Tower Of Bones

Chapter 7: The Siren Dominion

Dreams flooded my mind again that morning. It was the same thing. Red sky, voices, bones in the ground and the large monstrous shadow in the sky. I really had to talk to Dex soon about those and ask him if it was normal to dream super weird things like that.

I got dressed quickly, pulling over my black blazer over my white button up shirt. I was fixing my tie around my neck in the mirror, when I heard a noise from my window.

My hands froze in their places as I walked over to my window and pulled back my blinds with my fingers to look through the small hole I had made.

Across from me, at the window in the neighbors house, I saw her.

Alice.

She was pulling back her dark red curtains and squinting at the morning sun coming in. She vanishes back around the corner.

I pull back, heart thumping against my ribs. So that's her bedroom?

I decided to leave my blinds closed, in fear of her closing back up on me and leaving her curtains shut.

My morning was going by quickly and I was suddenly running very late.

Trying to brush your teeth, while at the same time, tying my black tennis shoes was not easy to do. I was stumbling into my sink, toothpaste falling out of my mouth, and my shoe laces hanging loosely off the tops of my shoes.

"Goddammit," I muttered, spitting into the sink and practically hopping out of the bathroom, trying to tie my shoes as I walked.

Another note on the table greeted me. Another early call in, another day without Dex.

I pick up my lunch off the table and make my way out the door, backpack slung over my shoulder and skateboard tucked under my arm.

Alice was already out, walking down the street, in a black sweater today, with her tie poking out from the top. She was saying something to herself, emphasised with a shake of her head.

She wasn't in a good mood today, it seems.

Two parts of me battled internally. The part, probably the smart part of me, said to leave her alone and let her have her space. But the other part, definitely the louder, wanted to go up to her, make her laugh and cheer her up.

Which one was the better idea, though?

I dropped my skateboard down to the sidewalk, and before I could come to a sensible decision, I was right next to her, kicking my board up into my hand and walking beside her.

She looks over at me, and her green eyes are hot with some kind of emotion within them. But she's hard to read and she just looks back down at the sidewalk again when we stare for too long.

"Hey, thanks for helping me out yesterday," I said, trying to get her to talk. "I really appreciate it."

"If you stop sticking out like a sore thumb, you won't need my help." She says, in a biting tone that suggested that she was certainly not in the mood for my antics.

Instead of letting it get to me, I decide to joke with her. "Not a morning person, huh?"

She turns her green eyes on me again, this time the irritation is clear in them. "I'm not a people person."

So that means get lost pretty much. It was her way of saying it without actually saying it. I pursed my lips, in thought. Everything was telling me to back off, but I ignored the warning.

"You would hate people in Dagfinn. I don't know why, but city folks are just so unpleasant. I'm really tall for a woman, clearly, and I heard so many people make comments about it back in the city. Especially dudes. There was this one guy at this music festival in Dagfinn, he was super short for a guy and he was so nasty to me when I bumped into him for it. Calling me names and saying that I probably have a dick secretly and I was just a cross dresser or something."