WORDS THAT HURT

I was in a huge bright living room, with huge windows and marble floor. It was filled with paintings and really expensive decoration. I was afraid to move just in case I break something. I didn't know where I was but I was calm anyway, relaxed sitting in a golden sofa. One of the maids was offering me tea, I took it just to be polite and then I saw three men getting into the room.

I personally didn't know who they were but I acted like I did. They got closer and I could make faces out of the shadows, still didn't know who they were. They looked alike, the two mans in front looked much paler and younger than the one behind, maybe the father? Then the two young mans stopped leaving the man behind go first towards me. By that time I was already on my feet. He took my hand into his and kissed it making a reverence, then he introduced me to on of the young mans.

“This is…and …” his voice sounded distorted but I smiled and made a reverence. The young man was pale, black haired and blue eyes…he kissed my hand too and I felt fire inside me, then the older man continued.

“And you already know my son” he said pointing to the other young man that after that kissed my hand too and then winked at me. At that moment I felt uneasy, my heart was about to explode, I felt butterflies in my stomach at the touch of both of them, but I surely liked the blue eyes one more than the other. The old man left us alone saying that he had some business to take care of.

The blue eyes young man sat beside me while the other one walked towards the window. I felt like going after him but the one beside me started talking to me…”so you are Gabrielle” I nodded, his voice was so sensual that it made me burn inside “I’ve heard that you were attacked a few months ago and that my cousin saved you” he continued, and yes was the only thing I could say…I actually didn’t remember anything about being attacked, I actually couldn’t remember anything before being there, it was like if somebody had erased my memory.

“Gabriella” the voice of the man beside the window sounded almost the same as the one beside me, when I looked at him he was frowning at the blue eyes man, I felt tension building up so I stood up dropping my little purse on the floor, I was about to get it but the man beside me took it before I could even bent and offered it to me, when I took it from his hands our hands touched, he had a really cool touch but I didn’t slid my hand away, instead we stood a few second looking into each other eyes….and then I woke up.

I woke up smiling, couldn’t know why, I couldn’t remember my dream but I was in a good mood. I could have slept a bit more but I just woke up and a name was ringing in my head…Gabriella, Gabriella…how strange.

I went to my window and pulled open the curtains. I opened the window so I could sniff the fresh air…it was relaxing, nice, I didn’t know why I felt so happy.

I had my shower, brushed my teeth, and then I went down stairs to have breakfast.

The house was very quiet, nobody was here or at least that’s what I thought as I walked to the kitchen I head water running, somebody was washing the dishes, I walked closer thinking it would be Jeremy but it was Elizabeth, her long black wavy hair was different though.

“Breakfast will be ready in a minute” she said and her voice sounded different too, I didn’t say anything just walked to the table and sat down but there was something weird about her. After a few minutes Jeremy came through the door which drew my attention to him.

“Hi Gabriella” here we go again “why do you keep calling me Gabriella!!” he smiled “I wasn’t talking to you, but to her” he pointed passed me and I turned…it wasn’t Elizabeth but me…she smiled at me, a disturbing smile and sat down, Jeremy did too. They started eating as if all was normal, I must be daydreaming this wasn’t possible, Jeremy told me to eat but I felt like something was stuck in my throat, I tried to swallow but still was there so I grabbed my glass of juice and drank it but it tasted horribly, it tasted like…blood, I spilled it al out. Jeremy and the other me started laughing, I couldn’t breathe, I was feeling lightheaded, I needed air I was dizzy, I couldn’t even scream and then I woke up in my bed. First thing I did was wash my mouth; I could still taste the blood even though it was a dream…I think.

Then as I walked downstairs I couldn’t stop feeling that something was wrong, the house was quiet again. I pinched my cheeks to make sure I was awake and it hurt which meant that I was awake. The water was running again in the kitchen so I walked towards it and there she was again. I started shaking this couldn’t be happening she was washing the dishes again, I shivered, I leaned to my side trying to take a look at her face…please, please let it be a dream. Then she turned looking at me with astonishment.

“Are you ok?” and I nodded partially in shock partially in relief “breakfast will be ready in a minute” she said and I walked to the table. I breathed deeply…and laughed at myself. For a moment I thought…forget it was just a nightmare. But why is she here? I asked Jeremy when he came down and he just said “is Saturday Gabrielle” right…it was Saturday which meant that I was going to be here stuck with her. For a moment I got depressed but then I remembered about a sleeping over Jenny’s tonight and I prayed for her to not forget and call to ask permission to Elizabeth, I changed my mind, I really didn’t want to spend the night here, not tonight at least so if she didn’t call I would tell her myself. I never thought about it but this house frightens me a little. And this morning I’m more sensitive than ever.

After breakfast I went upstairs and switched on the computer, I googled Zoneville. Like I said before, the location and information about this town did not appear anywhere but a weird supernatural website did. The first time a saw it I didn’t read it but I'm about to do it now. I've never had this kind of nightmares in my life and the fact that the McGraw’s was disappearing one by one was making me curious, was it possible that animals were doing this to the town? How big are they anyway? And if it were really animals this is something that would have attracted the attention of hundreds of people around the country, animals eating humans sure would be a good title for a newspaper magazine, anyway this was something to look out for.

Till that moment I never thought about me being attacked, but it could happen, or Brook or Jenny…now that thought was dancing in my mind. It's just the tree of us Jeremy said that day…who’ll be next? So I started reading and then stopped in the middle of the page. This say anything, I've been told already about this things, animal attacks and disappearances, the only thing you could find were theories but not explanations or information that might help, this was just to attract people…worthless, useless. So I closed the window and got into the chat but not Zoe neither Miranda were connected. I didn’t know what else to do, so I got my homework out. I was almost done with the assignments when Elizabeth knocked on my door and got in. She told me that Jenny called and that I could go, but if we were going out we had to make sure to be home before eleven o’clock, I would love to know about her fixation with being home before eleven, do we actually have werewolves in town and they turn after eleven??? Hahahhah anyway I packed a few stuff, took my homework and asked Jeremy to take me to Jenny’s, it was almost lunch time but I was sure Jenny wouldn’t mind having me earlier, in fact when we got there, there was already a plate for me on the table, when I asked her about it she said “I guessed you would want to get out of there as soon as you got permission” she was a perceptive girl or like she said, a witch…we had a nice time with her family and Brook came late afternoon.

We went into Jenny’s room and made our homework. I was actually waiting for her to show us what she wanted us to see, but she didn’t mention it and I didn’t want to be the first. Brook was quiet, just doing her homework.

The evening was getting darker and we could hear Jenny’s parents moving from one place to another, it looked like they were going out or something.

Linda –Jenny’s mum- came to the room to let us know that they were leaving and that she left for us food in the fridge.

When we heard the door close Brook stood up and looking at Jenny said “ok…we are alone now so start talking” oh so that’s what we were waiting for, to be left alone I don’t know why but I'm not having a good feeling about this. Jenny smiled at Brook “I see that you know me better than I thought, follow me” she said and we followed her downstairs and into the living room, she pushed the table aside and put a few cushions on the floor for us to seat on them and went to the kitchen, coming back with candles did I say before that I don’t have a good feeling about this??? She put the three candles on the floor and looked at us smiling. “What is all this about?” said Brook impatiently, I was too but I didn’t say anything I was rather waiting for her to show us…”look at the candles” said Jenny “don’t stop looking at them” and we did not stop looking at them for a while but nothing happened. I was about to look away when one of the candles lightened by itself before my eyes, then another one and then another one. “What the hell was that?” I said, I didn’t believe in magic but that for sure was something. “Me…I did that…with my mind” Brook and I looked at each other and then at Jenny. Did she just say that she did that??? And then she continued talking “I wasn’t sick ok…I was afraid. I know I've always said that I was a witch but I never started seeing or doing anything till I read your hand Gabrielle” back again with the hand reading thing “all this time enchanting or throwing spells didn’t actually work but I saw something when I read your hand and that caught me off guard. I’m letting you know this cause you are my friends and I trust you with my secret” how could she trust me that mush when we just met?? “I know what you are thinking Gabrielle and yes, I trust you, grandma said I should”

“Did you really see something?” said Brook and Jenny nodded, “like I said your present is filled with complications, your future…you might not like this but all I could see was blood, and your past…your past was what I couldn't understand” she said with frustration “what do you mean?” I said, I was curious “it was like it wasn’t yours, like it was somebody else’s I don’t know how to explain it…” “Why were you running from us? −”I wasn’t…I just needed time to think, at that moment I confirmed that I really was a witch I needed to see grandma and that’s all I had in mind. After school I went down and told her everything…it was so weird, of course she told me to embrace my inheritance and that we should stick together, the three of us” “why?” asked Brook, “cause hard times are coming” Jenny said, very serious as if saying a prophecy. I couldn't say anything for a while, I sure wanted to know more about my future, it was weird enough that last night I dreamed with blood to now find out that there’s more blood in my future. But what really intrigued me was the thing about my past, past life…somebody else’s? Brook asked Jenny to do the candle thing again, it was shocking.

Like I said, I never believed in magic but here she was, showing off her powers in front of my own eyes. There were no tricks, the lights were on we could see everything. It was amazing and scary, cause if magic and witches do really exist, what else is out there that we don’t really know about??

I wanted to know more but I couldn't bring myself to ask afraid of what I could find.

For now, I found out that one of my friends –well…best friend to be, that’s what she said- was a witch and it was cool.

My Sunday was good, I didn’t leave Jenny’s house till late evening. We had fun, and Jenny was making prank on us all the time moving stuff with her mind. We sworn not to tell anybody and even thought I was expecting a few nightmares, I woke up on Monday fresh like a normal day, if a dreamed or not I couldn't tell, but of course with all the information echoing at the back of my head.

School was ok, like I said, I wasn’t going to pay more attention than necessary to Christopher, if he wanted to be rude, I could be rude too.

Weeks passed by like that, things were kind of normal, in the house I kept ignoring Elizabeth and I spent most of the weekends in Jenny’s house. Jeremy finally sort the truck thing out, he wouldn’t need to take me to school anymore, I had my own car now, it was quite old and small…it was nice and I was happy till he told me that Elizabeth bought it. I wanted to smack the back of his head; he’s always getting me to talk to her. So as a good girl that I was I had to thank her, and Jeremy went from 50points to 0 in no second.

In school Ben became a good friend, Brook said that he liked me but I didn’t see that, I just saw him being a good friend anyway I wasn’t interested, he was a really nice guy and as we were getting closer, Sarah’s anger towards me was growing.

Christopher ignored me more than I could handle, I actually stopped talking to him cause I thought this mind reverse psychology was going to work with him, but it doesn’t and I don’t like it. It was like if he’d been born to annoy me but sometimes in class I could swear that I saw him staring at me from the corner of my eye.

The dreams and déjà vu’s stopped drastically, everything seemed normal as it should be except of course for Jenny, she was introducing us into the world of magic, she really was enjoying being a witch. But today I woke up with a bad feeling, first of all the sky was filled with clouds and the streets were full of a dense mist. Then in school Sarah was teasing me all the time, I felt like about to explode but Brook distracted me with success a few times. Then lets not forget Christopher, by that time my plan of ignoring him was already closed and buried and he still the same whenever I tried to talk to him he reminded me why I was trying to stay away from him.

In our break Sarah came towards me and at that moment I knew that nothing good was going to come out of this conversation. Of course she started talking nonsense; talking about Elizabeth and her relationship with a few more man doesn’t she have anything else to talk about?? And she started comparing me with her, saying meaning things that I let go till she mentioned my father. Oh no, that wasn’t going down like that… so I punched her and we both ended up in detention.

I don’t consider myself a trouble girl, I'm the opposite, very quiet, running from these things but she was calling for it, she was talking about my dad and that I don’t allow it.

Unfortunately my behaviour lead me to the one thing I was constantly avoiding…a little chit chat with Elizabeth.

They called her and she spoke with the principal. I knew that after class troy was about to start, and like I predicted she was waiting for me in the living room. I let her go on, talking and complaining about my behaviour…about how humiliating?? I stopped listening…but hell was about to break loose if she didn’t stop soon.

After a few minutes she started talking about us when did this conversation turn around and be centred on us??? “I thought this was about me punching Sarah”

“Do you think this is funny?”

“A little bit yeah, listen you don’t have to show concern or anything ok it doesn’t suit you” and I'm damn right, I’ve been the last 17 years without any concern from her!!!

“What did you say?”

“You heard me”

“I had enough!! Now you listen to me spoiled little brat, I’ve put on a show being indifferent trying to respect your pain, ignoring your behaviour, you lost your father and I understood that but this I won’t allow it you hear me? I opened the doors of my house for you I make sure you have an education and all that” and all that??? “But I won’t have unswerving me back and being disrespectful with me anymore, I give you everything and the only thing I ask you is to go to school and not to cause trouble!!” “If is so hard on you send me back, I didn’t ask for this!!”

“Neither did I!”  Ouch, that hurt me

“That’s not what I meant it came out wrong”

 “Save it, I don’t need any explanations” I wanted to walk away but she wouldn’t stop

“Why are you so hard on me? Normal children would be happy to find their lost mother, to be taken care by them but you…you hate me”

“And what do you expect! You weren’t lost Elizabeth, you abandoned me. You never called not even once to ask how I was, to listen to my voice even, you never worried about me and you call yourself a mother?!! Did you know that everybody looks at me weird at school? Everybody seems to know things about you that I don’t; they look down at me because of you”

“Listen to me”

“No you listen to me! Do you know what they say? That you have an affair with Sam from the grocery store and god knows with who else!”

“Is not what you think Gabrielle”

“Oh is not? I thought that was your thing that’s what you did to dad anyway, isn’t it? She crossed my face with a slap. I wanted to cry but I held it in, I wasn’t about to let her see me crying because of her, instead I ran through the back yard and into the woods. I felt the rage through my veins, my heart was beating fast, uneasy, unconsciously I walked deep into the woods and then tears started pouring, blurring my vision, it was the first time I cried since my father’s funeral so I wasn’t happy about it at all. I got deeper and deeper into the woods;

 I just wanted to go as far as possible from the house, and then I saw something moving…I could just make shadows out of it, I don’t know what it was but it gave my Goosebumps.

I got closer and I saw what I thought it was a big animal on the floor, is that…blood?!! There was a pool of blood around it and the shadow; I wanted to see what that was so I walked a bit more and then I fell.

It was really quick and I couldn't see anything, I just know that I feel deep. As I fell I hit my head, my leg bumped into something hard a rock maybe and my full body landed over my leg aaaaah!! That hurt I started feeling weak, my head was bleeding, I felt pain everywhere, I was about to pass out when I saw a shadow up where the light was still light but even like that it was still dark and blurred, I was panicked I wanted to scream and I passed out but I could hear it calling my name. Gabrielle!! Gabrielle!!

TO BE CONTINUED……

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