Falling Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 1 (6 page)

“I'm Cam by the way,”
I realised I was over staring at him, more like drooling. But I couldn't bring myself to look away
from his eyes they were so dark, they looked almost black. I'd never seen anyone with black eyes
before, maybe because it was dark outside it was making made them seem blacker then they
actually were, I wasn't sure though. And his voice I was sort of memorised, it sounded amazing to
me and some what familiar. I stood up straighter trying to compose myself.
“I'm Ruby,”
I couldn't stop staring and he didn't stop grinning at me, but the engine roared to life breaking the
connection between us.
I stepped away from the car and he shut the hood. Caitlin lowered her window.
“Wow.....you are a life saver thanks so much,” She called to him, he nodded in her direction then
promptly turned on his heel and started walking away. I stared at the back of him even the way he
walked was hot, seriously what was I thinking this wasn't like me.
“Thank you,” I called out.
He spun around and carried on walking backwards grinning.
“Night Ruby. It's nice to finally meet you again.”
I stood there for a moment wondering if I heard him correctly. When the car horn startled me.
“Ready?” Caitlin asked. I nodded putting on my belt.
“Wait...who was that?” Aimee asked. All of us staring out the window watching the back of Cam
disappear around the corner.
“Well it's too late now Aimee. You should have got out of the car anyway I think Ruby called dibs
on that one.” Caitlin said pulling out of the parking lot.
“Not fair,” Aimee sulked.
“Seriously calling dibs. I’m only here for the week, I doubt I’ll ever see him again.” I said looking
out the window, secretly hoping I would run into him again.
We were halfway back to the cabin when I realised I hadn't heard his thoughts. We arrived at the
cabin after a very up hill bumpy ride. We took a few wrong turns there were so many different turns
off the main road and I couldn’t remember which one was the right dirt track. Caitlin didn’t seem to
mind though, I just hoped they would find they're way back okay.
Seth's truck was parked out front but the motorcycle that had been round the side of the cabin was
gone, he must of switched and taken the bike. The temperature outside seemed to have dropped
even more, maybe it had something to do with been on higher ground. The inside of the cabin didn't
feel much different though. I didn't like the idea of trying to light the fire myself I’d never done it
before, I would most likely set fire to the cabin or myself.
I decided to hop in the shower to warm up hoping there would be some hot water. Thankfully there
was. I let the shower warm up as I collected my clothes opting for leggings, a jumper and a pair of
my favourite stripy socks that pulled up to my knees there was no way I was going to bed in my
vest top and panties like normal, I’d probably turn into an icicle.
I spent a little longer than necessary standing under the water it was so warm and the idea of
stepping out into the cold made me stay there longer. I heard the house phone downstairs ringing for
the third time since I had stepped into the shower. I ignored it and my thoughts drifted to Cam, his
face kept appearing in my mind on reply I couldn’t seem to turn it off. His smile, his eyes, his voice
everything about him was so....so familiar.
“Ruby stop. You're never going to see him again.” I said out loud to myself. I didn’t want to become
one of those silly teenage girls infatuated with one boy overnight like they did in the movies. I
heard the phone ringing again I groaned not wanting to leave the shower but thinking it might be
Seth panicking that I didn’t get home okay, so I shut off the water and quickly towelled myself
down. The phone had since stopped and started yet again. I opened the bathroom door hopping
along the landing trying to get my other leg into my leggings, my socks would have to wait.
“Hello,” I said out of breath from running down the stairs so quick.
“Ruby. Why weren’t you answering the phone? What have you been doing, it's gone twelve?”
It was Micah and he sounded really annoyed.
“Sorry I was in the shower trying to warm up this place is freezing,”
I heard a voice muffled in the background.
“Yeah she’s fine, just cold.” Micah said.
His voice had gone a lot quieter. It sounded like he was holding the phone away from his ear trying
to cover the mouth piece. I was straining my ear to hear what was been said.
“How should I know I'll ask her....Ruby,” Micah had put the phone back to his mouth.
“Yes,” I replied curiously wondering who he was talking to, maybe it was Seth? But why hadn’t
Seth just phoned me himself?
“If you're cold light the fire.” he said in a sarcastic tone.
“I would if I knew how and I don't think Seth wants me setting fire to the cabin seeing as it's made
out of wood and all,”
I waited for his response but he'd gone quiet again.
“I’ll go over and sort it,” said the other voice.
I didn’t recognise it, but definitely not Seth.
“No that's a bad idea. You're meant to be staying away from her remember,” Micah said.
If he was meant to be covering the phone with his hand he wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
“Ruby you still there?”
I was preoccupied listening to see if I could hear the other voice.
“RUBY! Are you listening?” Micah practically shouted down the phone.
“Yes what is it you actually want? Is that Seth with you?” I asked.
“Listen keep the doors locked, don't answer the door if anyone knocks, you got that,”
Micah knew as well as I did this place was isolated why would he say that? No one was likely to
knock on the door and definitely not at this time of night, I got the feeling he was trying to scare
me, he really was a douche bag.
“Sure Micah, I won't answer the door not even if it's the little old lady from next door asking if
we've got sugar.”
“Ruby, I’m not joking around,” he barked back at me.
“Micah stop it. I don’t know what you're doing but you're starting to scare me.”
“Just go to your room Ruby. Read a book or something Seth will be home later.” Then the phone
went dead. He'd hung up.
Seth would be home later. It had already gone twelve what was he out doing? I put the phone down
and decided to make a hot chocolate to take to bed but not before I raced around the house locking
the doors and checking all the windows were secure. Micah had actually made me panic a little and
I was suddenly very aware that half the windows downstairs didn’t have curtains and if anyone was
outside they could very easily see in. I didn’t waste much time after having those insanely crazy
thoughts hurrying back upstairs with my drink. At least my bedroom had curtains.
I stood at my window holding the mug between my hands to warm myself, outside was dark but I
could faintly see the outline of the trees as they swayed in the wind. I was been ridiculous there
wasn’t anything scary outside the only thing that had frightened me was Micah, I was already
starting to dislike him and I hardly knew him. I still shut my curtains though. I left my nightstand
light on and got under the covers and put my earbuds in, the music helped to drown out the sound of
the howling wind. I closed my eyes waiting for sleep to take over and the last thought I had was of a
blonde haired boy with black eyes and a devilish smile.
I woke up to the sound of tapping over the music. I took my earbuds out and pulled the cover down
slowly. The room was dark, the light I had left on was now switched off. I leaned over and quickly
switched it back on. Then I noticed the purple furry blanket was draped over me, which I knew I
hadn't unfolded from it's place at the bottom of the bed. The tapping continued and seemed to be
coming from the window, I slowly moved my legs over the side of the bed and stepped onto the
floor. My heartbeat had sped up and was on overdrive. I moved carefully to the window and
reached for the curtain. I took a deep breath and pulled the curtain back. I let out a small squeal
falling backwards at the same time, landing on my backside. I looked up at the window to see a
crow hoping around on the ledge pecking at the window. No not a crow it was bigger. It looked
extremely similar to the bird that had landed on the deck earlier. I stood up and moved closer for a
better look at the bird. It wasn't entirely black though it looked to have a white splotch of colour on
it's head so I wasn't sure what it was. I banged on the window and shooed it away, it took off into
the night. I shut the curtains again. Stupid bird.
I checked my cell it was gone two in the morning Seth must be back by now, he'd probably come
into my room to check on me and covered me with the blanket, I knew for a fact I hadn’t. My door
was half open and I straight away realised the house seemed a lot warmer then earlier and even
smelled warmer.
Downstairs the fire was lit and crackling.
“Seth you up?” I checked all of downstairs which only took seconds as there was only the walk in
living room, kitchen and a small back room where he did his laundry. I raced up the stairs and threw
his door open without bothering to knock first but all I found was an empty bed. I sat on the couch
unsure what to make of it all. All I could come up with was Micah must have come over lit the fire
found me asleep and covered me up. Well whoever let themselves in meant me no harm, which
helped calm my nerves and the dog had never barked he was curled up in front of the now burning
fire. I eventually gave up thinking about it and fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up to sunlight streaming through the window, I slowly sat up squinting. There was a bag
dumped by the front door Seth was back but I'd never heard him come home. The smell of cooking
drifted through the room and I could hear someone moving around in the kitchen. I got off the
couch stretching as I walked into the kitchen. I was expecting to see Seth, instead I found Micah
standing over the cooker.
There were groceries bags along the counters. Seth had been food shopping or maybe Micah had? I
knew he'd seen me standing in the doorway as he had glanced at my feet a second ago but he
carried on cooking and continued to ignore my presence.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I walked over and sat down at the table.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he said sarcastically, chewing gum. What was his problem? He
didn't have to be so rude.
“Where's Seth?”
“He's in bed. Don’t disturb him,”
“So what are you doing and don’t say 'what does it look like', I can see you're cooking breakfast.
Don’t you have your own place to do that?”
He didn’t reply, I stood up and the chair grated along the floor.
“Sit,” he said, it sounded as if he was speaking to the dog.
I sat back down and started tracing the patterns of the wood grain in the table waiting for him to say
something else.
“What have you got planned for today?” he asked with his back to me.
“The girls that I met yesterday have asked me to go with them to watch their friends play soccer,”
“Do you need a ride?”
“No they’re going to come and get me.”
Why was he asking me what I was doing? It was none of his business, I didn't even know why I had
told him. I stared at the back of his head but then quickly diverted my eyes. I didn’t want to pass out
and fall asleep on the kitchen table for ten hours like last time in the truck.
He glanced at me scowling. I gulped like I had just been caught cheating blinked and pretended
something out the window had caught my eye. What if he could read my mind?
I quickly shut my thoughts off and did what Seth seemed to be getting quite good at lately and
started singing full volume in my head and the first thing that popped into my mind was a nursery
rhyme I learned when I was younger. I thought this was probably the worst choice at first but then I
realised if he could hear me singing 'Old MacDonald had a farm' he was probably going to wonder
what on earth I’m doing and show some sign he could hear me. Wasn't he? I started singing and
slowly moved my eyes back to him but he just carried on regardless, it wasn’t working. I stopped
and thought of the one thing to get a guys attention....
there's a naked lady at the window!
I said
trying to sound as shocked as possible in my head but Micah didn’t even flinch he just carried on
like normal and walked back to the fridge returning the milk. Huh...maybe he couldn’t hear me?
He picked up the plate of food and walked to the doorway pausing.
“There’s enough left over for you if you're hungry,”
Then he disappeared. I heard footsteps on the stairs. He was taking breakfast up to Seth, why would
he do that? Maybe Seth was really hung over or he didn't want to come out of his bedroom maybe
he had been beaten up again?
Either way he would have to come out sometime and I would find out what was going on. I heard
Micah coming back down the stairs then the front door banged. No goodbye then.
There was plenty enough left over food if I didn’t know any better it looked as if Micah had made
extra just for me. After I finished eating I had to clean the kitchen though, Micah had managed to
spread his cooking skills all over the place and just left it in a mess. Caitlin picked me up around
11.30am and we went to watch the boys play soccer.
It was raining but we found shelter under the canopy of a small snack shack located next to the
playing field. I enjoyed listening to the girls gossip about the boys and pointing out all the people
that were in their year at school. Josh was constantly glancing over to see if Caitlin was watching
and Robbie was showing off trying to get the attention of any girl that would look at him. Caitlin
dropped me off at the cabin late afternoon. Seth's truck was parked out front and the motorcycle was
parked round the side of the house but Seth wasn’t around so I guessed he was still in his room.
There was nothing on TV and I didn’t fancy the idea of wondering off into the woods again, so I
stayed closer to the cabin on the safety of the porch.
I settled down on the bench with my sketchbook. I enjoyed art at school but didn’t consider my
work anything exceptional. I was deciding on what I could sketch close by when a bird landed on
the porch railing, not just any bird. It looked like the same bird from last night with the white
splodge on it's head but this time I noticed a tag on its leg. It looked like a raven but I'd never seen
one with white markings but then again I’d never seen a raven before except in books, it had shaggy
feathers and a curved black beak definitely not a crow. It hopped along the railing and started to
squawk. It tilted it's head to the side, it was watching me.
BOOM!!
Gunner's paws loudly thudded against the window pane behind me. He started barking aggressively
at the bird, but the bird didn't move instead it seemed to be taunting the dog as it stayed there
squawking. I quickly went inside shutting the door behind me, when I looked back out the window
the bird was gone. Gunner stopped barking, let out a growl and got down from the window, then he
went back to his spot on the couch. I sat down next to him with my sketch pad there was something
weird about that bird but I couldn't figure out what. Instead I found myself sketching the bird.
The sun had started to disappear behind the trees, I hadn’t bothered to put a light on as I was to
comfortable, gazing out of the window watching the light fade. I was about to motivate myself and
try and find something to make for dinner when the headlights of a car lit up the front room through
the window. A moment later Micah opened the front door without knocking. He spotted me and
frowned, I ignored him and went into the kitchen. I opened the fridge and randomly started moving
items around to see what I could make, plus with my head been in the fridge it was a good way of
avoiding Micah's gaze.
I found some bacon and eggs but didn't know which one I wanted to eat more. Maybe both? I heard
him walk into the kitchen his boots made such a noise on the floor.
“What are you doing here...again?” I asked.
“I just stopped by to drop this off for Seth, car parts.” he said dumping the box on the table, I was
still hiding in the fridge.
“What's this?” he asked leaning over the fridge door.
I straightened up and looked at him, he was holding the picture of the raven I had drawn.
“It's just some sketch I did.”
He just stared at me waiting for me to continue.
“Of a bird, a raven I think. It was outside the cabin earlier,”
He frowned. “You saw a raven outside here?”
“Yes isn’t that what I just said?”
“Sure it wasn't a crow?” he asked clearly not convinced I'd seen a raven.
“No it was pretty big, not like a crow. It had something on it's leg though I think it was someone's
pet or something,”
“This thing on its leg was it like a tag like the racing birds have?” he asked, I couldn’t be sure but
he looked concerned maybe.
“Yes have you seen one before? Does it belong to someone?”
He didn’t answer.
“Since when are ravens used for racing?” I asked.
He shook his head and rolled his eyes, like I had said something stupid.
“They're not,” he said still looking at the picture as he walked out the kitchen. I only saw the back
of him but it looked like he folded it into his pocket, I didn't know what to make of it so I just let it
go he was acting stranger than normal.
“Seth up yet?” Micah called from the other room.
“I don’t know he hasn’t comedown stairs yet.”
I heard Micah's boots on the stairs.
He wasn’t up there very long before two sets of footsteps came back down. I moved to the bread
box deciding I wanted a bacon sandwich.
Seth walked into the kitchen and Micah leaned against the door frame.
“Do you want me to make you something to eat?” I asked Seth.
“No I’ll just grab something at work I have to be there in twenty minutes, I’m running late.” I
nodded.
“So I should be back around seven”
hate.....night shifts....boring!
I heard him say in his head.
“You work all night?” I asked, realising I would be here all night on my own again.
“Yeah I’m covering for a friend, just for tonight you'll be all right,”
He turned and walked past Micah playfully punching him as he went.
“Thanks for the parts. You coming?” he asked Micah.
“Actually I have nothing to do tonight. I was going to park the truck in the garage and fit those parts
for you.” he said casually glancing at me as he turned around in the doorway to face Seth.
“Well I mean if you want, but I was going to sort it at the weekend,”
“No It's fine I have nothing better to do. You'll have to take your bike though,”
“What! I can't take your precious truck just this once.” Seth said in a comically shocked expression.
“No, no one else drives the Dodge but me, you know this already,”
“I’ll just get wet then when it rains, seeing as they forecast torrential rain.”
“Better take a rain coat then,”
Seth grabbed his keys of the side. “You sure you don’t have anything better to do tonight then fix
my truck?”
“Nope nothing else planned for tonight. Anyway I want to stick around for a while, make sure this
wild child doesn't throw a party and drink all the booze.” he said with his back to me.
I pushed passed him in the doorway so I could get to Seth.
“I don’t need a babysitter I’m seventeen not seven,”
“No ones babysitting you Ruby. I'm not even going to be in the house I’ll be in the garage.” Micah
said to me.
I looked over my shoulder at him trying to figure him out, maybe he genuinely wanted to fix the
truck but I got the feeling he was keeping an eye on me. I was a little scared of been left in the cabin
by myself at night but if Seth knew that he wouldn’t want to leave me or he'd make Micah stay all
night and he was already over here enough as it was. Micah moved over to the kitchen table and
picked up the box.
“I need to go, just pretend he's not here. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Seth said closing the front door
behind him.
I turned to look at Micah, he was smiling at me but it seemed false.
I couldn’t decide whether Micah being outside was a good or a bad thing, he behaved strangely and
the fact he knew what I could do made me nervous. Why hadn’t he said anything? Both of them
were just carrying on like normal. Nothing here seemed normal to me.
I finished preparing my sandwich and for some bizarre reason found myself headed out to the
garage to see what Micah was up to. The truck was jacked up and he was underneath it. I started
tucking into my sandwich unsure whether he knew I was there or not, I had finished it by the time
he said anything.
“Is there something you want?” he asked.
“Do you talk to everyone like that?”
He rolled out from under the truck and sat up.
“Well is there anything I can help you with or did you get lost on your way from the kitchen?”
“So last night I woke up and came downstairs to find someone had lit a fire and I remember telling
you I didn’t know how to light it,”
I had moved over to the tool bench and was lining up the tools in a row casually glancing over at
him. He was watching me carefully, more like studying me.
“So was it you? Did you drive all the way up here just to light the fire, for me?”
He stood up and came over to the bench switching the tool in his hand for another.
“You said you were cold, you were whining about it on the phone,” he said walking back over to the
truck. “So yes I came over and lit the fire so what,”
He crawled back under the truck.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were asleep, I didn’t want to wake you.”
“So you could of still woken me, I was a little creeped out when I woke up and there was no one in
the cabin and the fire had magically lit itself.”
He didn’t say anything, I thought maybe he was ignoring me on purpose hoping I’d leave.
“Thank you,” I said walking away. “I was really cold last night, I still think it's a little weird that
you came into my bedroom and covered me but it's the thought that counts,”
“What?”
I heard a thump under the truck followed by a variety of choice words.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. What did you just say about your bedroom?”
“You covered me,”
“I What?”
I got the feeling he had no idea what I was talking about.
“The throw at the bottom of my bed, you covered me over with it, didn’t you?”
Micah was dead still under the truck and had been silent for too long, for once I wished I could see
his face.
“Yes, yes I did. I just forgot I'd done that that’s all, it's been a long day.”
He was lying and he was really bad at it. Someone else had been in the cabin he was covering for
them pretending it was him, that made no sense. But I needed to make sure. So if it was him he
would probably think I am completely nuts after what I was about to say. Deep breath in.
“You forgot how could you forget covering me.....I was completely naked! It's how I like to sleep,”
“Seriously....going to kill him.” he mumbled.