Three boys and a girl

Chapter 4

Nathan and Alex had left the house, Nathan going to get beer and Alex came to make sure he didn’t get thrown in jail on the way. I was lounging in the second lounge room (appropriate, right?), the one without the kitchen and with the TV. Night had fallen over the beach and the pearl white moon hovered in the sky like a golf ball. I had gotten dressed in my pyjamas, the silky material of my black boxers feeling nice against my legs and a new singlet I was trying out. It was grey with the words ‘avada kadvra my life’ in bold red letters. I was curled up on the couch, watching re-runs of Doctor Who. I heard the door open and the sound of bare feet against carpet, the sound becoming louder as the person got closer. “Hey, cutie. We got the house to ourselves. What do you want to do?” Shaun flopped beside me on the couch wearing a ratty old singlet that had a picture of Greenday on it with the words ‘American idiot’ scrawled underneath and black slacks, all dressed for bed. I turned down the volume. I would have thought he was serious if not for the ‘tell-me-I’m-wrong’ smile plastered all over his face. “Stop it. That was a stupid thing YOU did and now you’re making ME pay for it. That’s totally unfair.” His smile dropped and his expression turned serious.

“Life isn’t fair, kid.” He said. I seriously thought he was going to say something else insightful but then his blue eye’s hovered to my hair and he said “I don’t like it when you tie your hair in a bun. It makes it hard to ruffle.” I looked at him, disbelieving.

“Excuse me?” I said. He laughed and then to prove his point he lifted one graceful hand to my head and ruffled the loose pink strands falling out of my messy bun. “See?” Shaun said, pulling his hand back to his lap. “It’s hard to ruffle.” I tucked my legs out from underneath me and adjusted myself so I had a better look at him. He had just showered, his blond hair fluffing slightly at the ends. I could smell something dark and spicy, and it made me a little light headed. “I just had a shower.” I said, explaining. The shadow of a frown crossed his face. “Why the hell do I care” I rolled my eyes. The shower was nice, actually. All white and frangipani covered and water that hadn’t been turned to cold by my clean freak of a mother. Yes, paranormal people can be OCD to. “Because that’s why my hair’s in a bun and you can’t-” I made a face. “Ruffle it.” He chewed on that thought for a second. “That doesn’t make any sense.” He said and turned to the TV before I had a chance of explaining myself. “Hmm. Doctor Who. You a fan?”  I nodded.

“Let me guess, Matt Smiths a hunk, right?” I plastered a mask of mock outrage on my face.

“You know, I do care about the plot lines and emotional drama, you know.” Shaun shot me a sceptical look. “And Matt Smith is hot.” I sighed, defeated.

“Girls.” He said shaking his head. Immeadiantly I felt a tingle of anger in my knees.

“Don’t go all jackass like that! Girls smash boy’s 100per cent.” Shaun started singing ‘Girls and Boy’s’ by Good Charlotte and I knew I lost him. I watched the way his hair brushed his collar and how when he moved the slight muscles shifted beneath the his thin t-shirt. The house was silent; the only sounds were the numbed pounding of the Doctor who theme song, the occasional squeak of my bear leg against the white leather and the slowly depleting tunes of the one and only Shaun Messer. The silence was broken by a bump from upstairs. Immeadiantly, Shaun stopped singing. “Did you hear that?” I asked, standing up and moving over to the wall and leaning my ear against it.  I heard a squeak and I turned and Shaun was at the door, the light in his eyes obvious even from my vantage point, which, let’s face it, wasn’t very good. “Yes. And leaning up against a wall isn’t going to help. You need to go through the door.” I didn’t have time to roll my eyes as at that very moment there was a large thump from upstairs and Shaun and I sprinted up the stairs and into my bedroom because that’s where the sound had come from and the sound was definitely unmistakably human. At least I hoped so. We raced in, my pace just that tiny bit faster than Shaun’s. The room, my room, was empty, the white carpet and walls seeming to distort and shift and bend. “There’s nothing up here.” Shaun scanned the room as he said it, turning his waist so he could see behind him. I laughed dryly. “There’s a big difference between that and nothing’s wrong.” And something was completely wrong. The air tasted too sharp, too clear and even though he wasn’t letting on I could tell Shaun felt the same way too. His eyes were turning dark; an action that I didn’t think was voluntary. I could only thank that I was slack and didn’t turn of the lights. As it was the lamp cast as much shadows as it did light, the cheap yellow glow not making anything easier. “What the hell are you talking about?” I heard something, through to my bathroom, a whisper so soft and so quiet I could have imagined it. I knew I didn’t. That whisper was the whisper I had heard in my dreams for months after my brother’s death, the thing that kept me screaming in the night, the thing that didn’t let me close my eyes. That was the whisper of a Shadowen. “Shit.” I said. “Get the freaking hell down stairs.” He must have heard the panic in my voice because he replied with a shaky joke, trying to lighten my mood. “You know for someone so new you sure are bossy.” Then the lights went out, throwing us in complete blackness and I screamed as I heard the thump of footsteps come towards me.