© Copyright 2014 Amy Richie This is a work of fiction. All rights reserved.
UNSPOKEN
Chapter One
“Lights out!” a deep female voice boomed across the static filled intercom. Like most things at Nine Crosses, the system needed replaced with something more modern.
I cringed lower in my seat at the dreaded words. Was it night already? Trying not to be too obvious, I craned my neck until I could just make out the black night sky through the dingy window set high on the wall. My sigh came out too loud, deflating my shoulders until my chin nearly rested against the skin on my chest.
Nights were always the hardest.
“What’s the matter kid?” a familiar voice called out. “Not tired?”
As if they weren’t attached to the rest of my body and could act on their own, my eyes slid over to take in the tall dark haired man leaning heavily against the door frame. His thick eyebrows shot up on his lined forehead with a smile that offered no warmth. If his coffee colored eyes lit up at all, it was only the harsh glare of contempt.
Toby.
I hurried to pull my eyes away from him before the nurses noticed anything. The only thing worse for me than night was Doctor Moore’s med increases. Maybe the tranqs would be welcome though, my thoughts sparked down a new path. I’d be able to sleep at least. The night couldn’t affect me if I was unconscious.
Yes it can, a panicked corner of my mind argued. My eyes slid closed in defeat. Thinking about the last time I was rendered unconscious at night time was almost too much to bear, but the memories were already opened and there was no shoving them back in now.
No wonder I had landed a bed at Nine Crosses, I sniffed loudly.
“She’s talking to you, Idiot,” Toby’s low voice hissed in my ear.
My eyes fluttered back open, the wide nurse with bleached white hair taking up most of my vision. I couldn’t see Toby anywhere, but I knew he wasn’t far.
“Are you alright Ren?” she asked in her estrogen-depraved voice.
How long had she been standing there? I shot immediately to my feet, trying to control my reaction to Toby’s reappearance. No med increases, I silently pleaded, especially not at night.
“I understand exactly why your parents hid you away in here,” Toby taunted cruelly. He stood with his shoulder against the wall, his mouth disfigured by an ugly snarl. “You’re an embarrassment.”
I kept my eyes carefully averted as I followed Nurse Grey down the long, empty hallway to room 36. “Do you need some help sleeping tonight, Dear?” she asked kindly while I slipped past her through the open door.
My head jerked sharply in response. Correcting the spastic movement, I shook my head softly - not looking back at her. My eyes strayed to the neatly made bed that wasn’t my own, creating a new round of shudders.
“You’ll need to keep an eye on Ren Collins in room 36, bed B,” I heard Nurse Grey’s loud whisper just before the door clicked shut.
A familiar chuckle made my shoulders stiffen. “You’re pathetic,” Toby sneered. “Your mom should have done the world a favor and finished the job when you were six.”
My lips began to shake, as they always did when he brought that day up. The trouble with Toby wasn’t that he was mean or cruel, or the fact that he only seemed to enjoy himself when he made me feel like I shouldn’t be allowed to live. The worst thing about Toby was that no one else could see him.
“What a waste,” he muttered.
I inched forward, always prepared to duck away if Toby lunged forward. Or if someone else decided to show up. Pulling back the stiff grey and white sheets on bed B as little as possible, I squeezed myself into the small opening. It was false comfort, I knew, thinking they wouldn’t be able to get to me if I kept the covers tight - but it was all I had.
It wasn’t until I started school that I realized that not everyone could see my ghost people. Talking about them only scared the grown ups and made my mother angry, so I stopped speaking. My eyes darted around the room, searching through the dark shadows for the ones that would take shape and stand over me. Although they were normally nicer than Toby, my ghost people scared the hell out of me.
I swallowed thickly, rejecting the idea to cover my head. It was best to see what was coming for me, even if I was scared. Maybe they wouldn’t come tonight; sometimes Toby scared them off. I glanced over and made the mistake of meeting his hard glare.
“What are you gawking at, Crazy?” his top lip curled upwards.
I quickly squeezed my eyes shut, hoping for sleep but knowing it wouldn’t be that easy. “Ren,” a sharp whisper made me groan. “Ren, I know you’re awake.” I kept my eyes closed.
I had always seen the ghosts and until my mother told me otherwise, I didn’t think anything was wrong with them. They came with their share of trouble though. Three years ago, at my “special school for troubled kids”, had been the last straw for my already stressed father and he decided Nine Crosses was the only option for a daughter who wouldn’t talk but tended to destroy everything she touched.
Even if I knew all the right words, he had stopped seeing me years ago - long before I got a bed at a mental hospital.
There was a sharp pull on my blanket, exposing most of my bare arm to the frigid cold. Giving up quickly on the futile game of tug-of-war, I wrapped my thin arms over my chest.
“Ren, wake up!”
The cold seeped deep into my body, making me gasp and scramble to the corner of my bed. Please go away. Despite my resolve not to, I peeked out at the newcomer. He wasn’t someone I recognized.
A thick mess of honey colored curls were hanging haphazardly around his neck and ears. Deep set, shadowed eyes watched me intently. His full lips turned up into a soft smile. “I see you,” he called lightly.
“We should just get this over with,” I heard Toby say but I couldn’t take my eyes away from the good looking stranger perched on the edge of my bed.
“She’s not ready yet, Tobias,” he murmured without taking his eyes off of me either.
“Then why are you here?” Toby growled.
The man shrugged one shoulder lazily. “I missed you?”
Toby snorted his familiar disdain, breaking my intense stare down with the man so I could peek over at him. “Old friends,” he explained curtly with a jerk of his well chiseled chin.
“I guess that is one way to introduce me,” the man grinned. I swung my attention back to him, careful not to talk out loud to the people that only existed in my own head. “I’m Tristan.” He inclined his head while keeping eye contact.
“And this is Ren,” Toby stormed over to my bedside. “Actually Rennota, but she goes by Ren.” He shrugged. “She comes to anything though. Kind of like a dog, just depends on your tone of voice.”
“Yes Ren,” Tristan spoke kindly through his suddenly thinned out lips, “Toby has always been an ass.”
“It’s not you, it’s me,” Toby added sarcastically. “Oh, who I am I kidding?” He kicked the side of the bed with a low curse flying through his lips. “It’s you, you’re crazy and weak.”
“Who are you to call anyone else weak?” Tristan scoffed.
“Now we’ve come to the part in the story where Tristan lures the pretty young girl out into the night so he can murder her, thus sealing my fate for all eternity,” his eyes widened dramatically.
“I told you, she’s not ready yet,” Tristan snapped, his face scrunching with anger.
Who were they talking about? Me? Was Tristan here to kill me? Was that even possible? My ghosts had never tried to hurt me before. They caused me trouble, but never injury. My heart sped up as the two men held their glares for way too long.
> “Relax Ren,” Toby turned to me first, “he said he wasn’t killing you tonight.”
“The sisters are moving. I heard Nona was over this way.” Tristan said the words nonchalantly, almost bored - but Toby’s head snapped up in response.
“Why?”
“That’s why I’m here.” He stood up slowly until he was face to face with Toby. “Couldn’t resist coming to see you while I was in town.” For the first time since he had appeared on my bed, fear crept in when Tristan looked over at me. He raised his chin slowly, his eyes narrowing with the movement.
“As always, it’s been good seeing you, Tris.” The screaming hate on Toby’s face contrasted severely with his words.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon for her.” He was speaking to Toby, but his eyes stayed trained on me until he was gone. Vanished from the room.