Falling Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 1 (4 page)

I was falling through the sky, travelling fast through white fluffy clouds. It felt like I was falling
more than flying. I must be dreaming I thought, I thought it was strange that I knew I was in a
dream I couldn't normally tell when I was dreaming. I still felt a rush of panic as I realised I was
still falling. Down below I could see shapes and colours mainly greens. From up here it looked
peaceful, but I was still falling and I started panicking. I needed to wake up I didn't want to be in
this dream any longer.

I woke up with a jolt, I was sweaty and my hair was plastered all over my face. My heart was
pounding against my rib cage. I was lying across the front seat of the truck and it was now dark
outside. I could see the cabin from down here, the lights were on and the porch light was shining
over the truck making me squint.
I sat up and took a deep breath, what had just happened? One minute I was trying to look in Micah's
head the next I’m falling from the sky in some dream. It had been daytime when I was talking to
him how had it get so dark? How long had I been asleep? I knew I was tired but not tired enough to
pass out. It had felt so real I’d never experienced a dream like it.
Someone knocked on the window behind me, I turned my head to see Micah looking back at me
and he looked annoyed.
“It's about time you woke up,” he said opening the door which I was resting against. I fell out
backwards, but he caught me and dragged me to my feet by my elbows. I was sure his fingers
would leave a mark by how hard he had gripped me. Ouch! I steadied myself and rubbed my
elbows.
“What time is it?” I asked still a bit groggy.
“Nearly twelve,” he snapped back.
“At night?” I asked going all wide eyed, last time I checked my cellphone it had read 9.41am. How
had this happened?
“Off course eleven at night, it's been like trying to wake the dead and you snore really loud....now
get inside,” he said shoving me towards the cabin. What was wrong with this guy? In the truck he
had been sort of nice to me now he was acting mad like I’d done something wrong.
“Where's Seth?” I asked climbing the steps.
“He had to go somewhere,”
Somewhere that wasn't a proper answer. Micah was acting very strange, sort of on edge. He went to
open the front door but paused with his back to me.
“Gunner,” Micah shouted. I turned around to see an extremely large black Great Dane running up
the steps towards me. I jumped back for my own safety it was huge and scary looking and would of
easily knocked me over. It sniffed my feet then my at my clenched fist as I was hiding my fingers
encase it wasn't friendly, then it ran into the cabin out of sight.
The front door led straight into a room where a fire was already burning.
“Is it your dog?” I asked watching the dog settle next to the fire.
“No he belongs to a friend and he doesn't like strangers so don't go cuddling him or anything,” I
looked over at the dog it was chewing on a scruffy looking trainer. The front room had a TV and
two couches facing towards it, there was an archway leading from the room to what looked like a
kitchen and a staircase was straight in front.
Micah walked up the stairs, I was unsure whether I was meant to follow him or not so I stood at the
bottom watching the dog.
“What are you doing?” he asked from the top of the stairs and motioned with his head for me to
follow. Upstairs was dark but there was light coming from under one of the doors, which was the
one he opened, holding the door open for me.
I walked into a smallish room, inside there was a single bed, a nightstand with a lamp, a desk, a
small closet and a chest of drawers. My boxes were stacked in the corner. The bed had been neatly
made with purple sheets and there was a gorgeous purple furry blanket to match the bed linen
draped over the end. The room looked cosy, Seth made it sound like his spare room was a tip with
junk lying around, obviously he had quickly cleaned it out while I was asleep.
Wow! But where did he get the bed linen from on such short notice?
I half smiled turning to Micah and was about to tell him how great this was but he looked at me
expressionless and walked out shutting the door behind him.
I freshened up in the bathroom and unpacked a few things putting my daisy alarm clock on the
nightstand. I didn’t want to go downstairs with Micah down there, so I sat on the bed with a book,
but I soon felt tired, which surprised me after the long sleep I just had in the truck. I laid down on
top of the covers and soon forgot about everything.

I was awoken by what sounded like a motorcycle in the distance getting closer with every second. I
slowly got off the bed and peeked out the curtains it was still dark, I looked back at my clock, it was
1.30am. I quietly creaked the door open, I didn’t want to wake Seth if he was in bed. I crept along
the landing to the end window which over looked the driveway.
Outside was like looking into a sea of black, the only visible light was coming from the porch. The
roar of the motorcycle grew louder and I could see a light flickering through the trees. The bike
soon pulled up next to Seth's truck, there was another black truck further along it looked like a very
new and expensive black Dodge Ram, maybe Micah's?
The driver swung off and removed his helmet, it was Seth but even in this light I could see his face
didn’t look right. His left eye was all swollen and there was a cut along the side of his face and his
lip looked damaged, he looked as if he'd been beaten up. Micah appeared from the house and
casually strolled over to him. Seth handed him the bag from his back and grinned at Micah as the
pair of them did a fist bump in the air.
I was horrified my brother had been attacked and Micah didn’t even look concerned, what was
going on?
They both walked towards the cabin, I quickly moved away from the window so not to be seen
spying. I quietly tip toed past my door nearer to the stairs I stood hovering over the rail, I was
deciding whether I should stay up here or go down when I heard Seth talking, so I decided to stay
put and crouched down.
“Where is she?” Seth asked, quieting his voice.
“Upstairs, she went back to sleep again.” Micah said.
“Sleeping on what exactly? I hadn’t cleaned her room out. I didn’t even have time to get her any
bedding, you two left it so late to tell me about any of this,” Seth said, sounding exhausted.
“Stop getting all worked up Jessie already took care of her room, I think she liked it.” Micah said
cheerily.
Who was Jessie?
“So when did she wake up?” Seth asked sounding concerned.
“Around midnight, she looked fine when I left her upstairs.”
“What was that thing she was doing with her eyes? It looked as freaky as hell,”
“Maybe she’s possessed?” Micah said, rather amused by the comment.
“Micah it's not funny,”
“I'm kidding, calm down.....geez has everyone lost their sense of humour round here,”
“You're sure she wasn’t just having a bad dream?”
“No I think she tried to look in my head.”
“So you’re saying she can do what I can, but not as well yet?”
“No. I don't know, I'm not sure but I could feel her searching in my head. I think she might be able
to read peoples minds and possibly see things, like images or memories. I’m not entirely sure yet
though,”
“How did she even get in your head? Even I can't get in your head and I thought my ability was
strong.”
“I don't know but I definitely felt her in my head, it happened so quick. It shouldn’t even be
possible our minds our different to yours stronger and more intelligent, which is only stating the
obvious really,”
“Micah,” Seth said annoyed with him. “So what does this mean?”
“Well she can definitely do something, it just doesn’t work as well on me. You will need to contain
your thoughts around her as a precaution though. If she can get into my mind yours will be like a
walk in the park,” Micah said.
“How do you expect me to that?” Seth replied rather alarmed.
“Well you're going to have to try, think of something to distract yourself when she's around. We
don't know what she can do seeing as you wont ask her. It seems silly you insist on keeping her in
the dark about everything, when it's plainly clear she's already like you in some way. You need to
tell her,”
“Not yet, she's still a kid.”
“Yeah one with possible mind reading abilities....that stares a lot.” Micah said.
“Funny she said the same thing about you, the staring thing.”
There was a long pause and then boots moved across the floor.
“Micah what is that dog chewing? Is that....is that my trainer!”
“Well this has been an interesting day and all but I need to be going, try not to get too much blood
on the floor. You're leaving a trail and you have company remember,”
I heard Micah's boots move across the floor and the front door slam shut. I stood up and quickly
went back to my room. What was going on? They both knew what I could do. What had happened
to Seth's face? neither one of them said anything about it like it was normal.
This was craziness and what I experienced in the car might not of been a dream but something I
picked out of Micah's head. He must of gone skydiving at some point.
This was the first time this had ever happened, I’d only ever been able to read thoughts not
memories. I had so many unanswered questions and I couldn’t believe my brother knew what I
could do and hadn't said anything.
I heard Seth coming up the stairs so I quickly switched the lamp off and dived under the covers. I
heard the door open a fraction, then it closed quietly.
I rolled over onto my side feeling confused, which quickly changed to borderline panicking Micah
had been talking about ME on the phone before. It was me he wanted to bring back. And he'd told
the person on the phone to stay away from me, but who was he talking to? Was it this Jessie person
Micah had mentioned before, who had apparently sorted my bedroom out ready for me and picked
out my sheets.
I laid there worrying about Seth, was he okay? The two of them didn’t seem to be worrying so he
obviously wasn’t dying, I'd see the damage in the daylight tomorrow then maybe he would give me
some answers. He'd have to it's not like he could say he fell down the stairs. So many different
things where whirling through my head I knew sleep would be impossible.

The next morning I was out of bed by 7am, washed and dressed by 8am then I went food hunting. I
rummaged around in the cupboards for anything that looked edible or in date, half a loaf of bread,
biscuits, soft cornflakes, tinned beans, a fridge full of red meats and energy drinks. I opted for a
piece of toast and the only thing I could find to spread on it was peanut butter which wasn't so bad it
was one of my favourite things to eat, but Seth really needed to go grocery shopping. I hadn’t seen
Gunner since I had been downstairs but I had noticed a built in dog flap which took up most of the
bottom half of the back door, he must be outside roaming around. Micah hadn’t said anything about
keeping the dog in so I assumed it was okay.
I amused myself by watching TV and reading more of my book. These activities kept me busy until
about 10am when I officially hit boredom, Seth still hadn’t emerged from his room. I was anxiously
worrying about him, I still hadn’t seen the damage to his face. I didn’t even know if he had to work
today, his shifts changed every week and he had random hours.
I finally decided on a walk to distract myself. Seth hadn’t said there were any dangerous animals in
the forest even when I had joked about the bears, so I thought a small stroll wouldn’t hurt.
Outside the air felt cold and smelled of pine which was the only way I could describe it. It was the
complete opposite to what I used to back home. Even though the sun was out and felt warm on my
face, I still needed my hoodie to feel comfortable with the temperature outside. Behind the cabin I
found a small dirt path that ran along the edge of the river. It was overgrown and I had to duck and
jump branches and thorns. The sun kept disappearing behind the clouds, casting a gloomy shadow
overhead. I hadn't got far when I heard bushes rustling near by, I turned just in time to see
something black jumping out which knocked me to the floor. I rolled over and saw the dog circling
back to me.
Gunner stood wagging his tail with his leash in his mouth dribbling. I managed to wrestle the leash
from him but he wouldn't let me clip it on, he kept dodging me like it was a game then he took off
down the path. I jogged behind him to keep up.
He finally came to a stop wagging his tail. I gave up trying to put his leash on and picked up a stick
instead, chucking it down the path for him. The dog seemed friendly enough, he was like an
overgrown puppy wanting to play. We kept to the path, what was left of it anyway. I had left my cell
at the cabin so I had no idea what the time was?
We had walked some distance along the river and I was about to turn back when a small dock came
into view. I couldn't imagine many people fishing off it this place looked untouched and overgrown
I doubted anyone had been up here for a long time. I laid down at the end of the dock and watched
the clouds above drift by, lost in my own random thoughts. Gunner laid down beside me resting his
head on his paws.
The clouds in the distance looked darker and we're headed this way. I thought it best if we made our
way back, I didn't want to get soaked. Before I could move something landed on the deck next to
me I flinched away, Gunner stood up immediately and growled. It was a bird, hopping along the
edge I was surprised it had landed so close to me. Gunner was still growing when he dived at the
bird, but the bird was faster and took off into the air. Gunner stood at the end of the deck barking
after it as it flew away. I watched it fly over into the trees it was a large bird much bigger than a
standard crow.
I started walking back along the deck but Gunner didn't follow instead he started giving off a low
growl looking across the river. I moved closer to him and looked over at the area of greenery he was
watching, all I could see was trees and bushes. His growling grew deeper and louder, maybe he had
seen another bird? He was clearly agitated by something and it was starting to unsettle me, maybe a
walk in the woods was a bad idea.
“Gunner, time to go come on.....Gunner now!” I said but my voice was coming out all panicky,
alarm bells were starting to go off in my head. When I had first asked Seth if I could come and stay
I'd heard him say '
it's not safe'
he probably meant the area, mountain lions, wolves I had no idea
what could be roaming around I should of asked first.
Gunner continued to growl and had now began to snap at the air pacing the end of the deck. I
looked over again to the other side of the river, standing amongst all the greenery I could clearly see
a figure this time. Someone was over there but they quickly moved out of sight behind a tree.
They had been watching me. It was time to go with or without the dog I just hoped he had done
enough growling to frighten the stranger off.
I turned and started to briskly walk back along the deck but it didn’t last long and I found my legs
had taken over and I was running for cover towards the trees. I had just made it off the deck when I
turned to see if Gunner was following when I ran straight into something.
I started to fall backwards from the impact, when someone grabbed me by my arms and pulled me
back up.
“Whoa, careful,” he said.
I got a quick look at him as he helped me up. He looked maybe my age, maybe older it was hard to
tell his eyes were covered with dark black shades that matched his dark black hair. It was cut short
styled up but still looked ruffled. I steadied myself while holding onto his arm which felt extremely
muscular for his lean physic, he was dressed in a long sleeved black shirt, black jeans and black
boots everything about him was dark. Where had he come from?
Are you okay?” he asked.
I turned back to look over at the riverbank, the stranger was no where to be seen. I looked at the boy
who was looking in the same direction as I was.
“I thought I saw something across the river.” I said in a calmer voice looking back at the boy.
“Like what?” he asked curiously.
“I dunno it looked like a person, maybe?”
I realised Gunner had stopped barking or growling I turned to look for him but he was gone I
glanced around quickly and found him sitting next to the boys feet. The boy looked down at the dog
and scratched the top of his head.
“It was probably a tall deer, no one comes out this far. What are you doing out here?” he asked
sounding concerned, but he had said no one comes out this far. What was he doing out here?
“I was just going for a walk with the dog,” I stepped back, he could be anyone. I couldn't help
myself from asking. “What are you doing out here?”
“I have a place near by. You shouldn’t be out here on your own, it's not safe,” he said looking at me,
I wished he would take his shades off so I could see his face properly.
“Why because of the wild cats or wolves?” I took another step back, dangling the leash trying to get
Gunner's attention to follow me but he was firmly rooted next to the boys feet.
“No I've never seen any out here but still your dog didn’t seem too happy he obviously saw
something.” The boy said looking across the riverbank again.
“Come on, I’ll walk you back.” he walked past me and Gunner followed by his heels. I tried to
remain calm, how did he know where I lived or where I had walked from? I started searching the
ground for anything I could use as a weapon if I had to, not that a small twig would do much
damage.
“I'm guessing you live in that old cabin further up the river?”
Micah had told me hardly anyone knew it was there, who was this boy? He definitely wasn’t
dressed for hiking through the woods.
“I didn’t think that many people knew it was there.” I slowly trailed behind him catching up.
“They don't.”
“So how do you know about it?” he shrugged.
“I've lived in this area for a long time.”
We walked along in silence, I realised it wasn’t from him not speaking I couldn’t hear his thoughts
that or he wasn’t thinking anything which was unlikely. This was what it was like around Micah.
The boy picked up a stick and I noticed a skull ring on his middle finger. He chucked the stick for
Gunner who happily fetched and returned it to him. Every so often I would steal glances in his
direction, but I think he knew because a small smile played n his lips each time I looked at him. We
soon arrived back at the cabin and I felt somewhat disappointed we had arrived back so quickly.
“Thanks for walking me back. Do you have far to go from here?”
He shook his head to my question but didn't say anything.
He stood there watching me, at least I thought he was watching me it was hard to tell with the
shades covering his eyes. I started walking towards the cabin, but turned waiting for Gunner.
“Come on Gunner, ” But the dog stayed next to boys feet. “Looks like you've made a friend,”
“Go on,” he said to the dog. Gunner stood up and trotted over to me.
The boy was looking in my direction and a slight smile crept onto his lips, I couldn't help but smile
back. He stepped back and turned around walking back the way we had just come. I stood for a
minute watching as he walked back along the river path. The wind had picked up and was blowing
my hair around my face I could feel small rain drops starting to fall. I turned and jogged back to the
cabin, Gunner ran to the back door and straight in through the dog flap. I opened the back door to
find Seth bent over rummaging around in the fridge, I could only see the back of him.
“Hey,” I said closing the back door waiting for him to turn around.
“We were about to send out a search party.” he joked turning around with a plate of steaks, but the
plate of stakes wasn’t the first thing I noticed it was his face. His perfectly clear face there wasn’t a
mark on him, no bruising, no swelling it was completely clear. I hadn't imagined last night had I?
There was no way he could of covered that up with concealer.
“I went for a walk, the dog sort of followed me. I thought it would be okay?”
I walked over to the edge of the table holding onto it for support what was going on with his face?
“Yeah it's okay. Just next time let me know before you disappear, where did you go?”
“I found a small dirt path by the river which I followed.”
“That path follows the river all the way down to the bridge near Eggy's Diner, well apparently it
used to it's probably far too over grown to get through nowadays.”
“Micah said Gunner was vicious, is that true?” I asked sitting at the table trying not to stare too
much.
“Micah didn’t mean nasty vicious, the dog can be temperamental though, he doesn’t like strange
men for some reason and he growls a lot. Good job no one lives round here right.” he said placing
his steaks in the frying pan.
“I'm starving, you want some?” he smiled gesturing to the steaks. I just shook my head.
“Well actually we bumped into someone Gunner even let him stroke him and they played fetch
together, he said he lived near by.” I noticed Seth's posture had changed, even I knew he was
frowning and could only see the back of him. He turned and leaned against the cooker.
“No one else lives out here, you have to get a car ride just to get out this far unless you're hiking and
even then it's a bit far up here. Who was this person?” he asked.
“I dunno some teenager, maybe my age or older, he said he lived near by.”
“He was lying, no one lives near by.” Seth said looking out the back window. I tried to hear if he
was thinking anything but all I could hear in between him speaking was lyrics from eighties pop
songs.
“Don't go strolling off on your own again okay,”
“So who do you think he was?”
“No one, he was probably just a hiker wondered a little to far from the main trails.”
Yes because he really looked dressed for hiking but I didn’t say that out loud. And the fact he just
told me no one would hike up this far. But he seemed agitated so I thought it best to drop the subject
of the boy in the forest.
“So who does Gunner belong to?”
“A.....friend” he said after a pause.
“So why do you have him?”
“The guy lives on trailer park outside town the dog kept escaping and running off, so he thought it
would be best to move the dog away encase it got hit by a car or bit someone. The cabin seemed
like the best place, I owe him a few favours anyway. Don't worry, personally I think he's harmless
he just likes to growl at strangers, he's a good guard dog and he loves it up here he disappears for
hours in theses woods.” I nodded still checking his face for any imperfections but there were none.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room unpacking a few things I wanted to wear. The window
in my room had a seat with a cushion on, I found myself sitting gazing out trying to come up with
answers to explain Seth's face but I kept coming up blank it was impossible to heal that fast.
I had watched the sun go down from my window my mind constantly slipping back to the boy in
the forest. I didn't even know his name. Seth knocked on the door which pulled me out of my
random daydreaming.
“So I have to go out I’m meeting some friends from work at the bowling alley and I don’t really
want you staying here on your own, it can get a bit lonely up here at night. I don't want to come
home and find you hiding under the bed.” he joked.
“Seth I’m not a little kid any more the dark doesn’t frighten me anymore. You can leave me alone
by myself. This doesn’t have anything to do with the boy I bumped into in the forest does it? I'm
sure if he was planning to kidnap, torture and kill me he would of made his move back then. I’m
sure I’ll be fine here. I’ll probably just watch a movie.”
My thoughts flashed back to the other figure across the river but I quickly shook those thoughts
away otherwise sleeping tonight would be impossible......it was a deer......a deer shaped like a
person.
“I'd still prefer it if you came with me. You might even meet some kids your own age down there,
it's usually crawling with teenagers in the evenings.”
He had said teenagers hung out there. If I was lucky I might even run into the boy from the forest,
probably not but it was worth a shot.
“Fine I have nothing better to do anyway.” I said hopping off the seat.
“I'll be waiting downstairs when you're ready,”
I freshened up in the bathroom retouching my eyes, I didn't know why I was making so much effort
the chances of seeing him were probably slim to none. But there was something about him, dark
and mysterious, I was having a hard time getting him out of my head, not that I really wanted to
anyway.