The Lie (The Skyy Huntington Series) (2 page)

Ten minutes later I heard the door close shut downstairs and it startled me a little. I heard Cupcake’s toenails going nuts on the hardwood floor, so I knew it must be Christian. “Hey my sweet girl, how’s the cutest girl in the whole world doin’ today?! Where’s your Mom at?” he said in his dog voice. Cupcake absolutely loved Christian. He was there the day I picked her out three years ago, commenting on how ironic it was that I lived in Boston and was adopting a Boston terrier. The two of them bonded almost instantly, and she’s always happy to go sleep over at his house when I have to go out of town.

“I’m upstairs in the bathroom, come on up!” I shouted down to him. I heard his feet padding up the stairs.

He stopped about halfway up and called out, “Are you decent?”

“Yeah, just trying to make this cut look better than it really is, so I don’t have to hear your lecture,” I replied jokingly.

He walked into the bathroom, his dark black hair was tousled from the wind that had picked up in the last hour or so. I’d always been attracted to Christian, ever since we first met in our freshman year of high school. He was really tall, 6’5” in fact, and while he was on the skinny side, he wasn’t so skinny that it made him look weird. He wore his clothes well, had deep brown eyes that you could get entranced by, and a smile that was so infectious that you couldn’t help but return it when you saw him. I was never sure if he returned the feelings when we were in high school, and by the time I was sure he did, I didn’t want to risk losing my best friend in case things didn’t work out.

He grimaced at my hand that I was holding over the sink, still bleeding a little. “Yikes, you got yourself good this time. What happened?” he asked as he held out a beer for me. Avoiding the question, I asked him to open it for me, seeing as I only had one good hand at the moment. He eyed me suspiciously as he handed the beer back. “Well? What happened? You can’t avoid me, you should know this by now.” He had a point. I quickly made something up.

“I was rushing to the car in the dark and stumbled with my keys in my hand and it jabbed me. Nothing fancy, sorry to disappoint.” It wasn’t
that
far of a stretch of the truth anyway. Keys
were
involved. He sighed and took a swig of his beer before putting it on the bathroom counter.

“Ok, you know the drill…this might sting a little.” He smiled that infectious beautiful smile of his as he reached for the hydrogen peroxide. “Doesn’t look like you’ll need stitches, and since I already know you’re up to date on a tetanus shot, it doesn’t look like we’ll need an ER trip.” This is the point I become a whining baby which is why when something major happens, I always call Christian.

Ten minutes later, hand fully bandaged up and tears ceased, we were in the kitchen warming up some leftover pizza. I loved the downstairs area of my house, there were big windows everywhere, and almost the entire back side of the house was windowed. It was big, bright, and airy. But tonight I was feeling a little vulnerable with all those windows even though most of them had blinds or shades. I think Christian could sense that I was a little off, “You seem weird tonight, everything ok?” he asked.

“Yeah of course, I’m just really hungry and a little dizzy with the loss of blood,” I lied. “How was work today?” I quickly tried to change the subject.

Mouth full of pizza he replied, “Same crap, different day. You know how it goes. We got a new secretary this week, she’s as dumb as a rock, I’m guessing the only reason she got hired is because John Sr. wanted some eye candy.” He worked as an accountant for a law firm that his best friend, and his best friend's father owned. He put in some crazy hours at times, but made great money and secretly loved his job, the complaining was all for show.

After sipping on his beer he glanced at me, “Hey, did you cut your hair? It looks shorter.”

As he eyed me up and down, I grabbed a slice of pizza and replied, “Yeah, about two inches or so.” Christian loved my hair, and I’ll admit I do get a lot of compliments on it. I’ve kept it long, almost to my waist, since about sixth grade, and it’s thick and shiny and a deep auburn color. He tousled the top of my head with his hand and smiled at me. Standing at 5’7” I only came up to about just under his chin.

“It looks good, always looks good, though I’m biased. You want to toss a movie in or watch some TV?” He was pretty good about not dwelling on any one subject at a time, which at a time like this was perfect for me. We plopped down on the couch complete with blankets, popcorn, candy and beer, along with Cupcake and proceeded to watch two movies. All the while I snuck glances at the windows, watching and waiting to see something…a face or a person standing there.

As the last movie ended, I noticed the time. “I guess time flies while having fun, it’s almost 4:30 in the morning. Do you have to work tomorrow?” I asked him. He stretched his legs out in front of him and yawned.

“Yeah, I have to be in at 10 a.m. but I’m thinking I might take a sick day. I’ll tell John I had to stay up all night taking care of you, he’ll believe it. He knows how accident prone you are.” I swatted at him with my good hand as I giggled.

“Using me as an excuse to be a slacker, I see how it is!” He whacked me in the arm with a throw pillow.

“How’s the hand feeling now? Any better?” he then asked seriously.

“Four beers later, I am feeling a little bit better I guess.” I glanced over at the large window looking out over the cape in the living room. Feeling nervous, but excited at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I should ask Christian to crash over at my place for the night or not.

“I’ve had seven, feelin' good. You mind if I sleep on the couch tonight? Don’t really want to drive this early in the morning, nothing but police on the road.” Well, I guess that made up my mind for me.

“Of course, you know you don’t have to ask. Let me go grab you some real pillows from the bed.”

I lay in bed for what was remaining of the night staring at the ceiling, and a good portion of the morning, until finally drifting off to sleep. Smelling coffee at some point, I realized Christian must be up and about to head out. I heard him softly open my bedroom door to let Cupcake in before he left. I woke up sometime around three in the afternoon, hand throbbing like hell, and feeling exhausted still. On the kitchen counter I saw a quickly scribbled note from Christian:
Call me when you get up, hope your hand feels better. -C.
It did feel a little bit better, but was still throbbing and some blood had soaked through the bandages he had placed on it overnight.

So the next six days that followed were all about the same. I’d wake up in the afternoon after spending late nights walking or driving around the cemetery hoping to encounter my dark hero. I didn’t think that Mark and his drunken frat boys would dare step foot in there again, hell I was crazy for stepping foot in there again. The nights were uneventful and cold, we had a light snowfall on two of the nights that I was there. But much to my dismay, nothing at all happened, nothing scary, unusual, or uncommon. I even lit a small candle lamp and set it on the edge of the angel gravestone where I had been attacked and saved. Nothing…

Until tonight. Driving up the path to my house, I felt an odd sense of someone watching me. The type of feeling you get when the hairs on the back of your neck raise up. I turned off the ignition and took my pepper spray out of my backpack. As if that would help me ward off a shadow that moves at the speed of light and can take out three men in a split second. But, just to be safe, of course. Opening my car door I quickly darted up the stone pathway that led to my front door, and slid my key into the lock. I saw a tea light candle burning in the corner on my front porch, and underneath it was a piece of paper.

Chapter 2

My heart was racing out of my chest. I bent over slowly to pick up the piece of paper, blowing the candle out. I finished turning the key in my lock and darted into the house, quickly locking the door behind me. Cupcake jumped sleepily off the couch yawning as she came over to greet me. “Hey girl, who came by here tonight, huh girl?” I asked her absently while taking my coat off. I almost ran to the back patio door to let Cupcake out and turned the lights in the dining room and kitchen on. As I unfolded the paper, I saw elegant calligraphy inked out on the paper, which was much thicker than normal paper I noticed.

Dearest Skyy,

I mean you no harm, but have to ask you to please stop trying to look for me. You won’t find me unless I want to be seen. What happened in the cemetery last week was something you should not have remembered, and I know you must be scared and confused. But you must try to move on and forget about your encounter with me.

It knew my name! It knew where I lived, and apparently it knew a lot more about me than I had realized. I read, and reread the note about fifty times over before remembering that Cupcake was still outside. I let her in, and reread it again. Then I ran upstairs and grabbed a pen and my stationary, feeling that a normal piece of paper just wouldn’t cut it after seeing the fancy calligraphy and rich paper my dark hero scribed on. I sat down at my computer desk and began to write.

Dear sir or madam,

No that didn’t seem right. I didn’t know if it had a gender at all. I tapped my pen on the desk a few times and tried again.

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for saving me in Saint Mary’s Cemetery. You seem to know a lot about me. Your letter leaves me with many questions. As I am sure you know, I am curious and intrigued. Please consider some form of future communication with me, you know where to find me.

Awaiting patiently,

Skyy

I quickly folded the letter up, placed in into its matching envelope and darted down the stairs. What the hell was I doing? Communicating with a superhuman at the very least, and possibly demon or something even more terrible at the worst. This thing knew where I lived, knew my name, but I had to know more. This was something I had been waiting for my whole life, something exciting, something to make me feel alive. Opening the front door, I placed the letter in the same spot where the original one was left for me earlier. I re-lit the candle and put it on top of the letter, and shut the door.

I waited upstairs in the dark, my bedroom has a nice little bay window with a space that is perfect to sit, and it faces both the drive and walkways. To the left of the window was a glass door which led to a small balcony. I knew that whatever this thing was it could see me watching, even in the dark. I also knew that it moved fast enough that it could have come and gone in the blink of an eye and that I may have missed it. I wondered if that tea light candle was still lit. Glancing at the clock and seeing it was still early enough by my time at 10:20 p.m. I walked down the stairs to check on the tea light. Just as I was opening my door my cell phone, which I was holding in my hand, rang and scared the bejesus out of me.

It was Christian on the other end, with a lot of background noise. “Christian?” I asked as I shut the front door.

“Skyy, hey I’m sorry to bug you this late.” His speech was slurred a little bit, and I figured he was at a bar or someone's house with his buddies. That was confirmed a moment after he paused when I heard his friend John shout something in the background, followed by a roar of laughter. Fighting the urge to hang up on him, I instead inquired what he needed.

“What’s up Christian? Are you drunk? What do you need?” I heard some muffled talking on his end, followed by a ‘hold on a sec’. In a few moments he came through clearer, obviously moving outside or to the bathroom.

“I know its late Skyy, I’ve had a little bit to drink and don’t want to drive home, you think you can give me a ride? Pretty please?” There was no way I could say no to him, especially if it came down to him driving drunk home or me going to give him a ride.

“Sure I guess, I wasn’t busy. Where can I pick you up?” I asked while putting my shoes back on.

“I’m at a pub on Derby St. but I’ll wait on the corner, you don’t have to come in.” Something in his voice sounded sad, and I decided it was a long time since I had last been out, like out in public, for drinks or social interaction.

“Well, were you guys going to stay and hang out awhile? I could go for a beer.” I asked. His voice brightened up as he replied,

“Sure we can stay and grab a beer if you’d like. I’ll wait out front for you, just give me a call when you’re parking ok?”

I checked the tea light, lit a new one just in case and placed it on top of the envelope and hoped for the best while I was gone. If my dark hero was watching, he would know it would be safe to pick the letter up while I was out. I decided to call a cab since I planned on having a few drinks tonight, and knowing Christian was already half in the bag. I sat on the front steps waiting for the cabbie to arrive scanning the darkness the whole time. Before too long the cabbie arrived and about twenty-five minutes later I was walking up to Christian outside the pub. I could see him smiling from a mile away. As I approached he grabbed me in a bear hug, picked me up, and spun me around. “Wow, what has you so happy?” I inquired. He set me down still grinning from ear to ear.

“It’s been ages since you’ve come out with me, or even gone out in general. I’m just happy you’re here!”

We walked inside and upstairs to meet up with his friends, most of which I already knew. As we approached, his boss and longtime friend John yelled out, “Skyy! You finally made it to the party!” I gave him a small wave while walking up to the table. He was decent looking, medium build and about 6’0” tall with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, but not my type at all.

“Hi John, how you been?” I asked as Christian pulled up another chair for me to sit in.

“Good. Busy as hell at work though. Dad is retiring this year so we’re transitioning the firm over to James and I,” he replied. I sat down and waved at the other gentlemen sitting around the table. John stood up and yelled out for the bartender, “
DRINKS
! We need drinks all around here!” Our bartender came over a moment later to take the order, not wanting to miss out on the tip a group of lawyers and their friends would surely leave. The music was loud and the bar was hot upstairs. Christian wasn’t saying much, just smiling the whole time sitting next to me while I felt uncomfortable watching three of his friends talk about strippers they had supposedly slept with.