A Thousand Year Obsession ✔

6. Don't Give In

6. Don't Give In

I lay awake when the lock on my window clicked open and the panes slid upward. The curtains flapped restlessly in the delicate midnight breeze. I keep my eyes closed gently as booted feet fell onto the carpet and made their way to the other side of my bed. I heard the scraping of paper and the steps taken backwards into the shadows beside my bookshelf.

I let my eyes flutter open then, allowing them to adjust to the musty gloom around me before I sat up and turned towards the nightstand where a small scrap of paper lay beneath another flower head. I lifted it up onto my palm and read over the words in the pale moonlight, my heart skipping several beats with every line I scanned.

"Your friend made a mistake, I see
A demise approaching the girl to be
To stop the terror
Of a monstrous error
You must do all I demand

"It matters not that you told her
But that you disobeyed order
And all it comes to
Is a minor review
Of the words I first set on the page"

The paper fell from my hands down onto the thick bedspread and I shut my eyes tightly.

"What does this mean?" I ask quietly, my hands curling around the heavy comforter.

"You know what it means." His voice murmured darkly as he stepped out of the shadows behind me.

"You can't really mean that . . . " I whispered setting my gaze down as my hands folded themselves in my lap.

Derek moved closer towards me and sat down on the edge of my bed. His hand lifted my chin up so his eyes could look into mine but I merely shifted my gaze into the darkness behind him. A small tear slid from my eye before I could stop it and Derek swiftly wiped it away.

"Shh, Morgana." He whispered. "Don't cry."

I pushed his hand away and climbed off of my bed, viciously brushing away the betraying tears rushing from my eyes.

"You stay away from me." I warned, but my voice wobbled and cracked.

He stood up and made his way towards me, but I backed up towards the door to my bedroom.

"Now, Morgana, don't go making a mistake you'll dearly regret." He said lowly.

I exhaled in frustration and grabbed a book from my desk.

"Stay away from Juliette!" I demanded, weilding the book as if it were a weapon.

"I will." Derek murmured softly. "If you do exactly as I say and keep her from interfering."

I held back a hopeless sob. "And the children, leave them alone!"

"You told her of my identity, Morgana." He said.

"I already told her before you threatened me. It would have been useless for me to attempt to hide everything from her." I cried.

"No one has to get hurt if you just do whatever I say." Derek said softly.

"No one but me!" I snarled.

A small smirk found its way to his lips. "You don't have to get hurt either, Morgana."

I chucked the book at his head. "Why can't you just leave me alone!?"

He ducked, watching absently as the book crashed into the lamp on my nightstand and sent it toppling over the edge, landing on the floor with a loud crash.

"I wish that was your head." I snapped, staring at the crushed lampshade.

He just laughed.

"Shaie?" Izzy's concerned voice called from across the hall. "Shaie, are you alright?"