chapter 5

  Caitlynn felt her head throb and her eyes sting. She struggled to open it, but to no avail.

  She was being carried, she knew this because she was floating . . . but who was carrying her?

  Eyes flickered open slightly, and all Caitlynn could make out was a bright light. She squinted and struggled to focus but her consciousness kept slipping.

  Caitlynn felt weak, like every part of her was made of jelly.

  There were voices, but they were muffled and incoherent. Yet if she focused hard enough she could hear them.

  “She’s a human! What the hell were you guys thinking!?” A high pitched voice yelled.

  The voice ended in an echo, and it was as if she were in a tunnel. Everything was dark. She struggled to make a sound but she wasn’t in control of her vocals.

  Human?

  She felt herself lowered onto something soft; a bed.

  Caitlynn struggled to open her eyes. She needed the light

  Finally she did it, her eyes opened slightly. Through half lidded eyes she could make out a few things; a tall blurry figure, tousled silver hair.

  Her blurred out gaze focused. She was suddenly lost in a pair of deep blue eyes. She identified a few emotions.

  Concern, confusion…pain?

  The voices kept echoing, muffled but she could pick out their tones. There was anger, remorse and distress. She let herself drift off, the darkness was more comforting. That and those curios blue orbs.

  The last thing she heard was a smooth familiar voice yell;

  “Enough! She’s staying.”

****

data-p-id=7e9013ab2d2276816a3fc59976f040a9,Blood. More blood. Screaming. Blood. Screaming. Pain. Ghoul. Blood. Mum. Dad. Flesh. Human flesh. Blood. Ghoul. Pain. Dead. Both dead. Blood. Ghoul . . . Blaise.

data-p-id=c1c64f28160b4f72c1646b7d7476b23f,Caitlynn gasped as she jolted awake. Forehead beaded with perspiration. She was breathing hard, as if she'd run a mile, her heart was beating fast against her ribcage. Her clothes were drenched in sweat. It was dark, the only light from the rays of moonlight beaming through the gap of her white curtains.

  She didn't care where she was, or how she got in this warm bed. Her eyes were watering and her throat hurt from the screaming and crying. Her eyes widened suddenly as she was hit by a massive wave of flashbacks.

data-p-id=8c79a48c9dada5e62f7394c282c451fc,Caitlynn's parents were taking her to a book shop for her fifteenth birthday. She spent the whole day there with them and in the afternoon, they went to a restaurant, where she ate so many cake she felt like she could explode.

  She wanted to go home quickly so she could read as soon as possible so they took the short cut, and then . . . And then they were both killed . . . On her birthday.

  data-p-id=ec503e9accd5aadb589fc0bc190247ba,Tears were falling freely from her eyes as she broke off into sobs. She hugged her knees to her chest and hid her face behind her knees as she cried harder.

      data-p-id=e1425b5eb71d84d7c0232b58dfb0152b,She was shaking as she sobbed harder. Her head hurt, but the pain she felt from losing her parents and watching them die right in front of her eyes and not having the power to do anything was even more painful than she'd imagined.

data-p-id=315b19c4b7af2840f5894faf333079c7,s=text-align:center;,****

data-p-id=18a3a914268f0887b3291437e939debc,  

When Caitlynn woke up again, the sun was up and fresh beams of sunlight poured into the room through the open window and past draped curtains.

  She sat up and rubbed her eyes, feeling drained of energy. The last thing she remembered was . . . a pair of mesmerizing blue orbs.

  Caitlynn was about to fall back into the comfortable bed when it all hit her like a ton of flying bricks. She gripped the soft bed sheets and sat upright.

  Her parents were dead. She was now an orphan at the age of fifteen. Before her eyes even began to sting with tears, her thoughts kept running a-mile-a-minute. How was she going to live? Where was she going to stay-

  She froze, realizing that she had no idea where she was.

  Before Caitlynn had the chance to panic, a smooth vice interrupted her rather chaotic train of thoughts.

  “You’re awake.”

  Caitlynn gasped and snapped her gaze towards the sound of the vice.

  “Mia . . . ”

  The silver haired beauty smiled comfortingly at her and walked into the room with a tray of food; eggs, baked beans, a blueberry muffin that was freshly bakes and made her mouth water, an apple and a glass of juice.

  She placed it on the night stand, aware of Caitlynn’s unwavering gaze.

  “How do you feel?” Mia asked gently. She sat at the edge of the bed, her weight making the bed dip.

    “My parents . . . “

  Mia’s smile dropped. She nodded with sadness in her blue eyes.

  “Caitlynn I’m sorry, we were too late and—”

  “Where am I?” Caitlynn asked softly.

  “Auxilia guest house. We brought you back here with us after . . . ” Mia’s voice drifted off.

  Caitlynn nodded, taking in the information. In truth she felt numb. Witnessing your parents get eaten does that to any sane person.

  She swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to think about what happened, not now anyway.

  “So I am sure you’re aware that me and Blaise are ghouls.” Mia said stiffly. It was meant to be an informative statement but she still came off as defensive. Mia Jacobson was the eldest twin so always felt that it was her duty to protect her brother and family.

  When Kuma, the ghoul who managed the guesthouse, saw Blaise carry Caitlynn in, she freaked out because Caitlynn was human and it went against all they knew to keep Caitlynn in the guesthouse, even if they were pacifist ghouls. The one rule they never break, was allow a human to know their true forms.

Chikao said to wait until the human was awake. Mia wasn’t sure what would be done now that Caitlynn was awake. Would Kuma kill her or throw her out, if word got out that they were ghouls the Anti-ghoul would flood the place and cut through everyone like hot knife through cheese. Not that Caitlynn would snitch goodness no, but Kuma didn’t know that. It all seemed so complicated; Mia just wanted Caitlynn to fall back asleep.

  “That doesn’t alter the fact that you guys saved my life. Thank you. Ghoul or not, I owe my life to the both of you.” Caitlynn managed a soft smile.

  Mia felt a pang in her stomach. She was very much going to walk away. She was tough cookie, life made her such. If Blaise hadn’t intervened Caitlynn would’ve been dead, like her parents. Mia averted her gaze and clenched her fist, feeling the guilt ebb at her. She had known Caitlynn since she was a child, although they were never intimately close, they were good friends.

  “It was no bother. You should eat. You’ve been asleep for two days.” Mia said forcing a smile as she stood up.

  Caitlynn glanced at the food by her bedside and back to Mia. Staring at Mia’s pretty face reminded Caitlynn of Blaise. They were identical, if not for the difference in their jaws. Mia had a round face while Blaise had a strong jaw and high cheekbone. The memory of Blaise kneeling before her, silver hair sweeping over his ruby eyes shifted into Caitlynn’s mind and she chewed on her inner cheek. Was that why she was so intrigued by him? Because she could sense that he wasn’t quite normal.

  “There’s some clean clothes over there by the cupboard, they were mine so they might not be a perfect fit. The bathroom is right there.” Mia informed her as she walked out.

  “Thank you Mia.”

She looked back slightly and saw her sitting in the same position, her bangs covering her eyes.

  "Eat up, Caitlynn. When you're done you can come out. You'll find us in the living room." Mia said before leaving.

  Caitlynn watched as she walked out. 

  Glancing at her food, she sighed. She didn't feel like eating, no matter how delicious it looked.

  She fell back onto the soft duvets and looked around. The room was small with just enough space for the bed and a cupboard next to it. The window was at the foot of the bed. The walls were painted a cute creamy white.

  In summary, the room was actually pretty adorable.

  She got up and walked over to the cupboard and opened it. There were two plain shirts and a maroon sweatshirt, two jeans and a cute blue summer dress. Caitlynn picked the maroon sweatshirt and the jeans.

  She walked down the hallway, following the directions given to her by Mia.

Caitlynn stopped when she reached a door with skull stickers, red x's and a 'keep out' sign at the centre. This door had angst teen written all over it. 

  Blaise.

  She could hear the sound of hard rock blaring on speaker inside. Caitlynn glanced down the hallway and saw the bathroom. She glanced back at Blaise's door. Maybe she could stay a little longer.

  She was about to lean in closer when the music was abruptly cut off.

  Caitlynn panicked and dashed down the hallway and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She leaned on the door, her heart beating fast. 

  The walls were thin, so she could hear his door opening. There was a moment of silence. It shut soon after.

  Caitlynn sighed in relief.

After she took a nice refreshing bath, she changed into the clothes. Mia was more thicker and taller than her so the clothes were slightly baggy. She didn't mind.

  As she exited the bathroom, she glanced at Blaise's door. It was shut but no music was blaring inside.

  The house was huge with more than five rooms down the hallway. She walked down, tracing her fingers lightly on the wall as she did. There no pictures that adorned the walls in the hallway.

  She soon found the staircase leading downstairs. She walked down, able to pick out voices coming from downstairs.

  The wall adjacent to the stairways had pictures. She slowly walked down so she could see all of them. Most of them were of this tall broad shouldered guy with dark hair. He must be Tobias. 

  There were other pictures to. There was Kuma, the cold waitress that always seemed to hate her. She was standing next to Blaise, ruffling his hair and grinning. Blaise was smaller, probably twelve. He had his arms folded and he looked highly irritated. 

  Caitlynn smiled. 

  Before she could see the other pictures, a smooth voice interrupted her.

  "Can you possibly walk down faster?" Blaise said in an irritated voice.

  Caitlynn turned and saw him. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink out of embarrassment. 

  Blaise was wearing a simple dark sweatshirt that clung to his body and black jeans. Caitlynn already knew he loved black because it seemed to be his usual choice of clothing.

  "Well good morning to you." She muttered, speed walking down. 

  Blaise shook his head in mild annoyance and walked ahead. She followed.

  They went into what appeared to be the living room. It was a huge living space with a flat screen TV on the wall, with an electronic fire place below. There dark plush couches by the TV. 

  A long black polished table sat on the other half of the living room and that was where everyone sat.

  Caitlynn immediately recognized their faces. There were five of them. Kuma, the waitress that worked at Auxilia Guest house who'd always glare daggers at her with her striking emerald eyes as if she had skinned her pet in another life. She stood next to a tall broad shoulder giant who Caitlynn immediately recognized as Monti, the chief.

  Across from him stood Mia; tall, silver haired and beautiful as usual. Next to her was Etsu who smiled reassuringly at her, but even that looked strained.

   At the head of the table stood a tall beautiful man with dark eyes and equally dark hair. Behind him, a beautiful girl stood peeking from behind the man's arm and clutching a teddy bear. She had to be nine at the least.

  Every one of these people worked at her favourite café. A café she'd practically grew up in. She thought she knew these people, she even called them close friends, but now under their somewhat intense stare she felt anxious and nervous; they were like strangers now,

  She swallowed and chewed on her bottom lip.

  Blaise stood near the long window.  He leaned on the wall with his hand tucked carelessly in his pockets, his deep blue eyes trained on her.

  The beautiful dark haired man was the first to break the tensed silence.

  "Well aren't we all in a pickle."