Iron Fever

Chapter One

For Shaylee, it always felt the same. Needles pricked the back of her slender neck, and a shudder of spiders crawled over her skin and snaked down her spine. A small beam of moonlight peeked between her wafer thin curtains, enough to illuminate her room so it wasn't quite dark. If she squinted her green eyes a little, she'd be able to see him standing at the foot of her double bed, right in the corner where the walls met. So, much like she did every night, she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the left. Sure enough, he was there. He inclined his head in both acknowledgement and amusement.

Things were different this time. He'd been visiting for months now, and each time they'd talked, but he'd never moved from his corner. Though tonight, Lucas took a seat at the foot of her bed. The mattress dipped, and for the first time in a while, Shaylee questioned her sanity. She'd been perfectly fine pretending he was a shadow cast by the almost-light of her room, some kind of sleep induced vision that she could blink away and forget about in the morning. Weight was physical, as was his presence; he sucked the heat out of her room. Shaylee's porcelain skin was usually flushed with fever from allergies; she always ran hot. A slice of terror spliced her heart, and she hoped she could melt into her wispy covers and disappear. As he leant in closer, he glowed ethereal. He was polished, from his freshly shaven face, to his slicked back hair. Although his eyes carried a deep, feral accent that called to something deep within her.

"It's time to wake up now, Shaylee."

His long fingers froze the blood under her skin as he probed her neck. At first, it was a chilling massage, but then he pressed harder, pinching. Then nails broke flesh and he dug hard. Lucas didn't stop until Shaylee found the ability to scream. She did so with vigour, flailing her arms as she felt a slow trickle of blood on her flesh. The bedroom door burst open, and as Shaylee's mum entered, Lucas blended into shadow.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Carol asked, brushing hair away from Shaylee's clammy forehead.

With shaky hands, Shaylee clutched her neck, attempting to stimulate it back to life, ignoring the smear of blood. She pulled herself together long enough to rattle out a sentence.

"Mum. He was here, he was pinning me down, and, and my neck..." She pointed to the empty corner Lucas once occupied.

"Shay, come on, it's just a dream, okay. You need to calm down." Her motherly tone and its soothing effect was lost on Shaylee as she scrunched the bedsheets between fists.

"It was like I couldn't move." Her voice was thick.

"It's just a dream, Honey. Sleep paralysis, remember."

Shaylee could see Carol's face screwed up in worry, and tried to steady her breathing. "It was bloody terrifying." She sniffled, cussing Lucas to hell and back in her mind as anger started to work its way from her chest.

"Language please." Despite her panic, Shaylee rolled her eyes. "And none of that attitude. I get it, I had sleep paralysis when I was your age...It's almost half six, why don't you get up, have a shower, get ready for school?" She left with a swift kiss on Shaylee's cheek. Shaylee scraped her blunt nails over her face and rubbed her eyes, catching little tears before they could fall. Blinking in the haziness, she could almost make out the shape of Lucas lingering in her room, behind her eyelids, in her thoughts. He had never been real before. Not really. Locking, then double checking the windows, Shaylee whizzed around her room, jumping in and out of a lukewarm shower – just the way she liked it – and dressed in a soft, worn cotton top that was once blue, but was now an ugly grey-white. More importantly, it wouldn't irritate her sensitive skin too much in the approaching summer heat.

She didn't have the nerve to look at her neck, and left her hair down, despite knowing she'd bake on the walk to school with a fever already beginning to build. There would be questions she wouldn't have answers to.

Downstairs, there sat a bowl of oatmeal, blueberries, red berries, and honey. Beside was a steaming mug of tea and a note. Shaylee read out loud to herself: 'Took the early shift again. Make sure you finish all your food. Love, Mum.' Shaylee scoffed, crumpled the note and threw it into the bin. The oatmeal followed suit, and with a rueful smile, she tipped the awful mix of rosemary, blackberry stems, and rowan tree berries down the sink. Lucas may have just attacked her, but he was always right about her allergies. The 'superfoods' Carol urged her to eat seemed to be doing more harm than good. Shaylee liked when her mum left early; she was able to help herself to chocolate spread on toast with a banana for breakfast. Chocolate made her happy. She took a swig of orange juice straight out of the bottle, swung a tattered backpack over her shoulder and let out a sigh as she headed out for school.