Blue at Midnight (10 page)

Chapter 22

The night was
filled with the howling of dark winds, the rustling of leaves and rainfall
which whipped against my bedroom window, keeping me awake. However this wasn’t
the only thing that distracted me from sleeping. My mind was spinning like a
hamster wheel. Bored from lying in bed with my eyes closed whilst telling myself
I was sleeping, I decided to have a look at the pictures Sonia had emailed me,
from the night we broke into the old shoe factory. Before I walked over to my
laptop, which was camouflaged on the surface of my mahogany computer table, I
took a quick glimpse of the factory in front. Nothing, not a single speck of
light, shone through. It looked empty like it used to.

I recalled the interior
of the rooms as I glared at their shady, concealed windows, the flashbacks were
so clear I imagined I could see right through. There were still so many
unanswered questions like what was at the top of the stairs or who? Who was
making all that noise? Was whatever we heard real or was it the result of our
imaginations combined with our heightened emotions?

The photographs were
taken from very odd angles. You could tell Sonia was just clicking away on the
camera in her phone. Most of the images were similar; blurry, dark and
distorted except one… the second floor. I remembered going up the stairs to the
second floor but Sonia stopped a couple of steps before she reached the top.
The image showed an old coat rack across the room at the foot of the staircase
that would lead to the top floor (where the noise came from). Suddenly, my eye
caught a glimpse of an unexpected circular shaped object at the top of that
staircase. After zooming in closely I noticed a speck of reflected light
revealing the object’s rounded shape. After zooming in further I saw it had
shoe laces.
 

Suddenly I slammed my
laptop shut and moved back. What was I doing? Disturbed by an image, a picture,
it’s static! It was the realisation of the fact that an unknown person had been
watching us. For some reason a part of my mind thought that the boot was going
to move, revealing its owner by coming through my laptop screen. After a deep
breath I carefully opened my laptop and stared at the boot for a moment before
cropping the image and saving it to email Sonia. To the left side of the room
was a dining table missing all its chairs but one. Strangely I could see the
chair legs underneath the table but not the top half of the chair. Perhaps it
was a stool even though the piece of furniture still looked odd. As soon as I
brightened the image I realised why I couldn’t see the top half of the chair.
It was covered with a charcoal coloured jacket which had a brand label printed
on it. That’s when I realised I didn’t need to look any closer. It was a
leather jacket and I knew exactly who it belonged to.

This time I decided not
to involve Sonia, so I didn’t send her an email of the cropped images. There
was no need to drag my best friend into what could possibly turn out to be a
spider’s web. Lately there had been too many coincidences involving Christian
who seemed to know a lot more than he let on.

Luckily, Sonia’s
survival kit was still in my room.
 
Never
in a million years had I imagined that I would be breaking into a place again,
all by myself. Dressed in those same dark clothes
I
tip-toed cautiously down the stairs, stopping every two seconds to check I
hadn’t woken up my dad or Naomi who was staying here for the night. It took me
three times longer to get down the stairs than getting ready and even longer
turning the key in the front door to unlock it as silently as possible. As soon
as I stepped out I remembered to breathe.
 

Looking straight ahead
I was glad to see that the old factory still looked unoccupied. Knowing that I
could find Christian using the place as a hideout made me more determined.
 
Seeing him would be far better than finding a
complete stranger.
 

Tranquillity radiated
by the starry night made me realise that all the anxiety I was feeling was
created by the noise in my head; all those ‘what ifs’ and conflicting views.
Cancelling it all out I scrambled across the lonely street and past the shabby
entrance of the factory, when it suddenly blew open bringing me to a halt.
Carefully I took four very quiet steps backwards to face the opening of the
doorway, which was now swaying back and forth, thudding as it slammed against
the stone wall behind it. With my hand in my pocket clutching a small can of
extra strong hold hairspray and my forefinger on the button, I peered in. The
ground floor looked different – it was tidier than before.
 

Although I had been
here before I couldn’t help but feel that this room looked even more familiar
now that it was well-kept. Someone was definitely living here or using this
building. Now I just needed to find that jacket and other clues which would
point to Christian. I walked up the stairs barely pressing the soles of my feet
onto the steps. I thought if I used the banisters on each side to lift my
weight towards each step, I would be a lot quieter and quicker. Again there was
not a single trace of anyone on this floor. I was about to make my way up to
the top floor until I remembered the table and chair. This time I saw some used
blue candles which had melted into the table but no sign of the jacket.

As soon as I placed my
foot upon the first step of the staircase to go to the top floor, I heard a
creak.
 
Frozen for a few seconds I waited
for a sound (the sound of heavy footsteps which frightened the life out of
Sonia and I the last time we were here). Yet nothing filled my ears. After a
deathly sigh I slowly crept up the stairs without using the banisters. They
could barely hold the weight of a cat let alone a person.

Mid-way through the
staircase I knelt down and slowly started crawling up, so that I could
surreptitiously peer around the corner before entering what seemed like a
small, private room. Unexpectedly there was a lit lamp shining off an old work
desk with crumpled parcel paper circling a blood-stained chair leg. Surprised
by my suspicions being true I crept closer and rose up to my feet only to see
that this was a box room, a neglected office with no owner. On the table lay
the parcel with the same signature: C Son of Orsa. Where was his jacket?
 

Just then the reality
of what I’d done rushed to the forefront of my mind: I’d trespassed into a
factory that was clearly occupied by someone with anger-management issues. On
the plus side I hadn’t been caught and had all the proof I needed. Why was I
still here then? What if he came back? What if he’s just about to enter? Where
would I hide? I’m sure he wouldn’t let me leave if he saw me here. I mean he
only stopped himself in the canteen due to there being witnesses whereas no one
knew I was here. Flames of desperation sent my heart screaming for its life as
I scrambled down the staircase onto the second floor. Before flying down the
second flight of stairs like a mad woman I glanced out of the front window,
totally unprepared for what I was about to see. An upstairs window well lit by
a street lamp, a laptop and an unmade bed. Where the pillow should have been
was a large, half open rucksack with a fashion magazine and a tennis racket
spilling out of it. You could see right into my room! Nauseated, I couldn’t
breathe. That’s probably why he chose to speak to Sonia, to get to me. He knew
me before I was even aware of him.

Chapter 23

“You know you’re
actually doing the same thing right now,” spoke a deep, firm and familiar
voice. Petrified, I swung round to see Christian standing in the darkest,
shadow-filled part of the room. I fell back against the window which stung me
with its ice-cold bite. Those familiar dark hiking boots were slowly stepping
forward taking him out of the shade into the blue moonlight.

“Stay there. Don’t come
any closer. I said STOP THERE!” I looked around and noticed there was a stack
of blue crates just below an exit sign next to the staircase that went down. I
knew this place, not from when I was with Sonia but from my nightmare.

“Can you see the beach
from here?” I couldn’t control the quiver in my voice.
 

“Yes you can.
From the window behind me.”

“Oh my…” My lungs
weren’t opening. The room was starting to spin so I purposely pressed my damp
back into the window hoping its cold sting would help me keep it together.
Christian took a couple of steps forward and there it
was,
the same jacket. He’d been wearing it.

“Don’t you dare come
closer!
” I was serious and with the level of fear running
through me I was afraid of how far I would go to protect myself.

“You’re the intruder!
Not me!” Sneakily, he took another step forward assuming that I wouldn’t
notice.
 
Now there were just three meters
between us and I wasn’t going to give him any more warnings. I whipped out my
bottle of hairspray and unleashed the contents of the bottle. I didn’t care
anymore. I just wanted to get out of his lair. A couple of seconds later I
found myself almost choking at the taste of the hairspray whilst he stood there
with a furrowed brow, arms crossed and untainted by the thick cloud of
chemicals. No matter how much I sprayed, nothing seemed to affect him. As soon
as the spray left the aerosol can, it dispersed away from him like fairy dust. I’d
tested the spray before I left and didn’t need to try it on my eyes to know it
was hairspray, not the fairy dust it was making itself out to be. What the hell
is going on? I thought. This guy is invincible.

“Water will not harm
me,” he told me firmly.

“It’s not water,
it’s
hairspray which contains chemicals that are harmful to
the eye and it’s flammable!”

 
“The brand name states Aqua which is water.”

“I know that, I’m not
stupid,” I snapped back. Christian tilted his head confused.

I sprayed it one more
time which was a bad move. His expression became rather irritated as he stormed
towards me and aggressively grabbed the hairspray can out of my hand then put
it on the table.

After screaming at him,
demanding it back, I marched towards the table but he blocked my path.

“The water conceals,
obeys, protects and serves us.
 
You
appreciate it, you do NOT WASTE IT!” Startled by his response I slowly started
to step towards the staircase as it happened to be closer than the fire exit. Where
was I going to run? He knew where I lived and finding him on my doorstep was
the last thing I needed, on top of everything else.

“Look, I’m not here to
cause any trouble. Sonia knows I’m here and if I don’t make it back my sister
will notice I’m missing in the morning and call the police. They will then
check my emails and see evidence that indicates this place.”

“You mean the
pictures?” His raised eyebrows and intimidating glare indicated he wasn’t
impressed by my threat.
 

I understood his point
of view but he wasn’t exactly blameless either.
 

“So where does that
leave us?” Christian asked whilst casually stepping back to perch on the side
of the table, lighting a candle. Silence added to the awkward tension in the
air. Christian stared at me pondering on what to do next before taking an
exhausted sigh.

“I’m not the murderer
Sonia made me out to be. In fact, you could say I’m as new to this as you are.”
That could have meant so many things. I hoped he wasn’t going to irritate me
with his lack of detail.
 

“New to what?”

“To the college,
to this life.”
His words hit me
sharp. Just when I’d started to forget, here was another reminder.

“What? You think I
tried to end my old life? Actually forget it. I don’t need to explain myself.
You can believe whatever you want. I came here to collect my parcel.” Abruptly
he stood up, blew out the candle and started to walk away, up the stairs.

“Goodnight Izzie.”

“No, you don’t get away
without explaining where my parcel is and why you took it!” Continuing to
ignore me he started to casually climb the stairs so I desperately looked
around for a way to stop him.
 
Without
thinking I grabbed the aerosol can and flung it at him. He caught it and
stopped in his tracks looking rather annoyed.

“Why would you want an
object covered in blood? You really think that was for you?”

“Do you mean it was for
you then? Is that why it was delivered to me at Hugo’s? So who’s C Son of Orsa
then?” This time he didn’t even flinch at the name, he just glared at me.

“You don’t need to know
this. Just think it was a mistake and delete it from your memory.” Sometimes
Christian sounded like a machine, no emotions just demands. Somehow I needed to
do something to make him explain. I didn’t take this risk for no reason. Now
that I was here I wanted answers, as I knew I wouldn’t have the guts to do this
again.

“OK, so how about you
explain why you’ve broken into this derelict factory and have been living here
illegally? If you’re not sure or can’t remember, I can always ask the police to
help jog your memory.”
 

“You’re not going to
forget everything are you?”
 
Whilst
staring back at him waiting for answers, I decided to perch on the table and
cheekily use the matches he’d left there to light a blue candle.

“I’m all ears,” I
smiled.

Christian wasn’t
threatened by human enforcement. Orsa was sacred to him but he didn’t feel as
if he belonged anywhere any more. Christian slowly sat down at the foot of the
stairs looking deflated and unhappy.

“There are a lot of us.
We follow Orsa. She is our leader and the letter C stands for my brother, Cale.
Somehow he found me and saw what happened at the coffee house which is how he
got hold of that lovely souvenir.” Every word that poured out of his mouth
sounded well thought out. Even though this was the most I’d ever heard
Christian say, he still seemed vague.

“So why has he sent it
to me? What’s this got to do with me? And why are you hiding out here?”

“Because I left them
all to do something different, I knew that they wouldn’t accept me after this.
That night when those two men brought their brawl to you I lost some of my
control and Cale sensed it. To him it was like
a radar
.
That’s when he saw you there. He probably thought that by threatening you I’d
get the message.”

“What – that they have found
you?”

“Yes.” All Christian
wanted to do was start a new life and because of me he’s now got what seems
like a dangerously large group of people after him. I could have asked more, I
wanted to know more but his silence made me think it’d be rude to question
further, as if I’d over stayed my welcome. Therefore, I apologised for the
intrusion and ran out of there as quickly as possible.
 

Should I phone Sonia
and tell her what happened.
 
For the
first time it didn’t feel right, telling someone else about someone’s downfall.
If Sonia asked I decided I’d be honest but vague, just like Christian. If she
found out I’d gone back to the old factory by myself she’d be lecturing me
about safety for the rest of my life.
 

As soon as I had
sneaked back into my bedroom I went to close my curtains when I caught a
glimpse of Christian standing in the window looking straight at me, smiling
before blowing out the candle.