Just the Five of Us

I ran toward the bonfire, fleeing from the crazy monsters in my new cabin. People had gathered around and they were singing a weird song. I began to slow down at the thought of normal people. Then I heard footsteps behind me. I ran ten times harder than I ever had before. The man announcing at the bonfire noticed me as I sped towards him. He frowned as I got closer.

“You are late,” he said when I was ten paces away, “what’s wrong?” He asked when he noticed I wasn’t slowing down.

I zoomed past him charging over guys and tripping and picking myself up again and continuing. I glanced over my shoulder; a shadowy figure was right behind me jumping nimbly over the people I had crashed into. Terror rose fresh in my chest giving me another strong dose of adrenalin. I went for the dirt road out of Wallabe. When I got back to the high way I would search for a phone, call my mom and get the hell out of this cursed place. Would she understand if I told her I had almost been raped on my first day?

If she didn’t I would go to Dad. Mom and Dad had different houses for when they got into fights. Mom would stay with me at the main house and Dad would go to an apartment that his friend was staying in and hang there till they sorted out their differences. I rounded the bend in the road and didn’t slow down despite my aching chest. I struggled forward until a pair of arms circled my waist. I slammed my foot down on my attacker’s feet. He let go for a moment and I charged into the forest on the side of the road. I dashed around trees and jumped over roots. I broke into a clearing, which turned out to be a cliff. I screamed as I skittered at the edge trying to catch myself. I stared down in horror at the thirty foot drop down into more trees.

This was, by far, the worst day of my life.

I was yanked away from the cliff just in time. I staggered backward and landed heavily on my savior’s chest before slipping to the ground from exhaustion. The person dropped to my level. It was Shean. I groaned and tried to push myself up for another dash. He gripped my forearms and forced me to stay seated.

I gave up and focused on breathing.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly as I panted and shivered.

I scowled at him through my blond bangs and looked away feeling abused. The places Darren had touched me felt sick and exposed. My lips and head hurt, and because of my run my chest burned and my temples throbbed, my feet felt no better. My breath began to slow down and I was breathing normally again. But my heart still raced and pained in my chest and my lungs and sides were still sore.

“You okay?” Shean asked quietly.

I gave him a jerky nod and looked at my hands.

“What happened?” he whispered.

My hands began to shake and tears pooled in my eyes.

“I don’t know he was just suddenly on me.” my voice was shaking just as bad as my hands were.

“And Ray, what did he do?”

“He grabbed Darren but then Darren hit him. Then he punched Darren.”

Shean fell silent for a moment taking it in.

“Did you notice anything weird about either of them?” he asked finally.

I swallowed the fear bubbling in my throat and forced out the question that needed to be answered.

“What are you?” I asked forcefully.

He stared at me for a long moment. His entrancing blue eyes holding mine, he reached out and placed his warm hands on my shaking cold ones.

“You want to know what I am?” he asked without breaking eye contact, his voice was tired and upset. His hands squeezed mine ever so slightly.

I nodded.

“Alright, I’m a reaper,”

Eh?
… …. … … .. .. ..

We walked back through the forest.

“Adrian, he’s a vampire and Ray is a dark angel,” Shean explained softly as he jumped lightly over a log.

“So if you both have black wings, then what’s the difference?” I asked.

I hadn’t seen Sheen’s wings, but he told me they were black.

“I am born with my weapon by my side,” he said helping me over a moss covered log, “he isn’t, and he’s a spinoff of demons and angels getting together. I also feed on shadows…” his voice trailed away leaving me perplexed.

He ate shadows? Want to talk about weird and wacked out? Well here you go.

“What the heck does that mean?” I asked frowning at him.

Before he could answer I heard voices calling. They had been looking for us, of course. A moment later a flashlight beam nearly blinded me.

“I FOUND THEM!!!” screamed the guy who was holding the flashlight. Soon we were surrounded by angry and relieved councilors and campers.

“What the heck happened!” demanded the balding guy thrusting his way forward. “Who did what?”

Shean opened his mouth to say what I’m sure was the truth, but without thinking I blurted out something different.

“I saw a snake and I have a snake phobia, Shean and his friends tried to get it to go away but the it slithered over my foot and I started seeing snakes everywhere and I ran and…and…” to make my story more convincing I began to cry as I ranted out my frustration from the day. Even if it was all a lie it helped me feel better, “Shean just managed to calm me down, I just really can’t take snakes, and they scare me so, so, so much.”

I began bawling burying my face in my hands. I wasn’t even quite sure why I was crying.

“It’s true,” Shean said sighing, “Mr. Arty, I know I should have gotten help but she was really scared so I just followed her so she wouldn’t get lost.”

Mr. Arty, so that was his name.

Mr. Arty put a comforting arm around my shoulder, “it’s alright Kristen.” He whispered handing me a handkerchief, “what would make you feel better?”

“A shower,” I blubbered, “then food would be nice.”