Liar

Chapter 8

Dinner together was awful. We fought and I tried my hardest not to burst into tears. He wasn't making me feel good about myself any more than he was opening up to me. He had a quick meeting to attend tonight with his college counselor which I didn't mind but I was getting so tired of feeling neglected and obviously less than. I heard the front door shut and lock from my now gloomy bedroom. I sat with my knees to my chest on the other side of my bed, sobbing in pain.

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" You haven't been yourself lately, that's all I'm trying to - " His eyes looked darker blue to me and clouded with a fury I didn't recognize. " And quite honestly, you haven't either. So... what? Is it that I don't care for you enough? Or that I don't make love to you good enough?-"

I clenched my fists trying mot to lose it " How could you say that? You know you do more-

" NO! I don't know. So do you care to enlighten me?" I flinched and tears began to fall from my eyes uncontrollably. He never screamed at me. Never. He never even raised his voice at me. I was at my last thread of patience and sanity and couldn't deal with this type of stress. He saw my small fists curled. My knuckles were white " What are you going to do? Hit me?" He teased mockingly. I didn't have the same thick skin I showed the world towards him. He was someone I could trust and get to listen to me. But he was taking advantage of me right now. And I hated it.

" I would never hit you. But you're being a jerk! I trust you and I love you but you've only hurt my feelings-"

He stood and rolled his eyes at me and barely even acknowledged my defense. He put his dishes in the sink and simply walked up the stairs." Well, it seems like you do a little bit too much. I'm leaving for tonight."

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I didn't want to talk to him again, really. I couldn't take his words in. They were so harmful to me and my character. I was sensitive around him because I trusted him but clearly as he had told me, far too much.

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We gathered in the warehouse. Our coven was big but for the sake of the times we are living through, we could only invite 5 members. Michael, who was the head of the circle and also my best friend. My cousin Vanessa, Ellie, Keith and myself. We stood close together and spoke in hushed tones.

Michael pushed his blonde hair behind his ear " I called this because... we do have some important news. And it's not exactly news we'd like to hear right now. Firstly, Circles in New Zealand are being turned against one another. Nobody exactly knows why but... something's making them turn on each other. " Vanessa's face lit up. " I heard about this but I wasn't certain there was any truth to it." she placed a finger on her lip and waited for anyone else's input. " I don't know what else it could be if it wasn't a hex." Ellie mumbled, shrugging her shoulders. Michael nodded, taking in all of the thoughts we had on the matter " Yeah those are both pretty valid. I heard it until another circle in Vancouver contacted me, confirming it was true. I of course didn't want to jump the gun but since it's serious, we need to stay in contact and stick together now more than ever. And I know that's not easy on any of us but, we have to do what we need to protect ourselves." We all nodded in agreement. He paused for a moment

" I won't call anybody out, you guys already know that isn't me. But there's been a demon in our circle for a while now and- Ellie wanted to comment but paused for a moment " I don't want any speculation because we need to come together right now. The demon doesn't have an ill-will towards us specifically. The demon is trying to collect a human soul."

Everyone in the circle paled. Ellie looked at him, worried " We don't intervene with human affairs but a demon trying to collect a human's soul would mean they made a bad deal, the deal is up or one of the two breached the contract. What else did you see?" Ellie's beauty was by far unmatched. Her ebony skin and long black curls made for a gorgeous young lady but her light brown eyes drew everyone in. She was our brain and knew a lot about the why of everything witch related. she played with her infinity pendant worriedly, clearly upset by the news.

Michael took a deep breath. " The demon is targeting a girl. A 12 year- old girl. That part could also possibly be on the flip-side, that the demon that's been pursuing her could have been doing so since she was 12 but, I can't tell which.

Vanessa chimed in afterwards " What do we do than? There must be something..." Michael shook his head. His dark brown eyes looked directly at Vanessa. " No. And even if we were to help, we can't and if we could, we would have to wait. And we don't even know who the person and their partner is." Everyone nodded. There wasn't much else to argue there.

Michael looked at the floor " We also have some sad news. We... we have a member leaving us." Ellie gasped. Vanessa clearly looked confused and Michael never called anyone out. I bit my lip gently. I felt my hot tears spilling on to the floor. I squatted over the ground, shaking. Michael rubbed my hand. Ellie moved in and forced me to look at her." Why are you leaving us?" she asked.

My eyes filled with even more tears." I just can't stay. I'm moving to Tokyo. I'm going to find a circle there." Vanessa looked on in pure confusion " No! Why would you be moving there? Why-" Michael looked at her sharply " Respect her wishes, Nessa. I know it's difficult but she is certain. Now listen to her." She nodded. I wiped my eyes." Yeah I'm leaving. I think it would overall be better for me. I love you guys; you guys are my family. But I may not come back. Yeah." I whispered, wiping away my last tear.

They all nodded. " I'm leaving in a few days so, you guys can stop by to say your final goodbyes. Goodbye hugs? We nodded. They cared for me like their sister. I. I felt so loved. But it was time for me to move on. And most importantly, grow up. I was the first to leave so I had a head start back to his house. I ran into the back and was inside Alice's room in the lab before he even reached the door. I slept inside of her closet.