I wake to my alarm going off, my mind flashing through yesterday’s events. The vision, the kiss, going to the movies with my sisters and then the dreaded shopping. I’m not much for shopping, but it felt nice to spend time with my sisters; however, Destiny’s attitude made it even worse than usual.
She complained the WHOLE time we were at the mall. I don’t even do that! She wanted to sit and rest her feet, she wanted to stop and get something to munch on, and constantly asking when we were going to be done so we could get home. Those were just a few things she griped about. Faith had to hold me back a few times, from how badly I wanted to injure my own flesh and blood.
At one-point Faith and I walk into a store, while Destiny sat on one of the benches. I grabbed Faith’s arm and dragged her towards the back of the store, so we couldn’t be overheard.
“Why hasn’t Destiny snapped out of what crawled up her butt?” I asked.
“I have no idea. At times she’s her normal self, and at others, she’s like she is now.” Faith sounds just as confused as I feel. “The weirdest thing other than her split personality is she’s been listening to weird music, and actually playing musical instruments.”
My eyes widened in shock. “Are you sure? Destiny has no rhythm or beat to save her life.” I practically whispered, as surprised as I was.
“I know, right!?” Faith was only a little less wide-eyed than I.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around more to help with whatever is going on with her,” I said guiltily.
“No worries, sis. She’s acting strange, which could just be something she is going through,” Faith said, trying to make me feel better.
“Hmm, yea. Maybe,” I responded as my mind went over the possibility that maybe, just maybe, this might be part of Destiny’s part in the curse.
I’m brought out of my musings as my alarm goes off again, letting me know that five minutes have passed. Remembering that I have school today, I quickly gather my clothes for school and rush out of my room, heading straight for the bathroom.
Locked. I lean my head against the door and hear the shower running. Drat!
“Faith got in there just a few minutes ago, so you’ll be waiting for a while,” Destiny says as she walks by me,
heading downstairs.
“Wait,” I say as I walk towards her and pull her into a hug. “I love you, sis.”
I pull back and look into her shocked eyes. I laugh inwardly; guess I surprised her pretty good. I leave her standing there as I walk back into my room, making sure I have everything I need for school packed up and ready to go.
By the time I have double and triple checked my backpack, I still have not heard the bathroom door open. Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I walk up to the bathroom door, knock on it a couple times before hollering, “Faith! I gotta shower before school, too. Get your butt out of there!”
Hearing a muffled response from the other side of the door, I grin, knowing she will be getting out soon. In the meantime, I head downstairs, drop my school items off by the front door and head into the kitchen to grab a pop tart for breakfast.
By the time I finished eating the first one, I hear a door opening up and shortly thereafter, another door shutting. I hop up from my seat and fast walk up the stairs. Heading to my room first to grab my clothes off the bed, I head towards the bathroom, mumbling under my breath, “I really hope you left me some hot water, or we're gonna have an issue.”
I speed through my shower, and just as I am about to shut it off it goes cold on me. I breathe a sigh of relief as I really did not want to deal with the chill of the water, now that I’ve gotten control of my own cold ability.
As I dress, I think over the idea of giving myself a nickname, like superheroes have. Hmm, Ice Princess, Cold-Tipped, Icy Breath, Cool Breeze. I can’t help but laugh at some of the ridiculous names I come up with. Maybe I’ll just leave it be and pretend I’m normal.
Checking the time, I realize I only have about five minutes left to get ready to head out and get to school on time. I quickly brush my teeth, throw my dirty clothes in the hamper, grab my phone and run out the bathroom and down the stairs.
Sliding my phone into my back pocket, I slide my shoes on, grab my bag and head out of the house, slinging my bag over my shoulder to rest comfortably.
Sadly, mom’s car is in the shop, so she is using ours. Which means...we have to ride the dreaded bus today.
As the bus pulls up to the stop, I can’t help but cringe inwardly. Ugh, I hope that mom’s car gets fixed soon. I square my shoulders, hold my head high and climb onto the bus.
I feel all eyes staring at me as I look ahead, as I continue my act of indifference. Of course, I’m squirming uncomfortably on the inside, but hey, I’m the only one who needs to know that. As I go to sit in my usual spot on the bus my phone goes off.
A squeak escapes me, as I feel the vibration on my butt, forgetting that I had placed my phone in my back pocket earlier. I quickly pull it out of my pocket and see Bryce’s name flash across the screen. I grin as my stomach does a little flip.
I clear my throat as I answer the call, “Hey Bryce.”
“Good morning, Hope. How are you doing this amazing day?” he asks.
“Ok, I guess. How are you?” I ask in a confused tone.
“I’m about to head out to school and am just excited to get to see you,” he says, continuing in a happy tone.
I pull my phone away from my ear and look at it like it’s a bug or something equally disgusting. Shaking my head, I cautiously bring the phone back to my ear. Bryce still talking as I do so.
“So, Shawn and his dad have arrived, now. Once they get settled in, we can go over everything. Yes, including answering your questions,” he says in a teasing tone. “We think it would be best to have everyone together, so we don’t have to go over it all again.”
Nodding my head in agreement, I remember that I’m on the phone and he can’t see me. Facepalm moment, I think as I slap myself on the forehead. “I agree, and yous guys better answer my questions. I’m at a complete loss and you all are supposed to know what you are doing, after all.”
“We will,” Bryce says. “I’m getting in the car now so see you in a bit.”
“Bye,” I say, just before I end the call. Grinning, I slide my phone back into my back pocket. I finally notice how silent it is on the bus. I lift my head and all eyes are on me.
Faith is grinning goofily at me and Destiny rolls her eyes, as I turn beet red. My face is so hot in embarrassment that I feel the need to wave a book or something to try to cool it off. I reach into my book bag and grab the first book I find to hide behind.
I hear laughter throughout the bus and as I focus on the back of the book I grabbed, I realize that it just HAD to be the book assigned to us during our session of Sex Ed, in P.E.
Ugh, will this day just end already? I toss the book back into my back pack, cross my arms across my chest and slump against the seat. I sit like that the whole ride to school, so as to not further embarrass myself.
Hearing the brakes squeal as the bus pulls up to the curb in front of the school, I quickly zip up my bag and rush to the front, before the doors are even open. I don’t care if the driver yells at me, I just want off the stupid bus and away from the kids on it.
Slower than a snail, the driver pulls to a complete stop and opens the door. I’m in such a rush, I almost miss a step and would’ve landed flat on my face, if Faith hadn’t reached out a hand to place on my shoulder.
Once safely off the bus, I turn to Faith and say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved me from further embarrassment.”
Faith laughs as I gush out my thanks. “Geez Hope, chill out. No need to thank me. Besides, you need to grow some thicker skin. Kids can be brutal. Especially teenagers.”
I sigh. “I know. I just hate being the center of attention. By the way, when did you become the sensible sister?” I tease.
“You have no idea…” Faith says under her breath as she walks away. Not sure if I heard her correctly, I let it go.
Since Faith and Destiny are already on the way into the school, I hang out by the steps to wait for Bryce to arrive. I open my back pack and pull out my book, making sure it’s not the Sex Ed one this time.
Sitting on a step I open to where I last left off and drift into the book’s world. I lose track of time as I’m pulled into a climactic scene until I’m grabbed by the shoulder and shaken back into reality.
Irritated by the interruption I glare up at the person who dared to extract me from such an intense scene. As I realize who it is, my glare falters…
Excerpt Book 2
For once I’m glad it’s Monday. I got my butt chewed for not having said anything sooner about what I had seen with Destiny. What’d they expect me to do after no one would let me in the house after Destiny had locked me out?
If I had walked through the front doors instead of walking around the neighborhood, I would’ve punched Bryce’s front teeth out. Straight up, the douche would’ve deserved it.
I did feel a little bad that I didn’t think of smoke coming off of her, as possibly being a part of her ability.
I mean sure, Hope’s ability didn’t come out until she started training and her anger and irritation at Bryce triggered it…
Ohhh, duh! With everything Destiny has been through, it makes sense that her ability is already showing. But which part of the prophecy does she fall into?
Bryce and I are supposed to see if the sisters can come over today, so we can all talk and get on the same page, since the dad’s decided that the girls shouldn’t be left out of the loop as this whole thing is about them.
Personally, I think they should be on a need to know basis, and they only need to know enough to fight the evil and then go back to living their life, so we can do the same.
I kept to myself for the rest of the weekend, as I didn’t feel like socializing and listening to Bryce and our dads go round and round trying to make heads or tails out of everything.
Haven’t they figured out by now, with everything that has gone on with Hope, that we are way off the play book of everything we were ever taught. Our education is sorely lacking at the moment, and we are sorely unequipped.
Bryce and I ride in silence to school, and I hop out before Bryce even has his car parked. I take my time walking towards the entrance of the school, which allows Bryce time to catch up to me and we walk through together.
As though pulled by a magnet, my gaze scans the hallway and zeroes in on Destiny, who is standing in the corner of the hall with her sisters. A frown mars my brow as I try to figure out why they would be standing in the corner of the hallway.
As Bryce and I head in their direction, Destiny walks past her sisters and walks away. I call after her, but instead of turning back towards me, she increases her pace, reaching the front office before I can get to her.
Geez, I know I’m not the nicest guy in the world, but I’m trying to make up for the major faux pas I did when I tackled her.
I decide to wait her out, but as the first bell rings, it interrupts my plans, so I hurry to my locker to drop off my backpack and grab my books for my classes that I have before lunch. With barely a minute to spare, I notice Destiny at her locker, which happens to be just a few down from mine.
As I get closer to her, I notice how tense her body looks, and that she hasn’t glanced in my direction or turned and ran yet. Something’s wrong I determine as my stomach tightens and bile rises in my throat. My reactions almost cause me concern; however, it’s overshadowed by the lack of…well anything…coming from Destiny.
I walk around her locker and stand directly behind her. Almost but not quite close enough to cause the spark to occur. I look first at the inside of her locker door, and all rational thought flees my mind, as disregarding my need to
prevent the spark from being seen by Bryce or the sisters, I turn Destiny to face me, and pull her tightly into my arms. Trying to soothe her as I remove the horrible sight from her vision.
Destiny begins to shake in my arms and knowing I’m at a loss as to what to do; I pull out my phone and shoot Bryce a text.
I try to soothe Destiny as best I can but feel so awkward. How do guys handle girls when they get in these types of moods? I continue to hold onto her as I turn my back to the lockers and slide us down until I’m sitting on the floor and she’s resting on my lap.
I steal a quick moment to breathe in the scent of her shampoo and to appreciate the feel of her in my arms, knowing that if I have my way, this will be the last time she’s there.
I hear footsteps running in our direction, so I glance up and see Bryce, Hope and Faith all running in our direction, each one carrying a hall pass. If the situation wasn’t so serious I would’ve laughed, considering the hall pass that Bryce is carrying is shaped like a toilet roll.
Except for Faith, Bryce and Hope arrive barely out of breath. Worry shining brightly out of the sister’s eyes; they reach for Destiny, pulling her out of my arms.
“Can you girls keep her facing away from her locker for the time being, please?” I ask.
They agree and turn her away from the locker, yet they stay facing me. I open the locker door wider, allowing them to see what Destiny and I had already seen.
Hanging on the inside of the locker door, is a picture of the sister’s. Destiny’s face was scratched, almost unrecognizably. Hope’s chest had a dagger shoved into where her heart would be, and Faith had her eyes ripped out and mouth sewn shut.
Inside the locker were some dead mice, dried blood and what appears to be human teeth.
The girls gasp in shock and Bryce reaches for Hope, grabbing her hand.
“Baby, Blake and I will get the locker cleaned out. You girls either take her to the nurse’s office or see about taking her home. I’ll text you later to make plans for after school.” Bryce tells Hope.
“Ok. Please make sure to get the locker as clean as possible. I can’t believe we forgot to check her locker, just like we didn’t think to check her room. We’re horrible sisters!” Hope replies eyes watery and voice wavering.
“Like Bryce said, you girls go do what you gotta do. We’ll take care of this, and by this time tomorrow, any proof of what this locker contained will be removed.” I speak up.
“Thanks guys,” Faith says, as she and Hope lead Destiny towards the nurse’s office.
“Dude, can you run to my car and grab a trash bag and cleaning stuff I have in there, so we can get this done without bringing attention to it from the school and other students?” Blake asks me, once the girls are out of earshot.
“You got it!” I say as I head out towards the car to get the supplies needed to clear this piece of horror out of Destiny’s life.
Marsha Black Links
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