Luminosity (Escaping Demons Saga Book 1)

by Stacy McWilliams

  “Please come back into the house?” he begged quietly.

  I looked longingly at the path, but he gently tugged on my wrist and that magnetic pull that happened when he touched me coursed through my body again, weakening my resolve. I stopped resisting and followed him back to the house, wondering the whole time what on earth was going on. That was the last time I saw him all weekend and, from the glimpses I caught of him, he looked frustrated, confused and angry. Was he angry at me? How could he be, he hadn’t known me for more than five minutes? Why did I keep thinking about him anyway? Had he put some sort of voodoo mind control over me, where I couldn’t get him out of my head and couldn’t escape him even in my bloody dreams.

  The weekend passed in a blur and, before I knew it, it was the night before my first day at my new school. No-one had spoken to me since the party on Friday night, with the exception of Nathan on the Saturday morning, and this didn’t look like it was going to change any time soon. The arrangements for me to get to school the next day had been made and written out for me on a note in my bedroom, tapped to the wardrobe door. I was to walk to school with Nathan and Jenny, and would find out my timetable for my classes when I got there. My old school records had been transferred to the school on Friday, which was strange since I had only found out I was being moved on Thursday. I found the fact that none of this was said to me very strange, but by now I was getting used to strange. Sometimes when they looked at me, it was almost as though they were hungry and almost devouring me with their eyes. On the occasions this happened, I would become so uncomfortable that I would leave the room, lying in my room for hours on end, listening to music constantly.

  During my first few days with this family I was more alone than ever before, no-one had spoken to me or even looked at me since the party the previous Friday night and it bothered me that I didn’t seem to be able to fit in here with this family, even though I wanted to. I ate mostly in my room, but my new ‘family’ didn’t seem to mind me hiding out. The door wasn’t locked or anything and no-one asked where I was or even came to check on me.

  It was six am on Monday morning and I was up for school. I stood in the shower and mused about the weekend. It hurt me that I couldn’t fit in. My eyes started tearing up and I finally allowed myself to cry. Two minutes Jas, that’s all you get. I told myself quite sternly as I stood in the warm water, tears streaming down my face. I gave myself a mental shake and my eyes darted around the room. There was the toilet, sink, a cupboard beside the shower cubicle and the square, glass shower. Above the sink was a mirror and the bathroom was coloured a pale grey but with no homey features. I had already decided that I was going to buy some decorative fish and place them in here because it felt cold and aloof to me without personal touches.

  After a glancing around I began thinking again about Nathan. He had been away or out all weekend and I hadn’t seen him once since Saturday morning. I hadn’t ventured out again although I was desperate to explore the woods. I didn’t want to upset him and since I couldn’t get the feeling of Nathan’s hand on my cheek to leave me I knew I was doomed. Every time I thought about it and his hand raised with uncertainty, butterflies filled my stomach. His touch was so soft, but the fire that burned behind his eyes intrigued me and I was desperate to know more about him.

  While I stood there, there was a bang and I jumped and glanced around quickly but I couldn’t see anything through the foggy shower glass. I raised my hand and swiped at it as the light flickered, went out for a second then came back on. As I looked out of the shower I couldn’t see anything and I began to relax again, trying desperately not to think about being the new girl at school again. I hated this part. Starting a new school sucked but something was telling me that this was going be worse than any other time I had started school before. I was going be judged and looked at. Melting into the background wouldn’t be an option when the family I was staying with were obviously extremely popular.

  I needed to get dressed, but the hot water felt so good on my skin as it soothed my nerves and helped me relax. I was tense since today was going to be my first day at my new school and it was always a worry that I wouldn’t fit in. I had a really bad feeling about today but I focused on getting myself washed and didn’t dwell on the bad feeling. Stepping out of the shower, I wiped off the mirror and looked hard at myself in the reflection.

  Jas, you gotta act like a regular human being today and not like the complete idiot you can be. We have to fit in here so let’s make a good impression.

  I ran into my room after my shower, sure that I had heard my room door close, but my room was empty. I shrugged and picked up my clothes to put them on, but as I picked them up it looked like it had been splattered with something that looked like blood. My stomach churned as I looked around my room. Why would someone do that? Who did that?

  It was disgusting and sticky and was all over my hands. I ran to the bathroom to wash my hands and my face since I could feel tears building behind my eyes. I didn’t want to cry again because my face would be a mess for my first day at school and I wouldn’t give anyone the satisfaction.

  After spending a few minutes composing myself, I walked out of the bathroom and over to the wardrobe. I stood there composing myself because it looked like the floor was covered in this red sticky goo. I opened the wardrobe and was hit in the face and hair with more red, sticky stuff. I noticed through burning eyes that all my clothes and shoes were covered in the horrible bloodlike substance.

  My body instinctively turned and I ran into the bathroom with tears streaming down my face and turned the shower back on. The instant that I stepped in the water went from warm to freezing cold and a yelp escaped me.

  Shivering from the freezing water I stayed in the shower just long enough to rewash. After the shower I darted back into my room, shivering the whole time and noticed that everything appeared to be clean. I moved slowly towards the bed when something hard hit me hard on the side of the head. I started to fall sideways and I pictured Nathan’s face shimmering before I blacked out completely.

  My pounding head woke me and as I became conscious my body shivered because I was still lying on the floor in my towel. I glanced around the room with fuzzy vision as I tried to figure out what had hit me. I pushed up onto my knees and noticed my room door was open. As I moved towards it I saw Nathan standing there, green eyes glaring defiantly at me.

  I stared at him, drinking in the fact that even though he was glaring at me he still appealed to me. He had a black eye from Saturday night and a cut above his lip, but he looked rough and the look suited him with his wavy hair, mussed up and his green eyes sparkling.

  Our eyes devoured each other with a fire that scared me while we both stood stock still, not moving or breathing. As I started to feel dizzy from my lack of breathing he turned and stormed back into his room. He slammed the door and I wondered as I closed my own door why my head was now pounding worse than ever.

  I examined my clothes more closely; they looked as clean as ever. I went to my wardrobe and looked in and all these clothes looked spotless. How on earth did they get so clean? Was I going mad?

  Of course I was. How could there possibly be any other explanation? But what had hit me? This thought swam round my head as I got dressed and sat down on my bed. I was so confused, but I heard Mrs Stevenson yell and hurried to get myself downstairs to go to school.

  On the walk to school nothing eventful happened. The Stevenson’s left me alone again and walked as fast as they could, leaving me trailing behind them. I tried to ask them about school, but they both ignored me completely.

  After twenty minutes I arrived at the school on my own having followed them from a distance. Stopping at the gates, I steeled myself to go in. I was going to be the new girl again. Panic struck me as I looked around and I gasped, but I managed to push it down and put one foot in front of the other until I was sure I wouldn’t run. My fight or flight instinct had kicked in big time and flight was winning, although I refused to give
in. I stopped again and looked around me, taking in my surroundings. The school was a big, imposing building with a fence all the way around the yard and a gated car park for the teachers. I stopped at the entrance to the school, my instinct screamed at me to turn and run, but I forced myself to take a step forward. I half turned but took another step towards the interior of the school, even though it felt like something was pulling me backwards. All the time I was walking I was looking around for Nathan or his sister, but I couldn’t see them anywhere. I wondered where they had gone. Brilliant, first day at a new school and they have gone and fucking abandoned me. How they expected me to find my way around was beyond me, but when the bell rang I started to follow the crowd, when a tall, powerful boy walked right into me. His push was so strong it knocked me sideways into a group of prissy looking girls who pushed me away from them as they growled something at me. I could sense already this was going wrong.

  One of the girls shouted something at me, but in the noise of the entrance way I didn’t hear her. I walked forwards and looked down, my breath catching in my throat as I noticed that my clothes were covered in blood again. I seemed to be dripping it all over the floor in the entranceway of the school. I stumbled forwards and looked around desperately trying to locate a bathroom, when hands pushed me forwards up a flight of stairs. I could feel the blood dripping off of my clothes and my feet slipped on the tiled floor a little because of the blood, but no-one looked at me or asked if I needed any help.

  The crowd around me finally reached the top of the stairs and when I looked down again the blood had vanished. I stopped suddenly and students pushed past me as I glanced around a few steps from the stop. Shaking my head I continued to climb, but when I reached the top a girl turned and gave me such an evil smile that I froze one step from the top.

  She reached back towards me and I stared at her evenly, refusing to show fear. She smiled wider and started to turn away but spun around at the last minute and hit me with such force that I went flying down the stairs. I didn’t fall very far. A boy I had seen at the party grabbed my arm with such force it hurt and I slammed into a stair about four down from the top. I landed on my knees, banging my ankle on the way down. He wasn’t even looking at me, just glaring at the girl who pushed me and I looked up in time to see her shrug and walk away.

  I looked up at this random boy again as I landed. He didn’t say a word, but as he let me go and started walking up the stairs again, I saw him glance back and smile at me. It was an evil kind of smile and I shivered in response. I moved up the stairs hindered by the sharp, throbbing pain in my knees and my right ankle. As I reached the top of the stairs, I realised I was completely lost, so I turned and walked down one corridor. I kept my eyes out for Nathan or Jenny, but I didn’t see anyone I recognised.

  The school smelled like a swimming pool, the smell of bleach and disinfectant, and I was looking around trying to figure out which way to go, when I noticed a sign ahead.

  Breathing a sigh of relief I moved towards it, but the closer I got to the sign the more my feet turned to lead. I stared at the sign, but for some reason couldn’t make out the writing on it. I began to hear a ringing noise in my ears and my head started swimming and pounding from the lump from earlier. I slumped to floor, not blacking out yet, when I saw a pair of trainers in front of me. I moved my eyes up the legs and up towards the face of the person who owned the shoes. The movement made me see stars and my vision was going black around the edges. By the time I reached their chest, I was fighting passing out. This was not how I planned my first day to go, but it was inevitable, and I passed out again, slumping forwards, but not before a low groan reached my ears.

  As I regained consciousness I noticed that I was in an office. There was a sink, a desk with two chairs and a filling cabinet. I noticed patterns on the ceiling tiles, but upon hearing someone speaking on the phone I realised I was lying on a high bed which was really hard and unyielding. My knee and ankle were throbbing like crazy and the bang on my head was a dull ache. I felt confused as I remembered the groan and my head swam again. I tried to sit up when a stern witch like woman stood over me, glaring down at me. Her voice was like razor blades when she spoke.

  “What happened to you?”

  I stared at her taking in her jet black hair pulled back in a bun, black suit with green belt, green eyes and large nose. As I tried to formulate an answer to give her, she slapped me hard across the face, and I jumped as the sound reverberated in my head and my face began to burn. What the actual fuck had just happened? I couldn’t believe it, I felt numb. A teacher just hit me. This thought went through my head over and over as she leaned over me and shouted in my face, spit flying everywhere in her anger, “Well?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered in a shaky voice, “I was looking at the sign and I just blacked out.”

  “Well, I expect you can go back to class, and next time I ask you a question, answer straight away, understood?”

  “Yes miss.” I muttered, stunned at the vehemence of her attack and the anger on her face.

  “Well, on you go then,” she said finally, ushering me out the door and closing it with a bang that made me jump.

  I still had no idea where to go or where I was for that matter, but I began walking, trying to assimilate everything that had happened. I felt my eyes prickling and the different aches in my head, my face and my knees didn’t help.

  I kept walking through the maze of corridors, trying to find an office when I stumbled upon a girl’s bathroom. I went in there to wash my face and tidy myself up. I reached the inside of the door and realised I was shaking so hard my teeth were chattering.

  I stepped into one of the stalls and closed the door as the bell rang, signalling the change of period for pupils. I stood leaning against the door when I heard footsteps into the bathroom. I peered through the door just in time to see a group of girls stroll in. They stood around the sinks and lit up cigarettes. One girl flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and I realised it was her, the girl who pushed me down the stairs. I stood there in silence staring at this girl and realised that her face seemed familiar to me. After a few more minutes I realised where I had saw her before, the party the previous Friday. She was there and was all over Nathan like a rash.

  I listened to them chattering away, but what they were saying made no sense to me at all.

  “Did you see it has arrived?” said one girl as she passed the cigarette onto to another girl who was leaning over the sink.

  “Yes, but it’s nothing special. I mean it’s pathetic and insignificant,” said a pretty girl with brown wavy hair.

  “Well, I bet they’ll have no trouble with it. It didn’t look like it had much spirit now did it?” said the girl from the party.

  The last girl just nodded in agreement and they all left, leaving the stench of cigarette smoke behind them. I hurried to leave because I definitely didn’t want to be caught in a room stinking of smoke when I hadn’t even been to class yet. Just as I reached the door, it flew open and a formidable looking woman stood there, a long dark braid down her back swinging as she moved into the bathroom. I backed up because she was glaring right at me. Her dark eyes narrowed as she took me in but I stood straight and tall, unable to show weakness to anyone.

  “Have you been smoking in here Jasmine?” she almost screamed at me, showering me with foul smelling saliva.

  “N-no I haven’t,” I answered startled that she knew my name.

  “Come with me right now!” she demanded. She grabbed my arm and pulled me along with her.

  She had me in such a tight grip my arm started to go numb and I wriggled a little, but she tightened her hold and continued pulling me through a number of corridors. We finally reached our destination and she flung me onto a seat so hard that I battered my head of off the wall. She stormed away into an office leaving me outside thinking that the day could not get any worse. I massaged my head and my arm.

  I stared dejectedly at the floor watching the little l
ight spots dancing across it when the door opened across from me. I automatically glanced up and there was the battleaxe from the bathroom, with another female teacher and Mr Stevenson, who of all three present frightened me most of all.

  “Come in please Jasmine,” said the less formidable looking teacher, and as I stood and walked towards them I decided that I would not cry. I would be strong and explain what had happened without breaking down.

  The door banged shut roughly behind me and my eyes darted around the room, trying to find an escape.

  “Well sit down,” came a voice from behind me as I made my way slowly into the room.

  I noticed three chairs facing the teacher’s desk and one behind it. As I walked towards one of the seats, Mr Stevenson took the seat opposite me and the battleaxe sat beside me.

  “Well Jasmine, would you like to tell us why you haven’t been in class all morning and why you were smoking in the girl’s bathroom? You are aware that you are underage and have just started this school?”

  I wanted to keep my gaze fixed on the floor at my shoes, but as I looked up into the face of the teacher opposite me I knew I had to answer. “I . . . I . . . um I was lost. I tried asking people where to go but no-one would tell me. I tried to read the signs and that was when I blacked out. When I woke up I was in an office at the other side of the school. The woman there kicked me out before I got the chance to ask her where I was.” My voice rose as hysteria threatened to bubble up. I paused, taking a deep breath before continuing and played with the sleeve of my cardigan. It was the only sign I gave off that I was nervous. “I went into the girl’s bathroom because I was lost and was upset and confused, but when I was in the stall four girls came in. They stood talking and smoking but I didn’t know them obviously and I went to leave a few seconds after them when . . .” I paused again and looked at the teacher beside me, who was growling at me.