Daemons in the Mist

Chapter 16 - The Secrets behind Your Eyes

16

The Secrets behind Your Eyes

Friday, January 20th

PATRICK

                        

Dating Nualla was great; I mean what guy wouldn’t want a completely gorgeous girl on his arm. I just should have left well enough alone—should have, but didn’t.

Nualla was hiding a lot of secrets behind her eyes; it was plain to me now. She had said she would tell me, but she hadn’t said when. So like an idiot, instead of waiting for her to tell me, I had decided to seek out the truth myself. Now I wished I hadn’t. The things I had found were unbelievable at best; downright insane at worst. I kept telling myself that it couldn’t possibly be true; that there had to be a perfectly rational explanation I was overlooking. But I couldn’t believe it because something in the back of my mind told me I had found the truth.

I raced through all that I had uncovered while I stood on the street waiting for Nualla to pick me up.

“Hello Patrick,” Mrs. Thompson said in a friendly voice.

I looked up at her startled. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t seen her coming up the block. She was returning from her daily evening walk with her dachshund, Arthur.

“Hi Mrs. Thompson,” I said as I stooped down to pet Arthur.

Mrs. Thompson was awesome, like how I imagined a grandmother would be if mine had still been alive. She always asked about my day and dropped off delicious baked treats. Truthfully, I probably had more conversations with her than my own parents.

“What are you up to this evening?” she asked kindly.

“I’m not sure yet exactly,” I replied, looking up with a smile. “My girlfriend is coming to pick me up and—”

Our conversation was abruptly cut short when Nualla pulled up in her electric blue Vanquish and opened the passenger door with a smile. I stood up and looked at Mrs. Thompson who was eyeing me with raised eyebrows. “My girlfriend,” I said nervously as I gestured toward Nualla’s car.

I got into the car unsteadily, and Nualla gave me a questioning look but didn’t say anything.

“So where are we going?” I asked as we pulled away from the curb.

“A club,” she answered with a slightly mischievous smile.

“You go to those a lot don’t you?” I asked as I looked over at her. The dress she was wearing was black, flowy, and extremely short. Her legs were bare except for the black boots that were even taller than the ones she normally wore to school. How she could even drive with boots like that in the first place was beyond me.

“Every Friday,” she answered with a smile as she turned her music up.

I had no idea how to bring up what I was dying to ask her, so I just sat there in silence as we drove through the city.

NUALLA

                        

It was just barely eight when we arrived at Club Lunaris, but already there was a line around the corner and down the block. Patrick took a step in the direction of the line, but I grabbed his hand gently and led him past the line of clubbers toward the front entrance.

We had left the car in a way-overpriced overnight parking garage a few blocks away since we wouldn’t be driving later, not if tonight went anywhere close to last Friday. Most of the time Nikki, Shawn, and I just took a taxi to the club, but I had wanted to pick up Patrick in the Vanq because he always made the funniest face when he saw it.