Chapter 28 | The Living Shadow
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This time, they have no excuses.
"WHAT THE FUDGE!" I yell in surprise, hands flying to my mouth. I hit my head on the frame above me in my surprise, but I wince the pain away.
As soon as the first syllables exit my mouth, Carolynn lowers herself flat onto her feet with inhumane speed, wiggling out of his enclosing embrace. Her amber eyes look away from mine in her shyness, and she lets her strawberry blond hair fall limply over her wandering eyes.
Axel on the other hand practically jumps a mile, his face contorted in an ironic mixture of confusion and understanding.
"Kirsten, why were you watching us?" He groans, lips turned down in disappointment as he turns to look at me with moody emerald eyes.
"Believe me, it wasn't my choice!" I tell him exasperatedly, crawling out of my hiding spot so I won't have to painfully crane my neck to see them. I'm glad I'm out of the tight space. My nose was beginning to run in reaction to all of the dust bunnies hidden in the crooks and crannies of the floor.
As I begin to stand, multiple footsteps echo from different areas of the house, summoned by my sudden holler. Axel and Carolynn exchange a single look and with an unspoken yet mutual understanding and take a step away from each other.
Noah's the first to appear at the doorway. "What is it?" He demands forcefully, muscular body hollow with anticipation. The others make their appearance a few seconds after, all clustering behind Noah's demeaning posture.
"I saw. . ." I start slowly, finger drumming on my thigh as I think of what to say. I'm not going to rat Carolynn and Axel out. It's their business if they wanted to tell everyone else what just happened. In all truth, I'm not even sure they know themselves what had just went down.
"A spider! It was a big one too. Oh ya, huge," I fib, shaping my expression into horror as I pretend to recount the memory.
I wait for Noah's reaction. If my exquisite acting fools someone like him, the ruse is sure to fool the others too.
Noah's hardy grey eyes slide between the three of us suspiciously, but he lets his stature relax.
"Then where is it?" pipes up Sam.
Gosh dangit, I was almost in the clear.
"I squashed it. With my foot." My sky blue eyes travel over to Axel for some reasssurance, who's eyes rest on the floor. "Right, Axel?"
His head jerks up as if I had shaken him out of his thoughts and back down to earth. In fact, that's probably exactly what happened.
"What?" He asks cluelessly, conflicted eyes clearing as he shakes his head roughly like a wet dog.
"The spider," I say through a gritted smile.
"Oh, yeah. What she said," he says again after a moment, shifting his gaze from me to our mini crowd.
Such a convincing young man. Excuse me while I roll my eyes. He makes me seem like a Dylan O'Brien of acting.
Noah's instantly suspicious at his bestfriends unwarranted for strange response. His eyebrows arch and he opens his mouth, in the midst of saying something when the doorbell rings. Talk about being saved by the bell.
"I'll get it!" I offer, leaving no argument as I push myself through the throng of my clustered friends and scramble out of the room. I'm extremely eager to separate myself from the all too awkward situation going on, and I doubt the filter on my mouth will hold up much longer on this lying thing. To be honest, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.
I arrive at the door and open it, greeted by a man in uniform. He wears a red and black checkered shirt and holds a skinny box that reads Primo's Pizza in red bold letters.
I take the box, but only after getting my phone out and snapping off the cover. Resting on my phone is a folded wad of bills, emergency money I haven't touched in a year. I hand it to the guy after putting the cover back on, and we do a little hand swap.
After I close the door in his face, I snag a piece from the box. As I munch on the cheesy goodness with one hand and hold the box in the other, I lean on the door to hold me up as my taste buds cry in joy. I hadn't realized I was this hungry.
"Pizza hogger. You already ate Ruffles anyways, how are you still hungry?" Taylor jokes as she appears from around the corner. I smile mid-bite and hand her the box.
She sets it on the table and everyone else files in, Noah and Axel hanging at the back of the crew. Axel refuses to speak, simply shaking his head whenever Noah opens his mouth in what's most likely a question. Obviously frustrated with his lack of progress, Noah stomps away from the mini pizza line and over to me.
"What's going on with Axel?" He demands from me, guarded grey eyes intent on my blue ones, which avoid his. I don't trust myself to speak, purposefully taking a huge bite of my pizza and chewing extremely slow to avoid answering temporarily.
"I know there's something you're not telling me," he mutters, pointing his thumb behind him to the general direction of Axel."He's never this quiet. I can hardly shut him up for two minutes."
Knowing full well my bed of lies will get me nowhere, I swallow my food and still persist on, unaffected by Noah's pulsating authoritive aurora. "I can't tell you," I say, forcing myself to look him dead in the eyes and not submit.
Technically what I said wasn't a lie. It isn't my business to tell him something Axel obviously doesn't want to tell him just yet. No doubt he will in the future anyway.
Instead of him throwing a yelling fit and getting all stormy as I expect him to, his guarded expression slightly lifts. "One day I'm going to finally squeeze some answers out of you," he says determinedly, eyes lightening in amusement for a quick second before he turns around and heads over to get pizza. The expression was so fast, I only catch a glimpse. There's a good chance I might've misjudged it.
I'm not given time to ponder the situation, for my phone buzzes from in my back pocket. I stuff the last of the pizza crust in my mouth, wiping my hands on my jeans before pulling out my phone. To my shock, I have a text message from the man who's been in the back of my mind since Taylor last mentioned him.
Chance
Hey.
Swallowing my ecstatic boost in mood along with my pizza crust, I blankly look around while I decide what to text back. The response has to be cool and an 'I don't care' attitude, but not uninterested. But if it's dull enough I'd be playing hard to get. That's good, right? Keeps him on his toes? Or does that make me seem like a player? Should I just ask him what he wants? He obviously wants something if he's texting me this randomly. What-
Oh my lordy, just get on with this Kirsten.
Hey
He texts back within seconds, the three bubbles appearing on his side of the screen.
U free l8r?
My mood jumps another mile at the thought of a date just to plummet it's way back towards the ground.
No, I'm out for the day. Sorry:('
He reads it, but doesn't reply until a minute later. During that period of time, I simply clutch my phone in my hand and distract myself by watching Carolynn and Axel's behavior towards each other.
They refuse to even look in each other's direction, the both of them unnaturally silent. Well, for Carolynn it's somewhat normal-ish, but for Axel it's something totally different. It's a revelation.
Finally my phone vibrates with another text from Chance.
You can just say no if you don't wanna hang haha.
Guilt overwhelms my being. I feel obligated to tell him my feelings for him in that very moment, however I refrain and take a different route.
I don't want to say no, I'm really at Taylor's. Plus, you're not getting rid of me that easily. Wanna get lunch 2morow?
Despite all of the courage and guts I possess, I instantly wish I could take what I said back. Did that sound too needy? Too clingy? What if he doesn't even eat lunch? You know, does that seven snacks a day routine.
The first sentence of his reply disappates my worries, however the second part causes my heartbeat to skyrocket in nervousness.
For sure. As friends or...?
"Taylor, I need advice!" I call for my bestfriend, biting my lip in anticipation as I continue to read the line over and over. I feel as if I misread it everytime, even though it never tells me something different.
As soon as she trots over with a piece of pizza in hand, I pass my phone to her open hand so she can read our miniscule conversation.
"Oh my god girl! This is your chance!" She winks at me, laughing at the pun.
She gives back my phone and reads what I'm going to type over my shoulder. My fingers go to type on the small keyboard, but freeze as I hesitate in indecision. This could change our friendship, but he obviously likes me. Right?
I'm not allowed to make the final decision, for my phone is snatched out of my hands and into Taylor's as she types into it furiously. She only hands it back after a couple seconds, a satisfied smile present on her lips.
Eyes wide, I look at what she wrote.
As dates. Ttyl on where we r goin;)
"That is the cringiest sentence I've ever laid eyes on," I say in horror, staring at my phone with my mouth agape and wishing I can take back the moment I opened my mouth to call her over.
Taylor pats me on the back with a sweet smile. "Boys love the winky face. You owe a ginormous favor for getting you guys together."
"Together? What-no! It's just a date!"
She twirls her free hand around her hair, smirking. "Which leads to another, which leads to another, and then all of the sudden you're at first base―"
I interrupt her, splaying my hand out on the side of my face. "I get the point," I tell her, or rather her pizza. I stare at it intently, almost like a hungry lion stalking its prey.
Taylor just gives me a look."You want another piece even after all the food you've stuffed in your stomach, don't you?"
"Duh."
***
After everyone is full―and there's no pizza left―it's time for everyone to get ready for bed.
As everyone strides back into her room, Taylor turns to the trio of boys. "I only have three air mattresses, so you guys can use them. They're in the big closet down in the hall."
As soon as they leave, Taylor looks between Carolynn and I. "We all get the bed, there's enough room. I am not being in the middle though."
Recalling the crowded space in the middle of the car on the ride to everyone's houses, I shudder. I'm not claustrophobic, but I don't particularly like clustered spaces. "I'm not being middle either."
"But you're the―"
I shoot her a glare, my nose wrinkling in my annoyance. "Don't you dare say smallest," I warn, jaw set tightly.
Taylor suddenly smiles fakely. "You didn't let me finish! You're the real MVP!" She compliments before quickly changing her attention towards Lynn. "Sorry Lynn, you're in the middle tonight."
Carolynn nods the affirmative just as the boys come in with bundles of coiled up air mattresses in their grasps. They set them up in a T-shaped formation, with Noah's closest to the door and Axel's the farthest away from our bed.
I guess everyone is tired from the previous events, because one by one, in a matter of five minutes Noah, Sam, Axel, Carolynn, and Taylor are fast asleep. I can hear their steady rhythmic breathing, the only sound in the room.
I'm not purposefully trying to stay up, but no matter how much I toss and turn I can find no comfort. Sleep is a mile from within my grasp. Before I know it, an hour passes and I'm still staring at the popcorn ceiling.
This is pointless. Maybe if I go raid her fridge for some milk I'll get tired? It's worth a shot if anything. With slow movements so I won't disturb my sleeping companions, I throw the covers off of me.
A little background about me: I hate the dark. There's no telling what hides behind it's gloomy veil of blackness, which something undectected can jump out at you in any given second. Another thing about my Nyctophobia is I sometimes invision the scary creatures, despite my better judgement. It hasn't happened since I was a kid, but to my dismay, my imagination must be acting up.
As I glance over to the closed curtains covering the glass window located at the corner of the room, a large shadow blocks the light emitted by the moon shining through them. It looks like some sort of human figured monster, and it stays as still as a stone statue, shadow only wavering as the curtains billow in the brisk air. I'm not allowed control of my body anymore as my fear takes over. I only am aware I'm biting my tongue as the metallic taste of blood floods my mouth.
It's only a shadow. You're imagining things, get ahold of yourself.
With all the courage and reasoning I can muster, I manage to free myself from my paralyzed state. As soon as I regain ahold of my limbs, I jog out of the room and away from the creepy fictional vision.
The halls are extremely dark, but I dare not turn on a light yet for the sake of my friends' rest. I stumble my way through to the kitchen, hand on the wall to lead me in the right direction. Once my hand finds the handle and pulls the door to the fridge open, relief courses through my body. The luxurious white light comforts me, fending off the bleak and rancorous demons.
Suddenly, the placid silence is violently cut by a loud noise. "What the Hell?" Roars Noah's voice from in Taylor's bedroom.
It's unexpected and being that I'm already paranoid, I drop the milk carton I had just grabbed as my limps jump at the loud noise. From inside the room, Carolynn and Taylor's shrill screams ring through the house. I leave the milk in the ground, rushing towards the chaos despite a feeling in my gut telling my to run far, far, far away.
When I arrive, I notice two things.
Carolynn and Taylor clutch each other as they stare where the boys are, thick black comforter pulled up to slightly cover their faces.
The second thing I notice however is too great to be a coincidence.
The boys are gathered right in front of the window I saw the figure through, all three sets of eyes frantically dancing around the view outside as if they're looking for something.
________
Pentatonix came out with a new album!! I'm so happy, I've already listened to the whole thing.