Bloodstone Heart

Bloodstone Heart - Book 4 - Blood Series

The chill of March was in the air and it showed around the moon like a misty fog halo. Even though the moon was but a sliver, it shown ten times brighter than normal, due to the refraction of the halo. Josh often walked late at night, even if just to pick up some items from a convenience store.  He liked this time of night, when most people were home with their families; the streets were quiet and the people, minimal.

He had a hoodie on under his black leather coat and his IPod turned up as loud as he could stand it.  This was standard for any public outing.  Since Josh was a young child he could read other peoples thoughts. Though that may sound like a gift to anyone else, he felt it more to be a curse - a curse that had no on/off, mute, or volume switch. 

Imagine if you will, being able to hear the random thoughts of everyone in your vicinity. Goofy, dumb thoughts, rude thoughts, thoughts a person never intends for anyone to hear.  Everyone does it, but like breathing, we don't really think about it.  Sometimes it's just to keep yourself company, like having a television going in the background. Other times, it's used to help you deal with scary, stressful, or embarrassing situations, but in most cases, people would be horrified to know someone heard these thoughts. It made Josh feel like an outsider, a freak, if you will, knowing what a person will say before they say it or what they really think of you, your conversation or the situation you are in. To Josh, isolation was the key and he was good at isolating himself from others, after all, he had perfected it over the years.

Handsome, though he was, at 6 foot three, sandy blonde hair and blue eyes the color of your favorite faded jeans, he rarely spoke to anyone and kept to his home like a hermit.  These outings at night were his alone, to see the world at a safe distance, the way he liked it.

He lifted the hood of his hoodie up over his head and pulled the collar of his jacket tight around his neck with the next brisk gust of winter's last icy wind, as he headed for a walk through the park.

He sat on a park bench mid walk and turned off his IPod, pulling the buds from his ears.  This was what he had waited for all day, everyday. Silence. No talking. The wind rustled through trees, whipping around him like a choreographed dance in the moonlight that humans were only privy to feel but not see. Josh savored this peacefulness. To him, the only other place better was the beach at night or a monotonous pounding of rain on the window, lulling him to sleep like a lullaby. Both arms up and hands clasped behind his neck, he smiled and stared at the moon above and wished this could be what he heard in his head all the time, instead of the nonsensical drivel from others around him that deprived him of his sanity most of the time. 

He was starting to get cold and knew he would have to head off soon, but he wanted to enjoy all he could before heading back to the isolation of his pounding music to drown out the constant noise of other’s thoughts rushing at him.  Finally he stood, rubbing his hands together and blowing into his cupped hands with his warm breath, he started to walk again heading for the corner store for a quart of milk, pop tarts, and beer. With no one on the streets, he was relieved to not have to put his ear buds back in, enjoying a little more of the quiet sounds of nature. 

As he closed in on his destination, the corner store looked empty.  Just the way he liked it. One voice, from the guy behind the counter, was better than ten.  His ears were happy at being relieved from the ear buds that were in them so often they were sore. Being a corner store, et al, just as he came to the door and held out his hand to open it, a petite young woman came around the corner bundled up like an Eskimo. Brown bangs hung in her eyes were peeked out of the black knit hat she had pulled down tight over her ears. 

She was obviously startled by him as she came around the corner and this embarrassed her a bit. He could tell this by the nervous smile that showed on her face. Her mind was quiet as she gestured for him to go first, but she never made eye contact with him. This was just fine with Josh, if he made eye contact with someone, it usually was like walking into a tunnel where all you could hear was that person's life story, without wanting to.  Instead of going first, though, he held the door open for her as she made a wide berth around him.  Just as she took a step into the door, the stable foot behind her, slipped on an icy patch and she started to head for the ground. With his foot holding the door open, his left hand quickly encircled her waist to catch most of her weight and his right hand grabbed for her gloved hand, missing it and grazing her skin above the glove before grabbing at her forearm to steady her.