My exhausted efforts felt futile as I watched red transform into pink as unblemished polished wood became scratched; damaged by rough bristles of a brush I clasped resignedly. Irritation didn’t even began to describe the emotions coursing through my cramped form as sweat beaded down my forehead causing wayward curls to stick to my flushed skin, as the hard wooden surface dug into sore knees, and aggravated hazel lenses rose to glower into what appeared to be blue tinted innocence.

“Why? What part of your brain thought this,” I pointed to the slightly faded footprint still lining the wood, “was a good idea?”

I watched as my undersized nemesis retained a small smirk upon pink tinted lips with such apologetic eyes, the loose brown curls surrounding such doll like features beguiled those to cuddle and protect rather than scold, and her tiny stature clothed in cute miniature dresses easily fooled many into a false sense of incorruptibility although her mischievous actions clearly suggested otherwise.

“Everybody does finger paint. I just wanted to be original and do my feet.”

My eyes fell to her still paint covered toes before I gestured plainly back to the marred wood, “does this look like paper to you?”

Her grin turned sinister in its widened tilt, “no, but it looks like fun.”

Beyond pissed, I viciously threw the wet brush at her feet, small sprays of water sprinkling tiny exposed legs, “then you fucking clean it.”

Amused more than frightened Courtney’s laughter sounded simply jubilant at the ease at which she managed to get beneath my skin, “that’s quite a potty mouth you have, Anna Marie. I wonder what Mommy would say if she could hear you now.”

Glaring at the result of such cosseted indulgence I swallowed the ache that filled my heart for to allow its appearance onto my features was to give Courtney acquiescence to plunder the pain of my mother’s obvious neglect; an agonizing sentiment my little sister took great pleasure in resurfacing if only to witness my tormented reaction.

Pursing my lips in annoyance at her overly used ploys, “why wonder? I’m sure you’ll report back to her with more lies than I’m actually guilty of.”

Her bottom lip jutted out, her sweet face the depiction of sadness, “would I do that to you, Marie?”

“Cut the crap. They may not see through your act but we both know that I do. You’d throw me under the bus in a heart beat if only to see if you could get away with it.”

A tiny palm rose to rest upon a petite hip, those eyes slightly devious, undisguised contempt drowning in azure irises, “it seems you know me too well, big sister.” Unhurriedly she leaned in closer, those eyes holding me entranced, “since you’re such a little mind reader now, how about you tell me what I’ll do next?”

Not in the mood to become her primary warped form of entertainment tonight I sighed tiredly wishing yet again I had simply defied my Mother’s orders and left with Andrea instead of becoming ensnared here babysitting Satan. A flash of lightening exploded throughout the ebony covered sky, the sound of thunder rumbling penetrating the silence as the lights flickered whilst a glimmer of scarlet eclipsed blue lenses only to revert as quickly as they altered.

Brows furrowed in petrified confusion, I fell back onto the seat of my jeans, the bucket of soapy water spilling across the floor, “what the hell?”

Laughing gleefully at such predictability Courtney animatedly exclaimed, “Too late.” Sprinting for the white carpeted lounge I inwardly groaned as bloody footprints streaked the floor knowing that culpability would as always fall upon my shoulders. “Catch me if you can…”

Silently griping, I rose onto bare feet wiping my damp palms onto wet jeans glaring in unexpressed exasperation while striding reluctantly towards the scarlet path. The sound of the rain effervescent against the surrounding glass windows infiltrated the stifling stillness as slowly with irritation eating away at my enforced diminutive degree of patience I followed her trail.

The sound of Disney playing in the background was louder in the lounge, toys scattered hazardly amongst the floor without care, false images of a happy family lingering along glass tables and against white walls along with plagues and declarations of honors given to a man who never seemed to resemble the stepfather I had come to know.

“Courtney?”

I stepped over puzzle pieces, checkers, over Barbies, and teddy bears all haphazardly strewn across the flawless carpet now stained with Courtney’s footprints. My heart beat quickened as my curls smacked my face as I turned swiftly at the sound of a drawer being closed behind me.

“Courtney?”

I whispered, jumping as lightning struck the earth again its illumination almost blinding as it entered the room before reverting back into darkness; the feeble lamp light dull in comparison, the sound of the thunder’s rumble shaking me to the core. “Court, this isn’t funny anymore.”

I took cautious steps towards the hall my eyes on its darkened appearance more than the toy car that crept towards my naked feet. Following the bloody prints it wasn’t until the toy slid under my bare soles that I noticed its existence as I lost my fragile balance crashing blinding back into the glass side table taking the lamp down with me. The light was extinguished instantly, the television being the only source of luminosity as disoriented I began to pick myself up only noticing the blood seeping from my palms as I pressed weight against them. Screaming distressingly at the pain I glanced down in the dimness seeing the chunks of glass wedged into my skin.

Through a haze of tears, my chest heaving rapidly, I inwardly steeled my resolve as whimpering softly I pulled the bigger pieces from my hand, helpless liquid dripping from my quivering chin. Rising once again I carefully walked around the broken scarlet covered glass towards Courtney’s art supplies, wrapping my damaged palms in paper towels. Ignoring the persistent throb, or the few stray droplets of displayed ache that still ran vulnerably down my face I marched determinedly towards the hall intent to end this game.

The hallway’s polished wood felt arctic against my naked skin its chilly surface seeming to have concealed skills of immobilization, the solitary light at the end of its conclusion looked meager and weak, its dim appearance causing me to twist towards its opposite end, to gape into such a blanket of unfathomable darkness. I couldn’t explain it but as I stared into such a black void of nothingness I couldn’t help feeling as if… someone was watching me.

“Anna Marie…” I heard whispered into the stillness, my eyes rounding straining to see inside the chilly obscurity, my hesitant footsteps leading me into its enticement when as quickly as my curiosity emerged it diffused transforming into pure unadulterated terror. An urgent admonition unable to be disregarded triggered inside of my frantically beseeching heart, imploring me to remain in the light; an unexplainable sagacity that inwardly forced me to acknowledge the sense of ominous interlaced in such ebony. My pace halted even whilst that untold persuasion still lingered in the air I turned from its direction, and with fear chasing in quick pursuit of my terrified form I escaped into the safety of the library.

“Courtney?”

The rain still pulverized the surrounding glass giving the neighborhood a flooded appearance, its showcased wealth drowning in its torrent as my eyes drifted from its gloomy view crawling alone vast bookcases searching for that one pair of mischievous sapphire eyes peeking back out at me. My feet sunk into the thick expensive hand woven rug lining the room as I bypassed the endless rows of books coming to the end of Courtney’s cherry streaked path.

Grinning in relief more than amusement, I circled the wooden desk, quickly leaping around it, crouching whilst yelling, “Gotcha,” only to reveal nothing lurking behind its surface.

Pissed, I straightened while blowing an unruly curl from my sight just as the sound of my name whispered along the air stilled my shaken figure. Anxiously I searched the numerous pockets of darkness for its source only to find myself strangely alone. Trying to swallow this intense sense of panic besieging my form I dashed wildly around the room checking behind couches, under chairs, and behind curtains riotously searching for my little sister.

“Okay, Court you win. You’re the best at this game,” I called out into the vast space, my footsteps halting once again at the conclusion of her own. “How about we get into that bath now?”

I rescanned the room slowly before hastily spinning towards the sound of a book falling onto the ground. “Courtney?”

Walking leisurely towards the fallen leather bound book, I reached out to pick it up seeing its title, ‘The Masque of the Red Death,’ by Edgar Allan Poe flashing up at me in deep bold letters before the sound of another book plummeting sounded behind me. Panting frenziedly I twisted roughly around, my curls swinging out seeing the, ‘The Monk,’ by Matthew Gregory Lewis join the rug’s surface before chaotically multiple books began to rain down towards the ground. My arms rose to guard my unprotected head as shelves began to cave as if suddenly too overloaded by its weight as each bookcase I rushed by collapsed just behind my feet. The sound of the crashing avalanche of literature erupted as deafening as the thunder beyond the windows as I continued to evade the mass of so many pummeling down towards me.

A bulky novel crashed into my skull taking my fragile body down with it, my vision essentially distorted for a second before clarity cleared its view while my head pounded along with my throbbing hands, its pages lying open before me. Trembling as dazedly I gazed around seeing everything at last cease in its plunging as I crawled before it, my bloody hands dripping along its pages as the words, ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…,’ danced along the white sheets in my tearful hazy vision. Its words like an omen I should take heed, or more like a much sought after distraction for as I read I could have sworn that I heard the soft distinctive crack of wood splitting. Gasping, hazel eyes wide, my curls little by little sliding over my shoulder as I twisted to gaze up at the large bookcase towering over me that this bible had fallen from before I rose onto shaken feet watching in horror as it began to perilously tilt towards me. Sprinting forward hysterically I could hear hefty books crashing where I once foolishly stooped, and yet I took more notice of the gigantic bookcase’s continual plummet and just how close it still remained to quashing me. I glanced onward seeing how far of a distance safety remained as if mockingly staying just beyond my reach while rapidly realizing that I wasn’t going to make it. Impulsively reckless I took a flying leap, diving, my body hit the ground harshly into a continuous roll before I sprung back to my feet, just… narrowly escaping my death.

My laden feet retreated from the devastatingly disastrous library, a room I once naïvely presumed as harmless, my eyes taking in its chaos while my mind scrambled trying to come to terms with what had just happened, but most importantly how it happened. Numbly I walked blindly into the hall, the temperature dropping swiftly, smoke rising from my unfastened lips as my frozen feet wandered towards the light.

“Courtney,” I whispered once again, a slight shriek of shock slithering from my lips as the lights expired upon my entering the corridor’s empty confines. I froze, the silence now all consuming, the only illumination coming from the occasional flash of lightning filtering through the wall to wall glass windows.

A giggle drifts along the blistering breeze causing my damaged palms to gently hug my naked arms, “Courtney?”

“Anna Marie,” I heard whispered as I turned swiftly to the darkness behind me, tears trickling from my lids.

“Hello, is somebody there?”

“Aww come on Anna, you’re not even trying,” Courtney teases from the opposite direction causing my neck to snap back the other way only to confront nothing but cold empty air.

Immediately my brows furrowed in fury at her unwanted games as I strode furiously towards the hall’s end, “I’m done with this. You can stay hiding all you want!” Halting to a standstill while immersed in shadows, my eyes searching darkness, my body swirled around in circles as I screamed, “Do you hear me, Court? I’m done playing fucking hide and seek!”

I stopped abruptly upon hearing footsteps directly behind me, twisting around unhurriedly my skull instantly connected with the golf club in Courtney’s hands as she swung it uncaringly at my stunned face, my body crumpling abrasively to the frosty rigid ground. Through indistinct vision I watched as her small figure shifted to tower over my battered form, those eyes a sadistic scarlet, her tiny powder blue dress splattered with my blood. My crimson covered palm rose weakly as if begging my little sister for leniency before those tiny malevolent arms rose over her head ruthlessly clutching that already bloody club, her expression gleeful in its power, lightning showcasing her venomous features majestically.

“That’s because you’re too dumb to realize you’re the one that should be hiding,” she maliciously hissed just as with an insurmountable force no little girl could ever truly have she callously swung that weapon straight for my defenseless skull…

Gasping… Sweat pouring off my skin, my curls tangled I jerked from my pillows escaping the horrors of dreams and immersing myself into the beautiful wonder of the morning light. Tears persisted to dribble from my chin, my hands moving quickly to check for dents and contusions lining my cranium only to find a bountiful amount of curls springing chaotically around my terrified features.

“Bad dream?”

My hatefully alert eyes swung towards the vision of David lounging lazily against my dresser, his smirk at my obvious terror only working to feed my anger. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“I guess the illusion of politeness has vanished along with your Aunt.”

Barely concealing my panic I began to rise in order to sprint for the door, “where’s Grace?”

His laughter at my reaction halted me back into my slumped position while managing to grate on my already short fuse. “She’s in the kitchen safe and sound. I just thought I’d be the loving,” his gaze slipped down towards the exposed skin my tank didn’t cover before returning to my eyes, “uncle to be and bring you some OJ.”

My eyes fell to the seemingly innocent gesture, his hand clutching the glass extended towards me before I ignored it, hazel colliding back with his blue-green gaze, “cut the bullshit, who sent you and why are you here?”

“That’s the problem with kids these days,” he replied as he took a few steps closer, his eyes never leaving mine, “the whole teachings of respecting elders and using manners is lost on them. Now I must say that I find what you’re clearly insinuating as completely insulting. You were asleep when we returned, not that we could check on you. It seems someone… locked your bedroom door.

My eyes swung to rest on my now broken lock before reverting back to his mocking stare as he continued, “your aunt found it broken this morning, shame isn’t it?”

Undeceived and unemotional I responded, “And I repeat who sent you, and why are you here?”

My distrusting lenses stalked his unhurried movements as he placed the glass on my nightstand before backing away slightly, his arms up in mock surrender, those eyes so clearly amused at my wariness, “you know there are many tales traveling the underworld about you.”

“And I would care because…?”

“A smart little girl would,” he smirked at my obvious tilt of my chin in defiance. “But clearly that doesn’t truly define you. Tell me, why do I get the feeling you’re not going to be easy to tame?”

My sudden beam an exact imitation of his during this warped form of pleasantries, “maybe because …clearly you’re not as dumb as you look.”

Instead of fury consuming him as I assumed; his features projected the opposite, glee tugging at his widened grin, “Anna Marie, you are priceless. Frankly, I’m just overjoyed that I was ordered to remain at your side.” He shifted to caress a stray curl, his face mere inches from mine as he gazed passionately into my eyes, “I’ll be here to witness the truth behind such obviously exaggerated words.”

“Why don’t you experience it first hand,” my grin vanished instantly, my grip crushing as it clutched his wandering palm, its surface temperature rising swiftly within our enforced clasp. Smoke rose from our connected skin as I stood to my feet watching in grim satisfaction as this lower than dirt, scum sucking miscreant forcibly bowed at my feet with redundant tears in his eyes. Eyes that quickly regressed to its true form of ruthless red as rage quickly devoured that false simulation of humanity he managed to exhibit, easily revealing the weak underling he truly was.

“Everything okay up there?” I heard Grace yell from the bottom of the stairs, her voice so opposite to the fury burning inside me, the hunger I felt gnawing at my insides at the scent of his fear.

Ignoring the pained and yet vengeance seeking eyes scolding my brain I forced my voice to sound light, happy as I yelled, “Everything’s great Aunt Grace!” My gaze fell to the reddened, blistered skin slowly creeping up his arm as tears the color of cherries trickled down David’s face. “We’re just hanging out!”

“Okay you two, breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes!”

I heard her footsteps retreat before I released her depraved boyfriend watching in disgusted silence as he cowered from me cradling his injured arm, those eyes spewing his unvoiced detestation of me. I smirked in the face of such hate, hand on hip of my Victoria Secret Pink pajama pants, “believe those fairy tales now?”

“When you are mine and I’ve gotten out of you what every demon desires,” his gaze fell to the thin strip of my exposed stomach before red rose to clash back with hazel, “I will beat into you the submissiveness every bitch must learn.” A sadistic grin stole over his lips, an abnormality contrasting greatly with the tears still seeping from his disdainful gaze, “just before you beg me for mercy.”

I bent slightly as our eyes connected feeling scarlet slice its way around the rim of my pupils, loving the fright the sight caused within him as I whispered, “then it’s a good thing that that will never happen.” An unnatural gust of wind abruptly blew through the room gripping his terrified form before tossing him brutally onto the hallway floor, his hand slamming callously into the adjacent plaster wall. My palm opened as he gazed back up at my unmoved form, the glass of orange juice appearing within my grasp before I chucked into his face, the citrus clearly burning his unsuspecting eyes.

Beaming at this demon rolling uncontrollably before me I simply shook my head at such displayed weakness, “as if I’d drink anything you brought me.”

Before I slammed shut the entrance to my room impeding his angry retort, my body never budging to actually touch the door. Gasping I fell back on my bed, energy depleting from my form like air swiftly leaving a balloon. Red dispersed from my lenses, its disappearance taking along with it its ounce of pain as it retracted as if a reward darkness needed as payment. Rising back to my feet, gripping the sheets tightly I swayed on wobbly feet as I slowly advanced towards my vanity, my sight unclear, darkness weaving in and out of my perception. Somehow I slumped onto the seat, my eyes lifting swiftly to encounter my haggard appearance.

My curls still remained riotously atop my head, my eyes appeared exhausted, dark rings around my long lashes, and my skin looked pale as if life had been slowly extinguished beneath the surface before my features morphed into that of my darker twin.

She openly laughed, “You look like shit.”

My brow rose contemptuously, “tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Oh my, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I told you that you’d need a padlock on that door… but considering your little run in this morning touching Daddy’s little Angel should be the last thing on David’s mind from now on.”

Resting my head weakly upon the table I still managed to glare up at her, “can you shelve the unwanted mockery, please?”

Her eyes altered as all taunting amusement disappeared, her lenses suddenly indecipherable, “You’re energy, it’s diminishing.”

“I’ll be fine soon. It’s not like that was my first power play,” I whispered, my voice faint, my tiny smile weak.

“No, but its one of many in a short amount of time with no real rest. Marie, I need you to do something for me.”

My head stilled, the words forming in my brain but never leaving my lips.

“Marie, focus! I need you to look at me,” my darker identity raged in a voice of urgency I’d never heard before that it caused me to find the waning vigor to at least raise my weary head, the vision of her appearing as if two of her lied behind the glass as I tried to center in on those scarlet eyes. “That’s good Marie, now do you see those flowers sitting in that vase next to you?”

My head barely moved as I glanced at the red tulips popping vibrantly from the royal blue vase. “Yeah, so?”

“You need to transfer its energy into you.”

“You want me to kill a flower?”

Groaning in annoyance, “flowers grow everyday you on the other hand will eventually collapse, and I don’t think a hospital visit will exactly endear Grace into actually letting you stay here. I think you’ve put her through enough lately, don’t you?”

Ignoring her unnecessary gibe my befuddled mind managed to grasp one clear fact, “but at the hospital transference taxed me almost as much as it helped. I don’t think I have enough in me to even try.” Ashamed to admit it, my pleading eyes met its identical copy, “I need you to take over.”

I watched as her eyes closed tightly, her lips constricting until pink turned almost white before her head shook in denial and intense irises clashed back with mine, “no you don’t, Marie. You need only to focus on the task at hand.”

“Are you actually saying you won’t help me?” I begged pathetically, a tear slipping down a colorless cheek.

“No, I’m telling you that you need to start learning to rely only on yourself. You are the only one you can truly trust,” she admitted, my mind instantly going back to Andrea.

“If this is about Andre-.”

“We do not have time for this, Marie!” she raged, annoyed at even the sound of my sister’s name. “Now, this is simple. Place your hand against the flower’s petals.”

I sighed tiredly but eventually did as I was told, the flower’s petals soft to my touch, my arm shaking in its need to collapse back against the vanity’s surface.

“Now concentrate, you know how to do this, Marie. You need no further instruction.”

My mind centered in on its composition, its beauty, its origin and almost instantaneously I felt life sweep over my fingertips. Its touch was joyful, sweet in its loving caress as it sunk into pores working its way upwards. It played inside my curls, the brilliance of the essence of life literally in the palm of my hand causing me to gasp as it slipped uninvited within the confines of my mouth, swirling throughout my body. My blood gyrated and twirled beneath my skin as elation seeped its way inside of my heart, as light entered my body instead of its accustomed allowance to darkness. My scarlet eyes opened as if the brightness of my bloodstream had overflowed its contents virtually consuming my pupils, but instead of unsympathetically slicing it washed away lurking sadness and anger until reverting back to that usual shade of hazel while unexpectedly replacing all sinister emotions I once felt overwhelm me until all I felt inside was this indescribable sense of … peace.

I stretched my limbs warily finding that I felt… fine, in fact better than fine. I felt ready to take on the world. My eyes fell to the vase of tulips watching oddly detached as the dead flowers withered completely, its petals slowly fluttering onto the vanity’s surface.

“Was that merely a dream?” I muttered my eyes still on the beauty of nature’s decay.

Snorting contemptuously, “I highly doubt if your head had met the wooden floor you’d be asking me if that was merely a dream.”

I flinched involuntarily as visions of my head being struck with that golf club before my face hit the ground flashed before my eyes, “No, I meant before my showdown with David, before I woke up.”

Her gaze as pained as my own fell from my truth seeking eyes, before she replied quietly, “I believe I recall informing you that you couldn’t run away from your memories forever.”

“Courtney… her eyes changed completely red. There was no innocence left inside her when darkness took over.”

She snorted humorlessly at my words, “what innocence? Your problem with grasping the truth is this, your still living under the illusion that Courtney is just like you.”

Brows creased in confusion, “she is… I mean, she’s half light, and half darkness, right?”

“No, she’s half of a weak dwindling light but almost completely smothered in evil. She’s lived her whole life surrounded by demons, hidden or not. Darkness is all she knows, so what do you expect?”

“I,” I halted at the sound of breathing surprisingly behind me.

“Am I intruding, should I leave you two alone?” Andrea interrupted, her tone obviously furious beneath such clipped words forced from her tongue.

I glanced over my shoulder taking in my sister’s infuriated features before turning back to the mirror only this time as I gazed up at my reflection it was just that, a mirrored manifestation of myself staring back at me. “I,” I began only to stop as I felt my internal darker image imploring me to keep the fragmented pieces of my newly revealed past to myself. “I was just listening to her mock me about the lock on my door.”

Cerulean eyes shifted towards the entrance, her feet moving quickly to inspect the broken lock, “what happened? Did someone attack while I was away?”

Sighing, I ran a hand over weary features not really in the mood for Andrea’s over protectiveness, “not exactly.” Turning towards her I attempted poorly to shift the conversation, “where did you go?”

Stubborn to the core, Andrea instantly saw through my strategy, “Anna did something happen while I was gone?”

I rolled my eyes in annoyance twisting back to the vanity, picking up a brush running it through my tousled curls before answering while inwardly knowing how much it would irritate her. “Grace has a boyfriend,” I stated simply.

“And he did that to your door?”

“Yes.”

“Why would he-.”

My eyes met hers in the glass as I wrapped my curls into a ponytail, “why do you think? He’s a demon who wants to impregnate me.”

Andrea flopped exhaustedly upon my messy bed, her eyes silently watching me docilely fix my locks, “you say that like its normal, like this happens everyday around the world.”

“I don’t know about around the world but it seems to happen to me quite a fucking lot.” Opening my closet door I emotionlessly selected some random clothing.

“And he attacked you?”

“No, I think he was one of the committee’s men sent to protect me. Funny isn’t it,” I asked my forced laughter dry to even my own ears as I turned back to my oddly stunned sister. “Sending someone so clearly weak to safeguard me.”

Andrea’s eyes fell to the floor, her expression defeated.

“I wasn’t talking about you, Drea. I mean-.”

“It’s not important,” she interrupted, her emotions guarded. “What is important is keeping you safe.”

“So where were you?”

“I asked permission for more guardians to watch over you.”

“And… what did they say?”

“What riddle would you like first?’

Groaning in aggravation I walked into the bathroom to cut on the shower before turning to brush my teeth, “why must everything be like calculus to them?”

“Calculus?”

“Yes, never easy to figure out,” I muttered over the brush in my mouth. “Is a simple answer too much to ask for?”

I tossed off my clothes before hoping inside the shower, this moment reminding me so much of old times when Andrea and I shared a room that I was hit with a wave of unexpected nostalgia.

“I think their testing me,” I barely heard Andrea mumble over the warm spray.

Sticking my head back out the shower I yelled, “Testing you for what?”

“To see if I’m truly fit to be your guardian. They offer words of old aged wisdoms and yet with no true keys of success.”

“Grandma sent you back to me,” I shouted, “They must have some confidence in your abilities.”

“No, it was only after you threw a fit,” she paused at seeing the shock registering on my surprised features as I peeped back out at her, “yes, I know of your crazy showdown with Katrina. Katrina, being yet another person waiting to see me fail.”

Wrapping myself inside a towel I rejoined my sister, “Wouldn’t you failing mean my death?” I snorted scornfully as I wiggled into my skinny jeans, “Yeah, I could see how happy that would make her.”

Her eyes serious, her tone grave, “at the end of the day no matter how much you disagree with Katrina she’s a guardian and a highly powerful one too. She would never dream of doing anything that would cause you harm.”

“Do you honestly believe that?” I questioned as I slipped into my red fitted thermal shirt, my feet sliding into comfortable black Uggs.

“Yes I do,” she replied, her voice almost on the verge of defensive. “Why don’t you?”

“I’m just learning that humans aren’t the only ones swayed by the lure of darkness.”

Andrea’s jaw hardened, her breathing heavy as if she was attempting to control her anger before she turned back to me, “are those your words, or hers?”

Exasperated, I twisted away from her to throw on my black hoodie, “don’t even go there, Drea. I am so sick and tired of you thinking I’m under possession. News flash, occasionally I can have a thought of my own, occasionally I’m not everybody’s puppet!”

“You think I’m too controlling?” She thundered, rising from her position on the bed, those ridiculous arms crossing over her chest.

“Oh get over yourself, Drea. Look, let’s just agree to disagree on the Katrina subject.” I watched as she sunk down onto the window seat, her features calm before I spoke again, “So they gave you nothing? I’m tomorrow’s fucking future and the president has more body guards at his disposal than I do.”

Her eyes turned to the morning sky through the huge window, her brain mysteriously forever diligently toiling behind those eyes, “he needs them, and they feel that you shouldn’t.”

“The whole underworld is after me how could I not need-.”

Cerulean irises collided with mine, “if trained properly you’re untouchable. You weren’t allowed to be born to be cuddled and sheltered. You’re here to save us all.” She paused, her features suddenly clear of confusion as enlightenment fell over her form. “That’s the meaning of the riddles… And oddly enough I think I just figured out a clue.”

I watched puzzled as my sister rose from her seat, a look of determination surpassing any other emotion inside her. “You figured out what? Where are you going?”

She smiled gleefully, “to chase a suspicion.”

A brow rose over still confused honey colored eyes, “and what am I supposed to do while you go play detective?”

Smirking over her shoulder she responded, “Be a normal teen, go eat breakfast.”

The pillow I threw bounced off the wall of the now bare space Andrea once resided in, her mocking laughter the only thing lingering inside my now empty room.

……………………………………………….

My footsteps were soundless as I glided down to the bottom steps, the eerie feeling of normalcy hitting me as if this Saturday morning was like any other in the past, that somehow the past year and half didn’t exist, and beyond the double doors in front me Drea awaited munching on captain crunch, slightly buzzed off whatever party she’d snuck in from. I froze at the entrance; my eyes squeezed shut silently praying delusions to be true when Grace’s and David’s voice seeping out into the hall killed my most desperate illusions.

“Its one school,” I heard David defend, his voice clear even through the thick swinging doors. Something held me back as I leaned in closer, my ear pressed softly against the barrier.

“No, its four, David,” Grace resignedly admitted. “They know.”

“How is that possible? You yourself said her name was never leaked to the media.”

The sound of a chair moving, a refrigerator opening before footsteps brought her back to her seat rang out before Grace responded, “tell that to my now paint stripped door.” I heard her pause before she sighed wearily, “I want to be there for Anna, I want to help her through all of this, but how can I stay positive and upbeat when everything she says turns out to be true? The world does see her as some kind of monster, and I’m telling you other parents don’t want her around their kids.”

“Don’t you think your exaggerating? I mean-.”

Her voice rose, irritation lingering inside her tone, “do not call this my overactive imagination! Okay, my neighbors are looking at me funny, we had to go pick up the pizza last night because all of a sudden the local pizza place doesn’t deliver, not to mention my boss giving me another day off. You know Tom as well as I do. We’re in our busiest season, he doesn’t do days off. This is not a coincidence.”

My heart crumpled at Grace’s complaints, my carbon copy’s words coming back to haunt me, ‘I don’t think a hospital visit will exactly endear Grace into actually letting you stay here. I think you’ve put her through enough lately, don’t you?’ I knew my adjustment to the outside world would be hard it just never occurred to me how difficult it would make Grace’s life.

Maybe it was for the best that I remained trapped behind those imprisoned walls?

“Okay, okay maybe you’re right,” David pacified only to be interrupted by Grace’s continued listing of her grievances.

“And that phone call…”

What phone call?

“That phone call …for Carmen to call and warn Anna away from that house was heartless and extremely uncalled for considering it would be a parole violation anyway.”

Moisture slid from my lids as David interrupted my turbulent emotions, “I’m confused are you joining the horde with fire and pitch forks, or are you defending the girl?”

“This isn’t a joke, Dave.”

The amusement left his voice, the sound of a chair shifting pierced the air before he soothed, “I know that you’re worried, but other than what you’ve told me what has changed since yesterday morning when you left so excited about her arrival here?”

“I don’t know,” I heard her sigh again, “I just don’t know. I mean for her own mother to want nothing to do with her…”

“But you told me yourself that Carmen was never going to win any awards for motherhood anytime soon, so…?”

“I guess it’s what happened yesterday that’s really bothering me.”

“What happened?”

“She told me… she told me that she can talk to Andrea.”

I openly gasped at her admission, never realizing how the truth would oddly enough end up biting me in the ass. There was just so much defeat in my Aunt’s normally joyful voice that it despaired me to think the one living person still in my corner was slowly removing herself.

“Well maybe she can? What?”

“You think this is funny?” she raged.

“No sweetie, I’m just saying freakier shit has been known to happen.”

Yeah, like demons residing inside humans pretending to be loving boyfriends. Gosh, never in my life did I think I’d hear a minion rise to the occasion to defend me, even if he was doing so only because he was ordered to.

“No, something isn’t right. I just don’t know what it is. You don’t get released from a mental institution; get labeled healthy while talking to the dead.”

I waited in silence with baited breath wondering desperately what was happening on the other side of the door.

“You think she did it?” David candidly asked, curiosity running rampant inside his voice. “I mean that night-.”

“No, no… of course not,” Grace denied and yet her assurances were weak I’m sure to even her own ears even as she openly defended. With a broken sob released she insisted, “I love that little girl.”

Then David said the words I secretly wondered about every person who would eventually hear the story of my conviction, but never did I ever think I would have the strength of wills to hear them spoken for I didn’t think I could ever take hearing the truth. “You can still love her and think she’s guilty.”

“No, no I can’t… It’s not possible besides I helped set her free. By allowing the courts to place her here I helped aid her release.”

“And what are you saying, you regret it now? Do you want to take her back?”

“No… what I’m saying is,” she paused, her whimpers filling the air as tears dribbled from my chin while I waited for her to continue, “I’m saying I don’t know what to do.”

Backing slowly away from all I had heard, I ran frantic hands over my face, scrubbing all evidence of my sadness away before blindly I clutched the door’s knob and slipped out into the always stunning presence of morning.

I walked blindly from my Aunt’s property wondering if it would be better just to continue walking until everyone I knew, until everyone who knew of my story was left behind. The wind blew through my curls as I rounded the corner; the streets were deserted at this time of day except for the occasional person rushing off to work. It was as if all of mankind had taken the morning off and were now locked inside, somehow managing to block out the harsh realities of the world that constantly seemed to crash into my life. My eyes met with the sun, its brilliance blocked by the few clouds in the sky as my feet moved as if oddly lured towards an unknown destination. And then I just stopped.

I froze on the street corner facing all directions suddenly completely lost to whatever it was leading me until I heard it. Turning towards voices my eyes took in the huge oak tree before without thought to the possibility of noisy neighbors I perilously leapt, catching onto a nearby limb, and with an unshakable grip quickly maneuvered my way within its braches. Climbing with the skill of a monkey I ascended with ease to the open window, easily sliding my way unnoticed inside. The confines of this small room were as expected, slightly messy; clothes strewn onto chairs, bed untidy, books underneath the slipping covers, a plate with a half eaten burrito balancing carefully along the bedside table’s ledge. I ignored the band posters, the local college’s logo on a ball cap hanging off the closet door, ignored family and friends photos tacked to a board of the bordering wall. No what took up all of my attention was the sight of a half dressed Gabe clearly arguing with my incensed dead older sister.

“They should have told me! I shouldn’t be the last to know!” Andrea raged, her eyes piercing into Gabe’s.

“Should have told you what?” I inquired, my brow raised, my arms crossed defiantly over my chest.

They both whirled to confront my undisguised expression of betrayal as I gazed into identically stunned features lingering on such dissimilar faces.

At their continued silence I infiltrated the quiet, “this is supposed to be the part where you two explain what the hell is going on here because either I’m completely out of my mind and currently this is all an illusion my battered brain has engineered, or… I believe you’re talking to my recently deceased sister.”

“What are you doing here?” Andrea finally asked, her words causing my mouth to fall ajar.

“That’s an odd way of clearing up this confusing mess, but I think I could ask you the same thing.” My eyes returned to Gabe clashing with his melting chocolate coated gaze while secretly hating the fact that I had to repeat the same words I’d just spoken to David. “What are you, and while you’re answering that one tell me how you can see her?”

Sighing exhaustedly as if finding them together oddly enough lifted a weight from his shoulders he blurted out plainly, “it’s simple; I’m your true guardian. Always have been, always will be.”

Such simplicity within in his words and yet it exploded everything I thought I knew. “You’re lying,” I accused before turning to my sister, her eyes already telling me the truth. “He’s lying, right?”

Groaning despondently, she slumped onto Gabe’s disorganized bed, half of his bedspread falling to the ground, “as I’ve said everything they say is a riddle. They told me aid was closer than I knew, that all I had to do was open my eyes to the possibilities… and then I remembered the way Gabe seemed to look directly at me, the way he seemed to watch over you as much as I did growing up. I just figured he was someone who could help, not that he was the one more qualified to have my job.”

My brows furrowed in unwanted distress as I thought back to the past she referred to seeing everything clearly for once, and yet wondering why it was that everyone in my life seemed to always lie to me.

Pulling a tee over his distractingly bare torso Gabe moved closer to where I stood only halting at my retreating footsteps, his eyes tragically wounded at my warranted distrust, “I guess I deserve that,” he admitted, those beautiful eyes silently begging for forgiveness.

His gaze held mine before he finally spoke, “I was assigned to you the moment they foresaw your existence. I was reborn to this world but not as regular souls enter but with the preconceived knowledge that my one and only goal was to watch over you.” He took a careful step closer, my body backing into the corner of the windowsill while he took a seat perched on the edge of the opposite side. “Our meeting wasn’t as natural as most, it was bound to happen.”

“Meaning you were only ever nice to me because you were ordered to?” I painfully retorted, my gaze dropping dejectedly towards the beige carpeting, my mind returning to thoughts of David.

Gentle fingers grasped my chin until our eyes converged once again, those same fingers now softly stroking my cheek before falling back to his side, “I was ordered to protect you and I could done that easily in many forms. I could have been a nurse, your doctor, your teacher basically anyone inside your life, but upon meeting you I chose to be your friend.”

His palm crept into mine, my eyes falling to our entwined fingers as he continued, “growing up with you it just felt so instinctive to have you in my life. I could almost forget everything I already knew except that every time I looked deep into your eyes I swore to myself that I would never allow darkness to ever touch you. Then something happened and your mom and aunt had some weird falling out, and one minute you were beside me and the next yanked from my grasp.” His free hand ran exasperatedly through his tousled strands before falling limply towards his side again, his eyes now trained on the view, that entwined palm still ruthlessly clutching mine.

“And then that night happened,” he whispered, his jaw hardening, “I was planning to invade your life by starting college near you but that ended when Andrea died. That was never supposed to happen, your powers were awakened too soon and before I could get to you, you were already placed inside that horrible institution.”

“But my grandmother… she never said-.”

His eyes clashed back with mine, my stupidly thumping heartbeat accelerating within his tender stare, “by the time you spoke with your grandmother the decision had already been made to make Andrea your guide so that the-.”

“Transition would be easier on me,” I softly finished for him.

“Entering into this world is hard enough, losing loved ones is so much harder.”

I turned to gaze upon my sister only to find her watching us with oddly perceptive eyes before slightly unnerved I twisted back to Gabe as he clearly struggled with how to say whatever it was he felt couldn’t be held back. “What is it?”

“Its just that Andrea… doesn’t know all the skills it takes to be a protector, nor does she have the ingrained intuition to your needs as I do.”

I snatched my hand back forcibly from his, “what does that mean?”

“It means that although they’ve gifted her with a semblance of awareness to know when you’re in trouble it nowhere near compares to the originator appointed to its charge. I can sense when your unhappy, elated, scared, or when you’re in danger. Just minutes before you climbed into this window I felt this intense feeling of being overwhelmingly lost that I knew was not my own, and not only that… you can sense when I’m near. It’s like there’s this unexplainable pull to be close to me.”

Blushing, I tried to deny it, “I-.”

“Don’t Anna; it’s just the bond between us. Its something you and Andrea don’t have. It’s something until now the higher council thought would grow, but even they see it can’t be imitated. You were meant to be mine.”

My foolish heart fluttered uncontrollably inside my chest that had nothing to do with the truth in his words but more with the intensity within his stare. If only I truly was meant to be his… If only my future wasn’t filled with monsters, and fiends… If only I wasn’t damned to always be alert to lurking danger. If only I was free to explore the seemingly frivolous want for love, but even as foolish as my heart behaved, my mind behaved the opposite.

“Andrea and I do have a bond its called blood, and it’s a bond that’s unbreakable,” I spat out as I rose to cross the room to my still silent older sister’s side. “Besides if what you say is true then where have you been? Why haven’t you ‘sensed’ my need for you? Why haven’t you come for me?”

“Because I was to be reassigned upon their decision for Andrea to take my place and our bond was to be severed, but no matter how hard I’ve tried I can still feel your ache, your panic, your confusion, but to come to you would be to reveal my identity, to go against orders.”

Blinking back my entrapped tears, “yeah, and we all know how impossible it is to go against higher commands. No, why not just let me bleed to death?”

“I would never let that happen,” they both roared in unison as they both stood to face me.

“It has happened, repeatedly! Depending on how you look at it I’m either damned to repeat the horrors of the past, or it’s the grace of the heavens above helping me to survive.” Turning from them both, my eyes gazing out at the sleepy neighborhood so ignorant to the world’s true untold misery before I spoke, “so then, where does this leave us?”

I twisted watching them turn to look at each other before they addressed me, Gabe speaking before Andrea could, “I guess it leaves you with two babysitters.” His beautiful brown eyes were almost completely smothered by his long lashes as he beamed down at me. “One who is in-tune to your every need, who has the knowledge and skill to make your worst enemy cringe in fear, and another who loves you far more than any I have ever seen. Someone who will not stop fighting until you’re safe.”

Facing Andrea completely he continued, “you asked for more protection, and I believe your prayers have been answered.”

Gabe’s door opened silencing us all while immobilizing us in fearful anticipation, “hey Gabe, Mom wanted me to tell-.”

Abby’s grinning face appeared around its surface, her brown eyes widening at the sight of my unexpected presence. I hadn’t seen her since that summer her and her friends made me cry just so I wouldn’t tag along with Drea. Looking at her now dressed in her cheerleader’s uniform, long glossy brown hair swept back from her pretty features, a replica of Gabe’s eyes gazing up at me in surprise I realized that summer seemed so trivial compared to what my life had transformed into. Gazing at her I saw what Andrea should have been, had she lived instead of dying in order to protect me.

“Abby, how many times do I have to tell you to knock?”

Watching these supposed siblings exchange words felt weird to me now. It had a twinge of falseness about it, as if Gabe was playing the part of big brother, a character he obviously was always obligated to become.

She smirked in amusement, “are you really lecturing me right now? Aunt Maria told you herself not to go near Anna Marie-.” Turning to me, she inserted “no offense,” before twisting back towards her brother, “and you have her not only in the house but in your bedroom. Who do you think mom is gonna be more pissed at?”

“Obviously, not my soon to be crippled little sister,” he threatened, unworried about her claims.

Her grin expands, mirth growing inside a coffee tinted gaze, “you would threaten bodily harm to your potential blackmailer? Smart Gabriel, real smart.” She faces back towards my quiet form, her eyes remorseful, “by the way I’m sorry about… Andrea. She was always a great friend to me.”

Stunned at the sudden subject change I found myself whispering, “thank you.”

“And if it means anything I don’t care what my Aunt says. We’ve known you for years. I know you wouldn’t hurt a fly even if some people in this town are too stupid to realize it.” Abby reverted back to Gabe before I could even manage to process her words let alone respond, “Mom will be home in like ten minutes so I’d suggest you get your girlfriend out of here.”

“She’s not my girl-.”

Laughing as she begins to close the door on Gabe’s response, “whatever you have to tell yourself. We’ll discuss my bribe later.”

The door shuts as silence ensues, Andrea being the first to break it, “she has not changed one bit, but she’s right.”

Blushing I ask, “About what?”

Rolling her eyes at the tint blossoming in my cheeks, “about us getting the heck out of here.”

I moved to lever myself back out of the window, Andrea already vanishing into thin air but it was Gabe’s hold on my arm that stopped me. My eyes fell to those strong fingers firmly imprisoning me inside his clasp before slowly traveling up to connect with such contradictory gentleness found inside his stare.

“Anna, I just wanted you to know that I was always against them making Andrea your guardian,” he paused at the sight of fury quickly seeping into my expression before hastily amending his words. “Not because I thought she’d make a bad protector but because she’s just not ready to watch over someone as powerful as you’ll become.”

A condescending brow rose, “I think you’ve made that abundantly clear. My only question to you is... do you honestly believe that you are?”

Leaning his body in close; his breath comingling within mine, his scent the smell of body wash mixed with the sweet hint of peppermint lingering on his skin, those gorgeous irises holding mine entranced before his fingers moved to brush lightly against the palm of my hand. This powerful sensation rushed into me as if light itself was surging into every crevice of my body while creating inconceivable tingles erupting from the tip of my skull to the base of my toes. A feeling full of love, of boundless joy, of contentment, of… life transferring seemingly ceaseless into the recesses of my very soul as he shifted to whisper into my ear, that teasing grin upon those lips, “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”

I shuffled dazedly the short distance home aware of a probing peculiarly perceptive gaze lying upon my shaken figure while inwardly comprehending undoubtedly that this insane desire to be close to him was just one more thing I’d have no choice but to live with. Blindly striding forward I wondered what other secrets lied waiting to be discovered, what other hidden abilities my body comprised that my mind remained ignorant to, for it seemed secrets lied veiled all around me, not only hidden in the concealment of darkness.

“Where have you been?” Grace pitilessly demanded the moment I opened the front door.

I actually glanced back behind me to see if I had entered the wrong house for this woman gazing at me lividly, love emptied from her eyes, her features taunt from stress, slight dark rings around her usual joyful orbs could not be my caring aunt. Then I took in David’s amused features, his cocky grin, his nerves unshakable as he waved a clearly healed hand at my shocked figure, and knew that as usual facing such hostility could be no mistake.

“I- I went for a short walk.”

I was this close,” Grace explodes while holding her fingers mere inches apart, her bracelets clanging against each other, “this close to calling the cops, do you realize that?”

Brows furrowed in confusion. “For going around the block?”

“No for disappearing! Anna, you can’t just do things like that!”

I stepped away from the door, my arms falling to my sides, “I’m sorry Aunt Grace. I didn’t think-.”

“No, you didn’t think,” she raged, her features twisted furiously as she stepped closer, her long flowing yellow skirt swaying around her lips, her arms folded over her white sweater. “You didn’t think of how worried I’d be.”

“I was only gone for like ten… maybe fifteen minutes-,” I responded trying to mollify the situation while seeming to only douse the growing flames.

She paced in a small circle, her skin actually flushing, those eyes so like Dreas’ incensed, “you of all people should realize how dangerous it is out there for someone like you, or did you completely forget about the paint on the front door yesterday?”

How could I possibly forget that? “Aunt Grace-.”

“Or how about the millions of reporters that rushed my car upon your release?”

“Grace-.”

She halted before me once more, and finally I saw pass the fury realizing instantly what truly compassed behind such a parental façade, “we have rules in this house!” she yelled. “And the most obvious one I thought I wouldn’t have to actually say is, do not wander the streets!”

My patience evaded my grasp as quickly as my mind invaded her thoughts, my anger quickly bubbling towards the surface, “who exactly are you protecting me, or them?”

Confusion swiftly masked the truth as she questioned, “What do you mean?”

“I mean …I said that I was sorry, what more do you want? I didn’t realize that I had to ask your permission to breathe.”

Her mouth actually fell open at my words, the angry stance in which I faced her being something she’d never seen before. The idea that I wouldn’t throw myself at her mercy only enraging her all the more, “little girl, I don’t think you truly realize the sacrifices I-.”

“No, I comprehend your hardships easily!” I interrupted, emotion blinding my vision, “my being here is screwing up your life. You didn’t think taking me in would mean alienation from your friends and co-workers, that it meant rejection from your neighbors, and graffiti on the walls! And I-.” I paused trying to halt an anguished sob blocking my throat as tears tumbled from my eyes, my blurry vision watching as my Aunt’s angry expression crumpled revealing her true guilt underneath.

“I’m sorry,” I admitted earnestly, “for making you endure it, but guess what… you get to be the sacrificing, benevolent Saint that they all openly pity while I’m stuck being the monster that they fear.”

“Oh god, Anna-,” she whispered while trying to reach for my trembling form but I pushed pass her running for the safety of my room. I ignored her sad pleas for me to return, slamming the door to my supposed fresh start.

Shoving a chair beneath the knob I heard Gabe’s frantic questions erupting inside my head, “what’s going on? Is everything okay?”

Disregarding the yelling beyond the opening of my room I slid downwards to flop harshly onto my butt, my back against the pounding entrance, my eyes rising to focus on the pity inside Andreas’.

Sighing deeply to compose my chaotic emotions I now knew that Gabe and I shared I mentally answered him calmly; “it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. The only thing I need to know is… when does training begin?”

Suddenly more than anything I just wanted to release this pent up fury, to unleash all the pain and guilt I held stored inside, anguish sadistically gifted by evil’s merciless hands. Quite frankly, I just wanted to kick some demon ass…

………………………………………………………………………..

(This chapter is actually longer than I planned. I really thought I’d be able to knock out two chapters this weekend but sadly that didn’t happen and I have an unexpected art project due Monday so I’m afraid you guys will have to wait…

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always….

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Until next time…