Chapter Five :[]

Chapter five

As I walked down the narrow hallway, I thought about the story I had just been told. Brendon had suffered so much to get here, and I didn’t know what sacrifices the others even had to make. It seemed as everyone had a skeleton in their closet. I sighed, turning to my door and opening it softly. I stepped in sullenly, pushing a lock of hair back. My hair had been growing faster than usual, which was strange. It had gone from it’s just above the shoulder length to around the shoulders in just the past week. I sat down in the chair by the window and looked out of my tower. I saw a figure down below look up at me. My heart stopped. Was that… Frankie? I placed my hands on the glass and stared down. Though it was near impossible to tell at this distance, I could somehow make out his body shape. He quickly looked away and disappeared. I continued to stare at the sidewalk wondering if he was going to come back. Giving up I sat back down and continued to stare out the window. A single blue bird flew by the window. I stood back up, and walked into the closet. I needed to get something other than this nightgown which made me look like a serial killer. I began looking through the dresses casually, examining each one and wondering which one would be good for today. As I looked through, a thought occurred to me. They had only bought dresses. Not once had I seen a pair of jeans, a t-shirt or anything like that for that matter. I sighed as I pulled out a cerulean blue dress with cap sleeves and slipped it on, replacing the night gown with its gentle cotton fabric. It gently flowed down until about my knees. It seemed to fit an early spring sunny afternoon, but I knew that I would soon be freezing. Ignoring how I was feeling, I walked out of my bedroom into the main room and sat down feeling bored. What was I going to do now? I looked up at the ceiling, watching the clouds go by. I began humming to myself to pass the time. I soft song passed through my mind and placed itself on my lips, as my mouth began to form the lyrics. The song began to fall from my lips. I closed my eyes and fell back into the couch. I felt the warm velvet like material engulf me and sent me traveling into my imaginary world. It was my usual place, the one I had seen only a few days before in my room until I became shocked and fell on the floor, shattering a mirror and injuring myself as I did so. The song was still playing which meant I was most likely still singing. I was walking in a field, still wearing the blue dress, barefoot. Everything seemed normal for my world, but what really stuck out was when I passed a puddle. I dropped to my knees, unbelieving that I was gazing into my own face. My ears had become longer, almost like the stereo-typical elf’s only larger and more flexible. They were almost like a strange animal’s. I tugged on them, nervously. I looked back up to see a shadowy figure in front of me hold out his hand. His brown eyes sparkled at me as they changed to a hazel and his entire body became a human’s. I looked to my side and saw a large group of shadows charging forward. Ryan grabbed my hand suddenly and pulled me into his chest, beginning to run. He suddenly leapt of the cliff with me in his arms, the other shadows close behind. Ryan continued hurrying until he came to the beach. We both looked back and noticed that the shadows seemed trapped by the shore. Ryan dashed off into the forest until we saw the tree house. He climbed up, still holding me and sat me down. He panted lightly, then looked up at me and grinned.

“Even in your dreams you’re in trouble.” He teased. I shook my head sighing.

“How’d you get here?” I asked. Ryan shrugged as he looked up at the ceiling.

“I came over to see what you were up to and you looked as if you were in a trance. Worried, I touched you to try and wake you up but I guess instead my mind was transported here.” He explained, looking back at me, “So how do we get back?”

I pushed my hair back, frustrated.

“I don’t know. I thought you would.” I stated. Ryan shook his head and looked out the door suddenly. He grabbed my hand.

“Well, what ever the escape route may be, we can’t stay here anymore. Your dream vampires are starting to come up and telling by the form they’re in, they won’t be too friendly.” He stated, pulling me into his chest. He held onto me tightly as he leapt through the wooden wall of the tree house and broke through, pieces of wood littering the ground. He ran through the woods with me in his arms, looking behind him occasionally. He suddenly leapt into the trees and began leaping from branch to branch. I looked down to see Pete snarling below. Ryan closed his eyes suddenly, cringing as a pair of large, bat-like, black wings burst from his back. He made a soft noise as he took off into the sky. I clung onto him, the feeling of flying rushing into my emotions. Before when I had done it in my dream, It didn’t feel this… real. Ryan looked down at me, his hazel eyes glistening.

“So you aren’t afraid of my wings?” He asked. I shook my head.

“I think they’re rather cute” I commented. Ryan made a noise.

“Oh! Cute huh? I’ll have you know that people cower in fear when they see these.” He stated. I laughed.

“Sure. The same way a little girl cowers in fear of a pony.” I noted sarcastically. He smirked and bent down towards my neck so that I could feel every breath he let out.

“I could always bite you, hm?” He threatened, his whispered words tickling my ear. I looked at him straight in the eyes.

“You aren’t that kind of a person.” I said softly. He stared at me for a few moments, then turned away.

“How do you know?” He asked.

“I can tell.” I said, looking down at the water. I stared for a moment then looked back, “They’ve given up”

Ryan nodded and landed back on the cliff gently and placed me back down. I brushed off my dress calmly and looked around, tugging on my long ears again. Ryan laughed.

“You’ll get used to it. It’s what you look like naturally as a Talking.” he stated, then took my face in his hand, “Let me see your eyes.”

He examined my eyes carefully for what felt like ages. Once he had finished he looked me over, then examined my eyes again. Once he had finished he sighed, rubbing his forehead. He sat down, then looked up at me, smiling, yet with a look of concern crossing his eyes.

“Well, here’s some good and bad news. You have many colours in your eyes.” He stated. I gazed at him curiously.

“More than one colour? My eyes are blue.” I stated, looking at him as if he had some sort of creature growing out the side of his head. He shook his head.

“You have more than one colour now. Go look at your reflection.” He suggested. I looked at him as a puddle suddenly appeared beside me. I reluctantly looked down and noticed the many different colours in my eyes now. Blue was the main colour, how ever there were tiny spots of other colours. I looked over at Ryan curiously.

“What does this mean?” I asked. Ryan smirked slightly, amused by how little I knew.

“ It means that each of those spots of colour hold a power. Or they resemble one. Really the power is within you but regardless, you can tell what kind of a talking your up against by the colour in their eyes. And I’d have to say you’d be a rank A one if trained hard enough.” Ryan explained. Suddenly the world around me began fading away. Ryan looked around, “Looks like someone’s waking up.” He stated. I opened my eyes suddenly, looking around me. Ryan had just woken up, and retracted his hand which was previously on my hand. I looked at him, wondering if it was all just a dream. Ryan just shook his head and stood up, stretching.

“Man, I haven’t slept like that in ages.” He stated, yawning. His fangs made him look like a lazy cat. I sat up, rubbing one eye sleepily. I looked around again. There were dishes from lunch that hadn’t been dealt with. Ryan too noticed this. A pained look crossed his face.

“Brendon normally takes care of that. He’s a dish Nazi. But those were there when I went over to you and that looks as if it were about… two hours ago.” He stated. An unreadable look crossed his eyes suddenly as he practically ran to his bedroom.

“Brendon’s not here.” He stated. I stood up instantly.

“What?” I asked, unbelieving.

“Brendon’s disappeared. One second.” He said, running to John’s room. There was a moment of hushed voices, then Ryan burst back out.

“Brendon’s gone.” He said, his eyes gaining a frantic look. I thought for a moment, then walked over to Brendon’s room to double check. On his table, there was photo album and on top of that photo album there was a picture of a house. I flipped it over to see an address scrawled on the back. I grabbed the photo and turned to Ryan.

“I’m going to look for him.” I said, then turned to walk out. Ryan grabbed my wrist quickly.

“No, it’s too dangerous right now.” He stated, then pulled me back. I stared him straight in the eye, standing my ground.

“I’ll be fine. If anyone tries to attack me, I’ll attack them back.” I said, trying to reassure him. Ryan shook his head.

“I might have lost my best friend. I don’t want to lose my- I don’t want to lose you too.” He said firmly. I looked at the door then back at him.

“I know where he is. It’s not far. I’ll be okay.” I said calmly, then held up a cell phone from the hoody I had worn in the hospital, found a pen and paper on the table and wrote down my number. I placed it in Ryan’s hand and closed his hand gently.

“I’ll be okay. I have a cell phone and I’ll call you if I run into trouble.” I said softly. Ryan sighed and nodded, looking out the window.

“There’s no convincing you otherwise, I assume” He stated. I shook my head.

“No. I’d just walk out if you didn’t let me. I may not know Brendon very well, but I still care about him like a big brother.” I explained. Ryan nodded, turning back to face me.

“But if you get into any trouble-” He started. I nodded.

“I’ll report it to you right away.” I said, smiling. Ryan smiled gently and nodded, holding my hand. I felt something cold touch it.

“Good. Then go get Brendon back from where ever he is.” Ryan ordered. I nodded, walking out. As soon as I left the building, I realized I had forgotten my jacket. I cursed as I looked in my hand. Ryan had slipped a bus fare in my hand. I laughed slightly looking up. I couldn’t see him from here, even if he had been in the window. I walked over to the bus station and sat on the bench waiting for the bus to come silently. I watched many cars go by, then looked over at my phone. I had about five missed calls all from my mom. Assuming I should call her, I did. I heard the phone ring steadily for about three rings then hearing the voice mail, I left a message stating that I was okay and I’d be seeing her soon. I wasn’t sure of the certainty of my words, so I simply added ‘I love you’ and left it at that. I looked at the street, watching a random car with a rainbow paint job go by. I watched it wondering who the heck paints their car like that. Looking back at the many other cars, I ignored the rainbow car as it disappeared down the street. I had been waiting for about ten minutes when someone else sat down beside me suddenly. I had always had an issue with trying to ignore the person beside me, so that’s what I did. I suddenly felt warmth as a jacket was draped over me. I spun around to face the person and immediately recognized those dog-like hazel eyes.

“You looked cold. Don’t you know you shouldn’t be wearing a short-sleeved spring dress in winter?” He stated, adjusting his emo-cut black hair. He grinned, barring his dog-like teeth.

“Frankie?” I asked, unbelieving. He laughed.

“You say it like you’re shocked to see me. You do know that my pack and I live just down the street, right?” He asked. I shook my head.

“I didn’t. So, based on the fact that people call your people a dog… I’m assuming that you’re a werewolf?” I asked, guessing. Frankie nodded, giving me a thumbs up.

“Bingo!” He exclaimed, “So where are you off to?”

“I’m retrieving a lost personal.” I stated as the bus pulled in. I began stepping on as Frankie followed. We both put our bus fare in and sat down.

“So which one got lost? Spencer again?” He asked. I shook my head.

“Guess again.” I said. Frankie sat there in thought for a moment, biting his lip. He looked at me again.

“Hmmm… Ryan?” He asked. I shook my head. Frankie shook his head as well.

“Naw. That’s true. Ryan’s pretty good with never running away… John?” He asked. I grinned and shook my head again. He stared at me, wide-eyed.

“Brendon?” He asked. I nodded.

“He left while we were all off doing things.” I explained. I didn’t want to tell him about how Ryan and I had an adventure in my dreams. That would just sound weird. Frankie nodded.

“Wow… Hey, you wondering how I know all their names?” He asked. I shrugged.

“Why not? You’re probably going to tell me anyways” I joked. Frankie laughed.

“Yeah, I would. But anyways, it’s because Ryan’s clan is actually the only vampire clan we get along with somewhat. We don’t like the vampires, but we can tolerate them because they don’t go around killing people. They just take the leftover donated blood that hasn’t been used and drink that. And no one dies for it.” He explained. I nodded, then looked at him, confused.

“You mean the others don’t?” I asked. Frankie nodded.

“They’re leaches. All of them are, but Ryan’s clan is much more civil about it. Pete’s clan likes to keep it old fashioned and murder people.” Frankie stated. I sighed.

“Wow. Less than one week and I’m immersed in a world that I never knew actually existed…” I muttered. Frankie laughed and pushed me lightly.

“Oh, you’ll get used to it. Once you do, it’s really quite cool. I had to get used to it quite badly. Anyways, this is your stop, right?” He asked. I looked up and looked at the picture. I nodded.

“Yeah, it is. Thanks for keeping me company… uh do you want your hoody back?” I asked. Frankie shook his head.

“Naw, keep it. I’ll stop by to pick it up if I want it. Besides. Those perverts only bought you dresses, right? You’ll need some form of clothing to keep your style.” He joked. I laughed.

“Thanks Frankie” I said, walking off the bus. As I passed by his window, he looked out, and grinned.

“Hey, keep in touch, okay?” He asked through the gape between the ajar window and he ceiling. I nodded.

“Will do” I stated as the bus took off. I began walking down the main street silently, looking for the branched off street carefully, checking the picture every few moments. 

“Hold on Brendon. I’m coming.” I said softly.