Blank Stars

chapter 15

“Kayla, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get involved with them”

Instantly my guard snapped back into place, I scolded myself for my lack of caution.

“It won’t do me any harm, I’m just wanting to find out what happened to mum and dad”

She let out a sigh and looked at me pityingly.

“What happened to your mum and dad wasn’t anything to do with conspiracies Kayla, it was just an unfortunate accident.”

I slammed my hands against the counter, standing up and making Sophia flinch.

“No it wasn’t, they knew something, I don’t know what, but it got them killed and I need to find out what it was!”

Sophia stood up and reached out to me, she was acting gently but I refused to let my guard slip twice.

“Kayla… Conspiracies did kill your parents but not in that way, it took over their lives. It drove them away from their family, from you.”

I glared at her, I knew she wouldn’t take me seriously and there was no way that she would help me.

“No, it drove dad away from you, he knew that mum died because of something she found and he wouldn’t let her go. That’s why you don’t like them because it reminded you that you could never take mum’s place.”

A flash of anger crossed her eyes but quickly gave way to pain and anguish, I saw I had struck a nerve and I felt a slight sense of pity within me but my anger was stronger right now. I pushed myself from the table and stormed up to my room. What I left was, what most would consider a heart wrenching scene; a woman lay, stretched across a table, tears in her eyes, too emotionally wrecked to pursue a troubled child. All that was left of me for her to cling to was my half eaten breakfast. Where most people would feel sympathy and sadness, all I felt was a sense of betrayal.

I walked into my room and froze as I looked at the man sitting on my bed. At a first glance I assumed that it was the hallucination of my dad coming to reprimand me for my actions but it wasn’t. I stared at his lanky figure and the air caught in my throat, his long black hair obscured part of his face but his piercing gaze made my entire body go cold. 

He smirked at me and stood up, walking over to me. My body was still in a state of shock and refused to move. As he got closer my body finally began to respond and I slowly backed up against the wall. My mind screamed at my body to run, but my limbs couldn’t do anymore, they just locked into place.

“Well, that wasn’t a very nice thing to do was it now?”

My eyes widened further as the sound of his voice sent waves of fear through my body, my legs began to shake but I held my ground. He was close to me, close enough to touch me. He reached out a hand, and place it next to my head, he leaned in close, trapping me against the wall. His cold gaze continued to send chills down my body and fear gripped me. Finally my legs gave way and I slid to the ground, the man crouched next to me. 

“You’re awfully rude aren’t you?”

“Who…who are you?” I stammered, struggling to get my mouth to form the words.

“Oh yeah, I never did introduce myself to you, you were always too damn rude.”

There was an edge to his voice which made me regret asking. He looked down at me, smirking at the fear in my expression.

“My name’s Cera, you don’t really need to know anything about me, other than I’m here to help you.”

I looked at him warily, not trusting a word of his. There was no way someone who had acted as he had could possibly want to help me.