Falling Awake

by T. A Richards Neville

  “Move over, I’m dying here.” I shimmied over and she flattened out on her back the same as me.

  I was more than ecstatic when she told me she was coming on the trip. I knew it must have killed her to swallow her massive pride and tell Mr Kelly she could use the tutoring. Truth was, she couldn’t stand not having her best friend for a week. Well, she couldn’t stand me being in Paris and her missing it.

  I’d nearly choked on my dinner when she called me and said she was coming. I didn’t think it was possible for her to leave Drake for so long, but of no surprise to me, he actually encouraged it. I guessed he must also want her out of the way, and he would more than likely be with Caleb most of the time anyway.

  “Are you missing Drake yet?” I asked her, tracing the lines of the detailed architecture carved into the ceiling with my eyes.

  “Are you missing Caleb yet?”

  “Yes,” I admitted.

  “Me too.”

  “You’re missing Caleb?” I teased. I nudged her playfully in the leg with my own.

  “No. Drake you asshole.” She slapped me on the leg.

  “Ouch.” I rubbed away the stinging sensation.

  “You don’t know your own strength.”

  “Who doesn’t?” she said, smiling at me.

  I rolled over onto my side, facing away from her. We had nothing planned today because of the long journey. The only place we needed to be, was down at the dining hall for dinner at six tonight.

  “You’re a real bitch Mellissa, but lucky for you, I’m worn out. So if you’re any kind of a friend at all, you’ll join me in a much deserved nap,” I said, burrowing my head deeper into the super soft pillows, making myself comfortable.

  Mellissa nuzzled in next to me.

  “That sound’s good,” she mumbled, and ten minutes later I drifted off to the sound of Mellissa’s soft snoring.

  After showering and changing into a short, cherry red playsuit, I brushed my hair through, and alongside Mellissa, made my way down to the dining hall.

  Dinner was over fairly quickly and I felt much happier after filling my stomach with vegetable soup for starters, then a plain and simple cheese sandwich. I passed on the sponge pudding dessert, and Mellissa and I ventured outside to the courtyard.

  We had two hours of recreational time before we would be holed back up in our bedrooms with an eight pm curfew. We weren’t allowed any further than the grounds of the hotel, so we settled ourselves on a bench looking across over the beautiful flower gardens that lined the cobbled pathways.

  “So how are you going to cope with four days away from Drake?” I asked Mellissa, pulling my legs up and crossing them under me.

  “Well for one, I’ve bought a phone card. So in about ten minutes I’m going to call him from the hotel payphone.”

  I had my own phone card, but I knew I would never use it to call Caleb. My dad bought it for me, and his was about the only number I planned on calling with it. “He better be missing me,” she threatened.

  “You haven’t even been gone a day.” I looked at her sideways.

  She brushed her bangs behind her ears. “So?”

  “So give him time to miss you.”

  “What do you think he’s doing right now?”

  “What time is it there?” I asked myself, mentally deducting six hours from our current time.

  “Dinnertime? Early afternoon?” she suggested.

  I really didn’t have a clue what he would be doing. Killing someone? Mingling with other fallen angels? Spending time with the gorgeous Leah? The possibilities were endless.

  “Probably having dinner,” I said instead.

  “Yeah probably,” she agreed. “I cornered him about what we spoke about that night at jets by the way.”

  “What did you say to him?” My pulse fast-tracked at the thought of him having possibly told her the truth. Wouldn’t she have said something to me by now already if she knew? I found myself wishing he had told her, so I could stop keeping secrets from her.

  “I just came straight out with it and asked him if he was cheating on me.” I didn’t need to hear the answer he gave to know he was absolutely not cheating on her. I struggled to see when he would even find the time.

  A smile lit up her face. “He said he wouldn’t be able to find anyone sexier, funnier, or more interesting than me even if he tried. And, he said he’s searched for what feels like a lifetime.”

  Now that, I could believe.

  She bit down on her lower lip. Her happiness was infectious and I broke out into a smile of my own. “I told you he wasn’t cheating on you. He adores you.”

  “I like him more than I’ve ever liked anyone,” she confessed. “I really think I could love him.”

  “Well you guys are great together.” I meant it; they were perfect. Practically made for each other. Even though I was insanely happy for her, I could have said that exact same thing about Caleb, but I couldn’t- he wouldn’t let me, and I couldn’t help but feel bothered by it.

  “So who’s in your study group with you?” I asked, before I let myself slip into that person I didn’t want to be.

  “Um, I don’t know their names, apart from Jeremy Franklin who’s in my English class, and to be honest I can’t say I care. I’m not here to study.”

  “I don’t really know my group either, apart from Nathan and Carrie McDougall.”

  “You mean Carrie Mcgoogle,” Mellissa corrected me, making two circles with her fingers and bringing them up to her eyes, imitating a pair of round glasses. She forced her eyes to cross over in the middle.

  “That eye is about as straight as bowling ball. I don’t know how you can look at her with a straight face.” She burst out laughing. “Ha, straight face, get it? Wonky eye? No?”

  I watched her in amusement, my brows scrunched together as she laughed herself into a fit.

  “It’s too bad you got stuck with Nathan,” Mellissa said, when she finally calmed down. “Could you not have been re-assigned to a different group after what that creep did to you?” Her face was now creased with disgust.

  “I tried, but Mr Kelly was adamant Nathan needed me to partner with him.”

  “That’s because he’s as dumb as a tin can,” Mellissa said, checking her watch, her leg crossed over her knee and shaking at a rapidly increasing speed.

  “Why don’t you just go and call him now?” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “You know what Jensen? That is a good idea. I’ll be right back.” And she dashed off over to the lobby area, and into the brightly lit building.

  The sun was low in the sky, not even visible to me anymore behind the structure of the old hotel, but it was still light out, the street lamps not yet lit.

  My eyes rolled over the courtyard, and up over the windows of the hotel. Most rooms twinkled with light from the small vintage lamps inside the room, but some were blank with darkness. I calculated the room numbers and positions, and spotted my own in the very centre row, looking directly out to where I sat now. I was sure that was my room because I’d looked out at this very view earlier, and even though the gardens were beautiful enough, I had really wanted a front facing room that looked out over the streets of Paris.

  The breeze picked up slightly and the thin lace curtains billowed out through the open window. I shivered watching the notion, and tried to recall when I’d opened the window. I was pretty sure I hadn’t, and I couldn’t remember Mellissa doing it either. She was too busy filling her face full of makeup she didn’t need.

  I watched the curtains pick up again, carried gently by the cool air. It was a warm enough night, but something made the hairs on the back of my neck and my arms stand on end. My bedroom window gave way to nothing but darkness and I squinted my eyes to see harder into the gloominess. I couldn’t see anything. I must have opened the window and forgot that I’d done it.

  I turned to look behind me at the sound of voices, where some of the other kids from the trip congregated in the lobby area chatting loudly. I i
gnored them and looked back up to my room where the curtains still swayed steadily.

  My breath stopped as I looked into a face that was caught between the lace curtains, standing stock still in the blackness. I couldn’t make out any features, just the dark outline of a head and shoulders. There was someone in my room, watching me. I blinked hard and the figure was gone.

  “What on earth…” I whispered. I studied the now empty window hard, but the face never re-appeared. Without thinking, I jumped up and ran into the hotel, through the crowded lobby, and past the payphone where Mellissa still stood talking, twirling the phone cord in her hand.

  I flew up the four flights of stairs as quickly as I could, and plunged my key card into the lock. The light flashed green and I threw open the door.

  My heart was pounding in my chest as my eyes adjusted to contents in the empty room. Even though it wasn’t totally dark, I flipped the light switch and the room became bathed in fluorescent light. I stepped in cautiously and I jumped as the door slammed heavily behind me.

  I walked over to where I was sure someone was standing only moments ago, and I bent over ready to look out, but stopped suddenly at the sight of the closed window in front of me.

  This window was open. That, I was sure of.

  It was unlocked and I pushed it up, shoving my head out, scanning the courtyard. There was no one there aside from a few students huddled down by a bush enjoying a sly cigarette. The curls of creamy smoke were illuminated against the royal blue sky, and it wouldn’t be long before someone smelled the awful stench and put out their fun. I really hoped that would be sometime soon, because Nathan was one of the offenders.

  Ignoring them, I stuck my head further out checking both directions of the courtyard, but there was nothing, and no one to see. I banged the window shut and locked it, checking every inch of the hotel room before finally settling in the desk chair and going over the whole thing in my head.

  I was still scrutinizing every last detail when Mellissa walked in a half hour later. I decided not to tell her about what I saw and scare her unnecessarily when I couldn’t prove anything, and I settled for calling Ressler instead. I asked him to meet me at the hotel tomorrow night. He was the only one who would be of any help to me right now.

  That night as I drifted in and out of sleep under the security of my mom’s dream catcher, I finally slipped into mind numbing darkness.

  I found myself back in the cove, sitting up on the grey rock with my white nightgown strewn around me. It hung over the edge of the rock, soaked by the sea. Caleb crouched down in front of me on one knee guarding whatever was behind his back. I reached out frantically and tried to grab whatever he had, but the harder I reached, the further away it seemed to get.

  “If you can’t reach it, you’re not ready,” he said, his voice as smooth as silk.

  “But I need it,” I protested. “Someone’s here with me right now. It’s the only thing that can help me.”

  “It’s too soon,” he said, standing up straight.

  “Whose here with me?” I asked him, my heart thrumming in my chest as sweat began to streak my brow. “I’m too afraid to open my eyes.”

  “Only the shadows,” he simply said, and then faded from view as my eyes sprang open to a foggy black silhouette leaning over me. I blinked, and it evaporated into wispy curls of smoke, leaving nothing of its-self behind.

  ***

  “Nathan, you’re not saying it right,” I told him, for what felt like hundredth time. We sat at a small round table outside of a cute little café, which was situated right outside of the Hotel, under a green striped sun umbrella.

  It was only the two of us because the rest of my group decided they were way too cool for studying, and ditched us to wander around the streets of Paris. I hated them for leaving me with Nathan, and I secretly wished that they would get lost. Well maybe just a little bit lost, then eventually find their way back.

  “Je vais avour le poulet.”

  You don’t have to say it with such an American accent, and you don’t actually pronounce the T. I blew out my cheeks. “Let’s take a break,” I suggested.

  “Okay. This is boring anyway. Why would I even need to speak French when I live In America, and I’m American?” he asked me with a look on his face that said this is the most ridiculous thing he’s ever had to do in his life. It was like sitting with a Cave Man.

  “Uh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re in Paris.” I threw up my hands in frustration. “Just go and get us a drink Nathan. I’ll fill all of this in, and we’ll just skip the oral part.”

  “That’s the last thing I want to skip,” he said with a snicker, and I glowered at him, until at last he left.

  A dull ache throbbed insistently behind my eyes, and I brought my fingertips to my temples rubbing them in small circles. After waking up last night to a searing darkness bearing down on me, I forced my eyes closed until I was sure Mellissa was the only other one in the room with me.

  I couldn’t say for definite that the strange shadow like person was in my room, and hadn’t just extracted its self from my dream, but it freaked me out and I couldn’t relax enough to fall back asleep after that. The lack of sleep was now catching up with me, in the form of a growing headache.

  Nathan came back with an ice tea for me, and what looked like a coke float for himself. I took a sip of the cold refreshing peach flavoured tea, and scribbled down the last of the completion form.

  The day was hot. I was wearing my white strappy sundress that flared out a little from the waist and ended just above my knees, and I wore my hair out, kept away from my face by a braid that I plaited to act as a headband.

  “You look nice,” Nathan said impishly, and I glared at him through my eyelashes until he looked away, slurping loudly at his drink.

  “Wanna split a ham Panini?” he asked me, rubbing his stomach. “I’m kinda hungry.”

  “I’m vegetarian.”

  “Oh right. Well maybe they do like a mushroom Panini. Free range or something.”

  I rolled my eyes. “God forbid the mushrooms haven’t been able to grow freely.” He was dumber than I originally thought.

  “There, I’m finished.” I threw down my pen and leaned back in my chair.

  “Mr Kelly will know this is all rubbish though when he asks you what you’ve learned, and you sing him the American National Anthem,” I said sarcastically, and when he broke into a laugh, I couldn’t help but smile with him.

  Shortly after, we left the Café at lunchtime and everyone met back at the Hotel for something to eat. The rest of the day was spent on a tour of the nearby attractions like the Louvre Pyramid, and the Louvre Museum which most of the students thought was boring, Mellissa included.

  Me though, I found it beyond fascinating. Especially when the tour guide of the museum told us about the 666 theory which was associated with Satan. Apparently, the Pyramid was built with exactly six hundred and sixty six panes of glass, but in the end, it was confirmed that there were exactly six hundred and eighty nine panes. The conspiracy didn’t end there though. It was suggested that the pyramid was dedicated to a power mentioned in the bible, that is the great beast of the apocalypse. Normally, even though it’s fun to hear, I would dismiss this as absolute rubbish. But since Caleb, I wasn’t so quick to snub it.

  The entire structure was based around the number six, and six was after all associated with the devil. Well I knew more than everyone on the tour. I knew that the devil was real.

  After dinner I was exhausted. My feet hurt, and I was tired. I arranged to meet Ressler at nine, at the front doors of the Hotel, and I had no idea how I was going to get myself out without Mellissa wondering what I was up to.

  The trip chaperones walked the halls of the Hotel every hour, so I would leave fifteen minutes before, to make sure I wouldn’t be caught, and make a quick exit from there. I couldn’t be bothered to change, so I freshened up instead, and brushed my hair through to revive it.

  “I’m going to
Skype Drake tonight,” Mellissa said, pulling her laptop from her suitcase and plonking it on the bed in front of her.

  “Drake knows how to Skype?” I asked with humour in my voice, and a smile on my face. For someone reason, I found that amusing and somewhat unbelievable that he would bother himself with something that seemed so ordinary compared to someone like him, who was so extraordinary.

  “Yes he knows how to Skype,” she said defensively. “And I’m going to show him exactly what he’s missing. I’ve brought my all in one lace and silk bodice.”

  “God that’s groce. What time are you planning this sex cam session so I can get the hell out of here?” Through my disgust, I was secretly thrilled she had given me the escape I was looking for.

  “We’ve agreed eight thirty.” That was perfect. Right on time.

  “I’ll just go and hang out in the lounge area. Watch some TV or something,” I lied. I had no idea where Drake lived, and I wondered where he would be Skyping her from. Would it be Caleb’s place? Would Caleb be there? The anticipation was too much and I knew I had to speak to him, like right now.

  “I’m just going to go call my dad,” I said, slipping into my flats.

  “Tell him I said Hi.”

  “Will do.” I slipped out of the room and downstairs to the lobby, phone card in hand. I did call my dad, I called him first and he assured me everything was fine at home and that Gracey sends her love.

  Then, as I dialled Caleb’s number, my palm was slicked with sweat as I held the receiver to my ear. It rang and rang until finally, the sound of Caleb’s voice broke through.

  “Hello?”

  “Caleb, hi. It’s me”

  “Pria?” He said it as a question.

  “I called your cell last night, but I kept getting your voicemail. Is everything okay?”

  His voice was like music to my ears. I’d missed him so much in just only two days.

  “Everything’s fine. The signals not great here. Sorry, I never realised you tried to call, and I never noticed a voicemail.” I bit my lip at the lies that flowed so freely from my mouth. Everything wasn’t fine. I was pretty sure someone had been watching me from my own room, and I never checked my voicemails since I bought the phone. I couldn’t understand why people insisted on leaving them when there was such a thing as a text message.