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P.T.
UNFORESEEN – A BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS “EXTRA”!
** NOTE: READ BKoD and LUCID first, otherwise this is slightly spoiler-y**
The palm-leaved ceiling fan turned in a slow, rhythmic thrum, stirring the sticky summer heat. Humidity thickened the tension surrounding the dark-haired man, causing perspiration to slide along the worry lines in his face as he sat down in the straight-backed chair.
Crawling into the man’s lap, the little blonde girl watched their serene host walk around the coffee table and sit down on the floral patterned couch across from them. When the child continued to stare in awe at the crystal beads decorating her long dark braids, the woman smiled and lifted her hair, holding the ends up so the sunlight caught the crystals. Rainbow colored lights danced on the girl’s pink shirt. With a giggle of delight, she tried to catch the rainbow dots on her chest and belly.
“Invisible fireflies,” the woman whispered with a conspiratorial wink before she released her braids and began to shuffle a stack of oversized cards on the coffee table’s polished surface, her movements smooth and assured.
The little girl clapped her hands, her green eyes flicking to the man. “Are we playing Go fish, Daddy?”
“Kind of.” He kissed the back of her head, then set the five-year-old on her feet as he addressed the woman. “Things have happened…” Concern edged his words as he briefly touched the small white bandage on his daughter’s forehead. “Things I can’t explain. My sister hoped you might have insight.”
With a nod of understanding, the woman fanned out the shuffled cards face down toward him. “Take two cards.”
He took two cards and turned them face up at the woman’s request.
The man and woman exchanged glances. “Can you try once more?” he asked, tension making him sound hoarse.
She pressed her lips together, but reshuffled the cards, then held them out to him.
He stared at the cards and flexed his jaw. Sliding his gaze sideways, he spoke to the little girl, “Why don’t you pick them, sweetheart?”
“Ooh, a different game!” Squealing with excitement, she sang Eeny, meeny, miny, moe twice, one for each card she picked, and then turned them over on the table like she’d seen him do.
“Having the child choose them makes no difference,” their host said with a sigh, tapping the two cards. “They’re always the same: The Wheel of Fortune and Justice cards speak of unforeseen changes and destiny.”
After she laid down several more cards in a specific pattern, the woman’s face crinkled in concentration. A few seconds later, her deep brown gaze shifted nervously to the little girl. She’d lost interest in the game and was squatting to pet the orange tabby cat rubbing against the coffee table leg. “This doesn’t bode well for her.”
They spoke in low tones, and then the man picked up the child, gathering her little body close. She hugged his neck and patted his cheeks. “Is it time to go?”
He nodded and smiled, forcing a light tone. “Let’s go get that ice cream I promised you, Nari.”
Copyright © 2012 P.T. Michelle. All Rights Reserved.
For those who missed when I posted a link to this a couple weeks ago, here’s ETHAN’S POV from Chapter 22 in BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS.
*************NOTE: WARNING…SPOILERS! If you haven’t read BKoD, read BKoD first, then come back and read this scene from Ethan’s POV! 🙂 ***************
A BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS EXTRA
Chapter 22, Ethan’s POV
I pulled into Nara’s driveway early and cut the engine. She wasn’t due back from practice for another fifteen minutes or so. Would she believe me? I shrugged off the tension in my shoulders and glanced at my spiral notebook sitting in the passenger seat. I’d brought my drawings, hoping they would convince her that Fate could be seen.
My fingers thrummed on the dash as time ticked by. I wasn’t sure we could make my idea work, but if Nara wore that crystal necklace that had allowed her to see my dreams while we combined our dream powers, that just might be enough for her to see Fate. Then she could face him.
Why couldn’t I face Fate for her? I felt powerless, inept in the one thing that mattered to me, protecting Nara. I’d never despised anyone as much as I hated this skulking invisible entity! I gripped the steering wheel as red flashed in my eyes. Something cracked and I grimaced as I uncurled my fingers. A new split ran along the curved black edge. Shit.
Jamming my fingers into my hair, I gripped my bangs at the thought of the monsters Nara would come face-to-face with in my nightmares in order for her to face Fate in her own dreams. I tasted blood and realized I’d bitten my cheek. I wish there was another way, but I couldn’t think of any. Fate’s attacks on Nara had escalated. Between Nara’s stubborn heart and her need to help others, she only made him angrier.
I couldn’t lose her. I’d do anything, beat the shit out of Fate if I could, break the law…whatever it took to keep her safe. Screw Fate! Rage built within me so swiftly my hands began to shake. Curling my hands into fists didn’t help. I took several deep breaths and tried to regain control, but it felt as if the darkness that coiled inside me embraced this anger, welcomed it even.
With a flick of my wrist, I flipped the sun visor down to stare at the drawings I’d pinned there. A picture of Nara furrowing her brow as she wrote something on her palm in class, another of her laughing in the hall while she dribbled a soccer ball, another sketch was of her scrunching her nose while she pretended to study. I’d drawn each of these before we’d met, before Nara had ever said a word to me. Mesmerized by her smile and the spark in her gorgeous eyes, I’d watched her. Every day. I’d been intrigued by her confidence. Even now I sometimes felt unworthy that she’s with me. I’ve loved every smile she’s turned my way, cherished each one.
My fingers shook as I traced them over her features, careful not to smear a single line. She always calmed me. Because of Nara, I looked more deeply at people, when all I used to see and feel was negative stuff. Focusing on her smile helped me regain control of myself. I needed to be calm and confident when I showed her these drawings and told her my plan.
A sudden buzzing rippled across my skin, the sensation washing through me in vibrating waves of increasing heat. My chest tightened and fear clogged my lungs. I’d felt a similar vibe before when Fate had attacked Nara. I fired up the engine and jammed the stick shift in reverse. My tires squealed as I tore out of her neighborhood.
The speedometer hit ninety by the time I got to school. I screeched into the soccer fields parking lot, then skidded to a stop next to Nara’s car.
I frowned when I scanned the field and didn’t immediately see Nara. Where is she? Then my gaze landed on the overturned goal and Nara was pinned under it. Nara!
I don’t remember getting out of my car or running to the goal. My gaze stayed locked on Nara’s limp form as I prayed for the first time in my life. Please God, let her be okay. Please!
It felt like my heart had been cinched in a vise when I saw her staring sightlessly into the night sky, icy rain drizzling on her slack features. My fingers dug into the goal post and suddenly my heart pumped so hard and so fast I wondered if it had doubled in size. The goal thronged as it landed, completely flipped over in the opposite direction.
My legs gave out and I fell to my knees beside Nara, touching her throat. No pulse fluttered under my fingers. “No, Nara! God no!” I rocked back on my heels and screamed to the sky, furious with God for trying to take her from me.
Be calm. Use your knowledge to save her. Words echoed inside my head as if another part of me, my rational self, had taken over.
I fisted my hands on my thighs, took three deep breaths, then told myself the steps for CPR over and over in my head until my hands began to move on their own over her chest, pumping in quick bursts. Tilting her head back, I held her nose, then breathed life back into her, focusing on my task. Breathe Nara! Breathe for me. Anger overwhelmed my fear. I welcomed the white-hot emotion. Anger I could handle. I began to push on her chest again, gritting out, “Don’t you die on me!”
A cool tingling ran along my arm, and I almost paused it was so surreal, but I couldn’t stop my task. I had to jump start Nara’s heart, keep her breathing until she could do so on her own.
But as I moved through the repetitive CPR motions with no response from Nara, and my worry began to shift to near paralyzing panic, something kept buzzing in my ear, a nagging sound I couldn’t ignore.
I slid my attention to the noise on my right and blinked at the strange flock of ravens flying in what appeared to be haphazard chaos. As I stared at the birds, I saw a kind of pattern appear as they moved toward me. Their chaos wasn’t chaos at all, but an organized outline that formed around something I couldn’t see. They were trying to show me that whatever it was…it was coming. And fast.
My skin buzzed as if electrified, and suddenly I felt as if my space was being invaded. Whatever it was…I sensed its cold presence, the finality of it, slam down my spine as if a spike of ice had been sledge-hammered through my skull.
Somehow I knew it was here for Nara. To take her from me forever.
No! She’s mine!
The rage I experienced earlier when I thought of Fate messing with Nara felt like tepid bathwater compared to the lava-flow of fury that wailed like an erupting volcano in my body. As molten heat boiled through my veins, that logical, reasoned half of me took over with fierce, directed vengeance. My hands lifted and my palms flicked toward the invisible intruder as I spoke from the darkest place inside me. “You can’t have her!”
A surge shifted with the direction of my anger. Hot lava shot through my veins, flowing along my fingers in waves. Power erupted from me so forcefully, the vacuum-pull tugged on my entire body.
When the birds flew back, “What the hell just happened?” shot through my mind, but I didn’t have time to think about it. The ravens had already recovered and were moving back toward us at a much faster pace than before. Whatever it was, I’d pissed it off, but I didn’t give a shit. My attention shifted to Nara as I pressed on her chest again with focused determination. Wake, up, damn it. I love you! I need the chance to tell you that, to tell you how much you mean to me.
She lay there unmoving, staring at nothing. The thought I’d never see her smile again, feel her lips on mine, her hands touching my face, tore at my heart. “You can’t be gone, Nara!”
Warm tears flowed down my face, the salt mixing with the patter of rain hitting my lips. “Don’t leave me!” Losing you will break me. Tilting her neck, I whispered against her lips, “I love you,” then pressed my mouth to hers, breathing every ounce of my will, my own life into her.
Nara coughed, fluttering her eyelids and my heart leapt. “Nara? Thank God!” I touched her cheek, the ache in my chest releasing in relief. “Can you hear me? Say something? How do you feel?”
When she placed a cold hand over mine and rasped, “Thank you,” my love for her rolled along my body in a thankful shudder. No, Sunshine. Thank you for coming back to me. I’ll never let you go. Ever.
Kissing her forehead, I lifted her into my arms. As I gripped her close and talked about taking her to the hospital, my heart made its own promise. It’s time to tell you how I feel.
Copyright © P.T. Michelle 2012. All Rights Reserved.
Want to read a whole novella from Ethan’s Point of View? Now you can!