Drained
Chapt. 5
My stomach is sickeningly tight as I finish scratching down about the amulet in my dream journal. I finish my final work and drop it down on my nightstand, sighing and leaning back against my pillows on the bed. The amulet, half hanging off the edge of the bed, was tempting me, calling me to pick it up and hook it around my neck.
Your father wanted you to have it..... Her words flutter over and over in my mind, attacking at my emotions and giving me the urge to fulfill my father's wishes. If she was even telling the truth.
I want Eric here, reassuring me that everything would be alright. Am I really a Dreamer? Or was she just trying to freak me the hell out?
Either way, it wasn't working out to well. After Eric and I's little mix up a while ago, I realize that I should have comforted him instead of freaking out and crying. Maybe I was going crazy, what if Eric wasn't even real just a figure of my imagination, sent by, who knows, to mentally destroy me? Sighing, I bury my head in my hands. Surprisingly, tears haven't spilled from my eyes, washing out my pain and confusion all over my face. Just at the thought, clumpy tears fill my eyes and I slowly release them.
Three hours ago.
The car ride was completely silent. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably and glanced at Eric. His face, stern and tight with worry, gazed at the road as if it were endless. I bit my lip and drifted my eyes from his face as my stomach tightened. I continued to gaze out the window then, watching as the trees rolled passed and the sky was a dark grey, glaring at the earth. The sun didn't glimmer through the clouds which was strange, it wasn’t night. I ignored it though.
After a couple minutes of silence, it slowly became uncomfortable being in a car with him and not speaking.
“Eric,” I said, looking at his serious face again.
He didn’t look at me, “what?”
“Are…….are you angry with me?”
“Will, I---” our eyes locked for brief seconds and for a moment, a dark swirl flashed in his. Suddenly, his arm swung and pushed me back into my seat as we slammed forward on the brakes. The wheels were screaming and my mind was exploding as we skidded to a stop.
I could barely catch my breath before Eric roughly unbuckled his seat belt and jerked out of the car. I blinked twice and my gaze at his back. His fists were clenched at his sides so tight that the skin was turning white and his shoulders were hunched angrily.
I winced inwardly, unbuckling my seatbelt and slipping out of the car.
I jumped when a jolt of thunder erupted in the sky. I looked up and blinked when a drop of beginning rain plopped on my nose. I brushed it away and strolled up to Eric. He was moving, well, trembling slightly. I glided my fingertips over his should and said, “Eric, you okay? We’d better get back to the car.”
“No, Will. I’m not okay and I don’t want to go back to the damn car.”
“It’s going to start raining soon Eric,” I said, gently and walked around him to see his face. The veins in his temples and neck were popping out and the bubbles in my stomach exploded. I swallowed, “there’s a restaurant up ahead. Let’s go in, relax, and we’ll talk this out.”
“Will,” he growled, his eyes were dark as they met mine, “get in the car, turn the hell around, and go home.”
Okay, that went straight to the heart. I bit my lip as tears burned my eyes, “why is this upsetting you so much!” I cried, pacing and wrapping my arms around myself with a tight hold.
He just stood there, not saying anything.
“It’s just an amulet!” I continued, tightening my hands into fists at my sides so hard that the skin blushed a pale white like his did before, “given to me by some…..by some demon!”
“Will!” he snapped, grabbing my shoulders and freezing me in my place. I gazed into his dark eyes as tears slowly began to run down my cheeks, “do you have any idea what that amulet means?! It’s a tracker and once it touches human flesh, it’s marked. Any Shadower can get you now! Every. Single. One. Can. Find. You.” He shook his head, gripping my shoulders harder, “I can’t protect you from all of them! I can get you killed!” he swallowed hard and shook his head again, “or worse, you can become one of them.”
“But I…..”
“The only time that you’re safe is during the day but at night, Willow, they can kill you! And that’s the only time I cannot protect you!”
“I….”
He suddenly shoved me away, “please just go home for now and---” he reached behind his neck and slipped a necklace from its place. The chain was a dark gold and a large grey stone sat at the bottom as he threw it in my face, muttering, “take this,” and stalking off.
I gaped at him as he left and tears dripped my face even more.
***
Now, I sit upon my bed, the amulet he gave me around my neck and my hands gripping tightly in my lap, around the demon amulet. It was pure white, a large beautiful diamond at the base. The chain was made of white metal and it glimmers like pearls.
I gulp down the lump in my throat and I stand up. As I was doing so, a loud knock cracks from the front door. My heart stops and I freeze in place.
Was it a Shadower? Come to drag me to Hell or wherever they take their victims? My stomach clenches.
I suck in a deep breath and storm downstairs. The amuelet Eric gave me must protect me in some way; however, all my bravery melts away once my eyes meet the front door. The hard, dark wood looks scary in the dark hallway and I wince inwardly. It’s not a Shadower, I reassure myself, It can’t be, it’s barely 6 o’clock!
I reach out to the doorknob, clutching the bottom hem of my shirt and holding my breath. I jerk the door open and jump back, feeling like a loser when the figure there isn’t holding a giant sword and laughing crazily. I blink at Jack and grin.
“Uhh,” I murmur, glancing to the side, “hey!”
“You think it was a stranger, Will?” He smirks and chuckles at me as I step aside to allow him inside.
“I forgot you were coming tonight,” I say, pulling him into a hug then strolling into the living room and plopping down on the couch.
“Yeah, no problem, I know you’re pretty absent minded,” he chuckles again and shuffles through his musky, dark blue duffle bag and pull out two DVDs, “nice necklace,” he says, pointing with the corner of one of the DVD boxes towards my neck.
My stomach flip flops, “thanks,” I griped, biting my lip.
“No problem,” he says again, plopping down in his favorite armchair near the couch, “Saw II or Dead Silence.”
“Dead Silence,” I grin as he slips in the disc.
You’re safe for now, my sweet lover, but be careful. Sometimes things are not what they seem.
E.L.
They’re definitely not. I realize that now.
)