uninvited

chapter fiftyfour

unprepared

She was kind of a mess. On the inside. On the outside, she was pretty sure she had everyone fooled.

Except for Kellum, who has come to check up on her twice. Damn this bond they share.

And of course, the other person she could never fool is Julian. He wasn't her best friend for nothing. But unlike Kell, Julian knew better than to ask her what was wrong. She wasn't ready for that.

She was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

She chased Kellum off to his meeting and made everyone else play Monopoly. Longest game in the history of the world, so that would give her plenty of time to put off the break down she was thinking about having. No time to think. Fret. Freak. Implode.

She lost. She always did. Mel happily went to get ready for bed while Jess did the dishes. Aunt Sarah went to start a new book, so Julian was left to watch her. Waiting for the melt down.

He didn't know about where she'd been all day and she wasn't ready to get into it yet.

"Shit is messed up. I feel like screaming."

"Then scream."

"And freak out Mel and Aunt Sarah? No. Then he'll come back. I hate it. How he knows everything I'm feeling. Am I never to have anything to myself? Is this my new life? No moment to myself? Even now, Dez is listening and recording everything we say. Don't even get me started on the four ass grabbers. Thinking they are so high and mighty."

"I'm going to get our shoes. We'll walk around till we find a place where you can scream."

Good idea. She needed to scream and stomp. To hit something. God, how she wanted to hit something.

What she wanted was to go back to that first day she saw him in the school hallway. Right there, in that moment, in that place. That's the moment when things started going south.

If only she knew then, what she knew now.

When she turned to put the plate away it slipped from her fingers. Because she was no longer standing in the kitchen. She was standing in the school. Everything dark and eerie.

"What the fuck?"

She looked around expecting Kell. She'd felt the pull inside of her that she usually felt when he was depositing her around. The feeling like falling and being weightless for just a second but even as she looked around, she knew Kell wasn't here. She didn't feel him.

Why would he send her here? She'd been doing the dishes thinking about being here and... she thought about being back in her kitchen and was.

"What the fuck?"

"Human Jessalynn, are you in need?"

"I'm doing the fucking dishes. You must be fucking kidding me. And I swear if I see his ass right now, I'm going to lose it."

Leaving the kitchen, she ran up the stairs, caught Julian on the way, and dragged him with her. Once in her room, she put her finger to her lips. Praying like hell it didn't work, she pictured herself standing in The Stage. Last minute she remembered a video camera was there now, so she thought about the bus ramp.

It was the only fucking place she could think of without eyes.

Julian's eyes widen as he took in their surroundings.