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Covering my flesh is a layer of thick, grey smoke.
“What is this?” I whisper as I raise my hands in front of me, my fingers trembling as I take in the sight.
“It’s… It’s darkness.” He looks horrified, his eyes wide as he starts to reach for me. But he pulls back when I flinch. Fear flames down the link, yet he manages to speak evenly. “Sky, I know it’s hard, but you need to calm down. Don’t let darkness take you over.”
No, let go, Sky, darkness whispers in my head. Let the pain go. Let darkness take it away from you.
I throw my hands over my ears. “Get out of my head!”
Foster shouts something, but I can’t hear him over the voice in my head.
I sink to the icy floor and coldness seeps through my bones, chilling my already cold body.
Chilling everything until I feel nothing.
Easton
I’ve been struggling a lot over the last week for reasons I’m pretending don’t exist. I’ve always been good at that sort of stuff. Pretending I’m okay when I’m not. Pretending that nothing happened to me the goddamn day five years ago.
Pretend. Pretend. Pretend.
I’ve been doing it for years and I’m damn good at it. At least I thought so, but then Sky moved in with my family, and now I feel like I’m constantly tumbling out of control. Soon, I’m going to crash.
But that might be a good thing. Maybe it’ll break me apart permanently. Then I won’t have to keep on pretending I’m someone I’m not. The funny twin. The mischievous one. The one who gets into trouble and doesn’t care about anything. The flirt. The one that’s had it so easy.
Things have been this way since Foster and I were kids and my parents discovered he was an elemental enchanter. Because they knew he would be cursed with some intense power and a potential life of sheer loneliness, they gave him extra attention. When we were younger, I felt bad for him and tried not to be bothered with how much time my parents spent worrying about him. And because my life was pretty great, it never really did bother me. But then the incident happened that destroyed my life and I started struggling to remain the upbeat, positive guy that I was. Then Sky entered our lives and I started to envy my brother. But at least the envy erased some of the pain I constantly felt, the shame, the guilt.
It’s not like I’m in love with Sky or anything. I’m attracted to her. She’s gorgeous and doesn’t even know it. I like her personality and her snarkiness. That turns me on more than it probably should. She’s also extremely tough. Deep down, I know I want her, which is a new feeling for me. While I flirt and joke around, I’ve never felt much of a desire to be in a relationship, the broken parts of me refusing to let me go there. I accepted a long time ago that I wasn’t going to end up with anyone, that my messed up mind would doom me to a lifetime spent alone. But then Sky came along and I… Well, I’m not really sure what’s going on with my feelings toward Sky.
Blowing out a sigh, I flop down on the bed. I’ve spent a lot of time in my room since we got stuck in this world, mostly to escape the feelings that emerge whenever I’m around Sky. Feelings I can’t decipher. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t want to decipher them because they’re pointless, since I can never actually act on them. Not only because I’m too messed up and just thinking about being intimate with someone has me wanting to throw up, but because Sky is Foster’s. Plus, a relationship with her could never go anywhere, at least not without me dying. Although, sometimes I wonder if it’d be worth it. One amazing kiss that would put me out of my internal misery from that goddamn day that constantly itches under my skin. Just thinking about it now, makes my head throb…
Fire under my skin…
Branding my flesh…
I can feel it all over me…
Feel them all over me…
My head pulsates as images of that day sear against my mind, of being trapped, of the laughter, of the wandering hands—
“East!” Foster shouts, yanking me from the memories.
I don’t respond right away. I’d left the living room because Sky had gotten under my skin and I was about to lose control over my powers. If I hadn’t have left, Foster would’ve given me that look, the one that lets me know he’s aware of how I’m feeling and he’s disappointed with me. The look always makes me feel guilty.
I could try to blame my feelings on the altered link, but I’m not Foster would believe the lie.
“East, I need your help!” Foster yells louder, panic ringing in his voice.
I yank myself from my pity party, get up, and hurry out to the living room, figuring Sky lost control of her powers, something that happens occasionally, but not as frequently as it used to. But when I enter the room, I realize the situation is way more severe than I thought.
“What in the…” Shock floods my body as I take in the scene before me.
Wind is swirling through the air and is laced with tendrils of darkness, the ceiling is one giant storm cloud, lightning is zapping down from the clouds and cracking the icy floor apart, and even with the ice glazing everything, somehow water has flooded the entire area. In the center of it all, Sky is crouched down with her hands thrown over her ears and smoke is swirling across her arms.
My gaze darts to Foster. “What the hell happened?”
His eyes are wide as he tears his gaze off Sky. “She was asking all these questions and then I kissed her… And she felt so guilty…” He swallows hard. “It made me feel too many things and I think I lost control of my projection ability and some of my memories spilled into her.”
