The Risen - chapter eight

Kaydence

I furiously scrubbed at plates that were still in the sink from lunch, finding it hard to stop. The sound of the gunshot seemed to play on repeat in my head, my fury deepening with every rewind.

I felt warm hands cover mine, stopping the scrubbing motion, and I turned to see Xander. "Let me," he said, and I slid out of his way as he picked up where I had left off. "Are you okay?"

I gave him a look. What do you think? He nodded in response, gently handing me the plate to dry. "Bash can be…inconsiderate." He replied.

I snorted with disgust, "More like narcissistic." We had so many bigger things to worry about, like what we were going to do about going undercover, eliminating this new threat before it grew more powerful, and now, we also needed to deal with Bash being a psychopath.

“I don’t think he’s a psychopath, yet,” Xander snickered, “He feels more than he lets on. He truly believes he is making us stronger with his discipline.”

“Well, he has pretty poor judgment when it comes to that,” I muttered.

“I do believe death affected us all in some way, making some personality traits harder to resist. Like Sebastian for example, he’s always so angry, maybe his death has something to do with his temper. Or Indie, she’s always looking for an escape, like her death was related to running away from something.” He paused, finishing the last dish and unplugging the drain.

“Or you, you never let anyone see what’s really going on inside your head. You always put up a facade, trying to fool everyone else. I would know,” He winked, pointing to the side of his head.

I sighed, “That is an interesting theory. But how do you relate to your death?” His dark eyes dimmed, snapping down. Xander had been the first of us to remember parts of his old life, in fact, the memory had never left him, much to his frustration.

“I guess…” he ran his fingers through his black hair, making it look even messier than it was before. “I guess I feel the constant responsibility to take care of people, make sure everyone is okay.” He shrugged.

I nodded, agreeing. Xander seemed to always come to me when I needed it the most. It was like a gift. Without him and Aileen we’d all have a mental breakdown every day and not be able to do what needed to be done.

I looked back at Xander, what do I do about Bash? I pleaded. I knew now he was only holding us back with his temper, it needed to be fixed.

“It’s not about what you need to do to fix Bash. However, it’s about you needing to take the time to understand him. You are both alike in so many ways, and much like you, he closes everyone out. Let him in, and in time he will let you in. You might be surprised by him, hell, you might be surprised what you find within yourself,” He explained, casually leaning against the counter across from me.

I bit my lip, processing. That couldn’t be the only way, and why me? Why not Aileen or Indie, or Xander for that matter?

“It’s only going to work with you, and you did say this problem did need to be dealt with, did you not?” He smirked.

I sighed, sometimes his mind reading wore me out, trying to be careful what I think. But god, I didn’t know how I would go on without his constant wisdom.

“You wouldn’t,” he smiled. He closed the distance between us, hugging me. I felt weird at first, but I sank into it eventually. I quiet shimmering sound pulled us away, and I was surprised to see Gaderel in the kitchen.

“Gaderel? I didn’t expect you back so soon,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Yes, sorry for the intrusion but the boss wants us to get started on going undercover tomorrow, so Kaydence, if you will, follow me.” He motioned towards my room, and a nodded, squeezing Xander’s hand before I left.

Thank you, I thought at him, and he nodded and smiled before I turned my attention back to Gaderel. We walked to my room and I offered him the chair from my desk before sitting on the edge of the bed across from him.

“So, how’s this going to work? Do we need new names? New looks? Jobs?” I rambled, naming all the possibilities I could think of.

“Basically, considering your ages, you guys will be enrolling in Forbes High School not too far from here. You, Bash, and Xander will be seniors, Indie and Aileen will be juniors, and Archie will be a sophomore. You will not need to change your first names, but your last names will have to go. You guys will be step-siblings, except for Archie and Indie of course. You will need to immerse yourselves into this culture and keep your ears and eyes open. We believe these new demons have immersed themselves into the town here and will be very hard to recognize, this will be a very slow moving investigation.” He finally silenced, looking at me for confirmation of my understanding.

“So, we need to be normal teenagers. I can’t even remember going to school, and we don’t need to change our looks?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh yes, about that, God has made it so everyone outside of you guys and myself will see your physical appearance completely different from now on. No one will be able to recognize you expect for yourselves. Don’t worry about high school, some of the younger kids like Archie and Indie will remember better than you do.” He started to stand, walking to the more open space in the room. “I have already made sure you’re registered and you start tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM. I suggest you look over the schedules I left in the kitchen and your school bags are supplied in there as well. I would talk to everyone as soon as possible about all of this, and make sure you all understand how you guys are related and come up with a solid backstory so no one contradicts itself. Good luck, I’ll be in touch.” And with that, he was gone just as fast as he had appeared.

I sighed as the stress started over me. I can do this. Why was I struggling so much lately? Auras seemed duller to me, energy and motivation were lower, was I burning out?

The rain continued as I stared out the window, the gloominess reflected my insides, grey and dull. I shook my head, get over yourself, you have a family to take care of, demon ass to kick!

I pushed off of the bed, feeling the dull flame that had been burning in my chest brighten. I went to the kitchen, getting out everything needed to make dinner after I had somehow found a package of ramen noodles tucked away in a cabinet.

“Dinner in twenty!” I yelled.

***

Archie was beaming after I explained the new plan, but everyone else was too preoccupied by the elephant in the room to be excited. Bash had never come back.

“I know it’ll be an adjustment, but we’ll figure it out. Hopefully, it’s short-term, but like we’ve been warned many times, this could very well be long-term.” I took another bite of my food, feeling the heaviness of the silence in the room.

I sighed, “Don’t worry about him, I’ll fill him in after he’s done with his temper tantrum and comes home.” This seemed to ease some of the worries in the room, but we continued to finish our food in silence except for the light conversation that Aileen offered.

“I wonder what we’ll look like to other people,” she had said, and I shot a smile at her, thanking her for changing the subject to a lighter topic.

“I don’t know, maybe our new faces will appear in photos or mirrors?” I replied. We continued to discuss what our new life would look like, and I felt everyone relax.

Indie helped me with the dishes, casually chatting about her high school years and reminding me of what to expect. She told me about how she was always arguing with her parents to give her freedom because she wanted to hang out with her friends and boyfriend. Sounded like an Indie type thing to do.

After everyone had gone to their room, I made some hot tea and sat on the couch. I turned on the tv, mindlessly staring at the dancing colors on the screen, not really thinking. Hours went by as I waited, the moon shining brightly through the back door. I found my mind becoming more and more groggy with sleep, and without meaning to, I drifted off.

When I woke up, it was still night, and I was sweating. I couldn’t place what I had been dreaming of, just that it made me worried about Bash. I look at the clock, 4:24 AM. Surely he had snuck in while I was sleeping.

I turned the tv off, putting my cup in the sink and walking towards Bash’s room. I quietly cracked the door open, and my heart caught when I saw his bed was empty. Fear settled in my stomach like twenty-pound weights. Something was wrong, I could feel it.

I fumbled around the closet, finding a pistol and a flashlight, and started quietly outside the back door. I trodded through the drying mud as I tried to remember where he had taken us yesterday. I wasn't used to the woods in the daytime, and it was almost impossible to navigate in the moonlight.

"Sebastian," I murmured, the feeling of dread tearing my insides. I had no clue where I was, close to being lost myself.

"Gaderel!" I cried. No answer. I couldn't believe I had brushed off Bash's disappearance as a tantrum. If I had been as worried as the others had been, maybe he wouldn't be gone.

I tripped, scrapping my knee and arm as I fell to the wet ground. "Shit," I hissed in pain. I brushed myself off, barely noticing the blood dripping down my leg and arm and the mud covering my clothes.

I searched aimlessly for hours, the sun breaking the sky into hues of gold and orange. I followed my footsteps in the mud back to the house, exhausted and muddy. Aileen saw me as a neared the back door and ran to me with worry written on her face.

"Where have you been? We've all been worried sick! Jesus Kaydence, you're bleeding!" She started to study all my cuts as I stood completely still in her arms.

"He's gone," I whimpered, "Sebastian. He's gone."

-

chapter word count: 1,817

total word count: 15,354