Angel's Kiss, Demon's Touch. (DRAFT)

5.Deception

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5.DECEPTION

My eyes fluttered open, leaving me to stare at the familiar ceiling of our bedroom. Even though I loved our bunk beds, we were definitely getting too old for them.  I touched my poster on the ceiling with an outstretched arm. My fingers trailing over the multi-coloured swirls that made up a tropical bird. Phoenix didn’t care much for art, that’s why he had a naughty centrefold attached to the underside of my bed. Just the idea behind it and reason made me not want to continue that train of thought. Noticing that my mouth was dry and aching for some water, reluctantly I climbed down the ladder of our bunk bed. Keeping my eyes on the steps as I climbed down, I tried to make as little noise as I could, so I wouldn’t wake my brother. When I finally reached the end of the ladder I was dumfounded to see his bed was empty.

Where was he? What was he up to now? I thought walking silently out of the room. I stood in the hallway looking down the balustrade trying to hear where he was. Probably in the kitchen stealing food I thought. Yet, I couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the kitchen. Nothing, I heard nothing. “Weird...” I commented. Moving quietly down the corridor, I made my way to the girl’s their room. In my mind I was going over all the possibilities of Phoenix’s possible whereabouts. I sighed. Maybe he’s playing a trick on them again. I’ll never forget how angry Issis and Alexis were on that first day of school. He had drawn stupid pictures on their faces as they slept with a permanent marker. I smiled at the stupid memory. I stopped in front of their door and silently twisted the doorknob, trying to make as little noise as possible. My eyes widened as the moonlight outlined the completely empty bunk beds. “No! no.. no..” I mumbled as I franticly checked both the top and bottom bed.

I scraped myself off the floor and ran in the hallway, throwing open every door there was. Empty. Empty again. Anger and fear rose up in me as I maniacally ran down the stairs of the orphanage. This was happening again, this was a nightmare. Running through the big old house, I swept past the old wooden kitchen, the large living room, the play area and every other room I could find and it confirmed what I had thought. Defeated and angry that I had fallen asleep during the demons hour, I walked back to the large fireplace in the living area. Suddenly the fireplace exploded with fire. Franticly looking around, I searched for my tormentor. The heat from the fireplace at my back was getting uncomfortably warm, and when I turned around, it was only to find the whole wall ablaze. Slowly stepping back, I watched as every wall in the orphanage spontaneously combusted into flames. I turned on my heels and ran for the door. Now the running began as it always did.

As I reached the grass outside, I could only quickly glance back at the big old house that we once called home go up in flames. There was a big combustion and I knew that now the orphanage was engulfed in large flames. I kept running as I heard the house crash and level itself with the forest floor. I ran harder and deeper into the forest as a tear rolled down my cheek. There were bushes and large pine trees all around that provided the best cover for what had to come. Catching my breath I walked slowly towards one of the pine trees. Stretching out my hand, I slowly caressed the bark, realizing just how realistic this nightmare was. My eyes traced the forest floor as I notice a path, which had never been in this nightmare before. Confused about this new turn of events I followed the path, trying to see where it would lead. There, in the distance, I saw something. The moonlight hit all the surrounding pine trees and I could make out a half broken down tower. Realizing I was heading in the right direction I eagerly picked up the pace.