Angel Kiss

In that moment nothing else in my life mattered. Anything that had gone before was just leading up to that soft, flawless kiss.

Nick gently pushed me back on the bed. We kissed again, more intense this time. I shivered slightly, a little bit from nerves, but mostly from excitement. It felt amazing. His hand brushed against my neck, and with each touch I became more lost in the moment. This incredible, magical moment. It was definitely my version of heaven. For a few seconds it was perfect. But then suddenly and for no reason I began to feel weird and everything changed. The atmosphere, the mood, everything. I could hear my own voice as if it didn’t belong to me; it sounded different: scared and nasty.

‘Get off me!’ I could hear myself saying.

‘What?’ said Nick.

‘Stop. Stop it!’

Nick backed away.

‘OK, OK, just calm dow-’

I could hear Nick’s confusion, but I couldn’t calm down – I was in pure panic.

‘Get off me!’

‘Jacki, I’m not on you! Will you stop shouting?’

I could hear him speak but I couldn’t answer. I felt as if I was no longer lying on the bed in the master bedroom. I was lying on a damp carpet of twigs and leaves out under a black sky, with a brutal, heavy body pushing down on me, and a sweaty hand groping the inside of my legs. I tried to push him away but he was much too strong. The body pushed down on me, harder and harder.

‘Is everything OK in there?’ shouted Colin from the other side of the door.

‘Yes.’ Nick’s voice was shaking. ‘Yes, every-’

‘Get off me! Get off! No, stop it, stop it!’

‘Jacki? Is that you?’ said Colin.

‘Get off me!’

‘Jacki, I’m not near you!’ said Nick. ‘Please stop. You’re scaring me. Please just calm -’

‘Get off me!’

The door rattled on its hinges as Colin slammed against it.

‘Nick, open this door now,’ he shouted.

‘Wait, just wait.’ Nick scurried off the bed.

There was a loud bang on the door.

The door rattled again. But it didn’t budge.

‘Jacki… listen to me,’ said Nick. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ He ran over to the door and tried to open the lock, but the key went tumbling to the floor.

‘For God’s sake,’ he mumbled.

There was another loud bang. The door swung open, hitting Nick hard in the face. He let out a howl of pain.

‘Jacki!’ Colin could see me jerking about on the bed, desperately trying to wrestle with the invisible attacker. ‘What did you do to her?’

I could still hear everything that Colin and Nick were saying. They couldn’t see my attacker, and I could only feel him.

‘I did NOTHING. I didn’t touch her!’ shouted Nick. Colin gave him a questioning look.

‘OK, we were just… well… you know… She wanted to! And then she just totally freaked!’

By this time a group of partiers were huddled at the door, all staring at me. Colin slammed it shut, abruptly blocking their view. Then he sat down on the bed and leaned over me.

“Get off me!’ I shouted.

‘Jacki,’ he said. Colin grabbed my wrist and this suddenly brought me back. I was back in reality, shivering uncontrollably.

‘I have to go,’ I said, sitting up. ‘I… I have to go now.’ I threw the coats off the bed until I found my bag, then ran from the room towards the stairs.

‘Jacki, where are you going?’ shouted Nick.

‘Home. I’m sorry. I have to get out of here now.’ I didn’t understand what had just happened, but I knew I needed to get away.

I rushed down the stairs and out the front door. Colin came running after me.

‘Jacki, wait. You can’t go by yourself. Wait there, I’ll get your jacket.’ Colin hurried back into the house.

I stared at my reflection in the passenger window of a car in the driveway. I was horribly pale. A burning sensation ripped through my skull. Things were getting out of hand. What had happened in that room was far worse than any headache or nightmare or vision. I knew what I needed to do. I needed to visit the healer as soon as possible. I might have refused to believe in that sort of stuff, but now I was desperate. I couldn’t deny it: something supernatural was happening.

That night I lay in my bed, trying to fight back the tears. My chances with Nick had been completely ruined. I’d been so close to him. We could have kissed more… and then he might have asked me on a date. But I’d ruined it. I’d ruined everything. Or rather something had ruined everything. Was it really something supernatural, whatever that might mean? I wished it was morning so I could ring Ger Rapple’s number.

When you die you are dead – that’s it. You rot into nothing and you are never coming back… Right?

Chapter 12

I woke up late for the second day in a row and noticed a big purple bruise on my elbow. I reckoned I must have whacked it off the bedpost at David’s, but then again the bruise did look like it was a few days old. Maybe it had been there for a while and I just hadn’t seen it. The headache was back, worse than ever. I had dozed off around 6 a.m. and despite being exhausted I had started to dream. I didn’t dream about the drunk man and the angry driver and the brown leather bag. I dreamed about lying on a damp carpet of twigs with a heavy body pressing down on me and hands groping me. It was like what I’d felt at David’s. But this dream was even more terrifying than the other one. In this dream I wasn’t just an observer; I was a participant. An unwilling one. I don’t scare easily, but I couldn’t help feeling frightened now. The dream was so real I felt like I had actually been attacked. Even after I’d woken up I couldn’t shake off the terror I felt inside. And when I’d been on the bed I had been awake. Flashbacks from last night kept coming into my mind, the most heart-wrenching one being the look of confusion on Nick’s face. I couldn’t think about him now though. I had to get going.

I got out of bed, went into our tiny bathroom and turned on the shower. As I took off my pyjamas my heart started to beat faster and faster. There was another bruise, and another and another. My body was covered in them. Big black dirty bruises, all along my shoulders and chest and thighs. The one on my neck was so dark I couldn’t see my heart-shaped freckle. I was about to scream but stopped myself. Mum didn’t need to know about this. She would freak out and drag me straight to the doctor. I was so frightened, but I desperately tried to calm down. I had a quick shower, shivering even though the water was scorching hot. My mind raced, trying to find a logical explanation for these marks on my skin. They hadn’t been there when I was getting ready for bed. Surely if I’d been thrashing around in my sleep Mum would have woken up and stopped me? Maybe they weren’t bruises… they didn’t hurt at all… maybe they were just stains of some sort. I scrubbed at one on my shoulder but it didn’t budge. What the hell was happening to me? I was on the verge of tears but I held it together. I needed to get to the healer’s house.

I dressed quickly, throwing on anything I could find. Mum wasn’t anywhere near the house so I left her a note saying I’d be back in a couple of hours. Then I ran up towards the mines until I could get enough coverage, my blue Doc Martens splashing in last night’s puddles, spattering rainwater on to my denims. I took the card from my pocket and dialled the number.

‘Hello?’ A woman’s voice answered.

‘Hello,’ I said. ‘Um, I was given Ger Rapple’s number and I need to see him urgently. Today.’

‘I’m sorry, dear, but he’s fully booked today. And I’m afraid he’s busy for the next two weeks. But I can make