Witness (7 page)

I felt someone grab my arms and pull them behind me, then hold me tight against them. I looked up to see Aden holding me back. “Let me go - I’m gonna KILL him!”

“Charlie – Charlie – stop!” Aden yelled over and over again. When I wouldn’t listen, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

“That’s right – take her away,” Winston said smugly.

Aden whipped around and punched him square in the jaw; the power of the blow sent him to the floor. Aden then put his foot on his chest to hold him there. “Don’t – you – dare get up!”

With me still on his shoulder, he reached for the controllers to the gaming unit and pulled them loose. “Game time is over. You better hope she isn’t still mad at you when she see’s Draven because if she is – you’re a dead man.”

“Let me down!” I yelled as I kicked my legs

Aden’s strong arm held my legs still as he turned and took me to the kitchen. Once there, he let me fall. I tried to charge around him, but he blocked the door. “Let it go, Charlie.”

“Who the hell does he think he is?!”

Aden’s eyes looked over my head as he sighed. I turned around to see Nana at the counter, making plates of food while the girl – I guess her name was Monroe – sat at the bar. Her hair was jet black and straight, and most of it was in her face. Her nose ring was black now, and so was her lipstick. Her expression was placid…she almost didn’t look real.

“Where’s Draven?” I asked as I looked at Nana.

“Not here, thank God,” Aden mumbled behind me.

As I turned to glare at him, he raised his arms defensively. “I’m just saying…that would have gone down worse otherwise.”

“Worse?! It’s not over – I’m gonna kill that kid. Seriously, was he not spanked as a kid or something?!”

At that moment, I heard a slight laugh and turned to see the girl looking at me with an amused look on her face. Not a sarcastic look; more like a ‘I was thinking the same thing’ look.

Nana was staring at her with wonder as if she had just said something remarkable. I looked behind me to Aden, who had the same expression.

As I turned and began to walk to the counter, I let out a deep breath. I looked over the girl. Everything on her was black: her tights, her skirt, her top, her lace gloves – everything; entirely too Goth if you ask me. “I liked the purple nose ring better,” I said as I pulled out a stool.

It looked like she tried to smile before she looked down and let her hair fall around her face. I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at Nana. I couldn’t figure out why she was smiling at me and this girl.

“I made you something to eat,” Nana said as she pushed a plate over to me.

“Where’s Draven? What time is it?”

“Past dinner. Draven is playing,” Nana said as she pushed the plate closer to me.

“Look, I love you – but I have too much anger and adrenaline running through me to eat right now.”

“That’s why you need to eat; so you can calm down. Do you want me to feed you – or can you do this yourself?” Nana asked firmly.

I bit my bottom lip as I looked down at the plate. “I’m not a child anymore. I’m mad, and I want answers.”  I tensed, prepared for an argument – at the very least, a scolding. I had never once been so rude to Nana, and she didn’t deserve it - but I couldn’t help it; I was mad.

All at once, I felt a warm sensation on my shoulders, then a calm eased through my body. I looked behind me to see Draven’s mom, glowing in all her wonder standing behind me. I smiled slightly and nodded. I felt shocked stares on me and looked to my side to see Monroe staring at me and Draven’s mom with eyes wide and mouth slightly open. If it were possible, her skin became paler.

I looked back at Dravnen’s mom. “I think she needs you as much as I do,” I said, nodding to Monroe. The ghostly image reached for the girl’s arm.  You could tell she wanted to run, but fear had paralyzed her. Once she felt the calming energy of her touch, Monroe relaxed her shoulders as if she were finally finding a wanted comfort.

I shook my head slightly and reached for the sandwich on my plate. As I took a bite, I looked at Nana to tell her sorry, but she wasn’t looking at me; she was staring at Draven’s mom as if she were taking in some kind of direction. Nana nodded once. “Next time…show up sooner,” she said quietly.

Draven’s mom let us go, then glided across the room. As she passed Aden, she let her hand run across his jaw. As she vanished at his side, his entire body relaxed.

“Sorry,” I mumbled between bites. I figured the faster I ate, the faster I’d get answers.

“What’d she say?” Aden asked as he came to the counter.

Nana didn’t say a word; she just stared at him. It was clear she was showing him – that he was ‘seeing’ her. Aden didn’t seem thrilled with what he saw.

“Why don’t you show me - or is that a secret? Can someone tell me where Draven is? Or at least give me a phone so I can call him?”

“Playing,” Aden said as he ran his fingers through his hair and looked down.

“Right. You said that. Where?” I said as I took the last bite of my sandwich.

Nana pushed a bowl of fruit to me. I thought about arguing but gave in instead.

“Dad found a place for us to play. If we’re gonna have the concert you want, we can’t have it here; the music is already calling more shadows than we can handle.”

“Where?” I asked again.

“The old high school on the edge of town,” Aden finally answered

“That place is ancient – downright scary. Is he there alone?”

“No. Dad, Grayson, and Madison are there. They’re just setting up equipment, finalizing the closing papers for Dad to buy it. Dad spent most of the day with the codes people, making sure it was safe enough for us to be in there.”

“Where’s my car?” I asked as it dawned on me that I’d left it with Evan. I knew where that school was, and I was ready to go.

“At your house,” Aden answered.

“My bag?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “There, I guess. I’ll take you there.”

“Take me to the school,” I said as I stood up.

“Not tonight,” he mumbled.

“What?! Who are you to say where I can go?” I asked sarcastically, which earned another quiet laugh from Monroe

Aden tightened his jaw and walked around the counter, then looked down at me. “Don’t shoot the messenger – focus on me,” he said through gritted teeth.

I stared up at him and focused. All at once, I was standing in the garage, watching Draven and that Grayson guy load amps and guitars into the back of his Hummer. Draven walked over to Aden. “When she wakes up, take her home. I don’t want her around Winston – and don’t leave her; that demon is following her. She’ll be stubborn enough to call him or go over there – don’t let her – you hear me?”

“She won’t listen,” Aden said as he tried to get out of having to watch out for me.

“Tell her it’s what I want. Tell I love her and that I need her to trust me – I need her safe,” Draven said as he closed the hatch on his truck and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Will you do that?”

“You will,” Aden said grimly, obviously hating the fact that he was left behind.

Draven stared forward. “Right…work on that with her – I want her to see in an instant.”

I focused my eyes and brought myself out of the vision, only to see Aden staring down at me. He raised one eyebrow. “I don’t like being put in the middle. Don’t make this hard on me – k?”

“Whatever,” I mumbled.

Nana took my plate. Once she put it away, she looked at me. “We need to talk – can we go outside?”

I furrowed my eyebrows and nodded. Nana looked at Aden, then nodded toward Monroe. He moved his head from side to side, disagreeing with whatever he was silently told to do.

I followed Nana to the garage door, then down the steps. The fall night was cool; you could feel winter on the horizon. I always loved fall, the end of summer; maybe it was because my birthday fell in October – the end of it anyway.  I couldn’t believe how close I was to eighteen. I felt older than that – a lot older.

Nana leaned against Aden’s gold Hummer and looked over me carefully. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” I said, feeling a little guilty for being short with her earlier.

“I need you to let Monroe stay with you.”

“Seriously? Madison has already taken over my house – I’m never alone,” I complained, regretting that I had agreed to do anything.

“Charlie, that girl has not made one expression – one sound – since she’s been here. You walk in the door, and she laughs – not once, but twice.  Autumn said you needed to be near her.”

I looked up at her. Autumn was Draven’s mom’s name; she was always called Mom around me, but when Nana or Evan talked about her they’d say ‘your mother’ or ‘my daughter.’

“What did she show you?” I asked, doubting her words, instead wanting to focus on Nana and see it for myself.

“That you need that girl as much as she needs you. Seriously, Charlie, Autumn hadn’t shown herself in almost two weeks; Draven thought it was because of these kids.”

I rolled my eyes. “Because of that Winston kid? Why would Evan bring someone like that here? Is Grayson like that?”

“No…don’t worry about him; this is just how he’s coping with what he sees. He’s a good boy...I’ve seen deep inside him.”

“Yeah, well, I saw hell,” I countered, knowing whatever she saw had to be really deep inside.

Nana raised one eyebrow. “Was it like a dream, or a reality?”

“There is no reality like that.”

“Then he was letting you see the place Draven is called to…they all have a way of showing you what they want you to see. When I see him, I see a boy who’s scared and confused. When Draven and Aden see him, they see a boy that’s trying to hard to be something he’s not; they see the act that says he’s not afraid.”

“That wasn’t an act – he’s a perve.”

“He’s jealous,” Nana said firmly.

“Of what?”

“What Draven has: you.”

“What?”

“I think he has a crush on you…Draven caught him wandering through his thoughts of you, and a fight broke out. I think he just wants what Draven has – someone who understands what he is and loves him in spite of it.”

“OK, that’s gross – and second of all, I am what Draven is.”

“No, dear, you’re not…you’re on the opposing side – and you need to make sure you keep Draven fighting to be on your side.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Listen,” Nana said as stepped closer to me.  “Everything has changed…I thought that if…I always surrounded him with love and made him see that there was a positive to the darkness he would see that this day would never come…but it’s here now, and we just have to figure out how to fight it.”

“Explain to me what he’s seeing. I know you’ve seen it; Evan told me so.”

Nana looked down, then up at me. “It’s like a dream, a nightmare; anything can happen…at first I thought it was in his head, but now after watching Grayson and Winston, I think it’s more like an out-of-body experience; his soul goes somewhere dark.”

“He said he was moving between memories, picking things up – that Britain could even see him.”

Nana nodded. “When I saw that, I knew I was right about the out-of-body experience. Somehow, he’s moving himself; he’s found a different level of his gift - but it’s dangerous, Charlie…I don’t know what to expect. All I know is that right now, the only thing saving him is you and his music.”

“I’m not a good luck charm. I wanna learn how to do what he’s doing – fight at his side. I don’t have the temper he has. I’ll be able to see clearly.”

“You need to master seeing first. How easily is it coming?”

“I have to tell myself to focus; it’s easier to see the dead - at least, I think it is. I really haven’t helped much of anyone lately. I can feel the impatience building,” I answered as my eyes drifted toward the night that was just outside the garage.

“Well…seeing any of us isn’t doing you any good. We’ve all learned to guard our thoughts; we had to. If these kids or Draven see our fears and take them to that place with them, we’ll become a target. They’ll come after the ones they care about – or even know.”

“Why? Explain this to me – what demons?”

“Charlie…if there’s no one to go home to, then there’s no reason to go home…these demons want these kids to stay there - for what, I don’t know or understand.”

“How am I gonna learn to see if everyone has their guard up?”

“Go in public. People watch.”

“Public didn’t work out for me today,” I said as my anxiety instantly made itself known in the core of my stomach.

“That Bianca girl is thriving off your fear. You would have been fine if you’d just calmed down…anger would have even served you better than fear.”

“Easy for you to say,” I mumbled.

“Charlie, don’t fight me on this…I don’t know how to guide you. I’m going on a feeling and a hope.”

“When you taught me to see again – to see that night of my party – you told me not to step into a memory, that I could get trapped there. Have you changed your mind? Is it safe to do what Draven’s doing?”