Hey guys! Sorry for all the missing weeks, there was a bit of a publishing issue but its all back in order now! I hope you guys can forgive me and that you enjoy what's in store! Remember, SHARE SHARE SHARE!! Happy reading!
The blood down the side of my face made this all to real. Time was gone and all I could think of was the girl facing me in the mirror. Brown hair pulled back was half up and half down. Mascara and eyeliner were gone, making my face seem even more real. I tried to wipe the blood away, but it was useless. I just wanted it gone, I wanted this all to end. Tears began to fall and the gash in my right temple started to bleed again. I couldn’t stand anymore. I didn’t know when I fell to the floor. Peter burst through the door and my head cradled against his chest. His heartbeat, the constant thwump thwump calmed my shaking hands. Dark and weight, both pulled me into the sleep I was afraid I would never achieve, a peaceful bliss I wanted to stay in.
The sun shone in through the windows directly across the end of my bed, but I didn’t want to get up and shut them. However, I did blink one eye open to find the black shirt of Peter inches from my nose. Without much movement, I glanced up to watch his face, mouth slightly parted, all creases of every day use gone. There was something about this that my heart loved most, whilst my brain just sat in perfect silence, letting one good thing happen. My hand had moved its way from resting on my chest to brushing back my hair, finding that my head was clean and bandaged.
Carefully moving out from his arms, I glanced around the room and take stock. The chimera stood against the door, eyes shut until I took a step towards it.
“Good morning.” It's voice still made me shiver. “Or should I say afternoon.”
“I…” I didn’t really have anything to say, I still was at a loss for words. Among the average bedroom necessities like a dresser and desk, there was a large bookshelf filled with various old worn books, ones just like the one Peter had.
Peter. I searched around until I found his damaged backpack laying in the adjoined bathroom, and I unzipped its largest section. Inside were a second set of clothes, a book on Demons and the same leather journal he carried.
Sitting back against the tub, I opened the first page dated my first birthday.
Dear Diary,
I’ve been sent away with Zak to a deep part of the human dimension, and I’m supposed to call him grandpa. We work on this farm together and I have a horse named Star, and I can totally ride her all by myself! Oh, and Alicia went away too. I’m going to miss her a lot, but it should only be for a little while, or at least that’s what Grandpa said.
The diary, Dani’s diary, went through her time at the farm for a while, and then when she was about my age, things went wrong.
Dear Diary,
It’s the fourth day of being up in this stupid tower with no food or water and I’m pretty sure my leg is broken. Zak is dead, the farm is gone, and I know I’m not in Kansas anymore. The room is dark, and there are tons of tomes like the ones Zak was teaching me with, but I cannot use them. I need to get out and find a way to protect myself from the people who took me here in the first place.
The final entry was the only one headed with my name.
Dear Alicia,
If you’re reading this, I’m sorry I never got to see you again. I wish I had, because I would have loved to tell you so much, and see you grow into an official one of us. Now, to business.
Peter is a sweetheart, even if he may come off cold. If he died, he has been turned into a demon and there are repercussions of that, so make sure you read up. If he didn’t, I’m hoping he’s able to get to you before THEY do. I cannot say whom, but you will find out in due time. You need to get to the college in the second dimension and study hard, as it is now up to you to make things right with the world again. You were young when dad used to say this, so I say this to you now. You always can, but you have to believe you can to do so. I hope I have helped you someway or another. I love you Ali, and I know that you will be great.
Sincerely, your favorite sister,
Daniella <3
Something in my stomach sank, pulling more from my heart than I expected.
“She looked a lot like you,” his voice was gruff, pain laced in every syllable. He was sitting on the edge of the bed now. “She wanted more than anything for me to protect you like I tried to do for her. It was her dying wish.”
I turned to watch his face, eyebrows drawn together, and I just shook my head. “I know. I saw everything. I felt everything…”
Something hung in the air between us, and I would have crawled back up on that bed and cried with him if there wasn’t a knock at the door to shake us from our spell.
“It’s Dover,” the chimera watched us for permission. With a nod of my head, it pulled the door open and Dover rushed herself in.
“Alicia.” In her arms was a clothing bag, books and a set of glasses. “I’ve brought things for your classes here at Thoreau…”
“I’m not staying.” I raised my hand to stop anything from coming out of her mouth. “I mean it. I thank you for all of your hospitality, but its obvious that I have my own path to lead.”
“No, no you have to learn your art. You cannot just get up and walk out of here now. There’s no way for you to protect yourse-“
“Bull sh*t,” Peter had risen from the floor where various books were laying around. “She has me and the deformed one-“
“Hey, watch yourself, you imp” the chimera’s voice dipped suddenly low in a challenge.
“I would prefer if you would stay at least a little while. One of my best can teach you a little.”
“I’m not changing my name, though.” The thunder rolled in the distance, making me glance at the window. “If there are people out there looking for me, let them come.”
A silence filled the room, and a hand fell upon my shoulder. Peter grinned down at me and pushed me a bit. “You got spark, maybe you won’t die right away.”
The rain began to pour.
As everyone left the room, as I had requested, I finally searched for the chest we had pulled all the way here from the crash. Its hinges squealed in response to the swinging hinge of the top, but opened with ease. Reaching down into the depths of the dark, I thought hard about my bag I had packed and the strap somehow fell into my hand. Tossing it on the bed, I tried to remember what I had packed in hurry. Some clothes, a few sweatshirts, a couple of pictures. I stopped to gaze at the faces; a couple of school friends and I circled around a campfire last September, another one of us arm in arm in front of the fireplace before our senior ball. All things I had taken for granted, things I just assumed could happen again. A stiff sigh came from my lips as I tried to move onto the next things, looking for one certain item.
“I left it.” I jumped from the bed and went back to the chest, planning on tearing it apart.
“He was a cutie.”
I turned to Peter, his hands holding my cell phone, the main screen a photo that I treasured. Ben and I, my boyfriend I had left back in town, the one guy I could understand.
“Give it back.”
“Nah, so were you guys serious? Like eighteen years old serious or like-“
“Knock it off.”
“You know, you have a really hard time controlling that anger of yours.” The room was electric, almost literally, evidence coming from the rise in Peter’s hair.
Not realizing I was already moving, I swiped the phone away from his hands and looked at his face; pale blue eyes, blonde shaggy hair and a crooked smile that I could never get enough of.
“You know that you might not get to see him again.”
“Damn, I have no service in here.”
“He’s not going to understand this.”
“If I could just find a payphone and call him…”
“Things won’t be the same.”
“I’ll explain everything to him.”
“Alicia.” He stopped me from my banter and looked me dead in the eyes. “You can’t see, or even talk to him.”
“No,” I whispered, letting tears fall. “I can still see him, there is nothing stopping me.”
Pity fell on his face, and he released me. I knew he was right; if I showed any special connection to him, he might get hurt, and that s the last thing I would want to happen.
“Now now.” He chided lightly, a small smile tickling the corner of his face. “Let’s go see the school before tomorrow.”
“How does everyone expect me to step up?”
He stopped in the doorway, seeming to find the words to say. “Well, I guess that’s for you to figure out.”
