Shadowed

Chapter 76

After throwing Gareth's phone out into the forrest where he would have to go hunt for it we all silently piled into the cars and began the trip home. I sat in the back of Harry's truck with Kale in silence. My hands rested in my lap Gareth's blood still covered them and was now drying into the etched lines of my palms, and crusting under my nails. Kale was still and silent as a rock the whole way home and Gareth's last screams before Jace had knocked him out were still echoing round my head. The look on his face as the knife had made it's first cut into soft delicate skin and the contorted pain which scrunched features. My gut swirled with horrible mixed feelings of satisfaction of justice and sickened at what I had actually done. I had mutilated him by taking that which makes a man.

I slid out of the truck and followed James up the front steps to the house. When we got inside everyone was waiting in the living room. Ryan stood leant against the couch with his arms folded tight across his chest, when he saw me and his eyes slipped down to my hands and widened. "Jesus christ what happened?"

I stood mute not knowing how to even begin to retell what had happened. Caleb slipped in from behind us and words just started flowing from his mouth as he retold the story. The closer he got to the me with Jace's pocket knife the less I heard. Words were lost to the space as the room and all I could think about was the blood which was still drying on my hands. What a sight we all must look. The boys were all covered in evidential dirt and blood, apart from Brody, and I looked like a school girl dragged through a horror film. I looked across the room at each persons face, Tim, Ben, Mitch and then Haley, and as her eyes grew wide her hand flying to her mouth a knot tightened in my stomach. My eyes dropped from hers I couldn't hold her gaze, I felt ashamed not because I had taken that pocket knife and ripped from him which he was never going to get back. I felt ashamed because in that one moment when he's eyes had met mine, so filled with fear and desperation- I had enjoyed it. I had relished that moment of power, over someone who had one made me feel so small and so weak. If ever put in that position again, I knew I would not hesitate.

Silently I slipped away behind Brody and walked quickly to the door disappearing down the hall. A few seconds later and I heard Kale following behind me.

My body begun to shake as I entered the girls bathroom and pins and needles flared up my back. My throat tightened restricting my air flow as I kicked off my shoes and unzipped my skirt pulling it down as Kale stepped in behind me locking the door behind him. Wheezing gasps of air were sucked between my teeth as I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. Blood spattered freckles covered my pale face. Dark blood stains were stark against the white of my school blouse and my dark hair was wind swept and bedraggled. I was a school girl dressed for halloween who had just come off the movie set. Raising my arms I stared at the spread of blood which was crusting under my nails, coating my hands and smeared down my arm. My hands shook as I stared in horror at the girl who stood a horrific remanence of the past. It was the wild wide eyed girl with blue eyes who had already seen nights of terror, blood, monsters and cold murder. I shuddered as red shimmered behind closed eyes taking me back to the red which had dripped from the walls of my old home. It chilled my insides hollowing m gut with an icy blade. I wet my lips and tore my gaze away. I daren't look again in the mirror as I begun fumbling with the buttons of my blouse struggling with stiff and shaking fingers. The scent of Gareth's blood on my hands was still strong, and now a dark red brown which crumbled over my blouse and the floor. A silent scream was building inside my head like a tornado and I desperately needed to get out of the damn clothes. Kale moved in pushing my hands out of the way, his fingers working deftly at the buttons. In seconds he was finished and the blouse dropped off my shoulders followed by the swift click of my bra which joined the rest of my clothes on the floor. Kale's warm hand enclosed mine and he walked us to the shower where he tested the water before guiding me in. Silently he washed the blood from my hands and I watched as it flaked away washing down the drain. His fingers rubbed against mine as he massaged my hands till he had removed every speck of blood revealing clean untarnished skin. I shut my eyes tightly fighting to erase Gareth from my mind. Kale gently squeezed my hands and then lifted one to his lips and gently kissed my knuckles. I opened my eyes and looked up at him finding myself again in the depths of his deep turquoise eyes. Dirt and blood was still smeared and dusted across his cheeks and I reached out to the thin cut above his brow. My fingers gently touched the edges and he didn't finch "Does it not hurt?"