Luminosity (Escaping Demons Saga Book 1)

by Stacy McWilliams

  I looked at him, repulsed and went to throw it away when I noticed that he had done the same for himself. He ate the flower and looked better. His arm still looked sore by the way he was cradling it but he had more colour in his cheeks and was standing better.

  “Go on. Eat it!”

  As I brought it up to my mouth, he placed his hand on mine and said,

  “I fell over and you went to a friends. Ok?”

  I nodded in agreement and he squeezed my hand before he turned towards his home and walked away. As he did this he left me stunned and questioning why he didn’t want to tell his parents, but the more I thought about it the more I realised that we would sound insane if we told them.

  “Hurry up,” came Nathan’s voice from just ahead and I swallowed the flower feeling warmth flow all the way from the top of my head to bottom of my toes. I walked towards him, but couldn’t shift the sense that everything was about to change beyond all recognition.

  Getting by his family when we got home was more of a challenge than either of us anticipated and after answering many questions about our whereabouts, we were finally free to go to our rooms though not before I was told I was grounded because I hadn’t asked to go to my friend Danielle’s house.

  I got into my room and walked into the bathroom, stumbling on the way in and knocked into my bed but I made it. I washed my face and tried to stop the sudden upsurge in memories that I couldn’t explain and had to sit for a few minutes on the floor with my head between my knees because my vision kept blurring and tears flowed down my face. What was happening to me? I wondered what all these things were that kept attaching me and how it was even possible.

  The questions made my head spin and hurt worse and after ten minutes or so sitting there I got up, washed my face, took a deep breath and walked out into my room to find Nathan sitting on my bed staring at me. I slowly walked towards him, not sure which Nathan I was going to get the sweet boy from a few days ago or this nastier version who had recently appeared.

  I sat down on the bed beside him and looked at him in askance but he sat staring at the floor and I was overcame with the urge to touch him but just as I was about to reach out, he turned towards me, his hazel eyes fiery and he bit out,

  “Whatever you think happened, did not. You cannot tell anyone about the woods tonight. Do you understand?”

  I looked into his eyes and although his eyes were fiery behind that I could see pleading and fear so I nodded and was about to speak again when he said,

  “You can’t tell anyone, if you do they will kill us both.” I reached out my finger and stroked his cheek, “Ok, Nathan. I won’t say a word I swear.” He leaned into my fingers for a second then stood, storming out of the room. I asked one question out of the millions racing about my head.

  “Nathan?”

  “What is it Jasmine?” He sounded tired and his head was leaning on the door post.

  “Who is going to kill us?”

  “No one if you keep your mouth shut.” His tone sounded exasperated now as he left my room, closing the door softly and leaving me with a million more questions. My brain couldn’t shut down because there were so many unanswered question I was up most of the night trying to figure out who they were, what I was going to do about it and who, if anyone I could speak to.

  The next morning I was up at my usual time and dressed earlier than normal but as I walked downstairs I noticed how quiet the house was, there didn’t seem to be a sound from any rooms and as I entered the kitchen I saw a note pinned to the fridge,

  I made myself breakfast and thought about approaching him at school but I realised that it wasn’t the best place to speak to him about what was going on. It was a bad idea especially as there were so many people about. I decided to wait till we were walking home and see if I could catch him on his own while Jenny played on her phone or chatted to her friends.

  The day passed so quickly and eventually it was home time. I had only seen Nathan and Jenny in passing today but as I was about to leave Mrs Grayson stopped me. She reminded me that I had detention so my idea of speaking to Nathan would have to wait. That night the detention was as slow as the first night but I made it home without incident. I got back to the Stevenson’s and noticed that Nathan was out.

  When I was just in the door, Mrs Stevenson approached me and asked me to clean the dining room and reception room which reminded me that I was grounded and that this probably was my punishment. I felt like Cinderella. I hardly spoke to anyone for the remainder of that week and at the start of the next week, Katie, one of the girls I met on my first day asked me to go out on the Wednesday to the cinema. I told her I would love to but needed to check with the Stevenson’s to make sure that it was ok before I said yes.

  Walking home after school was the first I had been in Nathan’s presence since the previous Wednesday. I had missed him, but he paid no more attention to me than he would have a complete stranger. He walked speaking only to Jenny and when we arrived at the house, he ignored me completely heading straight to his room. I still had so many questions, but I did wonder if he was worried about what I was going to ask him.

  Later I gathered my courage to asked Mrs Stevenson about the cinema.

  “Mrs Stevenson, can I go to the cinema with a few of the girls from school on Wednesday please?”

  She looked at me in surprise, “yes, I think that’s a wonderful idea. Your social worker is coming to see how you are settling in and it would be nice to be able to give some positive news.”

  I nodded in agreement as she continued, “I don’t think your transition has been too good what with you missing school for a day and ending your first week in detention. But hopefully this will be the start of a turnaround for you.”

  I walked away feeling like a total failure but just as I reached the stairs to go up to my room Mrs Stevenson shouted on me,

  “Jasmine, will you clean the basement out?”

  “Sure, no problem.” Damn this house and the never ending chores. I was so tired and all I wanted was some proper sleep without any nightmares. I walked upstairs and put my bag down before changing into an old pair of jogging bottoms, a raggy t-shirt, tied my hair up in a messy bun and headed back down to get cleaning supplies.

  As I was walking down stairs I heard a fuss coming from the kitchen and as I reached the bottom step I could make out words,

  “Jenny, I am not asking you I am telling you.”

  “But mum I don’t want to clean out with her seriously.”

  Then Mr Stevenson spoke sounding very annoyed,

  “Jenny, you will do as your mother asked no complaints.”

  I had paused on the bottom step and now began walking back into the kitchen when I noticed Nathan standing in the living room. He looked pained and I moved towards him instinctively he shook his head. His face looked say and I wanted to hold him. I needed to feel some comfort but he moved into the living room. “No, don’t come near me.” His voice was sharp and I recoiled at the words he had said. I noticed as he turned towards me but I made my feet move into the kitchen blinking away the tears that had built in my eyes at his words.

  Ignoring Jenny and Mrs Stevenson I reached underneath the sink and picked up a sponge, gloves, furniture polish and glass cleaner. I picked out a brush and dustpan. The silence in the kitchen was oppressive and I glanced around noting that Mr Stevenson wasn’t in the kitchen any longer.

  I made my way out of the kitchen on my own with their eyes watching me. Their eyes on me as I left me unnerved me, but it was what I saw when my eyes flitted to the living room gravitating towards Nathan that stopped me dead in my tracks.

  Mr Stevenson was standing upright and Nathan was on the floor at his feet, writhing and struggling. I stopped, winded and was about to rush in. My body had frozen and I drank in the scene. Mr Stevenson was glaring at Nathan and tightening his fist as he muttered something, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying exactly. No wonder Nathan hadn’t wanted me in there.

  My
body instinctively began to move towards Nathan. I wanted to help, but something stopped me. Nathan’s voice whispered, “don’t come in here. Please just go.” I shook my head and he spoke again, “Jasmine, just go. I can deal with this.” Moving towards the basement door tears sprung from my eyes. As I opened the door he whispered, “I’m ok.” My tears flowed faster and my world tilted on its axis as I realised he was as much a victim as me. I swiped the tears away and swallowed the lump in my throat.

  I began cleaning trying to rid my mind of the images of Nathan in pain and writhing around that kept popping in. The basement was large and there was a few random things lying around, a large ornate mirror with a gilded frame, a beautiful old set of drawers and an old fashioned chest, with carvings on it. As I was looking at the chest Jenny walked in and barged right into me causing me to stumble and grip onto the mirror to stay upright.

  The moment my hand touched the mirror, I began getting these images, of dark woods with lantern lit paths and creatures who scared the living daylights out of me. They had with dark, almost black eyes and bark like, rough faces with curved hands. As those images flew away, I got one final image, as Jenny yanked my hand away. My breathing sped as the image registered, I had just had an image of my parents.

  Back in the basement Jenny glared at me,

  “Start over there. Stay away from the chest and don’t touch anything in that corner.”

  She pointed to the darkest, foulest smelling corner. I would be hidden on the other side of the basement. We cleaned for over two hours with no more incidents until Mrs Stevenson shouted us up for dinner. I was sweaty, starving and covered in dust when I began walking towards the stairs. I walked up two steps with Jenny just coming up behind me when she grabbed me by the head. I yelped in pain when she pulled me backwards and let me go as I tumbled down the stairs.

  As the door opened at the top of the stairs, Mr Stevenson’s head poked in and he asked what happened.

  “She tripped dad. Honestly she’s so clumsy.” Jenny answered.

  My body hummed in agony and I lay there for a second as tears filled my eyes again. I refused to let her see me cry. She was standing half way up the stairs smirking down at me. My elbow throbbed as I made my way up the stairs towards dinner.

  Later that night as I went to bed I couldn’t stop thinking of my parents and wondering how different my life would have been if they had lived. In the moments before I fell asleep though I thought of Nathan writhing about on the floor and I wondered what he had done that deserved that kind of punishment.

  My room door opened and revealed Nathan’s masculine form silhouetted in the doorway. There was a little light coming in and as my eyes adjusted he smiled warmly at me. I stared at him, hardly daring to believe that after the last week of cold shoulders, hurt and insults that he was actually in my room. His eyes looked as if they wanted to devour me. My heart rate sped in response, my stomach had butterflies and my palms started to sweat as he stalked towards me. He never took his eyes from mine. He reached me and grabbed my chin, forcing my mouth up to meet his. My heartbeat was thundering in my ears as he got to me and it made it feel as though my heart was gonna break through my chest.

  “Do you know,” he growled in a low voice in my ear, “how much I’ve wanted to do this Jasmine?”

  My head shook in response and he tightened his fingers on my chin, almost to the point of pain. “You are mine,” he muttered as he lifted my chin. His fingers snaked behind my head and he pulled me up little more, stopping just before his lips. He paused there, his breath tickling my lips. I put my hand on his chest and he groaned before he pulled our lips together. The kiss scorched me and my head swan. It was so right kissing him and I kissed him like he was the air I needed to breathe. He pushed me back on the bed and lay beside me. “Jasmine, go to sleep now.” My eyes closed and suddenly my room door opened and slammed off the wall. I woke up with a start at the loud sound. I was so confused. I looked over to the door but no-one was there and but the door was swinging about. I dragged myself out of bed and softly closed the door. As I closed the door the smell I associated with Nathan was lingering in the air. My eyes glanced up when closing the door met his eyes instinctively. He was standing in the doorway of his room looking half into his room but not moving. For a split second I longed to go to him and run my hand over his back. I forced myself to close the door over and went back to bed. As I crawled into bed again I couldn’t get the dream to leave me, I could smell him on my skin and the feel of his lips wouldn’t leave me. When I eventually fell asleep I dreamed of him again.

  We were out in the woods, just walking along and talking and holding hands. I looked down startled at the feeling of electricity shooting up and down my arms. My stomach was full of butterflies. He stopped under a willow tree and raised my hand to his lips kissing my palm softly before turning away from me with a tormented look on his face. He turned back towards me leaned in and kissed me more forcefully and then pulled away with a look of regret on his face. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong when my alarm went off waking me up. The sound of my alarm confused me because I could smell the scent of the woods, the wet leave smell and the smell of the grass. I could also still feel the mud, wet and sticking to my feet.

  The dream was so realistic that I couldn’t get the look on Nathan’s face out of my head or the feel of his lips to leave me. I kept going over and over that last look and the kiss but I couldn’t make sense of it. I was so distracted through getting dressed that when Mrs Stevenson called that it was time to leave for school, I realised that I hadn’t had a chance to have breakfast or get my stuff together for the cinema with Katie so I had to rush around, throwing jeans, a handbag and a t-shirt into my school bag before running out of my room.

  I headed towards the stairs and bumped into Nathan. As I looked away embarrassed I noticed his face heat in that split second we glanced at each other. It had me confused that he looked embarrassed.

  Throughout the whole day I couldn’t stop thinking about Nathan and when I went out with Katie, all she wanted to talk about was Nathan. She spoke about how hot he was, asked what it was like to live with him and whether or not I had a crush on him? We were sitting having dinner after the movie with the current Hollywood sex god Liam Christienson. The movie had been amazing, but Katie barely mentioned it. She sat there with her blue eyes trained on me as she asked me all about Nathan.

  “What’s he really like, Jasmine? He’s so lush. Does he intimidate you? I haven’t ever spoken to him.”

  I just looked at her, taking my time thinking over my answer as I chewed on my burger, thankful that I had just taken a mouthful when she asked. What was he like? He was thoughtful, brave, terrifying, gorgeous, sweet, confusing.

  “He’s nice, I guess. I mean, he walks me to and from school and helped me find my way around.” I said, hoping this was enough of an answer for her, but just as I was about to change the subject she started again.

  “Nathan and Lisa are a great couple, don’t you think? She’s so pretty. I mean they’ve been together for a while now you know.”

  Hmmm, I didn’t know that. It was something to store away for later. Oh my god I was becoming obsessed, though I wasn’t as obsessed as Katie clearly was.

  I was about to ask her about that when something stopped me. I saw over her shoulder a group of girls enter the restaurant, and even from this distance it was impossible not to know who they were. Lisa and her minions had arrived. They walked into the restaurant following their waitress and they were placed at the very next table.

  Lisa glared over at us and all of her friends copied her. It made me feel very uncomfortable. I started toying with my cardigan and tried to focus more on Katie, but it was really difficult knowing they were behind me. Katie didn’t seem bothered at all by the hostility thrown in our direction. I started talking about the movie, when the waitress came back with four glasses of water and the menus. I was eating and chatting with Katie about the twist in the movie when I noti
ced that the table next to me was empty, what I didn’t see was the four of them standing behind me, water glasses in hand. Each of them threw the water all over me soaking me. I leapt out of my chair in surprise as the water hit me.

  “We thought you could use a little cooling down,” came Lisa’s snarky voice, “you seemed all hot and bothered about the movie, so we thought we could help calm you down. I just looked at her as I stood there dripping all over the floor. The manager came over and asked them to leave.

  “It’s ok, we don’t want to stay here with these two rejects anyway,” laughed Lisa. I watched them prance out of the door as my blood boiled. The manager came over and apologised. He offered us our food for free and we smiled and thanked him. It wasn’t his fault they were complete cretins.

  We left the restaurant Katie’s drove me back in her car. The whole journey back to their house we bitched about Lisa and her minions. When I wasn’t bitching I was thinking about Nathan. Every time I thought of Nathan, my heart would flip and I wondered if Lisa was so worried about me because Nathan actually had feelings for me.

  We got back to the farmhouse about twenty minutes after leaving the restaurant and I said goodnight to Katie. As I walked in the door I bumped into Mrs Stevenson who just looked at me and said

  “You had better go upstairs and get changed.”

  As I walked up the stairs I heard giggles and girly laugher. It seemed to be coming from the rooms at the end, which were my room and Nathan’s room. My stomach dropped like a stone as I glanced into Nathan’s room and saw Nathan and Lisa lying on his bed. I heard them laugh more as I closed the room door. I pulled on old PJ’s which comforted me and crawled into my bed shivering. I was shaking so hard that it took me a while to heat up and as I began to drop off Nathan’s face popped into my head, smiling at me. The sight of his face had anger bubbling up inside me so I turned over and forced him out of my mind.