Deadly Night Shade

Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

I stood outside, leaning against the brickwork, staring up at the sky. A swirling sea of pinks and purples seemed to stretch across the horizon in a sunset fit for a monarch. The clouds were tinted with orange and the sun was slowly dipping below the horizon which was marked by the trees of the forest just outside Archvale.

On my other side, there was a field of suburban dwellings circling the many skyscrapers of the city. Shadow and my house lay outside the city as to avoid attention but also so that the lights of the city could not disturb the darkness of the night where we were.

I slid down the wall so that I was sitting with my knees to my chest. I wrapped my arms around them and rested my chin on my knees so that I looked in the direction of the clearing, even though I could not see it through the trees that made up the forest.

Questions bubbled through my thoughts, soaring though my head in a cloud of confusion. Why was Jason let off his punishment so easily? Why was my death so important as to end up on the television? How was Jess affected when she found out that I was ‘dead’?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Eventually I would find the answers to these questions, I just had to look. I would have to start by confronting Jess, questioning her about these things, but I also didn’t really want to show her that I was alive. How would she react? Would she react in friendship or hatred, surprise or anger? I also didn’t want Jason finding out at all that I was still alive. That could prove disastrous.

Go to her, a voice echoed in the back of my head, go to her. A shiver ran down my spine but I knew what I had to do. Today was the anniversary of my death, and I was going to be there for it.

***

I walked through the streets, a small flickering shadow leading me to a house. Black balloons were tied to the mailbox and there were several cars parked outside. On the door, there was a white piece of paper with the words ‘RIP Claire Forrester’ scribed onto it. I suddenly became quite nervous and did not realise when I brushed my knuckles against the wood of the door to knock.

“Hello?” Jess’ voice said as she opened the door. She saw me and her eyes widened in recognition as she remembered me from the tattoo parlour. “Hi,” I said, a lump rising in my throat. “You must be here for the reunion,” she said, her voice attempting to be humorous, but her eyes red at the edges, she had been crying.

When I walked into a large sitting room, there were ten people sitting in a rough circle around a photo of me in the times before I went into the basement. Each of them held a single, white candle that was not lit and I realised that they were all people that I knew. Three were my cousins, James, Lucy and Maeve who I had been close to, but didn’t know that I was that dear to them. Next to them sat others that I had once been close to or knew, but none that I really thought I had touched significantly.

I took my place in the circle and looked at all of the grim looking faces in turn and then turned to Jess. She was probably the only true friend I had ever had, and she had gone to this effort to gather all of the people that had a connection to me and gathered them in one place. But there was someone missing, something felt wrong, I was missing…

A knock at the door interrupted my train of thought. Jess went to open it and greeted them with a hug, which was unusual, since she wasn’t the hugging type. This had to be someone that was very close to her and possibly, they were very close to me. I scanned my brain to find who this person was until they stepped into the room, my stomach lurching and my heartbeat racing.

His hair was a silky golden brown that flicked up in a way that looked good. His sun-kissed skin was a gentle colour, but not as naturally dark as Shadows was. He had the body of a model and was tall, but this was not what caught my eye, not his flawless features or attractive build, I was staring into the emerald green eyes that had captured my heart a lifetime ago and, I felt, had most likely captured the hearts of many others.