Dragonfly

Chapter Twelve

I returned to the warmth of my home and paced my front room. The soft, red rug beneath my feet offered me no comfort as I attempted to find a way to soothe my mind that had been plagued by panic and fear.

What have I done? I revealed myself as Fae. What if I lose Lewis over this? What if he starts hating me because of what I am? What if he hates me like those youths hated Alistair? What will happen to me? What if they go to the police and claim that I attacked them? Shit… My mind raced with questions as the severity of my actions suddenly dawned on me.

I didn’t want to lose Lewis though I didn’t know why. The thought of losing him caused an agonising pain to stab through my chest as I paused and collapsed to my knees. I couldn’t risk losing him, not if it caused me this much pain but I couldn’t hide it from him.

Azazel said that there will be permanent physical change. What if I can’t hide it? What if I lose him because I’m Fae? My thoughts paused for a moment as I sat there, on my knees. Gently, I caressed the rug with my hand as a new thought appeared in my mind, why am I so afraid of losing him? It’s not like I love him… Again, my thoughts paused as the realisation dawned on me.

I-I love him… don’t I?

My mind grew silent as my heart raced in my chest. It was true. I knew it was true. All of the sensations he brought to my body, it was because of how I felt about him. Why had it taken me so long to realise? I wasn’t even certain that I could tell him how I felt.

If I do love him, I need to tell him the truth. The entire truth. I can’t hide this. If he loves me back, he will accept me the way I am. He won’t care about what I am. Right? Yet again, my mind became silent as my eyes welled with tears at the very thought of losing him.

I sighed as I laid down on the rug and closed my eyes, silently willing myself to sleep as my mind returned to racing with panicked questions. Time seemed to vanish and when I opened my eyes, the sun seemed to have risen. I slowly picked myself up off the floor whilst wondering whether I had fallen asleep as I reached for my packet of cigarettes and lit one.

The smoke rolled down my dry throat as it burned with an unusual sensation. My body felt a hunger unlike anything I had ever known and no matter how much I ate, I was unable to quench it. A knock arose at my back door and hesitantly, I approached it, silently wondering who the two figures on the other side of the fogged glass, were. I dreaded discovering the truth.

My hands began to shake as I reached for my key and unlocked the door before opening it. It was then that my gaze met the two officers that stood at my door.

“Can I help you?” I asked as I forced a friendly but calm smile to grow on my face.

“We hope that you can,” replied one of the two males.

“May we come in?” Asked the second officer. Without hesitation, I nodded and motioned for them to enter as I stepped away from the door.

“We received a report last night that you attacked a small group of teens last night. They claimed that you are Fae,” said the second officer after entering my home. His dark hair was short, too short to ever need to brush and his dark coloured eyes watched me with caution and suspicion.

“And what have I supposedly done to these teens?”

“They claim that you attacked them with ice,” said the first officer and I forced myself to burst out laughing.

“I don’t understand what this accusation towards me being Fae is about, however, I do know that I caught a small group of teens vandalising my neighbor's home last night. I went outside and threatened to ring the police if they didn’t leave,” I replied as I kept my composure perfectly.

“May we check you in order to see whether you are Fae?” Asked the second officer. Without hesitation, I nodded as I forgot about the thorns that had grown from my back.

The second officer approached me and began by looking in my mouth before checking my hair and neck.

“I don’t see any indication that you are Fae,” said the second officer and I smiled.

“I am very much human,” I muttered as the human male touched the skin of my neck to make sure that there were no signs to me being anymore than a human. It was at that moment that I felt my hunger quench as he turned to his partner.

“I don’t believe there is anymore to do here,” he said before his partner reached into his pocket.

“I must leave this here, just in case,” said the first officer as he left an unusual, metal badge on the counter. The badge was that of a woman, holding what I could only believe to be the moon in her hands, above her head, “all Fae must legally wear this to state what they are,”

Something in my gut told me that he didn’t believe that I was human. Perhaps he was so convinced of my being Fae that he didn’t want to believe that I could be human. I escorted them both to the door and waited for them both to leave. As the first officer stepped out of my home, he grabbed my wrist, causing me to witness the strange unusual phenomena that had occurred when I had been in the hospital.

My panicked gaze met his as a skull appeared in his blue eyes. In them, I saw nothing but hate, rage and destruction as the skull seemed to grow stronger in his gaze. I gulped as images played in my mind, the very same images I had seen in the water -humans slaughtering each other, the only thing evolving and changing were the weapons they used.

Crap… my mind gasped as I forced my wrist out of his grip.

“I suggest you wear that pin. There may be no indication to you being Fae, but you clearly empathise with them,” he hissed quietly; too quietly for his partner to hear. I clenched my jaw tight as I felt the anger begin to boil over once again. I had to stay calm. I couldn’t risk it.

But that didn’t stop me from wanting tear off his head with some very strong words. He began to walk away from my door as Lewis appeared at the end of my garden and approached me.

“Why are the police here?” Asked Lewis, seemingly concerned.

“Can we talk?” I asked as I stepped away from the wood, allowing him entry into my home.

“What’s wrong? I noticed the graffiti on Alistairs wall, what happened?”

“Kids discriminating against something they don’t understand,” I muttered quietly as I closed the door and turned my key, locking it behind him.

“It’s disgusting. Why can’t people accept others for being different? For being unique?” Lewis grumbled angrily before he looked to me, “Is that why the police were here?”

“I stopped the kids before they could finish,” I mumbled as I approached him, “look, we need to-” he cut me off before I could say any more.

“Were the police having a go at you or something for stopping some kids harassing an old man?” Lewis blurted, “I will go and tell them what is what!”

“Lewis, its not that,” I blurted.

“Then what is it?”

“I’m Fae, Lewis. I am Fae and I stopped a bunch of kids from harassing an old man!” The words spilled from my mouth faster than my mind could think and once I had registered what I had said, I clasped my hands over my mouth and began to back away from him. My heart pounded in my chest as the panic and fear began to spread.

Holy crap! What did I just say? What have I just done?