SHAMEFUL INSTINCTS: THE OTHER HALF OF ECHO

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER THREE

The hurried footsteps gave Cassie a sense of foreboding. She felt confused and slightly disorientated. She became terrified as the minutes passed. Everything was silent. She couldn't even hear herself breath. Her forehead was beaded with cold sweat, her hands cold and shivering.

Her hands gripped tightly on the fluffy bed cover, clinging to it like a saving plank during a shipwreck at sea. The gloomy ventilation echoed the shadowy walls giving it a creepy horror-play-film-gone-bad feel.

The footstep was urgent, panic even, with a hint of tension and determination. She frowned at the sudden intuitiveness of sounds, and how she could decipher the emotional roller coaster behind the pace of one's footsteps.

Her body suddenly became tingly and excited when the door knob made a creek but her heart almost jumped out of her chest from how fast it was beating. The feeling of both excitement and heart palpitation made her dizzy.

Like the Pandora box, she was afraid of the unknown but curious about the reason for the creek of the doorknob.

The sudden zap of electricity that shot through her body prompted her of the identity of the person behind the footsteps.

Sam?

She felt confused. What was he doing here? She shivered from how tingly her body had become suddenly. She glanced at him and froze. Everything reversed. And like a melting candle blown by a frosty wind, her feverish body was cooled down by the raw, unguarded emotions she saw in his eyes.

Sadness, desperation and anger... what the hell is going on? She frowned in confusion.

How can a calm and stoic person like Sam show these kind of emotions openly? Something is definitely wrong. She unclenched her hands from the sheets and crawled closer to the edge of the bed to get near him.

Compelled by an unknown force, she stretched her hand to him. She wanted to touch him, to sooth the ache she felt he feels at the moment, and make it better.

She felt herself walk towards him. She got the feeling he wanted to say something to her. So she moved faster. But strange as it may be, the faster her pace was, the more distant the space between them grew, and the shadowy his figure became.

Frustrated, she spoke hurriedly. 'What's going on?' but he never answered. She felt exhausted and wanted to slow down and relax a bit, but was jolted awake by the creepy chill that crept up her spine when their gazes locked.

Glowing blue ember meshed with her obsidian dark ones. A warning. That was the message she felt he was conveying. But about what, she wasn't sure.

She wanted to ask formore information but was startled by his sudden stiffening stance and defensiveness of his gaze as he looked at her... or something behind her.

She followed his line of sight and froze. So... a bead? Great! Where did this thing come from? She turned her attention back to the appearance of the bead and stared at it seriously. It felt familiar. And it was floating.

So...a floating bead. This is somehow strange, but not enough to garner such caution from Sam. Then and there she felt a sudden sense of unease. She glanced around to see if she missed something but nothing seems strange except the in congruence of the bead's appearance.

One part is ornately designed with artistic musical note and pattern, whiles the design of the other part is an unflatteringly ugly flower-like face which was grimacing. The sting from appreciating beauty to discovering a horrifying ugliness gave her a whiplash. But it formed a weirdly harmonious contrast when viewed from a distance.