Memorable Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Nickolas removes his hand from my mouth. I pull away from him and cross my arms over my chest. If looks could kill, he’d be lying on the floor by now.

“The Old Man is far more powerful than Marianne. She can read minds and see people’s past, but Old Man can control his victims with his mind. He sends an electrical shock through the body. It’s small, just barely noticeable. That shock allows him to know every detail about your life and whole being. It even lets him control what you say and all of your movements.”

“It seems to me that you are overreacting. I’ve been in the same room as Matt for over an hour and nothing has happened to me.” I do not want to tell him about what Matt has done. I need to keep my fear under control. He already has enough problems without adding mine on.

“He controlled his own brother and sister to enter a burning house and told them to never come back. He can do things, things beyond your belief.”

“Don’t tell me what to believe. I can take care of myself when I need to, as you’ve seen with my so called unnecessary violence.” I pointed out to him. A voice entered my mind. It was telling me to do something that I really did not want to do. ‘Tell him, Alex. You need to tell him before something very bad happens; especially with you, sweetheart.’ My body tenses and my mouth open. The words that I was forbidding myself to say come out, “I don’t remember anything about you. When I called you ‘Nicki’, I didn’t know what I was talking about. You mean nothing to me as of right now. Don’t get to know me because whatever I did in the past was obviously a mistake.”

His facial expression changes completely. “You didn’t have to be such a bitch about it Al…I mean Alex.” My hands reached out to him instinctively. I didn’t like hurting people, especially ones that seems to care about me a lot. He pushes me away, just as he did to Rileigh. “I don’t want your damn sympathy! You’ve meant the world to me since we were young. When we meet again, I felt completely relieved that you were alive, but seeing you in that bed on the verge of death. My heart was breaking each day you didn’t wake up after that Kepher attack.” He walks out the door without saying another word. I stare at the door for a little while longer. After realizing that he wasn’t going to come back, I look through a dresser and found new clothing that were exactly my size. I find the pajamas and change into them, refusing to allow myself feel emotions that are only human. I’ve learned, over the years, that feelings only hold people back from accomplishing their goals. I lay down on the bed, covering myself up. I realized that I now have no one to guide me through this new life. Matt is an evil man, and Nickolas hates me as well as Rileigh for no reason. I know I belong here but I just can’t fit in. I don’t know why, I’m worrying about this. I have never cared whether I fit into a certain society or not. I know the answer. It’s because these people are like me and I’m glad to find them and annoyed that I can’t seem to get along with any of them. I finally calm down enough to fall asleep until mid morning the next day. I sit up in my bed and look over at the alarm clock, buzzing nosily. I honestly don’t feel like I can face anyone downstairs for breakfast right now. I slam my arm down on the alarm breaking it completely. “Damn.” I mutter to myself. I piece of the plastic sliced open my arm, and now I’m bleeding horribly. I get out of bed and hurry to the bathroom down the hall. I open the door and push my wrist under running water. The blood mixing with the warm water ran down the drain.

“Doing that doesn’t help at all.”

I look up quickly to see Matt standing in the doorway. “What are you doing here? Can’t you see that I’m a busy?”

He smiles a coy smile. “How did your conversation with Nickolas go?”

I glare at him with such intensity; I began to get a headache. “That is none of your business.”

“Aren’t you feeling better after telling him the truth?”

“How? You did it! You made me tell him!” I run toward him and punch him in the face. He falls back against the wall. “If you ever control my movements or my vocal chords, you will feel the wrath of my power, Matthew”

He gathers his balance back and pushes me off and into the other side of the hallway. “Do not threaten me, Alexandra. I can easily make you kill Nickolas.” His whole body is pressed against me; keeping me from moving away from him. “I can make you do anything that I want.” He smiles again. He releases me and moves away. “Don’t do anything stupid Alex or I may just have to cause the end of you.” He brings my bleeding wrist to his mouth. Using his tongue he laps up some of the blood. “You taste even better than before.” He walks away; down the stairs. What the hell?! I have done no harm to this man and he wants to control and kill me! I haven’t even met him before. He said I’d taste ‘even better than before’. What’s that suppose to mean? I head back to my room. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat this early in the morning anyway. Before I could open my door, a hand grasps around my wounded arm, pulling me to them.

“I heard everything. Why didn’t you tell me that truth instead of your memory problem?”

“I couldn’t force the words out. As you said, he controlled me.” I stutter. I don’t understand. I have been around many gorgeous men and I still react differently around Nickolas. I just don’t understand these emotions anymore. He pulls me into the room and shuts the door behind us.

“We don’t want any unwanted listeners. Do you remember or was it a lie that he wanted you to tell?”

I could easily convince him that it was just a lie. I could, but since the truth has already escaped my lips why bother bringing it back? I shake my head at his question. “I don’t remember. I’m sorry to have given you false hope. I had no right to do it.”

“As I’ve said before, I don’t need your sympathy. I prefer to know the truth and not a lie.” He brings his hand that was grasping my bleeding arm up to my chin; lifting it slightly so I had no choice but to make eye contact with him. “I’d never lie to you, even if my life depended on it Al. By the way…you’re bleeding.”

I pull away from him. “I know that I am bleeding. Why don’t you just state the obvious?”

He walks to the end table and opens the drawer; bringing out a box of tissues. He grabs my arm yet again and presses a few tissues to the open cut.

“Thanks.” I’m not used to having someone actually care for my wounds. I usually just leave them be and they heal on their own without infection.

“Look, Alex, we need to get out of here. Matt has something personal against you and he wants to kill you. I don’t know what that reason is, but we’re not about to find out.” He pulls out a bracelet from his pocket placing it around my left wrist. “This gets rid of that shock the Old Man put into you. Now you can control your own actions. He’ll never find out until he tries again.”

The bracelet was a piece of string with tiny wooden beads. A small half crescent moon charm hung from the bracelet. “We can’t tell anybody that we’re leaving either. Word gets around fast in these hallways.” He says as he hurries around the room gathering necessities. While digging through the dresser drawers he finds a stack of cash. He’s stashing everything into my little pack I’d carried. “Everyone has money hidden somewhere in their rooms in case of an emergency.” He answers my questioning look. “We’ll have to leave before sundown. The Old Man’s busiest time is between five and seven tonight.” I nod. “You’ll need to act as normal as possible so that no one suspects a thing.”

“Okay”

He finishes packing my clothing and then he stands to turn toward me. “I’m going to go pack my clothes so then we are both ready to just book it.” Before he walks through the door of my room and turns around and grabs my hand. “We’re also supposed to still be mad at each other.” He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it. As he walks away, I move back towards my bed and sit down slowly. I was still shocked. I don’t remember ever having a boy kiss my hand like that, or even treat me as a woman before! I pull my hand close to my chest. I’m not supposed to feel this way about someone. If my emotions get to far out of hand then my life could be on the line and theirs as well. My stomach grumbles. I guess I was hungrier than I thought. I walk out of my room after hiding the bag underneath my bed. Taking the stairs one at a time, I run into Rileigh. She has a banana nut muffin in one hand and in the other an opened bottle of orange juice. She shoves me hard with her shoulder. I grab the bottle swiftly from her grip and pour it all over her; hair included. A growl erupted from between her lips.

“I know what you did to him and I don’t like it. I honestly don’t understand why he is allowing you back into his heart. He was so close to finally opening up to me! You ruined everything!” She throws her muffin off to the side and pulls out a hand gun from her thigh; pointing it right at my heart. I didn’t move. I’m not afraid of something as insignificant as a gun. Besides I am probably faster than she is. “You are idiotic to allow your emotions to take control of your physical motivations. I long ago gave up on feelings. They always end up getting you killed. I love no one, which is why I am still alive.” With that I continue my descent down the stairwell. She stared after me for a few minutes but I didn’t care. She has too much anger built within her tiny body. She’s going to explode soon and I do not want to be around her when that happens. My stomach is craving an enormous breakfast; French toast, eggs, bacon, and perhaps a glass of milk. Those pieces of French toast better be doused in syrup and slathered up in butter. I walk into the kitchen and the scent of all the cooking happening immediately reaches my nose. Marianne stood in front of the stove cooking the eggs and bacon, while Nickolas placed the bread into the toaster.

“I’m sorry child. I’m not making French toast today.” I smile at her and laugh a little.

“That’s quite alright, Marianne. This smells delicious.”

She laughs loudly. “It wouldn’t have smelled so delicious, if Nickolas was cooking on the stovetop.” Nickolas turns around from his position and notices me. His face turned deadly. I know we’re supposed to still be mad at each other, but I didn’t expect the intensity of his facial expression be so lethal.

“Don’t joke about that Marianne. I’m not the person that has control of fire.”

“Nor am I, child.”

I decide it’s best to avoid Nickolas at all costs. I go out of my way to walk around the counter that is separating me from Marianne. “Is there anything that I can help you with to get breakfast ready? You have to prepare for such a large group of people. I do not know how you can handle it all.”

She smiles at me. She smiles often. It softens my heart a little at the sight of her happy face. My heart needs to harden again, so I do not end up getting myself killed over this woman.

“No, sweetheart. Don’t worry about it. You are the guest, and I am the host.”

I sigh. “Alright, if you insist. I will be in my room. You know how to reach me.”

She laughs at the humor of my statement, and then turns back to continue cooking breakfast.

I walk out of the kitchen, not glancing toward Nickolas. Once the door closes behind me, voices begin talking. My mind wanders to my family again. I do not like how every stray moment my thoughts travel to my past. It tears my heart apart every single time I think of my mother and my father; how happy they were together. With

“Alex, you can’t escape without my help.”

I turn around to find Marianne standing behind me. “I can help you leave this place without Matt noticing.” I nod. “Is that possible, Marianne.”

She smiles her aged smile. “Yes, sweetheart. I can put small thoughts into his head that can distract him for a certain amount of time.”

“Thank you. We’re not leaving until tonight though.”

“You’ll need to get a large amount of food if you’ll be missing dinner tonight, child.”

I smile at her, understanding what she meant. She grabs my hand and leads me to the dining room table. “Sit next to Nickolas. You two need to get along.” She laughs to herself, but Nickolas continues to ignore my presence. I do not like it, but it is necessary. Marianne must have told him our new plan, because his perfect eyebrows move up ever so slightly. Matt walks into the dining room, causing a shiver slide down my spine. I eat the pancakes, eggs, and a few links of sausage. I don’t take a piece of toast, because Nickolas made it. I’m not even sure if it tasted good anyway. After filling up my stomach, I carry my plate to the sink and then I saunter slowly to my room. I lay on my bed for a bit and close my eyes.