“Sorry,” said Nicole as she glanced over her shoulder.
“It’s fine,” replied Test, as he caught Alyssa’s stare. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with him touching Nicole. Unable to deal with anything more than the task at hand, he turned his attention to Jenz and asked, “So what are we talking about here? I think she’s ready to listen.”
Jenz looked to Nicole’s pained face, and as the young girl nodded in agreement, carefully spoke her thoughts. “There is a center in Salem that could help you. I would be happy to take you into town and help you in whatever capacity you may need.”
A new wave of concern washed over Nicole’s face. “A rehab center?” she asked.
“Yes,” replied Jenz. “Without their help, your body will continue the withdrawal process, and we are just not capable of giving you the care you need to get through it.” She watched Nicole as her haggard mind sorted through the possibility. “What are your thoughts?” she asked.
Nicole chewed vigorously on her bottom lip, her head ticking to the right every few seconds.
From behind her, his arms still clutching hers, Test spoke in a very soft voice. “Do it, Nicole. It’s the only wa.…” He stopped himself for a moment, choosing a different word. “It’s the best way.”
She turned into him and leaned her head back to speak. “Okay,” she replied simply in an exhausted tone.
Test smiled down on her, suddenly seeing a glimpse of the girl he once knew. Pulling her into him, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Atta girl,” he said tightening his hold on her. He stood motionless as Nicole buried her face into his chest, finally releasing all of the pain that she’d kept pent up for so long.
Everyone in the room watched with heavy hearts as Test held Nicole, keeping her fragile body from falling to the floor. Everyone breathed a shallow sigh of relief; everyone accept Alyssa.
CHAPTER 20
Lauren approached Prim with her eyes to the ground. She was afraid to look at him. She didn’t know what it was about him that made her heart skip a beat when he spoke, or what it was that made her flush when he spoke to her. All that she knew was she’d never felt what she was feeling.
“Too crowded in there for you?” he asked.
She felt a moment of panic as her eyes met his, and unable to keep what she feared was an awkward smile from appearing; she hurriedly looked back to the ground. Shooting him a nervous look, she replied. “Yeah, something like that.”
“Yeah, it’s a little hard for me, too,” he replied. “It’s just been Jenz and I for so long that I don’t feel very comfortable in a crowd.”
Lauren stopped about five feet away from him, glancing up and down anxiously as she kicked at the grass beneath her feet.
A moment of awkward silence went by before Prim asked, “Would you like to help me clean out the coop?”
“Sure,” replied Lauren cheerfully. “That sounds nice.”
“That sounds nice?” she thought to herself. “Cleaning a chicken coop sounds nice? Idiot.”
Prim raised an eyebrow and replied. “Have you been around chickens before?”
Lauren could feel her cheeks flushing red, though this time it wasn’t due to Prim’s presence. “Yeah,” she replied shakily. “We had them on our farm when I was little.” She felt an unexpected pit in her stomach as her mind reminisced for a brief moment. “But that was a very long time ago.”
Sensing that her mood had suddenly taken a down-turn, Prim spoke light heartedly. “Well, I’m sure they haven’t changed since then. They still eat anything, lay eggs, poop a lot, and the roosters’ crow in the morning.” He watched happily as she peered up to him with a grin.
They walked to the coop door, a rickety wooden frame with chicken wire stapled to it, with Lauren walking slightly behind Prim. The chickens all came running, around fifteen total, and anxiously waited for him to open the door. As he lifted the latch, the chickens came pouring out.
“No!” shouted Lauren, bending down to try and herd them back in.
With a subtle laugh, Prim responded. “It’s fine, they can run. We usually let them out for a while each day; gives them some exercise.”
Feeling embarrassed once again, Lauren stood without saying a word and began to wave her hands towards the chickens. “Go free!” she exclaimed, trying her best to sound playful while feeling completely awkward.
“You can relax, you know,” said Prim, standing with his hand atop the coop door.
Lauren’s face tensed as she replied. “What do you mean?”
Prim looked to the ground and then glanced up while holding his head at an angle. “I just mean that you don’t have to be nervous around me.” She looked at him with a blank and horrified stare. “Like that.” He said with a playful inflection.
Lauren lowered her head and let her hair hang around her face. “Am I that obvious?” she asked bashfully.
“Kind of,” replied Prim. “I’ve got a confession to make, too. I can feel your energy change when I walk into a room—or when I talk….” He paused for a moment as he looked at her admiringly. “Or when I look at you.”
Barely able to contain herself, Lauren tucked her hair behind her right ear and felt her body tingle with attraction. “I guess I can’t help it,” she replied, exchanging glances between the ground and his eyes.
“Do you want to know another secret?” he asked. He waited until her eyes caught his before continuing. “I feel the same thing—whenever you walk into a room, or talk, or look at me.”
The two of them stood feet apart from one another while the attraction tugged at them like opposite ends of a magnet. Giving in to the urge, Prim stepped towards her and reached out his hand.
“This is all new to me, Lauren. I’ve never felt this way about someone, especially after such a short period of time,” he said sincerely.
Lauren looked at his hand as it reached for hers and her mouth went suddenly dry. She swallowed deeply and then wetted her lips as she placed her hand into his. “You just said everything that I’ve been thinking in my head since the moment I saw your face.”
With her hand in his, Prim pulled her closer and took her other free hand into his. “So, what do we do now?” he asked naively.
Squinting against the mid-morning sun, Lauren replied. “We get to know each other a little better.”
Prim watched Lauren’s eyes fill with a lustful glow and though he’d never kissed a girl before, everything inside of him screamed for him to seize the moment. He moved in closer to her, bending down just slightly, and held his lips away from hers by only an inch. “Do you still want to clean the coop?” he asked in a distant voice.
Lauren ran her tongue across her bottom lip, anxiously awaiting his touch. “I don’t think so,” she replied breathlessly.
“What would you like to do then?”
She found herself falling forward, centimeter by centimeter, until their lips touched softly.
It was a simple kiss; a simple pressing together of the lips with eyes closed; a short exchange of breath—and then they parted.
Prim opened his eyes first and witnessed the blissful expression on Lauren’s face. With her eyes closed and her head angled back slightly, her hair fell down her neck and shimmered in the sunlight. She opened her eyes, and he watched as a single tear fell from the right. He gently wiped it away, relishing her soft skin as his fingertips touched it, and bent down to whisper in her ear.
“Was that okay?”
An involuntary giggle erupted from within her as she replied. “Yes.”
The two parted and Lauren bit her bottom lip, wishing that he could read her mind to know that she wanted more. “What do you want to do now?” she asked as she played with the color on his shirt.
“How about a walk in the garden?” he asked as he continued to caress her cheek.
“That sounds nice,” she replied.
With a twisted grin, Prim answered. “That’s what you said about cleaning the coop.”
With a dirty look and a playful slap on his chest, Lauren took his hand from her cheek and began to lead him away from the coop. She glanced up to him as he stepped quickly to her side. “That wasn’t nice,” she spoke with an exaggerated frown.
Prim bowed his head, and with the same expression replied. “Please accept my apology.”
“And what if I don’t?” she asked coyly as she squeezed his hand tightly in hers.
He felt a rush of pride as her skin touched his. “Whatever could I do to make it up to you?” he replied.
Without a response, she looked to him with a raised eyebrow. Not knowing exactly what she meant didn’t matter. He looked to the sky, inhaling a deep and cleansing breath, and relished the moment as never before.
****
The decision to take Nicole to the rehab center in Salem having been made, the group was quick with the decision to take her immediately. Allowing only Test to go with her, Nicole retrieved her belongings from the basement and quickly walked out the front door of the house to Jenz’s Lexus, which sat in the driveway ready and waiting. As she descended the stairs, the sidewalk was lined with those who were, only a few minutes ago, sitting around the table discussing her fate. The scene struck her as odd. Test walked by her side while gently supporting her by her elbow. To the casual witness, it could have looked like a wedding rehearsal—the bride and groom gliding down the concrete stairs as the family watched. The only difference was that as she looked at her “family’s” faces, each wore a look of pity that made her feel as though she were being marched to the gallows. They passed them by one by one; each of them looking at her intently, all except one—Alyssa’s gaze was focused on Test. She glanced up to Test, catching his eyes locked on the young girl’s as he flashed a loving look. A sudden jolt of jealousy ran through her body as she suddenly understood the reason behind their exchange. Though she’d spent the last year or more trying to get over him, and convincing herself that he was the reason her life was in shambles, her heart wouldn’t let him go.
As they stepped off of the sidewalk and on to the driveway, Test walked ahead and opened the rear passenger door for her. She stepped into the open door and turned to see that Alyssa had come forward, standing slightly behind Test.
“So,” began Nicole in a brash voice, pointing back and forth between Test and Alyssa. “Are you two…?”
Answering quickly as she grabbed Test’s arm, Alyssa replied in a soft, yet firm voice. “Yes, we are.”
Test placed his hand on hers and, nodding his head, confirmed Alyssa’s response while he watched Nicole’s face twist as she tried to bite the inside of her cheek.
“Good,” Nicole replied, patting Test on the chest, unable to look at either of them. “That’s good.” She quickly turned and sat in the car, not knowing that Maggie had quickly placed herself invisibly by her side, and slammed the door before anyone could say anything more to cause her pain. She listened as Test placed her bags in the trunk and forcefully slammed the lid. Her vision blurred from emotion, she glanced up to see Jenz hidden behind a large pair of sunglasses. Though she couldn’t see the woman’s eyes, Nicole knew she was being watched.
“You can go,” she said, exhausted and defeated.
Without a word Jenz dropped the car into gear and rolled forward.
“Wait!” shouted Nicole as she dug a piece of paper out of her back pocket. With paper in hand, she rolled down the window and held it out for Test to take. The instant it was out of her hand and into his, she looked forward and commanded Jenz to go.
****
Test watched the burgundy Lexus drive away with a note in one hand and Alyssa’s hand in the other. As the car turned off down the road, though he hoped for the best, he feared the worst.
Releasing Alyssa’s hand, he slowly opened the note. On it was two lines written in red ink and with very shaky hand writing.
There are days that my insides feel turned out, and the outside is pushed away. Its days like these I wish the darkness of tomorrow would just go ahead and end today.
The words read to Test as though it were a suicide note. Suddenly, involuntary images of Nicole hanging from a ceiling by a bed sheet flashed in his mind; the look of Nicole’s bulging, lifeless eyes was too much for him to bear. His heart began to beat faster and faster, until the world suddenly came to a crawl. For a moment there was nothing but darkness, and then he felt Alyssa tugging frantically at his arm.
“Test!” she shouted.
He looked at her, and though he heard her voice, it was as if she were far away. His ears were filled with a white hiss that had slowly begun to fade.
“What happened?” he asked, his own voice echoing in his head.
He turned to see that everyone was staring at him. Thad, Cliff, and Alyssa stood around him, all of them looking at him with a mixture of concern and horror. He then saw Prim and Lauren run around the corner of the house from the back. He looked back to Alyssa again. “What happened?” he asked. “What’s the matter? Why’s everyone looking at me funny?” It was then that he looked down to his fingers, to what moments ago was the note that Nicole had handed him. It was now a charred piece of ash that blew from his fingertips piece by piece. “Shit,” he blurted out, still confused. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
Alyssa continued to stare at him with her mouth agape.
“What?” asked Test. “I’m sorry, I didn’t….”
“It happened again,” she interrupted.
Test scanned his surroundings, overwhelmed by how close everyone stood. Turning back once again to Alyssa, he replied. “What happened again? I haven’t had this happen since I was in Lincoln.”
“Your eyes, Test,” answered Alyssa. “They were the same as the other night; glowing red with the white bubbles inside.”
“Not only that,” Cliff butted in. “Somethin’ happened, somethin’ other than just your eyes.”
Test spun to see the old man standing behind him with a stern look on his face. He’d seen that look before and it was never followed by good news.
“Did anyone else see it?” asked Cliff as he studied faces, but everyone shook their head, all except Alyssa who stared stone faced at Test. He turned back to Test. “You were different, your body I mean. You were kind of….” He paused looking for the right word. “Distorted? No, that ain’t it.” He paused again, clearly frustrated with himself. “Oh hell, what am I tryin’ to say?” he asked while clenching his cigar tightly between his teeth. “I don’t know what the word is so I’ll just describe it.
“I was lookin’ at you against that tree back there and the outline of your body looked fuzzy, almost like there was two of you, one overlapping the other, but not quite exactly.”
Still trying to ground himself, Test replied with a wrinkled expression. “Your eyes must be playing tricks on you.”
“No,” said Alyssa flatly. “I saw it, too. He’s right—it was like you had a shadow, but it was clearly you, but fuzzy.” She placed an open palm to her forehead, struggling to describe what she saw as much as Cliff had.
Standing behind Alyssa with Lauren by his side, Prim wiped the beading sweat from his forehead and spoke while slightly out of breath. “Something definitely happened. The amount of energy that you released was very strong and focused.” He paused with a foreboding look. “Very strong,” he said emphatically.
Knowing exactly what he meant, Test’s eyes grew wide with fear. “What do we do?” he asked Prim.
“There’s no more time. Training starts now,” Prim replied.
“But Jenz isn’t…,” began Test with a panicked voice, stopping as he recognized the blank stare on Thad’s face. “Cliff,” said Test as he pointed to Thad.
The old man recognized the look as well. Thad was having a vision. Within moments, his grandson blinked and looked to him.
“What is it, boy?” asked Cliff.
Breathing heavily, Thad replied with a wavering voice. “I saw the man in the suit again.”
; “Who is he talking about?” asked Prim.
Without responding to Prim’s question, Cliff asked another of Thad. “Where?”
Swallowing hard, he replied. “In Kansas City. It looked like he was standing in the middle of Union Station.” He looked to Test. “He had the girl with him.”
“No,” Test seethed through clenched teeth.
He felt the energy within him swell, and the black began once again, only this time he could hear Cliff shouting from his side.
“Control it, son! Control it!”
Test turned to him with a menacing scowl and fought to harness the overwhelming power that fought to be released. Leaning back with arms outstretched, he released a guttural scream, feeling something inside shift as though a gate had been opened. Never before had he felt so powerful, so strong. He lowered his arms and looked at those around him who stood wide eyed in amazement.
The world surrounding them looked different. The sky had become dark while everything on the ground remained light. Every one of the living appeared to have a faint glow and those who had passed appeared faded, as if they’d been partially erased.
As was everyone else, Lauren gazed upon Test with amazement. She could now see what Alyssa and Cliff had seen moments before. With his eyes blazing, it almost looked as though there were two people occupying the same space, one overlapping the other with the edges slightly blurred. With hesitation, she stepped forward and reached out to touch him. Though he looked as real and present as the rest of them, she watched as her hand passed through his bicep. She immediately felt her hand go numb and, unable to move her fingers, quickly pulled back, regaining the use of her hand the moment it cleared Test’s flesh.
“Holy shit,” she whispered as she stared at the tiny points of white light bubbling in his red eyes.
Test lifted his hand to his face, and could see the doubling effect that the others could see. Strangely, the sight caused him no anxiety; a deep sense of fulfillment filled his heart. He looked to Cliff and spoke in jest, but with a stern look remaining on his face. “Happy Birthday to me?”
The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series Page 21
