The Spark_What does death feel like?

by R. Mason

  “Damn right.”

  “What a world,” Amethyst continued, falling to her back on the bed and groaning, “I feel I am already fading. Without your bright eyes showing me the way home I am simply lost, Faye child.”

  “Faye child?” There was a red tint to the girl’s cheek when Amethyst peered up at her, and she was still sat cross legged, her gaze wandering around the room like she didn’t know where to look, “What’s that?”

  “I’m being a damsel.” Amethyst sat up and frowned over dramatically, “It’s called acting.”

  “It’s called being ridiculous.”

  “Hey-” Amethyst pointed- “You’re the one who mercilessly terminated our friendship.”

  “I wouldn’t say mercilessly-”

  “Cruelly-”

  “You’re such a whiny baby-”

  “Like a monster-”

  “Come on-”

  “I’m heartbroken, really-”

  “Oh, please-”

  “I don’t know what to do with myself-”

  “Ace-”

  “I cannot carry on-”

  “I’m warning you-”

  “I think I see a light-”

  “That’s it!” Faye yelled, then suddenly jumped forward and attacked Amethyst’s ribs, tickling her mercilessly, laughing like it was the best fun she had had in her life.

  “Oh, my God!” Amethyst screeched, trying to roll away from the abuse, giggling like a mad man, unable to stop herself, “Get back, foul demon!” She kicked and squirmed, and before she knew it, both herself and Faye were tumbling, landing with a cruel thud on the carpeted floor of Amethyst’s room.

  “Ouch,” Faye said, her voice closer than before. Slowly, Amethyst opened her eyes to see bright blue just inches away. Out of breath, she raised an eyebrow, her chest heaving and Faye’s doing the same.

  “Compromising position.” Amethyst commented, biting her lip, but Faye didn’t move away. Instead she leaned closer, holding herself up with the palms of her hands by Amethyst’s head.

  “Imagine if your mother walked in.”

  “She’d demand we always had the door open.” Amethyst joked, a smirk starting in the corner of her mouth. Faye’s eyes flicked down to it and back to her eyes, her pupils dilated.

  “Can’t have that.”

  Amethyst could hear both of their heartbeats, erratic and fast, even though both had caught their breath by that point. Before she could think into it any further, Faye was rolling off her and landing on her back next to Amethyst, staring at the ceiling.

  “You ruined my nails.” Amethyst broke the silence after a few tense moments, and Faye looked at her, frowning slightly.

  “Huh,” She said, “Guess we’ll have to redo them.”

  “I guess we will.”

  Amethyst didn’t tell her. She couldn’t. Her heart would surely explode.

  ◆◆◆

  The sun beat down on Amethyst as she sketched, the curves and lines of the tree coming to life on the page the longer she spent on it. Her blazer lay long since abandoned on the floor beside her, and Faye was acting as a back rest behind her, blissfully still as she scrolled through her phone. Some of the glitter on Amethyst’s nails reflected into her eyes and she smiled to herself, remembering two nights before. It had relaxed her, somewhat, but Dylan and Kamini were still on her mind.

  “Did you know,” Faye spoke up for the first time in about twenty minutes, “That there are no words you can type with just the bottom row of a keyboard?”

  “That’s ‘cause they’re all consonants.” Amethyst replied simply, sticking her tongue between her teeth as she started to shade the edges of the tree. Behind her, Faye made a vague humming noise before falling silent again. Without her consent, Amethyst’s ears picked up on a conversation on the other side of the field.

  “You shouldn’t tell anyone about that, dude.” They sounded young, and Amethyst smiled slightly, still listening in.

  “It isn’t that bad!”

  “It is.” They sounded exasperated, and vaguely disapproving.

  “Come on, everyone’s done it.”

  “Bro,” The first person sighed, “I have never had a wet dream about my mum.”

  “Oh, my God!” Amethyst squawked, whipping her head round to look for the people speaking, simultaneously holding in giggles with her left hand, keeping the sketchpad steady with her right.

  “What?” Faye looked around with her, as if she could spot what Amethyst was looking from before she could, “What happened?”

  “Hang on,” Amethyst scanned the people around them outside, until she spotted two year-eights on the other side of the field, one of them with their arms crossed and the other with their head in their hands, “Them.” She nodded towards them, a smile on her lips.

  “What about them?” Faye narrowed her eyes at the boys, as if she could read what the situation was just by looking at them.

  “One of them had a wet dream about their mum.” Amethyst smiled, watching Faye’s face move from shock, to disgust, back to shock, and finally landing on reluctantly amused.

  “That’s awful.”

  “That’s gold.” Amethyst corrected, only managing to hold in her laughter for two more seconds before bursting into giggles, Faye joining her only moments later, “Wait, wait, let’s see what some of the others are talking about.”

  Amethyst concentrated, and looked around for someone having an interesting conversation. Then she spotted him. Dylan was on the other side of the field, talking to someone. He looked angry.

  “You have to do something.” His shoulders were up to his ears, and Amethyst could tell he was holding back a shout. She wondered if he knew she was here, that she would be listening.

  “Why?” The other boy was slightly taller than Dylan, and ten times more relaxed. His hands were in his brown leather jacket pockets, and his hair was a mess, but a styled mess. From so far away, Amethyst couldn’t really tell what his facial expression was, but by his tone, she guessed smug.

  “Because you can do something,” Dylan crossed his arms, “I know we don’t know each other that well-”

  “Correction: at all.”

  “Whatever,” Dylan pushed through gritted teeth, “But you didn’t seem like that much of an asshole when you were still going here.”

  “Aw, you paid attention?”

  Dylan made a sound of frustration.

  “I’m trying to recruit, here, to stop this. She’s hurting people, Leon.”

  Leon. That must have been the guy’s name. It sounded familiar, so he had probably been a student here before he left. Maybe he was supernatural too, or just had knowledge of it like Dylan seemed to.

  “Amethyst?” Faye broke her concentration so she lost what Leon said next. She waved a hand to get the girl to shut up and focused again.

  “-girl isn’t going to help.” Leon tilted his head, and Dylan seemed uncomfortable in his gaze. They really didn’t know each other at all. The she he had to have been referring to before was Kamini, then who was this girl?

  “Amethyst is a good person,” Oh, “She’ll come around.”

  Leon laughed. It was a harsh sound, one that made Amethyst want to go over there and smack him. Maybe Dylan wasn’t the most pretentious boy she knew.

  “Let me know how that goes,” Leon said, and Dylan made another frustrated sound, flailing when the other boy walked away. Amethyst tuned out of the interaction and stared at the ground in front of her. Kamini was hurting people. Dylan wanted her to help. This was all too much.

  “Dude,” Faye interrupted her thoughts, “You’re scaring me.”

  “Sorry,” Amethyst shook her head, trying to get the guilt to go away, “I just eavesdropped on an argument. Forget I said anything.”

  “Okay,” Faye said slowly, like she didn’t quite believe what she was hearing. She went back to scrolling anyway, and Amethyst picked up her book. Before she could think about what she was doing, there were engravings on the tree on the page. Sudd
enly reminded of that night, she ripped it out and stuffed it in her blazer pocket.

  CHAPTER SIX

  In lessons, Amethyst got away with drawing and not listening because it looked like she was taking notes. Everyone had avoided her today, apart from Faye, having probably been able to tell that she wasn’t in the mood to talk. Even Faye hadn’t been as chatty as usual, sensing it wasn’t what Amethyst needed. She was grateful. Some people, however, hadn’t gotten the memo.

  “What are you drawing?” Yeva asked, nibbling on the end of her pink pen idly, watching Amethyst scribble away at her page with unyielding concentration.

  “Nothing.” She replied, sighing when the shading came out too dark, too severe.

  “It’s creepy, whatever it is.” Yeva shrugged, then turned her attention to the front. Watching her profile, Amethyst wondered. At this point, Dylan had to upper hand in their whole ‘I know, you know, I know’ situation, but what if Amethyst could get that upper hand? Everyone trusted Yeva. There was something about her constant smiles and light-heartedness that made her the perfect shoulder to cry on. With that in mind, it was possible that she had insider information on Dylan.

  “Yeva,” Amethyst started slowly, putting on her best innocent face, “What do you know about Dylan Emerson?”

  “Not much,” The girl shrugged, nonplussed by the randomness of the question, “He’s popular, gorgeous, and unavailable.”

  “Unavailable?” Amethyst prompted, frowning.

  “Yeah, unavailable, closed off, not dating potential. Or at least challenging dating potential.” Yeva looked at Amethyst curiously, “Why? Got a crush?”

  “What? No-”

  “Because I couldn’t do that to Faye-”

  “Do what to-?” Amethyst blanched, then shook her head, “Doesn’t matter. Not a crush, not important.”

  “Fine,” Yeva still looked wary, but brushed it off with a smile, “He’s never been seen with a girl, some people say he has a secret girlfriend that’s at university or something. No one really knows though, he doesn’t have many friends to tell.”

  “Didn’t you say he was popular?” Amethyst raised an eyebrow, tapping her pencil impatiently on her sketchpad, resisting the urge to scratch her neck. Her thick hair had managed to keep the fresh wounds there hidden so far, so scratching it would draw attention.

  “Well,” Yeva tilted her head, biting her lip, “Sought after is probs more accurate, ya know? Everyone wants to be his friend, but for some reason he just doesn’t get close to anyone. His only real friend was this guy who left for Uni last year. He goes to every party, hangs out with all the boys on the basketball team he’s on, but just doesn’t seem to be with anyone any other time..”

  “Who was his friend?” Amethyst leant forward, hoping for a name to look up or stalk, maybe bring up in conversation with Dylan to let him know she wasn’t completely in the dark about him.

  “I think his name was Harry, Henry? I don’t know,” Yeva twirled her pen around her thumb, “He was kind of a recluse. Those two were inseparable, I don’t know how you didn’t notice.”

  “Wasn’t really paying much attention to my surroundings last year.” Amethyst said.

  “Yeah,” Yeva said slowly, looking sheepish, “I noticed. Anyway, they just hung around each other, kind of like you and Faye. Except, you know.” Amethyst raised her eyebrows. She didn’t know, “It was like they were part of some secret club that only involved the two of them. It was weird. People want what they can’t have, in a way. And that’s Dylan.”

  “People are idiots.” Amethyst grumbled, leaning back in her chair.

  “Sometimes.” Yeva shrugged again, “You should draw flowers. They always put me in a better mood, maybe they’ll do the same for you.”

  Amethyst stared at the dark figure on the page in front of her, with gnarled branches for fingers and golden eyes.

  “Maybe.”

  The rest of the day passed gruellingly slow, most of it spent with Amethyst feeling eyes watching her from a distance. It was probably Dylan, or Faye, maybe Yeva. Her quietness was raising suspicion in her friends and she didn’t know what to do to change that.

  Eventually, the school day ended, and Amethyst was walking home, forever watching over her shoulder for Kamini. Amethyst was often prone to paranoia, but this time it was justified. This time she had been threatened. Every sound made Amethyst twitch, and every movement in the corner of her eye screamed danger. By the time she was on her street, she ran home, slamming through her front door, and holding it shut behind her like a child would in the dark.

  “Someone chase you home?” Rida teased from the living room, looking over her shoulder with a slightly worried crease in her brow.

  “I’m just-” Amethyst breathed a laugh, “Really hungry.”

  “Well, we’re getting a takeaway tonight because I’m too lazy to cook and you’re too inept.” Rida raised an eyebrow, “Ash is going to manage without me tonight. I’m pretty sure if I stayed late for another shift without seeing you, he was going to cry. The kid practically pushed me out the door.”

  “He values family more than you do.” Amethyst rolled her eyes, kicking off her shoes so she could climb onto the sofa next to her mum, “Why have you been staying late so often?”

  “You sure you want to have this talk without food in your hand?” Rida smiled slightly, and Amethyst shoved her shoulder.

  “I’m not that reliant,” She stood and picked up the empty mug on the coffee table, “Another?”

  “Sure,” Rida shrugged.

  “If we’re having Chinese-”

  “I never said Chinese-”

  “-Then I won’t have a snack. I’ll just have a cup of tea instead.” Amethyst smirked at the attempted scolding look her mum was trying to give her. It wasn’t surprising when footsteps followed her into the kitchen, Rida never having the ability to let conversations end without her permission.

  “I’ll have a coffee,” Rida said, leaning against the counter as Amethyst pulled another mug out of the cupboard and placed it on the counter. She flicked the kettle on to boil, then moved to face her mum, “It’s been pretty hectic at work because there have been some-” Rida paused, considering her next words, “Incidents.”

  “Incidents.” Amethyst repeated, the only other sound in the room the shaking and simmering coming from the kettle. In front of her, Rida shuffled awkwardly, like the story didn’t come naturally or easily.

  “A few weeks ago, a woman came into the station ranting crazily about a monster that came into her apartment. Obviously, we dismissed it, until she said her son had gone missing. He was home schooled, so he didn’t have any friends, no one who could’ve said he had run away or let us know what he was like as a person,” Rida pursed her lips, “We had, at the time, assumed that the woman had rationalised her son running away by inventing a monster that took him. We looked, found nothing, left the case open. Ash insisted that there was more to it, but I was having none of it. That is, until last week.”

  “What happened last week?” Amethyst asked, snapping out of her reverie when the kettle clicked off.

  “We found him,” Rida said, while Amethyst slowly poured boiling water into their mugs, dreading what was to come next, “His body was in the woods, brutally attacked. We have no idea what it was, all we know is that it was an animal.”

  “That’s what’s kept you?” Amethyst swallowed around a lump in her throat, “It must’ve been a bear or something.”

  “No,” Rida said, “The DNA showed something like a wolf, but not the same.”

  “A wolf?” Amethyst asked, staring at the counter, remembering the cracks in the bathroom upstairs and keeping her fists clenched.

  “We don’t know.”

  “Could it have been anything else?” Amethyst said, almost pleading, hoping her gut feeling was wrong but knowing all logic pointed towards the only available suspect.

  “That was only the first.”

  “There are more?” Amethyst whi
rled around, sloshing boiling water on the floor and barely missing Rida, “Sorry.” She said, putting the kettle down with shaking hands.

  “It’s okay,” Rida said, watching her carefully, “The next day, we found another body, I can’t tell you everything about it, but I can tell you there were human inflicted wounds as well as animal.”

  “So, what?” Amethyst bit her lip, grabbing milk from the fridge and pouring a generous amount into her own cup, and only a small amount into her mum’s, “It’s a person with a dog, or something?”

  “We don’t know.” Rida shrugged, “That’s why I’m always staying so late.”

  “Ash was right for once.” Amethyst tried to lighten the mood with a small smile, feeling the tension around them build. If only the police had the knowledge Amethyst did.

  “Don’t say that to him on Friday, he won’t shut up about it.” Rida laughed, accepting her mug when Amethyst gave it to her, “He’s coming over for tea.” She added at Amethyst’s confused look.

  “Oh, is he now?” Amethyst teased, “I’ll make sure I go up to my room early enough to miss the proposal.”

  “He’s far too young for me-”

  “I know, mum,” Amethyst rolled her eyes, “I was talking about an adoption proposal. You took him under your wing years ago, now, I’m pretty sure you’re the reason he joined the police force.”

  “He’s also too old to be my son,” Rida laughed, shaking her head, “He’s a good friend.”

  “And a good cook,” Amethyst blew gently on her tea, “I’m guessing he’ll be the one doing it.”

  “Apparently, it’s a surprise.”

  “I hope it’s lasagne,” Amethyst moaned, “God, I love his lasagne.”

  “It is pretty good.” Rida sighed lovingly.

  “Convincing you to adopt him has my own ulterior motives,” Amethyst took a cautious sip, then flinched away when it was too hot, “I want him to cook for me all the time. Don’t laugh! This water was boiling like a minute ago.”

  “For all you pretend to be a vicious dog, you’re just a little puppy, aren’t you?”