Shane walked in from behind me, and I started to say something when he realised what I was staring at. The door slammed shut behind us, making Ruby and Jason break apart and look straight at us. My first reaction was to run up to him and punch him in the face, but then I looked at his face. Shock was on it, and that means he didn't suspect me of walking in.
"Claire," he began to say when a warm tear ran down my face, making pain go across his face. I wiped it away from my sleeve, and then I ran past Shane and out of the door.
"Let her go, Jason; she needs to calm down," I heard Shane say when I walked out.
"But I didn't-" Jason began to say.
"Just talk to her later; she will be in her room later." That's the last thing I heard when I stepped away from the kitchen door. I looked up at the stairway, and that's when I realised I didn't want to go in my room and sit there thinking about what Jason did. I didn't want him to come up and try to explain because, by the looks of it, there was no reason why he kissed her. I turned my heel and then walked out of the front door, not knowing where I was headed. It hurt me to walk out of the door, but I knew it was the right thing to do. The cold breeze hit me, blowing my hair in my face, and the light hit my eyes, making me rub them. I was still standing at the front of the door when I heard voices from the other side. I ran away from the house. It was a good thing it was daytime; otherwise, I would be really lost. I was in the forest now, and the trees were leaning over me, making shadows form. I screamed as I fell; my elbows got grazed. I groaned in pain, holding on to my knee as blood poured from it.
"That looks like it hurts." My heart began to beat really fast as I turned my head.
I sighed in relief as soon as I saw who it was.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked in a pissed-off voice about the pain in my knee. Suddenly, he was right beside me, grabbing hold of my knee. I started to squirm as he went closer to it.
"Hey! Get off me. What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at him, and I was still squirming, trying to get away.
"Calm down, I'm just seeing if you will survive from it," Christian smiled, and then he let go of my knee and then stood up, holding his hand out for me, and without any hesitation, I took it.
"Thanks," I mumbled and brushed myself off, still holding on to him.
"I saw Jason-" I stopped myself before I could say anymore, knowing that Christian would have something sarcastic to say about it.
"None of your business," I said instead, making Christian look at me with curiosity.
"Right, well, since you're here..." Christian grabbed me by the arm and began dragging me away.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I shouted, trying to get his hand off my arm, but of course he is a vampire, so I couldn't get out of his tight grip, so I finally gave up.
"I would say nice try, but it wasn't even that," Christian said with a cheeky smile on his face.
"Can you at least tell me where the hell you are taking me?" I asked with an angry tone of voice.
"Sure, Claire, all you had to do was ask."
"That is-"
"So you don't want to know where we are going?" Christian said it with another smirk on his face. I didn't reply.
"Oh, so you don't want to know."
I sighed in frustration. "Just tell me already."
He smiled, making my heart beat speed up a little. "I want you to show me where Fayte died."
These few words made my heart slow down, and as I breathed in, I felt like I couldn't breathe and that my throat was closing up, like I was highly allergic to something. I couldn't go back there, where I watched him die right in front of me; it would hurt too much, and even thinking about it hurts me.
"I-I can-n't" I stuttered out.
"God, Claire, I'm not going to leave you in a dark alley again," he sighed.
"I don't want to go back there," I whispered in a very quiet, mumbled voice.
"Oh well, sorry, but we need to go back there... wherever there is. Where did Fayte die again?" he asked in a train of thought.
"I'm not going, so I'm not going to tell you," I snapped at him and stopped making him stop. He slowly turned his head and pulled a crooked devil smile.
"Really?" he asked in a sly voice.
"Yes." I said something as firm as I could, but before I knew it, I was slammed into the back of a tree, causing pain to flow through my body. I cringed as it did, and once the pain began to calm down, I looked at the person who did it.
"Now, Claire, you are going to tell me, or you will feel more pain than you have ever experienced!" he said, keeping his calm.
"I doubt that," I mumbled quietly, but with fear in my voice.
"Believe me, Claire. I don't care if I hurt you. You are a stupid, pathetic human! So you will tell me where he died and where the vampire hunters were." He snapped, and his eyes turned a dark red colour.
I gulped and just nodded, making his eyes go back to their normal colour, and then he smiled as if nothing had happened.
"Good, now show me," he said, taking me by the arm roughly and dragging me away from the tree.
"You don't need me; it's not hard to find; it's right around the corner from the local hospital," I said in a solemn voice.
"I need you to remember," he said, dragging me out of the woods.
"This is taking too long," he said, stopping in his tracks. In a quick second, I was on his back, and we were running, and then we were there.
Here...
Christian placed me down and made sure I was stabbed, not that he cares. I couldn't believe I was here the last time I saw Fayte, the place where he died.
"Now where did they kill him?" Christian is making me shake my head and stop thinking about it.
"Why are we here, and why do you need to know that?" I asked, just wanting to go home, but then I remembered why I was in this predicament in the first place.
"Just shut up and tell me where I might be able to follow their trail or get some clue for where they are!"
I slowly stepped forward and then pointed at the exact spot where he died. As Christian moved to the point I pointed at, I got lost in a train of thought. I still couldn't believe he was gone; it felt weird without him there at the house. My knees dropped on me as I fell down on the ground, slamming my first down over and over again.
"Claire, stop it," Christian said, and he grabbed me by the arms, lifting me up. I fell into his arms and wrapped my arms around him without even thinking.
"He's gone," I sobbed out.
"I know, but I need you to remember, Claire, what happened? Where did they take you?" Christian said it without any sympathy on his face.
"No, I don't remember; they knocked me out," I said, backing away from him, and I began to get a grip and calm down.
"Darn it!" Christian snapped and kicked the dustbin.
"Christian!" Me and Christian snapped our heads around to see a shadow coming closer to us. I felt Christian stiff beside me, making me look back in his direction.
"Claire, run!" he said with such urgency.
"What why?" I asked with panic in my voice.
"Stop asking questions and go. Now!" He hissed at me, causing a tint of red in his eyes. Without my permission, my feet were moving, and they wouldn't stop. I wanted to turn back around, but part of me would not let me. So there I was, running away yet again, and I had no idea where I was going; I just kept moving. Who was he or she, and why did Christian tell me to run? Even if I was in danger, why did he protect me?
I stopped wanting to catch my breath; it came out in gasps as many thoughts ran through my head. How did I get myself into this mess? I should have just stayed home with my dad; sure, I got beat up by him, but everything was normal and everything was planned. I was going to live at home and then die of cancer. I know it is depressing, but I had no other option. If I didn't have cancer, I would move out, get through high school, and then go to college and university. Stamford University.
I smiled at myself as I began to think about what my life could have been, but I snapped out of it as soon as I heard voices coming up from behind me, and even though I didn't know who they were, I still ran, heading in the direction of my home. Without even knowing it, I was right near home; it was right around the corner. I stopped as it came into view; it was still the same old house, but was it inside too? I made my way to the front door and turned the handle, and the door opened with a creek. My feet moved from under the door frame into the hallway. I heard an urge to shout at anyone there, but I knew that would have been really stupid, so I didn't. I slowly kept on walking in the hallway and stopped dead in my tracks as soon as I saw a movement in the living room. I grinded my teeth as I made my way in that direction, knowing I had to face it sometime.
"Who's there?" My dad slurped out. I turned the corner of the hallway, and there is where I saw my father sitting on the sofa with ragged clothes and beer bottles all over the place, more than before.
"Claire, I see you came back, bitch!" he said with a grim, drunken face on his face. I didn't reply; I just stood there in the doorway, staring at the person known as my father, the one who was meant to raise me and be there for me, but all I saw was a drunken man lost in his sorrows, and I realised that made me mad, angry, and upset, and I knew then it was time to let that go.
"Come here, bitch."
"No, Steve, I won't," I said with my teeth still grinding against each other.
"What did you just call me? I am your father; treat me with respect!" He slurred out and swigged another drink.
"Respect? Don't make me laugh; you don't deserve any respect anymore. I'm sick of feeling like this. I hate it! You are not my father. My father died when my mom did. So don't bother saying that shit. I have many things to say to you, but there is no point; your not even worth it," I said, and I was about to walk away when my dad, grabbing hold of the sofa, lifted himself and made his way to me. Part of the old me wanted to run and scream, but I stood there, standing my ground.
"Y-y-y are wrong. Claire I am your father. I might be drunk, but your mother sure wasn't when she cheated on me."
What? My heart stopped for a second, and then I realised I was falling for his tricks.
"You're lying," I said with a little bit of edge in my voice.
He smiled with a hint of evil in him. "No, Claire, she did. You weren't born yet, but me and your mom were married, and she cheated on me, but I forgave her, and two years later you were here!"
I shook my head, not wanting to hear this: " No, she didn't, she wouldn't."
"She had a baby boy, and she gave him up to the guy she cheated with!"
"NO, YOUR LYING!" I shouted full of rage, not wanting to believe it.
"Don't you wish to have a brother, Claire?"
I had a brother, and my mother cheated. My anger was seeming to fade. I felt nothing; I felt numb. My knees dropped, and I fell to the floor. I stared up at him. I saw a smile on his face. I slammed my fist on the ground and then made myself get up and face him. My father came closer to me, making me flinch as he did.
"There is nowhere to run, Claire," he said, grabbing a bottle, taking a swig, and then raising it. I knew he was going to hit me with it, and I knew it was going to hurt. As he swung it close to my head, I raised my hand to stop it from clashing with my face. I raised my head to see my dad with a face of shock, but I knew it wasn't because of what I did.
"Claire I can't breathe," he said in gasps. I looked up at him to see that his eyes were dropping.
"What?" I was confused. Without any warning, he fell to the ground and stopped moving. Horror filled up inside of me as I moved closer to him. hoping that he wouldn't jump up like in horror movies, but he didn't. I slowly bent down closer to him, not wanting to, but knowing I had to, and placed my head on his chest, waiting for a heartbeat that never came. My mouth was dry as I raised my head and tried to feel his pulse, but yet again, there was nothing. Just silence.
So I sat there next to my dead father.
ns 18.68.41.141da2
