Departure ↠ Argent [3]

09. Second Thoughts

As Kali once said, I hated the dark.

Something about it made my skin crawl; whether that was the fact that you couldn't see what was out there or what might be coming for you. I hated the idea of losing myself or someone else I cared about in it, if that made any sense at all. Plus, I've been in the dark for most of my life, and it just wasn't a comforting thought.

So that was what I was thinking about as I sat there in the living room of the McCall house, staring into a dark corner occupied by a red leather chair. I tried to keep my mind off of the creatures that were trying to find their way inside to get to me and my friends, but it was kind of hard considering they shook the house every time they pressed against that barrier.

"Scott!" I hear Melissa shout from upstairs before footsteps followed, presumably Scott's. Agent McCall was still upstairs bleeding half to death, and we couldn't do anything about it. We couldn't leave to take him to the hospital, so he was stuck there until morning, if he lasted that long.

I feel a hand on my shoulder then, causing me to look up and see Kira. "Why are you over here alone?"

"Thinking," I state, my eyes going back to the corner. "I wish I was back at house watching Scooby Doo on my couch."

Kira cracks a small smile as she takes a seat next to me, leaning forwards so that her elbows were on her knees. "I wish I was back in New York...back when I was normal."

I look at her then, seeing that her eyes had grown distant. "Normal?"

"Now I'm just a freak," she says, shaking her head. "I look like a demon from Hell."

"Well at least you haven't been to Hell," I say, not knowing whether or not I was talking about my death or the ice bath I had taken a few months back.

She looks up at me. "Did you say that you died earlier? Twice?"

"Drove off a bridge and drowned," I say, remembering it like it was yesterday. "Hell for me was walking around invisible to the World, at least until I found Allison."

"She could see you?" Kira asks, genuinely curious. "How'd you make it back?"

I smile faintly. "Allison brought me back. She almost killed herself in the process, but she gave me a second chance...something almost no one gets."

"Like me," Jade says then as she walks into the living room, plopping herself down onto the chair across from us. "I was in the car with him, but I had been bitten."

Her eyes glow red then as Kira shifts away uncomfortably, probably because she wasn't used to seeing that yet. "You two friends?"

I pause for a moment as I look up at Jade, her eyes locked with mine as she waited for an answer. "Yeah, we're friends."

"Guys!" I hear Aiden shout then, causing the three of us to look back into the kitchen. "You might want to take a look at this."

We all scramble from our seats as we dart into the kitchen, worried about what we might find. Scott comes trampling from downstairs as we all stare at the window Aiden and Ethan had busted through earlier, but this time, two of the Oni were standing there. One of them beats on it with it's fist as the other uses it's sword to stick through the barrier.

"What are they doing?" Jade asks, narrowing her eyes.

Ethan bites his lower lip. "Testing for weak spots."

I take a step back as one of the Oni sticks their fist all the way through the barrier, almost making it through. "Uh, we have a problem."

My hands scramble to find my phone then, Allison coming across my mind. I press the phone to my ear as the phone rings, Allison picking it up on the second ring. "Allison, please tell me that you have something because they're here and they're trying to get in and it looks like they'll be able to."