The Silent War

Chapter One

I laid on the bed in the lavender room, my eyes open and staring at the same tiny spot on the wall. The smudge of paint was the only imperfect thing in the room - apart from me, that is. I was so tired but I couldn't close my eyes. I didn't sleep. Even when I shut my eyes for a brief moment the tears still flowed down, escaping from under my eyelids. My hand clutching my mother's locket, gripping onto the tiny glimmer of security I had.

Thane had been with Rochelle and the core faculty for the better part of the month and even when he came to the cottage for quick visits between meetings, Ben wouldn't let him in. I should have gone downstairs and demanded he let Thane see me, but I had absolutely no energy and truthfully didn't want to see anyone.

Somehow, I had managed to stay in the same position for twenty seven days, not even moving to go to the bathroom. I hadn't eaten anything, drunk anything or spoken to anyone. It was like my body had completely shut down and was sustained by nothing other than pain and misery. My mind was mostly blank with no defining thoughts running through it - just darkness. The darkness so comforting, like my own private closet to hide in, only betraying me occasionally when a crack of light would sneak through, bringing with it a fleeting memory or vision of my Dad to trigger off another round of tears.

I had never experienced sadness like this before. When I cried it felt like the tears were coming from a completely different part of my body, being ripped directly from my stomach making the whole experience truly agonising. My breathing would become heavy and deep and with every breath of air it felt like a sandbag was dumped on my chest making it more of a burden. I buried my face into the pillow, letting it soak up more tears and when the pain finally stopped I would turn back to the wall and continue staring.

I knew there was no possible way I could do anything to make this situation remotely better and found myself wishing, praying that I would stop breathing all together and pass over to the Seekers. During moments like this I wondered whether it would have hurt this much if Dad had been killed in the explosion. The grief would have been unbearable, but at least I would know there was no way I could see him again, know he wasn't somewhere mourning the loss of me and going through what I was feeling now. I hoped he was okay, I wanted him to be okay more than anything and wished there was something I could do to help. Maybe the fact that he thought I was dead was comforting. At least he wouldn't be searching for me, waiting for me back at our house, counting down the days until he would see me again. I guess what really killed was that even if I ever got out of Serenis there was no way I could go back to Dad now. He would have accepted the fact I had gone and other than lying about being in a coma or having amnesia, how would I explain where I had been?

There was a light knock at the door; I didn't bother looking up to see who it was as I already knew. The only good thing about being a Super was the energy sensing skill, which in my case was thankfully starting to kick in and right now I could feel Ben standing outside my bedroom. He pushed the door open slowly and walked over, placing a breakfast tray on the bedside table next to me. The smell of the fruit made me want to be sick, even the aroma of brewed coffee wafted down to my stomach making it churn.

'Come on Eve's, you have to eat something. Tobias came over early this morning with some fruit from the garden and Josh went out to the market to get the coffee. He went to Smith's and bought the organic brand you like. It smells so good I can see why you love it.'

He crouched down so he was level with my face, his eyes blocking my view of the paint smudge though I couldn't be bothered to roll over and turn away. He put his hand against my forehead to check my temperature. Usually having Ben this close would send me into a giddy spin but I was so numb that I felt nothing for him, not even hatred.

'You look terrible Evie. Rochelle said you really need to eat or at least have something to drink. I have juice on the tray if you want it?'

He looked down at me, moving his head to try and catch my eye but I didn't even see him. For all I cared Ben could have been see-through as I managed to now look right through him.

He sighed heavily. 'Eve's, I know you're hurting but Roe said you would only be able to sustain yourself on energy for so long before you would need real food. Please, you don't even have to get up just take a sip.'

He held the glass of juice up to my lips, waiting for me to take it. I stared blankly at him until he finally gave up and stood up, fixing my blankets and tucking me in tighter before walking out the door. I knew how he felt. He couldn't help but take on my pain when he was near me, which was strangely comforting. Knowing that he could feel every twinge of grief - grief which he had helped cause - was enough to keep me going in the state I was in.

Day soon turned into night as the world outside fell silent. The only noise to be heard was the sound coming from the moon. The single bright beam of light screaming through my curtains, staining the haunting darkness in the room. I heard the front door open and close a few times, Nancy was downstairs getting a status report from Ben. She'd been over a lot in the past few days, wanting to come up and see me but of course Ben insisted he was handling it and asked her to give him more time.

It only felt like yesterday when Thane brought me back to the cottage, refusing to let me run from Serenis. We walked back slowly, barely speaking as I got the impression that Thane was the strong silent type. The only words to leave his mouth were the occasional grunt to Thimble who seemed to be content sitting on his shoulder the whole way back.

It didn't take Ben long to figure out I had left, pouncing on me as soon as I walked in the door and only letting go when he saw Thane on the porch. He pushed me into Nancy's arms as he launched out the front door towards him, blaming the silent cowboy for my brief disappearance.

Josh stood there stunned as he watched his brother chase and throw punches in mid air. He would get no closer than a foot before Thane would vanish and appear somewhere else, out of Ben's reach.

The 'almost' fight caused quite a stir as supers from the neighbouring cottages came out to see what was causing all the noise, Rochelle eventually emerged to shut down the drama. I heard whispers from nearby onlookers who muttered something about Soul Snatchers shifting. At the time I assumed they were describing the disappearing trick Thane had done, and since then I wondered if it was something all Soul Snatchers could do and if so when I would get my power so I too could vanish in mid air, never to be seen here again.

Once Thane had been escorted from the residential area by Rochelle and Tobias, I was ushered inside by Nancy where an argument with Ben was cut short by my growing sobs. I was so distraught that Nancy called Mick in to carry me upstairs. He placed me on the bed, closing my door as he exited at my request.

Left alone in the foreign room, I curled up into a ball, weeping as I stared into the darkness, not wanting to close my eyes for fear I would lose this feeling. The feelings of hatred, betrayal, sorrow and pity, feelings that were now permanent residents in my energy and, like me, were not going anywhere any time soon.

As I briefly closed my eyes, refreshing them from my staring match with the wall I felt the bed slightly dip, followed by a loud purring. I rolled onto my back and turned my head to see a beautiful tabby coloured cat lying next to me. I knew as soon as I saw its mischievous face that it was none other than Josh; he had morphed into a cat and somehow managed to sneak in past Ben. His eyes blinked a few times as he stared, waiting for me to say something.

I reached over and lightly patted his head, watching as he stretched out to lie beside me.

'I know it's you Josh.'

His little head stretched back as he looked up at me with smiling eyes.

'Fine, you can stay here tonight but don't even think about morphing back into a human. If I see one sign of human Josh you'd better believe I'll call Ben.'

Josh let out a large yawn then curled up next to me as I closed my eyes, eventually lulled to sleep by the sound of his purring.