Chapter 14

"Yes I heard someone was at the door but you?" I stopped myself from telling him how truly dead he was looking. He had only argued. Besides, there were more important questions, and I started with the most obvious.

"Why are you sleeping in the bathtub, to be honest?"

"Oh, uhm probably sleepwalking." He shrugged casually. "It happens quite often" I stared at him incredulously. "You sleep walked into the bathroom, climbed into the bathtub and lid?" In order for us to be having this conversation, one of us could probably be crazy, and I wasn't really ready to be the one.

" I don't know yet, I was just asleep." He hoisted himself to his feet and tugged his shirt smooth. He rolled his neck, stretched his back and arms, he then moved to stand close to me, a look of amusement on his face.

My reply disappeared as I stared into his face and my skin flushed at his nearness. I couldn't help but notice that he was just as attractive alive as he had been dead. Maybe more so.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" His eyes, so dark that almost seemed black, stared into mine, suffocating me with their gaze. "Uhm, no I guess not," I stuttered. Once again the world tilted dangerously, threatening to spin away from me. "You are probably hungry are you?" D tore his gaze from mine and checked himself through the mirror.

It took all of my conscience effort not to follow his eyes into the shiny silver surface. I forced myself to look into the empty bathtub instead and tried to gather my scattered thoughts. "Yeah, I am serving," I murmured and realized it was true.

D nodded. "Take your shower just as you had intended to, and when you are done we will figure out about finding some food." He glanced at me once more. My face burned as I imagined that he could see through not only the sweater I clutched against my chest but all of my clothing. The fact that it didn't give me the creeps made me feel even worse.

"Okay cool," I half whispered, looking at the floor and not daring to meet his eyes.

D slid smoothly past me, his body too close for an instant, and then left, leaving me flashed and shaken. I exhaled and leaned back against the cool wall, my body feverish. A few moments ago, I had been terrified because I had thought he was dead and then I was nervous because he was alive.

I couldn't even think of the person behind our doors this early, I quickly took a fast shower, ignoring that I had heard someone at the door. I blushed furiously the whole time.

I wondered if D was sitting in the motel room, imagining my nakedness, or if he had attended to the person at the door, or maybe he was busy and indifferently flipping channels on the television and wishing that I could hurry up.

Dressed and washed, I walked into the room to find D sprawled across the rumpled bed, the television remote in his hands, and his eyes trained on the glowing screen. At least had the answer to my question, though somehow it disappointed me a little.

"All done?" D asked casually and clicked the television to switch it off. "Yeah, I am as clean as I am going to get." I tried to smooth my wet, tangled hair. I couldn't help but wonder what he had done to make his hair look so nice since neither of us had a hairbrush, but it seemed too personal to come up with such a question to ask.

D swung himself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "Before we go, let me look at your shoulder," I moved myself to stand in front of him, my mouth dry again. I berated myself. This had to a top. I wasn't a schoolgirl whatsoever. I was an adult woman in full control of my faculties, facing a man who quite possibly was not in control of his; no matter what he looked like.

His hand caught my neck and pulled me forward so that I could bend into him. His figures were cool, but not uncomias he brushed my ruined sweater back from my shoulder and gazed at the bite. "Uhm it seems to be healing as much as I expected. I think a bandage will not hurt right?"

I nodded and waited for him to release his hold on my neck, telling myself that he hadn't just been trying to get a free look at my cleavages.

As if reading my mind, he let go. His eyes dropped away from mine quickly and his head followed so that he stared at the floor. I had sworn that for just a second, I had seen guilt in his eyes.

I straightened up. I no longer had an excuse to be close to him. A faint feeling of regret shimmered through me but I immediately and mentally brushed it away. "We should be going, let's get some food." D suddenly said. He stood without looking up, and I had to shuffle backward quickly.

Wordless, he headed to the door and unlocked the requisite row of chains and bolts. He opened it wide then plunged through into the gathering darkness.

After meeting such a cloud of darkness, my mind quickly came back and noted that it wasn't my father who was at the door knocking and pressing the alarm button. I was in my own world, and it was because of fear, but was it? Did you also hear the same? Could it be Mother Witch's coven? Still hunting on us?

I quietly followed D out the door and wondered how we could get home when neither of us had a car, but I decided to wait until I had eaten to worry about home again. Yes, I had to take care of myself before I could think of something else, but was I really ready to get home?


On Fri, 17 May 2024, 12:12 KE RICS, <ricshenry69@gmail.com> wrote:
Chapter 13.

I stared helplessly. I knew I had to call the police, that was what I thought of, first. But then I had no idea what I had to tell them. Fighting to maintain logic, I chewed my lip thoughtfully and began to pace the tiny room in circles. I had to do something so quickly. I couldn't just ignore all the shit, or could I? I reasoned it out logically. What if I just could get dressed and leave? Could anyone find me out? Would anyone believe that I didn't know what had happened to D, or that I didn't even know him that we'll?
Would anyone say I had done something to him? Would anyone find out to blame me for the old temple burning down? And there would be bodies in the ruins, wouldn't there be? After all, with the stress of Jack's murder investigations, the police in charge didn't like me very much. They would be for real be happy, I was certain, to get me for something.
The question ceased and I came to a single conclusion: that looked a very, very bad situation. I made two more circuits in the room, then knelt by the bathtub and studied D for the second time. As I stared at him, a strange thought filtered through the chaos in my mind. He was very good looking, maybe even beautiful corpse in a chipped bathtub. It was just but my luck.
I leaned over him and tentively and tentively reached a trembling hand towards him. I had never before touched a dead body. Reluctantly, I pressed my fingertips to his neck, imitating what I had seen on the TV.
His skin was ice cold and I winced as I searched for the faintest hint of a pulse. My brows furrowed in concentration and I was forced to admit that I didn't even know what I was feeling for, but I decided, it hardly mattered. One look was enough the man behind aid of medical attention.
I took my hand back and studied him, wondering what could have killed him. I didn't think that people just died sparadically, unless there was something seriously wrong with them to begin with. Maybe he had a heart attack , or died of drug overdose. That sounded like something that would happen to one of Jack's friends.
I poked him again. If I had drugs on him would they arrest me too? I had just decided to search his pockets when the string alarm sound came in from the door. Someone else was there, standing and waiting for my response. Was I to go there? What if it could be the police? Anyway, it could be better than my father.
My father was so sensitive, and he could just take a second moving round my new home, and what if it was him? Could he realize that I was right there with a person in the bathtub and he was dead? What would he think of? That I murdered a strange person? My heart pounded and I had a jump in my beats. I fidgeted as I thoughtfully engaged in a struggle between my own mind and the heart, the two held different opinions.
My mind never wanted me to go to the door, and on the other, my heart was thoughtful that it could be the police and I could quickly get help from them.
But how would they even think at first, that I murdered him? No; I didn't want to go to the door. However, the more I hesitated to carry my heavy legs, the more the alarm from the door kept on ringing from a second to the other.
I was tensed and sweat ran down from my hair, I poked at D once again, this time I decided to search his pockets to ensure he had no kind of drugs, so I could walk and invite whoever was at the door to come in. When I had just decided to search him did his eyes open; dark orbs stared straight through me.
With a horrifying scream, I fell over backwards and sprawled across the floor on my butt. I propped myself up with my elbows and started to stare in disbelief at the bathtub.
I halfway laid on the bathroom floor, staring at the bathtub. Though I could not clearly see inside, but I knew what was in there and eventually who was in there.
It was D, he looked half dead, and he had then eventually opened his eyes and he suddenly drew a noisy, shaddering gasp, like he had been drawning and had only just escaped that.
Then slowly, he sat up and turned to face me. He stared at me, lack of comprehension on his face. We gazed at each other our eyes locked, he looked confused, his eyes locked with mine, that were wide from fear.
The silence stretched. His dark eyes pulled me in until I was drawning. I couldn't move, couldn't speak neither. Time ceased to exist as the silky depths captured my attention, warm and whispering about things that my primitive subconscious seemed to understand. I started to feel lightheaded but, before I could actually humiliate myself, he broke the spell by murmuring, "Hello Jessica?."
I fought to regain my control of my faculties and banished the strange feeling to the back of my mind where it belonged. "Hello D" I repeated his words sarcastically, glaring at him.
"You scared me, half dead and the only thing you oughted to say was Hello? I thought and I was convinced you were dead!"
As I stood, I scooped up my ruined sweater and pressed it to my chest like the only shield I had.
As if just realising I wasn't fully dressed, D looked away politely, with a hint of a smile on his lips. "Did I hear someone at the door?" He whispered. "But no! Just wait, I am not dead as you can confirm?" He glanced back at me, "I just feel like I could be."