HAVEN BLACK - complete

THE LION OF DARKNESS AND THE INFINITE SCREAM

CHAPTER 26 – THE LION OF DARKNESS and THE INFINITE SCREAM

A sudden and abrupt banging on the front door rattled the hinges and pulled me out from my much needed sleep. It must be the police, I thought. They must have a search warrant.

Another three loud pounds on the door shocked me upright on the couch. Sitting stiffly, I waited nervously, unsure of what to do next.

"Jake! Its Jill... Are you home?" Jill's melodic tone waved through the door effortlessly; my body relaxed at the sound of her voice. Glancing around, I realized that my place was an absolute pigsty – Jill shouldn't see me like this!

"Arr..., I'm home!" I yelled out clumsily while I pushed myself off the couch and attempted to quickly fix my hair in the mirror. "Coming! Just a sec!"

Pausing in front of the lounge mirror, I realized just how bad I looked. The bags under my eyes had mostly subsided after the recent sleep, but my shirt that hung off my back had holes through it and the odd takeaway stain. My pants were equally as dirty and although I couldn't detect it myself, I was sure that I smelled very unpleasant. I gave up on my unruly hair and on the fast paced walk to the front door, my stomach gurgled from hunger. How long had I slept for? After inhaling deeply, I grasped the door knob with my sweaty hand, turned, and then pulled the door open to the harsh daylight outside.

Rubbing my weary eyes as though I didn't believe what I was seeing, Jill stood only a couple of feet from me (not an ocean away!), but before I could say a word to her, she leaped at me with her arms wide open and embraced me with an enraptured hug.

"I missed you so much Jake," she whispered softly into my ear. "...so much".

"I missed you too," I replied pulling her warm body further into mine and relishing the scent of her ash blonde hair. "I'm so happy you're back, it's been so long..."

The lengthy hug came to a painful end – I had struggled to let Jill go – and then a silent, slightly awkward moment followed, but our eyes remained locked onto each others' intensively before Jill frowned slightly and glanced away.

"I'm sorry for leaving you Jake," Jill started as she turned her softened eyes back to me. "especially at the time when your mum passed away... I feel guilty for not being by your side... I should've been there to support you... I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't know...you couldn't have possibly known it was going to happen." My voice wavered slightly but being in the presence of Jill made me feel somewhat secure again. "Besides, it kind of feels odd now, it was so long ago... l guess I've sort of, um... adjusted..." The image of me adjusting a knob on a "life machine" from "LIFE SUCKS" to the lowest setting on the machine, "LIFE SUCKS EVEN MORE THAN YOU COULD IMAGINE" came up quickly before I swatted it away. I reached out and grasped her soft hands. "Also you've helped loads of others. It's selfish of me want you all to myself... So, um, anyway, when did you arrive back home?"

"Late last night."

My stomach made another grumbling sound.

"Ha, what was that? Was that your stomach?" Jill asked with a lightened tone.

"Arr, yeah it was... um, what time is it?" I asked frowning slightly from the protest of my empty stomach.

Jill released her left hand from mine and turned her wrist upwards glancing at her watch. "It's almost two o'clock."

"...Really?" I yelped, surprised; my slumber had knocked me out for nineteen hours!

"Oh...sorry Jacob, were you asleep when I knocked?" Jill asked softly.