Soul Master

17. Amèlie

Morning light, tinted green by the trees peeked through my partially closed curtains. I blinked and wiped my damp eyes, my pillow blotted with a wet stain from treacherous tears that I had unknowingly shed in my sleep. Despite the dream and the revelation I had, this way of waking up had become regular in my life even before now. I guess one might consider me depressed to some degree. Me though, I just considered myself weak.

I sat up and looked at my phone. 11AM, no new messages. There never were until yesterday. I glanced over at the turned mirror and the memory of my dream once more fresh in my head.

'If you're in there, and awake.' I said aloud, poking at my chest. 'I hope you're watching.'

I got up and stripped down, turning the mirror and exposing my body, free from bruising and cuts. I don't know who I was trying to fool, or what I was trying to prove.

I put clothes on, a mismatch of whatever was in my drawers, when you were invisible, style didn't matter. I reached for the door and hesitated. What do I do from here onwards? I wondered. Do I ask Zayne, what would she tell me even if I did?

I took a deep breath, finding what I believed to be the best reaction. I pushed everything I had learned deep inside me. I visualised all of what I knew to be true shrinking and being contained in a box. Locked away safe.

'It didn't happen.' I told myself. The pain in my body suggesting otherwise. 'If it had, how would I have not remembered.

I went downstairs and realised the house was empty, even if I had came looking for answers, I would have been disappointed. I looked out of the kitchen window, the car was parked. Penteluck and Zayne would have went for a walk as they often did.

I looked up at the keys on the key hanger. 'Sweet.' I grinned mischievously to myself.

There were two ways to reach our home, the quickest being to cut through the woods from the outskirts of the town. The other by the road that cut off from a small lay-by and from there onwards a well used dirt road, only by us though. The car had seen better days, and it was about to experience a whole new level of suffering. Zayne wasn't a good driver, she had a license, she had the ability to know the motions but that didn't make her safe.

I had no licence, no knowledge of how to drive and therefore I was about as equally safe behind the wheel as her. My chances of survival were in no way minimised by my plan to drive into the city alone. However they would be dramatically reduced when Zayne found out in a months time that I took the credit card with me for some retail therapy on her behalf.

'Do ya fear death.' I copied Davie Jones voice from Pirate of the Caribbean as I turned the ignition. And laughed at myself like a dork.

'No.' Blitzen answered. 'Do you?'

I jumped out of my seat so high, my head whacked the roof of the car. 'Jesus.' I breathed, rubbing the top of my head.

'He's often associated with death, yes.' Blitzen remarked. 'Hurt your head?' He smiled invitingly. 'Need a new brain? Or was that required before making the choice to drive?'

'You sure are happy.' I replied ignoring his teasing, and clicking the seatbelt over me. 'Anyway. You're not invited. Get out.'

He raised his disapproving eyebrows at me, I chose to ignore him, ignore that feeling I had in his presence. Looking at the gear shift, I wobbled it not really knowing what I was doing but trying to look like I knew anyway.