Breathless (The Breathe Series Book 1) Page 9

  “I—I can’t.” I burst out into tears, fearing for my life. I rest my arms down by my sides, stopping in place. “AHHHH!” I scream when I feel hands touching me, grabbing my wrist and jolting me down to the floor, closing a door behind me.

  “SH! It’s just me! It’s Riley.”

  “Is it really you?” I rest my hands on his face, feeling his fuzzy beard, smooth lips, and bulging eyes. I pant harder, gripping his neck to hug him infinitely. “It is you.” I whisper in his ear with tears still raining from me.

  “It’s me. I’m here.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “I—I don’t know. I was just sitting at home and next thing I knew, I was here.”

  “Where are we?”

  “We’re in your world.” He says. “This is a place you’ve been to many times before.”

  “What? I don’t know this place.”

  “It’s your subconscious. Something must have triggered you to come here.”

  “What? This makes little sense. Why is it so dark here?” He pulls away from me, lighting a match. I look around to see molded walls, smelly clothes hanging above us, and rusty wire hangers.

  “How did I create a place I’ve never been or even seen and why is it so run down?”

  “You didn’t create it—You’ve been here before, love,” He lowers his head in the small twinkle of light, “and besides, I’m the reason for this decay.” He says.

  “But–” I willow my eyes. “Because you hurt me.” My face contorts as I back away from him, remembering everything.

  “Nora, you must know I–” He reaches out to touch me but I jerk away from him.

  “How could you? How could you leave me? Abandon me?!” I grip my abdomen, reminiscing on painful memories. “I let you hold my deepest secret and you betray me!” I stand to my feet, shaking my head in disappointment. “I don’t need you here.”

  “Nora. I have to help you.”

  “No! Just go.”

  “I can’t.”

  “And why not?”

  “Because you brought me here. I am here for a reason.” I roll my eyes.

  “And what rea–”

  “Shh, they’re coming.” He yanks me down back to the floor and puts the match out. Who are ‘they’?

  “I heard them in there.” A voice says outside of the closet door.

  “Go get them, then.” Another voice muffles. The door swings open and I close my eyes to prevent myself from seeing the harm they would do to us.

  I open my eyes from under a stairwell, hidden. I look through the cracks of the stairs to see a small stubby woman walking through a room.

  “Where did she go?” Another one yanks Riley from the floor of the closet.

  “I don’t know.” His jaw clenches.

  “Tell me.” She whips out her knife and draws it up to his throat. He gulps but keeps his mouth closed.

  “We need him. Put your knife away, Kendra.” A petite man comes out of the shadows. His face mushed in, blue eyes, and a long pointy nose. Kendra nicks Riley’s throat with the knife and he flinches by the pain. His wound oozes red blood. I clench my eyes shut not wanting to witness his pain. Oh no.

  I open my eyes to at least fifty women standing in front of me, confronting me of a crime I didn’t commit. “You killed my fiancé!” Another woman screeches with green tears rolling down her face. I cringe at the sight of her. Her face covered with distended moles and boils. “And you did this to me.” She points to her face, her eyes still oozing green pus.

  “Who are you people!?” I scream. “I don’t even know where I am.”

  “Tuh! She doesn’t even remember us.” A plump woman screams from the crowd.

  “Forget this.” A gun fires off past me, putting a hole into the wall. I scream out in fear and run down a hall. “Let’s get her.” The angry mob follows me. I keep running as the hallway stretches out.

  “Please. Wake me up! WAKE ME UP!” I yelp.

  Greg still watching my demise. “C’mon, Nora. I need to know what happened to you.”

  I find the same stair case I hid under the first time and slide under them again, lying flat on my belly. “Where did she go!? Find her! Search every nook and cranny!” The petite man yelps out to the women.

  “Hey!” Someone whispers beside of me. My head snaps over to see a small child sitting there with her legs crossed.

  “Oh, please.” I beg, “Don’t tell them where I am.”

  “I’m not.” She says. “I’m here to help.” She hands over a small sword with her wrists facing upward. I reach over to grab it from her, almost backing away from her when I notice the small unfinished key tattooed on her wrist.

  “Who are you?” I ask, diffidently.

  “I’m you. I’ve been waiting for so long for you to come back to rescue me.” She chokes back the tears. “Now, save us.” She places the sword into my hands.

  “This isn’t real. This can’t be real. I can’t be here.” I whisper through whimpers.

  “This is real. You can’t be afraid, Nora. There is so much you have to do.” Her small eyelids bat. I notice her short hair almost touching her shoulders.

  “You’re 6, aren’t you?” She nods. “Dad died, didn’t he?” I gulp back the protruding bump captivating my throat. She nods again. Her eyes swelling from the pain. “You’re scared because dad died.” I lower my head, trying to recall the day he died but all I could remember was how terrified I was to be without him.

  “Please save us.” She smiles and vanishes.

  “Okay.” I whisper once she’s gone.

  “Over there!” Kendra shouts, pointing in my direction. I scoot myself on my belly closer to the exit of the stairs. I pull myself up in time to face the knife she’s jabbing at my throat, almost nicking it. I stick my sword into her neck, feeling it puncture her flesh before she could thrust her knife further into my neck. Blood gushes from her jugular, showering me. I welt.

  “KENDRA!” The plump woman rushes over to me, sizing me up before she attacks.

  “Please, I don’t want to hurt you.” I beg her.

  “AHHHH!” She bombards me, I dodge her blade inexorably, climbing onto her back, yanking her head back by her hair and slicing her throat open. I wince at her pain. Her blood spilling out onto my hands, staining them with her agony. She falls down to her knees, then her body slams onto the floor. Her eyes still open, her mouth locked in horror. Blood escapes her still.

  “No, please don’t be real.”

  “NO!” I turn to see the same woman with protruding moles and boils on her face. “What have you done?”

  “WAKE ME UP! PLEASE!” I beg once more.

  She thrusts her small body toward me with her javelin, her blade shaped into a diamond, pointed to my gut. She would kill me. “Please, don’t.” I warn her as she jabs at my gut again, almost stabbing me. Instinctively, I levitate, touching the ceiling. I feel like another person, overtaking this place by killing these people. Her eyes follow me up. “I said don’t.” I pounce down onto her, knocking her to her knees. I lock my right arm around her neck, my left gripping her hair. “What do you want!?” I shriek.

  “We want you and that boy DEAD!” Her voice escapes even though her throat’s being crushed by my locked arms. I pull up on her head and then twist it, breaking her neck. Her limp body drops to the floor.

  I stand facing a doorway. “Wake up now.” The smaller part of me stands there warning me to wake. “Wake up, Nora.”

  I grunt in agony as a blade separates my flesh, my blood spilling onto the floor. Small specs of it bouncing from the floor onto my bare feet. I look down to see the blade sticking through from my back to my stomach, splitting my entity. With trembling hands, I reach for the sword sticking through to the front of me.

  He pulls my hair back to whisper into my ear. “Somnum.” His voice familiar, seeping into my hearing. “Just sleep.”

  12 breathless

  THE PAST 1.4 Continued…

  “AHHH! Please
wake me up! Please!” I plead with my eyes compressed shut. “PLEASE!” My face cringing from the pain burrowing through my back into my stomach.

  “Nora, you are awake. Open your eyes.” I peek open my eyes to Greg Kimball’s office. He’s sitting in front of me, staring at me in disbelief. I lift my shirt to find the wound from the blade sinking into my body but I only see the mark of infertility and the birthmark I’ve always had since I could remember. The birthmark in the same place where I had been stabbed in my dream. I tremble and my hands shake needlessly. “Are you alright?” He interjects. I yank my shirt down, not meaning for him to witness my secret.

  I stand, “You—you did this to me,” backing away from him, holding out my hand, warning him not to come any closer.

  “Do what, Nora? You traveled to your subconscious to face your fears.”

  “Who were those people trying to kill me!? They’re after me. I don’t know who or why but they are and I—I can’t—I can’t breathe. Ugh!” I rake at my throat.

  “Calm down!” He rushes over to me, “Please, just breathe. There is no one here for you. We were just talking, and you screamed.” I wheeze, looking up at him searching his bold eyes for something more than the horrid lie he told but nothing seeps through his irises to tell me otherwise. I didn’t know the difference in reality and fantasy anymore. “Breathe through your nose and out through your mouth.” I suck in through my nose and open my mouth to release the air.

  The door flings open, “Oh, Nora! Are you okay?! I heard you scream all the way down the hall.” Mom scurries over to me, clutching me to her chest. “Breathe baby.” She smooths my hair down. “Sh, it’s okay.” Her dress smells of peppermints and lavender. I close my eyes to smell her a while longer as the sense of security sweeps over me.

  “I’m fine, mom.” I say after moments of allowing her to envelop me.

  She pulls me from her and clasps her hands to sides of my face, “Are you sure?” She asks. Her brown eyes searching mine. Her lips red and her nose, small and button-like just as mine is. I was the spitting image of her.

  “Yes—just, um, had a flashback.” I lie, glaring at Greg.

  He clears his throat, “Could you both sit?” He asks. Mom nods agreeing to do as he asks, forcing me to do the same. He walks around the black leather couch to the door to close it. “This won’t be easy to say.” He sits in his small deep red accent chair, folding his arms over his swollen gut. I don’t know how the chair bears his weight. I roll my eyes.

  “Well, what is it?” Mom sniffles, terrified to hear the news.

  “I think I have a diagnosis for your daughter, Mrs. Jacobs. After months of therapy with her and today’s session, I have noticed symptoms of paranoia, faulty perception, inappropriate actions, and she often loses sense of reality. Now, I can’t be sure just yet but your daughter is showing solid signs of schizophrenia.”

  “WHAT!? No, there is no way that she can be schizophrenic.” Mom exclaims. “What can we do?” I glance over to her to see her wipe the corner of her eyes with her small handkerchief. Her small hands covered with white cloth gloves. Her short sleeve mint green dress complimenting her neck line with a yellow scarf tied around her throat. Why is she so dressy? I squint in confusion at her and watch her act as if all of this were true. I look back to Greg who’s eyeing her. I glance down at the white heels, showing her toes in the front that were painted red.

  “Well, I suggest you work with her. Help her sort out her issues.” I lift one brow at him, noticing the small flirting between the two of them. I look back at mom, who’s looking down at her gloves, tears stream down the sides of her cheeks. Why was she crying?

  “Why are you crying, mom?” I ask her.

  “I—I’m just worried about you. That’s all.” She doesn’t look at me.

  “I’ll be fine. Hey, look at me.” Her dark, brown eyes flicker up to mine. “I will be just fine.” I reassure her.

  “Okay, sweetie. Could you, um, give the doctor and me a moment to talk over some things?”

  “Sure, mom. I’ll just go to the car.” I don’t tell her how afraid I am to walk out of the room without her. I just walk over to the door, open and close it behind me.

  LESLIE

  “How was that?” She smiles at him.

  “Mm, perfect.” He yanks her up by the arms and she falls into his squishy body, kissing him. She runs her hands through his golden blond hair, tousling it.

  “Thank you for making her think she has schizophrenia. I don’t know how you did it. I don’t want her to end up like her father. This is too dangerous for her and I have to do everything in my power to save her.” She says with her arms wrapped around his neck. He kisses her cheek.

  “I understand, Leslie. She’ll be okay.”

  Leslie lowers her arms to her sides. “I need to find out who Stephanie is. I know she’s one of them. Gosh!” She slaps her forehead. “How could I think that this wouldn’t happen all over again, Greg? I mean, for Creator’s Sake, we had six tries before this. Six! And it happens the same way each time. She finds out she has powers, someone comes after her or Riley and she is always the one who ends up dying.” She plops back down on the couch. “She can’t die this time, Greg. This time she has to be ready.”

  “I was watching her subconscious thoughts play out, and I saw everything—the women coming after her, Riley, the little girl. What was all of that?”

  Leslie sighs, “On our planet, she didn’t know she was chosen. I wanted to keep it that way Alex didn’t, of course but Eskojis came because they knew who she was and they needed her life and powers. Now, she knew she possessed powers but being Chosen was beyond her. I don’t know if you saw him, but there was a man—tall, long, pointy nose, blue eyes–”

  “Yes! Yes he was there. Who is he?”

  “He was the Eskoji coming after her. He betted that he could find a Chosen and get all of her powers—little did he know, you simply can’t obtain a Chosen’s power and that Nora is the Ultimate One. He underestimated her powers. Well, the only way he could get to her was by capturing Riley. So, he did. He got to Riley, almost killing him but Nora—my sweet baby girl, rescued him, sacrificing her life for him. Loving him was always the death of her and if this continues, she will always die for him, not realizing her true potential because somehow, their spirits are linked.” She lowers her head in agony.

  “Why can’t she remember any of this?” He asks, confused.

  “Well, she does but only subconsciously. It’s better that way. She needs to heal. She can’t die for Riley again and that is why I called him and asked him to break her heart. To leave her before she gets herself killed again for him.” She shakes her head, “Mortals.” She says, snorting at the comment.

  “How did you get him to do it?”

  She smirks, “I just had to give him a small reminder of the past. I just hope that she will be alright here. Those Eskojis still exist here on this planet but our biggest threat now is Luke. I am really trying to protect her from him and his horny son.” She rolls her eyes.

  “She will be okay, Les. Send her to Apalachicola. Sudan will take care of her.” He picks up a pile of papers from his desk, handing them to her.

  She takes the paperwork for admittance, “That’s the academy she’s been talking about but I can’t afford this, Greg.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just let me take care of it.”

  “And how will I explain that to Nora? You ‘taking care of it’?”

  “You won’t. Just let her continue working in Hardcover Hoard. All you have to do is convince her that this is the best school for her and that she must work hard to get the allowance bits for here.” He points to the brochure picturing Apalachicola.

  “Okay, thank you, Greg.” She says, stuffing the papers into her purse. “I have to go before she gets suspicious.” She stands, facing him. “I’ll see you later.” She kisses his cheek, strapping the purse to her dress. She walks over to the door, glancing back once at him before walking out
of it.

  NORA

  Mom walks out of the building. I stand with my back against the smooth siding of it with my foot posted up behind me, watching her walk past me. “Nora?” She calls out for me.

  “Here, mom.” She spins around, her dress flowing behind her.

  “Ooh, you scared me. Nora, why do you insist on dressing that way.” She studies my baggy cargo pants, brown boots, and teal tattered shirt. I pull the edges of my shirt outward, looking down to study the shirt myself.

  “What’s wrong with my outfit?” I say, guiltily that I only put the outfit on knowing it would bother her. She rolls her eyes and walks over to me.

  “You’re too beautiful for this clothing, Nor. I know you’re having a rough time but at least try to care more about yourself.” She pulls off her glove to lick her fingers. She presses her saliva filled fingertips against my hair to lie down my curly edges.

  “Mom!” I exclaim backing away from her. “Seriously? I have a change of clothes in my Oasis.” I roll my eyes.

  She laughs. “I already knew. See, I like to bother you too.”

  “Ugh! I have to go to work now, it’s almost time.”

  “Okay, just call me when you’re on the way home.”

  “Okay, love you.” I jog over to my car and slide into it.

  I look into the mirror to apply a small amount of makeup. My lips burned deep burgundy with the lipstick mom chose for me a few years ago to wear to my first dance, my eyelashes stretching further out from the mascara I applied to them. I step out of the Oasis with a fitted, slender grey dress on. My hair slicked back into a bun at the nape of my neck, my bracelets thick enough to cover my tattoo. I bend down to slip on my black pointed heels. With my head still hanging, I walk closer to Hardcover Hoard but am tersely stopped when my eyes lift to look forward at him.

  His caramel skin, creamy and smooth, darkened under the sun’s gaze almost walloping his freckles. His green eyes almost non-existent in this world when the sun touched them just right. I lower my eyes from him but wasn’t satisfied with my perception—I needed more of him. My eyes trace back up to him noticing the small beard growing, wrapping around his cheekbones and chin. I liquescent under his acuity. His dark grey long sleeve shirt hugs his upper body, betraying my eyes. I wasn’t supposed to see how sexy he was after the breakup. His black pants fit loosely around his waist displaying his weight loss. Walk away, Nora. I open my mouth slightly to pull in pieces of our life force from Jeshyria. My breathing trembles while standing there only four feet away from him. I clutch my purse closer to my abdomen, hoping he wouldn’t notice my smaller waistline.