Taint (Formerly Claimed) Dark Midnight 1

Chapter 17

Death wish?

Miriam would have laughed if her throat hadn’t gone dry. 

Death was the last thing on earth that she feared. 

It was final. Nothing compared to the way she felt during a seizure…

Stuck.

 Trapped in-between life and death, like a proverbial Snow White. 

Being frozen, being trapped inside a lifeless body… 

Those were the fears that kept her up late at night, tossing and turning until she was forced to raid the medicine cabinet for her father’s sleeping pills.

But there was a mocking edge to Eliot’s question.

This strange boy with the brooding eyes and dark red hair might…

 …wish for death. 

She wondered why…

“Is there any particular reason you want to know the answer?”  She asked fearlessly, surprising herself. 

Eliot’s gaze narrowed.  “No.”

His arms were crossed, and Miriam realized that he was in the exact same spot on her fuzzy pink throw rug that he’d been in before her father had barged in. 

Right by the window. 

Almost as if…

As if he’d never moved at all. 

He caught her startled glance.  “I’ve just never seen anyone quite so willing to place themselves in danger,” he said. 

The foreboding edge to his tone made her gulp.  She couldn’t help the sudden unease that had her fingers shaking as she curled them into fists. 

He didn’t scare her, she told herself.  He didn’t. 

But the context of his words did; she thought of the girl found murdered in the snow and shuddered.

She was forced to admit that there were all kinds of creepy characters who could have found their way through her broken door last night to pay a visit—not counting Eliot.

As funny as it seemed, she should have counted herself lucky; at least Eliot hadn’t hurt her.  

…At least, she thought, not yet.

“Where did you go?”  She asked in a soft voice.

Halfheartedly, she glanced around her room again, even though she knew in the depths of her gut that there was nowhere big enough for him to hide. 

Even the closet was too small.

Besides, taking a glance at Eliot’s arrogant stance, she could tell that he just wasn’t the type to hide—let alone shove himself under the bed. 

 “You couldn’t have used the door,” she prodded.  “Where did you—”

He took a step closer and she trailed off as nerves exploded to life and fluttered like butterflies in her stomach.  Her heart lurched to the back of her throat.  She blinked—she couldn’t help it. 

Up close…

Up close, Eliot was mind-blowingly handsome. 

Flawless. 

Perfect, with those two burning eyes glowing like smoldering gems.  If she wanted to be poetic about it, she might have described him as an angel in the flesh.