Flutter (The Discover Series) (33 page)

Flutter

Eleven

Chain Reaction

Ahh, so this is what a good nights sleep felt like.

Rolling over I smiled to myself as my dreams of Adan were still a vivid reminder that flushed my already warm skin beneath my blankets. It was nice to wake up, and not have to wonder if you were stuck in some creepy nightmare, where thick black fog chased after you until it formed hands that reached out hungrily for you. Yes, I would say this was a pleasant step up from that. As if on cue, the spot on my ankle - where I had been grabbed yesterday morning while sleep walking - began to tingle. Placing my other foot over it, I tried to rub away the un-welcomed sensation.

I yawned and wondered how I could still feel tired after a night’s sleep like last night. My body didn’t feel the hardcore drain it had last night, but I could still feel some of the after effects from yesterday morning’s workout, which is what I assumed was responsible for my current condition. I wanted to spend another hour or two in bed, but I knew if I didn’t get up now I would be late for work and since I had started there, I never had a reason to be late for work, so I didn’t see a point in starting now. Besides Andres was probably up already and I was surprised I hadn’t heard him in the kitchen-

My wolf!

I shot up and looked frantically around my room, he was no where in sight and I felt the panic rising up my throat. Throwing the blankets off of me I jumped out of bed and ran to my bedroom door to wiggle the handle. It was still locked. Slumping against the door I sighed in relief as I realized Andres couldn’t have found out about him if my door was still locked. I rolled my head against the door and saw that the bay doors to my room were open. Pushing away from the door I walked over to them, pushing one of the doors open further so I could peak out.

Leading into the woods was a set of giant paw prints and I realized he must have snuck out while I was sleeping. What did I expect? A note left at my bedside explaining where he had gone and when he would be back? Closing the door I felt silly and scolded myself
,
pulling the doors closed. I still had a few hours before I had to be at work, but I decided I would get ready now as long as I was up. Andres was probably up already as well, locked in his study working on a new sketch or whatever he did that
didn’t
involve finding out what had happened to us. I knew eventually I might have to face facts that
maybe
the reason he didn’t need to find out
,
was because he
already
knew.

Heading into the bathroom I turned the water on and stripped down to take a fast shower. I let the warm water rush over me and I could feel some of the tension and leftover tiredness slowly seep away. Leaning down I turned it just a little bit hotter hoping that would help to ease the wariness. I lathered up my long hair, a task I had come to detest even though I couldn’t find it in myself to cut it and then rinsed my hair free of the lavender sent shampoo. My thoughts slipped to Adan and the dreams that had sweetened my night and I couldn’t help the knowing smile that played with my lips.

I was so distracted by him that I realized I was washing my hair again and cursed as I put away the now half used bottle. I soaped up my loofa and started to wash away a layer of skin that had melted in result of the scalding hot water. Running a razor over my soapy legs quickly, I frowned and leaned in closer to inspect my ankle. I gasped and dropped the razor on the floor where it made a loud clanking noise over the sound of the water. Twisting and turning, I ran my fingertips over the dark shadow and examined the bruised looking handprint around my ankle. I examined the long, thin un-natural bony fingers that curled around my ankle. The outline of the hand wasn’t human looking, and the thought of the image of it reaching out of the inky fog had my heart racing again.

How had I not noticed this before? The touch of my fingertips caused it to tingle into a pulsating rhythm, like it had when I was lying in bed, and the sensation instantly had me slumping against the shower wall for support. My body suddenly felt ten times its normal weight and I found that I was struggling to keep myself upright. I could feel myself starting to slide down the shower wall and before I knew it
,
I was sitting down.

My breathing accelerated as I tried to figure out how I could wear the evidence of a very real black handprint when I had been dreaming. This shouldn’t have been real, but as I continued to stare down at it
,
squinting and un-squinting my eyes
,
I realized it wasn’t just going to vanish like I had hoped it would. I bit my lip and even as I tried to come up with some perfect explanation for what I was staring at, I knew there wasn’t going to be one.

My head began to spin and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ward off the nausea I was starting to feel forming itself inside my stomach, climbing its way up my chest and clawing at my throat. My hand flew up to cover my mouth and I hoped that would be enough to force away the gag I could feel burning the lining of my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to focus on anything else, but the overwhelming sickness I was beginning to feel as it consumed and devoured my senses. I directed my attention to the feel of the hot water hitting my back, making warm water trails down my spine, slipping down and off my body before sliding into the drain.

I listened to the noise the water made as it hit the walls, the glass door and the sleek floor. Ignoring the queasiness seemed to be the easy part and after a few minutes of listening to the soothing sounds of the water, it started to fade and I was able to remove my hand without worrying I was going to throw up. The much harder part was trying
to ignore the almost painful vic
e around my ankle. I opened my eyes, praying the imprint would be gone and hoping the tightening I could feel was all in my mind, but even as my eyes found the spot I knew it was wishful thinking.

Hesitantly I ran my fingers over the mark and shivered, with disgust or fear- I wasn’t exactly sure, when I felt it tighten even more causing more of an uproar on my insides. I stared in disbelief and I watched vein-like black lines spiral up and around my calf. I wanted to scream in terror and scratch at my leg in denial, but I felt too drained and powerless to do anything, but lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes, rejecting what I was seeing.  When I found the strength- and courage- to open my eyes and face the unbelievable, I was relieved to see the horrifying veins were no longer sprawling up my legs.

The relief was shortly lived when I could still see the dark and angry hand print still gripping my ankle. I wanted to get up and get out of the shower, but just thinking of the effort it would take, convinced me to sit here longer. After a few minutes the decision to get out was made for me as I felt the cool water washing over me. Bracing my hands on the floor, I slowly got to my feet, letting my arms adjust to the weight of my body. The water felt good on my face as it washed away the warm tears I hadn’t noticed I was shedding.

I did a last rinse off, picked up my razor and put it away before shutting off the water. Getting out I grabbed my towel and felt that each one of my movements felt sluggish, no matter how much I tried to speed them up. Once I was dry, I put on a fresh set of bra and panties and lifted my foot to rest it on the sink doing another once over of the black invasion on my ankle. I went back and forth with myself over telling Andres or not until I finally settled on not. I didn’t see any point in giving him more ways to lie to me and the only reason to include Andres would be to hopefully get a second input, but with him I only got more excuses, more lies.

An unnatural chill crept over me and if possible I suddenly felt even more tired just thinking about what this could mean. I couldn’t think of one solid piece of a theory that would fit in to explaining this so I chose to ignore it for now.

My energy level was maxed out and I didn’t feel like getting ready or doing anything that didn’t end up with me back in bed. Pulling out my blow dryer, I went threw my messy hair until it was dry enough to curl. I used my big barrel and curled the long pieces that framed my face until they spiraled nicely, cascading down. When I was content, I turned everything off, determined to ignore the dark circles that hunted my eyes and the pale tint to my skin.

Going into my bedroom I quickly gathered my clothes and laid them out on the bed. One of my favorite things about fall/winter was the change in clothes.

Time to bring out my sweaters and scarf’s
, I thought to myself.

Sitting down I pulled up the dark grey thin stockings one leg at a time until they were smoothly in placed around my calf. I slipped the black sweater dress over my head and pulled it down until it hung just above my knees.

I rubbed my bare wrist and I realized I hadn’t worn my charm bracelet yesterday because of my workout and had forgotten to put it on afterwards. Feeling my bare wrist I didn’t like how empty I felt without it on and fastened it around my wrist, I could immediately feel the tiny pin needle sensation that shot down my arm and shrugged it off. From now on I wouldn’t take it off even for workout, it felt right around my wrist and that’s where it would stay.

Going to the closet I pulled out my black leather ‘fall’ boots. Another great thing about fall: boots! I slipped them on and pulled the zipper all the way up. The entire length of the boots stopped with just below my knees. Pulling my hair up into a ponytail I finished off with a little lip gloss and added a tiny tint to my eyelids before surveying myself in the mirror and smiled to myself. Yes, I love fall clothes! Grabbing a shimmery green scarf, I hung it around my shoulders and left the room.

Walking into the kitchen it was silent and I knew for sure Andres was already holed up. Heading to the cupboard I pulled out a bag of bagels and popped one into the toasters and pulled out the cream cheese from the fridge.

Leaning against the cupboard I waited for the toaster to pop and I found myself absentmindedly rubbing my foot against my ankle. Ever since I had discovered the dark handprint, it was all I could feel.

It felt like it was pulsating around my ankle and I shivered in response to the creepy sensation. It felt like it was moving up my leg.

The toaster popped and I jumped at the sound, turning around
,
I tried to calm my speeding heart while pulling the crispy bagel out. 

“Ouch!” I flinched when my finger slipped catching on the red hot wire causing the skin on the pad of my finger to pink and pucker. “Grrr,” I growled at my finger, stomping my foot I tried to suck away the searing pain.

Angrily I topped my bagel off with a healthy amount of cream cheese before putting everything up and walking toward the front door, grabbing my bag I checked for my keys, my car wasn’t anything special, but I loved the VW Jetta Andres had surprised me with after graduating early.

After verifying they were there I locked the door and shut it.

I arrived at the book store 20 minutes early for my shift.

I realized then, how lame I was and decided to walk up and down the streets in hope of wasting 15 minutes.

The town was always crowded this time of year. With all the festivals going on and families coming in from
Phoenix
to enjoy the cooler weather, couples littered the sidewalks. The smaller stores thrived from all the business they got from the out of towners looking for their small town souvenirs to take home to their families.

I drifted through the crowds, and I couldn’t help but take notice at how innocent and simple most of their lives seemed. It was easy to take for granted the basic things in life that made each individual person happy when their biggest problem on a bad day was what was for dinner.

My life before a couple of weeks ago seemed so far away that I could hardly remember the details that use to make up my days. I couldn’t remember what it was like to only have to worry about homework, boys, breakouts and the superficial things like trends, make up, and clothes. Those days seemed like a million years ago. Now I worried about icy graves, super natural wolves, dreams and freaky hand prints emerging from black fog to leave marks on my body.

I’m sorry.” I said automatically. I smiled apologetically up at the guy I had just bumped with my shoulder on the crowded sidewalk.

He smiled back and I turned to walk away, but his fingers brushed my arm, stalling me.

“You just going to hit and run?” He asked, not bothering to hide the once over he gave my body. And just like the others, his eyes turned glassy, but only for a second and I ran my hands up and down the bare skin of my arms. He blinked looking up at me with a slight frown.

“Actually I am.” I said. “I’m late for work.” I walked away before he could respond.

I drew my share of a lot of unwanted attention, but I had gotten used to the way guys responded to me. At first I had found it flattering, flattering quickly turned into annoying, and now I’m starting to find it… inquisitive. I noticed it right after the ‘
incident’,
that’s when I noticed all the bizarre things that are happening with me. I had been with
Elizabeth
, we were having dinner and I had felt like I was being watched, after a quick look around the room, I had seen him. He was in the corner of the restaurant with a few friends, and he was staring at me with the strangest look on his face. The expression on his face was blank, his eyes desolate, he looked like he was being hypnotized.