Chapter 33: Wanderer
...................

June 4th: two days left...

It's still dark out yet the wind was still blowing hard. Even so, the house was still warm and cozy.

I get up out of the bed and walk down the hallway, unable to sleep. How can I? I've got way too much on my mind. I've never questioned my life choices so much before and now I can hardly sleep. Whoopee.

I...can't understand it though. I've always been like this. Why is it just coming up now?

I look out the window. It's a beautifully clear night. I don't think anyone else is up other than me. I'd be suprised if they were.

It's times like these where I just wish I could sleep. This place is so pretty but I can't enjoy any of it. I'm too stressed about this Nightengale stuff to focus.

I look at my hands and sigh. This is awkward. It's never been this quiet for me at night. I'm used to the sounds of the city blaring all night. Always busy streets, cars running, honking, sirens sounding close or at the other side of town. Now instead of sirens I get waves crashing up against soft sand. It sounds nice, but it doesn't make my situation any better. Or my nerves.

Wait, am I really that on edge that Hawaiian waves can't calm me down? Ugh... Honestly I kind of expected it.

*THUNK* *whiirrr*

The hell was that?

*crank* *THUNK*

What? Where is that coming from?

*Ka-chunk* *whiirrr*

...

It...stopped.

What was that?

I would brush it off as nothing, but it didn't sound like nothing.

"Hello?" I say to probably no one. "Is anyone
awake?" No answer. Idiot. Why would I think that anyone was awake? It was probably just the air conditioning coming on. Or my dumb paranoid mind.

It sounded like someone was messing with a machine though...

I sigh. What am I doing?

I stroll back to my room. My hand touches the knob and I–

*Clink* *whiiirr*

That's it!

I pivot on my heels and head to the basement. If it's something mechanical it has to be the basement. There's no garage here so that's the first place that pops into my mind.

I guess at which door is the basement. I guessed correctly. Ha. I'm staring at a dark hallway with no light switch in sight. The noises are definitely coming from down there. I see a faint light too. How big is this basement?

I walk about half way down the dark stairs and the noises stop completely. The light goes out as well. Crap how'd they hear me? The stairs look pretty sturdy and I didn't hear any squeaking. Why is there no light switch?

I start walking forward, only with the moonlight seeping in though the windows to guide me now. Ugh I cannot see anything, but from what I gather with the few shadows the moonlight is creating is that this basement is huge.

I take a few steps forward in the dark, hands extended out forward so I don't knock into anything.

Then something does slides across the floor. Did I kick something?

I bend down and grope the floor for what I kicked. A flashlight. Huh. Whoever is down here must have been using this.

Ok, now I know ther is a person down here. I turn on the flashlight. This basement has close to nothing in it other than the heater, the generator, the backup generator, the breaker box and a few shelves. It's huge though, just as I suspected.

Something doesn't feel right...

"Hello?" I whisper yell. "Hello?" I call again. No reply. I listen closely. I hear...breathing. Oh god that is so unsettling... "Whoever's down here, the jig is up. I hear you breathing." No answer. I advance deeper into the basement, moving the flashlight like some sort of explorer in some exotic cave. I just see clean concrete and shiny metal tubes. I walk past the heater along with a huge wall of heat. I shiver from the sudden temperature change.

Wait, is the breaker box...open? What's that stuff hanging out from it? I walk up to it.

Oh jeez there are so many things wrong with this breaker box. But it still looks like it can function normally. There are wires of all colors coming out of the metal box. There's a hammer, a wrench, a screwdriver, and a few small sheets of metal on the floor along with some electrical tape and those little tweezers used to put microchips onto motherboards.

Someone was tinkering with the breaker box.

"Who–" as soon as I started to speak someone grabbed me from behind, covered my mouth and put me in a choke hold.

"Be quiet, Logan." Raven?! When did she get so strong? Maybe she's using her powers.

You want to do it that way, Raven? Fine. Two can play at that game.

I yank her hands off of me and twist them around. Now I'm the one giving her a choke hold.

"You can learn from watching you know." I let her go and she falls to the floor short of breath.

"You...should have choked me..." she says. "You should have...killed me..."

"I can't do that, Rave and you know it. What are you doing down here this early in the morning?" She sits back, legs tucked under herself.

All of a sudden she jumps up charges at me with a small dagger. I'm able to dodge the first swipe but not the second. She slices my right cheek, I let out a restrained shout so I don't wake up anyone upstairs. She keeps attacking me. She looks desperate. A desperate wreck.

Good thing I've watched her closely. I kick her hand and the dagger flies out of her grip. I snatch up both of her wrists in my hands and she snaps her eyes to mine.

"What the hell?!" She smiles and licks her teeth. She has fangs. Sharp fangs. Fangs I'm pretty sure that only an animal should be armed with. She catches my suprise in my face.

"Like these,bLogan? Or are you just staring at my lips?"

"Ow!" She bites me and her fangs pierce my skin deep. I let go of her wrists and she kicks me in the back of my knees.

How did she just grow fangs out of the blue?!

"Thanks to you, Logan I can grow these babies whenever I want to."

"How did I do that?!"

"My emotions dictate my entire life. You should know that. Or were you not paying attention the entire time?" I'm sure that that was an illusion. A painful illusion. No way me breaking her heart allowed her to do that. There is absolutely no damn way.

Gar, what are you saying? She's a demon for godsake.

This is what I've been reduced to: arguments with myself. Perfect.

"What were you doing to the breaker box, Raven?" I ask tightly gripping my hand. She walks over to the box, her bare feet making little noise on the bare floor of the basement. She messes with the circuits a bit, then starts ripping wires without scissors.

It's an illusion it's an illusion it's an illusion...

I am really beside myself here.

Once she's finished she shuts the box and starts swinging something around on a keychain. It looks like a small remote.

Maybe she is insane. I didn't believe it before but this is crazy. Her attack felt so off. She never looks like that when she's fighting.

"It's all part of my plan, Logan. Why don't you just live with the fact that you won't figure it out? Or don't. I don't really care whether you live or not."

Her eyes...why do they look so different now than just a few moments ago? Her pupils are so small. She looks like she is on some sort of drug. She looks mental. Is she just holding it all back during the day?

She walks over to me and kneels down, a smile stretched across her face. She looks like a creepy clown from a horror movie. Or Cheshire cat. Or both. I shudder just from the thought.

She waves her hand over mine and my cheek and my wounds disapear.

"What? Why?" I say pressing my hand to my cheek.

"I want you to be fresh. So I can really kill you." She hasn't blinked once. Before I can say anything back to her she waves her hand in my face and everything gets dark.

...

Darker than it was before.

Did that woman just put me to sleep? Don't let your mind wander Gar don't let it wander.

Shit I let it wander.

....................

I wake up and it's light out. God I can't remember what happened last night. I'm so confused. Why is my head throbbing like this?

I need something to drink. I catch a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror before I leave.

Wait...Hold up... I back up and look at myself in the mirror again. What's with this scar on my face?

I run my fingers over the sealed skin. I'm definitely sure this wasn't there last night. I take a deep breath and leave my room again. Nobody's up. Might as well take the opportunity.

"Haha! Nice one!" Dammit. Sounds like they're in the living room.

Vic and Dick stroll in from — ok not the living room it's the den.

"Mornin', Rach. Someone decided to sleep in." Vic states.

"Sleep in?"

"Yeah. It's like 11. Luckily we don't have anything to do until 1." Dick answers me.

"Kori! Come on! You have to bake us cinnamon rolls this morning! Please?!" I know that voice. Logan comes in pulling Kori by the arm, but he stops when he sees me.

Logan... I inhale sharply. Now I remember. Oh god what was wrong with me?

"You two ok?" Dick asks. I guess we're both giving eachother a face for him to say that.

"Uh..." Logan stutters. Then I give him a look and his mouth shuts. "Nothing. Just didn't think she'd cut– GET! Get up so late." Oh my God that was the worst cover up I've heard in my life.

"Whatever. You two do whatever. We're going to go on the porch." Vic waves us off.

"I shall come as well! Friends would you like to join us?"

"Su–"

"In a second, Kor. We'll be out. I just want to talk with...Gar...for a sec."

"Alright..." and with that she leaves us to ourselves. We stare at eachother for a bit, then I go to make my tea.

"You remember don't you?"

"Of course I remember! You acted so different last night. And what were you doing to the breaker box?"

"Different how?" I ask getting a mug out of the cabinet. He hesitated, but finally said it.

"Desprate. Hungry. Insane." I drop the mug. Luckily it's not too high off the counter or else it probably would have broken.

"...Insane?"

"Yes." His answer was so serious.

Insane. Insane...

"Is that how you saw me? Insane?"

"I–...yes." He replies.

I leave the teapot on the counter and go back to my room.

"Wait, Rae..." I ignored him. Again.

I feel the scar on my cheek again.

Why do I wait to murder him?