Luminosity (Escaping Demons Saga Book 1)

by Stacy McWilliams

  I stood up, stumbled as I felt an odd pulling sensation inside my head. My body fell into the stall and I leaned there wondering when the bandage had been put onto my hand. Deciding it must have happened while I was unconscious I took a sip out of the water bottle. I didn’t take the painkillers yet, although I knew I soon would need them. I picked up a broom, using my right hand and the wrist of my left hand and began sweeping the floor. It took ages. Hours and hours passed before I finally finished. I probably had to bag up the leaves but I couldn’t find any black bags so I decided to just leave them because I had started feeling dizzy.

  My head was spinning like a spinning top, my hand throbbing and burning incessantly and my whole body was aching because of all the traumas it experienced today. I moved in exaggerated slowness towards the house because my head was making walking a challenge. As I got closer to the door I spotted Nick coming in. He noticed me at the same time and made a beeline for me. He shoved me to the gravel and yanked my hair up and dragged my face along the gravel causing me to yell in pain.

  “Shut it,” he whispered softly in my ear, “I want a word about my brother. Stay away from him, I’m warning you.”

  He then let me go and sauntered towards the house. I got up and burst into tears. I ran towards the house, trying the kitchen door. The door was locked and I shook the handle. It didn’t turn and I leaned my head on it, sobbing in pain and frustration. I wasn’t a victim. How could I let this family make me a victim again? I thought I had shed the victim persona years ago. Suddenly the door opened and I stumbled forward blindly into Nathan’s arms as he opened the door. My tears stung the graze on my face, there was blood dripping down my collar and I shook with the agony in my hand. He gently touched my cheek, but before I could raise my eyes to his he pushed me away from him into a small dark room as footsteps sounded in the hall.

  I stayed there in the dark and listened intently to the conversation right outside the door. Nathan and his brother were out there,

  Nicholas

  “What the hell happened, why were you holding its hand?”

  The other, I was sure was Nathan said,

  “Nick, I wasn’t holding her hand. I pulled her up of the floor after she fell avoiding the beam falling.”

  This caused me to wonder why he hadn’t told his family he saved me and almost made me miss the next part of the conversation.

  “I want food, what does mum have in the pantry?” Came Nick’s voice.

  “Loads,” Nathan answered, “I was just about to make myself some cheese on toast if you want some too.”

  “Ok, thanks bro, and I mean it. Stay away from her. She’s already causing you trouble and she has only been here a couple of days.”

  The next moment the footsteps retreated and the door opened. Nathan walked in, and walked straight past me, muttering,

  “You should get to bed, its half past midnight.”

  He located what he was looking for and turned and walked back out, leaving me in there all alone, wondering what the hell was happening to me and if I’d survive another day.

  I shuffled upstairs and went to look at myself in the bathroom mirror. I was a mess, I had umpteen bruises on my face from today and a graze, my eyes were puffy from crying and my hand was still killing me. I filled a glass with water and drank deeply. A moment later I turned to the toilet and throw up into it.

  I stepped towards the shower hoping that the steam would help me forget about the recent events but when I turned it on the water was icy cold. I left it for a moment, took the two pain killers from my pocket along with another sip of water. I noticed a rubber glove on the shelf on the mirror. I pulled it on awkwardly and noticed the bathroom had steamed up a little. As I stepped into the shower I noticed some writing on the mirror, ‘ha-ha bitch.’

  I ignored it and bit my lip, the water hit the graze on my face hurt like hell, but after a few minutes my face felt better though washing my hair one handed caused it to sting. After a few minutes I got out of the shower and looked at the mirror but the words had disappeared. I wiped the mirror off and stared at this girl I no longer recognised. Today had stolen something from me and even Nathan’s moments of tenderness couldn’t make me feel better. The thought of him caused my heart to race, but his family were evil and he obviously had that in him too.

  I steeled my resolve as I told myself I would not acknowledge Nathan at all the next day. He was to be nothing to me and from now on I had to make him unimportant, even though he was the only boy I had ever had a crush on.

  I climbed into bed and was asleep within a few minutes, even though I was in pain. I didn’t have time to cry or think through all that had happened today, the fact I was famished or the pain in my hand, knees and ankle. Exhaustion carried me away and the last thought I remembered was that the next day would be better.

  The throbbing in my hand woke me up early the next morning and I groaned as hunger pangs rolled over me. I was feeling nervous and apprehensive about what I would face at school since the day before was awful and if possible I didn’t want a repeat. I lay in the dark, hearing the wind howl outside, with my eyes closed, hoping for a better day and trying to figure out Nathan. He went from being the so tender to unkind in barely the blink of an eye.

  I lay there for an inordinate amount of time staring at the darkened ceiling wishing the pains and hunger would go away. I began nodding back off until I heard a faint rustle beside me in the bed on both sides. I opened my eyes to the still darkened room, and saw eyeless, faces staring back at me. I closed my eyes and reopened them. My eyes darted around the room taking in faces of people of all ages as they all staring at me. Their faces were deathly pale with no eyes and on each face there was a similar look of sorrow and pain. I whimpered and jumped out of bed to turn on the light, feeling a cold deep in my bones as I moved through these things.

  I hoped by turning on the light they would vanish, but they lingered paler and more transparent than before. I knew they were real, because I had been seeing them in one way or another since I was five and since the accident that claimed the life of my parents. I ran into the bathroom, closed the door and counted to five; this had worked in the past and seemed to work now. I jumped into the shower to begin getting ready for school watching my hand as I did so.

  I stood under the shower feeling the marks of yesterday on my skin and wondered how I would cope with more bruises and bumps. I didn’t think I would be able to cope with more plus all the mean, horrible people from yesterday so I decided that I would try to become invisible to reduce the obvious target on my back.

  Wiping of the mirror with my towel I looked into the mirror and they were there them again. The ability to see them more clearly caused goosebumps to rise on my arms as their eyeless black holes watched me. They had no visible mouths and their skin was cracked and red looking. Shaking in terror the light in the bathroom started flickering and I made a run for it back into my bedroom.

  Everything seemed normal and my heart rate started to decelerate. I dived over and put the lamp on, but I could still seem to see them watching me faintly. I ignored them completely as I struggled with my sore hand. I headed back into the bathroom and noticed a little bottle on the countertop but before I examined it I rolled my long brown hair up in a bun, but my hand was still throbbing and blood was seeping through the bandage. I examined myself in the mirror and looked as creepy as those figures. Suddenly my face changed and I was one of those creatures. Pain. Pain everywhere. It gnawed at me until I cried out and it released me.

  My room door opened and Nick came into my room. He yanked my hair at the bun and whispered in my ear,

  “If you yell like that again, I’m gonna beat the shit out of you, do you understand me?”

  I couldn’t say anything to him because he punched me in the mouth, and with my hair in his hand as he twisted the bun up hairs pulled away from my scalp. He threw me by the hair onto the floor and my lip dripped blood onto my shirt.

  “And change your s
hirt, you little freak.”

  He walked out closing the door and I just sat there trying to assimilate everything. I put my hand up to my lip and went to take care of it before going downstairs.

  I stood up trying to force a calm I didn’t really feel but my shaking gave it away. I went out to my wardrobe and snatched another shirt with my right hand as I hurried to get changed. Bile rose up my throat and I rushed to the bathroom. I stood retching with bile burning my lip as I spat it out.

  My breath was coming in gasps which hurt my lip and when I took my shirt off I noticed some of hairs falling out of my bun. My fingers shook badly as I took the bun out to redo it and hairs came away in my hands.

  My hands were shaking like leaves, but I managed to clean up my lip. I put my hair into a messier bun and focused on the little bottle as my legs began shaking. The pain was overbearing and my mind was all over the place but I forced myself to focus and pulled at the note under the bottle.

  I opened it, debating pouring it down the sink but my hand throbbed in agony. I decided to give it a go. What did I have to lose? Seconds after drinking it I began to feel fuzzy and dropped like a stone to the floor. The last thought I had as this potion flickered through me was at least I was warm and then the next thing I knew I woke up on the floor of the bathroom, only able to recall snippets of the previous day. I didn’t really remember any of my interactions with . . . with erm . . . oh yeah with Nathan. I sat up and looked in the mirror and I looked better. My eyes were bright and upon checking myself over I found that I was in perfect working order. I smiled at myself in the mirror.

  All of a sudden my room door flew open and Nathan rushed towards me grabbing my arm, “hurry up. We have to leave in five minutes and if you’re not ready to go we’re leaving without you.”

  I just smiled at him and he pushed me away from him. He looked at me completely stunned as I stood drinking him in.

  “What are you staring at?” he asked through his teeth. His eyes like sheets of ice and his face appraising me coldly as I stood there grinning like a maniac.

  “You. Do you know you’re sort of beautiful?”

  His mouth popped open as I spoke and then he shook his head. Suddenly he scowled and ran into the bathroom. He stormed out after a few seconds and came over to me, touching my palm with his fingertips. My body heated in response to his touch and he closed his eyes in concentration. I reached my hand up and stroked his face, smiling as he leaned into my fingers.

  Finally I broke through the fog and he pulled away from me, panting. He turned and walked towards the door, gazing back at me with a longing that was evident on his face.

  “Two minutes Jasmine.” His voice sounded hoarse as he stormed out slamming the door behind him. I groaned at the electricity racing through me and the fact that I told him he was beautiful. Great, now he was going to think I was infatuated with him. I dashed over to my school bag and too running down the stairs. Oh no. I hadn’t managed any homework. Today was gonna suck.

  I reached the bottom of the stairs and he pulled me back, shoving something into my hand as I made my way to the door. Glancing down at my hands revealed Poptarts and he moved towards the door, “Come on Jasmine. We’re gonna be late.” I hurried out the door, shoving them into my bag. Half way to school, I began stumbling, ‘eat the Poptarts,” came a voice in my head.

  While in class I was trying to pay attention to the teacher, but all I could see in front of me was the chalky outline of faces I had been seeing since I woke up. Only their outlines were visible in the brightly lit classroom, but they were all around me and the hairs on my arms were rising.

  I was so busy thinking about them that when the teacher asked me a question, I had no idea at all what she was talking about and this resulted in me being excluded from the class by the battleaxe herself. She told me to stand outside the door and think about the reasons I had for not paying attention.

  On my way to the door some of the class were snickering, but I wasn’t paying much attention to them until one of the girls in the front row stuck her leg out in front of me. I tripped right over her leg and smashed headfirst into the wall. My vision blurred and my head hurt like hell, but the teacher didn’t say anything other than,

  “Jasmine, try and be more careful.”

  I left the room, closing the door behind me in embarrassment and my face burned.

  I fidgeted in the corridor and a body slammed into me from the side banging me into the wall. It was Nathan. He was staring at me like I was a ghost. He didn’t say a word, but grabbed my hand, tugging me with him. My face burned as heat raced through me. I remembered touching his face that morning and the zapping increased. Could he feel it? I pondered as he pulled me across the corridor into a little supply cupboard. As soon as we were inside he dragged the door closed and yanked me into his arms. I opened my mouth to speak and he placed his finger on my lips. “Ssshh. Please, I just need to hold you for a moment.”

  My body hummed being this close to Nathan, and as he kissed my head, my heart caught fire. “Nathan, what . . .”

  He broke me off with a kiss and everything melted away. Who I was, what I wanted and where I wanted to go. As soon as his lips touched mines, he owned me, body and soul. I gasped and his tongue slipped into my mouth. His body was shaking and after a second of caressing my tongue he pushed me away.

  “LEAVE.” He shouted at me, pushing me again.

  “Nathan, what the hell . . .”

  “LEAVE ME ALONE.” He bellowed into my face and I backed out of the door and stood back outside the classroom. I watched him in the cupboard scrubbing at his face again and I didn’t know what to do. Confusion ran riot and I went to step back towards him when he shook his head venomously.

  “Jasmine, leave me . . . leave me the fuck alone.” His voice shook and I struggled with myself as I walked back towards him. He spun to face me and his eyes glowed with a fire I had never seen. Shoving me away, I stumbled backwards and left him alone.

  I turned away from him and stared dejectedly at the wall with tears filling my eyes. Something tugged inside my head and suddenly there was a sharp pain in my head. My eyes blurred and I collapsed against the wall.

  A second later a door closed behind me and there was a sound of footsteps retreating down the hallway, but I couldn’t look because my brain was buzzing. After a few minutes I stood straight wondering what had happened after I left the classroom but I couldn’t remember. I was shoved from behind and fell onto the wall, banging my head again. I reached up and there was a sticky wetness leaking down my head.

  More footsteps sounded and I looked around in alarm over to see Nathan. My eyes caught his and something changed in the depths of his eyes as he and his friends smirked as they passed me. My eyes blurred again and I fought back tears as my head stung.

  I swallowed the tears, refusing to cry in school and looked around the corridor. The corridor was deserted, and as soon as I realised that the hairs on my arms and neck started to rise. The lights in the corridor flickered and a cold wind was blowing against my face. My eyes swept around and suddenly the corridor was plunged into darkness. I saw them again more clearly, and one of them was trying to say something to me. It said something about me being in danger but the voice, was unlike any I had ever heard; low, raspy and made my skin crawl.

  Suddenly the classroom door to my right opened and I swivelled round to face it. The battleaxe herself glared at me and asked me why I hadn’t been paying attention but I didn’t answer quickly enough. She grabbed my shoulders, shoving me against the wall harder than anyone else and as she let go she whispered in a horribly, gurgly voice,

  “In my classroom you better pay attention and if you don’t you’ll get a lot more than lines.”

  With that she let me go, and just as my body began to relax in relief she spun back towards me. Her gaze was vicious as she slapped me full force across the face. The hit was so hard it caused me to fly to the floor where she kicked me in the stomach before walking calml
y back into class.

  Gasping for breath I lay there reeling. How could she do that, she was a teacher for goodness sake. Suddenly the bell went signalling morning break and I had to scramble up even though I felt sick, dizzy and sore.

  Danni and Katie walked by me without looking at me which made me feel worried that they wouldn’t want to be friends anymore, but I couldn’t even think about that when I had to face the battleaxe again.

  Other students walked by studiously ignoring me while I leaned on the wall shaking and trying to gather enough courage to walk into the classroom. I was taking deep breaths trying to calm my breathing down, but I was failing miserably. My spine started to tingle as a chill spread from there up towards my neck.

  My eyes roamed the corridor and I caught sight of Nathan walking towards me. He was glaring at me. When he walked by me I felt even more lightheaded and my lips burned. Why were my lips burning? What was wrong with everyone in this school? Everyone had shockingly bad attitudes especially towards me.

  His voice drifted back over the clamour of the corridor, and I shivered as he said, ‘She’s just a nuisance, I’m sick of it already.’ His words were like a knife digging into my heart. The pain in my heart gave me the courage I was lacking and I stormed back into the classroom. I went over and grabbed my stuff, throwing it forcibly into my bag without really paying much attention. I noticed, as I stuffed my jotter into my bag, something written on it. ‘Scum!’ I stuffed it roughly into my bag, shaking in fury as I left the room.

  Running along the brightly lit corridors helped release some of the pent up rage and frustration I was feeling, but I could still sense the haunting figures hovering just outside of my peripheral vision. I ran trying to figure out why everyone hated me, what I could possibly have done to these people I had only known for a few days?

  Without paying attention as I ran, I froze and realised I was lost. I began down one corridor, but stopped as a few students eyeballed me from half way down. They gave off an aura of menace and I began to edge slowly away from them. Their faces shifted and they looked horrific, with bark like faces, black eyes and clawed hands. I stopped dead and they started moving towards me. I froze completely until a voice in my head shouted, “RUN! RUN NOW!” but my feet wouldn’t move.