SERAPHS: THE AWAKENING

CHAPTER FIVE

A consistent bang on the Bennetts' door at 6.20 am made Marisa hasten to open the door. She saw Ruby, breathing heavily with her dishevelled goldilocks curls.

"Mrs Bennett!" Ruby called out of breath. Before Marisa could ask what was wrong, she continued, "I am so sorry! I searched for her! with Mason...," counting with her fingers, "and Davina and Chase! All night!" she said on the verge of tears. "We couldn't find her. At first, I thought she had left without a word again but she promised not to leave without me and you know she keeps her promises, right?"

"Huh? Ruby, who—"

Ruby ignored her, unrelenting in her explanation. "Mason said she ran after some guy but didn't see where they went. Then I thought okay, she was with someone. I didn't know what to do so I went home to wait for her, but she never came back and her phone is switched off!" she short-winded.

"Ruby, who are you looking for?" Marisa asked confusedly.

"Nora!" she screamed, breaking into tears.

"What?" Marisa looked vacantly at Ruby. "Nora is upstairs in her room."

Ruby stopped crying and sniffed, "What?!" she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "She-she is upstairs?"

"Yes. I didn't hear her come in last night but I checked her this morning, she was still asleep so—"

Ruby burst through the door and ran upstairs, leaving Marisa more confused than she was when she opened the door.

"Nora!" Ruby ran into Nora's room. It was empty. "Nora!"

"What is it, Ruby?" Nora dawdled out of her bathroom. "It's past 6 in the morning, what are you doing here?" she threw herself on her bed.

"Are you kidding me?! Where were you?" Ruby queried. "How did you get home last night?"

"I don't know," she replied, face buried in her bed.

"What don't you know? Mason said you ran after some guy he couldn't see, what happened?"

Nora sat up on her bed, so sudden it made Ruby shrank back. Her memories from last night came flooding back, except how she got home. "How did I get home?" she asked Ruby, scanning her room.

Ruby gave a loud scoff, "You are seriously not asking me that. I—"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Girls, are you not going to school today?" Marisa said, standing by the door. "How many drinks did you have last night?" she asked Ruby with a smile. "You should go home and prepare for school."

"Sorry, Mrs Bennett!" Ruby yelled to Marisa who was halfway down the stairs. "We are going to finish this in school," she gave Nora a stern look and left the room, allowing Nora time to think.

Nora remembered Keelan and his siblings, Roman and Max, who were they? Her musings came to an abrupt halt when she dredged up her memory of the creature-the demon that attacked them. What happened after that? She stood up from her bed and checked her neck in her mirror. She gasped in astonishment, there wasn't a scratch on her neck or anywhere on her body. How was that possible? She remembered the demon's hand clasped around her neck. Was that really a demon? What was that glow that appeared on her neck? What happened to those three weirdos and what were they? How did she get home? These were the questions running through Nora's mind and she wished she had answers for them.

She took her bath, dressed up for school and hurried to the kitchen. Marisa wanted a breakdown of what happened at the party. If Nora had fun and made friends, if possible with a boy. With the questions burning a hole in Nora's head, she was not in the mood for a chit-chat. Moreover, she could not exactly tell her mother that she fought a demon. Marisa noticed Nora was being tight-lipped about her night out and decided to suspend her questions for later in the day.