A Whispered Darkness (7 page)

“Oh. Yes.” She peered down at the paper in her hand and blinked as if seeing it for the first time. “Yes. Dinner. I should come.”

I took two more steps closer and stopped. A presence hung in the air, and I could sense its frustration and anger writhing in the air around us. A shudder moved down my spine. Mom stood for a few more seconds, then blinked at me and smiled faintly.

“Sorry. I get so distracted sometimes. This house makes me feel, I don’t know…more alive somehow. Like I’ve come home to a place I didn’t even know I missed.”

When she finally moved close, I reached out and slid my arm through hers. “That’s great, but you need to eat.”

She laughed and patted my hand. I flinched, but she didn’t notice. She also didn’t seem aware her flesh was cold as ice. We walked closer to the slice of light that warmed the floor of the hall outside the kitchen, and Mom jerked. Her head turned as though she’d heard footsteps behind us.

“You know, the two of you can get started without me. It’ll only take me a minute to finish reading through those papers.”

She started to pull away, but I held fast. “No way. You’ll go in there and you won’t come out for hours.”
If you come out at all,
I wanted to say.

The atmosphere changed for a moment, and Mom turned back to me, her smile gone. Instead, she studied me like a scientist studies a bug. “Why the hurry? You’ve never been so concerned about my eating before.”

“You’ve never been so obsessed before. You’ll have plenty of time to sit in the middle of the boxes of junk, read, and organize to your heart’s content. But before you get into it, Grant and I would like to have dinner with you. After all, if you’re working night shift, we won’t get to see much of you during the week.”

Her face immediately lost the cool, calculating look and guilt moved across her features. Maybe I should have felt guilty, but as long as it got her away from whatever wanted her in the room, I didn’t care. The longer I postponed it, the more time I had to think of a way to keep her away permanently.

Mom shuffled into the kitchen ahead of me, and I paused, then stared back down the dim hallway. The figure stood in the doorway of the back room, anger seething around it like a tangible thing.

She’s not a plaything. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, stop.
I thought the words, willing the thing back there to hear me as my anger rose.

The figure stepped back, the shadowy form dissolving again into the darkness of the room. Yet the anger didn’t leave. I pushed a hand through my hair. Anger I could deal with. Between the three of us, we had plenty of practice handling that.

***

Everyone was asleep by midnight. Mom had gone to bed early, holding her head and complaining of a headache. While I didn’t want her to hurt, I was glad she didn’t go back to the room downstairs.

I slid my feet into slippers and crossed my arms, as if doing so gave me some sort of extra protection. Taking each step carefully, I eased my way downstairs, then moved to stand in the center of the hallway facing the back room.

“I said this before, but apparently you need to hear it again. We aren’t going anywhere. Getting pissy about it isn’t going to change anything. Leave my family alone. All we’ve done is come in and clean up this wreck. It’s a home now.”

As I stood there, the temperature dropped and a breeze ruffled my hair. It stopped, and a low, menacing growl rumbled the floorboards under my feet. My heart leapt to my throat, but I tried to keep my bravado going and stomped one foot.

“Stop it. You’ve seen what we’ve done already. This place was in bad repair. We’ve fixed it. Is that really so bad?”

The sound stopped; the temperature warmed a few degrees. The silence became thick and heavy. I nodded once. “All right, then.”

Turning around, I made my way upstairs only to find Grant sitting on the top step.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I looked away. “Nothing.”

“I don’t think it liked whatever you said.” Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his hair stuck out in all directions.

Taking a seat next to him, I shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll help. Why are you awake anyway?

He yawned. “I thought you were Mom, and I was coming out to head her off before she got back into that room. Something down there is not right. And it wants her.”

“You saw it?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Fear shivered in Grant’s eyes, even in the dark. “Saw what?”

“There was a presence there earlier.”

“No,” he said. “I didn’t see anything. I just didn’t like the way it felt back there.”

I slid an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. When he didn’t pull away, I realized how freaked out he was. “Listen, Grant, it’ll be all right. Things don’t look good for now, but it will turn around.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t lie to me or feed me optimistic bull. You’re worried, and it scares the shit out of me. So do my dreams, honestly.”

“Dreams?”

“Horrible nightmares I can’t seem to shake. A lot of death and blood and dark things I don’t want to think about.”

Helplessness overwhelmed me, and I hugged him. “I’m sorry. What can I do to help?”

“Just don’t—” He stopped and blew out a long breath. “Don’t lie to me. Give me honest answers when I ask you questions. Mom and Dad and everyone else have done enough of it. You’re the only one who hasn’t. I feel like it’s you and me against everyone else.”

Tears burned my eyes and I blinked them back, grateful he couldn’t see them in the darkness. “Deal.”

He stretched, then rose. “I think it’s time to try and get back to bed. School starts tomorrow.” We headed back to our respective rooms, and Grant chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Never in my life have I been so happy to say those words.”

***

Mom dropped us off in front of Ocean Lakes High School with a smile and a wave. Grant leapt out of the car. I hung back, my thumbs hooked in the straps of the book bag, staring up at the brick building. Memories of other hallways and the whispers and stinging comments welled up. Nervous butterflies fluttered in my gut.

“Hello!” Bryan waved, looping a huge camera around his neck as he hurried across the wide expanse of cement sidewalk to us. A few people gave us a curious once-over and moved on.

“Hey, Bryan.” I tried to keep my tone upbeat. Right now, I wanted to blend in. With one finger, I motioned to the digital camera. “What’s all this?”

“I’m on the newspaper and yearbook staff. The more photos we have, the better, right?”

I nodded and allowed him to lead the way into the building. As he chattered about the student body and various club activities he
knew
I’d love, I slipped my class schedule from my pocket.

“Hello again.” A deep voice sounded behind me, and I suppressed a shiver. The boy from the grocery store. He stretched out a hand when I turned. “Haven Elliott. We met the other day.”

“I remember,” I said and pumped his hand up and down. “Nice to see you again.”

Haven’s glance grew glacial as he turned to Bryan. “Nice to see you too, Bryan.”

Bryan’s smile faded a little. “Always a pleasure, Haven.”

They both looked like they’d rather chew nails than talk to each other. Bryan looked back at me and the schedule in my hand. “So, what classes have you got?”

I handed him my schedule to look at. Haven shifted his book bag on his shoulders, his gaze moving to the clock. “Maybe I’ll see you later, Claire. I hope you like Ocean Lakes.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “Me too.”

Bryan handed back my schedule. “I hope you don’t mind, but we’ve got a couple classes together.”

Forcing a smile, I glanced at the first room number, then folded it and stuck it in my pocket. “Of course not. But you and Haven don’t seem to get along well.”

Bryan shrugged. “We’ve known each other a long time. Nothing big.”

“Oh.”

He waved to someone across the hall, then flashed me a wide grin. “I’ll see you in class, all right? I don’t want to cramp your style on your first day of school.”

I laughed. “Cramp my style? What style?”

His eyebrows lifted. “Oh, you’ve definitely got style. In all the good ways.”

Grant snickered on my left and I elbowed him. He pretended to rub his side and then pulled out his schedule. “All right, Sis. See you later. Don’t want to cramp your style by hanging around too long.”

“Wait for it, dude. You’re going to get a girlfriend and all the comments are going to come back to haunt you.”

He grinned. “Whatever. I’m not the one with admirers.” Grant crumpled his schedule in his hands and waved as he headed down a side hallway.

I entered the room and took a seat in the back. No need to draw more attention than I already did. Maybe if I kept a low profile, I could stay under the radar after the initial curiosity wore off. Maybe this time school would be different.

Maybe.

Being the new kid, I got many stares, and I tensed each time someone glanced at me. But when I searched their faces for signs of disgust or judgment, to my relief, they only seemed to be curious.

Little by little, I relaxed. The first day is the same no matter where you are. Long, boring, and full of roll calls, seating charts, class expectations, and book assignments. Mind-numbing tasks, mostly. It was easier than I anticipated to be there, in the middle of so many people again. With all their energy pressing in, I was managing better than I thought I might have. It was like traveling up a mountain and feeling the pressure change, but being unable to pop your ears. Just short of being painful, but enough to make your skin crawl if you thought too much about it.

But by third bell, I itched to get out of my seat and get out of the building. My book bag bulged with papers and new books. Things had gone relatively well, and then I walked into my government room. Haven sat in a back corner, politely nodding to something a girl in front of him was talking about.

He caught my eye when I walked in and smiled. A thrill shot through my belly. I pulled my gaze away and picked a seat in the next row. Maybe not the most subtle of moves.

“Hello again.” Haven said.

I propped my book bag up against the side of the desk. “Hey. I hope it’s all right I sit next to you?”

Haven nodded. “Definitely.”

The girl in front of Haven gave me a once over and turned away to talk to a friend. Haven didn’t seem to notice that no one else really spoke to him, beyond a few polite “hellos.” They seemed to avoid even looking too closely at him.

Just before the bell rang, Bryan flew through the door and made his way down the rows of seats to sit on my other side. He leaned over and smiled. “Hey. How’s the day going so far?”

“Good, thanks.” I was saved from any further small talk by our teacher starting class. Bryan meant well, I thought, but he made me uncomfortable. He just seemed too interested too fast. I wasn’t sure why.

Mr. Larsen took a stack of books from the shelf next to his desk and proceeded to pull each of us up one at a time to sign out a textbook. The class erupted into murmured conversations, and I released a long breath.

“So what do you think of Ocean Lakes so far?” Haven asked. He flashed a smile. “Hopefully it hasn’t been too hard being the new girl.”

“You make us sound awful,” Bryan said, shooting Haven a glare.

Haven didn’t respond, but his expression turned icy.

“It’s been okay so far,” I answered. I could have cut the air between them with a knife, though I didn’t understand the animosity.

“Good. Maybe it will stay that way.” Haven said.

Bryan’s voice was like poison. “If you keep hanging out with Haven, no one will bother you. Trust me.”

Irritation flared in my gut. So much for staying under the radar. “Seriously? I don’t know what you two have going on, but you can keep me out of it.”

They both looked away, and Bryan’s face flushed. Offering me a crooked smile, he shrugged. “We have been a bit annoying. Sorry.”

He seemed sincere, but at the same time his very changeable nature made me shiver. Until now, he’d been so polite. A little overly friendly, maybe. I glanced at Haven, who watched Bryan with what looked like concern. The idea unsettled me.

Both of them were strange. Bryan was a nice enough guy. But everyone knew him and spoke to him. They seemed to like him, or at least put up with him. But Haven…the girl in front of him turned around to pass a paper back. When Haven’s hand accidentally brushed hers, she jumped and something that looked like repulsion passed over her face.

The boy sitting on his other side had said hello earlier. But it wasn’t friendly. It was cold. Empty. A polite gesture that he had to do because it was a small town and appearances must be kept.

The contradictions fascinated me. Everyone was polite to him, they spoke to him and smiled, but beneath those bland gazes, there were other things. Fear, disgust, and even a little distrust. What could he have possibly done to deserve that?

I didn’t know anyone well enough to ask questions. And I doubted whether anyone would give me the whole, unbiased truth. I didn’t need to look for trouble anyway. We had enough problems at home.

I leaned my head on the desk and sighed. I didn’t need this. It was bad enough to be at school, to feel the weight of so many minds and dreams again. I’d almost forgotten what that burden felt like. The weight of souls pressing against one another.

The first assignment, a mini essay about a current event, finally made it back to me. It was a relief to focus on anything else. I didn’t have to try to make small talk with either of them for the moment. Mr. Larsen called me up to get a book and I slid out of my seat.
Just make it another fifteen minutes and then you can go to lunch
.

Lunch. A whole other social problem. I was the new kid, on the first day of school. I doubted Grant would sit with me. The best I could hope for was an empty table somewhere.

As I headed back to my seat, thick Government book clutched to my chest, I studied the two boys on either side of me. This would be a long school year if they kept it up. However, I didn’t have to worry about trying to make conversation. We worked on the mini essay and then Mr. Larsen stood and gave us a reading assignment due the next class. I scribbled it down in my planner. The bell rang as I finished, and I took my time loading my book bag. Haven glanced at me, pointing to the door and raising an eyebrow. “Coming?”