Twisted Magic

Chapter 11

“CARLY OPEN THE DOOR”! Caleb was still shouting for me to come out of the bathroom but I’m still too paralysed by fear to move. All I can do is stare at the small bathroom around me and hope that whoever it was that invaded my dreams cannot actually invade my reality, though Kai seems to think he can and will.

“Carly sweetheart unlock the door so we can talk” – it was Tamsin, she sounds calm and soothing, it almost makes me want a hug and if I hadn’t just had such a vivid conversation with my own Mother I may have left the safety of the small tiled room and gotten one from her.

Still shaking, I looked at Kai for help. “Kai, I can’t face them, not right now they’ll have questions and I can’t... I just keep seeing their faces” I sniffed dabbing at my wet eyes with the too long sleeves of Caleb’s shirt. Kai jumped down from the edge of the tub and rubbed his little face against my leg trying to comfort me, so I gave his head a scratch giggling quietly when he purred.

“I will get rid of them for you”.

“Do you think there’s any way we could get home tonight”?

“I think getting them out of the way will be hard enough... just go back to the room and pretend you’re sleeping” I nodded.

“Ok, thank you Kai”.

“That’s alright, now let me out and stay put until I say”. I nodded again and stood to unlock the door just enough for Kai to squeeze himself through and then I locked the door securely behind him once his tail disappeared from view.

I could hear them arguing outside the door – especially Caleb. He was coming to blows with Kai – yelling at him to let him past. After a while it had started to calm down and after just a little while longer it became silent.

“Carly, they’re in the sitting room”.

“Thank you Kai”. I unlocked the door and wondered slowly down the hall; taking a breath before I went back into Caleb’s room... I’ll always think of that dream when I’m here now.

I curled up in a little ball on the still warm bed, feeling a tiny bit better that Kai was standing guard of the door though, I think it’s more to keep Caleb out than anybody else.

I couldn’t stop my mind from conjuring the dream back, couldn’t help reliving every emotion as if it was the first time I’d experienced them – each new and sharp, painful like a cut to the skin in the freezing cold.

I started to cry again because I know that what I’d witnessed was my families last moments of life, until I’d interrupted them that is, that’s when it all came crashing down, I’d give anything for my Dad to hold me again and I wouldn’t care if I had to die to do it as long as I had them all back.

The door flew open and crashed into the wall; still dark in the room, the light from the hallway was only enough to illuminate a silhouette on the wall in front of my eyes but I knew it was Caleb, I should’ve made an effort to be quiet when I was crying.

“Carly”?

The bed dipped as Caleb laid next to me and wrapped his arms around me from behind, his warm lips kissed at my neck gently, urging me to tell him everything that had upset me. The feeling of it made my eyes shut reflexively and my skin tingle, it was unbelievably hard to not turn around and let him hold me properly like we both wanted, but I just can’t face it so soon, I can’t talk, I can’t even think.

“Princess, please talk to me”. My lips trembled at the desperation in his voice. “Carly please”. 

Without saying anymore, almost as he was resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to talk anytime soon Caleb’s arms tightened around me .