Page 160 of Ominous: Part 1
I blow out a breath and respond before I try to put this off, too, and never get around to it.
Me: That would be great.
Truthfully, I wouldn’t mind a drive down to the beach. I could stay at her house. Free food and a place to sleep, in exchange for the charade of socializing.
Her: Wow, didn’t expect to get a response.
Me: Didn’t expect to send one, honestly.
Shit. Not what I should’ve said. Sighing, I close out that message and open up Sebastian’s.
Him: I’m dropping your car off at 9. You good with that?
Me: Huh?
How the hell is he getting anywhere then? Of course I’m good with that. I rarely get to drive my car during the week unless I’m going to work, but then how is he getting home?
Him: A buddy is following me, going to his place afterward. Won’t be able to take you home like I said I would.
I frown, thinking I should say something.Dosomething. It’s Thursday night, though. I guess for a guy with no job, it’s basically the start of the weekend, right?
I sigh, sending off a text with no argument, no questions.
Me: Cool, thanks.
I put down my phone, skip to “37 Stitches”,and turn it up loud.
I glance at the book on the table, briefly think about diving into Egyptian mythology and magic, but instead, music in my ears, I close my eyes in the darkness and try to… tap into the spirit realm, something I do when I have time alone in the dark. So far, to no avail.
But one day.
On the one hand, I feel kind of silly. Kind of nervous, too. On the other hand, I think of the sigils scrawled in my notebook in my underwear drawer, and if I believe any of that came true, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility magic exists, is it?
I’ve heard rumors of sects channeling darkness, even in North Carolina. There’s a heavy, underground occult scene in this state which has a cult-like following. Mom thinks her sister was taken by a cult. My aunt and Mom haven’t spoken since I was a toddler. But then again, Mom also thought Pastor Griffin down at the coast was a saint, and Amanda and I heard rumors about what he did with the older teen boys who went to Sunday school.
Wrinkling my nose, I try to relax.
The song plays on repeat, and the repetitiveness helps me zone out. When I’m writing, when I’m running, sometimes when I swam laps, the wireless speaker on the edge of the pool near the end of after-school care when Mom was a little late. Not enough to pay extra but enough to make me the last person there for pick up. Maybe it’s there I found comfort in solitude.
I wrap my arms around my shins, my boots slipped off and socked feet on the chair. I press my temple to my knees, closing my eyes in my cocoon.
This castle is old. If death lingers anywhere, if spirits wander places with pasts, maybe it would be here.
Chills skitter down my spine. I feel a pinch of fear, the same feeling I always get when I’m crossing lines I was conditioned to stay safely within. Lines that say this kind of thing will send me to hell. My soul is corrupted. I’m going to burn for eternity. But it’s confusing because I prayed the Sinner’s Prayer like one thousand times growing up, and allegedly, that single act will send me to heaven. Multiply it by a thousand, and what do I have to fear?
I settle in deeper in my chair, relaxing a little at my own caustic thoughts. I can hear nothing beyond the music, and that includes my heartbeat.
I just breathe, knowing Seb will be here soon and he doesn’t know where the library is and I’ll need to go meet him in the parking lot. But for now, it all falls away.
Then cold graces my shoulder blades, despite the fact they aren’t exposed. My throat feels a little tight, and I think maybe I should get up, and go wait outside, but I force myself to stay. To fight against my nerves.Nothing is going to get me.
I just breathe. Being with Eli feels a little like this. A thrill mixed with paranoia.
There’s no one here. Nothing here. Trafalgar has a lot of after school activities but very few take place outside of a sports arena and even fewer in the darkened corners of a library. Language has their own wing of the castle, math and chess are on the business hall, marketing and design in one of the smaller brick buildings dotting campus.
No one is here.
Breathe.
