Shadow

Chapter 18 - The Betrayal

Abbie Matheson had been dreaming of her father, hearing his voice and feeling the warmth that he possessed as his hand gently brushed against her cheek before abruptly waking up to the sound of her cellphone ringing. It wasn't too loud, but enough to wake up in a flash to turn off that goddamn sound. She reached over to her side of the dresser, picked up her phone, and slid it across to talk. She didn't know who it was, but in the back of her mind she hoped it would be her mother. Her eyes were still half-shut when she answered the phone.

'Hello?' she answered.

'Sweetie, it's me,' the voice on the other line said.

Abbie opened her left eye. The two inches of space between the blinds forced the morning sunlight into the room. Six lines of sunlight spread across on the duvet covers resembling a rather large, zebra-striped pattern. She looked over her shoulder and saw Jimmy sleeping on his side, peacefully. He wasn't woken up by the ringing of the cellphone which was a good sign.

'Val?' she whispered.

'Yeah. Sorry, I know it's a bit early, but can we talk?'

Abbie looked at her phone and in the notification bar at the top she saw the time: 8.37am.

'Hold on.'

She groaned and forced herself to slide out of the bed. She took a last look at Jimmy to make sure his comfort wasn't broken. He looked satisfied.

He must be dreaming.

She walked into the bathroom, closed the door behind her and turned on the light. She sat on the side of the bathtub, crossed her legs (checking out her almost faded nail varnish on her toes at the same time), and held the phone firmly pressed against her ear.

'What's up?'

'I need to see you.'

Abbie yawned silently and rolled her eyes. 'Why, what's the matter?'

'Just want to see if you're okay. Been up half the night after what you told me; plus, Jack kept waking me up. He's been quite restless. I think he misses his Auntie Abbie.'

She grinned. 'Bless him. I miss him too. Well, I don't know if I can come over there. We're kinda... busy today.'

In her mind she was thinking: We're actually planning on sending an evil that lives in the desert and preys on the minds of the people it selects and send it right back into the hell it crawled out of. I might die today; my friend too. But as long as you and Jack are safe and are able to sleep at night.

Valerie sighed on the other end of the line. A sigh of disappointment; an emotional expression that Abbie was all too familiar with, more so of hearing it from her mother.

'Busy? Is that guy you're with doing something to you?'

'What — no! Of course not. If anything, he's been nothing but a gentleman to me. I know you don't like him, but I do. It's like... we're lost souls.; we found each other in the dark.'

'You sound like you're in love with him.' Her voice sounded judgmental.

Abbie did love him, that part was true, and it hurt when he rejected her because she knew the sex would've been both satisfying and meaningful. Then she thought of Tony and his threat. He didn't seem to scare her anymore. Tony was nothing to her now; just a distant memory that she wanted to forget. She almost wished that her virginity remained intact. Although if he had seen how she disrobed in front of Jimmy and tried to seduce him, he would've cut her on every single part of her body as punishment.