Fallen Soul- Chapter One

Chapter I

I preferred to be blunt and concise. Everything you see up front is what you get. It was one of my personal values.

When I came home with blue hair tomorrow, I decided that would be my excuse.

Jade reached over me and adjusted the ratty old towel draped across my back. I could practically feel the waves of anxiety coming off her. I imagined her almond eyes darting around her bathroom, taking in the waterfall of dyed shower water staining her bathtub, splattering a bit on the tiled walls.

Massaging my scalp- no one likes dye staining their skin- I ran my hair under the water until the liquid streaming off of me came clear. Then, I flipped the towel over my soaked hair, twisting it until the inconsolable mess on my head was contained. I straightened, turning toward Jade with a bright smile.

“Took you long enough,” she said, rolling her eyes. The corners of her mouth threatened to tip upward. “Just look at the mess you made, Indie.”

“I’ll clean up my mess, I promise.” My smile didn’t falter. Maybe I was being ridiculous but I felt refreshed. Renewed! I would be eye-catching, show-stopping. Hopefully ethereal. Ethereal was interesting, someone you were curious to get to know.

My best friend smirked. “Maybe you should look in the mirror.”

I turned to the sink, undoing the towel in my hair and preparing myself. Clumped waves of cerulean fell around my face, a face covered in streaks of bright blue dye. The box had called it “Van Gogh” blue. I really didn’t want to show up to junior year looking like a screwed up Starry Night.

Jade’s mouth opened in a surprised “o”. “You hair is going to look gorgeous!” she exclaimed.

I gestured flatly to my face. “Maybe if we fix this mess first. I can’t even imagine what I’d look like without your help, Jay.”

“Don’t worry about it, girl. I know how to get the stains off.” She grasped a half-empty bottle of nail polish remover and shook it at me. Her eyes narrowed. “It works on the bathtub too.”

I shrugged apologetically. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose.”

Jade laughed, a musical sound. Her smile was like a tilted crescent moon against her dark olive skin. “What are you waiting for? Dry your hair! I need to check on dinner. It has to be perfect for my dad’s sake.” With that, I was alone in the bathroom, staring at my reflection.

I tried a tentative smile at my reflection. It looked awkward, forced. Fake. I couldn’t help but wonder if I looked like this in other people’s eyes. Always shifting and changing some aspect of myself, never still. Others always looked effortless in their makeup, outfit, and actions. I feared I could never feel that way about myself.

My face was a jumble of thick, almost bushy dark eyebrows and a crooked smile. A smile that threw everything off kilter. Freckles sprinkled across my nose and forehead. Perpetually frizzy hair that refuses to abide the laws of physics. Then there was that one stupid cowlick that I had to constantly tuck behind my left ear.

Shaking my head, I switched on the hairdryer and got to work.

***

Dinner that night was spaghetti carbonara. An Italian/Asian family feeding me a classic Italian dish? Yes, please.

Needless to say, I took home seconds the next morning.

Jade pulled her Buick into my driveway, switching to park.

I tucked my newly dyed hair behind my ears and grabbed my bag. Mentally, I ran through the list of precautions I would need to take once inside. Mom was at work until five this evening. That gave me three hours to clean the kitchen- a cleaner house leads to a happier mood- let out the dog and prep for the first day of school on Monday.

Thinking about Monday and starting off my junior year led to a whole new anxiety, a slick, oily pit in the bottom of my stomach. Everyone would be different coming back from summer break. I was different. It was too much unpredictability in a school day for me.

“Oh!” Jade smacked my arm in excitement and I feigned an exaggerated wince. “I forgot to tell you. My dad’s family is coming in to visit. They’re house-hunting in the area!”

I gave her a half-smile. “Great, sounds fun.” I opened the car door.

“This is my hot cousin we’re talking about here, Indigo.”

I froze. “The hot cousin?”

“The one and only,” she replied with a knowing smile. “He’s starting school with us on Monday. I could pull some strings, you know. Just for you.”

“What do you mean, Jay?” I asked slowly. She wouldn’t set me up with her cousin. That sounded awkward just thinking about it. From what she’d told me, this guy was seriously out of my league. From his smoking good looks to his nonchalant, almost reckless attitude I couldn’t even imagine us getting along all that well.

“You know.”

I let out a nervous laugh and exited the car. Leaning forward, I thanked her for the ride and shut the door. The silver car sped away. I strolled to my front porch, fumbling for my key and turning the lock.

As soon as I stepped inside, a massive bundle of fluff barrelled into me, letting out a thunderous WOOF as she licked my cheek. Saturn was a St. Bernard. A fluffy, sad-eyed, brown and white puppy. In other words, she propped both paws up on my shoulders so that we were face to face. Saturn demanded attention like this every time I came back home. I scratched her floppy ears, her fur silky beneath my fingers.

Satisfied, Saturn lowered her paws back to the ground and trotted away.

Feeling tired, I made my way into the kitchen, steps dragging.

And nearly choked on the air I was breathing.

“Indigo, honey, is that you?”

I struggled to get my lungs to start working properly again. My mom was home. This was not a part of the schedule. I’d had no time to prepare!

She seemed to almost turn in slow motion. Any second, she’d see my hair and there would be a reckoning.

Her wide mouth opened in surprise.

I braced myself.

Then hesitated. She wasn’t yelling at me. Wasn’t even scolding me. She was saying something.

“Wake up.” Her face was straight and she gazed at me without emotion. “Wake up. Indigo. Wake up.”

Blood bloomed on the chest of her white blouse like the unfurling petals of a sinister flower. My mother choked on her words, a tiny rivulet of blood trickling from her mouth. There was a sickening squelch as the knife in her back twisted and then was pulled out. She fell forward, hitting the ceramic kitchen tile with a harsh smack.

That was when I saw him. A shadow of a man, he stood behind my mother gripping his bloody dagger. His face was all hard lines and sharp angles. A scar warped his mouth in a permanent snarl, tracing from the side of his chin up to his nose. A patchy gray and black goatee trimmed his face.

Behind him… behind him lay what was left of my dog.

I screamed, the terror raking its claws up my throat and out my mouth, shrieking into the air.

He rushed me, knife gleaming and flashing in the sunlight through the windows. My head slammed back into the wall.

“Wake up,” he growled.

….

….

I blinked. Someone grasped my hand.

It was a white room- white walls, white floor, white sheets, white lights- and I sat on a bed. Across from me sat Jade, her olive complexion pale.

She released my limp hand and covered her mouth. A strangled sound escaped her. A choked sob. “You were gone for a minute there, weren’t you?” she asked me. Her voice was tight and rough, each word sounding like a gasp. Dark circles hovered under her eyes. “You saw it again.”

I couldn’t make myself speak.

“Indie, please. It’s over. You’re safe now. I promise.” She was crying again. I pulled my hand away from hers and the crying got louder. I shrank into myself, knees to my chest, and buried my face in darkness.