Falling Darkness: The second book in the Falling Awake Series (14 page)

I leaned forward, around Nathan and got Mellissa’s attention.

“I need to go home. Are you coming?” She flicked her blue eyes up towards Jason and I could hear him quietly say ‘please don’t’.

“One sec,” she said to him and stepped out of his way, dragging me into a secluded corner of the arcade. “I’m gonna stay.”

“Okay, well I’m going.”

“I know what you think of me. It’s all over your face.” Mellissa crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m not thinking anything,” I said, taken aback.

“Oh yeah? Then what’s with the face?”

“Nothing, I’m fine. Never better.”

“I thought you said you were over him?” Him, being Caleb.

“I am. I’m just not ready to see what being over him is like just yet.”

“He doesn’t deserve you,” Mellissa said, trailing her fingers down a strand of my hair.

I closed my eyes and nodded. “Tamara doesn’t deserve him,” I said, softly.

“Well that’s true.”

“I’m gonna go.”

“Okay.” Mellissa took a step back and looked over her shoulder at Jason who was standing at the bar watching her with wanting eyes.

“I’m going to Gracey’s this weekend so I’ll see you Monday?”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile.

“Mellissa-” I turned to face her. “If you ever ask me, just for future reference- Drake is way better than Jason.”

“That’s a given,” she said, agreeing with me. So why was she even wasting her time?

We walked back over to the bar in a mutual silence and I grabbed my things. “I’m gonna head out,” I said to Nathan. The look of disappointment could not have been any clearer on his face than if he was wearing a neon sign on his forehead.

“It’s early,” he said, putting his coke down on the bar behind him.

“I’m tired. Great job tonight, though,” I said, turning to Jason.

“Thanks,” he said. “So you’ll come to another game sometime? Maybe?” He looked more at Mellissa when he asked it and I just let her answer that one.

“You wanna ride home?” Nathan asked me.

“No. I got this.” Drake was standing right next to us. He wore only a powder blue t-shirt with the sleeves completely ripped off and grey sweats, cut off at the knee. He was in a league of his own compared to Nathan and Jason.

“Bye Nathan.” I sidestepped Drake and caught Nathan lock eyes with him and even though he looked pissed off, I, and everyone else, knew he wouldn’t dare say anything to him.

Drake walked over to Mellissa and thread his fingers through hers, letting Jason know she was his and no one else’s. Not without a fight at least. Jason moved back out of the way, unsure what to do, and made no attempt to stop Mellissa from leaving.

“Let’s go,” Drake said to her. She glanced back at Jason, letting Drake lead her from the arcade, wrapping her arm securely around his. I breathed a sigh of relief that no one had started fighting. That could have ended much differently.

Drake dropped me home and Ressler was there waiting for me. He was sitting on the stairs when I walked through the front door. I barely managed a smile for him. I was worn out… completely drained. I lowered myself onto the stairs next to him.

“Hi,” I managed. I dropped my head onto his shoulder and he tilted his head so it was resting on top of mine.

“How was the game?” he asked.

I wouldn’t mention the Caleb kissing scene. It wasn’t necessary. It was time to start working on forgetting. “We won.”

“Great?” He moved his head out of the way to look at me.

“I guess. It was kinda fun. I’m gonna get changed real quick,” I said, getting up.

In my bedroom, I pulled open the drawer of my jewelry box and shook three sleeping pills loose from the bottle. I quickly swallowed them and changed into my pajamas. I couldn’t sleep tonight and face a possible encounter with Casanova. I would ride this one out.

The gentle patter of the rain against the windows was the only sound in the living room when I came back downstairs. Ressler was sitting in the chair in front of the kitchen, watching infomercials on the T.V.

“It’s Saturday tomorrow,” I said to him, perching my butt on the edge of the window frame.

He looked up at me. “And?”

“Matoskah asked me back to Neah Bay, remember?”

“Yes. I was hoping you wouldn’t.” He flicked the channel over and settled for a low budget horror movie.

“I’m going,” I said. “I would go alone if you would let me.”

“I know you would, and it’s not happening.”

“I wanna get there early. It takes so long with Sully.”

“Yeah well, we could always take the ferry and get there Sunday.”

“Sully’s fine,” I huffed. The ferry was too slow with too many stops and changes.

The curtains were open behind me and I stood up, peering out into the rainy night. There was a thin sheen of mist in the air from the dampness and the whole street was in darkness. Because mine was the only house, there wasn’t any streetlights nearby. I had to strain my eyes to make out the figure walking down the street away from my house. I could tell it was obviously a man because the build was a lot bulkier and taller than a woman, and they walked with their hands jammed into their puffy, jacket pockets, with their head bent forward.

There was no reason for me to be alarmed or threatened by him whatsoever, but I went and locked the front door just to be safe. I went through into the kitchen and turned the lock. My fingers fumbled on the chain and I jumped back, screaming at the top of my lungs. There, looking at me through the glass in the door, was the manically screaming face of what looked like a lunatic freshly escaped from the asylum. There was no sound coming from his mouth, and his scruffy blonde hair, flailed about his head wildly, in the wind.

“Boo,” he shouted in delight and I screamed even louder. The whole street must have been engulfed in the sound of my desperate fear.

The kitchen light flicked on causing whatever was at the window to vanish.

“What’s wrong?” Ressler came running into the kitchen, crouching down In front of me.

“Out there.” I pointed towards the back door and Ressler jumped up, hastily unlocking the door and flinging it open. I braced myself for whatever was on the other side, but there was no one there.

I felt almost deaf from my bellowing, and the easy sound of the rustling branches in the back yard was a relief to my ears.

There was not a soul out there. Where had he gone? Ressler turned to look at me in question.

“Someone at the back door,” I told him, sounding more like a cavewoman.

He ran out and I could hear his pounding footsteps all along the porch as he circled the house looking for whatever had just scared the living daylights out of me. I couldn’t even get up off the floor, I was so freaked out.

“I couldn’t see anyone.” Ressler came back into the house, breathing hard.

“There was a man out there. I saw him right before I came in here. That was the reason I was locking up.” I could hardly speak moments ago but now the words were flying out of my mouth. “His face was at the window and he was laughing at me. He looked…crazy.”

“What do you mean, you saw him and that’s why you were locking up? Could you just slow down and tell me what happened?”

“When I was standing at the window, I saw some guy walking to the end of the street. He wasn’t doing anything, just walking. I started to lock up anyway, I don’t really know why- Just in case. And the next thing, his madman face is at the back door. He was trying to scare me and it worked. Then he just vanishes.”

“How do you know it was the same guy?” Ressler looked confused by all this.

“His jacket. Same jacket. Same wild hair.”

“Okay. Here.” Ressler extended his hand to me and helped me up. “Sit down a minute. I’m just gonna check upstairs.”

I eased myself into one of the kitchen stools and when Ressler left to scout the bedrooms, I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder at the kitchen window. I couldn’t see anything apart from my own reflection, but that didn’t stop me from getting up and quickly closing the curtains. That freak was still out there for all I knew, and I was in no hurry to see his face again.

“All clear.” Ressler came back into the kitchen.

I slid up out of the stool. “I’m going to bed. Will you come with me?” I knew sleep was just around the corner because of the sleeping pills and it was so welcome right now, but I didn’t want to be alone.

“Sure.”

Upstairs, I snuggled into Ressler and pretty much straight away, I was fast asleep.

I wasn’t sure whether I was dreaming or not, but the rough pull of a hand on my arm, brought on fogginess that I couldn’t get away from.

“What…” I muttered, trying to prize my eyes open.

“Quick…now.”

I blinked a few times before I was certain I was awake.”

“We need to get out…fire.”

“Fire?” I echoed. I sat up, or I was pulled up. It was hard to decipher which. I couldn’t get my bearings.

“Yes, Fire. Get up now!”

Ressler was next to me, picking me up, and with a deep sigh, he slung me over his shoulder and raced down the stairs with my body banging off his with every step he took. The smell of smoke was heavy in the air and it only just registered what was happening.

My house was on fire. This seemed to wake me up and once outside, I sprang to life. “Ressler,” I started, but he was already running back inside. I wasn’t standing out here, while everything I owned burnt to smithereens and so I ran in after him. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the kitchen cupboard.

The smoke was coming from upstairs and so I flew up there, breathless, running into my room first.

Nothing.

Next, I checked my dad’s room. It was coming from the wardrobe.

The attic.

“You need to get out of here, are you on a death wish?” Ressler yanked the fire extinguisher from my hand and yanked me forward by my arm.

“Get the hell off me,” I shouted. “The fire’s coming from the attic, and all my mom’s stuff is up there. I’m going to get it, so you better get your hands off me. I mean it, Ressler.” I cut daggers at him with my eyes. I was going up there, and he couldn’t stop me.

I snatched the fire eqstuingisher back out of his hands and before I could open the wardrobe and climb in, Ressler braced two hands against the side of it and pushed it so far out the way, it slid to the other side of the room.

I looked at him, amazed. “How did you…?” Never mind.

I slid the wall to the side and made my way up the stairs. The smoke was beginning to sting my eyes and I reared my head back, coughing uncontrollably. Oh no, my mom’s stuff was gonna be ruined.

When I was just about to reach the top, Ressler barged past me, grabbing the eqstuingisher from my hands and raced to the top in a few steps. The next thing I heard was the sound of the foam, suffocating the heat of the fire. The smoke was too thick to see any actual flames, but the smell was so pungent, I was choking on it. Tears streamed from my eyes, not from sadness, from the smoke. I couldn’t go any further up, even if I wanted to. It was too congested up there. I would die off the fumes alone.

The sound from the eqstuingisher stopped, and I heard a loud clatter, like something heavy dropping to the floor. I stood at the bottom of the stairs, expectantly. Roughly ten distressed breaths later, Ressler emerged from the smoke, his face and bare arms covered in black residue.

I stepped back, into my dad’s bedroom to let him past.

“Is everything…”

“Burnt to ashes? Just about.”

“Oh god.” I felt like I was gonna hurl. I sat on my dad’s bed and dropped my head into my hands.

“Don’t you have smoke alarms in this house or something?”

“Of course we do,” I said, not looking up.

“Well they sure as hell didn’t sound.”

“We have them, and they work.”

“This was deliberate. How the hell can a fire even start in the attic?”

“It could have been an accident,” I suggested. I think I was trying to convince myself more than Ressler.

“I’m not doing this with you. Someone deliberately set fire to your house and that’s it!” Ressler’s voice was getting louder by the second. “You’re not safe here anymore. You can’t stay here. I won’t let you stay here.”

“It’s my home!” I protested, tearing my hands away from my face. “I’m staying.”

“Over my dead body.” Ressler laughed savagely. “We’re leaving right now. Get your stuff.

“I don’t want to.”

“I don’t care.”

“Where am I supposed to go? People will start asking questions.”

“Just get some of your things together. I’ll come back for the rest later.”

I couldn’t see the point in arguing anymore. Ressler wasn’t letting me stay and as much as I hated to admit it, he did have a point. Still resigned to the idea, I cut him a look of fury and stormed into my bedroom, aggressively shoving clothes and underwear and whatever else I thought suitable into my bag.