Shadow Heights

by E. N. Goeking

  I nodded. “What are we going to do?”

  “We, nothing. You are going to call the fire department in ten minutes and report the story I gave you. You promise me?”

  “Yes, I promise.” He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me. “I will see you soon.”

  “Okay.” I collapsed to the grass and stared back at our ancient mansion, all of my family’s past going up in smoke before my eyes. The flames were spreading and I could see the smoke pouring through the hole in the roof.

  I held my cell phone in my hands, trembling as I ran over the speech I was going to deliver. My eyes settled lower for a brief second and I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. There was movement in the smoke upstairs and I swear I saw a pair of hands beating on the glass. I quickly got up to my feet, staring upward until I saw a face appear at the window. It was my father, still alive, struggling for his life.

  He’s still alive? How can that be? Had it been an illusion all along?

  “Oh God!” I screamed as I shot to my feet.

  Without questioning, I fled up the stairs and charged into the house. I had to help them in what little way I could, even if it risked my life. I wouldn’t have them dying on my account. Had Jaden lied to me or was this part of Andrelius’ plan all along? I didn’t have long to think as I covered my face with my shirt, warding off any smoke that I could. The stairway was starting to flare up but there was a single passage for me to make it and I only had a minute to do so.

  I plowed through it, rolling on to the floor upstairs to shake off the flames ascending up my leg. I kicked in the door but I couldn’t see anything. There wasn’t even any fire in this room, let alone smoke. My eyes shifted to the bed and both of my parents were still lying there unconscious, neither of them showing any signs of life. What the hell?

  “Ha-ha, ha,” a voice cackled but the source was nowhere to be seen. I turned around to escape but the door slammed shut in my face. I reached for the handle and it was flaming hot. I screamed as my skin melted to the metal and pounded on the door, trying to kick it down but I wasn’t strong enough.

  Oh God. What have I done? Is my mind playing tricks on me? A large object fell above me and the support beams of the roof were falling in upon us. I could see the flames peeking through the bottom of the door, feeding its way for my oxygen to give it more life. I grabbed a lamp pole and threw it out the window to release some of the smoke because at this point, I could hardly breathe a single pant.

  I ran to my parents’ bodies and tried to shake them from their stupor. I prayed that they were still alive, some part of them was moving around in their comatose state. Another barrel of logs fell through the ceiling, and the strong end of one hit me on the leg, pinning me to the floor.

  Unable to squirm away, I fell into unconsciousness as the smoke overtook my lungs.

  Someone woke me later but I have no idea how long I had been out. I could barely open my eyes but I felt Jaden’s presence all around me. His tingling touch of jolts comforted me. How did he get inside and how did he know I was in here? He held me in his arms and whispered softly in my ear.

  “Mina, my love.” He stroked my hair. “Please hold on, don't leave me.” I started hearing other voices on the opposite side of my head. My body was passed from one set of arms to another, outside of a window. The sensation of Jaden’s energy left me and I reached out for him in the darkness. No, Jaden don’t go. I kept repeating these words in my head and I didn’t know if I was just thinking them or actually saying them.

  “Bring her down,” someone said. Was I dead? Was this the end?

  “Set her down. There’s another one up there,” a man said with a southern accent. What was happening? I could feel the refreshing air against my heat-tempered cheeks and a cool towel was being pressed against my skin. Someone was washing the soot off my face. I kept wanting them to get off me but soon I fell back to sleep, ignoring everything.

  A loud explosion woke me once again.

  “Holy shit!” a cop shouted. I could feel the heat pumping out of the house, like we were standing outside a nuclear plant.

  “Did he make it out of there?” another yelled. I sat up slowly and opened my eyes, wondering who they were speaking of. The roof was caving in on the house and flames could be seen in every corner. Everything I had acquired over the span of my life was now gone. My parents were gone and I would never see them again. I kept thanking Caylie for not being there that weekend; at least her life had been spared by my carelessness.

  “There he is.” I saw someone rise from the ground, brushing himself off like nothing happened. An orange glow radiated on the ends of his hair. He reached around, extinguishing it with his hands. Two of the firemen ran up to him, wanting to check him over for injuries.

  “Jesus Christ, are you all right?” the tallest one asked. Jaden ignored them and looked around at everyone for a sign of me. There were three fire trucks in the driveway, two ambulances, and a handful of squad cars. This was a major media event apparently. Once he saw me, he ran at lightning speed to my side. He pulled the mask off my face and I didn’t even know I had one on.

  “Get all this shit off of her!” he yelled. He took me in his arms and stroked my hair. My eyes wanted to stay closed but I tried to open them just to see his face.

  “Sir, we have to take her to the emergency room. She’s had a lot of smoke inhalation.” I felt someone else’s hands on me as they pulled me from his arms.

  “Will she be all right?” Jaden asked.

  “I can't say for sure, Mr. Laenzar. The only way to ensure that she is safe is to take her to the emergency room. So, if you would kindly step out of the way—we can do our jobs.”

  I felt my body being strapped down and it rose up. The gurney glided across the concrete and I could feel every bump that it rolled over. I could still hear Jaden's voice but it was becoming more distant as he spoke into my ear.

  “Why did you have to go back in there? What would I have done if something happened to you?” I could barely crack my eyes but I sensed his despair. “They are going to separate us, my love, but I will find you. I pray you do not forget me.”

  “Calm down. She should be fine. Don’t get yourself in any trouble,” a man said to him.

  “I’m sorry,” I said out loud and I kept repeating myself as our hands were pulled apart. On the ride to the hospital, my apology was like a song that gets stuck in your head that keeps playing over and over. Every memory from the last three months was playing over in my head and I was sorry for it all.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  I awoke to the vibrating hum of fluorescent lights gleaming down from above. At first I was still under the impression that I was dead even though I found myself in a hospital bed. The smell of fresh flowers wafted into my nose and then I heard a voice.

  “I think she’s awake,” an unknown female said and I slowly opened my eyes, adjusting them to the faux brightness of the room. At once, a group of people gathered at my side, surrounding my bed at every angle. I swallowed and my throat ached, my lungs were wheezing and crackling inside. I felt like hell, that I really had died but I knew I hadn’t.

  All I wanted to do was go back to sleep but I needed to face them. It hadn't been a dream like I hoped it would be, it had been far too real.

  My sister’s face was the first I recognized but she looked quite different. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was badly unkempt. She hardly even left the house without a coat of makeup on her skin. Behind her was my Uncle Tom and the tears began to form while for a moment, I thought it was my father. He looked about as bad as she did, like they had been crying for days and overwhelmed with worry. Afraid to shed any more tears, I turned my head to the other side and saw my former best friend, Greg. He was holding onto my hand and I smiled when I saw him.

  “How long have I been here?” I asked.

  “A couple days. We didn’t know if you were going to wake up,” he said.

  “Did it really happen?”
My sister started to cry and turned into my uncle’s awaiting arms. Greg nodded without support from the others. I sat up and looked around the room to see if anyone else was visiting but no one else was there.

  “Where’s Jaden? Is he okay?” I searched all of their faces but no one answered and none of them looked very pleased that I was asking for him.

  “Nobody wants him here,” my uncle said sternly. “We filed a restraining order with the police against him. He can’t come within 500 feet of our family.”

  “How could you do that? He had nothing to do with the fire.”

  “Mom and Dad are dead because of him,” Caylie yelled. I closed my eyes and pictured our mother lying in that bed. Her lifeless eyes staring into nothingness, the chilling abruptness of death. “It's just like you to be so selfish.”

  I suddenly felt sick. I moaned in disgust and tried to crawl out of bed. My uncle held me back. “I don’t think you should be getting out of bed sweetheart.”

  I sat back down. Greg handed me a waste basket, obviously sensing that I wasn’t feeling very well. I threw up whatever liquid diet they had been feeding me for the last few days while they all looked away.

  “The police are going to want to question you,” he said. I sighed heavily and turned my head away. What was I going to say? Any iota of truth would send me to the loony bin. There is no way they would believe my story. I would have to lie. I’ll just tell them what I agreed to say. I had to do it to save Jaden, to save myself.

  “They weren’t able to do an autopsy on your Mom or Dad. Their bodies were too badly burned and the cause of the fire is undetermined,” Greg said. “Although, they’re pretty sure it was electrical.” Why was he doing all the talking? I wonder if he's been here the whole time.

  I was slightly relieved but ever guilty because I knew my hand prints were all over this, whether they were discovered or not. It was of little comfort to me that I was safe from incarceration, that I wasn’t a suspect because the overbearing guilt was enough to expose me.

  My uncle leaned across the bed and spoke to me. “Now I know it’s going to take some time to adjust to all that's happened but I think it’s best if you come live with me back in Cherry Ridge. It’s the way your parents wanted it. I know you’re eighteen and you don’t need a legal guardian, but I think you should come live with us either way.” My sister nodded in agreement.

  After I looked into her innocent green eyes, I knew I couldn’t leave her to live with him alone. She needed me now more than ever. I guess I could leave this life and help out. What else did I have now? Nothing was keeping me here except for Jaden and they were seeing to it that we never saw each other again.

  How would I break this news to Jaden after everything that’s happened, all that we’ve been through together? I felt selfish even thinking these thoughts. Both of my parents were without life and I was never going to speak to them again. I had no place in wishing other things. I was lucky to still be alive.

  “Will there be a funeral?” My sister hugged me and we wept together on the bed.

  “We were waiting for you to get better,” my uncle spoke. “We’ll have a memorial in Cherry Ridge sometime this week if you girls feel up to it.” My head began to throb as a headache formed. I squeezed my temples. “Your grandparents are setting it all up.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  “Well, you should rest. You need as much sleep as you can get,” he said, leaning over to hug me. I couldn't tell if they were angry with me or blamed me or if it was just my paranoia. I just wanted to go back to sleep. I didn’t want to live in this reality either. It was too real.

  The police came for my statement the very next day and I told them what I witnessed. I told them how I went out and when I returned, the house was up in flames. I called the authorities and that was it. I should’ve won an award for my performance but I hated myself for even doing it.

  I fell in and out of sleep throughout the next few days and Greg never left my side. I felt bad that he was missing school but he didn’t seem to care. Every time my eyes were open, he would be there in the chair next to my bed and I was glad to have someone there. Nobody from Shadow Heights came to visit me but I understood; although, I would like to have seen at least one of them. Even a quick appearance by Ryan would have sufficed.

  I left the hospital on a Tuesday morning, exactly five days after the incident. The day was hazy and gray; a few raindrops were starting to fall and I could feel dread in my heart like cancer. This was my final day in Shadow Heights and my love was nowhere to be seen. They wheeled me out to the parking lot and the nurse stayed with me at the curb while we waited for my uncle's car to circle around to the front. There was no one else to greet me that morning. I was not to see Jaden again, everyone had changed my fate but I felt a slight touch of his eyes from far away and while I searched the area, I could never find him. Inside, though, I didn’t need eyes to see him. I knew he was there.

  After leaving the hospital, we drove through town on the main highway, the only way in and out of Shadow Heights. I sat in the backseat alone, lying with my back to the door and my eyes looking out. I gazed up and down the streets, seeing everything one last time. I would miss this place. It had grown to be my home in the short time I lived there.

  When we moved there in July, I thought I was starting a new life but really, I was ending one. I felt like I had lost my identity and now I had to start all over. Everything I cherished in life was taken from me and I was now more alone than ever before. But I guess that’s what acting selfishly will get you. Too bad I didn’t know this was only the beginning of our story.

  “We usually don’t get newcomers here,” I remember Jaden saying on that first day we met. At the time, I had no idea what he meant but I did now and it was a lesson that would continue to haunt me for the rest of my days.

  I stared out the back window, watching Shadow Heights shrink in size the farther we got away and the inevitable distance that was being placed on my heart. I could feel its dark energy clinging to my bones, begging me to stay, but while we drifted miles further, I felt its claws finally detach from my heart but still leaving the sting of its venom in my veins—forever scarring me with its memory. I wanted to hide my memories of this place, tuck them away in the deep clutches of my mind, and imagine that it was all a dream. My whole life was a dream but hey, aren’t we all just living inside a dream waiting to wake up?

  ###

  Thank you for taking the time to read my novel. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer?

  Thank you so much! Much love.

  E.N. Goeking

  About the Author:

  E.N. Goeking has been a writer all of her life, always focusing on the darker angle of a story and managing to find the light within it. She is busy writing the remaining novels of this trilogy and writes poetry or paints when the mood strikes. She is currently working on her doctorate in Metaphysics with a focus on spiritual counseling. She is an avid tarot reader, dream interpreter, Reiki practitioner, and lover of music. She lives in the rural Midwest with her cat Mina.

  Side note: This story is loosely based upon my own life, you can decide which parts are real and which are pure imagination. It has been a long journey since I first ventured into the world of Shadow Heights and I was forever transformed by the experience it brought to me. The universe is alive all around us; you just have to start seeing it for what it truly is and know that every thought we put out there helps to create our reality, good or bad. May you find inspiration and comfort somewhere within this story, and perhaps you might begin to bring a little magic into your life. You are the painter of your own life; why not create some pretty colors?

  Thank you for reading.

  Book II of the Dark Side Trilogy Coming Soon:

  Beneath the Veil

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to the music of Silverstein, Avenged Sevenfold, and AFI for keeping my mind
stimulated throughout every line I scribbled.

  Thanks to my parents for giving me the tools I needed to survive and to my sisters who always urged me to go farther with myself.

  A big thanks to Fiona Jayde for taking my vision and creating a fabulous cover that truly brings my characters to life.

  And finally…thank you to old friends who inspired the characters of this twisted story of my past and to Ken, a dear friend who reached out to me from beyond the grave, giving me the proof I needed that death is not the end and that fear is the only thing blocking our way. I will always love you and I will forever be grateful for the tsunami of change you ushered into my life.