Broken By The Darkness In My Blood

“Ignore them.” I whispered to him. I knew my brothers were there. I had known my brothers would follow me. They had followed me nearly everywhere for the last year. I don’t know what makes being fifteen so dangerous but if it made them feel wanted then there was no harm. It bothered Zac though so I wanted to change the subject. “It’s our birthday in two days. I’ll finally be sixteen.”

“And I shall be seventeen.” He smiled; my plan was working. He was distracted. “Excited?”

“Yes.” I smiled at him; my teeth glinted in the moonlight. “But I get this feeling that something big is going to happen. Something is going to change.”

There was a whisper from the bushes. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Zac,” I started but then stopped. Could I tell him this?

“Sapphire…” He replied using the same tone I had.

“I want you to know… whatever happens, I love you, you know?” I blushed, but in the dark he couldn’t see. I stood up, still uneasy on my feet. The sooner I found out what was wrong the better. “Zac, I have to go.”

“What?” His confusion was as clear as the sky. “Why?”

“I just do.” I bit my lip to stop the tears that threatened to slide down my face. He felt rejected and I caused it. I hurt him. I told him I loved him and then I hurt him. “Bye Zac. I love you, I truly do but I can’t do this.”

I ran out of the park, tripping on the roots. I fell to the floor many times but not once did Zac come to rescue me. His reply to my confession was clear. Rejection stung in the tears that, although I promised wouldn’t fall, streamed down my face. But I must be doing the right thing; this is what everyone wanted. But was it what I wanted?

It was then I realised, I was running and not falling. My legs felt stronger than ever. I felt strong. And I was fast. Faster than I’d ever been. I was nearly flying. Then the familiar strong arms grabbed me.

“Jet,” Brody tried to whisper, “this isn’t right. She’s fast.”

“Just shut up idiot.” See what I mean about cruel brothers? “How’d you get out?”

“ I jumped out the window. Now take me home please.” I felt tired and empty all of a sudden. They couldn’t be angry with me though. I had done what they wanted after all. There was no more Zac.

“Happy almost birthday honey.” I heard my mother call through the door. “Are you eating lunch with us today?”

I had to laugh at that suggestion. Eating with my family meant sitting at the table and them watching me eat. These people have got it wrong that teenagers are the ones with food issues; I’ve never seen my parents eat once. Even so, I hadn’t been hungry for days. I hadn’t eaten either and nothing bad had happened.

“You know I won’t.” I yelled back.

Collapsing backwards I sighed. Hunger wasn’t the only thing I’d been missing recently. Zac had been on my mind. A lot. Sometimes I wished that I had never met him that day in the park. But I don’t know who I’d be if I hadn’t known him. It was a pity that I had to end our short relationship over something as stupid as my family but still…

To put it simply, I missed him.

I hoped that was the reason my hunger had disappeared, and my willingness to do anything had disappeared with it. If he hadn’t caused that then I didn’t know what had. Beside my right leg my phone flashed signalling another text. Zac again. Frustrated I picked up the phone and, after glancing at the message spread across the screen I closed my hand over the phone. When I unfurled my hand I was shocked to say the least. My hand had obliterated my phone. How?

Yet another one of the strange events that had happened to me in the past week.
Sunday – I bit through my lip with just my teeth and it had disappeared by the morning.
Monday – My legs collapsed on me.
Tuesday – I could run faster then I ever had before.
Wednesday – The whole thing with Zac in the park. I could hear the parts of Brody and Jet’s conversation that Zac couldn’t.
Thursday (Today) – I broke my phone. And I had had that phone for two years of treating it badly and it had never broken before.

My life didn’t make sense. I spent the whole of Thursday wondering how my life had changed so much in such a short space of time. As I wondered this, at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, I glanced up at my mirror. I didn’t recognise the girl I saw. It wasn’t me. The girl in the mirror had marble skin and startling crystal eyes. She wasn’t me. Yet I liked what I saw.

I was brought out of my curious admiration by a knock on the door. I glanced down at the clock and saw that it was already ten o’clock in the evening. Time wasn’t keeping time.

“Sapphire, come downstairs. Our parents want to talk to you.” By the kind tone of voice I knew it was Brody. I was curious as to what my parents wanted and, for that reason only I followed Brody downstairs.