Escaped the Night (10 page)

Just as I thought we were
done
say
ing
good-bye
Uncle Dane piped up
.
“
Hey, w
ho
are
you with
? Do I know them?”

“
Jayce, Lay
la
…” I stopped.
W
ere
their identities
a
secret
? I
felt
un
sure
about
answer
ing
,
but i
f I didn’t
say
something
he was going to
flip out
.

Jayce’s voice entered my mind
.
‘Jayce Fallon; t
ell him you’
re with me and a few of my friend
s, but you can’t remember their
names.’

I never mentioned Layla
again
hoping Uncle Dane
had
n’t
hear
d
me the first time around.
“I’m with Jayce Fallon. We came down here with some of his friends. I
just met them and can’
t remember the
ir names
.” I paused,
in a lower voice
I
said, “Their
names are
funky and
kind of
strange.”
It was the truth, I'd just omitted a few facts about them.

“Jayce Fallon.
Could you spell that
?” I
heard paper
shuffling
.

“J-A-Y-C-E and
F-A
-L-L-O-N.” My response took me
off guard. It was a relatively
unique name. How’
d I know
n
the
proper
spelling
?

‘You’re
connected to my thoughts
,
as I am yours
. You just
need
to listen. When we’
re connected
and
either one of us
knows
the answer
to a question
, it will
simply
come
.’

Jayce was yards
away
and
facing
in
the other direction
, but
it felt like he
was
right
next to me
having
this conversation.

“Shanntal?
” Uncle Dane said, “
S
till with me?
Hello?
”

“Yeah, s
orry
.”

“
Get
back to your friends
,
kiddo.
Call me if you need anything
and d
on’t be
too late
.
”
He lowered his voice and added, “I love you, sweetie. I don’t want anything to
ever
happen to you.”

Tears came to my eyes. I couldn’t blame him for caring.
“I won’t be
too
late
,” I said.
“
I love you too.
Have a good night, Uncle Dane.”

“
You too
.
S
ay hello to
that beauty
Layla
for me
.”

“Lay —
How do
…”
He hung up before I could
finish
.

Jayce interrupted
. ’
It’s a small town. That’s all.
Come b
ack over.
You’
re
safe
with us
. Nothing
’
s going to
harm you
.’

‘But…’

‘
Get
over here. It
’
s t
ime to relax and have some fun.’

‘Right.’
That’s when I
realized I was standing by myself.
I walked
back over
and took
my
place beside
Jayce
.
Everyone smiled
upon my return
and I realized
that
I fit in quite nicely. E
ven though I
didn’t look anything like
them
or have powers like they did
,
I
felt like I belonged
.
I’d never
had
such chemistry
with
my
other friends,
minus
one exception, Ginata.
My heart
sunk heavily
as
I wondered where she was now.

Jayce
picked up on how much I
was missing
my dear friend and the emptiness
that was
left in her place. In an attempt to comfort, he
wrapp
ed
his arm
s
around
me,
pulling
me
close
.
H
is gesture
worked, his
simple hug felt
so good
;
I found myself never
want
ing him to
let go. I
was
safe
and secure
locked
in his
embrac
e.

‘
I
can
feel how much you miss her. You aren’t alone
anymore
because you have us
now
. We aren’t going anywhere.’

‘
Thank
you, it’s sweet of you to say.’

‘
It’s the truth.
’
He squeezed tighter.

All I could do was smile. I was honestly happy again.

It started getting cool so w
e
made a small fire and sat along the sandy beach
. I
chatted
back and forth
with my new friends as we took some time to get to
know each other better.
I enjoyed finding out more about
their special gifts and
left out the horrific details of my past and just gave them the basics. Jayce knew what happened and that was enough. The bond with him was g
etting stronger by the minute. We
felt so
incredibly
close and everyone
else was very accepting
,
making them easy
to get along with.

I breathed
deeply taking in the magnificent smells of the water. With the small waterfall and var
ious caves, this place should have
been called perfect beach
.

The sun
began
to set
and
Jayce
decided it was time to say
good-bye to our friends
and get me back home
.
Meriel, Terran and Layla hugged me before parting ways, while the guys smiled and waved, inviting me back soon. They al
l felt like old friends
.

Jayce and I
walked hand in hand back to
wards
his car.
On the trip
home
, he held my hand the entire
way.

‘
So, wh
at did you think of my friends?’

‘
They’re amazing. I can’t believe
how well I got along with them.’

‘
They re
ally liked you too. I can tell.’
He
flashed
me his perfect smile.

‘
I’m glad.
’
I said as my heart fluttered.

I didn’t
need
to tell Jayce where to go.
He passed by the
small
grocer and
gas station, t
hen
turned
left onto my road and
stopped his car
directly
in front of
the
black and white bungalow,
number
ed
5658.

I got possession of my hand back and
opened
the
door
with my other hand
.
“Thank you
for everything
today
,
Jayce. I had a
really
great time.”
I won
dered when I’
d see him next
.

“
Tomorrow
.
” He grinned. “
I’ll know when you get up. Just s
end me over a thought when you’re ready for me to pick you up.” He leaned over and
gently
kissed my cheek. “
Sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams.”
My cheeks blushed
, but
it was extra
warm where he
kissed me
. He l
eft a lingering permanent kiss, like
I
’d
always be able to feel it.

Jayce chuckled,
and
I
shot up even redder. I
needed
to try
harder
to control my thoughts or risk becoming bright blushing red for all time.
I
hurried out of the car, giving
Jayce
a wave
as I headed
towards my
house
.

I
reached
for
the
front door
knob, almost losing
my bala
nce as the door flung open. U
ncle
Dane
stood
in the doorway
, trying to glance past
me in order to get a pe
e
k at Jayce
.

Jayce
noticed and
rolled down his passenger window
.
H
e called out
,
“Hello, I’m Jayce. I’m in a bit of a hurry now
,
but I’ll meet you properly tomorrow. Good night.” He waved good
-
bye
before
driving
away.

My uncle shot me a
look and I
saw
the question in his eyes.
Tomorrow
?
Surprisingly, h
e never
said
the word
s
expected;
instead h
e moved out of
the way
,
letting me by
.

Auntie Steph must
have really had a talk with him, I thought to myself. I went
into the
living
room and glance
d
over
at the clock. Wow,
a
lmost eleven already
. I sat
down
on the couch so I could
spend
a
few minutes with my uncle
before heading to bed
.
Auntie Steph
had
already gone
to bed. She was a ten o’clock kind of
woman. Ten o’clock every night,
she was behind closed doors in dreamland.

“
I tried to talk to some girls at the mall,
” I said, “
but they weren’t very nice to me. Come to think of it, they were downright rude. I was going to call you except that was when Jayce sat down. We
talked
and instantly clicked,
and
before I knew it, hours passed and we were down at
the bea
ch
me
e
ting
more of
his
friends.”

“You went
alone
with him
?”

I t
r
i
ed getting his mind off worry mode.
“
Yes, Auntie Steph said it was okay.
It feels really good
to have
friends again.
I really miss that.
The
girls are
totally
nice… speaking of
girls, h
ow
exactly
do you know Layla?”

“
Small town
,”
he
answer
ed
.

I felt tired and was
looking forward to seeing Jayce again tomorrow, so
I got up from the couch
and
head
ed
to bed. I didn’t want to sleep all day. Before getting to
o
far, I
turned and gave Uncle Dane
a quick kiss on the cheek.
“
Good
night
and thank you for today
.
I
really
had an awesome time.
”

“Good
night
,
Shanntal. I’m
glad
you made some
new
friends.”

“Thanks
. Me
,
too.”
I headed
into
my room for the good night
’s
sleep that
a
waited
me
.