Preview of Chapter Two

Chapter Two

While waking up, I smelled the aftermath of Erica’s night.  Even through the smell, she was still passed out.  Apparently she had gotten up to clean herself up at the very least.  She was in pajamas and her hair was wet.  However, she hadn’t taken the throw up out.  Picking up the trashcan, I took it to the community showers and cleaned it out.

“I see you had a fun night.”

I turned to see a tall pale girl with long red hair in a towel and she had her shower gear, “Wish it was.  No, this is my roommate’s.  She’s still passed out, but I didn’t want this smell in the room any longer.”

She cringed, “How could you even sleep with that smell?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know.  I never even heard her get sick.  All I know is I woke up to it.  I’m Brenna in 434.  Who’re you?”

“Aeria, I’m your neighbor in 432.  Well you have fun cleaning that up.  And it’s nice to meet you.” She said as she passed.

I nodded, “Yeah ditto.”

She walked into the shower at the far end, I assumed, to get away from the smell.  Luckily for me the cleaning ladies were starting to walk in when I left with the now clean trashcan.  They probably weren’t surprised to see that some students have already gone nuts.

Back in the room, Erica was starting to wake up, “What time is it?”

“It’s almost ten.  Are you feeling any better?” I asked.

She groaned and rolled over, “Ugh, I’m going back to sleep, shut the blinds.”

Well, you’re welcome for putting sheets on your bed and cleaning up your nasty throw up.  After putting my shower stuff away, I checked Facebook for a few minutes before getting bored.  Throwing on some jeans and a black tank top, I decided to go to the dining hall for some breakfast.

Walking down the sidewalk I saw a lot more freshmen then I thought there would be headed to breakfast.  I figured everyone would be in bed with hangover.  “Brenna!  Hey, wait up!”

Turning I saw the same red-haired girl from the bathroom, “I thought you were in the shower.”

She caught up, “I take quick showers.  I was going to stop by and see if you wanted breakfast, but I heard you leaving.”

“Well that doesn’t sound creeperish.  Do you know what they have for breakfast?”

She laughed, “Didn’t mean to make it sound like that.  I’m not sure.  I heard they have a guy who’ll make omelets for you, a lot of other random hot food, and a cereal bar.”

“This sounds like it’s going to be a nutritious year,” I commented with my expectation still low.

Luckily, it was late enough, or early enough that there weren’t a lot of people at the dining hall.  We showed our ID’s then set our stuff down at an empty table before going to grab some food.  Everything looked so greasy that all I could stomach to eat was some Fruity Pebbles from the cereal bar.  At least they have a lot of choices for cereal.

“So, how are you enjoying living with Erica?” Aeria asked as she sat down across from me.

That question took me off guard, “How do you know Erica?”

She gave me a half smile, “She was in my orientation group.  She was quite the popular girl.  All she would talk about is her life in California and how much of a party girl she was.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that story.  When we moved in yesterday, she never shut up.  I came back from a walk last night to her passed out on my bed.  I had to pick her up and put her on her own bed.”

“You should’ve just shoved her onto the floor.  She’s used to being spoiled, and from what it sounds like, you aren’t helping the situation.”

Rolling my eyes I just shook my head, “I don’t plan on catering to her all the time.  I only did it last night so I could actually get some sleep.  Her sprawled out on my bed and refusing to move made that kind of hard.”

“I can understand that.  Although I’m telling you, if I were her roommate, I would have just shoved her onto the floor.   Then again, I seem to be meaner than you,” she said as she shoved an egg into her mouth.

I couldn’t help but laugh at that, “Oh you just haven’t seen me mad.  If she really had gotten to me, then you would’ve had words.  Anyway, enough talk about my obnoxious roommate.  Where are you from?”

“Maryland.  I wanted to go to a small college away from home…far away.  My parents were driving me crazy with the strict schedule they had me on.  I hate those damn curfews.  At least while here, I can be out as late as I want and nobody cares.  What about you?  Where are you from?”

Before I could even answer another voice appeared behind me, “Hey Aeria, mind if I join?”

Although she seemed annoyed, Aeria just smiled, “Sure Damon, pull up a seat.”  She was just about to introduce the two of us but there were no introductions needed.  He was the same guy who waited for Erica last night.  She noticed my glare and shut up.  Not to mention he interjected as always with his own comments.

“Hello again Brenna.  Are you actually going to talk to me or completely ignore me?”

His smug grin pissed me off, “I haven’t decided yet.”

Aeria was totally lost in this entire glare-fest, “Am I missing something here?”

This time I jumped in before he could, “He decided to drop by last night and annoyed me while waiting for Erica to come back.”

She shot a shocked glance towards him, but he just shrugged with a sheepish grin on his face.  “Why were you looking for her?  You know how annoying she is.”

“Maybe so, but she knows where all the parties are at,” he defended.

All this guy had to do was speak and I was completely annoyed.  Even though I hate my roommate, to use her really upset me.  I hate two-faced people. 

“So Brenna, what were you doing outside at five in the morning?”

So he did see me…this could be a big problem, “What were you doing outside that early?”

I had hoped that if I threw the question back in his face he’d just give a smug grin then laugh.  I’m not that lucky, “I just finished some partying and decided to smoke some pot in the woods.”

Before I could even respond, Aeria jumped in, “Smoking pot?  Come on, are you really that much of a loser, you pothead?”

“Hey, to each his own.  I like pot, and apparently Brenna likes wandering in the woods during the middle of the night.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”  I didn’t mean to respond…he just brought out the anger in me too quickly.

He knew he got to me.  That made it much worse, “Well from the way you shooed me out of your room last night I assumed you were going to go to bed.  But to my surprise, I saw you with some other pot heads, and then you just vanished into the woods when you saw me.”

“I didn’t run away if that’s what you mean.  And I wasn’t smoking pot.  I was exploring through the woods, and when I saw you I happened to have remembered that I forgot something where I was exploring.” I retorted.

Even Aeria, who had been my ally this whole time, didn’t seem to believe me, “You were exploring the woods…really early this morning?”

This was bad.  Nobody had ever seen me before, and I wasn’t about to let him blow it for me, “Yes.  I’m a country girl.  At home I explored our back woods all the time.  A lot of different kinds of animals only come out in the morning and I like to go and watch them.”

For Aeria, the excuse seemed valid enough.  Damon, however, was not as convinced, “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

That’s it.  I’ve had it, “Unlike you Damon, I don’t use people or lie to get what I want.  I hardly ever lie.  And besides, it’s none of your business in the first place.  For all we know the pot’s still messing with your head and that’s why you’re asking me so many questions and acting like a douche bag.”  I stood up so fast I almost knocked over my bowl, “Aeria, I’m going back.  I’ll talk to you later.”

Even though I was storming off I could hear her scolding him, “What’d you do that for?  She’s a nice person and you had to go and be an idiot!”  Although I didn’t hear him say anything, I could feel his eyes bearing into my back.

By the time I got back to the dorm, Erica was finally alive, “Where’d you go?  I was going to see if you wanted to get something to eat with me and my friends.”

For a girl who got away with a lot at home, she sure sucked at lying, “I already went out.  I knew you wanted to sleep with silence so I decided it was best for me to leave and go ahead and get something to eat.”

She seemed startled by my nice response, “Oh, well thanks, but you didn’t have to do that.  Well hey, I’m going out to some more parties tonight, did you want to come?”

I shook my head, “No I’m good.  I’m just going to relax tonight and work on some stuff.  But you have fun; just don’t get as crazy as you did last night.  You barfed all in that trash can.”

Instead of feeling embarrassed she just laughed, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.  It happens when alcohol is involved, what can I say.  Alright well I’ll see you later.”

She rushed out the door.  Apparently she knew we weren’t going to be the best of friends.  It wouldn’t surprise me if she moved in with someone else before the semester ended.  Looking at her side of the room, I noticed she still hadn’t made much progress on unpacking.  Although, there were some clothes stuffed in her dresser, so there was a little progress made. 

The one good thing is that she put up a full-length mirror on the door.  Mostly used for her vanity, but useful for me as well.  Taking off my tank top, to only be in my sports bra, I looked at my back.  The scars from the accident were still there and very noticeable.  There was on large scar on my back, but also a lot of smaller scars that surrounded it.  In the middle of my back there was just a long jagged line going down my back.  Even on my stomach, there were some cuts that hadn’t healed, no matter how much medicine I used.  Part of my punishment I assume.  Nobody is supposed to die and come back.  Although it happens all the time in hospitals, I know I wasn’t one that was supposed to come back.  I wish I could remember what happened during those minutes but nothing came to me.  All I knew was one minute I felt a sharp pain, the next I felt numb and the smell of medicine surrounded me.

Remembering all that just made me flinch.  Throwing on my pajama pants and another tank top, I turned the TV onto The Food Network again, and decided to get online to waste time.  Computer games always seemed to entertain me.  After checking my Facebook, I threw up a video game and played for what felt like hours.

While playing I couldn’t keep my mind off the conversation in the dining hall.  There’s still that big question of how could he see me, but something else bothered me.  He seemed like he thought he knew a lot more about what was going on then he let on.  I’ve never met him before, and none of the spirits I’ve spoken to mentioned a newborn shaman.  The old lady in the woods mentioned one, but she made it sound like that seal was ancient.  Though, I could have misunderstood.  There hasn’t been a shaman around for a long time that I knew of.  They are a rare people, seeing is how their culture died out for the most part.  Many cultures are deep into their history, but some ancient knowledge has since been lost.  Even now, many descendants can only sense the presence of spirits but not see them clearly.  

This was going to cause problems.  I was already enough of a freak.  I don’t need this guy around to blab about me to the whole school. People probably already think I’m some sort of drug addict.  It would be bad if he claimed he saw me, and then Erica mentions that I was asleep in bed.  Maybe if that happens, I could just play off that the drugs were getting to his head.  Then again, I’m already the outcast, so people would probably believe him over me.  It’s usually how things tend to go.  

After a little while I heard a knocking at the door, “Come in.”

Aeria walked in, “What happened at breakfast?  You and Damon seemed like you guys had some major issues for just meeting.” 

I shrugged,” I didn’t just meet him.  He was here last night looking for Erica, as you remember, and he pissed me off.  He continues to do so with his attitude.”

“He does have an attitude but you get used to it,” she said with a smile.

“I don’t want to get used to it.  I just want him to leave me alone,” I said facing my computer.

She whined, “Oh come on!  Please try to get along with him!”

She seemed a little more than persistent that I get along with him.  This is just going to be fantastic, “You want to date him, don’t you?”

It was obvious.  Her face immediately turned red, “I don’t know!  It’s just something I’m interested in.  I don’t know if anything is going to happen, but at the very least, can’t you try to be civil?”

It was weird.  Usually you talk about this stuff with your really good friends.  I’ve only known Aeria for less than a day and she was already acting like we were best friends.  Maybe she’s like me and she has no other friends, though it didn’t seem possible.  She seemed more social, than me, “I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise anything.”

That seemed to cheer her up, “Thank you!  He’s not that bad of a guy, you just have to get to know him more.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, “Yeah whatever.  Don’t worry; I’ll do my best not to continue fighting.  Maybe if I’m lucky he’ll stop being a wise-ass.”

She laughed, “That’s just his personality, but he isn’t that way all the time.  Sometimes he can be really sweet and really funny.”

“Well, whatever just do what you want.  I won’t stand in the way of true love or anything,” I said sarcastically.

“Oh come on, its not true love.  I just hope that maybe something can happen.  Dating, sex, whatever.  Though I would actually like to start some sort of relationship with him.  I just have to see,” she said casually.

I didn’t really have anything to say, so I just kept playing my game.  She went and jumped on my bed and started to watch TV.  Only ten minutes went by, before Erica decided to join our quiet little party by walking in, “Hey Brenna, what are you-,” she stopped for a second to register Aeria in the room, but only for a moment, “-doing right now?  Want to come with me to the store?  Your friend can come too.  I’m going to stock up on some groceries for the room.”

I shut down my game, “No thanks, I’m good.  Shouldn’t you unpack your things first?  You won’t even know if you have any room for food, if you don’t unpack.” 

She just let out some strange laugh, “I’ll do that later.  I want to get some food to snack on.”

I was just going to let it be, but apparently Aeria couldn’t stop herself, “I think Brenna is right.  You should unpack first because if you come back with a lot of food then unpack, you’ll have no room to put anything.  Besides, you’re being rude.”

Erica and I jerked our heads to look at her.  I had a look of shock, and she had one of disgust.  I was waiting for Erica’s head to explode when her face turned bright red, but I started to laugh anyway.  It was the first time someone had stood up for me, and it was about something as little as unpacking.  Erica didn’t even have anything to say, she just stormed out of the room.  Aeria couldn’t figure out why I was laughing so hard, “What’s so funny?  That was about to bring out the worst in her, which is what I was waiting for!”

I had to make her wait a second so I could breathe again, “I couldn’t help it.  Your reaction and her face just pulled the laugh right out of me.  Plus a few other things, but they don’t matter.”

“Well at least I know you can actually laugh now.  I just thought you were a closed off person who never smiled or anything,” she commented.

I just looked at her, “I’ll admit I’m closed off, but I have my reasons.  Although that won’t always stop me from having a good time.  Thanks for sticking up for me by the way.”

This time she laughed, “No biggie.  She was driving me crazy with her stuck up attitude.  Even though I hate her I was hoping to run to the store.  I have my car here, do you want to go to Wally World with me?”

It probably wouldn’t hurt for me to at least have one friend here I guess, “Sure, just give me a couple minutes to get ready.”

She jumped off my bed and headed towards the door, “Sure, I’ll come knocking on your door in ten minutes.”

As soon as she shut the door, I just threw my sweatshirt and put my tennis shoes on.  I didn’t really need any time to get ready, but I was curious as to where Erica stormed off too.  I was kind of hoping she’s hiding in a corner crying somewhere.  I jumped onto my bed and forced myself to fall asleep.  Her energy was easy to trace and follow.  Turned out she had just gone down to the end of the all to another girl’s room.

“Geez Erica how can you stand living nearby her.  She is such a….a…I don’t even know!  There isn’t a word for it,” said one of Erica’s friends.

Erica just shook her head, “I know.  It’s awful.  My roommate isn’t too bad, but I think it will get worse if she keeps hanging out with Aeria.  She’s already given me a bit of attitude, like just now.  I asked her if she wanted to go with us, but she refused then told me to unpack.  A little bossy if you ask me.”

I was going to stay to hear a little more, but I heard Aeria banging on my door asking if I were ready to go.  Rushing back to my body I felt a little sick.  Sometimes when I come out of my body too fast and in the daytime I felt weaker.  Apparently there’s a reason spirits only really come out at night or in the evening.  During the day it felt like your spirit didn’t exist.  When I looked down at my hands, I didn’t even see them.  It’s like the sun was erasing me for being out when I wasn’t supposed to be.  An energy hit me when I was heading back, that made me feel a little sick.  Something else was out when it wasn’t supposed to be also.  As I flew past Aeria, I saw what looked to be a small demon on her back.  It didn’t seem to mind me at all, but just seeing it bothered me.  It looked extremely weak, and it was only surviving by clinging to Aeria’s energy source.  What was it?

“Brenna!  Come on!  How long does it take to get ready for the store?” Aeria yelled.

I opened the door quickly, “Sorry, I drifted off to sleep for a second.  Let’s go.”  I walked behind her, staring at her back.  I hate knowing the demon was there and I couldn’t see it.