Between (9 page)

As this feeling grabs me in a stranglehold, I notice other figures around. People walk along the alley, apparently oblivious to the assault. They shimmer in and out of focus
, and I half expect to see the blonde man from the night of the accident step from the shadows.

The dizzying pain crushes my chest
, and I’m aware the sadness I’m feeling is the threat of death. Another figure approaches, and I think he’ll pass by like the others. The man is tall with scruffy clothes and dark, curling hair. If I could move, I’d rub my eyes because he looks like Alek; but a Technicolor, large-than-life Alek, as if I'm watching him on a movie screen in a darkened theatre. He strides down the alley and without looking at me, he grabs the girl’s arm and breaks the connection.

The ground comes up to meet me; cold
, hard tarmac in a world returned to colour. The sounds of the evening return and the grey clears. Heaving breath into my lungs, I hold my aching chest and rest my face on the cool, gritty ground. From the sideways angle, I watch as the man holds the girl by both arms and pulls her close to him. It
is
Alek. Where the hell did he come from? The girl fights against him, and to my satisfaction, she finds it as hard to move as I did when she held me.

Then he kisses her.

Panic pushes in, and I pull myself up on my weak legs. Alek knows her. He’s involved with whatever weird shit this girl is doing to me. But she doesn’t want him to kiss her; he has his hands clamped around her head, crushing her face to his and she struggles, clawing at his hands. My stomach turns over, conflicted by the relief he stopped whatever was happening and his assault of a vulnerable girl. I stumble against the wall, rubbing my palm on the rough bricks to confirm reality. All the while, Alek’s eyes are on me and every cell in my body screams at me to get the hell away and now.

The outline of the girl shimmers and I rub my eyes against the hallucination. I can see a ghostly outline where
Alek had hold of her, as if I’ve closed my eyes and the imprint of her remains. But my eyes are open and she’s faded. Gone.

CHAPTER
10

As
Alek turns his attention to me, I prepare to bolt, sizing up the possibility of getting past the gap between him and the wall. I’ve no energy, my chest is burning, and my muscles are weak, so I don't think my chances are good. Black dots dance around in my vision, but at least the grey has gone.

"Rose." He holds his hand up in a gesture of peace, indicating he’s not going to touch me
, but I can’t believe him, not after what I saw him do to the girl. I sidestep him on wobbly legs. Alek doesn’t try to take hold of me, but blocks my exit.

"What the hell just happened? I want to go!" I rasp.

"I’ll take you home." He rubs his forehead. "I didn’t think you’d be found so quickly."

"Found? By who?"

Alek runs both hands through his hair and shifts his look around the alleyway. "We can't stay here."

"Where’s she gone? That girl
."

"She’s gone to where she needs to go but
doesn’t want to. I helped her."

I steady myself on the wall, chest constricting with panic now
. His evasiveness isn’t helping calm me down.

"It's bad enough you coming out alone with Finn, but this
, as well..." He spits the name. "Where is he?"

"How did you know where I was? Are you stalking me?"

Alek steps closer and I back up, hitting the wall. He steps away, indicating he’s not trying to trap me. Every muscle in my upper body is tensed, terrified at what he’s going to do.

"I won’t touch you." He’s close enough for me to feel the crackling warmth between us, his hardened eyes fixed on mine. I can’t tell if he’s upset with me, Finn
, or someone else.

"What’s going on?"

"A few days ago, I said we needed to talk. Is it okay if we do that tonight?" he asks. "Come back to the house." My eyes widen at his plea. "I’ll keep you safe."

The cool bricks against my back keep me grounded in this strange evening.
Why do I need keeping safe?

"From what?"

Alek’s chest expands as he heaves in a breath. "Everything, Rose."

Ordinarily, I’d tell him to get lost
; I’m not some weak girl who needs protecting. But I don’t think this is ‘macho male protecting the little woman’; I think it’s much more. Something involving disappearing girls who try to tear my life from me and about what lurks in the fog pervading my life.

I cross my arms
over my chest and shiver slightly.

"We should go before anyone else comes
," Alek says.

"I need my bag and coat
, and I should tell Finn what’s happened…tell him I'm going." My brain won’t function correctly; even though the fog has gone, the dreamlike world I’m in remains with me.

Alek
stares at me as if I’m not in my right mind. "No, you shouldn’t. I’ll get your things and tell him you’re not well."

When
Alek disappears into the building, I slump against the wall and stare up at the cloudy night sky. I’d run, but I don’t have the energy. Rubbing my cold hand over my face, I consider whether Alek just saved my life. And if he did, from what? Running could be a bigger mistake; what if there’s more like her?

A flustered
-looking Alek steps out of the pub, my jacket and bag scrunched in his hand. "Come on."

I hesitate, expecting Finn to follow him out.
Alek’s arrival and my decision to leave with him must seem odd. Finn doesn't appear and I wonder what their conversation entailed because last time, their exchange wasn’t polite.

In the split
-second decision that follows, I don’t realise the choice I’m making. "Okay. Take me home."

****

Alek drives a beaten-up white sedan, which doesn’t match his image as well as a motorbike might.
Why am I thinking things like that?
He opens the door for me, surveying round us as he closes it. Inside, I rub my arms. Alek puts my jacket on the back seat and I don’t have the energy to reach for it.

"How do you feel now?" asks
Alek, turning the car ignition.

"Like I could sleep for a week." I snuggle down in the seat.

"No, you can’t do that," says Alex tersely.

I cough a laugh
, and then wince at the pain the movement sends through my chest. "I can’t sleep?"

"Stay awake."
Alek leans over, flips the air temperature as low as it can go and turns the output to max.

Goosebumps spring up on my arm. "What the hell? It’s freezing!"

"Like I said, stay awake."

Halfway home and fed up with shivering, I turn the
temperature up. Alek immediately turns it back down. I repeat the action.

"Do you want me to slap your hand?" he growls.

"Excuse me?"

Alek
turns the air back to the lowest temperature. "If you fall asleep now, you might not like where you are when you wake up."

I shrink back in my seat, unsure now whether I should’ve stayed with Finn instead. His veiled threat tightens my chest further and I glance at the door handle. Maybe if we stop at traffic lights
, I could get out.

And go where?

****

By the time we reach the house, the woozy feeling is edging my consciousness
into the grey fog again. I stumble through the front door and make a beeline for the sofa, flopping onto it like I’m drunk.
I just want to sleep; what is his problem?

"Rose!"
Alek storms over and stands over me. He’s moving his fingers as if he wants to touch me but won’t. "Sit up! Before you go to sleep."

"I’m too tired…" I mumble.

"Lizzie!" he yells.

Nobody responds. I yawn and huddle against the back
of the sofa, wishing I had a blanket. At least my chest doesn’t hurt as much now. The red-haired girl comes into the room, and I smile weakly at her. Alek turns to follow my line of vision.

"Is she going?" asks
Clarissa. "She can’t go yet."

Alek
says nothing and turns back to me. "Don’t let her touch you."

"Why would she touch me?"

Alek sits on the arm of the chair and takes off his jacket, eyes fixed on Clarissa.

Her eyes flick between us. "She can’t go yet!"

"She’s not going anywhere."

Folding her arms across her chest,
Clarissa shakes her hair back over her shoulders. "You don’t need her right now. She can help me."

"No
, she can’t! Look at her!"

The girl edges
closer and peers at me. "She’s faded." Then she looks at Alek. "And you’re stronger. Did you do it? Why?"

"I haven’t touched her! And nor should you…" His voice growls enough of a warning the girl backs off.

"But you’ll share her? Lizzie said you'd help me do what I needed and I can't do that on my own. I need..."

"Just fuck off," he interrupts.

Clarissa snorts at him. Alek stands, moving toward her. "It wasn’t me; it was one of you. The one responsible has gone now. For good. And if you don't leave me alone, you’ll be next."

The pale girl’s face turns whiter, and she steps back. "No. You didn’t…wouldn’t."

"Try me."

Throughout the conversation, my hearing dulls and keeping my eyes open is gradually more difficult.
Why can’t I go to sleep?
Alek and the girl continue their mysterious conversation about me, their words adding to the sensation I'm dreaming. Being talked about as if I’m some kind of commodity to be shared would normally get me up and yelling at them, but I can’t be bothered. The pain subsides as my mind blackens and sleep approaches.

T
he muted colours from the alleyway outside the pub are replicated in the lounge room, as if I’m in a black and white version of the house. I’m the only person here now; besides a strange whooshing noise in my ears, I can’t hear anything. Alek and the girl have vanished and I’m no longer cold. Bed. I need sleep. Dreaming about going to bed? Weird.

I climb the stairs, step by step
, and pause when I get to the landing outside Alek’s room. The greyness darkens around me and the whooshing becomes a humming, voices clamouring in my head. I know I should go to bed, but my dreaming self wants to look in mysterious rooms. Not Alek’s, the one next to it where the girl came from that day. As I step closer, I notice light beneath the door, which relieves me because I didn’t want to walk into a dark room, even in my subconscious. I step closer to the door, hand outstretched. I know what’s behind the door: peace and quiet, away from annoying guys in leather jackets and freaky girls with red hair
.

Am I in the shower?
I jerk awake and open my eyes. Alek looks down at me, holding an empty glass. Cold water trickles off my face and soaks my hair.

"What the hell?" I yell at him, sitting
up.

"I said don’t go to sleep!"

I want to push him, throw something at him, scream, but surprise prevents me. I blink at him. Never mind he threw water at me, he’s luminescent. "Are you
glowing
?"

"Am I?" He says it as if he
doesn’t realise or thinks I shouldn’t notice.

"Yeah. I’m dreaming again,
aren’t I?"

"Where did you go?"

"When?"

"When you slept just then."

"Nowhere, I was in the house."

He tenses. "This house? Where?"

I wipe water from my face and smooth back my damp hair. "Just upstairs. I was going to bed. In my dream. Which is where I’m going now. In what I hope is a bad dream."

I get to my feet and wobble slightly, grabbing the sofa arm for stability.

"Rose, if you sleep, you won’t wake up." Alek says the words quietly, like a doctor trying to soothe a patient.

"Don’t be stupid." But his words
trigger goosebumps across my skin.

Alek
faces me and I shiver; from the water cooling my neck and shoulders, and from his proximity. His expression holds a frightening intensity, darkened eyes filled with concern and something unknown. An unexpected desire for his touch shudders through, the arousal edging out the fear.

"I’m going to kiss you," he says.

"I don’t think so!" But the image flies into my mind, igniting heat into my weak body. A body telling me what a great idea it would be to feel those full lips I've stared at more than I should pressed against mine.

Alek
rakes a hand through his hair. "But I don’t want to."

"Wow, thanks.
I’ll give it a miss then." Heat of embarrassment replaces the desire, and I turn away.