paramour

chapter 2

The night that proceeded my first annoying day with the new kid was mostly uneventful this time. It turns out Cynthia had to go into town for awhile, and thus I was not punished for being rude in the morning.

The week didn't go by as well as I had hoped. There were a few things why that was.

First, I was starting to have really strange and frightening dreams. I would always end up waking up early in the mornings –always around five or six. The only good thing that came out of that was that I didn't have to rush to school in the mornings. But I would have rather rushed than have those dreams.

I really didn't know how to describe them. I was in some alley way somewhere –and there was someone with me. He was always shrouded, so I couldn't quite make out who it was.

There was always a sense of danger, and I felt on edge. But more than that, I was terrified of something that I was facing out in the darkness. And then glowing, horrifying eyes appeared in the unlit part of the alley. And I let out a snarl.

That was always what I figured ripped out low from my throat. And it scared me to death, though I wouldn't admit that to myself. I really didn't know what to make of the nightmares.

I'd never had them before, even when... I didn't want to think of it. I didn't want to add misery on top of the terror I was dealing with.

And then there was the fact that the new kid –Damian- seemed to be all together ignoring Janet. This was not a good thing for my situation. Janet's anger was bound to be boiling up over the week as he continued to stare at me, and barely paid any attention to Janet. And even though I kept encouraging her o distract him, which he reacted to rarely, she was confused about my actions but still murderously angry at the same time that I was getting more attention from him than she was. I expected she would act today, or sometime soon, to hurt me in one way or another. Be it physically or mentally, I was expecting it.

So after I had woken up early, lunging straight up out of bed gasping, I started to get ready and was preparing and thinking of ways that Janet might try to torture me today.

Cynthia was gone again this morning, so I had nothing to worry about as I fled from the house. Since I had plenty of time to go to school, I thought I might take a walk through the forest to my favourite spot –an ancient, twisted oak tree. It was perfectly climbable, and there were a lot of little nooks in the tree that I could grab on to if it turned out fate were that I was to fall.

I maneuver through the trees swiftly and expertly, having been here many times before.

And soon I was at my crooked and aged, yet still beautiful tree. The canopy of leaves was full, green, and lively as a slight breeze blew through them.

I drew in a deep breath and was immediately refreshed. This place did wonders to my mood and state of mind.

I ran the rest of the way up to the grand tree and climbed my way up it easily enough. As soon as I was up high enough, I eased myself into a crevice and relaxed.

I felt really tired from lack of sleep. The most likely thing I knew that would probably happen today was that I would fall asleep in class. If that happened, I really didn't know if I would get in trouble or not. It depended what class it happened in.

My head lolled to the side and rested against the trunk. I was so tired I really care about how rough and hard it was. I just drifted...

It was pitch black everywhere, all but where I was standing under a flickering lamp in the middle of an alleyway. There was somebody in front of me, someone who seemed vaguely familiar.