Falling Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 1 (16 page)

“Here, put this on.” he removed his jacket. “You can borrow mine.”
He tried to hand it to me but I politely shook my head.
“It's okay, I don't bite,” he joked.
I reached out and took the jacket and slipped it on, it was far too big and bulky but I was grateful for
the extra layer.
“The bathroom is just over here.”
I walked behind him looking at the walls at the random pieces of abstract artwork hanging from it.
“What were you doing wondering around on your own outside?” he asked.
“I was waiting for my friend to pick me up, but he's not answering his cell.”
“Well go and clean yourself up and I'll run you home afterwards.”
“Why would you do that? You don't even know me,” I asked slightly concerned. The front doors
opened and a group of loud guys walked through shouting and laughing.
“Emmy boy,” called one guy loudly, headed our way.
“Go on, bathrooms in there.” the boy said pointing me towards the door. I edged the door open
watching the other people crowd into the foyer.
“Where you been Em?” the guy said still walking towards us.
“Ruby, please just go clean yourself up.” he said pushing the door open for me.
“Wait how do you know my name?” I asked a little confused and worried, I hadn't told him my
name.
He looked at me a little shocked himself, like he shouldn't have said it.
“Hey man,” the other guy said only a few footsteps away from us. The boy turned around and let
the door swing shut between us.
I quickly washed my hand and cleaned the blood of myself the best I could. I grabbed a load of
paper towels and held them in my hand. I stood looking at myself in the mirror. I didn't look twenty
one what were they talking about didn't need it? And how did that boy know my name? The other
stranger had called him Em or Emmy.
I opened the bathroom door expecting it to be crowded still, but it was now empty. The sound of
heavy music was coming from downstairs. I walked back to the main front doors and looked around
but the the boy had disappeared. I tried to open the front door but it was stuck so I shook it a bit,
then it opened from the other side. The bouncer looked at me.
“You coming out or staying in there?”
“Did that boy come back this way?”
“What Emmett? No he's probably gone downstairs,”
I nodded and looked behind me at the stairs.
“You be careful done there.” he said pulling the door shut again.
I turned and looked at the stairs where the source of the music was coming from. Well at least I was
out of the rain. Now all I wanted to do was find that boy and ask him how he knew my name.
Maybe he was a friend of Seth's or Micah's? I looked at my cell one last time in hopes Micah had
called or messaged me. It was still blank.
The only time I needed Micah the most and he was ignoring his calls, typical guy. The stairs led
down then turned right and led down some more, it sounded like an underground club in the
basement. The music thudded louder the further down I went, flashing lights lit up the archway at
the bottom. The stairs were dark and crowded with people standing around on the lower steps. I had
to squeeze past a couple who were practically getting it on there on the stairs and they didn't seem
to care who saw them.
A few heads turned in my direction, probably because I didn't look old enough to be in here. The
place was dark lit up by flashing overhead lights, the air was clouded with smoke. There were
people everywhere, the place seemed far too overcrowded.
My head started to pound from the loudness of the music banging, it was so loud it drowned out any
thoughts all I heard was music. I looked around for the boy I had just met but the chances of finding
him down here amongst this crowd was unlikely. I backed myself into the nearest wall wondering
where I was.
I never saw a sign outside, no one from school had ever mentioned this place. Heaven's Point was a
quiet hidden in the woods sort of town, this seemed completely out of place and it wasn't even the
weekend.
Everyone was either dancing or at the bar which ran across the back wall. It looked mostly to be
older teenagers, maybe colleges kids. There were a few older people but not many. The room was
warmer than upstairs and I was starting to feel normal again the numbness in my toes was now
gone.
Someone grabbed my shoulder.
“There you are. Come on, you shouldn't be down here.”
But it wasn't the boy with the friendly smile I had just met upstairs. It was Cam. He grabbed me by
the wrist and pulled me towards the stairs. I had no choice but to go with as his grip was too tight.
He pulled me up the stairs where I managed to trip over my own foot and I stumbled forward, Cam
barely looked back at me as he dragged me back onto my my feet and kept pulling me towards the
exit. People were definitely looking at me now, probably wondering what was going on. Even I
wondered what was happening.
When we were in the foyer he turned to look at me.
“You practically ripped my arm out the socket dragging me away. What's wrong with you?”
“You shouldn't be here, its not safe. Who bought you here?” he asked furiously.
“No one I came on my own.”
He grabbed my wrist again and started pulling me towards the main doors, outside it had stopped
raining and we bumped into a group of people that were coming in, he pushed past them pulling me
with him.
“Let go of me,”
“I'm taking you home.”
He pulled me across the street. He was starting to scare me, I didn't feel safe with him, there was no
way I was getting in a car with him.
“Cam my arm, please could you let go?” I said asking nicely.
His hand dropped away and he carried on walking in front but my pace slowed down. I panicked
what was I supposed to do.
I looked around and saw a small alleyway between two shops. Maybe if I could get to it quick
enough. I could hide and lose him. Hopefully the alleyway would bring me out somewhere safe
with lots of people around. I slowed down my pace even more and walked backwards instead. He
hadn't noticed and pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, I heard a car beep near by. I turned and
ran running for the alleyway.
I reached it in seconds running as fast as I could, my speed seemed to pick up with every step I
took. My feet hit the floor over and over again, I was halfway down the alley in a matter of seconds.
I was always the slowest runner at school and out of breath in seconds, but this was different. It was
effortless and I was running fast and I mean really fast, even I was double guessing myself how was
this happening. I shot out the other side of the alleyway and into a street I didn't recognise.
There were a few parked vehicles over the street and I saw a black Dodge parked up. I jogged over
to the truck checking back every few steps to see if Cam was following me, he wasn't.
I went round to the other side of the truck, out of view from the alleyway and leaned against it to
rest. I looked through the window, there were empty energy drink bottles and cans littering the
floor, it was definitely Micah's truck. I checked my cell and tried calling him again but it went
straight to voicemail. Not sure what to do, I climbed up onto the back of the truck and crouched
down. All I could do was wait for Micah to come back, hopefully he wouldn't be too long.
I waited for about twenty minutes with no sign of anyone, until a motorcycle pulled up and parked
two spaces over. A tall dark haired boy wearing no helmet swung off. He had a long sleeve black Tshirt that matched his black pants and motorcycle. He had his back to me and his build reminded me
of Mack, but this boy was dressed differently to Mack, so I knew it wasn't him. I turned away and
fiddled with a strap on my boot, hoping he would leave quickly and not notice me. The last thing I
wanted was to draw anymore unwanted attention to myself.
“Ruby,”
I turned to see Mack looking at me from beside the truck. I don't know who was more shocked to
see the other, he looked more concerned than anything. I would have never of recognised him, he
looked so different, the way he was dressed now made him seem older than a regular school kid.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I was waiting for my friend to come back, this is his truck.”
“Does he know you're here?”
“No. I told him I didn't need a ride home tonight, but there was a change of plans. He's not
answering his cell and I got kind of stranded out here and then I saw his truck, so I'm waiting for
him to come back from where ever he is.”
“Come on, get down I'll take you home.” he said, expressionless.
“No it's okay, I'll be fine. I'm sure he wont be too long.”
Mack probably didn't want anything to do with me, he seemed annoyed he had even run into me. I
didn't want him to feel like he had to take me home, he didn't owe me anything. I would be fine here
on my on. Micah would be back any minute. Hopefully.
“Ruby it's not a problem,”
I shook my head looking at him, he was obviously on his way somewhere.
“You look different,” I realised it sounded weird as soon as I had said it. But it was true his hair was
even styled differently. He scratched at his chest and I noticed a skull ring on his middle finger. He
didn't say anything.
“I'm sorry about that night outside mine. I didn't mean what I said, the way it came out.”
He wouldn't even look at me.
“I know you've been avoiding me at school,”
Now I couldn't look at him and looked down at my boots instead.
“What time do you have to be home by?” he asked. I shrugged.
“I don't know, there's no one at home waiting for me, but not too late I guess.”
“You wanna go for a ride?” he asked, holding his hand out to me.
“And go where exactly?” I asked, standing up, already knowing I would willingly ride anywhere
with him.
Mack didn't give of any weird vibes like the ones I got when Cam was around, which gave me the
creeps. Even though I had heard some very disturbing rumours about Mack he didn't frighten me,
but hopefully that's all they were, were rumours. I reached out to him and he lifted me down from
the truck. His hands lingered on my waist for a moment longer than they needed to, then he stepped
back putting distance between us.
“Copeland Harbour, it's about an hours drive but shouldn't take that long on the bike.”
I nodded, I knew where he meant then I looked down at the other boys jacket I was still wearing.
Hopefully whoever that boy was he wouldn't mind me borrowing it a little longer. I would need it if
I was going to be on the back of Mack's bike. Maybe Micah knew someone by the name of Emmett,
I would have to find out where he lived and return it to him.
I noticed Mack was only wearing a T-shirt, was he not cold?
“Nice jacket,” he said looking me up and down.
“It's not mine.”
“Never would have guessed.” he smiled, probably laughing at the way the jacket was swamping me.
He walked back over to his bike, I followed slowly glancing back at the alleyway.
“You okay?” he asked following my gaze over to the alleyway.
“No. I mean yes I am now. Just today's been really weird. This town gets stranger everyday.”
“Why what happened today?” he asked, as he climbed onto his bike.
“Well earlier I thought someone was following me,” I shook my head laughing it off. Maybe I was
being paranoid, but I was sure I had seen someone in the library earlier. “Then I got stranded in
town and soaked from head to toe. I grazed my hand on the floor,” I laughed waving my hand in
front of him. “Ended up in some strange nightclub then Cam dragged me out and tried to get me to
leave with him,”
“What, the janitor freak,”
“Yeah, but I sort of ran away. That's how I ended up over here. My day has gone from bad to
worse.”
“I hope I'm not the worse part,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. He started the bike
grinning.
“I forgot my helmet so promise you'll hold on real tight,”
I climbed on behind him and slipped my arms around his waist wondering what a bad idea this was,
riding with no helmet.
“Just promise me you won't crash,”
“We're not going to crash. You ready?”
“Yep.” I hugged him tighter.
He pulled out onto the main street and took the turning at the end. We soon made it out of town
away from the street lights, shops and houses and drove into the darkness heading towards
Copeland Harbour.
The ride didn't take as long as I had expected, but I was sure that was due to the fact Mack was
driving over the speed limit. We passed a few signs for Copeland Harbour and pulled of the main
route, within minutes the Copeland lights came into view in the distance. We weaved round the
streets and came out near the front of the harbour. He drove slowly along the seafront and parked
his bike near the harbour, I could see the pier further down, it was lit up with sparkly lights and fair
ground rides were moving and playing music, there was even a big wheel that stood out in the
middle, it towered high above the rest.
I hopped of the back of the bike and leaned against the railing looking over at the sea, there were
boats everywhere.
“Come on,” he said taking my hand.
We walked along the edge towards the pier. I looked down at my hand which fit perfectly in his. I
looked up at him, he was grinning back at me.
“What?” I asked, wondering what was so amusing to him.
“I didn't say anything.”
He grinned, swinging our hands backwards and forward between us.
“Can I ask you something?” I said, hesitating for a moment unsure whether he would want me
asking him personnel questions.
“Shoot,”
“You weren't at school again today or any other day this week,”
“I have a lot of stuff going on at the moment.”
I nodded, I didn't really know what he meant but I assumed he was talking about his home life.
“A girl at school got hit by a falling light today, they took her to the hospital.”
“Yeah sounds nasty. I heard she's all right though, they're letting her out tomorrow.”
I wondered how he knew, he'd obviously heard the gossip from someone.
“So you just moved to Heaven's Point right?”
“Hmm,”
“Where did you move from?”
“Around.” he replied smiling.
“Around, does around have a name or a general location?”
He let go of my hand and jumped up onto the small brick wall that ran along the edge of the walk
way.
“Sort of that way.” he said pointing in the direction we had just come.
I nodded, this was obviously something he wasn't going to share.