Snowscape Trilogy (8 page)

Despite my resolute to pay attention as ‘Went
to Harvard’ Ben, droned on and on about his travels, I kept
glancing toward the drink in my hand and my thoughts couldn’t help
but wander to the last two days and what Nathanial had told me. My
ability to not just read people was always something I had taken
for granted. Like Nathaniel in my dreams it was just a part of who
I was. I always considered it intuition, but what if it was
something more, what if I could see things about people that no one
else could see. Kayla’s clarity of spirit came through to me
easily, but I had also known her for months now. Suddenly all of my
fears about the new and improved Amy dissipated and excitement took
over. This could actually be fun. Eric and Kayla had been a fluke.
Something that just came to me, but what if I tried to see
more?

I kept nodded and smiling at Ben, encouraging
him to continue telling me of his personal quest for self-identity,
I started my own quest. I concentrated on his mouth, the way he was
talking and the movement of his eyes. He kept stealing glances at
Kayla as I had noticed as well, but I also see him glance the other
direction as well. The front door. Was he waiting for someone? He
had just reached the Midwest portion of his tale and I suddenly
felt nauseous. A grey cloud came over my visions for a moment and
for a brief second I could see Ben, sitting in the cab of a
trailer. Starring down at his hands, covered in thick red liquid. I
blinked and the image was gone, but the queasy feeling inside my
throat remained.

Without thought behind it “What happened in
Bowling Green?” I blurted out.

Ben’s face went ashen and I could feel the
sickly sensation vomit rising in my throat. He dropped his glass on
the end table next to him angrily. “What are you talking about?” I
tried to pull back as I looked him in his eyes and he moved closer.
He knew exactly what I was talking about.

Kayla had seen the exchange and came over to
us. I fell to my knees trying to pull back from him and before I
could stop it I felt his guilt pour out of my mouth like an evil
oil slick of admission. “There was a trucker…. in Bowling Green.
You killed him didn’t you? There was an accident. He sideswiped you
and then there was a fight. You… and your brother? You killed him.”
I looked up at Ben and his grey face was contorted in anguish and
anger. Kayla looked to me and back to him. She saw my arm clasped
in his wrist. “You’d better go Ben.”

He dropped my wrist suddenly and seemed about
to say something. I could see the emotion well up into his eyes.
Although, the facts were blurred to me I could feel his guilt
surround him. I could see what he saw that night. He had dreamt
about it every night since and I could fell the dark fog of his
dream self pull into me revealing the truth of the situation, but
found it marred with emotion. Understanding rushed over me with
such intensity I felt electricity run up and down my being. I did
not know what was true verses what was not, but I did know what Ben
perceived as being true. He had been there and although he had not
thrown the fatal blow, his brother had. And Ben’s hapless guilt had
wracked him so solidly he felt the need to escape away to become
someone else.

Ben looked silently between the two of us.
The party had come to a silent halt behind me as others watched the
outburst grow. He grabbed his coat and walked out. Not before
saying to Kayla, “You’re friend is fucking crazy.” True. “I don’t
have a brother.” Lie.

The door slammed shut and another song came
on the iPod shuffling in the background. Kayla gently grabbed my
arm and looked around without embarrassment.  I, on the other
hand, was burning up with it. “She’s just drunk. Come on Amy.” She
half dragged, half carried me to her bedroom when she realized it
didn’t seem like I could walk.

After laying me on her bed, Kayla sat next to
me, silent for a moment. “I know you’re not drunk. You were so red
I needed to get you out of there and it was the first thing that
came into my head. Are you okay?” I didn’t answer. My eyes were
watering and the nausea was starting to pass. I sat up with every
intention of telling her that I was just drunk, and there was
nothing going on but as I sat up, and looked at Kayla I knew she
wouldn’t buy it. She knew I hadn’t had more than one drink and that
my emotional meltdown wasn’t drug induced either. I opened my mouth
to speak, but then shut it just as quickly and just looked at her.
I wasn’t much of a liar. “Amy, you don’t have to tell me what’s
going on, but if you want to chat I’m here. Ben gave off a bad vibe
anyway so I’ll make sure he stays out of your way for a while.” She
quickly left the room and within minutes I could hear her and her
guest laughing in the background.

I lay on Kayla’s bed for a while and thought
about Ben. I saw what he saw, I felt his guilt, but I didn’t feel
evil. It was the first time I really tried to focus and pick up on
a person’s inner emotions so of course it had caught me off guard.
I thought about what Nathaniel had told me. ‘The power that I had
over people; knowing their desires, their needs, their guilt.’ I
wasn’t sure I wanted it, but the more practical side of me knew
that arguing with fate wasn’t really an option. I had learned that
lesson early on when my parents died. Wanting something didn’t
equivocate getting something.

After staying my emotions I decided to rejoin
the living and the party, if nothing else than to assess the damage
I had done. The music had turned from new age to techno, as those
that were only slightly buzzed before now were drunken messes and
my earlier indiscretion had been quickly forgotten in the haze of
alcohol and weed. I grabbed a large glass of boxed red wine from
the kitchen and made my way onto the back patio to grab a
cigarette. Kayla was still inside and no one seemed to remember
that I was the girl who had just had the drunken melt down an hour
ago.

I had just lit a cigarette out of my
emergency stress stash when a short red head walked up to me. She
wore cute square boxed glasses and had a pixie haircut that framed
her face well. She was dressed simply in jeans and an old Beatles
T-shirt. Her short stature and bright red hair made her seem
younger than me, but there was something about her eyes that gave
the telltale sign of an old soul. She reached out her palm and
asked, “Can I bum one of those?”

I could smell a brief hint of sulphur in the
air and my heart began rapidly beating in unknown fear. This girl
was not who she was pretending to be. I looked into her bright blue
eyes and she knew it too.

I managed a hint of a smile before I pushed
my lit cigarette into her palm and tried to run back into the house
through the back door where I could hear the mumbles of the party
start to wind down. When had I become the only person outside? She
grabbed my arm as I tried to dash by and quickly twisted it behind
my back as I struggled. She had my right arm secure but I reached
up and smashed the cheap, heavy wine glass into the side of her
face knocking off her glasses. She let go of me and I ran out
towards the wood that cradled the back of Kayla’s house. I could
feel her coming up behind me before I saw her and suddenly I was on
the ground. The wind ripped out of my lungs with the force of her
body heaving into mine and pressing me against the ground. I kicked
and screamed and squirmed and managed to turn myself around so I
could see her straddling me. She no longer was using her arms to
pin me down but she had both of her palms out towards me and some
unknown force was keeping me immobile. It was then that I saw her
eyes. When I had seen them before I noticed their brilliance. They
were bright blue. But where once was just blue iris now there was
blue fire. I could see the flames in her pupils’ flicker and burn
and as I struggled more she fought against me. The fire burn
brighter as she held my arms tighter and I could feel the intensity
of her power grow over me as he face contorted in jovial
possession. She was ecstatic to have caught her prey.

Despite the struggle and my lack of breath I
tried to remain calm. I had learned something today and if I lived
through this experience it was necessary information. Although
every fiber of my being wanted to thrash and panic I forced myself
to remain calm and still as she reached down and wrapped her hands
around my throat. The power that she possessed was still holding me
immobile against the cold dirt. I could feel the blackness creeping
over me and see white spots in the corner of my eyes, but knew
logically that fighting was not the answer. Maybe if I blacked out
Nathaniel could help me. But here, with the chilled ground pressing
up against every inch of my back, I knew I would lose. My only hope
was that I could get help before the blackout turned to into an
eternal version. Instinct took over and I screamed with such force
with every emotion that I had. Suddenly, the hands were gone and I
could breaths. Time slowed down and I could see that the pixie girl
had been thrown off of me with such power I could hear the tree she
landed against crack in half.

I laid back, momentarily confused, exhausted,
but also relieved. I could see that the air had a chill in it by
the white plumes of breathe coming from my mouth. I watched the
puffs rise up out of me and dissipate into nothingness. My life had
almost done the same, but the all too familiar sensation that this
was not the first time that had happened passed through my head. I
carefully sat up. There, in front of me stood
Samandiriel. 

I was not shocked. I had called to him,
hadn’t I? “You heard me.”

It was more of a statement than a question
but he nodded anyway.

He was a clear five feet away from me, boring
down on me with scrutiny, his lips parted in question and although
it was clear he had just thrown the girl off of me, he did not seem
out of breath. In fact, he had the relaxed cocky stance of a man
who just won a bet. Clearly this was not the first of these fights
he had partaken in. I looked between him and the thrown pixie girl,
now lying in a heap against a nearby tree. I could see a clear
crack across the old wooden truck and knew my suspicions were
correct. I stood up to brush off the leaves and debris that had
covered me during my flight and subsequent thrashing about on the
forest floor.

Sam didn’t move to come closer to me. He
stood as far as the small clearing would allow and gave me the
moments I needed to compose myself. After standing up and brushing
myself off I looked to him and took in his appearance. He was not
disheveled in the least, and he hardly looked like a man that had
just lifted a girl and thrown her clear across with such force as
to break her spine. His manner held a quiet confidence and he
looked as sexy as a heartthrob though stepping fresh off of a page
of a magazine. His blonde curls were perfect and he wore a deep
green, freshly pressed button down under a black suit jacket. He
had a tie that had been loosen slightly around his neck and I could
see that the top two buttons of his shirt had come undone. He still
wore his glasses and I could feel his bright blue eyes trying to
bore into me. Despite his appearance and the confidence he always
coated himself in I could feel an uncertainty and fear radiate off
of his soul. It was almost palpable.

We stood there, sizing each other up for a
few moments before I hesitantly asked, “How did you do that?”

He stepped closer to me, tentative, giving me
time to stop him if I wanted him to. I didn’t. I knew that much. He
scared me. Terrified me, more than Nathaniel had ever had, but I
could feel the electrical charge that drew us together.

“Are you alright?” he asked ignoring my
question.

I nodded and a shiver ran down my spine. Sam
took off his jacket and handed it to me. I wrapped myself in its
warmth and breathed in the scent of his coat. It was deep, musky
and dark. I could smell a small hint of marjoram and something
else? Something sinister and burnt. Like sulphur, but not. I walked
over to the pixie girl and the smell of ashes grew stronger. Sam
joined me at my side.

“She was a demon?”

He looked at me a moment considering. “Yes. A
young one, too emotional. She must have been working for someone
else.”

I nodded and kneeled down next to her. She
looked peaceful like this. Almost asleep. It was the first time I
had ever seen a dead body and I thought for a brief moment that I
should be more upset about this fact than I was. “Should we bury
her or something?” and suddenly tears overtook me without warning
or grace. They came crashing down without thought or reason and
although I tried to stop them I could not.

The emotion of the past hour, the past few
days had finally overtaken me and I starred down at the delicate
creature that had just tried to kill me. As the fear came pouring
out of me I didn’t notice that Samandiriel had knelt down besides
me. I felt the electrical current rush between us as the tears came
flowing across my cheeks. Starring down at the dead body of a demon
that had just tried to kill me I felt my soul totally and
completely empty out through my cries. Sam’s presence was warm and
strong besides me without his touching me. Minutes passed into what
seemed like hours, but as I looked up into the night sky I realized
only a short time had passed. My tears subsided, but I stayed
kneeling, willing the chill of the ground to overtake the chill I
now felt in my heart. My life had been turned upside down the past
few days and I didn’t know how to feel anymore. “I’m ready to go,
“I said suddenly.

Sam took my hand and helped me to stand. It
was strong and warm against the chill of the night and I held on
tightly as he helped me steady myself facing him. Inches apart, he
gently reached his hand up and wiped the lines of tears from my
face. His hand pressed against his lips and I could see them still
glisten with my tears. I thought for a moment he was going to take
me into his arms and I stilled with excitement and fear at the
prospect. Instead he dropped his arms to his side and turned away
from me. “I will take care of her,” he said simply and started to
lead me back to Kayla’s house.