Rachel Stanton and The Darkest Night

CHAPTER 18: SHARPS

18. SHARPS

“Tell your mom I said happy birthday,” Camille whispered to Kurt as she walked past him and stood in his side. Everyone fell so silent after we stopped a few yards away from Kurt’s car. Jared stood beside me, glancing in every direction around us.

“Me too,” I told Kurt after a moment, a half-hearted smile stretching at the tip of my lips. He bowed to me as he let out a small grin. The rage I felt a while for him vanished like a thin fog. It was over now.

I glanced in every face around as I realized that I had saved a group of people, a group of my friends. For me, it was harder to save them rather than saving a single person. Because what if they had entered the road and went away, right? I was sure they’d die on the same death that I had seen in my premonition.

After a single moment I asked myself who’d be the next to die. Would it be a group again? Would it be a single person? Whatever. I just had to be prepared. Because even if I really wanted to know, the next premonition would tell me everything about it all.

As we said goodbyes to each other, the panic in my chest slowly vanished and, later on, disappeared. Jared had taken me to my dad on the same lot. He kissed me on my cheek before he went to his car. I sighed, following the way where he was headed.

And after a moment, I pushed myself inside the back seat waiting for the car to start and drive away.

I spent my whole dinner staring at my food and eating it until the end. At the corner of my eye, my father was looking at me in a sort of suspicious way. I tried to think what I did. But I thought I’d never done anything wrong.

“Rachel,” he said gruffly. I looked at him in the eyes. “Are you sure Jared won’t leave you?”

I pulled my eyebrows together, giving Dad an unusual look. “What?” I said in wonder, my voice hushed.

“What?” He imitated the tone of my voice. “He looked worried for you a while. His face seemed like he’s gonna leave you, sweetie. Are—”

Before he could continue mid-sentence, I already broke him off. “Dad.” My voice was arch now. “Jared’s not gonna leave me,” I assured him nicely. “He promised me he won’t let me go.”

There was a pause. He rolled his eyes and pursed his lips. I could no longer see the sign for him to speak again. Instead, he lifted his spoon and put it in his mouth. And he did not speak for the next three minutes already. The silence fell again.

And I stayed quiet until I completely finished the food on my plate.

When I was inside my room, I was just staring out of the window. I imagined what it would be like if Katie would still be here staring blankly in the sky. For a moment, there was a cold wind that struck my face. It was so fragrant I could almost fall asleep, so I quickly jumped onto my bed and gazed above me like I was waiting for the next premonition to come.

It took me thirty minutes or so before I could finally go to sleep. I could only see black behind my lids. Except that I always saw Jared’s face smiling at me.

When I awoke, the sky had lightened up. Soft hint of red and orange penetrated the east part of the sky. I stared at the ceiling first, still waiting for a premonition because I thought it was giving me a challenge to overcome. But, in fact, the anxiousness inside me would rise up and trigger my senses off. I’d become in my frenzy state, especially if the premonition was going to be worse than the previous.

As I sat up and held my head, my sight became a dizzying blur. All things around me doubled as if they were bought two. Now I heard my heart pound hard inside my chest as if an incoming dinosaur was stomping nearby. The anxiousness inside me began to set in.