“You hate spiders?” I smiled slightly.
“Yeah, they have too many legs and not enough body.”
“I have too many legs and not enough body” I smiled referring to my own long legs.
“You have the perfect amount of legs and a perfect amount of body,” He smiled appraising my sitting figure on the bed. “Are you ok, like really?”
“I am. It is just a lot. I didn’t expect to see him watching us, let alone in my room,” I shook off another chill.
“So, what is with the salt?”
I realized I still had ahold of the container and moved to put it back on my shelf. “Yeah, it helps to block their path. There is a whole thing that goes with it, but the salt should hold for right now.”
“A whole thing?” His brows were creased.
I shrugged and sat back down, “Yeah, I have been trying to keep things out of my private space since I was young. I mean, I wanted to be normal remember? I found this chant and salt and a few herbs seem to work well.”
He processed that and nodded to fill the time it took for his brain to file away this new information. I wondered what it must be like for his mind to constantly be getting new pieces of the puzzle known as me.
His eyes met mine and he grinned. “So, I guess it is official.”
“What is?”
“We are dating so you can use me for my abilities. My kisses bring back the undead,” he flexed his brows up and down at me.
My eyes rolled and I laughed it off, but I couldn’t help but sense the warming in my chest. He had said it.
We were dating.
Chapter Fourteen
The lights downtown were really pretty, the hot chocolate was cliché and silly, but it made the whole night feel special. Tyler was right. It was the last night the lights would be on. First thing in the morning, workers would begin painstakingly taking down all the holiday décor that ran along the tiny city creek.
When we headed back to campus, I wondered if I would be able to focus at all on the homework I had completely neglected tonight. I wanted to crawl into bed and sleep blissfully, thinking about what a magical date it had been.
Walking into the shower, and turning on the hot water however, instantly made me think of The Creeper.
Why would I think of him now? The hot water defrosted my cold limbs, and the steam warmed my nose. The walk downtown wasn’t without the freezing temperatures that were normal for January here. The heat caused my feet to burn as I began to thaw out. I tried to force my mind to not think of The Creeper. Not wonder why he appeared in my room today. Why I saw him when I hadn’t seen anyone other than the small flash of Tyler’s grandpa.
I finished and walked back to my room, wrapped tightly in my fluffy robe. I froze again, at the end of the hallway appeared his faint figure.
It wasn’t stable, as in it flickered and the image came in and out. I squeezed my eyes shut, and opened them again, to see if the focus would clear up. It didn’t. He still faintly stood at the end of the hall, outside the stairwell door, staring at me.
I walked quickly to my room, keeping the tiniest of view on him as I reached my door. Just as I touched my handle, he was right in front of me. My head sent a piercing pain through my mind and I tumbled into my room, almost falling. I shut the door quickly, trying to focus and keep my robe tightly closed. I opened my eyes to see Crystel with her girlfriend sitting on the bed, watching a show together.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t realize you were home. I thought you were out with Tyler.” Crystel’s eyes looked apologetic.
“No, well, I was. I just got back and took a shower, I was freezing.”
“Cool, well we were just headed over to McCain, did you want to join?”
I stored my shower things, “No, I think I am going to turn in. I’m pretty beat.”
Crystel shrugged, “K, see ya later.”
I smiled as they walked out, then quickly changed into my pj’s. I had to do some research. I was too keyed up from the hallway run in. Then again, what research was I going to do? It wasn’t like I could just google seeing ghosts after a head injury.
I pulled my blanket around my shoulders.
My head pounded distantly, not as bad as it had been, but definitely worse than I’d experienced before my fall. It was different. It felt distant, almost smokey. How could pain be smokey? I rolled my eyes and exhaled deeply.
Maybe sleep was exactly what I needed. Maybe if I just put my head down, it would allow my mind to clear and calm and stop thinking of The Creeper.
Why him?
And more so, why did the absolute wave of joy wash over my thinking that maybe things were returning?
Obviously, it was part of me, and I was not as ok with letting it leave me completely.
I closed my eyes.
Dreams, strange and eerily realistic, flooded my mind. Shuffled faces, faded silhouettes that danced behind the gauzy fabric of my conscious.
The eyes of The Creeper reached through the thin curtains penetrating so deeply that I startled myself awake. The room was filled with sleeping girls, completely oblivious that strangers have entered my dreams.
I looked at the clock. 4:55 am. Well, that was almost a full night of sleep. I quietly got out of bed, slipping into sweats and a giant hoodie. Sleep wasn’t going to happen. No way would
