Crossroads → Nicholas Scratch [CAOS]

xii. roses

ROSES
CHAPTER TWELVE

With her heart pounding painfully on her chest and her trembling body flinching at every sound she heard, Dani wiped her tear-covered face as she waited at the main street outside the carnival. Drawing her hand away from her face, she grimaced at red streak on her sleeve that came from the very painful gash on her left cheek. She still hadn't fully processed the events of the night. It all felt so surreal. How could this have happened? How could things have finally been so calm one minute, only to be interrupted by such a terrifying event the next minute? Even more upsetting to Dani was the fact that Nick lied to her. He had made her believe that if there was anyone she could trust wouldn't lie to her, it was him. And she had kissed him. It wasn't her first kiss, but it was the first kiss that was important and meant something to Dani. How could she have let herself be so blinded by her emotions and trust for him?

She sniffed as a familiar black car sped up toward her, her dad and brother probably having skipped several red lights to get to Dani after her call. Feebly, she pulled herself off the wall she was leaning against, walking to the car as her dad and Calum jumped out and hurried to the shaken girl. Her running mascara, droopy eyes and slumped, limping figure– not to mention the wound on her face– were enough to show that the teenager had gone through a hell of a lot. Just seeing her was enough for Matthew and Calum to quicken their paces toward her. Barely able to stand anymore, Dani dropped into her dad's arms, burying her face into his neck as he warmed her up with his loving embrace.

She wished so badly that she hadn't run out of the house and left with Nick. She should have stayed home, let her brother and father explain. They loved her more than anything and Dani knew that very well, so how could she have believed for one second that the fact that supernatural beings were real and that they hunted them changed the fact that they would always protect her? The thought of having been so distrusting and cruel toward them made her eyes sting, tears soaking her dad's shirt. He kissed the top of her sweaty head before pulling away slightly. He held her exhausted face in his hands to get a better look at her.

"Let me see your face." He shook his head and looked away after taking in the unbearable, battered appearance of his daughter.

"It's not too deep," Calum said, trying to reassure himself and their father. "We're gonna go home and get you all fixed up, alright, kiddo?" His glassy eyes and clenched fists showed him to be torn up by all that Dani had gone through, but he was more pulled together than their father; able to comfort Dani while all their dad could do was mutter frustrated words under his breath. Calum kissed the side of his sister's head, wrapping his arm around her waist to help guide her to the back of the car. The way Dani flinched when she climbed inside the car and her brother closed the door behind her made Calum shake his head with gritted teeth at how much the poor girl had gone through. He walked to the other side of the car and climbed into the back seat beside Dani. The warmth of the car heaters and the feeling of safety of being around her brother and father had reduced the feeling of being suffocated by her thoughts, fears and aches.

Tears revisited her eyes when her dad said, "this is why I didn't want you around them." She wished she had listened to her family and avoided Nicholas Scratch and Sabrina Spellman and the chaos they had dragged her into, she did. But the other part of her... the sympathetic, caring part. The part of her that felt something so true, and so genuine for the boy that it felt like an arrow or a spear had been shot at her chest... didn't at all regret running away from the haunted house, but couldn't help but feel such a heaviness being weighed down on her shoulders for leaving being in the heart-wrenching state he was in. He had lost someone– something– he cared about, who apparently was a parental figure to him, and Dani knew more than anyone else what that felt like. In fact, he had killed his family, no matter how monstrous and inhuman it was, for Dani. "If you had just listened, Dani-"