Centre of the Storm

Chapter Ten: Nightmares

A/N: You can probably tell what this is about from the title. Yeah the story's about to get a little dark, I decided to try to write something that's a little scary, as I love horror stuff myself

I was sitting with Cashlin at breakfast again, after a long night of not sleeping. Beatrix was nowhere to be seen, she had most likely taken her breakfast outside, which was insane as it was freezing, but she had never been much affected by the cold.

Earlier she had joked that I could just make the sun come out if I hated the cold that much, but I had told her it didn't work like that. I couldn't just manipulate the weather whenever I felt like it. It just kind of happened, which was terrifying but also exciting.

I looked up at Cashlin, who was sitting across from me. She wasn't looking good. There were even darker circles under her eyes and her skin was paler than usual. Her pupils were also blown out and there were little red lines in her eyes. But she might just be stoned.

I hadn't been sleeping either and didn't look much better than she did, so I was in no position to judge. I was just worried about her. Every day seemed to be harder for her to get through.

The police had sent back the word that the blood found on the tree was in fact, Alyssa's. At the start of breakfast a few of the staff members had gone up to the front of the cafeteria to talk to us. One of them was Thomas, our standoffish owner. We barely ever saw him, he was always up in his office, or away doing business. He had told us what the police had found out. That the blood was Alyssa's. No one had been surprised.

Everyone had their own theory about that had happened, and whether or not she was alive. That morning, I'd heard the same group of girls that had been talking badly about me before, saying she had probably killed herself to get away from me.

Cashlin hadn't even looked up when Thomas had been speaking. Her facial expression hadn't changed throughout. It was like she was in a place where no one could reach her.

"Cash?" I asked. She didn't look up, did nothing to confirm she'd even heard me. "Are you okay?"

"I will be," she finally said.

"What do you mean?"

She looked directly up at me, her red eyes tight. "I'll feel better when I kill you."

My heart stopped. Blood rushed to my head, and my shaking hands dropped my spoon into my nearly empty bowl of cereal. "What did you say?" I gasped.

She cocked her head slightly, looking at me in confusion. "I said I'll feel better when they tell us more. It's so frustrating being kept in the dark:"

My heart was pounding and I grabbed my bowl, starting to get out of my seat. She looked at me with worry. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry I just- I have to go," I mumbled, hurrying away, leaving a very confused looking Cashlin sitting alone at the table.

After having dropped off my dishes, I hurried outside. The cold air stung my face and hands but I ignored it. It was better than rain. I considered going down to the pond, but I had heard rumours there was a group of kids hanging out down there while everyone was at breakfast, and I really just wanted to be alone.

But at the same time I also wanted to find Beatrix and vent to her. But I didn't have the energy for anyone else's company. I had only been sleeping for maybe an hour a night for the past week, so obviously I was going to get hallucinations. But this had been the most realistic one so far.