The Veil

Chapter Fifteen

I watched her walk towards her bedroom, she took a giant breath before she grabbed the door handle and walked in. 

I smiled to myself before I skipped to Tom's room. 

I was excited to tell him, it was a good thing, I could just feel it. 

When I walked in, he wasn't asleep like I'd expected, he was staring at the ceiling, Sky on the floor rather than the bed.
His arms were folded under his head, his bare stomach exposed, he looked tanned, despite the lack of sun we got.
I wanted to touch him, his muscles looked hard and wiry, like he could definitely lift weights if he had any motivation at all. 

I didn't know if it was the fact we'd been keeping everything a secret the whole time or just the fact that for years I'd had to watch myself carefully around him but I kept forgetting I could just touch him if I wanted to.

Five days after the first kiss I started to see things again, I didn't know if I'd ever stopped or if I was too distracted by Tom to have noticed them. 

Tom was in my bed for the first time, under the covers, not on top, not leaving me alone, he was still there, asleep, and when I woke up in the morning he'd still be there, with the cutest bed head and a shy smile. 

I stopped staring at him asleep in my bed and glanced at the ceiling. 

I jumped slightly as something in the top right corner of my room moved, I squinted my eyes into the darkness but there wasn't anything there that I could see anymore.

I sighed and got up from the bed, I needed to move and I didn't want to wake Tom, tiptoeing around Sky I left my room. 

I took a deep breath in the dark hallway and it got stuck in my throat as I saw something move quickly passed me. 

I thought it was Jade or Andrew going to the bathroom, but when I stood outside the bathroom door, I couldn't hear anything, the door was slightly opened, and it was dark inside. 

"Hello?" I whispered and nobody answered. 

I pushed the door slightly, desperately hoping it wasn't Andrew and switched the bathroom light on. 

Nobody was in here, the shower curtain was pulled back, nothing seemed out of place.

I grabbed the glass we kept in the mirrored cabinet and ran the faucet to make sure the water was cold. 

I glanced into the mirror as I pushed it closed and almost screamed, but it got stuck in my throat and turned to a squeak. 

I spun around so fast I got dizzy. 

He was still there, an old man, his grey beard reaching all the way down to his bellybutton on his large round stomach, his skin was almost grey and so wrinkled it almost hid his eyes, a long healed scar ran down from his right eyebrow, over his nose and to the top of his lip. 

He was covered in blood and dirt and he was in the bathroom with me!!

I was too panicked to do anything more than stare at him, I knew almost every one in town, if I didn't know their names I at least knew their face, I'd never seen this man before. 

How had he gotten into the house? Why was he in here? What did he want? 

I tried to vocalise my questions, scream for help, but I couldn't, my throat was closed up. 

He kept staring at me, not moving, not saying a word, I opened my mouth to speak and he lifted his right hand up as if to silence me. 

I closed my mouth with a snap, my breathing so panicked and fast it was actually hurting my chest.