by K. A. Poe
My voice shrieked in surprise as my body contorted and the whirl of feathers surrounded me. Not now, not now, I thought pleadingly. The keys and phone I had previously held now lay upon the concrete.
Hovering over the land, I heard the door fly open as Salem came out – no doubt alarmed at the sound of my scream. I glanced down at him through my beady black eyes, and the disappointment and pain painted across his pallid skin sickened me. I turned and flew from the scene, ignoring his calls after me.
10. HOME
My wings beat noisily behind me as I pushed through the heavy gusts of wind. Rain began to trickle down from the gray clouds and I could see faint evidence of the sun shrouded behind them. I had one place in mind that was safe, normal and I would be accepted easily without too much questioning. The rain grew heavier and it was becoming difficult to fly through. As I neared my destination I had to come up with a way to calm myself.
My talons clicked gently against the roof of my former house. This place was filled with so many memories, one of which surely would be comforting enough that I could relax. The first thought that came to mind was the morning I discovered Janet had left for Denver. Following that memory was that of my eighteenth birthday, which was somewhat relaxing but at the same time a nuisance. I climbed down from the roof and landed gently on the mowed lawn. Knowing Jason was taking care of the place was a reassuring thought.
I fluttered across the lawn, noting Jason's car parked in the gravel driveway. There was scarcely any evidence that a teenage boy was living here. Not only was the lawn well kept, but the windows weren't smudged, the pathway to the front door was swept and the trash cans were pulled to the edge of the sidewalk for pickup this morning. This had been enough. My mind was clearing of negative thoughts. I heard the sickening crunch, felt the brutal twist of bones, and within seconds I was standing upright on the lawn.
I approached the familiar red door with the tiny peephole and hesitated. It was early. Jason was probably asleep and he probably had work today. What was I thinking? Shaking the thoughts loose, I rapped my hand against the door. Perhaps he wouldn't be too upset by my sudden appearance.
Time ticked by slowly as I awaited a response. No one answered, so I knocked again. I heard movement beyond the walls and knew I had succeeded in waking someone. When the door opened, I was surprised by who answered.
“Mitchell!” I gasped. Of course. Why wouldn't he be here? I told Jason his brother was more than welcome to live here, too. He looked hardly any different from the last time I saw him – his thick, curly brown hair was slightly longer, there were obvious signs of exhaustion on his face, and he had lost some weight. Mitchell had always been skinny, but now he was too skinny.
“Hey, Alex,” his voice was strained and he wobbled slightly as he leaned on the door. “What are you doing here so early?”
“I was hoping to see Jason,” I replied. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, just really tired,” he laughed. “I had actually just fallen asleep. They have me working the late night shift over at the diner.”
I groaned quietly when I recalled my last visit to the diner. “I'm so sorry I woke you up. I can leave if you want me to.”
“No, don't be crazy,” he smiled and welcomed me inside. “The place is technically yours, anyway.”
When I stepped in I couldn’t help but notice the place was practically the same as when I had left it – at least in terms of furniture. The same faux leather loveseat, the same dull scratched up coffee table, and the same dining room table. I felt comfortable here, I felt at home. The sink was piled up with dishes, but I really couldn't blame the boys – they both had jobs to worry about, and Mitch had a few more weeks of school before summer break. The sofa had a blanket and pillow strewn across it, leading me to believe that was where Mitchell had been asleep.
“You don’t have a bed?” I asked as I walked through the dining room.
“You know I do, but I just hardly ever sleep in it,” he shrugged, “by the time I get home, I sort of just slump over on the couch and pass out. Then a few hours later I’m up for school. I do nap in the bed after school though.”
“That's terrible,” I frowned. “Are you and Jason struggling to pay the bills or something?”
“No, we have that covered,” he grinned and sat on the loveseat. “I’m saving up to buy my own car.”
“Oh, awesome!” I thought about when I got my first car as I glanced around the house. A bundle of dirty laundry lay beside the edge of the loveseat. “How close are you to being able to buy it?”
“Maybe another two weeks of this. But it will be totally worth it!”
I laughed and hesitantly sat beside him on the loveseat. “Is Jason asleep?”
“Yeah, he should be up soon, though,” he commented, glancing at the alarm clock set on the end table. I recognized it immediately with a pang of anguish – it had been Janet's. “He usually gets up around 7:30 or so.”
“Do you care if I wait around for him?”
“Of course not,” he glanced at me and frowned. “You look just about as tired as I feel, Alex.”
“Yeah...” I mumbled, “I haven't been sleeping well either. That's kind of why I came here, to get away from my troubles.”
“Things not working out between you and Salem?”
I blinked, wondering how he knew about him. “Did Karen tell you about that?”
“Um, you’ve met Karen right...?” he laughed, “As if she could keep her mouth shut about anything!”
“Yeah…I guess you’re right.”
“Jason didn't take it too well.”
I was afraid he would say something like that. “Why not?” I asked, acting like I didn't know.
Mitchell laughed, harder than I expected. “You’re as blind as Karen is loud! You really didn’t know all these years? Jason has had the biggest crush on you forever!”
“I didn’t know until a few months back, actually,” I admitted, “it still suprises me.”
“There's nothing not to like about you, Alex,” he said with a wink. “Even I had a little crush on you when we were younger, but unlike Jason, I grew out of it. Good thing too…he didn’t care for the idea of someone else liking you,” he laughed.
I stared at him in awe. I wasn't that likable, was I? Maybe it was just the small town, not much variety. “That's flattering,” I said uncomfortably. “But anyway, there's nothing wrong with me and Salem...I just needed to get out, and he was asleep,” I lied slightly.
Mitch nodded his head in understanding. “Well, you're always welcome to stay here, y'know. If for some reason you can't or don't want to go back to his or something.”
“Thanks,” I murmured.
As Mitchell opened his mouth to speak, I heard noises coming from upstairs. “Who are you talking to?” Jason's voice called down the stairs. I was relieved to hear him; it had been far too long.
“Oh, you'll see,” Mitchell replied playfully.
“You didn't bring a girl home with you last night, did you?”
“No, she sort of just showed up on her own.” Mitchell winked at me.
Jason rushed down the stairs, obviously curious to see who the mysterious girl was that his younger brother was with. His face sank as his eyes fell upon me, sitting beside Mitch on the loveseat. “Alex...what are you doing here? And what are you doing with Mitchell?”
I sprang up from the seat. “I wasn't doing anything with Mitch!” I laughed nervously. “We were just hanging out while I waited on you to get up.”
“Oh, right. Okay,” his expression softened. “That still doesn't tell me why you're here.”
I shrugged. “I didn't know where else to go.”
“Are you...” he paused, “are you and that guy having problems?” He sounded almost hopeful.
“No, we’re fine. I just needed to get out for a little bit, and to see you,” I added on the last part in the hopes of relieving him.
“You look exhausted.” I stiffened as he came clos
e and pulled me into a hug. “And you're soaking wet!” he exclaimed, pushing me away gently.
“Oh...yeah,” I muttered, barely even aware of the fact that I was drenched in rain water.
“Did you walk here or something?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
Jason shook his head and plucked his brother's blanket from the back of the sofa, draping it around my shoulders. “Wouldn't want you getting sick,” he smiled.
“Thanks,” I said, returning the smile. “Do you mind if I hang around here for a little while? Maybe I will even clean the place up a little,” I chuckled.
Jason laughed – it was a pleasant, familiar sound. “You don't have to do any cleaning, but we'd love it if you stayed.”
“I want to clean,” I objected, glancing around at the clutter again. “You'll thank me later.”
“Sure,” he replied, “it's only going to end up like this again in a few days though.”
“That just gives me more to do.”
“Are you avoiding something?” he said with a frown, all amusement washed away from his face.
I shrugged. “Kind of. I have been having these really disturbing nightmares lately, so I'm trying not to sleep.”
“That's healthy,” I heard Mitchell mumble from the sofa, upon which he was now curled up with his face toward the back of the couch.
“It's hardly any less healthy than what you're doing!” I shot back. “How much sleep have you gotten in the past few weeks?”
“Not enough,” he grumbled.
“See, so shut it.” I smiled jokingly at Jason.
Jason took my hand unexpectedly, “Come upstairs with me,” he offered.
I eyed him suspiciously. “Jace, she still has a boyfriend, remember? No funny business.” Mitchell snickered and Jason shot him an angry look.
“I just wanted to show her what we've done with the rest of the place.”
“Suuure you were.”
“Let’s go,” I said, partly just to get away from his brother's comments, and followed him upstairs.
Jason led me across the familiar creaky floorboards. To my immediate left was the singular bathroom, which had been kept almost exactly as it was when I had left it – besides the addition of their toiletries. Ahead of us, down the hall was Janet’s old bedroom. Her bed, her dresser, everything that had belonged to her was gone. I stared throughout the room in disbelief. In place of the large bed with frilly pillows that I remembered so vividly was a twin-sized bed with plain dark blue covers. A shabby brown nightstand sat beside the bed. Where Janet's dresser had been was a different, shorter one that I was unfamiliar with. Socks and other assorted clothing items poked through the crease between the drawers of the dresser. My eyes were drawn to a picture frame on top of the dresser.
“Wow,” I whispered, picking up the frame and running my hand across the glass surface. The picture was of three children – a round-faced, blonde haired girl with radiant green eyes stood on the left, in the middle was a chocolate-eyed boy with a broad smile and a head of deep brown hair, and beside him was another little girl with long brunette hair, hazel eyes and a toothy grin. “This picture has to be ancient.”
“It's not that old,” Jason said with a chuckle. “What were we, like six…seven?”
“Probably,” I replied. “I miss those days.”
“So do I. Life was a lot simpler back then.”
I laughed, he had no idea how much simpler it was than my life these days. “What has become of my old room?”
“You’d never know it had ever been a girl’s room, that's for sure,” he replied and led me down the hall to my former bedroom.
I gasped at the sight of it. There was clothing everywhere! I couldn't make out a single inch of the familiar dull gray carpeting underneath all of the laundry. The walls were covered in posters of scantily dressed women lying on cars or motorcycles. Shaking my head, I turned and left the room. I couldn't bear to look at it anymore. “Here I thought, with how clean the lawn was that the inside would be just as tidy,” I laughed dryly.
Jason looked apologetic. “We've both been really busy, Alex.”
“I know,” I replied. “I understand completely.”
“Shouldn't you be leaving to get Karen!?” Mitchell yelled from downstairs.
“Yeah!” Jason shouted back, and then looked at me. “Sorry, I‘ve got to go. But I‘m so happy to see you again, Alex.”
“It was good seeing you too,” I said earnestly.
“Will you be here when I get back?”
“That all depends on when you’ll be back,” I laughed.
“Pretty late.”
“Then probably not.”
He frowned at me and embraced me again. His skin was warm and comforting. “I've missed you.”
Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around him, returning the hug. “I’ve missed you, too, Jace.”
“Promise you’ll come back soon, okay?”
“You know it,” I smiled.
We both walked downstairs. Mitchell was turned over on the sofa, facing us with a wide grin, and kept raising his eyebrows up and down. Jason smacked him playfully on the shoulder. “I'm just messing around, lover-boy.”
“Well, stop it,” Jason replied coldly. “See ya later, Alex.”
I watched him grab a coat and keys and slip out the doorway. Mitch sat up on the sofa and rubbed his eyes. “'bout time for me to get ready to go, too.”
“Are you serious?” I asked in shock. “You must be miserable. You should call in sick.”
“Nah, I'm used to it,” he smiled reassuringly. “I'll be in the shower if you need me.”
I was all alone downstairs in the place I used to call home. My eyes cast upon the laundry pile beside the loveseat. I lifted the heap in my arms and walked through the kitchen, down a short hallway and into the utility room where the washing machine and dryer were located. Plopping the mass of discarded clothing into the washer, I poured in some detergent and started running the wash. Next, I went to tend to the dishes.
Mitchell found me in the kitchen washing the dishes and looked at me in shame. “You don't have to do that, Alex.”
“It's fine, I want to do it. Anything to keep me busy and awake,” I said as I ran a plate through the stream of water. “Don't worry about it.”
“If you say so,” he said quietly. “I'm going to walk to school.”
“Okay,” I replied. “I probably won’t be here when you get back.”
“Well, it was nice seeing you!” he said and draped an arm around me in a half-embrace.
“It was nice seeing you, too,” I smiled, but he couldn't see it. I listened as the door shut behind him and returned to washing the remaining dishes. After the dishes I spent the next ten minutes staring inattentively at the TV set until I heard the washer stop. I sluggishly wandered into the laundry room, moved the clothes to the dryer and went up to Mitchell's room to gather even more clothing.
The more I did, the harder it was to fight just how tired I was becoming. I was down to two loads left by 9:30. Mitch's bedroom was flawless and I was satisfied. I sat on the edge of his mattress and glanced around the room. It felt like so long ago that I had slept on a different bed in this same room. My body took control and I was suddenly on my back, staring at the ceiling and dozing off.
My vision was blurred, but I could make out shapes in the room. Two figures stood against the far wall, toward the bedroom door. They muttered something incomprehensible. One of them came closer to my body. I attempted to move, but with horror I realized I was paralyzed. A cold hand swept across my cheek, and I could faintly make out their face. Salem. His face looked different. It wasn't the gentle, sweet face I was used to seeing. He looked fierce, blood-thirsty.
“Kill her, Salem,” The voice was unmistakably Claire's. “Her blood is irresistible to you. Don't fight it any longer.” Her voice was hypnotic, even to me.
I wanted to scream, to tell Salem she was wrong, that he didn't want this,
but I couldn't move my mouth. All I could do was lay there and wait for him to kill me. He hesitated a moment as he stared into my eyes, then his lips were at my throat again. I could scarcely feel the burn or the stab.
I shot upward on Mitchell's bed, clutching a pillow to my chest. My heart was thumping loudly and it took me a second to realize I was being watched. Please don't be Salem, I thought as I turned to see who was sitting in the corner of the room in a computer chair.
“Jason?” I blurted out. “What time is it?!”
“Almost six,” he whispered. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. How could it be six? “I don't know...”
His face displayed a look of confusion and he cautiously sat on the bed beside me. “You have been whimpering in your sleep,” he said sadly, “crying, too, I think.”
“Why didn't you wake me up!?” I shouted and smacked him with the pillow.
“Hey, relax!” He tugged the pillow away. “You were exhausted; I figured a bad dream was better than waking you up.”
“Well, you were wrong,” I grumbled.
He shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “Alex...can I ask you what the nightmares have been about?”
“You wouldn't want to know,” I laughed coldly.
“Sure, I would,” he said, resting a hand comfortingly on my shoulder. I fought the urge to shrug it away.
“To put it simply...they've all been about Salem trying to kill me.” It was painful to say the words.
Jason looked bewildered. “He's not hurt you, has he?” he asked, looking me over as if scanning for bruises are cuts.
