Escaped the Night (21 page)

I walked through the front door
and found
them
sitting in the kitchen having their morning coffee and breakfast. It wa
s a
nother
typical day for them and I
felt
envious
. Why weren’t my days ever
typical?

“Good morning or is it good night?” Uncle Dane
said, anger in his voice
.
W
hen he
realized how filthy I was
,
his
harshness
vanished
.

“It’s been a really long ni
ght.”

“Is everything okay
?
Where have you been?
We have been worried sick; you never answered your phone, never called. Why would you do that knowing how much we worry about you?
” he
pried
.

Auntie Steph stood, giving me the once over. “Shanntal, did something happen?”

“I’
m alright.
We were
at the beach all day, hiding
in caves. Guess that’s
why I’m
dirty. I
also
ran into an old boyfriend
and it caused some friction wit
h Jayce, that’s all.” I tried
downplay
ing the
ordeal.

“
Old boyfriend
?
Here?
”
Uncle Dane gave me a doubtful look and Auntie Steph placed her hands on her hips.

“Yeah
, I haven’t seen him in years.”

“How did he
find you at the beach?” s
he
interrogated
.

“
We just ran into each other
.”

“Do I know him?” asked Uncle Dane.

“
I doubt it
.”

“Try me.” He wouldn’t let
it go.

“It happened a lo
ng time ago. It’s nothing. His name’s Daray and
honestly, I’d
forgotten all about him.”

Auntie Steph made a w
eird face and Uncle Dane began acting
strangely
. “G
o get some sleep kiddo,
w
e’ll talk later.” He
turned
to Auntie Steph
,
making a face I shouldn’t have seen
.

I
was
too tired and stressed
to argue
or pry
. I knew he wasn
’t behaving as he usually did
.
I wanted to know why and if they immortal too, but instead I simply walked over and gave them each a kiss on the cheek.
“Good night, good day…
whatever. I’ll s
ee you guys in a while.”
I walked
into my room
and closed
the
door
behind me
.
My mi
nd wandered for a minute before
I flopped
down
on the
bed
. I didn’t
both
er
pull
ing
back the covers or
even
chang
ing my clothes. I was too
exhausted
and
passed out right where I laid down.

Another Chance

~ Chapter Five ~

I awoke
from my slumber to realize
I
never took
the short
nap as originally planned. My room was
now
quite
dark. I
pulled
back the
curtains to see t
hat t
he
sun
had begun to set;
I’d slept the entire day away.
My
long brown
hair
felt like a giant
mess
of tangles.
I tugged on a strand of hair highlighted blonde, but found it now had more of a grey tinge.
My clothes were covered with
lingering dust and
dirt,
a constant reminder
of
the
previous day
’
s adventures.
Of all the things I’d ever forgotten,
why couldn’t
yesterday be
one of
them
?
I
had
just
found happiness
and
was
finally
coming
to terms
with
my new life
.
I
had
accepted
everything that had happened
, no matter how unfair it was
. Why
did this
new inner peace
have to come with such a hefty price?

Jayce
had willingly
shared
everything
about
his
world
with me
. W
a
s
t
his
why
he
told
me
?
Had he
know
n
all along
that
I was
an
immortal
?

Bits and pieces from
my
past
with Daray
resurfaced
.
I paid attent
ion
for a brief while, but
e
verything
I saw
happened so long ago
and
n
othing was like that anymore. I didn
’t have my family with me and
didn’t
really
know Daray.
Soon
, I found the memories wearing on my patience;
I
wanted
to live in the moment
,
not the past
.

I cleared
the
thoughts
from
my head,
g
ot
up from
bed and
headed straight for the showe
r. Stripping out of my filthy clothes, I kicked
them over
to
the corner
and watched as a small dust cloud rose up and landed
back down on the pile of fabric
. Shaking my head with disgust,
I stood in front of the mirror
and looked at my
face:
smeared dirt
on my cheek
, eye make-up half way down my face
.
Now, I understood why Uncle Dane
seemed
worried
when I s
aw
him last
.
I
was a sad sight
, matching
an equally horrible day.

I’d have to
chat with him
later and
let him
k
now everything was okay
and
try to explain
what was going on
. Then I thought about it…
w
hat was I going to
do
? B
lurt out,
hey guess what,
I’m
immortal!
Like he’d
ever
believe me
,
even
if I
were
telling
the truth
. He’d figure
I was having
a
breakdown
and
would
probably want to lock me up in a loony bin
. Perhaps, this
was
better left unmentioned.

I
turned
on the shower;
w
arm water flowed
while
s
team leaked out from
behind
the curtain as I climbed in. The water stung
my arm.
I looked at the wound; i
t
wasn’t
nearl
y as bad as I’d thought. T
he wolf
basically scratched
me and I
was
healing quickly,
a
perk of being immortal,
I assumed
. As I enjoyed the rejuvenating warm
th, I found myself wishing it w
ould
wash
away my sorrows
with
all
the
filthy
dirt.
I
got
so
wrapped up in my thoughts
that
I did
n’t
bother
washing
my hair until
the
ho
t
shower
water ran out
.

Jayce and I were
n
ever
going to be
the same. T
he
realizatio
n
almost broke me into piec
e
s.
I felt ashamed and couldn’t get over how badly I’d treated him. I
t wasn’t right.
I
cared
deeply
about him
,
I’d
fallen
head ove
r heels and
he
meant everything to me
.
How could I do this?
I pushed
the thoughts
from my
head
. I
magining
his
pain
was
too much
.
Why
did Daray have
such
control over me?
How could he make me turn away from the people I loved
and cared about
?
Why
couldn’t I resist his magnetism?
I let out a sigh.
I
had to face
the
facts, Daray was
in the picture
and
like it or not
,
he wasn’t going anywhere.

Overwhelmed,
I sunk
into a ball on the bathroom floor
wondering
how to choose between
the two of them
.
Why ha
d
Daray come back
in
to
my life
after all this time?
What did he really want with me?
Was it possible he
love
d
me
that much?
And, w
hy had Jayce just entered my life?
Why couldn’t I have met him sooner?
Did he love me as much as I loved him?
I fought with myself over and over again
.

F
or some unexplainable reason
,
something inside made me feel
obligated to give Daray another chance. I
supposed it boiled down to the
history
we
’d
once
shared
and
how he
saved
me from dying; because of this, he’d get his
chance.
He
seem
ed different
,
like his
entire bein
g
had
changed
,
and
i
t wasn’t just
the
subtle differences in his face. He’
d become
almost
sin
ister
.
I
really didn’t
care for the intoxicating
feeling
that came
over me
every time he was around;
i
t felt like a spell. I’
d
have
to find a way
of
keep
ing
better control over myself.
I
fantasized
about what
life
would be
with him
.
I remembered
such
a gentle man
,
caring,
th
oughtful and considerate. H
e didn’t
show any of this
on the surface; instead
he seemed
more
dangerous,
perhaps
even
wicked.
I
hoped
to
be strong enough
to
bring the gentle man back to life
.

To
be fair to
everyone
,
I knew what
had to
be
do
ne
.
I
needed to
get to
know
Daray better
and then
I’d be in a position to
decide who was
best
for me.
Jayce was all t
he things
I wanted, but
Daray was
my past, which made me feel close to him.
However, p
eople
changed
, especially over a
hundred years
,
and i
f
we
were
to have any sort of a future
and move past this
,
I
need
ed
to
know the person Daray was now.
It was settled.
I’d
give Daray
another
chance and
somehow
make
it up to Jayce.
There wasn’t any reas
on why
we
couldn’t remain
friends.
Selfish
, but
I needed Jayce
in my life. He understood me
like no
body
else
and
I couldn’t give that
up.

I picked myself up off the floor
and
shook
off the
remaining insecurity and
self-pity. I
g
ot dressed in
black
tank top
and
s
ome black jeans
. R
an a brush through my hair and applied some eyeliner and mascara. I didn’t
bother with too much make-up because t
his time
,
the boys were going to have to impress me, not the other way around.

A knock sounded at the front door. I wasn’t expecting anyone. The only one
who’d come
t
o get me lately was Jayce and I
knew
all
to
o
well,
that wasn’t happening today.
I waited for
someone
to get it.
A
nother knock
. I walked
i
nto the common room to find
I was home alone. I
answered the
door.

“Hey, you guys,” I said
,
happily surprised.
I moved out of the w
ay, letting
my giant protectors and g
orgeous purple-eyed friend
in.
Garrison
and Kaleb
did a walk-through a
round the entire house,
checking
top to bottom
,
making
sure everything was safe.
Layla and I ignored them as we said our hellos.