down
there I could easily take a different corridor there were so many.
The morning couldn't have gone by any slower I tried to focus on work but found myself clock
watching counting the minutes down until my English class started, in hopes Mack would be there.
The new rumours circulating was he had dropped out completely or had been expelled for fighting.
But he never showed up. I was starting to think the rumours were true. The bell sounded at the end
of class and I sluggishly gathered my books together. Caitlin walked over to me and pulled an over
the top glum looking face.
“What's with the sad face?” she asked.
“What sad face? I don't have a sad face,”
“Really, every time I turn around I see you pulling this sad puppy dog face staring at the empty
stool next to you.”
“I do not do that, I'm not that pathetic.”
She gave me a questioning look.
“Okay maybe once or twice. I'm just curious as to where he went. He's been gone over a week now
and no one seems to know where he is,”
“Maybe he got an S.T.D or something,” she joked.
“Funny Caitlin.” I said playfully back to her.
As we left the classroom we noticed the corridor was filled with more people than usual. I could
hear peoples thoughts, all were the same about some girl called Millie. We waited at the edge, out of
the way looking for Aimee and wondering what was going on.
Caitlin got bumped from behind and knocked into me, we both looked up to see a rather guilt
stricken Brandon looking back at us. Since the weekend at The Jump none of us had really seen
much of Brandon at school and the rest of the time he avoided us like the plague.
“I'm sorry.” he stuttered.
“For what, bumping me or trying to drug me?” Caitlin asked all smiles erased from her face.
“Both. It was a mistake there was a mix up with drinks. But what I did was wrong. I'm sorry.”
“Well you're still a jerk. Did that hurt?” she asked pointing at his face. His bruises had faded but a
few healed cuts remained visible.
“Not as much as my arm, it got twisted pretty bad. It's still sore.”
“Oh really where?” Caitlin asked.
I looked at her wondering why she even cared. He pointed to his shoulder area. Then without
warning she punched him in the shoulder. She must have hit him pretty hard as he staggered back a
step.
“What the....Caitlin I already said I'm sorry.”
“That was for Josh and it made me feel better. Oh and don't bother asking to borrow my notes
again.”
“You're as crazy as that psycho Mack.” Brandon said as he walked away.
“Still think it wasn't Mack?” she asked, looking at me sideways.
“I can't believe Mack. What sort of person goes around beating people up like that,”
“I dunno, this is Mack we're talking about. You've heard the rumours as well as I have, maybe some
of them are true. Maybe he's in anger management and that was him falling off the wagon.”
“Why do I feel like it's my fault Brandon got beaten up,”
“Does it matter? Brandon deserved that for what he was doing or attempting to do. I think Mack
likes you, to have gone and done that. He clearly wasn't doing it for me. Do you not see the way he
looks at you?”
“No I haven't noticed cause he's not even been here and he's probably not even coming back.”
“Well he looked at you differently, you just didn't see it. Well Brandon deserved it. Jerk.”
“I can't believe you're condoning this type of behaviour.”
“Admit it, you secretly love the whole bad boy who would do anything for you act.”
“Okay. Who are you and what have you done with Caitlin?”
“I don't know punching Brandon has unleashed my alter ego.” she laughed.
Aimee walked over to us pushing some girl out of the way to get to us quicker.
“Can you believe this. I mean it's Millie who cares no one really likes her anyway, she's an anorexic
twig and now she's got everyone talking about her again.”
“What are talking about, what's going on?” Caitlin asked.
“You seriously don't know yet? What are you like the last two people to join the party,”
“We were talking to Brandon. What's going on with Millie?” I asked.
“Light fitting fell down hit her on the head, knocked her clean out. They just drove her out in an
ambulance.”
“Oh my goodness, that's terrible. Is she going to be all right?” Caitlin asked shocked.
“Who knows, who cares. But it was to be expected karma is a wonderful thing, what goes around
comes around. That skinny bitch had it coming.”
“Aimee shhh! Not now,” Caitlin whispered noticing a few people had overheard Aimee and were
looking at us.
“Whatever I'm out, see you guys later. I've go a hot lunch date with my laptop.” Aimee said in a
cheerily tone, bouncing away.
“I'm so sorry, she's never liked Millie or anyone else for that matter. And she doesn't care who
knows it.”
“It's okay I get it, she's anti social unless it has a hot smile and a pair of wheels.”
“Yep that pretty much sums up Aimee. I mean sure Millie wasn't the friendliest person to me and
she used to chuck bubblegum in my hair but I would never wish her any harm. I hope she'll be all
right. It could have been me, I walked that way for first period. Do you mind if we eat lunch outside
today?” Caitlin said looking at the light fitting nearest us.