Blue Sacrifice (Blue Davison) (23 page)

Pushing through the waist high blood, I ran for
the door. Maybe I reached it or maybe I didn’t. To my eyes, the house never
stayed the same and I couldn’t find my way out. All I found was death from the
long bloody history of Lily Falls.

Twice I nearly crashed my bike into a stationary
object on my way to the bridge. Exhausted and in pain, I had trouble keeping my
hands steady, let alone the bike. While I considered just stopping and
thinking, my demon mother was nice enough to scream in my face to get me moving
again. By the time I reached the river, I was in tears, hating everything and
agreeing with my mother how it would have been better if I was never born at
all.

The night felt like an eternity and I half
expected to leave the house and learn a week had passed while I was trapped in
the madness. Instead it was Friday morning and the start of school was just
around the corner. I was free to walk to the bridge and leap without
interference. Lacey and Flynn wouldn’t even think I was late. Neither of them would
worry about me. If they had called, my mom had my voice down pat. Everyone
thought my life was peachy and they would keep thinking this until my corpse
was found.

Setting my bike against a tree, I walked to the
bridge and climbed onto the railing. The water splashed furiously below, angry
at me for taking so long to join it. I saw all those ugly little faces hiding
in the dark river, just daring me to chicken out again. A week ago, I thought
the demons couldn’t force a sacrifice’s hand. Last week felt like an eternity ago.

“I had a feeling last night you were saying
goodbye,” Flynn said and I sagged against the pole holding me up. “Something
was too perfect about our goodnight kiss.”

Without looking at him, I said in a shaky voice, “I
wasn’t saying goodbye though. I was saying something else because I thought I
wasn’t going anywhere.”

“Then why are you up there?”

“I can’t explain.”

“I’ve been honest with you, Blue. From the
beginning, I told you what I wanted. If you want to die, you should explain why
so I can understand the reason you’d leave me.”

Glancing at Flynn, I saw his face change from a
rather stony expression to a hint of shock.

“Who hurt you?” he asked, still angry, but no
longer at me.

“I fell down the stairs.”

Exhaling roughly, Flynn shook his head. “Just once
tell me the truth. Explain to me why you would want to die when people need you
to live? When I need you to live
.
”

“I don’t want to die,” I whispered then said it
again louder.

“Then why are you on the railing,” he demanded, his
anger no longer restrained.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“If you’re going to die and nothing I say or do
will make any damn difference, just tell me why so I’ll know.”

“It’s the town,” I said and my mother appeared
next to me on the railing.

“If you don’t jump, I’ll push you,” she hissed,
her black eyes bleeding.

“Come down and talk to me,” Flynn said, oblivious
to my mother’s threats. “Having you up there is making me nervous. If you jump
or fall, I’ll jump in after you so you might as well get down.”

My mother screamed at his words, hating how her
plans were ruined. Disappearing from the railing, she left me to climb down.
Flynn steadied me then examined my face. I didn’t know how bad the injuries
might be, but my eyes and nose throbbed painfully. Flynn’s gaze remained harsh as
he zipped up my jacket.

“My Blue is black and blue and I want to know
why?”

“You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“You keep trying to kill yourself. I’m fairly sure
you have some kind of mental disorder. Whatever you say won’t change that
fact.”

Studying Flynn’s irritated expression, I felt
myself losing him and figured the truth would just hurry along what would
happen anyway.

“My mother pushed me down the stairs.”

“Your dead mother?”

Nodding, I wanted to feel his arms around me, but
Flynn was angry. He kept chasing and I didn’t seem to want him to catch me. Except
I had hoped he would catch and keep me forever, but the town refused to give up
its sacrifice.

“The women in my family have to sacrifice
themselves or else the town goes crazy and people start killing each other. It’s
what every woman in my family is born to do, but then Aunt Rory ran away and
Aunt Penny ended up in the hospital and so my mom had to die. Now it’s my turn,
but I don’t want to. Because of you and Lacey and the Zandis and just a million
little things, I don’t want to die, but the town won’t let me go. It wants me
to die and last night my mom…”

Flynn stared at me like I was crazy. Feeling small
under his gaze, I needed him to hold and reassure me. My mother had pushed me
to the brink the night before and I needed Flynn to pull me back.

“I looked up your family,” he said, fighting the
wind to keep his hair out of his eyes, “and you do have a lot of suicides in
your family tree. Couldn’t it be a mental illness making you think all those
other things?”

“No, it’s real. People know it’s real, but you
don’t believe me.”

“How can I? You sound nuts talking about a town
making you kill yourself. You wouldn’t be the first person to think something
is telling them to do something and it was just a mental illness. People hear
angels and demons and God Himself talking to them and they kill and die because
of it. That doesn’t mean it’s real.”

“Penny’s been in the hospital for eight years and
on every kind of medication and she still believes. The Zandis also believe. Abby
Parker does too and she asked me to kill myself to save the town and that’s why
Lacey is so angry with her. A lot of people know the town is going crazy because
the sacrifice hasn’t been made. There’s a lot of pressure on me to kill myself
and protect everyone. I wish you believed me, but you don’t and I guess that
makes sense.”

Flynn scratched at the stubble on his chin then
looked around as if frustrated. “So you kill yourself and the town just stops
going nuts. Everyone starts behaving and everything is cool again. That’s what
you think will happen?”

“Yes.”

“That’s what your mom thought would happen?”

“Yes.”

“Was she right?”

“Violence nearly disappeared, yeah.”

“If this is your purpose then why did your aunt
run away? Did she not believe? Or did she not suffer from the same psychosis?”

“She believed,” I said, hating the disapproving look
on his beautiful face. “She just didn’t want to die. Didn’t want her daughters
to die. She left and Aunt Penny tried to kill herself in front of a bunch of people
and they stopped her.”

“Why would they stop her if her death would save
the town?”

“I don’t know.”

“Isn’t it possible what you think is happening is
just in your head?”

“Lacey believes too.”

“Because she lives here and has been told the same
crazy lies.”

“I’m not crazy.”

“Maybe or maybe years of having such rubbish
drilled into your head has made you crazy. You look pretty crazy right now,
Blue.”

“I didn’t sleep last night. They wouldn’t let me
and they showed me such horrible things and…” I said, wiping the tears which
burned my tender eyes. “You don’t believe me. I knew you wouldn’t because
you’re an outsider.”

“Or because I’m not indoctrinated like everyone
else.”

“Flynn, I have to die. The town and my mom and the
demons, they won’t let me sleep until I die. They won’t let me do anything.
Once you leave me, they’ll torment me until I’m back here. Or they’ll force me
to die another way. They say time is running out.”

“But if you stay with me, they’ll leave you
alone?”

Nodding even though every movement hurt, I was
startled when he turned and walked away. Hurrying to my bike, he grabbed it in
one hand and headed to his car at the other end of the bridge. I followed him
and watched as he roughly shoved the bike into his trunk.

“Get in,” he barked, opening the passenger door.

Even if I wanted to get away from an angry Flynn,
my alternative was waiting nearby. Her eyes now missing after Assad was done
with her. Choosing the least frightening option, I got into Flynn’s car.

Driving too fast to be legal, Flynn sped along the
quiet roads until we reached his house. Once there, he threw open his door and stormed
to my side where he pulled me from the car. Exhausted and with a splitting headache,
I couldn’t keep pace with him so he dragged me up the stairs and into the house.
Without pausing, he kept going upstairs to his cold room.

“Take off your shoes and go to sleep. You look
like shit and I can’t talk to you when you’re half asleep.”

Staring at him, I was scared and wanted to call
Lacey, but I didn’t have my phone. When I didn’t react to his instructions,
Flynn rushed towards me and I flinched. Frowning at my reaction, he clutched me
against him.

“You would leave me,” he said gruffly. “I love you
so much I can’t breath and I laid it all out for you, but you make me the fool.
Is it you don’t care?”

“I do. Last night I saw how you loved me and I
trusted in that and I wanted to live, but the town won’t let me. I know you
don’t believe, but I’m afraid and I…” Seeing the pain in his green eyes, I
couldn’t think of the right words so I just said the only ones that came to me.
“I want to love you.”

“Then just do it.”

“I’m afraid.”

“Of me?”

“Yes. What if you lose interest and I’m the fool?”

Sighing as if exhausted, Flynn nodded. “Your mom
killed herself. Your aunt ditched town. Your other aunt is stuck in a mental
institution and your guardian acts like you don’t exist. I guess it makes sense
for you to have trust issues.”

The anger and hurt faded from his eyes as he shuffled
me towards the bed.

“You’re scared to sleep, right? Scared of the bad
dreams like last weekend?”

Still intimidated by his anger, I nodded before
sitting on the bed and kicking off my shoes.

“You really think those things you see are real?”

Nodding again, I removed my jeans then crawled
under the soft covers.

“If I stay with you, will you sleep so we can talk
later?”

“You don’t believe me and sleeping won’t make me
think any differently.”

“Yes, but you look spaced out. Your face is
swollen and you have two black eyes. You need to look more like my Blue for me
to believe what you’re saying. Have you taken any pain medicine?”

When I shook my head, he opened up his side table
and hunted around before finding a medicine bottle.

“I banged up my knee hiking a year ago and I keep
the good stuff around for when it bothers me. Have you taken pain meds like
this before?”

“No.”

“Then just take one. I don’t want you feeling
worse.”

A glass of water later, I had swallowed the pill
then waited for what I hoped he would do next. Flynn disappeared into the
bathroom and returned wearing sweats and a gray tee. He looked comfy as he
joined me in bed.

“No yummies. Just sleep, okay?” he said with a
hint of a smile on his striking face.

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry I got so angry, but finding you has
been this great boon for me. When I saw you up there, I felt all my happiness
leaving me. I guess it’s easier to be angry than to cry, but I didn’t mean to
scare you.”

“I want to love you so much,” I whispered, feeling
the darkness pulling at me so I reached for the light. Wrapping myself around
Flynn, I stared at him and tried to only see beauty. “I want to live, but it’s
not my choice. The town won’t let me.”

“The town can screw itself because I’m not letting
you go.”

Smiling weakly, I felt a mixture of the warmth from
Flynn and the comfort of the bed tempting me to sleep.

“Don’t leave me please. My mom won’t stop showing
me horrible things unless you’re with me.”

“Then I’ll stay. Just close your eyes and listen
to my heartbeat. Know I’ll be here when you wake up and we’ll talk and I’ll fix
us lunch. If the only way to keep the darkness away is for you to be with me
then I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

After another minute of admiring Flynn, who
caressed my swollen eyes as if trying to soothe away the pain, I fell asleep
and blissfully dreamed of nothing.

Waking later to an angelic sight, I found Flynn
sound asleep with his forehead pressed to mine. With him blocking my view of
the rest of the room, I could relax and hope the terrors from the night before
faded. Yet they didn’t fade, instead hovering just out of sight. Any reprieve
though was a blessing.

Dozing off and on for a while longer, I would open
my eyes and find Flynn just where he had been when I last checked. Reassured, I
relaxed and returned to sleep. Finally I opened my eyes and found Flynn looking
back at me.