I slept in the chair that night, Quinn kept apologizing, and I kept saying, 'it's fine' or 'calm down' or 'you're ok' etc.
"You don't have to sleep in a chair, ya know," Quinn told me as she looked at me. "I know, but I'm fine," I said looking out the window. It was hardly 10:00 and Quinn was laying down.
Suddenly she got up and curled up in my lap like a cat. "What are-" I was cut short by her grabbing my hoodie's collar and pulling me into a kiss. "Just shut up," she said before she kissed me again.
She took my hand and walked me to her bed, but I didn't resist. I lied down on my side on the bed and she curled up near my chest again. I put my chin on her head as she started saying about how scared she was when I was gone, I has to reassure her I wasn't going anywhere on purpose.
She started talking about Damien and the fire that killed me. How she escaped with small burns on her legs and arms. She kept crying, it hurt me to see her hurt because of what I did.
"Quinn, just sleep, its ok, nothing will happen to you," I reassured her, "what about you? Are you going to find a knife? Good luck, I hid them," she said laughing a little. "Night, babe," I said as she fell asleep against my chest.
It was morning I woke up and Quinn wasn't there, I started panicking, then I saw a note and walked to it, it said "dear Kota, want your phone? Hide and Seek! Find me with your phone!!! Hint: you can see the stars at night" I knew where she was and started looking for my car keys, there was a note on the door, "want your keys too?" I laughed a little realizing that she was determined to get me out of the house, I didn't teleport, I took my time by walking.
In the woods near our old house I saw a branch with a note on it, not Quinn's handwriting. 'Dear my friend Dakota, if you want Quinn back, Hide and seek I seek you hide, you have 30 seconds to hide, Go' I ran to a hollow tree, dumb idea, there was a crackling noise.
I didn't move, to frozen from fear and knowing, knowing it was Damien, Fire, Air, death. But I felt more alive than I have when I was. I got out of the tree and held a knife in my hand.
The bird had a key in his grasp. "Damien, my old friend," I said smirking. "Great to see you, Dakota, Guide of Water," as the bird changed human, he looked a little like Quinn, same face nearly. His hair was jet black, and he held two knives with four wings on his back. I felt myself tense as he walked closer, he was a year younger than Quinn but as dangerous as Max.
"So, Mentor if Fire, are you going to use your element to kill me now or actually fight me?" As soon as I said that I heard a scream. "Let.her.go," I said clutching the knife in my hand.
"Oh my brother, I cannot do that, because I don't have her, I'm here with you, I got the notes saying 'Hide and Seek' with a hint that said 'where we were reunited," Damien explained, "then why'd you leave the note that told me to hide?" I asked. "It wasn't for you dumbass! It for who kidnapped Quinn!" He nearly yelled sounding as serious as he always was. "Ok, sorry for jumping to conclusions, I should have known, she is your sister after all," I said. "Damien, one thing you should know," I started, "yes?" He asked, "Quinn thinks of you, everyday, every night," I told him. "So do I," he confesses.
The ground started shaking which scared us half to death that we put the knives near all the trees then met back in the middle of the forest. "First off, sorry for killing you, second off, sorry for killing you, third off, Run now, GO!" He yelled as he ran I turned around and saw a huge red-and-black Phoenix with blue now entangling in its feathers.
"What are you doing?!" Damien shouted. The bird looked down at me and I looked up at it. It was me, I was this bird. This was my soul. The bird settled down and rests its head in front of me, his head was as big as my body, I reached out to touch the magnificent creature. He did nothing, when I touched him his feathers were smooth and soft.
He suddenly pulled up his wing revealing a cage with a sleeping girl, Quinn "thank you," I whispered putting my head to the bird's. I opened my eyes and saw the spot my head touched on the bird was turning black, grey, and white.
The bird started flapping its wings frantically. Trying to leave, but something was holding him on earth. I noticed a chain on his foot labeled Dakota's Sins.
I woke up and sat up checking if Quinn was here, she was in the kitchen, I walked in and hugged her tears threatening my eyes. "You ok?" she asked. "Now I am," I said kissing her head drinking in her sweat smell.
"Nightmare?" She asked "yeah," I said, I wanted to tell her everything but on the other hand, I couldn't believe how big that bird was, it wasn't my soul, it was my sins.
After coffee Quinn sat in my lap while I was reading Facebook. "You-" she put her finger to my lips and lied down on my chest. Her ear was listening to my heart beat and since I was dead practically, there was none since the last time I checked.
She sat up and looked at me,"what?" I asked acting like something was wrong. "There's no beat?" She asked confused. "No beat, I'm dead Quinn," I confirmed.
She hugged my neck and I let her stay there, I didn't move her. She cried a bit, I didn't move her. When she let go of my neck, she took my phone and laughed, "I got your phone!" As she stood up.
I stoop up after her "looks like you did," I said, she could have my damn phone, I've nothing to hide from her. She started scrolling through something and she hit the home button and her smile faded to a slight grin.
"You ok?" I asked, "why is this your screen saver?" She asked showing me my phone with the screen saver of Cam and I when we were younger. "He's gone but he's still my brother, if I knew how to work a knife or had one at that moment, Max would be dead," I said with a straight face.
"If he were dead where'd you get your supply of cigarettes from?" She said jokingly. "Ha ha very funny, I may smoke but I don't get as high as him," I said reaching for my phone which she pulled out of reach.
"You may not get as high as him but you get drunk like him!" She pointed out "also you're under drinking age you're still practically a teen!" She teased, true, I am 19. "Not like you haven't had a shot or two!" I laughed, she has had quite a few shots before.
I reached for my phone and she ran around me to behind me. "Ok cut it out," I said reaching for my phone. "Nope! You'll have to get it yourself!" She laughed. I walked to her and kissed her making her drop her arm, I slid the phone out of her hand and put it in my pocket before pulling away.
She looked at her hand, "How do you do that?!" She asked,"it's easy with you!" I laughed. "Teach me! Please! I want to steal Josh's stuff!" She laughed, "are yo sure you aren't going to just steal my car keys?" I asked. "I'll try, it'll be hard though!" She said laughing.
After teaching her how to steal stuff without getting caught, we sat on the couch and watched a movie, her favorite, The Secret of Moon Acre she tried to steal my phone in my back pocket but I could see and feel her moving so she never got it.
She soon enough gave up and fell asleep. Then I saw something that terrified me. Quinn was covered in blood, I slapped myself only to see she was fine, I held her head against my chest to protect her as I heard footsteps in the hallway.
