Hell Bound (The Immortal Balances- Book 1)

Chapter Six: Remember Berlie

Rachel was quiet for a while afterwards, settling herself after her sudden outburst with her arms cradling her small frame. I could tell by the hurt look in her eyes that she wanted to remember more to help me, but I knew that no matter how hard she tried, her memory of the event simply had been erased.

 I didn't even attempt to help jog it.

Instead, I changed the subject completely.

"We're going out," I said suddenly, getting to my feet with a grin on my face. Rachel didn't immediately register my sudden outburst, but when I didn't make any move to take my seat again, she looked up at me.

"We don't leave the house, remember."

I looked down at her with a sad expression. Rachel was sitting in a fetal position, her body clad in a sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms to hide her scars. She didn't even move, and it had nothing to do with not being allowed to leave.

"You can't sit here cooped up feeling sorry of yourself," I said a little harsher than I'd meant to, but it got her attention. "Yeah, you were attacked- but you're alive."

Her expression was full of fury. "Yeah, I got attacked, and I got left scarred mentally and physically!" She shouted, her tone pained as she got to her feet to my level. I simply shook my head.

"You came out with a few bumps and scratches but you're missing the point: You're alive when so many others are dead. You survived for a reason, survived to live," I told her, but Rachel just shook her head. I decided to pull out the save card. "You're doing what Berlie could have only dreamed of."

I watched as she froze, unsure as to whether I'd gone as far as to bring up her dead best-friend. When I said nothing more, Rachel flashed me the cruellest of looks before running off in tears to her bedroom.

I didn't even try to stop her.

"Well done Caleb," I muttered grimly to myself, standing in the empty room. "Get the girl to fear you, go on, because that always works doesn't it."

Sighing in defeat, I sat down on the sofa, head in my hands. The atmosphere around me became cold and still as I sat there, breathing in and out and I racked my brains for ways to get Rachel to come out of her room and talk. Why had I gone as far as to mention Berlie? What did I think would happen by making Rachel feel guilty? That she'd nod her head in realisation and we could skip happily off into the sunset, forgetting the murders, forgetting the task I had to fulfil to go home?

The longer I was in the Living world, the more human I seemed to become.

Half an hour later I was nearly asleep when I heard the click of a door opening.

At first, I thought it was Ella or maybe even the mysterious Jonathan back for seconds at Rachel, so I jumped to my feet with my arms out for combat, only to find Rachel staring shocked back at me. I lowered my stance, and took her new appearance in.

She'd replaced her house clothes with a pair of denim like leggings and a very casual flowing grey top, the sleeves covering two thirds of her arms to cover her scars. Her hair cascaded down around her shoulders with a flower headband placed on top of her head like a crown, as if she were a queen.

She was certainly my queen.

"Where do you want to go?" She asked shyly, dropping her gaze from mine to stare down at the white converse on her feet. She raised her hand to her mouth and bit at her already bitten nails, yet I didn't stop her. I just looked her, a overly happy expression probably plastered on my face.

Thankfully I snapped out of my trance, and replied to her question with my own. "Well, where do you want to go?"

A small giggle escaped her lips.