Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) (10 page)

I drew in a deep breath and held it there as I
watched my door slowly and quietly shut before my eyes. I sprang from my bed
and rushed into the hallway to catch the culprit, but found it empty. After I
searched the house, checking every nook and cranny, I went back to my room. I
double checked the lock before climbing back into bed for what I was sure was
going to be a sleepless night.

*

I woke up just as the first ray of morning sunlight
shone through my bedroom windows. As soon as my eyes popped open I got out of
bed, threw on the first pair of jeans and shirt my hands could grab, and headed
over to Don’s house. If anyone could figure out what I had seen when I was
woken up in the middle of the night, it was Don. He came in contact with more
supernatural beings than I cared to know about. Nothing could sneak past him.

“Kamlyn!” he greeted me and opened his creaky
screen door. “You’re up early.”

I stepped into the foyer and looked around. His
home seemed like it had been beautiful back when a family had lived in it, but
now that it was just Don, the place looked old and run down. He didn’t have the
time to clean it or make repairs, especially since more than half the time he
was out on the road like me. I suggested a long time ago that he get a roommate
or a maid to take care of the place while he was gone, but he wasn’t what most
would consider a people person. He claimed to be too old to have a roommate and
a maid would just be freaked out by all the weaponry in the house. He
did
have a valid point there. I walked over to the living room and sat down on a
once white couch with little yellow daisies on it.

“Something happened last night,” I began as soon as
Don settled into his worn out recliner chair.

I told him all about the incident in my room and we
tried to figure out what it could have been. After considering many dead ends,
we sat in silence trying to think some more.

“Maybe it was just a dream. Being back home might
be messing with your head,” Don suggested as he looked at me, softening his
glance.

I thought about what he said for a moment. Maybe I had
dreamt the whole thing. It seemed so real, though. I’d had vivid dreams before,
just never about things creeping around in the dark. They were usually about my
son. Just then an idea entered my mind and I said it aloud before thinking it
through.

“Do you think…?” I started to say, but stopped
myself. I knew it would sound crazy and desperate, but I couldn’t help but
consider it. “…maybe Danny’s still there?” I concluded as I looked down at my
folded hands.

I didn’t want to see the look Don must have been
giving me. Everyone thought the spirit of their loved ones were reaching out to
them, when really it was just some bad wiring and cold drafts. I knew better. I
had been trained better. One thing I hated about myself was that I always let
my emotions cloud my judgment. When I looked up, I was surprised to see Don
nodding his head in agreement. He tented his fingers in front of his lips as he
considered it.

“It’s entirely possible,” he reasoned. “Violent
deaths often cause lost spirits.”

My eyes started to sting as I thought about my
sweet little boy wandering the house, sad and alone, crying for his mommy. If
he was still there I had to find him and explain why I left for so long.

“I know what you’re thinking, Kammy, but this
doesn’t mean you’ve got your son back,” Don said in a hushed voice.

He looked down at the discolored carpet instead of
into my tear filled eyes, knowing I didn’t want to hear what he had to say
next.

“You have to do what you would do with any other
ghost haunting a home.”

My vision blurred as I stared at an old photograph
of Don’s family on the wall. How could I get rid of my own son? Even as the
thought of being reunited with him ran through my head, I knew it was not
right. As much as I hated to admit it, Danny was not meant to be here anymore
and it was my responsibility to show him the way to where he should be.

“It may or may not be Danny. All I know is there’s
definitely something unnatural going on in your home,” Don said as he ran his
fingers through his unkempt hair, tousling it in different directions. “I felt
it.”

We both knew how hard this was going to be for me.
Getting someone to realize they’ve passed on was always an emotional
experience. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was going to be with my five year
old son. I was worried that the minute I saw him, I wouldn’t be able to let him
go. I already lost him once before and it was the hardest thing I’d ever been
through. Was I really ready to feel that way all over again?

When I got back home Cara was already at work and I
found the house quiet. While I had the place all to myself, I decided it was
the perfect time to investigate. I walked up the stairs, listening to the
floorboards creak under every step I took. As I reached for the doorknob to
Danny’s room, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. On the other side could
be my little boy I thought as I cracked the door open and stuck my head inside.

The window was open and the baby blue curtains blew
back and forth in the breeze. I stepped inside, remembering for one second the
evil that had jumped through that very window into the darkness. If I knew then
what I did now, I could have stopped the demon hag and saved my son. Everything
happens for a reason, though, or at least that’s what people keep telling me.
My body shivered, pulling me back from my thoughts.

“Danny?” I whispered, closing my eyes and
concentrating on drawing him out.

I’d always been somewhat sensitive to the spirit
world, but as I stood in the center of what used to be my son’s room, I
realized Don and I had been wrong. If Danny was still in my home I would have
felt his presence. He would have shown himself to me or moved something to let
me know he was there. I felt completely alone as I sat down on the twin sized
bed. My hand moved slowly over the rocket ship design on the comforter as I
tried not to picture the last time I saw my son under those covers. I stood up
and took one last look around before heading out into the hallway and shutting
the door behind me.

I decided to relax while I had the time off at home
instead of trying to make a case where there clearly wasn’t one. I’d never
realized how hard it was for me to act like a normal person these days. Once
someone knows about all the evil in the world, though, they see it everywhere.
I pushed all my instincts aside and told myself I had dreamt the whole thing
last night. Surely, Don had picked up on my anxiousness yesterday and that was
the presence he felt; not a spirit. His body channeled energy, but it wasn’t
always what he thought it was. Every once in a while it was just his reaction
to someone else’s intense feelings.

I went into the kitchen to make myself a turkey and
cheese sandwich for a late lunch. I hadn’t eaten anything all day and my head
was starting to feel light and dizzy. If I went more than a few hours without
food, it hit me hard. That’s why I always kept the truck stocked with snacks. I
didn’t need to eat too healthy; I just needed to eat. As I cut the sandwich
into triangles I saw a shadow pass behind me from the corner of my eye. I whirled
around with the bread knife extended in front of me.

Oh, geeze!” I exclaimed, breathing heavily and
clenching my chest.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Tom smiled,
showing off his perfectly whitened teeth.

At least he was in a better mood than yesterday I
thought as I lowered the knife. My heart felt like it was going to pound
straight through my ribcage. There was no worse feeling than being caught
unprepared. Keeping my guard up wasn’t really helping to make myself seem sane
to Cara’s fiancé, though. He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer as he looked
at me with confusion.

“Is Cara already at work?” he asked as he popped
the top off the bottle and leaned on the counter.

I’d never seen him act so casual before. It was
actually kind of refreshing. I grabbed my sandwich and took a big bite. It was
nice to eat fresh deli meat for once. I almost forgot how good food was when it
wasn’t prepackaged or served at a gas station.

I turned to set my lunch on the counter so I could
make some headway with Tom when I felt something gently touch my waist. I spun
back around and came face to face with Tom, who was standing too close for my
comfort. I hadn’t heard a sound as he snuck up behind me. I guess that was the
advantage of being so lean and average in height. He didn’t turn any heads with
extraordinary features, but he sure could move undetected, like a lion stalking
its prey in the tall grass.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I
blurted out as I tried to back away, bumping into the counter.

“You know, I never really thought much of you,” he
began as he took another step closer. “But something’s different now.” He
brushed a stray hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “It’s enticing,”
he whispered.

He leaned his face in close, nuzzling my neck and
taking in a deep breath. It became apparent that Tom wasn’t going to quit as he
pressed his lips to the tender part of my neck. Without thinking I brought my
knee up as hard as I could. While he hunched over in pain, I swung my fist,
causing him to fall back onto the hard linoleum floor. I looked down at him
with disgust as he groaned and curled up into a ball.

“Oh my gosh, Kamlyn, what’d you do?” Cara shouted
as she stood frozen in the doorway.

I had no idea what to say. How could I tell her
what her fiancé had just done? I stammered a few times, trying to gather my
thoughts, when Tom pulled himself up by the countertop. Narrowing his eyes, he
glared at me as he wiped the blood from his bottom lip with the back of his
hand. A malicious smile spread slowly across his face, quickly turning to his
usual fake plastered grin as he turned to face Cara. She tapped her saddle shoe
with impatience, sending the bright red poodle skirt she was wearing bouncing
around her.

“I must’ve snuck up behind Kamlyn here and spooked
her, hunny,” he chuckled half heartedly. “Your girl’s got quite a punch,” he
added as he spit into the sink.

I hated the fact that he lied to her more than what
he actually did. I knew if I didn’t come forward with what really happened, it
would eventually come back to bite me in the ass. But I decided to let it go
for now. I would sit down with her later tonight to explain everything…or maybe
tomorrow morning. As much as I didn’t want her to marry a sleaze ball, I wasn’t
in a big hurry to break her heart either. I plastered a smile on my face and
shrugged my shoulders as Cara looked at me for confirmation.

“Okay…” she said still looking confused and
unconvinced. “Want to watch a movie with us tonight, Kamlyn?”

I couldn’t stand to be in the same house with Tom,
let alone the same room. I told her I had promised to spend the evening with
Don. That one was a lie I could live with. I grabbed my coat and left in a
hurry.  When I got to Don’s he was sitting outside on his porch swing reading.
We took a long walk around the neighborhood as I told him about what had just
happened with Tom. The air was chilly and the leaves were beautiful shades of
orange. I zipped up my jacket as a breeze blew past us. Don pulled at the
sleeves of his grey ribbed shirt, trying to cover his arms before the goose
bumps settled in.

“Well, can you blame the boy?” he joked once I was
done.

He gave a playful growl as he pinched my sides,
causing me to squirm and giggle.

“Give me a break, old man.”

Laughing together eased my tension a bit. Don had
always been good at cheering me up when I was down and making a horrible
situation seem not so bad. He was like the older brother I never had. Of course
he looked out for me and taught me how to protect myself, but we could also
talk to each other and joke around.

“Just think about what you’re going to say, sleep
on it, and tell her in the morning,” he advised as he put his arm around my
shoulder.

I decided that was best. After all, Don had never
steered me wrong yet. When I got back to the house Cara and Tom were curled up
on the couch together. I slowly closed the door behind me, not wanting them to
know I was back. I went straight to my room to go to sleep. There was nothing I
wanted more than to slip into a dreamless slumber and forget about the whole
day. I took three sleeping pills instead of the recommended one and crawled
into bed.

“Who would’ve thought forever
could be severed by the sharp knife of a short life.”

 – The Band Perry

Like clockwork, my eyes popped open at 3 am just as
they had the night before. Whenever I made the poor choice of taking too many
sleeping pills I would wake up in the middle of the night and my entire body
would still be asleep, unable to move; a harmless side effect, or so the bottle
says. I tried, with what seemed like all the effort I had, to roll over onto my
side, but gave up. I knew if I stayed awake long enough the rest of my body
would wake up as well and then I could get comfortable again. It’d happened to
me many times before and there was nothing to do but wait it out or fall back
asleep. I felt a kink forming in my neck so I rolled my head to the side,
embracing the cold part of the pillow on my warm face.

“Hello, Kammy,” said a voice coming from the
darkness of my room.

I took a deep breath as Tom emerged from the
shadows and knelt down just inches from my face. I struggled to move, but still
felt dead below the neck.

“Shhh…” he hissed as he held one of his fingers up
to my lips.

His hands were as cold as ice. As my eyes started
to adjust to the dark they focused on Tom’s malevolent grin. He stood up,
leering over me like a cat spotting a tasty defenseless mouse.