Midnight Playground

Chapter 12

Early the next morning, Cassie was awoken by her usual start, panting and dripping with sweat. She gasped for breath, still clutching her blanket tightly in her hands. The heat that now radiated from her body dizzied her thoughts and made her body damp and too heavy to lift from the bed. Her head pounded painfully against her skull from the spell of dehydration that had been clutching at her as she had tossed and turned all night. Now she was left feeling almost unbearably suffocated by the weighted air that surrounded the room, the pressured feeling made her surroundings dance in front of her eyes, making any attempt to get up virtually impossible.

She slowly placed her hand to her head, resisting the urge to throw up. She'd had that dream again. And felt more scared of it now than she had actually felt about it back then. True, meeting Cole had been a frightening and an unforgettable experience, in more ways than one but it had also been very exciting and intriguing. It hadn't been all that terrifying after she had literally told him- 'go to hell.' It was sort of funny how her mind was beginning to get so worked up over that memory now. Feeling her heart calm down a little, Cassie carefully raised herself up from the bed, pulling at the headboard for strength. She felt powerless to move and even her eyesight wasn't perfect as she gazed around the room, as she had always done each morning. After a final sweep of the premises for any lurking demons, she lowered her neck, her head craned down, looking at her knees. Shoulders hunched, she rubbed her tired eyes with her hand, efforts to urge herself awake. Finally, after a few more minutes of numbness, she rocked back onto her feet.

The room was well lit, brightened by the sun that spread from the large window. Remaining rattled over her confrontation with Jace and strangely, Emmery, the day had passed by in such a blur that she couldn't even recall just when it was that she had fallen asleep. Looking down at her clothes, she had slept in the clothes she had worn yesterday and she had even left her curtains open, in full view of the moonlight. The tension that had been bearing down against her must have really been taking its toll on her lately. Now the sun was high in the sky, and without looking at the clock, she could tell that it was close to midday. She tried to ignore the fact that she could physically smell Alec's scent around the room, woven into the cotton of her clothes. After all, she had been wearing the same clothes for two days now and even she was starting to feel unclean. She hurried into the nearest shower room that was set just opposite her room, at the very end of the hallway. Although she had been given the only room that had been vacant at the time, she still appreciated the position. Not only was the bathroom a mere step away but her window was also the only one that directly lay on top of the door frame that she was able to use to fall down onto the ground. It certainly had its advantages. After finding a change of clothes and tying her hair up into a bobble, she gazed around the room, as if searching for clues as to what happened last night. She didn't remember much, only the tingling feeling that had threaded through to her fingertips. She figured that it was a natural reaction after being cornered by Jace but maybe that wasn't why she had been shaking. Like a fool, Emmery had tried to come to her rescue, putting herself in harms way for her sake. She was an idiot for thinking that Jace was just going to let it go and now she had a target on her head! Why had she done that! She was a fool! Did she believe that she was just going to help her? As a favour? Reckless! Why couldn't Emmery see just how dangerous it was to even talk to her! Cassie only had just 3 months left, actually it was even less than that now...80 days, that's all she had left. There was no point in getting attached to someone now. She slumped down onto the edge of her bed, thinking quietly to herself. It wasn't easy for her to make friends. She had never been good at it and it was a bit sad to say that her brother's had been her only friends in the world. Now she had Alec, a strange persistent yet wonderful person who she cared for deeply. Of course, there was another person but it was unlikely that they could be considered as friends...What was Emmery? Who was she? She sighed and just as she moved her hands to the back of her, she stumbled back upon a slippery surface of paper. She grabbed it, holding it up to her face with a frown already dancing upon her lips. Now she remembered, she had fallen asleep whilst staring at the photograph of Erica and her Brother, almost transfixed by it.