Falling Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 1 (10 page)

I looked at Caitlin who was giggling trying to bite her roll.
“Don't worry we didn't get that far by the end of the lesson he couldn't get away from me quick
enough,” I took a sip of my drink “so where did he come from? He looks older then us,” I asked, I
was secretly curious about him.
“I think he was put back a year or maybe more, no one really knows. There’s been all sorts of
rumours about him flying around the school.” Caitlin said.
“Like how he set fire to his last school,” Aimee said.
“Millie was telling me yesterday he just left rehab for drug addiction,” Caitlin added, rolling her
eyes. She obviously didn’t believe it.
“I heard he just got out of juvie for stealing cars,” Josh said.
“I heard he was in a fight club,” Aimee said, shocked and amazed at the same time. She on the other
hand actually believed these rumours.
“That would explain the scars,” Robbie said.
“What scars?” Aimee asked attentively.
“On his back, two horrible massive gashes saw them this morning when he was getting changed for
gym.” Josh said.
“How do you think it happened?” Caitlin asked.
“Dunno didn’t ask, he's not the sort of guy you ask about personnel stuff, if you get what I mean.
He's kind of scary hard core.”
“Probably knife wound from his time on the inside.” Robbie said smirking.
“It all sounds a little far fetched,” I said, taking a sip of my drink.
“Maybe you could ask him next time you have English together,” Aimee said, nudging me.
“Err no. It's none of my business and I doubt he'd tell me anyway. He made it perfectly clear he
doesn't want much to do with me and the feelings mutual.”
But I knew that wasn’t how I really felt. I couldn't hear his thoughts, which made him different to
everyone else in this school and I wanted to know why.
After lunch I went to class, trying to ignore all the strange face that were staring at me. I tried to
distracted myself with class work, but my mind kept drifting back to Mack and the many rumours I
had heard about him. What if some of them were true?
The last bell of the day sounded just as my cell vibrated in my pocket, it was Micah.
I'm waiting outside.
I messaged back while walking to my locker with Aimee.
Just need to get something from my locker be out soon.
“Oh break me off a piece of that yummy deliciousness walking towards us,” Aimee said.
I looked over at her, wondering what she was talking about, then I looked in the same direction she
was looking. Cam was strolling towards us, he was dressed in green overalls wearing the same
scruffy cap holding a screwdriver.
“Hi girls,” he said, only looking at me.
I just smiled I hadn't forgotten the other day when he ran out on me and left me sitting on my own.
“So how was your first day? They didn't give you to much homework did they?”
“It was all right, nothing exciting,” I said opening my locker.
How did he know it was my first day? For all he knew I could of started yesterday.
“So Cameron Teller, you're our new janitor/maintenance guy huh,” Aimee said, holding his I.D
badge in her hand, invading his personal space.
“Started this morning,” he smiled, twirling a screwdriver around his fingers. I turned back to my
locker pretending to sort through my books.
“Sorry about running out on you the other day, I had to go somewhere,”
He leaned back against the locker next to mine. I nodded, still annoyed with him it would of taken
ten seconds to say goodbye to me, there was no need to of been rude like that. I tried to ignore him,
but it was hard as he was staring at me with this huge grin on his face. I got the feeling he probably
ran out on a lot of girls like that.
“Let me make it up to you, do you want to do something this weekend?”
“I dunno what I'm doing yet,” I said, trying to put on a good front. He made me nervous, I hated not
hearing his thoughts. Sure he was gorgeous and any normal girl would be over the moon to get a
chance to talk to him, but he was the sort of boy your mother warned you to stay away from, a
proper heart breaker and there was probably only one thing on his mind.
“You know we're all going to be at The Jump on Saturday night if you're interested, Ruby will be
there,” Aimee said.
I looked at her, this was the first I'd heard about this.
“The Jump, I thought that place got shut down by police?”
“It did, well the old place did. Locations moved, it's now located just passed the old factories
outside of town. Everyone who's anyone will be there,”
“And you'll be there?” he asked me.
I was about to open my mouth and say something I wasn't sure what but Aimee beat me to it. “She'll
be there I'll make sure of it,”
“I can't wait,” he said pushing off the locker. “Later princess.” he smiled at me.
“Why did you do that?” I asked scowling at her, when he was gone.
“What he's hot and clearly has a thing for you, I was helping you out. When did you two hook up
then?”
“What? We didn't hook up. I bumped into him when I was out for lunch and he ran out on me,
there's nothing more to it.”
“Hey, guess who I just saw wearing janitor get up?” Caitlin said, joining us.
“Yeah we saw him,” I replied, annoyed with Aimee.
I wasn't sure how I felt about Cam, something was off about him. Why was he so interested in me?
“Wait how do you know him?” Aimee asked Caitlin.
“He's the guy that fixed mom's car that night at The Bowler.”
“Wow, now I really wish I had a time machine, to go back and get out the car with you two. Maybe
then he'd be throwing advances in my direction cause little miss here doesn't seem that interested,”
“There's just something about him, something different.” I mumbled to myself.
“Well I couldn't see anything wrong, he looked to be just the right amount of gorgeousness.” Aimee
said, biting her lip.
I slammed my locker door shut, only to find Mack on the other side of it. He was casually leaning
up against the lockers looking at me from under his hood.
“Who was that?” he asked.
“What?” I replied, unsure he was even talking to me.
“What did he want?” he said scooting along the lockers closer to me.
“What, the janitor?” I said, noticing Caitlin and Aimee had hovered closer.
“He was just inviting Ruby out on a date this Saturday he's meeting her at The Jump. Do you know
where it is?” Aimee asked Mack.
“Yeah I've heard of it, kids go there to get drunk and swing in trees,” he replied looking
unimpressed about the whole idea.
“Yeah it's called fun, maybe you should drop by,” Aimee said, smiling at him.
“We'll see,” he said quietly looking at me. Then he walked away and disappeared into the crowded
corridor.
“What was that about?” Caitlin asked.
“How should I know, it's not like I can read his mind,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. We
started walking to the main doors.
“What is it about you girl? You've got all the hot guys chasing after you,”
“Well I'm not doing anything on purpose, I don't even want the attention.”
“Well you're going to have a lot of it on Saturday, I think I just got you another date. I should be one
of these matchmakers on TV they make a fortune,” Aimee said walking off in a different direction.
“Catch you two later.”
“What is this place The Jump?” I asked Caitlin.
“It's just a clearing in the forest where teens and college students like to hang out. There's music,
drinking and rope swings. It's all right, the last place was better but the police shut it down, as
people were swinging over the river after they'd been drinking and one guy drowned.”
“What that's terrible, it sounds dangerous,”
“Yeah it is if you want to get drunk and wonder off into the forest on your own. I never drink
anything when I'm there, you never can be too careful. I just go along with Aimee to make sure she
doesn't get into any trouble. Don't worry we never stay out too long after dark, it gets too cold.”

Micah drove me home in silence, he didn't even ask me how my day was. I got the feeling he was
annoyed about something, maybe something I'd done, but who knew he was way too complicated to
figure out.
“Wait I have something for you,” he said jumping out first when we got back. I followed him over
to his truck, he opened the drivers side door and a few empty energy drink bottles fell out.
“Here it is,” he said retrieving, a large red gift bag from the other seat.
“What is it?” I asked, curious as to what was in the bag.
I followed him into the cabin, where he set it down on the table.
“Well go on then,”
He nodded his head towards the bag. I put my own bag down and peeked in the gift bag.
“Is that a laptop?”
“Yep,” he reached in and lifted it out. “and it's all set up ready to use, WI-FI and everything. So you
can chat to your friends, school work or whatever you want to do on it.”
“Who's paying for it?”
“Don't worry Seth can afford it and the laptop is a gift.”
I looked at him not sure what he meant by gift. “A gift?”
“Yes a gift, I thought it would help keep you occupied. Don't want you getting cabin fever while
you're here,” he smirked. “You could say thank you,”
“Err, thank you. This seems a bit much though, you already bought me all those books.”
“So you saying you don't want it?”
“No I didn't say that,”
“Well good, cause I lost the receipt anyhow. I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up for school make
sure you're ready to go when I arrive.”
“Thanks Micah,”
He nodded at me and closed the door behind him. This was too much I couldn't accept this, could I?
Maybe he wasn't as horrible as I first made him out to be. Maybe he had reasons for the way he
was. I was sure going to have to be civil with him now he'd gone and bought me a laptop, who does
that?
He obviously had too much money if he could spare buying things for me, expensive things. I
hardly knew him. I ran my hand along the top of the red shiny laptop. I was bubbling inside, my
evenings would now consist of chatting to Carly more chatting to Carly and a bit of homework
squeezed in the middle.
The evening passed by in a blur, one minute it was 5pm and I was deciding what to eat, the next it
was 10pm and I was watching some random thriller. I had been chatting to Carly most of the night
on and off I had finished all of my homework tasks and even soaked in the bath for over an hour.
Seth wasn't home and I didn't like going to bed not knowing when he would be back. I made myself
a hot chocolate and Gunner tried to stick his snout in it a number of times. I painted my toenails and
put my feet up on the coffee table to dry, laying back against the couch. My eyelids began to feel
heavy, I closed them for a moment.

I heard boots moving across the floor before I opened my eyes. I sat up, the TV had gone on to
standby mode and switched off, the room was dark. I looked over the back of the couch. Micah was
just closing the front door, Seth laid in a heap on the floor, his back to me. I looked at Micah
waiting for him to notice me. He did a double take when he spotted me. Seth started moaning.
“Micah,” Seth mumbled. “you sure she's in bed?” Micah shot a look in my direction then walked
over to Seth.
“Yeah she's in bed I already checked. Come on lets get you upstairs, you need to rest.”
“Stay there,” Micah mouthed at me.
He helped Seth off the floor and I shrunk back into the couch so Seth wouldn't see me. I quietly tip
toed to the kitchen and waited for Micah to come back down stairs.
“I thought you were in bed. What are you doing down here in the dark?”
“I fell asleep on the couch. What's going on, what's wrong with Seth,why did he need your help to
get him upstairs?”
“Shhh! Ruby calm down,”
“No I won't calm down, not until you tell me what's going on, was he beaten up again like last
time?”
“Last time,” Micah said surprised.
“I saw Seth the night I arrived here, he was cut and bruised his face was all swollen. You didn't
seem the least bit bothered at the time,” Micah studied me. “Well say something, anything. Fine I'll
just go ask Seth cause I'm sick of been kept in the dark.”
I tried to push past him but he blocked me.
“Micah you either tell me or I'm going to ask Seth either tonight or in the morning. I don't care if he
doesn't want to tell me yet I need to know what's going on, ever since I arrived in this town it's been
one thing after the other. What is it you're not telling me?”
He ignored me, I tried to shove him out the way, but he wasn't budging. “Move,” I shoved him as
hard as I could but it was like hitting a brick wall.
“Ruby, stop it. Seth's asleep he doesn't need this right now he needs to rest.” he said grabbing me by
the shoulders pushing me back. I stared at him, looking straight into his eyes what was he hiding?
The next thing happened so fast, in a blink of an eye the room changed around me, I wasn't standing
in the kitchen with Micah anymore.

I was standing in some sort of small crowded stadium, there were rows of seats round the edge, I
could see a balcony running along the top. I looked down to the center where there was some sort of
ring with a cage built round it, there was lots of extra caging and bars stacked at the back. The place
was packed mostly with guys but I spotted one girl all were cheering and shouting, the atmosphere
was clouded with smoke. Two guys near me were having a bust up over who spilled who's beer. As
I looked around I realised everyone looked young no one looked older than thirty it looked like the
place was packed with college students.
I tried to turn around but I couldn't, it was as if my arms and legs wouldn't cooperate with what my
mind was telling them to do. Then I got a quick look at my arms and hands, this wasn't my body.
I was trapped inside someone.
The person moved further down the steps up to a group of rowdy looking guys, most of them were
smoking, some drinking and half of them were covered in tattoos. What was this place?
“There he is, been looking for you,” said a tall dark haired guy with a cigarette hanging out of his
mouth. “You sorted my bet out for me?”
“Yeah it's all done. I'm finished for the night so all bets through Nick now,” said a very familiar
voice, I knew that voice it was Micah's. I was stuck inside Micah, what was going on?
“Seriously I hate that guy, he doesn't know what he's doing half the time.” the guy said to Micah.
“Well I have to take off, things to do,” Micah said.
“Really, like what? We hardly see you anymore what is it that's keeping you so busy nowadays?”
“Just stuff I don't have to explain myself to you,”
“Okay, chill I was just asking,” he said, downing an energy drink. He crushed the can with his hand
and dropped it on the floor then he popped open a beer and started drinking that instead.
“Who'd you put your money on tonight?” a guy with a green
mohican
asked the dark haired guy.
“My moneys on the Neph in the third match, he's been killer the last few matches,”
“Nah should of put your money on Trip he's in tonight, absolute monster that guy,”
“Well we'll see, my moneys still on the Neph.”
“What's the name of that Neph?” asked a very attractive girl with long wavy blonde hair with black
streaks.
“Seth I think, is that right Micah? Neph in third round,”
“Yeah that's Seth.” Micah answered.
Seth did they mean my brother Seth? Third match as in a fighting match. Micah had turned and was
squeezing past people down the steps, he walked round the corner and went under the stands and
came out near a booth.
“I'm off Nick. Think you can manage on your own?”
“I should be all right, if things get out of hand I've got Sean and Beck on the door,”
“All right well I'll see you later,” Micah said tapping a car key against the booth window. Micah
then walked over to a door where a guy dressed in black with a ponytail opened it for him, as he
stepped through to outside everything started to slide sideways.