Unveiled: The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone

by Jacklyn Daher

  “Why did you bring me here? Surely you have better things to do.”

  “I’d rather do nothing but you.”

  Luxor gasped and lay her hand splat again his mouth. “Your foul.”

  Hunter mumbled, laying puckering kisses that tickled her palm. He removed her hand and wiped it on her sleeve. “Only saliva you’re getting tonight.”

  Luxor’s phone rang out from the front disturbing their flirting. Shaking her head, she shuffled down and ventured towards the front reaching over and grabbing it. The phone stopped but started up again and she contemplated not answering. Evie was the last person she wanted to speak to. The phone started up again.

  “Hello,” Luxor said, her voice monotone. She walked forward to the barrier out of earshot to prevent Hunter from eavesdropping.

  “Luxor, where are you?”

  “Why should you care? You ditched me.”

  “I came back to the carnival. I’ll come pick you up,” Evie sounded frantic. The phone cut in and out, and in the background, Ayla seemed to be wrangling for the phone.

  “Good for you. Don’t worry I’m not hitchhiking.” She said glancing over her shoulder. Hunter was hidden and she hoped he hadn’t fallen asleep.

  “Are you at home? I’m going to go there, I swear.”

  “No!” Luxor shouted. She inhaled a centring breath in order to proceed. “I’ll meet you at your house.”

  “Fine. I’ll see you soon.”

  Luxor hung up the phone as a way of a goodbye. She was having fun, for most of the night, Hunter managed to make her forget about her screwed up life. Walking back to the ute she tapped the bed. “Wakey, wakey. Time to take me home,” she sang.

  Hunter groaned and gave her puppy dog eyes. “And just when things were getting interesting.”

  It took Luxor longer to arrive to Evie’s thanks to Hunter’s excruciatingly slow driving. He kept sneaking glances while tapping the steering wheel giving her the impression something weighed heavily on his mind. Quiet Hunter was a rare occurrence. She wanted to ask him if anything was wrong but by then he had pulled onto Cherry Lane and they were at Evie’s house.

  “Take it easy Angel,” Hunter said softly as she exited the ute. She waved him off.

  For the first time ever Luxor would rather have gone back to The Chalet then confront Evie, but what would have been the point? Evie had flipped into crazy mode and overreacted. In a way this meeting was needed. They had gone through quite a lot in such a short time span, the most she could do was to be truthful. To a certain extent.

  Luxor realised the irony, she hated being lied to but wasn't she the biggest one of them all?

  Bundled up and shoved in the bottom of her backpack was her teeny tiny courage. She closed her eyes and steadied her breath as she approached the double story home, complete with a tan wood panelled exterior, slanted grey roof, and arched windows. She walked alongside the neat lawn, and concrete path up to the door. Luxor pressed the buzzer, wiping her feet on the mat with the words, “God Bless this Home.”

  Evie opened the door, a deep scowl across her face, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed. "So why didn't you tell us?" she uttered before Luxor had a chance to say hello.

  "Can I come in?"

  Evie moved aside and she followed her in.

  An arch led into the open space living room, a light glow emanating from the tall rattan lamp in the corner of the room, an eight-seater plush suede ivory chaise rounded a room, a brown marble table centred in the middle. On one side of the room a sixty-inch flat screen television hung on the wall, with a wooden cabinet underneath, photographs and trinkets on top. Above the fireplace, a tapestry of The Last Supper was hung in a gold-plated frame, plastered against the wall. A picture of elegance, yet homely at the same time. Cushions were strategically placed around a small, rectangular table. Blocks of chocolate, bags of chips, and even skittles were scattered around.

  Ayla was cross-legged on the floor, coating her nails with a clear polish and humming to herself. Twisting the top closed, she moved along to give her room. "How are you feeling?"

  “How do you think? I could have been prime picking for some deranged psycho, lucky Hunter was still there.”

  Evie cleared her throat, grabbing a cushion off the couch, and placed one in front. “I really am sorry. Sometimes I go loco and into idiot mode. Didn’t help what the crazy psychic said.”

  Luxor sat on the cushion and cracked her knuckles out of nervousness. She needed to release some tension of her chest otherwise the topic would arise again.

  “You don’t have to tell me jack, I had no right to do that.” Evie said.

  “No, you didn’t.” Luxor replied.

  Time to purge.

  Luxor scratched the side of her neck gathering the words in her head beforehand, so they came out in a coherent manner. "You have to bear with me, okay? And wait until the end?" Luxor asked for assurance, wanting to get it over and done with in one foul swoop. When they both nodded their heads, she began. "I'm still trying to deal with it myself. I just found out before we moved here. It's not every day you find out your mum died giving birth to you." She tried to explain it best she could while omitting the incident. "I have major trust and anger issues. I've learnt from experience, a friend can be there for me one moment and then they can turn into my enemy in the next. Then my secret will be their weapon. I've only told one person what happened, my ex best friend Verity. We were friends since we were little kids, and at the first opportunity she used it against me."

  “What did she do?” Evie asked.

  “She tried to use my weakness to break me.”

  The images stuck with her, Verity following her into the gymnasium, accusing her of wanting her boyfriend. The one who tried to rape her. Twice. After he tried the first time and despite threatening to keep quiet, he continued to harass her, but she kept it to herself. Verity had declared her love, and she couldn't bear to see her upset. So instead Luxor kept quiet.

  "Oh, why don't you go cry to your mummy." Verity taunted her before kneeing her in the stomach.

  The lies, the pain, the rejection, all boiled down to one monumental incident.

  Luxor snapped back to the present, needing to get it over and done with. "I wanted to get away from the looks of pity. The same you're giving me now." She furiously itched the side of her neck then moved onto her arms. Every part of her body felt ablaze as if bull ants were crawling all over, picking up flecks of skin.

  “So, you had to leave town because of an argument?" Evie questioned.

  What if she didn't? Things would have been so much different.

  "I assaulted her. Badly. Her father was a top barrister and tight with the judge, who threatened to send me to juvie," she choked out.

  "What? That's screwed! And corrupt." Evie hopped up and returned a minute later with a cool face washer. “I hope this house doesn’t have fleas, it was be the best case of irony considering my family history being exterminators.”

  “Dear God almighty, you say it’s like a bad thing? They remove the rot from the world, it’s a noble professional,” Ayla said.

  Evie scoffed and handed the face washer over.

  Luxor applied it to her neck, arms, face which were the most affected. The inflammation stopped but the urge to peel her skin off started up again whenever she removed the face washer. She blew out a long breath, and took a hearty sip from her cup.

  “So that’s the secret?”

  "Yep. That's my big secret. I have to see a psychiatrist, and run whenever I feel my anger trickle in.” A huge load was lifted of her chest, although the main one would be a vaulted one. "Besides I'm sure you have a lot of secrets that you're not really to divulge."

  Ayla exchanged expressions with Evie. "Tell her." She placed a hand on Luxor’s arm, a sign of misguided comfort on the impending revelation. The itching ceased and slowly the discomfort became manageable.

  “Tell me what?" Luxor witnessed their strange interactions as they tal
ked in hushed tones.

  At least I'm not the only one keeping secrets

  Evie shifted nervously. "My secret. I have…I mean I had a twin. I killed him.”

  Luxor accidently gasped.

  “Last year I went to Jake's party, I had to sneak out because they get pretty wild, and my parentals are so strict they'd never let me go. Alcohol and fornication is a major sin to them." She took a hearty gulp of Ayla’s water. "I got drunk, like paralytic, off my face. I called Adam to pick me up, and of course he came straight away. There was nowhere to park, Jake's whole street was blocked off so Adam parked outside of the court. Things are kind of fuzzy, but this was clear...He was crossing the road to get me. There was a screeching of tyres, smoke coming from a car as it skidded into the court. I saw his body fly through the air and hurtle down. He was only two metres from me, if I had gotten out just one minute later the car would have missed him."

  Evie swallowed hard and clipped and unclipped her leather cuff, fidgeting about. "The real reason Scarlett hates me was Adam was Scarlett's great love. He'd left her to come pick me up. She wasn't always a bitch, we hung out all the time. She was never mean, I guess she just tolerated me. What I don't understand is how she can go from guy to guy, like Adam meant nothing."

  What in the holy hell?

  Luxor had to contain her shock, how somebody as sweet but crazy as Evie could have any association with Silicone Scarlett. And considering Adam was the good twin, it was all the more unbelievable.

  "Maybe it's just that. She lost the most important thing in her life, and now those others don't mean anything," Luxor tried to reason. It didn't make sense to hate Evie with such contempt considering Evie lost him as well.

  "If only I didn't go to the party. If I didn't get drunk. If I didn't call him," Evie sobbed in Luxor arms.

  “It's easy to play the 'if' card but you'd go crazy, at least you had an alternative, I've been screwed since birth. Maybe my what if would have been, 'what if I was told sooner?'"

  Evie sniffled, wiping her tears with the back of her sleeve, and let out a small smile. She tackled her with a hug, a silent understanding being transcended. "And Luxor a mother isn't the one who gives birth to you; it's the one who makes you who you are."

  "Very Dr. Phil of you," Luxor teased. "How about you Ayla, what's your 'what if?'"

  Ayla shrugged, flicking through the television stations. "I really don't have any. Like you said you'd go crazy playing that card."

  "But surely there's something?" Evie asked inquisitively. Ayla looked away. "See I knew it."

  "Fine." Ayla let out a long breath, and turned the television off. There was a long pause until she spoke again. "What if I was normal?"

  Join the club.

  Evie snorted. "Then you wouldn't be you." She threw a cushion her way which she swiftly deflected.

  "And that's why the 'what if?' card is stupid," Ayla said softly.

  “Okay enough of this sad talk, who wants to know exactly what the psychobabble crack pot was on? Evie let's look up auras. She told you what your colours mean, but how about us?" Luxor thumbed her way towards Ayla.

  "What for?" Ayla voiced an octave. "She's crazy."

  "For a laugh," Evie mimicked Luxor.

  Luxor nudged her to the side. "Whatever, I don't sound like that."

  "Well I don't want to." Ayla gathered her things, eyeing the door. "It's sacrilegious, I can't participate."

  A strange vibe swam into the room, and Luxor wished she could pinpoint what the exact cause was. Ayla’s behaviour was more erratic than usual, and Evie was using Ayla's vulnerability to ease her own pain.

  "What is up with you? Sit your bony ass down, we're doing this." Evie tugged Ayla back and pressed on her shoulders down.

  There was fear in Ayla’s eyes. "Please Evie, don't."

  A challenge had been set. When Evie was told not to do anything, she'd do the opposite.

  “Seriously how the heck did you ever become friends?" Luxor asked.

  "By accident, or more specifically, an accident. Adam had just died and she was at the funeral. Afterwards she was the only one there for me. My parents all but shut down, refusing to accept he was gone, and Ayla helped me get through it."

  "But that was only last year. I thought by the way she acted she'd been in Brighton Falls for a while."

  "No, I already told you the school had a complete overhaul, all new teachers. So weird all the others left at the same time." She flipped open the lid to her laptop, and typed in the search engine, what does a white aura mean? "Let's start with you, since you're so adamantly against it." She scrunched up her nose.

  "What does it say?" Luxor asked. Rayne had also noted that she was white, it would be interesting if it was relatable to her too.

  "It's weird." Evie cleared her throat and put on her best announcer’s voice, and read off the screen. "White aura energy reflects other energy. A pure state of light. Often represents a new, not yet designated energy in the aura. Spiritual, etheric and non-physical qualities, transcendent, higher dimensions. In other words, purity and truth; angelic qualities." Evie gagged in an exaggerated manner. "We all know that's a load of poo. Ayla as goody two shoes as you are, your recent actions prove you cannot be an angel."

  "And the fact she is a human," Luxor pointed out.

  "Yeah that too. And you my dearest demoness, are more evil than her."

  "Stop calling her that!" Ayla snapped, banging her fists in the wooden table. She cleared her throat, collecting herself before smoothing her hair back. "It's just not nice, how would you like it?"

  "Meh, I wouldn't care. I know the truth, and the truth is angels and demons do not exist."

  "You're a disgrace to everything holy," Ayla's seethed, her sky-blue eyes darkening.

  "Just because my father's a pastor doesn't change the fact I don't believe. I'm an atheist. What kind of God would have taken Adam from me?" Evie clicked onto another link, ignoring the death glare Ayla sent. "Hmm...interesting."

  "What now?" Ayla huffed.

  "Didn't she say you had white sparkles?" Evie directed the question at Luxor.

  "So?" Luxor replied, already bored with the topic.

  The stones glowed under her top, warming the skin where her heart resided. She pulled at the chain to lay them on top of the fabric. Ayla who had been in her own world stared, and like Rayne, were entranced by their beauty.

  "Well here it says, 'angels are nearby, and can indicate that the person is pregnant or will be soon.'”

  Luxor swallowed. Rayne had asked if she was pregnant. It couldn't have been an ambiguous question. "What is black?"

  Evie typed away, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Holy shit. Listen to this."

  "Evie just spit it out, and we don't need the blow by blow, just paraphrase," Luxor told her anxiously waiting.

  "Black draws or pulls energy to it and in so doing, transforms it. It captures light and consumes it. You don't forgive, and if collected in a specific area of the body, can lead to health problems. Pain stems for things in the past, such as unreleased grief from abortions if it appears in the ovaries."

  "So, I'm pregnant, and because I get pain in my ovaries it is grief from an abortion? Do you know how ridiculous this sounds?" Luxor said.

  They all settled into an uncomfortable silence. Evie went to switch the laptop off when the screen started to flash.

  "What the hell?" Evie's finger continued to press hard on the off button.

  “Evie! Enough!" Ayla admonished her about her language.

  "This laptop is glitching, it keeps going to this page." She jabbed away at a key.

  Luxor rounded behind her. Her eyes repeatedly scanned the words about auras and their connection with black, gold, and white. The three colours associated with and her and Ayla. She read out loud. "The auras of angels show how healthy they are spiritually. Holy angels have bright auras, while fallen angels have dark auras. Many holy angels have gold show up somewhere within their auras gold representing uncon
ditional love. Many fallen angels have some black in their auras, a sign of danger."

  "Why are you reading this?" Ayla closed the laptop without turning it off, a pet peeve of Evie's and stuck it under a cushion.

  "It was there, and I was reading about our colours," Luxor told her.

  "There is no ‘our’ colours. Ayla isn't an angel, you're not a fallen angel, but I'm depressed so I guess she got one out of three right. I need more food and to pop some ibuprofen," Evie said despite the table being full. “Call your mum and see if you can crash here for the night, things just got a little more interesting.”

  Luxor dug in deep to the bottom of her backpack scrambling to find her phone. It was fairly empty and she hadn’t come across any hard objects. She rattled it and emptied it onto the carpet only to find it empty. Luxor fretted wondering where it was.

  “Evie can I use your phone?"

  "Sure. Catch." She tossed the cordless phone underarm.

  Luxor caught the the phone and dialled the house phone but it rang out. Next she tried Meredith’s mobile. Voicemail. She tried again and was on the verge of hanging up when it was answered.

  "Hello," Luxor said.

  "Luxor." A choking cough travelled through the end of the line.

  "What's wrong, Meredith?" Luxor gripped the phone, the shivers invading her body.

  "Tired, so, so tired. Where are you?" Her voice came out slurred.

  Luxor had trouble understanding what she was saying. "Evie's." A thump sounded in the background. "Meredith are you okay? Meredith. Meredith."

  Silence.

  "Can you hear me?" Luxor frantically howled.

  The phone call severed. Luxor re-dialled the number. Voicemail.

  Luxor's heart constricted in her chest, placing a hand on her throat, she tried to loosen up the phantom vice grip tightening up her air supply. All her sensations were numb. One thing was clear. She was in the wrong place.