Leticia (26 page)

“None of that means anything when your heart is lonely Leticia
!
”

“Then stop being an idiot and find someone, that’s no excuse for what you
’
r
e
doing. What about your family’s hearts, it would break them
.
Don’t
you care about that?
”

“Of course I do,
Jesus
, do you think I’m
that
cold hearted?” he
scolded
.

“At this moment in time, yes!”

“How the hell can I be cold hearted when all I want to do is protect
you?
” he c
ame
closer and closer to me. He was so
close;
I had to go almost cross-eyed to be able to focus on him properly. “All I want to do is keep you safe
,
”
he breathed
.

“I understand
that
,
” I almost whispered,
reaching up and stroking the side of his face
.
“
And
I’m grateful, I really am, but I don’t want you gettin
g hurt. If we’re gonna
do this, we do it together
.
O
K
?
”

“
Yeah OK
.
”

He stayed close to me for a few more seconds
.
I let my hand fall so it was now against his chest. I looked him straight in the eyes, getting lost in them
for a moment
. I could feel his
heartbeat
, hard and fast. I so desperately wanted to kiss him
.
I imagined
him
kissing
me
, my stomach was doing cartwheels.

“Tell Nancy she can stop worrying
,
” he finally spoke, walking away from me
.

“
You
tell her, it would mean more coming from you
.
”

He stood at the window in silence
.
I was just about to turn and walk away when something outside seemed to get his attention. He motioned for me to
come
over.

“
Look
,
” he said pointing towards the back of their garden
.
“
Can
you see him
?
”

“See who?” I asked confused
.

“We’re being watched
.
”

I looked across the back of the garden, between the rows of trees they had running along the back fence. Finally I spotted him.

“What’s he
doing
?”
I asked
.

“Looks like he’s on the phone, which is good, it means he won’t know we’ve spotted him yet
.
”

“What do you want to do?”

“Kill him
.
”

“I guess I should have known you’d say that
.
”

“Yeah you should
,
” he said before walking out of the room
.

I was going to go after him but he pulled the door shut behind him. He obviously didn't want me following. I watched out of the window, waiting to see what he would do. Jackson sneaked up behind him, turned the guy around to face him and gripped him by his throat. He lifted him about a foot of the
ground
with one arm, and not two seconds later the guy went limp. Jacks
on must have snapped his larynx
killing him instantly. At least he didn't suffer, but knowing that didn't make me feel any better. He tossed the guys body to the
ground
like it was garbage, then headed back towards the house.
He looked so cold
.
Did
a human life really mean so little to him?

“Another one down
,
” he told me, walking back into the room
.
“
And
before you say anything, no I don’t care that he’s dead, no I’m not bothered that I killed him. As long as you and my family are safe I honestly don’t give a
crap
. If you want to think badly of me that’s up to you
.
”

“I’m going out
.
”

“Where?”

“I don’t know yet, just out
.
”

“Alone?”

“Yes!”

“
Do
you think that’s wise?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care, see you later
.
”

“Leticia...”

I didn't respond
.
I just walked out of the room closing the door behind me. I know he was only trying to keep me safe but his heartless, care free attitude toward these
people’s
lives got to me. It was
me
they were after and
I
still cared. I walked out of the house and towards the main road. On top of hating Jackson’s attitude,
I was also finding it really hard to spend so much time with him, well actually, with everyone. I wasn’t used to being around people so much
.
I’d been on my own a long time, so to go from that to suddenly being around someone, anyone, most of the time was a big thing to deal with.

Luckily nobody followed me
.
I desperately needed some time to myself with my own thoughts. My head was like a car crash, mangled, messed up. I wished I’d never met Luke,
I wished I’d never told him what I was
.
I could have been living a nice life now instead of having all this crap to deal with.
Alright
, so I wouldn’t have been able to stay with him too long, he would have noticed I didn't age, but I could have enjoyed our time together. Then again,
he
said he would love me no matter what. How was I to know he would react the way he
did?
I knew he would be scared, nervous, but I also thought he would have been intrigued, fascinated. Oh how wrong I was.

The good thing now was that I was around other paranormals
.
I didn't have t
o
hide;
they knew what I was before I even knew
they
existed. That made me
smile;
it was nice to not have to hide. It helped that I liked them all too, Nancy was so lovely, down to earth and kind.
She was very girly
too;
she always looked nice and had her make up on. Not too much though thankfully.
Tristan was kind, supportive, encouraging and proud of what we all were.
He held everyone together when they could easily fall apart.
Jackson, well, what can I say about
him
?
He
was straight talking, blunt and I’m going to sound like I’m contradicting myself here, but even though sometimes he could act as cold as an
iceberg
,
he had a good heart
. To look after his sister from such an early age, kill his own father for her and then to look after me, showed how big his heart was. He just needed to open up to someone who wouldn’t hurt him, who would love him for who he was
and
not what he had. Who would love him and respect him as much as he would them. I was starting to hope that person might be me.

I was
standing
next to the little reservoir near Hade Edge. The view in front of me was beautiful, the glowing city of Holmfirth and further in the distance the lights of Huddersfield.
I could have
easily
stood there all night basking in the beauty of it all.

“Leticia
,
” I heard a male voice say
.

I looked around me, but there was nobody there. Had I imagined it?

“Leticia, Leticia
,
” I heard it say again
.

“Hello
,
” I shouted
.

“They’re coming Leticia, you must leave
,
” a soft, almost distant female voice took over
.
“
Run.
”

“Who are you?”

“Run!” the voice echoed
.

I didn't need to be told again, I ran back in the direction of the house, constantly looking around me to see if I was being followed. I didn't stop until I reached the house.

I burst through the door, slamming it shut behind me.

“Tish?” Tristan frowned, walking quickly over to me
.
“
W
hat’s happened
?
”

“I don’t actually know
.
”

He took me into the living and sat me down. He called for Nancy and Jackson
and
went to get me a glass of water. Nancy looked
worried;
Jackson was staring at me, a slight look of concern on his face. As soon as Tristan returned and I’d caught my breath, I told them about the experience.

“It
’s
spirits
,
” Nancy gasped
.
“
They’ve
taken to you
.
”

“What?”

“Tish these hills are alive with spirits, ghosts, whatever you wish to call them. They are supernatural, they shouldn’t be
here
and
therefore, they will protect others in the same...”

“What
,
so ghosts look after us too, is that what you’re trying to tell me
?”

“We’re all classed as the same thing, have you never seen one before?” Tristan asked
.

“Yes I’ve
seen
them, in fact, when I was away for all those years I spoke with a few of them. I used to watch the old army legions marching through Longdendale Valley. Men that died
while
building the old railway tunnels w
ould
sometimes sit with me for hours
.”

“Wow
.
”

“Yeah. There’s a lot of history around here and secrets
.
”

“If
these hills could talk, oh what secrets they could share
,
” Jackson
added
.

“
How true
,
” Tristan agreed
.

“Well, anyway, I think whoever those people were they saved your neck from something
,
” Nancy said to me
.

“Yeah, but what if they come here again?”

“They die!” Jackson shot, then walked out of the room.

“We’ve
taken
quite a few of them out already
.
That
guy, that
Adam
, he said there was only about thirty or so didn't he?” Tristan asked me
.

“Something like that
.
”

“So there should
n’t
be very many of them left, unless he is constantly recruiting.”

We were interrupted by loud banging coming from upstairs. I decided to go and see what
Jackson was up to.
He was in one of the spare rooms, looking through boxes and dragg
ing
trunks from under the bed.

“What are you doing?” I asked
.

“It’s called being prepared
.
”

“Meaning
?
”

He didn't respond, he opened one of the
trunks
, inside were guns.
He pulled another out and threw open the lid, it was crammed with ammunition.

“Oh my god, where the hell did you get all that
?
” I gasped
.

“What does it matter, they’ll come in useful
.
”

“We can’t just mass murder countless amounts of people Jackson
.
”

“Actually we can
its
called self-
defense
.
”