"Amid the chaos, his touch, a spark she didn't know she craved."
"Chloe... sweetie… wake up, Chloe!"
The voice jolted her, and she let out a small squeak, bolting upright. Her eyes darted around the room, still caught in the remnants of a dream with her grandfather.
As she looked around, as it happened, she noticed that a few things were completely out of the ordinary.
For one, she was wearing a pair of pajamas, an oversized shirt with a cardigan, also socks... which she clearly did not change into.
She distinctly remembered talking to Ace in a restaurant about going back in time... then he took off after blowing a weird powder or might be hypnotism.
Two, she happened to be slumped on the bed in the guest room of Michaela's home, and lastly, there was Michaela's figure leaning over towards her across the bed with a rather concerned look in her eyes.
"How... how am I here?" Chloe stuttered while asking, her mind trying to reconcile the events.
"You came a bit late, sweetie. You were asleep when I checked upon you, and then I heard you calling for your grandfather." Michaela explained.
She could not believe this was happening, this had to be some sort of cruel, cruel trick that her mind was playing on her. The last time she was awake was when she was in a restaurant with Ace or whatever his real name was, and then there was nothing as such she remembered.
Yet, she was here in the bed, in her clothes...
"Chloe, sweetie... are you okay?" Asked Michaela.
She knew that this lady was doing more than enough for her, and she could not make more problems for her let alone include her amid everything.
She nodded, attempting a weak smile. "Yes... yes, everything is fine... just a bad dream."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." Answered Chloe.
Sighing, Michaela stood, saying, "Sleep, I'm aware this is hard for you ... but, it will be all okay."
Would it be?
With that, she left the room and Chloe in her thoughts.
She sunk into the bed and sighed heavily. So far, this had been the most she had ever done in a day before.
She actually wore a dress for once.
She went to a funeral, her grandfather's funeral. She met a rather dangerous man with whom she made a deal. She has to go back in time but before that, she has to move back to Florida. Then Ace took off, a rather disturbing thought was she was in the house and somehow her clothes were changed- in the process.
Suddenly, a gush of cold wind entered her room as the curtains swayed along with the wind. Instantly, she felt cold, sighing heavily, she got out of her bed and moved towards the window to shut it.
Turning around after shutting the window, she heard a rustling sound from the dark side of the room, looking intently she saw a figure moving in the dark.
Clutching the sides of her cardigan in fear, she called out, "Who is there?"
In the darkroom, even the ticking had a relaxed feeling, as if it was a heartbeat at rest.
Calling out again, "Who is there? Answer me." Clutching the cardigan tightly, she stepped forward, the sound of her ragged breathing was prominent in the room.
But it wasn't just the sound of her breathing, there was the sound of slow breathing too. With each movement, something new ignited in her soul, she felt a foreign connection pulling her toward that particular area.
With a deep breath, she smelled a different kind of scent. It was like damp earth and cigarettes, "Who's here, answer me?" She tried a bit bold this time as she saw movement in the dark.
And lastly, she finally saw a figure towering over her in the dark.
That last thing was probably the most surprising, freakish one of all.
Because you know why?
The golden-eyed person was the one who was standing in front of her in the dark. And he was most certainly not visible. On the contrary, his eyes were the ones that stood out.
She was about to step forward, when ...
"Stop." The person said, well, not said but warned in a rough and gruff voice.
She was slightly taken aback by the sharp, annoyed, and warning tone that person used.
Sure, she had heard him speak about one time before, wait- when did she hear his voice? Well, she was sure she heard him before, but, when, not sure.
She couldn't help the fact that she was staring at the darkness with an awed expression on her face, sort of like she was seeing Jesus Christ in the flesh or something.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Read." The golden-eyed person deadpanned, and it was quite sure from his voice and aura that he had to be a male specimen.
Finally, what an achievement!
He might have stepped forward as she felt wrapped in a strong and dominant aura.
Stepping back absentmindedly, "L-Listen ... I-I ... " She started blabbing out of fear, but at the same time, a hurricane of emotions was stirring inside of her.
The last place she expected the golden-eyed stranger to ever meet was in the place where she was staying, but maybe there were firsts for everything, right?
This was sure as hell.
Bringing up her courage as she somehow knew, he would not harm her in any way, "Stop where you are," Said, Chloe, forcing a determined look on her face.
Well, he never came out of the dark, but his one-word comments did successfully reach her ears, "Read." He repeated.
She stared at the dark in utter confusion, she knew, who was in the room right now was far from a human, who also happened to be her savior, and she could not bring herself to confront him or even move a bit closer to have a look at his face at least.
Rather, she stood rooted in her place, God, she needed to toughen up.
If this was how it was going to be around him, clearly, she was going to need to get a thicker skin. She already felt like bursting into tears from his one-word answers.
One could only hope that she wouldn't cry in front of him.
With a determined look on her face, she stepped in front of the stranger and into the darkest area of the room, where he stood.
"Don't." He warned, and it was a kind of warning to which you adhere.
But, she didn't.
Ignoring the warning, she moved a step forward, pulling out her right hand in front, she tried to feel the person. Her hand was about to reach his body when he caught her wrist in between and in the split of a second, a spark of electricity traveled from both of their bodies by a simple mere touch.
She gasped in shock feeling as if she touched an electric circuit by mistake.
As soon as he stepped away from her, something invisible hit him. He couldn't come to what nor understand what it was.
He stumbled on his feet, and when a wave of shudder ran across his body, he got a hold of her arm, squeezing it tight enough to make her wince in pain.
"Ow!"
His beast was desperate as his heart was pounding fast and hard, he thought maybe this state was due to the insufficiency of energy at first, but this was something else, he knew it.
He was losing control.
Swallowing hard, he focused all of his strength and let go of her hand as she stumbled from the force he exerted on her wrist. Then he took a deep breath and launched himself toward the window, in a swift movement, after opening the window, he was gone.
It took several minutes for her to make out that he was finally gone when she looked at the open window and had red imprints on her wrist.
She wasn't just shocked; she was caught off guard by his weird behavior. She again went to close the window. When she turned around, she saw an old diary lying on the floor.
Moving towards it, she leaned down and picked up the old diary, it had a phrase engraved on it:
"Without my honest words the diary is an object, with them it is a portal to the soul, a gateway, a map of the journey and struggles to become the angelic self."
The phrase interested her, and with the diary, she went to sit on the bed and opened it.
Well, this day turned out more amazing as when she saw the name of the diary's owner, her eyes widened in shock and tears gathered in her eyes.
It was none other than:
Isabella Sinclair, her mother...and on top of that HE wanted her to read it.