Burning Paradise

Chapter Five

"Donna, pass me that dress from there." I lean across the bed and pick up the black ruffly dress Mom is gesturing to. She folds it and pushes it into the overflowing suitcase. Mom is going on a trip to Spain for her latest photoshoot. Right when I need her the most. It's been a week since Rhys delivered that warning and I have avoided him like hell ever since. He scares me and that weird crush I had on him has long since dissipated.

Rhys still doesn't talk to anybody and that just confirms my suspicions. There's something weird about him. He likes to be alone when he can be one of the most popular boys at school. I know all of the girls fancy him, but I know now there's nothing attractive about him on the inside, where it really matters.

Mom notices my faraway look and touches my cheek, "I won't be gone for long, Donna. I'll be back before you know it. Plus, your birthday is this week and Daddy is going to buy you a good car." Mom strokes my hair. My birthday? Oh yeah. How can a normal person forget about their own birthday? I try to smile convincingly at Mon, "Okay, Mom. I just can't believe you got called out now."

"I know, baby." Mom's shoulders sag, "Just before your sixteenth birthday. But it's work."

"I know, Mom." I say, "I understand. It's okay."

"I'm sorry, baby." Mom kisses my forehead and gets up. I follow her down the stairs and into the main room. "Okay, Avril." She says sternly, "You look after my girl now."

"Don't you worry. I will." Aveil replies cheekily.

Mom gives her a crooked smile and a one-armed hug, "I'll see you guys when I get back. Bye." She pecks my cheek.

"Bye Mom." I say and watch her and Dad leave the house. I slump down on a sofa and Avril comes over.

"I wouldn't be sad if I were you. No nosy Mom for two whole weeks!" I look at her exasperatedly. Avril smiles and shakes her head.

"Yeah, I know. Your mom is not nosy at all. Not like mine." says Avril. I smile at her, my mind still on Rhys and that heavy warning.

Don't go to the tower and stay away from me. Or else...

I haven't dreamt of the tower since that warning. But why did Rhys talk of the tower as if it was more than something I dreamt up? Why is he associating himself with it? What is going on?

"Hello?" Avril waves her hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, what?" I say, snapping out of my little train of thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Avril says, emphasizing each word.

"Nothing, nothing." I wave it off, trying to keep my thoughts in the here and now.

"You know, Donna, I'm beginning to think Rhys is a little weird." Avril says, as if the idea has just come to her mind now.

"You don't say!" I tease, "Avril, that's what I've been telling you all along. But you didn't want to listen."

"I know." Avril's shoulders slump, "He just always alone and I see him staring at you like... like something to eat. It's just really unnerving." I look down at the ground, my throat clogging up. His warning has instilled fear in me; a strange kind of fear that prevents me from meeting his eyes in school, from acknowledging his presence in class, from talking to him in Biology. It makes me edge to the far corner of my seat, as far away from him as possible...

I'm walking through swathes of rolling mist. I know I'm exactly where I'm not supposed to be, but my feet carry me on regardless. I'm being led to that tower, where I'm not allowed to go. Before I know it, I'm pushing the iron gates open, fighting the nausea. I look up. A window is open. A dark-haired figure in the window. Taking a deep breath, I start forward and then halt. The figure is gone. I hear a rustling from behind and spin around. Nothing is there. I stand, facing the iron gates for a few moments.