Unleashing Demons | D.D. Bk. 1 | ✔️

Chapter 23: The Aftermath (Part 2)

My eyes felt like they weigh a ton as I opened them, with blur figures looming over. An excited voice squealed beside me, making my ears bleed and I cringed. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, and finally regained focus in my surroundings.

Lauren tilted down her head at me, a smile curved on her strained face. Her familiar blonde locks were gathered in a loose bun on top of her head, with short tendrils touching her shoulders. Dark circles rimmed under her eyes, which I last saw when she done an all-nighter for an exam back in college.

"Lauren..." My voice came out as hoarse and weak. I cleared my throat and tried again. "What ha-Jake? Oh my god, what happened to you?"

Opposite her, Jake sat beside me on the bed, with a sheepish grin plastered on his face. What caught me off guard was his clogged nose, sporting discolored shades of pink, purple and green. Worse bags than Lauren's outlined his eyes like a panda bear, his usually brilliant blue irises were dull and darker. An obvious lump bulged at his right temple, colored with similar shades like his nose.

He scratched the back of his neck, almost embarrassed on how he obtained them. "I...uh...slipped over myself."

I frowned at him, and pushed myself into a sitting position. A sudden pain seared my right wrist, making me wince through gritted teeth. Looking down, my eyes narrowed at the thick gauge wrapped around it, and that's when it hit me.

My mother. The lighthouse.

Aunt Margaret.

Slumping back onto the pillows, I blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. Memories of last night surged through my mind like a flashflood; Lee and Chloe's failed attempt to abduct me, the face-off with my supposed-to-be dead mother at the lighthouse, and the revelation and death of Aunt Margaret.

Through my tear-glazed eyes, I caught how both Lauren and Jake's expressions fell as they saw my reaction. Sympathy immediately etched Lauren's features as she rubbed my arm in a soothing manner. "I'm so sorry, Alex." Her gaze shimmered with tears of her own. "If I haven't left you alone in the museum, none of this would have happened."

I shook my head, lost for words. No matter the circumstances, it would have led to that, one way or another. They would have made sure of it. I thought back on how my mother mentioned that the Conjurers apprehended Lee and Chloe just in time, meaning that they intended to pursue me whether I stumbled on Lee in that storage room or not.

But then, who did they work for?

I let my mind wander to the endless possibilities, temporarily straying away from the grief and pain that embedded my heart. Surely this wasn't over yet. Fragments of what transpired the past week flashed into my mind, pausing at the memory of those two gun-men in black. An unknown mystery still enshrouds their true identities, their intentions. No, this wasn't over. But the beginning.

Deciding not to delve deeper into these mind-boggling thoughts, I tried to push myself back up, my arms wobbled weakly as I leaned my weight against it. My body felt sore at certain areas, occasionally making me grunt in discomfort. "How long was I out?" I asked to distract myself.

Lauren helped me sit up, arranging a couple of pillows for me to rest on. "A week."

My eyes widened in shock, I couldn't have been out for that long. I caught Lauren's indiscreet snicker. Aware she was merely lightening up my mood, I hurled an extra pillow at her with my good arm in a weak attempt to get revenge.

A soft knock on the door interrupted Lauren from tossing the pillow back to my face. Creaking open, Vaughn popped his head in, a grin crept his face as he saw me. "Finally, after a week in a coma." He pushed the door open all the way and entered its threshold. Cradled in one arm, was a decorative basket full of balloons and a teddy bear. In the other, a bouquet of flowers and another basket of fruits.