February Fiction Friday!! Episode 4

“What makes you think I’m just a man?”  Simon said with a small grin.

          Somehow, I knew he was going to say that.  Over the last couple hours I had been unnerved in a way I had never been before.  Oh sure, this wasn’t my first strange encounter, but usually I was the cause of it, not the other way around.  I knew at the train station he was different, I just didn’t know how much different.

“You are an amazing little thing aren’t you?  So beautiful, and so unaware of your own gifts.  The fact that we are even sitting here talking is exhilarating.  I’ve wanted to talk to you for so long.”  Simon said interrupting my thoughts.

          Exhilarating?  This man hadn’t so much as twitched while sitting on my couch, but he was excited?  “Why do you say that?  What gifts?  How long have you been stalking me?”  I asked.

“Patience Ella, we’ll get to all that.  But first, we really need to get past this trust issue.”  He moved so fast I barely had time to react before he was standing in front of me reaching out.

          It was a reflex, something I’d learn to control over the years, but when I got scared, things just…happened.  I was suddenly standing in the doorway across the room again while he was left staring at my empty chair.  I moved slightly and he slowly turned to face me, grinning like a madman.

“Very good Ella.  I was wondering how long it would take.  You have some control and that my dear is such a rare quality in a woman.”  Simon said.

“What are you?”  I asked again.  “No human could move like that.”

“Now I would say that was the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?”  Simon said. 

          I was starting to get irritated with this little cat and mouse game he was playing.  He lunged for me again, and once again I was on the other side of the room, standing next to the couch.  Only this time I was holding Grover in my arms.  If I was going to make a break for it, I wasn’t leaving him behind no matter how much of a tratoir he was right now.

“Impressive.  What do you call that by the way?”  Simon asked causally.

“Blinking.”  Embarrassing as it was, I had never been able to come up with a better word for it.

          Simon tilted his head back and roared with laughter.  “Blinking.  Well, I suppose that’s as good a description as any.  Do you have anything else you want to show me?”  Now he was leaning his left side against the door frame and crossed his arms, waiting for my response.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t leave now.”  I said, once again with a lot more confidence than I actually felt.  I knew what he was.  He was a demon, and I had always been taught to never trust a demon.  I’d seen a few over the years, but I had always been taught to stay away from them.  If they didn’t see me, they couldn’t hurt me.

“You’re not going to hurt me Ella.  I’m stronger than you are and I’ve already told you that I’m here to help you.”

“You’re a demon.  What do you want from me?”  I asked.

“I’m not a demon Ella.  However some people might call me that based on past experiences.”  He was smiling again.  It was a nice smile, a wicked smile.

“If you’re not a demon, then what the hell are you?”  I was getting annoyed.

“I’m a Sidhe.  Well, half one anyway.”  He said it so nonchalantly I thought he was being sarcastic again.  Then I looked into those eyes again and saw the truth, he was serious.

“A what?”  I asked trying not to sound as disturbed as I felt.

“A Sidhe.  Daoine Sidhe actually.”  He made it sound like I was supposed to know what that was.

“What the hell is a Doaine Sidhe?”  I asked exasperated.  Trying to get a straight answer out of Simon was like trying to get Grover to try a new cat food.  Impossible.

          Simon sighed, shook his head slightly and said, “So much to learn.  Let me ask you something first Ella.  Who taught you how to ‘blink’ or do the glamour you attempted to fool me with earlier at the train station?”

          So he had seen me.  It hadn’t been my imagination, he saw me and I saw him.  The real me, not the one everyone else sees, but me.  I try very hard to remain unnoticeable to people and the things that go bump in the night.  If they can’t see me, they can’t hurt me.  That was lesson one and it has been my motto all my life. 

“That’s none of your business.  What do you mean ‘glamour’?”  I said holding Grover a little tighter.

“I saw through your shield.  The one you were trying to hide behind.  It was a good effort, but like I said, I’m stronger than you are.  However you did surprise me by seeing through mine.  Not many can do that.  Tell me, what do I look like right now?”  He asked.

“You’re kidding right?”  I asked raising an eyebrow.

“What do I look like Ella?”  Simon asked again.

“Fine.  You’re tall, about 6’2”.  You have dark brown hair and blue eyes.  You have a straight nose and high cheekbones.  Your shoulders are broad but you don’t look like a body builder.  You’re skin is fair, but not pasty white.  It looks smooth, unblemished.  How old are you anyway?”

“Excellent.  And that’s none of your business.”  He said throwing my words back at me.  I’d left out the part about him being strikingly gorgeous.  I didn’t want to feed his arrogance.

“So what does that prove?”  I asked.

“That you can see what others can’t.  You’re unique.  Untrained, but powerful.”  Simon said.

          I’d had enough.  Simon had rattled me and I wasn’t going to sit by and let him continue to goad and frighten me.  He needed to go, so I could run.  I raised my palm up in front of me.  I saw Simon’s eyes widen slightly when he looked at my outstretched hand.  His mouth opened slightly as if he was about to say something.

“I’m not that untrained.”  I said, right before I threw a fireball at his head.

 

This post is part of a weekly fiction challenge I'm trying. It's a new month and that comes with a new theme. This month's theme is romance and this week's prompt was:

Your character has a certain deep-held belief about love and fidelity. This belief may be based on religion, on something s/he learned from her/his parents, or on her/his own experience. Decide what this belief is and where it came from. In your story, something happens to the character that seems incompatible with this belief. How does your character react? Write the story.

Make sure you check out the other writers participating!

http://www.worldsworstmoms.com/
http://www.susannenelson.wordpress.com/
http://www.debiehive.blogspot.com/
http://www.mollyfield.com/
http://the-suds-box.blogspot.ca/
http://quirkychrissy.wordpress.com
http://neargenius1.blogspot.com
http://itsadomelife.com

And make sure to visit our tweet pages at:

@clearlykristal
@worldsworstmoms
@BuLaMamaNi
@SusanneNelson1
@ItsADomeLife
@DeBieHive
@MollyFieldTweet
@Near_Genius

February Fiction Friday!! Prompt 3

     The room went still around me again, just like at the train station.  Click.  Nothing else in the room mattered except him.  His presence felt large, unworldly and slightly dangerous.  Part of me was screaming “run” and another part of me was screaming “mine”.  I should have run.

“Who are you?”  I asked standing frozen in the doorway.

“A friend.”  He said.  He was sitting lazily on my sofa with my traitorous cat Grover curled up next to his leg purring and watching me.

“Friends usually knock and wait to be invited in before making themselves at home in my apartment.”  I said with a lot more confidence than I really felt. 

“How did you get in here by the way?”  I asked, starting to get some of my nerve back.

“Grover let me in.”  He said with a smile on his face and a flash in those blue eyes that could have been amusement or insanity, I wasn’t really sure which.

          Once again I felt the room growing smaller around me.  How did he know my cat’s name?  If he was trying to unnerve me, mission accomplished.  I tried not to show my discomfort at his statement and just stared straight into his eyes.  Neither one of us said anything for what seemed like an eternity.  Finally I heard his voice next to my ear again, “Relax Ella, I’m not going to hurt you?”  However his expression never changed and he didn’t as much as twitch on my sofa.  He sat so still it reminded me of Grover when he’s about to pounce on a cat toy.

          I did an involuntary gasp, and took a small step back until my back was up against the door frame.  “That’s the second time you’ve done that.  How are you doing that?  What do you want?  How do you know my cat’s name?”

          I was asking too many questions all at once, verging on the edge of complete panic.  I was starting to think this wasn’t just an ordinary psychopath who’d broken into my apartment and befriended my cat.  This man, this beautiful, elegant, mysterious man wasn’t just a man.  And he was dangerous.

“Ella.  Please sit down.  I’m not going to hurt you.  I just want to talk to you.  Look, Grover trusts me, you should too.”  This time he spoke in a clear voice with a slight accent I couldn’t quite place.

“Obviously he’s lost his mind too.”  I said moving slightly away from the wall.  I made my way slowly, cautiously to the chair sitting as far away from him as possible.

“Who are you?”  I asked again.

“My name is Simon.”  He said getting a little more comfortable on my couch.

“What are you?”  I asked.

“Ah, better.  Now that’s a better question and one that’s not easily answered.”  Simon said pointing a finger at me and grinning.

“What do you want?”  I had still not received a straight answer from this man/thing/creature and my frustration was starting to show. 

“To help you.  Think of me as your guide.  You’re going to need one.”  He said it so calmly that it was hard not to burst out laughing or better yet run away screaming.  I suddenly had a flash of every slasher movie I had ever seen and thought running away screaming seemed like the appropriate action.  This was the most insane situation I had ever found myself in, and I’d been in quite a few.  But something was keeping me from throwing a lamp at his head and running for the door.  I just didn’t know what at the time.

“You want help me?  Sorry Simon, but I’m all set on men who like to be lunatic stalkers.  Thanks for the offer but I think I’ll pass.”  I have a tendency to turn to sarcasm when I’m unnerved.

Simon’s smiled wavered slightly and his eyes flashed at me again.  “What makes you think I’m just a man?” 

This post is part of a weekly fiction challenge I'm trying. It's a new month and that comes with a new theme. This month's theme is romance and this week's prompt was:

When was the last time you looked into someone’s gorgeous eyes? Maybe they were sea green and seemed to have all the secrets of the world behind them? What would happen if you had a chance to know this person intimately? Then you find that person has a dark secret that would bring your perfect but lonely life to its knees.

Make sure you check out the other writers participating!

http://www.quirkychrissy.wordpress.com
http://www.worldsworstmoms.com/
http://www.bulamamani.com/
http://www.susannenelson.wordpress.com/
http://www.itsadomelife.com/
http://www.debiehive.blogspot.com/
http://www.mollyfield.com/
http://neargenius1.blogspot.com/
http://the-suds-box.blogspot.ca/
http://www.quirkychrissy.com/
And make sure to visit our tweet pages at:

@clearlykristal
@worldsworstmoms
@BuLaMamaNi
@SusanneNelson1
@ItsADomeLife
@DeBieHive
@MollyFieldTweet
@Near_Genius

 

 

 

February Fiction Challenge – Part 1

           Have you ever had the feeling someone’s watching you?  Call it a sixth sense or just being perceptive if you want, but either way; you just know when someone is watching you.  I felt him watching me before I ever saw him.  My name is Ella and today is the day my life changed.  Today is the day I was seen; truly seen for the first time.

          I was standing on the train platform waiting for the 6:13pm train home.  Just like every other day for the past four years.  I had my headphones on to block out the noise of people milling about around me, all of them anxious to get home on a Friday night.  I’m sure they all had families waiting for them or a night out planned with someone special.  I had Grover, just Grover; my incredibly lazy anti-social cat.  He could really care less if I was home or not, as long as his food bowl was refilled every morning.

          As I stood on the platform listening to my IPod, I started thinking about how routine my life had become.  I don’t know when it happened exactly, I’m not sure when each new day had suddenly become a repeat of the one before.  Maybe it was inevitable, maybe it’s because I like routines, schedules, planning, and being invisible.  Maybe I just preferred being predicable, maybe I just really liked the order of my life, or maybe I’m just the most boring person on the planet. 

          Men and relationships have never been a big part of my life.  I’m not the girl who turns heads when she walks into a room.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ugly, I’m just sort of unnoticeable.  I’m the watcher, I’m the one men never really see in a social setting.  I watch, listen and make a mental note of everything.  I see them, but they rarely see me.  I work very hard to make people believe I'm just another shy girl in the corner, even though I'm typically the most dangerous thing in the room.

          When the train arrived, I boarded along with everyone else and took a seat in the back of one of the cars.  As I started to sit down, I felt something prickling my spine.  It felt familiar, like the fingers of a lover sliding lightly up my back, but there was no one there.  I tried to shake the feeling off and sat down in the seat.  It didn’t work, something was off; something just didn’t feel right.  I turned to look out the window and that’s when I saw him.  He was standing on the platform, as close as he could get to my window, just looking at me.  

          His eyes met mine and it felt like a door closed.  Click.  Everything around me went quiet and still; there was nothing else, just him.  Just those eyes, blue, blue eyes with dark eyelashes that seemed to be looking straight into my sole.  Bottomless pools of blue that seemed surprised one second and insane the next.  He never moved, and we just stayed that way, neither one of us moving, neither of us smiling, just staring.  He never looked away and neither did I.  It wasn’t until the train started moving that I felt the link between us start to break and it felt wrong.  I didn’t want the connection to end, I felt desperate to hold on to it.  When he was almost out of sight I heard a soft whisper in my ear. “I’ll be seeing you again”.

          I should have been terrified.  I should have started screaming and asking for someone to call the police, but I wasn’t.  I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t hysterical, I wasn’t even shaking at the realization that I still had my headphones in my ears, so there was no way I could have heard him.  I was unexplainably…calm and curious.  Who was he?  And why did I suddenly feel like I'd just made a huge mistake leaving him behind?

          I spent the rest of the ride staring out the window, trying to make sense of what had just happened.  The logical part of my brain was telling me I was being ridiculous and he was just some creepy guy on the train platform.  He probably got his kicks out of scaring women and to just chalk it up to another lunatic in the city.  However there was the other part of my brain, the part I keep hidden, that kept telling me it was real.  That he’d seen me, and I’d seen him and that there was a connection between us that couldn’t and shouldn’t be ignored.  Good or bad.

          As I walked up to my apartment door, I suddenly froze.  My key poised in front of the door lock, the feeling was back.  He was close, I knew without a doubt he was near.  I stopped and turned around, looking down the hall, expecting to see him standing there again, but he wasn’t there.  I stood there for a full minute, waiting for him to appear, but he never did.  I sighed and thought to myself “well, it was official; you’re losing your mind”.  I shook my head and turned to let myself into my apartment.

          As usual, I set my bag on the end table next to the door, dropped my keys in the bowl next to it and crossed to the living room.  I turned on the lights and froze for the second time in less than five minutes.  He was sitting on my couch, lightly stroking Grover, who was sitting in his lap.  My anti-social cat, who hated everyone but me, was sitting in a stranger’s lap, relaxed and purring.

“Hello Ella.  I told you I’d be seeing you again.”  Click.

This post is part of a weekly fiction challenge I'm trying. It's a new month and that comes with a new theme.  This month's theme is romance and this week's prompt was:

When was the last time you looked into someone’s gorgeous eyes? Maybe they were sea green and seemed to have all the secrets of the world behind them? What would happen if you had a chance to know this person intimately?  Then you find that person has a dark secret that would bring your perfect but lonely life to its knees.

Make sure you check out the other writers participating!

http://www.quirkychrissy.wordpress.com
http://www.worldsworstmoms.com/
http://www.bulamamani.com/
http://www.susannenelson.wordpress.com/
http://www.itsadomelife.com/
http://www.debiehive.blogspot.com/
http://www.mollyfield.com/
http://neargenius1.blogspot.com/
http://the-suds-box.blogspot.ca/
http://www.quirkychrissy.com/
And make sure to visit our tweet pages at:

@clearlykristal
@worldsworstmoms
@BuLaMamaNi
@SusanneNelson1
@ItsADomeLife
@DeBieHive
@MollyFieldTweet
@Near_Genius