The Girl of Shadows [COMPLETE]

Four

["You didn't go through all of that for nothing."]

Shaken, terrified, confused, and mindless. All were words that described how I felt one way or another. My hands trembled slowly as I raised them to show the scarred palms I used so much. They got blurry after a few seconds of staring and my natural instinct to fear was to sob. I could feel fire overtake my shaking feet, trying to hold up my lifeless body. I found a way to stand, but wanted to collapse to the dense carpet below.

The blurriness of my sight subsided and I saw Niko, Elle, Khai, Cedric, and Gianna having eyes as wide as saucers. My insecurities emerged, and my inner consciousness told me to flee, yet I stayed still. My feet were permanently planted into Cedric's study floor. Tension grew greater than I'd expected as their faces never changed from that forever lasting expression.

The silence broke with me trying to put the wings away to no success.

"Hannah, don't cry," Gianna pleaded, kind with her words, "It's okay." Her face wanted to cry but she put on a large but caring smile, My want to sob gradually decreased as she stared at me. She placed a light brown lock of hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead. This motherly affection was what we all fought for. And now I need it more than ever.

As I calmed down, I managed to make my enormous wings disappear. I fell into Gianna's arms for her to catch me. She held me just like when she did when I was a kid, crying my eyes out because I was scared of the ghost in my closet. Her soothing voice, adapted white noise and the most angelic of all was what helped the most. I could tell she was eying Cedric worriedly through the crack of light between us. Niko stood next to Cedric and whispered something in his ear, returning with an 'Oh yeah' look when something made sense. I didn't bother to care what it was. I needed to figure myself out for the time being.

I guess I had fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was in my bed, surrounded by Gianna, Niko, and Khai. Elle was nowhere to be seen but I didn't mind. I had a few of my favorite people around me.

"Have a nice nap, sleeping beauty?" Niko began, sarcastically. His tone was joking, which is why it didn't piss me off as much. And even still, I couldn't be sleeping beauty - she was awoken with a true love's kiss while I was naturally.

"I don't think that's how the story goes. And sorry for fainting like that. I was... overwhelmed..."

"And that's okay." Gianna responded. "Thanks, mom." I whispered. I only called Gianna 'mom' when I would talk to her directly. But when she gets tangled in a conversation, I'll just call her by her given name. She giggled and rested her smooth hairless hand on my submerged leg. My quilt was pulled to the foot of the bed, while the undersheet covered my pajama shorts and dirty lumpy socks. I pulled my legs forward to the left side of the bed to face Niko, who had stood up by that point. He reached out a hand to pull me up. I met the base of his nose, making eye contact, and silent. I bowed my head to wobble over to my laundry basket. It was overflowing, and yet I still left it unattended. Laundry was the devil's chore, undoubtedly.

I swiftly removed both socks, then placed each one in the pile of months of undone laundry. It stressed me out to have this quantity of unfinished laundry, however, I was defiant and only did it if that random burst of adrenaline eventually kicked in. I wasn't worried about it.

"Jesus, Hannah." Khai said under his breath. I squinted my eyes as a dirty look. It was obvious he took the hint of 'mind your own business.' He raised his arms to back away from my insanity. If I was alone, I would've burst out laughing, though I had an audience, and to be careful around them was ideally what I tried to do most of the time. Don't want them walking around thinking I was crazy.

"I'm going to leave. Don't care if you stay. Just don't be here when I get back." I firmly boasted. My voice was monotonous, not a single drop of interest nor creativity. I needed my alone time. Bad.

I swung my jacket off of my jagged bedpost and left the dark cave for a room without a single mistake. No replies, no reactions. Just the way I liked it.

My secret spot was up in the summit of a hidden entryway, blocked by an old bookshelf and century-old spider webs. The room had a Victorian smell to it, practically making me gag even thinking about it. I summoned a corpse to do all the work for me. Then it vanished as quickly as it came.

There was no light in the room. It was midnight and the curtains were thick clothed sheets over the cracked and dusty windows. Piles of old scrolls and books built up wordy mountains around my exterior. All of them were full of wonders, maybe even secrets some person kept, all dangerous to be released into the world. Pandora's box but with a twist - research and messy calligraphy handwriting. I'd pick one up and read one from time to time, but not from boredom or curiosity, but the ghost of the writer would occasionally appear, whispering temptations.

The journal author wasn't here tonight, which is what I had silently hoped for. The silence I had been deprived of since early this week. I'm just glad it was over.

A creak, louder than anything I had heard at this hour, echoed through the space. I jumped, immediately alert. My hands trembled, just as they had earlier today, but there was no point. I was ready to summon anything that could be needed to protect myself.

"Agh, Cedric!" I breathed. My heart ran a marathon from internal fear. His expression seemed amused, though his eyes were worrisome. I sighed heavily and sat back into my usual position of knees to the chest.

"Bold of you to assume I didn't see you come in here." He began, plopping down next to me followed with a grunt. He shouldn't sit on the floor. He always would say he's too old for that stuff. And right he was.

"Right." Was all I could think of as a reply. He chuckled.

"How're you feeling?" He asked, turning his head to my direction.

It took a minute for me to form the words, because if I were to be honest, I didn't exactly know. Was I happy? Scared? Confused? All of them were possibilities, though none seemed to fit.

I shrugged my shoulders. He got the memo.

"Well that Talisman is yours. Nobody can use it except for you. And we'll figure it out, I'm sure. There's nothing to worry about." He assured me. I smiled. That's what I needed all along. Some kind of reassurance that I wasn't insane or crazy. That this was normal for some people.

"Thank you." I muttered, laying my head on my arms. He patted my back and chuckled once more.

"Of course. You should get some sleep."

"If my paparazzi isn't there then maybe I will." I joked. He laughed harder than normal.

"I'll leave you to it. It's been a long day." He got up and walked out of the room. I was left once again in a dark, silent, dusty room full of history. I decided to leave before I lost track of time. Didn't want to be awake at 3am. It was unsettling seeing all the ghosts and types of spirits. Ironically, being a temporary medium was not my thing.

A little stroll through the soundless halls was all it took to calm down. The snores of my brothers, the whispers of the sleep talkers, the rustles of bedsheets. All serene and beautiful. And one of the many reasons why I loved nighttime.

I'd frequently peek into a random bedroom, silently giggling at the faces my siblings would make while in this period of unconsciousness. Hands down my favorite part of everything overall.

My door was cracked open. From the looks of it, everyone had filed out to their own rooms. I guess they finally received a watch and realized that they wasted their time. A book, wrapped in paper, lay motionless on the comforter. I glanced around the room to notice any differences. For starters, my bed was made. My laundry basket was missing, probably because Gianna got a maid to do it. And that book was there.

I opened my now empty dresser to find a lonely pair of clean pajama pants. And they were on before I knew it.

I laid my head on my limp pillow, forever visualizing what I could do with this crystal. What it meant for me. I turned the lamp off and that was all I remembered before seeing the light of dawn shine upon my sleep deprived face.