The House on Clamoribus St

Chapter 4 - Starlight

2.

Starlight.

I felt something warm drip over my lips, wet and thick. I ran my tongue over them several times to ease that parched feeling that suddenly overpowered me, the thin layer of moist left behind offered no relief.

A metallic salty flavor lingered in my mouth afterwards, it tasted like blood!

With trembling hands I reached towards my neck, every movement hurt as if I was being stabbed a repeatedly in the same spot, but my neck was unscathed. It had all been a dream. I sighed in relief, it had felt so real.

Grunting, I stirred in my seat.  My head pounded and my eyes stung as if they were ablaze. With difficulty I opened them.

My vision was blurry. Huge trees somewhat distorted like a reflection on rippling water seemed to move closer to me. I blinked several times struggling to regain focus, but after a few moments of trying, I closed them tight again.

“Are you alright?” a pair of cold hands cupped my face. His voice gentle and captivating, echoing in my head like an ancient melody of peace and tranquility. It spoke of safety, of trust, of sweetness and eternity, like a wordless poem whispered in my ear.

I breathed in the scent of mold and rust combined with the sharp tones of his cologne.

“My friends...Where are my friends?” I asked, my voice trailing slowly into a short silence after each word.

“There was nobody with you when I arrived here,” the stranger said crouching next to me, back resting against the open door. “I rushed here when I saw you hit the tree.” I shook my head frantically, a combination of disbelief and worry overpowered my reason. My head screamed to stay still, but my body disobeyed, sending wave after wave of pain through my entire being, searing pain that grew with every slight move and every shallow breath.

As if their absence was not obvious, my eyes roamed over the empty driver’s seat beside me. There were no traces of John or Jamie left behind, it was as if they had turned to dust and were carried away by the wind.

Fear crept inside me, and suddenly the air felt as if it had grown thick, dense, like the fog we had been in earlier. My lungs contracted as the pressure on my chest built up, normal breathing became nigh impossible, all that was keeping me from blacking out was the heavy panting.

My phone lay on the floor by my feet. At first I thought to grab it and dial John’s number but soon I was distracted by the thousands of pieces of glass covering my lap, the silvery gleam of the moon bathing the dust-like glass cause it to shimmer like glitter.

I lifted my gaze up and stared at the place where once the windshield was, now only small shards remained around the frame.

“Strange,” I mouthed through slightly parted lips. “I do not recall it shattering.” Mesmerized by the way the moonlight bounced from the sharp edges I reached out and grabbed a piece of glass between my fingers. “Ouch!” I cried as the fine sharp edges of the broken shard cut through my fingertips causing a few droplets of blood to spill.

The stranger stood rapidly and took a couple of steps away, turning his back towards me as he gagged repulsed by the sight of my blood.

On the other hand, I found the crimson drops morbidly hypnotizing.

Without thinking much of it, I brought my bleeding fingertips to my lips and gently suck on the blood. In the past that simply trick seemed to stop the bleeding, but not this time, instead of ceasing, it was as if the warmth of my breath thinned the blood and caused more droplets to form. I continue to suck, but soon the drop turned into a wee trickle of blood trailing down towards my hand, then my wrist.

“Here, allow me,” the stranger said grabbing my hand and pulling it away from my lips, with such care it made me think he was afraid to break it by simply touching it. His hands went to work but his eyes were fixed on mine. His lips curled into a smile as he gently wrapped my injured fingertips in a handkerchief. “Put slight pressure on it, that will help.”

“Thank you,” I babbled staring back into his crisp blue eyes, losing my mind for an instant, no longer aware or perhaps, no longer caring about the pain and discomfort of my body. His gaze was as deep as the universe, full of countless stars, and secrets and I felt the strong urge to uncover every single one of them. But out of the corner of my eyes I saw something stir on the background and broke the trance he had me under. “Did you see that?” I asked without looking at him.

“No,” he replied calmly.

“I could have sworn it was John...at least a silhouette...shadow or something like that, but it was shaped like him.” I turned around to face him again, and the ocean blue of his eyes clashed against my thoughts making it hard to think clearly. “You do not understand,” I explained. He looked at me thoughtfully, lips pursed into a tight line, forehead creased in curiosity. “John can be a pain in the neck, even more so lately, but neither him, nor Jamie would have left me behind.” I grabbed my phone, the screen was cracked from side to side but still worked, except for the fact that there was no internet reception nor cellular signal, I sighed in frustration.  I turned the lamp app on and aimed my phone towards the area where I had seen John’s shadow. “There!” I pointed as another shadow appeared for a fraction of a second and its sudden movement caused a few branches to shake.

“The - The cat?” he asked. “You are looking at the cat?”

“What c -”

I fell silent as just as my question begun, a black cat, materialized out of nowhere for all I was concerned, and looked straight at me with its eyes --its glowing yellow eyes.

Purring loudly, it sat regally for a moment before beginning to walk delicately on the hood, back and forth, as if circling someone's invisible legs while its eyes remained fixed on me.

It wore a peculiar necklace, unlike regular pet tags, this one had a small pendant --the size of a hardboiled egg - that seemed to be formed by overlapping tentacles of gold, bronze and platinum.

The center of the pendant was plastered with shimmering glitter that in the moonlight, sparkled like a mesmerizing prismatic jewel. Hypnotizing, beckoning.

“Holy crap!” I cried in horror as I instinctively reached for the stranger's hand and squeezed it tightly. The jewel centered in the pendant slithered up, and as it did, it uncovered an eye --a human eye! “Oh, my Heavens! That thing just blinked!”