Cipher [sahy-fer]: Zero; A person of little or no influence, importance, or value; nonentity.
That's excatly what Talia Fox is. A zero amongst a sea of other numbers. That is until she makes an imperishable deal with her maker. Now the seven teens t...
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Talia Fox
Startled awake by the sound of the basement door flying open, I sat up from the carpeted floor, looking down at the mess I had made.
The dried blood cracked along my palms, even down the length of my arms since I had cried myself to sleep the night before. The fluid had drained out of me in it's garish red, but now the blood seemed burgundy in its preserved state. I still sat along Jennifer's basement floor and if I hadn't seen the black material of Colter's sneakers flashing down the steps, I would have gotten up to apologize to Jennifer.
When Colter's footsteps reached the bottom of the stairwell, I looked up again, our eyes connecting. His brown orbs flowing with so much emotion, I wanted to cry all over again.
I shouldn't have looked past the care in his eyes and even past that, the concern, but what really caught my attention was the disgust. Maybe I was imagining it, but with the almost impassible snarl of his top lip I knew he really meant it.
He was probably here to yell at me about how I had scared his girlfriend shitless. He was probably here to yell at me about ditching his house before he woke up. He was probably here to yell at me for camping out in his girlfriend's basement which I nearly drenched in blood.
I was disgusted with myself too.
"You're a mess Talia." He sighed, finally breaking the awful silence.
"I know," I whispered in response.
When the silence continued to prevail, I lifted my already dirtied palms to rid the dried blood that ran down my cheeks. Wiping blood on blood didn't help since nothing came off and the bit of blood that hadn't successfully dried continued to smear.
Hearing a door close, I accepted the fact that Colter had probably left me alone again. That was until I saw him approach me from another door which must've been a bathroom. He exited with a slightly damp hand towel and before finding his way to me, he turned to the wall. His large hand went to reach for the light switch until I warned him.
"It doesn't work anymore." Well, not since last night because of them.
Colter stared at the switch for a few seconds before his eyes met mine and he reached the rest of the way to flip it. When all the lights in the basement shuttered on, I sighed in relief despite his quizzical glance.
"I didn't mean to do all this," I gestured to the bloody mess below myself. Grabbing the towel from Colter's outstretched hand, I sighed heavily at the warmth it brought. Lifting it to my face, I scrubbed until the white towel was practically red.
"Well, I couldn't really help you since you decided to leave without saying anything." His eyebrows raised in wonder, a slight accusing tone to his raspy voice.
"I knew last night was going to be a bad night with bad thoughts... Very bad" I cleared my throat, hoping to rid the thick tension in the room. "I'd rather come here and stay separate from Jennifer than be in your house where you or your mom could walk in any second."
