She's The Lie (She's The Enemy Sequel)

Emelie

"Am I missing something vital here?"

The way she laughs, it's so perfect. Different from how I remember it and yet the same. The same small smirk decorates her face but the tone of her voice is deeper and weaker. She places her hand on my shoulder and an instant warmth spreads through me, like a flame on ice. 

"You enjoying?" She asks, that familiar smirk painted across her face. I look down at the blueberry pancakes which lay delicately upon my place, a dish in which had been my favourite growing up; my dad tried to make them once for my fifteenth birthday and failed miserably. As well as the fact that they always remind me of that night.

I close my eyes, feeling a soft ache in the side of my head. I should probably drink something.

"It's delicious, thank you, mother..." I murmur, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before standing to open the glass drawer. As I do so, my gaze drifts towards the corner of the room. The worn-out pieces of string that hold our small shack together seem just a little more secure now. Everything seems slightly more secure now...

It's odd how each knot, each line of glue, seeping over the edges of the wood in exactly the same places. I'm noticing things about the house I never realised I knew: the way it slants to the right; the way cold air blows through a few different holes in the house, making certain areas colder than others.

And suddenly, I am wrestled from my mind as a knock echoes through the room. I immediately know who is on the other side of the door, just from the soft, light tap of the door. I turn my neck, forgetting that I can't turn my head more than 90 degrees, pulling a muscle in my neck. I make a muffled noise before my dad turns the doorhandle revealing an all too familiar face.

"Ari!" I cry softly. It had been months since I had seen him. After Rihannon and Killian's wedding, we hadn't spoken once. Not even after I visited to see Noah. His embrace is warm and comforting and yet somewhat odd. It's like everything about him is the same but, something is wrong.

There are often staple points in your life. Especially when you are young; when your brain isn't quite developed enough to remember every second of your day. It's those little moments: playing tag in the forest; watching sticks drift under the bridge, amazed when they would come out on the other side; even just aggressively ruffling his hair because I know it annoys him. And yet, recently all of these memories had felt so incredibly far away.

Until, at this moment, they don't.

I can remember this one Thursday afternoon after a blizzard that had raged for almost the entirety of the previous day, our school had been cancelled and Ari, Rihannon and I had snuck out to have the biggest snowball fight in the history of snowball fighting. I mean, to be honest, with only three people taking part- it wasn't too extreme- but it was the most fun we'd all had in a while.

Afterwards, the four of us just collapsed onto the powdered snow, limbs burning from the frost wrapped around them, giggling. I just remember turning my head and see the most beautiful, glee filled grin decorating Ari's face, his eyes lighting up in a way I've only ever seen when he's with his family. Then, Rhiannon had wrapped her arms around me, burying her head in my chest and blowing a raspberry at Ari. The boy just glared at her, a grin playing upon his lips.

And eventually, we reached the point of almost freezing to death and decided that it was most likely time to call it quits on our little adventure.

I never realised how much I missed that. How much I missed them.

Everything seemed so simple growing up.

The ache at the side of my head becomes slightly more prominent, my arms tightening around Ari as it numbs my head. We part and I reach upwards to massage my temples.

"Em, you okay?" Ari places his hands on my hips. I raise my gaze to his and suddenly the colour of his eyes flicker, his hair becomes darker, lips a dark shade of red. And suddenly the sky becomes lighter, the clouds darkening.

I press my eyes shut.

And once I open them the world returns to its normal shade, Ari's eyes full of worry and desperation.

"Em?" I reach up to rake my hand through his hair before, once again, vigorously ruffling it, "Emelie!" I just grin at him.

"What? It's my birthday! I'm in my 20's now, I can do what I want..." Ari rolls his eyes as I say this, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead murmuring the words, "Happy Birthday,". After this gesture, he wraps an arm around me and I sink willingly into him. My gaze passes over the crowd of joyful faces sat on the table and can't help but smile. This is like a dream.

This probably is a dream.

Any- if you dream for long enough- dreams become nightmares.

There's a loud siren in the distance and my father sits rigid on his chair.

"Everybody hide!" He yells franctically, already reaching for my brother, pulling them both below the tablecloth. My mother follows suit, Ari dragging me to the closet at the end of the room, quickly leading me aside, his breaths short and rapid. We stand still, our hearts seemingly the only noise in the forboding void of air surrownding us.

There's a small rattle as something falls off the table- most likely the result of someone pulling on the tablecloth from below. I take a breath, allowing the air to become trapped in my throat, mind whirring, thinking of all of the ways this could go wrong. Of all the ways I might watch them die again.

Click.

The sound of the doorknob slowly turning unsettles my stomch, churning my insides until it feels as if a hurricane is spiralling inside of my body. The door opens. There's a soft creak as pressure is placed against the worn wooden flooring of our small little home. And, with my vastly sharper hearing, I notice the slight metal scratch as metal rubs against leather. I move my head slowly, careful not to make too much noise, peering through a small crack in the closet.

A faerie is standing there, sword branished, eyes full of hunger.

And it's not just any faerie.

It's Xavier.

A/N

So guess who managed to break their glasses? A feat that makes writing incredibly hard which, on top of the idea that I'm feeling kind of uninspired to write this story, means that this update is over two months late. I know... I said I'd post more regularly and ended up falling off of the face of the universe and for that I am deeply sorry. I really hope you do like this chapter and let me know if you actually want me to continue this book, since I may just write an alternative ending and move on to a differnt idea. But if you all like this concept then I'll continue it.

Anyways, hope you all have a lovely day and thank you so so much for reading!