Shadow's Turning- Part 9

Lost in my single-minded effort to get out, I heard the sound of another pair of feet on the stairs, but I didn’t really register it.

“Saa-raa,” someone said in a sing-song voice, the deep sound almost vibrating through the door.  “I’ll be back for you,” it continued in that sickly sweet voice.  The hair on the back of my neck prickled in response.  “But you had better be alone next time.”  The door shuddered as something heavy hit it.  “Or I might be a little…upset.”

A roar that I felt deep in the pit of my stomach, in my bones, filled the house.  I stepped back as I felt something inside me snap.

The roar cut off abruptly.

My breathing was loud in the quiet, my body trembling and covered in sweat, strands of my hair sticking to my face.

I sank down on the bed as my knees gave way, curling my aching body into a ball.

Fixing my eyes on the clock as it ticked away the seconds to sunrise, I kept a tight grip on my knees, feeling as if I was literally holding myself together.

I braced for something else to happen, twitching at every perceived sound.  Each creak and groan of the house settling nibbled at already frayed nerves.

The night became endless, each minute seeming like an hour, each hour a day.

I was drifting in a state between waking and sleeping when I heard the sliding of the lock.

Jerked back into reality, I sat up, not knowing what I would find when the door opened.

It opened smoothly, a tall figure appearing.

Birch.

His eyes were bloodshot, the shadow of a beard now full-on heavy stubble.  The black boots he had on his feet had something dark splashed on them and I quickly looked away.

He had a shallow scratch across one cheekbone, but looked fine otherwise.

Which was pretty fucking miraculous by any stretch.

“Did you…do it?” I asked weakly.

He gave me an unreadable look.

“No.  Wounded it.”

My shoulders slumped, the hope I’d been harboring as I stared at the time dying.  I didn’t want to become that mindless animal again.

“I doubt it’ll be back tomorrow night.  You’ll have a day’s reprieve at least,” he added, correctly reading my slumped posture.

He turned around and made his way back to the stairs.  Only then did I notice he was walking with a pronounced limp.

Getting up slowly, I followed him, wishing for a shower.

And maybe a new life.

The basement didn’t look any worse for wear, except for some dark stains on the carpet that hadn’t been there before.

Maybe cream hadn’t been the best choice.

Lieson was in the kitchen eating, dressed in dark jeans and a black t-shirt now.  A bandage covered something on his forearm and a darkening bruise covered one side of his jaw.  But he looked fine otherwise.

Who were these guys?  Superman’s cousins?

“Hungry?” Lieson asked, pushing a plate filled with scrambled eggs and toast toward me.

“Yeah.  Thanks.”

Sitting down at the bar, I picked up the fork and started eating, feeling almost starved now that I could smell food.

Birch set down a tall glass of orange juice in front of me and I mumbled a thank you before gulping down half the glass in one go.

I didn’t look up until the plate was empty, feeling more steady now that I had something in my belly.

I really needed a shower and some clean clothes.  And the comfort of my apartment.

“I need to go home and clean up,” I said, my back turned to the men as I put my dishes in the sink.

I felt them go still behind me.

“I’ll go with you,” Birch said.

My hands clenched on the counter.  I carefully relaxed them before replying.

“I’m not running away.  I have no desire to be alone when the sun sets.  I’ll be back.”

“I’ll come anyway,” Birch said firmly.

“Fine,” I bit out, knowing this wasn’t a battle I was going to win.

“We’ll take my car,” he said, unfazed by my tone.

At least I wouldn’t be walking.

If you enjoyed this, be sure to +1 it :). -A.R.

Shadow's Turning- Part 8

Night had fallen according to the clock.

The eerie silence was starting to wear on me.  I couldn’t even hear them walking around above me anymore.

Had something happened?  Were they just waiting?

Maybe I should check…

Standing up, I walked over to the door and removed the bar before unlocking it.  Reaching for the doorknob, I tried to turn it.

Locked.

I began pacing back and forth in front of the door.  Maybe if I got the hinges off…

I turned toward the room, looking for something that would help me do it.

I didn’t see anything on my first scan and immediately abandoned the idea.  It would take too long anyway.

I needed to get out there right now.

I pressed myself up against the door, the cool smoothness of it against my front in an unbroken line.

I jerked as I heard a crash from somewhere upstairs, followed by a quick series of thuds.

The sound of something scraping against the floor above rippled through me.  The room shuddered and the lights flickered off and on as something was smashed.

Heavy footsteps sounded above me.

I closed my eyes and listened as they moved away.

The shrill creak of a door opening tore through the air.  An odd clicking and what sounded like the wind sighing through the trees underscored the quiet above.

My already fast heartbeat increased until it felt like it was bruising my chest.

The groaning of the stairs as weight shifted onto them reached me.  The slow methodical steps continued, louder now.

Clearer.

If I could have melted through the door and come out the other side, I would have.

The footsteps stopped right outside the door.  A charged silence fell.

All I could here was the pounding of my heart in my ears.

My breathing became labored as I screwed my eyes shut harder, tears starting to leak out.  The door was shaking and I couldn’t figure out why until I realized it was me.

I was shaking.

I let out a harsh sob and began throwing my body at the door.  I felt oddly detached from myself, as if I stood back, watching myself lose control.

Maybe restraints would have been a good idea.

The coppery red tasted of blood coated my tongue and I realized I must have bitten the inside of my lip.  The sting of it was lost in the frenzy to get out, to get to what I needed.

This thin piece of wood could not hold me.

I wouldn’t let it.

Shadow's Turning- Part 7

All I could do was gape at them for a few seconds, the sheer idiocy of the idea short-circuiting my brain.

“Kill it?!  Are you insane?!” I said as controlled as I could be.

“No, we’re not,” Lieson said, a condescending look on his face that I had the urge to slap off.

Or maybe punch off.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be out of the way, behind a charmed door,” Birch added, giving Lieson a warning look.

“Or, you could go back to your place and wait for nightfall,” Lieson said irritably.

“Let me get this straight.  You want me to be bait for you?  That’s what this is about?  Do you think killing one of these things is even going to make dent?!”  If I got a little shrill there in the end, it was justified.

“No, we want you to be bait for you.  Or have you forgotten about the part where you have to be locked up after sunset?” Lieson shot back.

“And what happens if you don’t succeed?  The chances of you dying instead of it are pretty damn high.  I’ll be stuck in a locked room with no way out!”

“You won’t be stuck.  Someone will check in on us tomorrow,” Birch said.

“This is insane,” I whispered to myself, raking my fingers through my hair.  There was no reasoning with them.

And they weren’t going to let me leave.  Although, if everything they said was true, leaving wasn’t a good idea either.

“Look at the world around you, princess.  What about it seems sane to you?” Lieson said in a tired voice.

“We’re taking all the risk here.  If we’re wrong or we’ve misjudged, we’ll pay the consequences.  If we’re right, you won’t have to worry about what you’ll do when the sun sets,” Birch said in a reasonable voice.

I licked my lips, absorbing what he said and looking for any other issues that could crop up.  That I was even considering this told me how desperate my situation was.

And that I at least half-way believed them.

It wasn’t like I had a better explanation.

“You get one night.  Then I’m gone.  I’ll figure something else out,” I finally forced out.

The tension in the room decreased as I capitulated.

I hoped it was the right move.

Birch ordered some pizza and we ate as we waited for the day to pass.

There wasn’t a lot of talking, all of us subdued as we watched the clock.

One of them was always with me, not trusting me not to bolt if I was given the chance I guess.  They weren’t completely wrong- the thought had crossed my mind.  The only thing keeping me there was that I was more afraid of leaving and dealing with this on my own than staying.

As the sun began to dip, Birch took me down to the basement.

It was actually clean and finished, with cream colored walls and carpeting.  Half of the space was walled off with an open door in the center.

Leaning in to flip the light switch, he gestured me inside.

A small bed took up one side, and an overstuffed armchair with a small coffee table and a television were arranged at the other end of the room.  Another door was cracked open and I could just make out the sink, so it must have been the bathroom.

“The inside isn’t charmed, so don’t worry about touching the walls or anything.  This whole room is protected on the outside.  There’s snacks and water in the fridge there,” he said, pointing to a small fridge I hadn’t noticed in the corner.  “I’m locking you in from the outside.  You can lock yourself in from the inside too and bar the door.”  He looked around the room.  “Don’t try to get out if you hear something- you won’t be able to.”

With that comforting thought, he closed the door.  I heard the deadbolts slide into place, and then his footsteps as he climbed the stairs out of the basement.

Moving to the door, I turned the deadbolt and levered the bar into place, not really feeling much safer.

Then I sank down onto the bed, staring at the wall.

Now all I could do was wait.

Shadow's Turning- Part 6

Chapter 4

I sat down on one of the armchairs in a daze.

Birch and Lieson hesitated before moving to sit on the couch I’d just vacated.

“What do you mean?” I asked through lips that had gone numb.

“Sometimes, one of them…puts a little of itself in a person.  Not a lot, just enough that you’re slightly vulnerable to charms.  At least, that’s what the evidence points to.  When the sun sets, the one that altered you can sense where that piece is.  And if it can get close enough, it becomes a magnet for the missing part of itself.”  Birch stopped and looked over at Lieson.

“You wouldn’t be able to stop it.  The attraction is too strong.  And as soon as you open the door, you compromise the building’s security.  Easy pickings,” Lieson finished.

I heard what they were saying, but from a distance.  I felt an odd sense of detachment as I carefully examined the words.

“If that’s true, why haven’t we been taken over yet?  Just do this to enough people and we don’t stand a chance.”  A spark of hope lit in my chest.

Maybe they were wrong about this.

“We think they can’t use just anyone.  There’s something different about the ones they choose.  We just haven’t been able to figure out what yet,” Birch said, frustration clear in his voice.  “It also doesn’t seem to be a universal skill.  Of the cases we’ve seen, it’s never been one of the weaker ones pulling a person out.  When you take that into account, plus the fact that very few people get caught out after dark…the numbers just aren’t in their favor.”

“You’re a statistical improbability,” Lieson said, a pitying look on his face.

A statistical improbability.

Fancy way of saying I had shit luck.

“Alright.  If what you say is true, how can you help?  Why do you want me to stay here?”

“Well, we’ll have to restrain you so you can’t follow the call after the sun sets,” Birch said.

Restrain me?  Better and better.

“Restrain me how?” I asked warily.

“We have a room specially outfitted.  I guess restrain is the wrong word to use- we’ll just lock you in until the sun rises.”

“Ok, say you lock me in this room-”

Aka prison.

“- for the night.  Do I have to be locked in every night for the rest of my life?”

I saw the chance for a normal life receding in the distance.

They hesitated and shared another meaningful glance.  That was starting to get really irritating.

Lieson finally answered me.

“If the one you encountered comes tonight, we might be able to break the connection.”

“Might be able to break the connection.  You don’t know?  And how can you even break something like this?”

“We kill it,” Birch said, a slight, humorless smile on his face.