Escaped the Night (7 page)

*****************
*****

“Well, this is it,
” Auntie
Stephanie
said
, and I
realized
the small island where my aunt and uncle lived was now
considered
home.

Uncle Danier
took
our
suitcases
out
and h
auled them up
the front walkway.
I was about to offer him some assistance, when h
e
stopped and I noticed
him wipe
his eyes.
H
e’d been crying. I
t dawned on me that he
’d
lost his sister,
just as I’d lost
my mom. I went
up to him, but before I got
a chance to say anything, he said,
“Awe, kiddo. I’m
glad
you’re
here
.
” He hesitated,
and
the
n
added: “
I really wish it was under different circumstances
,
though
.” He
attempted a smile
,
but
it didn’t hide
his
pain
.

Auntie Ste
phanie
gave me a warm smile
,
and to my surprise
, her small gesture made me
feel a
tiny
bit better.
She wrapped her
loving
arm
s
around Uncle Danier
and myself
.

“Me too.”
This was going to be a
hard adjustment, but at least we
didn’t have to do it alone.

W
e entered
the
brightly colored home with
painted
walls
in
shades of deep cran
berry reds, rusted oranges and welcoming
yellows.
Furniture made up of p
rominent dark woods and leathers
decorated
the home along
with various vase
s, pictures, statues and masks.
There were so many interesting artifacts.
I’
d forgotten how stylish their
house
was. As I looked around
,
past visits with my family came
into
mind
,
pu
t
t
ing
a lump in my throat.

Uncle Danier
led me
down the hall
. W
e entered
the bedroom on the right
.
He
placed my suitcases on the bed. “It’s
not as nice as your old room
,
but we can fix it up
however you like
.” He patted me on the
shoulder
before leaving me to get situated
.

I took a deep breath
and look
ed around
.
U
nique
sculptures of couples
were
positioned
on
the
driftwood shelves, while scented c
andles
sat
on
both
corner
s
of my dresser.
The bed was made with dark wood and
covered with deep red and black linens.

I
sighed and
started unpacking
my clothes
.
I
pulled
a picture of my family
out of the bag
. Staring at it, I kept wondering what happened to them. I ached to be back home with them and began
crying
as I put the
ir
photo on the
dresser
.

I continued unpacking and
was just about to put my bags in the closet when I heard a dull
jingle. I scrounged around
looking inside the suitcase
and s
omething tangled around my hand. I pulled
it
out
and found
a
necklace
. It was
my
amethyst sphere
sitting
on a black strap of leather.
Tears stung my eyes as I remembered
how
my parents
had given
it to me.
I’d been having a difficult day
;
my
parents
wanted to
cheer me
up and
did, with the
necklace. They’d told me
how
the sphere
held special
powers
of luck and protection. I placed
the necklace around my neck. I
would
treasure it
forever
,
keeping
their memory close to my heart.

Days, weeks and
months passed.
I
settle
d
in
nicely
and
felt like I belonged somewhere again. Auntie Steph and Uncle Da
ne were all too easy going
, even welcoming the new nicknames I
’d given
them.

I had the occasional roller coaster mood swing every now and then
,
but
tried to overcome them so I wasn’t a b
urden
. My d
reams haunted me
,
however
they
were starting to become fewer as each night passed.

Either Uncle Dane or
Auntie Steph
was constantly
with me
, but I
missed my sisters and Ginata. Their bond was hard
to replace
.
I’
d b
een in Blackwood for almost three
months before
finally
feeling
settled
enough to go out and brave th
e would-be shopping center
alone
. The
re really wasn’t too much to it,
unlike t
he malls back home
.

Uncle Dane dropped me off a
t the front entrance
. “Call me when
ever
you
’re
ready
to come back home
.
Here’s a bit of cash. Go buy yourself some lunch or clothes. Have some fun!” He
sat in the car watching me as I approached the main door. I could feel
his eyes on me so
I
turned
giving him a
wave
.
I
turned back around
and entered
the mall.

It w
as a lot busier tha
n I expected;
I b
raved my way through the crowds, moving
back and forth out of the way
as
the
others
passed. So many people
, yet I knew no one. A few sets
of eyes looked in my direction
, but the faces didn’t
smile
.

I
remember
ed
what it
felt
like
to be alone and this
brought up thoughts
I did
n’t want to think
about
.
My thoughts were
too
strong and
I
found myself wondering
why
didn’t
I
die
? Everyone else did,
why
did
I
have to be
the
only one left?
I shook the
dark
thoughts from my mind
.
I’d done enough self-dwelling over
the past few months; it was starting to get on my own nerves.

‘
Friend
s, you’re here to make friends,’
I told myself.
I
felt
incredibly lonely and
decided
I
’d
accept friendship from anyone who
offered
.
I’d
become
desperate for some kind, actually any kind of companionship.

I ambled over to a rack of clothes. The colors were too bright, but it was the group of girls standing nearby that I was actually drawn toward. I began
sorting
through the shirts. I looked up and smiled at one of the girls, but she turned her head. This wasn’t going to be easy. Hesitantly, I pulled a black tank
top
from the rack and held it up to me.
Then
I said, “Can I have your opinion?”

A girl with brown hair looked me up and down and laughed. “I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that.”

The group snickered as they
walked away
.

Flustered
,
I
turned around and walked
in
the opposite direction.
I debated calling
Uncle Dane
to come
pic
k me up. I pulled out my cell and
check
ed
the time. It had
only
been twenty
minutes since he
’d
dropped me off.
I sighed and shoved the cell back in my purse.

Food
.
I went up to the counter, waited in the short line
and
ordered
a
sandwich and
bottle of
water.
After
paying
,
I
sat
down at a table o
n the
far side
of the food court
.
I glanced up every now
and then
with a smile
and
watched
as
the strangers pass
ed
by
.

“Grrrrrr
. I hate this,
” I
said
under my breath. “Never knew I
was
so
invisible.”

I looked up
in time to
witness an
extremely good-
looking
,
brown h
aired guy with a baseball hat co
me
straight over
and sit
down
at my table.
He
was wearing a black t-shirt
,
blue jeans and
had a
patch
of hair just under his lip.
My heart raced
as
I looked at the tattoo covering his mus
cular arm; it was
some kind of
Celtic
k
not
going
down
to his elbow
.
He was dangerous, delicious and downright irresistible.

I squeaked out a nervous
“hello
.”

“Hello
.
”
He raised
an
eyeb
row and
gave
me a grin
.
“I’m
Jayce.
”

I stared at him blankly.

He smiled.
“And y
ou are?”

“Shanntal, my name is Shanntal,” I mu
mbled
. I was so embarrassed
I must’
ve been crimson red
.

“Shannta
l, nice
name,
” he said
leaning
back
on the chair
.
“
You don’t look like you’re from around here.”

“Wow, glad to see
I stand out so much.
” I blushed. “
Actually
,
I just moved to Blackwood a
few months back
.”
I leaned forward in my chair
and Jayce copied my every move.

“Does everyone pass by without acknowledging oth
ers? I feel like
I’
ve come to a forbidden
island, no newcomers allowed.” I
noticed the weird look on his face
and
sat myself back into the
seat.

He e
yed me closely
.
“Are we that obvious?” he smirked.

I
panicked
.
His reaction wasn’t what I’d expected.
Are we that obvious
? What was that supposed to mean?

“What brings you
here?”

“Here? You mean the mall or …”

He kept his eyes on me. “Here, as in this forbidden island.”

“Forbidden? Really?”

“I’m only joking around with you.”

“
Oh,
”
I said,
trying to relax. “I’m staying with my aunt and uncle.”

He nodded, but didn’t say anything, as though expecting me to continue. I wasn’t sure I wanted to share all the details of my life, at least not yet. So I just took a bite of my sandwich.

“
Well now
…
” he leaned in closer
,
flashing
his smile. “A
girl full of mystery
, hmmm…
I like it. G
uess there’s
something you
might want to
know about me
.
W
hen you
act
like this
,
it only makes me want to know more
.” He
winked
and I melted.

“My family was k
illed and I’m the sole survivor,
”
I
blurted. That’s when I expected
him
to
run away as fast as he could, but he
didn’t budge.

“Y
our
entire family?
Wow, t
hat’s tough. I’m sorry.
What happened?”

I tried not to tear up as
I began telling him my story.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach
as if g
iving
myself a
hug
. “
I don’t really know.
I was
at my friends
house
the
night it happened.” I paused
.
I needed
to stay strong. I didn’t want to
be
come
a balling lunatic.
“My
parents
and two sisters were home
,
when someone or
something
got into the house.”

Jayce
gave me a puzzled look
.

I t
ook a
breath. This
was really hard
to talk
abo
ut
.
Jayce had a way about him,
there was
something almost f
amiliar
about
h
is
deep brown eyes, so
I held m
yself together and continued
. “
We could tell something wasn’t right
when I was being dropped off
.
My
best friends’ parents
went into my
house
to check it out
,
” I paused as my voice quavered. “
Whoever
kill
ed my family was still inside and
finished them off
too
.”

“How did you escape?”

“It was nothing really, I just never got out of the car.”

Jayce stared with a look resembling
shock. Guess this wasn’t the kind of thing
he
was expecting
to hear.

I sat back trying to read
his
expression
.

“You said someone or
something
? What did you mean by
something
?”

I took my paper napkin and dabbed at the tears coming to my eyes.

“
Sorry,
I
don’t mean to upset you. I…
I
like
you. You look nice, I
just
want
ed
to
get to
know
better. But wow..
.”
Jayce’s voice trailed off.

I blushed. He liked me.
I managed to stop crying and forced a smile.

“Are you okay?”
he asked.

“I’m good,
”
I said.

“Yes, yes you are,
”
he said.

I realized I hadn’t
really
told anyone what had happened to me. Uncle Dane and Auntie Steph avoided the topic, at least around me
,
and I needed to make sense of what
had
ha
ppened
,
or
just
have someone
else
hear
how crazy it was.

“T
he police never caught the perso
n or people responsible. T
hey
said
everyone had
been
bitten
repeatedly
. There
were
different sets of bite marks
and none
were an
exact duplicate
.
I’m not even sure what that means.”

Jayce
stared deeply into my eyes. “That’s one
interesting story you’ve got the
re, Shanntal. Sounds like you’ve been through a
n awful
lot
.”

I nodded.
We sat th
ere quietly for a few
minutes
. It was a nice
having a friend again. It was as if we’
d known e
ach other for a long time. I found it easy to talk to him.