The Woods Curse

Eavesdropping

Although severely sleep deprived I still set off early on the Sunday for the woods yet again, finding my way through the trees to where the fight had taken place. From there I followed my friends scents back to the tree house to see if Anna had gotten any better, carefully picking where to put my hands and feet on the rungs of the ladder so as to make the least amounts of noise. Getting to the top, opening that door and walking in to see Richard looking even more dead than usual were all excruciating enough and the situation didn't get any better when, as I walked towards Richard, a brief second of the nightmare flashed in front of my eyes. His hand snaking under my hair and then coiling around my throat, cutting off the oxygen, my feet inches from the ground, fighting breathless, then it all  switched back to him standing anxious with a look of worry. I couldn't tell if the worry was for me or Anna, I didn't really want to know.

Instead I straightened up, gathered myself together and asked the obvious question "How is she?" The vampire fell into a wooden chair and mumbled "Fine". I know vampires tend to usually be sort of undead but he looked even more deceased than ever with the blank look masking his face. I shuffled ever so slightly closer and asked another question "Can I talk to her?" At this he looked up and locked eye contact with me, his voice turned suddenly harsh and almost spat the word "No." He kept the eye contact and his eyes began to fade into a deadly scarlet as mine turned to a shimmering yellow, battling for dominance as I chose to argue "Why not?"

He rose to his feet so now I was looking up at him, replying with "Because since yesterday all she has been doing is continuously requesting me to keep you away at all costs, in her sleep even she screams for you to leave her alone. Do you honestly think it would be a wise idea to actually walk into that room after all of the anguish you have caused?" He said this with the raise of one, dark eyebrow and a tone warning me to back down. This, coupled with the dream, almost persuaded me to give in and let Richard win but I wasn't one to just lie down and let anyone walk over me. I was going to fight this, she needed to know from me what had happened and that I was sorry "If you would just let me explain to her what happened, keep her calm and persuade her to hear what I have to say! I wasn't in control, I didn't know what I was doing and last night was the most horrific night of my life because of that bloody nightmare!!" Angry and distraught tears where forming now but I didn't stop there "I saw what would have happened had you not got me off her in time!! I watched myself tear her to pieces and rip the flesh from her bones like some wild animal,oh yeah, I also got to watch you choke me to death!!! I WATCHED MYSELF KILL MY FRIEND!!!!!" My voice had been gradually rising until I screamed the last sentence with the inevitable tears streaking down my flushed cheeks, the staring match had been unfinished but at the final words Richard seemed to choke and instead it was him who backed down from me. I was breathing so heavily and trying so hard to calm myself down that I almost missed the faint sound of a door creaking as someone puts too much weight against it. Richard and I exchanged looks and creeped over to where the sound had come from, the slightest hint off hurried shuffling coming from the same place, and with one gentle hand I coaxed the door open.

There we saw Anna sleeping peacefully under the covers in her room, breathing steadily and looking at ease with everything. She was a good actress. I replaced the door to its original position knowing full well that she had been listening at that door for god knows how long, and hoping maybe by hearing my outburst she could learn to not be afraid of me. That same outburst and the other events had also created a rift in the relationship between me and Richard so we spent the rest of that day sat at the main table mending the break. In fact, I walked away several hours later with the bond between me and Richard being far stronger than even before my loss of control and he had even agreed to teach me how to not ever lose control again, he knew about that sort of stuff. I waved goodbye and walked home in the dying light with more hope in my heart that things might get a little better, after all, I had just heard a vampire confess to me that he was a massive Sherlock fan and had learnt to play pink panther on piano.