Afterlife (Afterlife Saga) (17 page)

Memories came back at me hitting me hard like a bloody sledgehammer,
repressed memories that were now flooding my brain. It had been a night like this, cold and beautiful. Only then I had never been afraid, I had seen its beauty and not the darkness it brings. The evil lurking amongst its perfect setting. I had stood waiting unaware of the danger that was waiting for me. Then I heard a noise I would never forget but wished more than anything in the world that I would...That I could. Had it been a warning? It was the last noise I ever heard before hell had found me. Before I changed. Before it had all changed me.

A single tear escaped my eye and ran down my cheek towards my quivering lips. But something happened before it got there, it stopped...no it didn't just stop... it froze. I could move. It pulled my focus out of its mental cage and I raised my hand to my cheek. There my fingers found a solid frozen tear drop. Then my eyes focused on a familiar sight. For there in front of me was an image getting closer, flying through the trees, so gracefully as if there wasn't any forest in its path. It glided through the night air, tilting its wings as if to catch the cool breeze.

The bird from my dream had come back...

But where was
its
master?

Chapter 9 – Friend or Foe

As I fumbled my way towards the door my hands slid off the wet stone as the rain came and made everything slick. The moon had come out from behind the trees and was leading the way. I didn't know whether or not the creature was still there, I had not waited long enough to find out as now I didn't have the safety of glass from my window to protect me. I could feel something watching but it didn't make me feel as scared as I had been before. It made me feel...warm, safe. I couldn't explain it but whatever it was, it was comforting. Still it didn't change my need to leave.

“If only I had more light.” I hadn't realised that I said the words out loud instead of just thinking them until, to my great surprise, the security light flicked twice before illuminating fully. It lit up my pathway to the door, which wasn't as far as I had thought it had been. But wait, oh damn! I had forgotten the bloody password! Oh God what was it?

I fumbled with the keys pressing them too fast to even register. Oh come on think. Think damn it. A square that was it! 3256. No that wasn't it, 1254 again no.

“Oh come on, please work!” But then a calm feeling took hold of my body, travelling its way down from my neck to my hand like something smooth I couldn't see
,
touching it, making it move without the feeling it was being forced.  Almost like a lover coming up behind me and placing a soothing hand over my own.

My mouth dropped open but there were no words, I just gasped taking in more cold air. The hairs on the back of my head stood on end as if someone was getting even closer to my trembling frame, breathing down my body and freezing it without pain. My finger moved over the digits in perfect order as though they weren't my own. 1...4...5...2. The door clicked and my hand gripped the cold metal handle pulling it down. The door opened easily letting the warm air and light seep through the gap. My hand was released and was now my own again. I spun round quickly trying to capture a glimpse of I don't know what. My eyes came up empty just as my mind did. I could not explain any of it. Only that...

It was magical.

“So how was it?” Libby sat in her huge couch that looked as if it was going to eat her alive. A blanket wrapped around her legs with her fluffy slippers peeking out. She looked warm and also very hacked off.

“It was goo
d.
I actually enjoyed it would you believe?” She raised her eyebrows and then frowned. OK, evidently she couldn't believe it.

“Really... umm.” She responded now looking bored.

“Baby... honey...” Frank had joined her now giving her the first stern look I had ever seen him give. I suppressed a smile, not wanting to seem smug and make matters worse. After all she was just worried about me. I could see it in her eyes, the guilt I
felt was like having a hole in my heart. She had lost me
once,
she was just scared of losing me again. It had taken a long time for me to even reach the mere shell of what I once was.

These thoughts weren't good. I think some pills were in order tonight otherwise I would never sleep. I rubbed my hand thinking of the warm sensation that took over my blood. My hand hadn't been my own earlier and the feeling hadn't completely left me yet. No it had stayed with me in a more delicate form but it sure felt good. It made all the fear go away and was replaced by a warming bliss so intense it had me struggling to keep my secret smile hidden. In the end I failed letting a small smirk escape before I got up and kissed my sister's forehead while ruffling her hair.

“Good night, I love you Lib's,” I said with warmth in my heart. I didn't give her time to reply as I ran up the stairs taking two at a time. The emotions I carried were like a heavy sack of spuds and I didn't want her to see the weight of my guilt. It was a strange sensation to be so mixed by emotions I seemed unable to control. One minute I felt as if I was floating with the comfort of my magical encounter and the next I'm drowning in a guilt that keeps pulling me under the tide of memories.  

The rest of the week came and went without any more incidents. I had worked three more nights at the club and was getting the hang of it. I was now at the stage where I could serve behind the bar. Mike had become my little protector for the week. Bailing me out when I got the complicated fancy card machine wrong, sticking up for me when customers were rude and most importantly taking out the trash. This I was most grateful for.

I tried to ask about the Dravens, as my curiosity got too much for me one night, but everyone was always so vague. No one would reveal any useful information about them. It was always the same story as though rehearsed.

There were two brothers and a sister. The head of the family was the older brother Dominic
Draven
. I wasn't sure if I had seen the other brother. When they first arrived there were only men, so I knew I hadn't yet seen the sister. Dominic, I had seen once in the flesh and twice in my dreams. But that had been enough to start my obsession! My thoughts always seemed to be about him. I didn’t really understand why, it was as if he had a power over me that just wouldn’t fade. There were the obvious reasons of course. Like he was the most amazing human being I had ever seen. He was beautiful like a
transcendental godlike creature being
completely heavenly. But he looked intensely strong, almost invincible as if he could have been a Spartan or Trojan in a past life.

I found my eyes wandering up towards the first floor but then my head would look away quickly before I got there. My cheeks would flush just thinking about him, the way he'd looked at me that night, those consuming eyes piercing through me, ablaze with fiery passion, devout and excruciating
.

I had to convince myself on a daily basis it was nothing. My daydreams about him were getting ridiculous and were ever constant. Being at work was the worst and also the best. That was when I felt it most, like a magnetic pull drawing me towards him. But it was my embarrassment that kept me rained in and stopped me from looking. I was the only one with this restraint, as everyone else in the club seemed to
stare in his direction. Of course you couldn’t really see him, just shadows of people up there. But no one ever went up or down the staircase.  And considering there were always people up there I had to wonder where they all went, did they stay there? The only time in fact I had ever seen anyone walk those steps was with Draven himself a week ago.

It was all very strange, especially when not one person seemed to know anything about them, yet they had been coming here for years and owned half of the town. It was as if the whole town was part of some weird cult with Draven as their leader. I, of course, was the outsider and not in on the conspiracy.

AGAIN! With my imagination, I should write horror stories for a living! I had been staring at my wardrobe for about ten minutes now trying to decide what to wear. There wasn’t much choice of course but it would have to be something warm and preferably water proof. It had been raining non-stop since I had been picked up last night, changing every now again to a light drizzle or fine mist. My hair wasn’t going to survive the day. 

I grabbed something black and grey and put it over my head not really knowing what it was but it had sleeves, which was all that mattered. It was joined by a pair of faded jeans, which had seen better days. They were a bit too long for me so they were badly ripped around the bottom, every now and again I would have to pull a bit off as they got caught around my trainers or ‘running shoes’ as they were called here, funny really as I hated running. This was because two things would always happ
en when running, the first was
I
would
usually fall down and second is
it would usually hurt!

“You ready because I think RJ is here?” Libby had been just as nervous for me on my first day of college. I found her in the kitchen at an ungodly hour trying to make a full English breakfast. Of course it looked like a nuclear bomb had hit it. I had eaten as much as I could, with my teeth screaming in pain as I crunched my way through what seemed like lava rock. Pity we didn’t have a dog, mind I don’t think even a dog could have digested this and animal rescue would be on our case.  

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” I grabbed my bag putting the strap around my head and my jacket on top. I didn’t need gloves today as the sleeves I wore had a thumb hole. I ran down the stairs and missed a step, landing on my already bruised bottom. “Ouch!”

“You OK?” Libby shouted up and I grumbled to myself “YES!” I guessed it was going to be one of those days.

I took me another fifteen minutes to get away from Libby doing the whole mothering thing. “I have done this before Libs, it will be fine. I'm not going to freak out or anything, scouts honour.” I gave a little salute and made for the door. Poor RJ had been waiting for that long she had cut the engine.

“Sorry about that, my sister can be a little...neurotic at times.” I gave her an apolog
etic smile but she didn't seem
fazed
, just as happy as always. Extremely happy, in fact she couldn't keep still.

“So come on, tell me everything, and don't leave a thing out, even if it seems insignificant I still want to know.” She clapped her hands and started the engine. She had a comical little car that sounded angry as she pulled forward. It looked like an old VW but the badge had fallen off the front so I couldn't tell.

The conversation about the nightclub had continued all the way to the college
and she hadn't been joking about the small details. She was especially interested in hearing about Mike. Well that wasn't entirely true, she did also ask about the Dravens, being almost as curious as me. Of course on this topic I had no information to tell.

By the time we got there I was completely at ease and I was thankful to have travelled with RJ as I think Libby would have driven me into a nervous wreck. It would have been a joint effort with a combination of her crazy driving and crazy worrying. I would probably have found myself in therapy once again.

We pulled round into a parking space that was further back from where all the commotion was.

“We will never get a space nearer to the campus, plus Jack said he would
met
us here.” She gave me a wink, which I ignored. The car park was surrounded by trees that were turning different shades of reds and oranges. It had finally stopped raining and the sun had come out from behind its clouds transforming the once dreary day into a utopia of sun bursting colour.

I grabbed my bag from the back seat as RJ did the same. I slammed the door too hard and little flecks of rust snowed from the door. Oops “Sorry about that,” I said with a sheepish grin.

“Oh its fine, I get a shiny new one when I graduate but to be honest I don’t think it will last till then, so go ahead bang it all you want!” We both started laughing and didn’t notice when Jack had come up behind us.

“What’s so funny? What did I miss?” He instinctively came towards me grabbing my canvas bag off my shoulder and giving me a wink. RJ didn’t miss it and put her finger in her mouth, accompanying it with a gagging noise.