The Life Beyond You

Chapter 4

I shift on the mattress and sit up quickly, my hands shaking and cold. I realized I left the window open and get up to close it. The room is dark, and I feel my way to the door. Once I'm outside the door, the main room in the Dojo is lit with candles, reflecting shadows on the ceiling. In the center a dark shadow moves, looking my direction. The golden eyes belonging to Knox pierce me.

"Don't trip. Come sit down." His voice echoing in the silence of the room. I feel my way down the steps and to the carpet, sitting infront of him. His face is lit under the light of small candles around him, I assume he was meditating.

"Sorry if I took your bed." I whisper, thinking if I talk any louder the room would shake with echoes.

"I don't sleep. My mind has the scary capability of being demented and dark." He whispers back, eyes closed.

"You're afraid of dreaming."

"Yes." He said quietly. I nod and get up, walking to the front door, the cold greeting me with a cold hug. I realized that at the front there was small dragon statues, parallel to each other. I lean on the wooden fencing wrapping around the porch.

"There meant to protect the shrine, like spirits." Knox's voice breaks the silence behind me. So it's a shrine. I continue to stare through the trees, and the small flecks of light shining from the buildings in New York. From here you can't see much.

"Go back to meditating so I can hear myself loosing the will to live."

As I say that his cold hands grip my arms, slamming me into the wooden post supporting the roof. His thin bottom lip curls into that pout again, and his eyes angry. The gold tint slicing the darkness around us.

"Say that again and it will be your last words." He said, whispering loudly.

"Awfully confident aren't you?" I try to fight his grip. He sighs, the mint in his breath creeping up my nose.

"I could kill every person in this place before they have a chance to react. Skills like that do wonders for me." His grip tightens. I stop fighting it and glare at him. His face, for a moment, softens. I nudge my hands away and push him back.

"Touchy. You seem to want me to feel threatened around you. Thing is, nothing scares me at this point. If your seeking pleasure out of my fear then I would give up."

He raises an eyebrow and walks back to the fence, leaning on it too.

"No, I'm just trying to get you to see something in yourself that you like. If that means being forceful with you then I will. I'm not afraid to hit you, push you, pressure you, I will do everything I can so you can see something in yourself."

I turn around quickly, my fist clenched.

"Why?! Esteria told me that the whole year she was watching me, you doubted I had anything in me. You didn't think I had that special It. Why should I find something in me that even you know isn't there."

"Hmm. Yeah your right. I see a spoiled little girl who lived a worthless life in New York. I was right the first time, you have nothing. You are nothing. So I should stop encouraging you to find it-"

My fist connected with his nose, pain shooting through my knuckles. I step back, taking a moment to process what I just did. I hear him curse and bend down, hands at his face. I froze as his laughed boomed. He stood up, I couldn't see his face very well but the dark blood was dripping down his face quickly.

"Why are you laughing? I just bloody clocked you." I rub my head, I think I'm going insane.

"Because, that punch meant you saw something in your life that's not completely worthless. You're still fighting to live..." He walk close to my face, the red blood dripping at my feet. "And I intended to unleash all of that bottled up in you." He whispered, sending goosebumps up my freezing arms. I roll my eyes and turn back around, feeling my way back to the mattress, trying to sink everything in.