In The Shadows

2. Sorry

The sun's light tore at my eyes with no remorse, so much that it made me want to scream. Groaning, I shut my eyes again and sunk further under the covers. At some point in the morning I guessed my father had decided to waltz into my room and open my windows and curtains.

I groaned for the second time that morning. Why couldn't he just leave me alone? It was becoming irksome in more ways than one with him trying so hard to play two parents. She wasn't coming back. He could at least leave the memory of her untainted. I frowned upon feeling the sudden sting of tears in my eyes. Why did I still cry? I scolded myself. It made no sense to cry now. It had been almost two years now but the pain never gave me the honour of leaving.
It will get less painful with time, they said. Bullsh*t.  Sometimes it felt like I was drowning and I could never, would never get enough air. Then other times it felt like some person had torn through my chest to grab my heart, not to break it...just grab it and squeeze.

I buried my head further into my pillow willingly the tears to go away.

"Breath...breath, dammit," I whispered.

My breathing went back to normal after a while but the ghost's hand remained in place, squeezing and squeezing. I shifted towards the edge of my bed where I looked out into my room. The stinging had stopped leaving only the cold air to irritate my eyes now.
Grogginess kept me from sitting up so I simply slid out from under my covers and landed on my bedroom floor. My descent had been slow so the landing didn't hurt but the coldness nipping at my feet was alarming. Some time in the night I had formed a partial cocoon of my blankets which at that moment I was  struggling to get out of.
When I was finally on my feet I stretched out but as each of muscles were pulled, I was filled with a dreadful weakness that almost landed me on the floor again. I frowned. I know I had slept late the night before but I shouldn't have been that tired. For some reason even though the sunlight with its warmth was being poured into my room generously, I still felt cold. Really cold. The faint memory of a loud thud sounding out from downstairs came to mind but was almost instantaneously pushed aside.
With only my towel in hand after grabbing it from a chair near my window, I left to take a shower.

The sweet aroma of cinnamon pancakes drifted up to me as I descended the stairway. My stomach grumbled reminding me that I hadn't eaten the night before. Funny. It was one of the things that had kept me up last night but I definitely wouldn't be admitting that to my dad. The aroma grew stronger as I walked through the living then dining area.
Pushing the door open, I stepped inside the kitchen. My father's back greeted me by the stove and so did a large stack of pancakes. My stomach grumbled yet again upon catching sight of the pancakes.

"Alissa, you're finally awake,"  my father stated after turning to put yet another pancake on the pile.

I turned my gaze away from the pancakes to meet his face. He was watching me intently. I arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah," I muttered feeling no need to carry on the fight from yesterday.

I approached the table and just as I was about to sit down a pale hand rested on my arm. Coldness swept my body. I jerked my arm away and lifted my eyes to the owner who stood at my side. I hadn't heard anyone walk in after me.
The deepest blue eyes met my own brown eyes and seemed to smile at me. A girl...a girl of about my age stared back at me from the most perfect face. Her skin was pale as if she hardly left her house but not quite the pale you would expect. It was almost a cream colour that gave it the impression of being extremely smooth, immaculate even. Her lips had been turned up in a sideways grin that gave her carefree vibe as if nothing could hurt her. Her hair was thick and dark and it fell in careless waves around her face. I raised my eyebrows.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

Surprise whipped across her face but left quickly only to be replaced by her previous grin.

"Thea," she replied simply as if I would know her from her name.

I studied her face and when not an ounce of recognition flooded my brain, I turned to my father.

"What is she doing here?"

My father had stopped flipping pancakes at some point and had been watching us.

"She'll be staying with us from now on."

I didn't know who this 'Thea' was but I sure as hell did not want her to live with us. There was something about her that didn't seem right maybe it was the little jealousy in me talking but I didn't like her. I knew her type. She was the type to get her own way in spite of drawbacks. The type who knew they were pretty and believed that the world owed them.

"Why?"

"She's Caitlin's daughter. She's my... This is her house too."

"Is it?" I drawled, sarcasm thickly coating my words.

"Alissa, I don't have the energy for this in the morning just sit down and have some pancakes."

"Well neither do I, Darren. The least you could do is tell a person that you found a replacement for them not kick them out one day unexpectedly. Oh and I'm not in the mood for pancakes but I'm sure she'll would love them."

Darren sighed.

"You need to eat something and why haven't you dressed up for church?"

"I'm not going," I muttered.

I had made my way to a cupboard and was reaching for a protein bar.

"What? Why not? No, you know what. You're going to church. You can't hide yourself in your room and stay away from society for the rest of your life. If I have to drive you there myself, I'll do it but please, Alison."

I turned to glare at him but I was met with a look of desperation. I was so close to saying something smart but I bit my tongue.

"Fine."

My dad gave me a small smile sensing his 'victory'.

"And please eat something," he begged.

I waved the bar at his face then started towards the door.

"Thea might need to borrow some of your clothes until I can get her some tomorrow..."

"Wow, now you're asking. I could of sworn she was already wearing them."

"Sorry," she sputtered but I had already left the room.

The pain had returned to my chest.