Hunter of the Dark (9 page)

1
st
June 2066

The next day was average life for Tanitha. She went to school, as normal, and avoided Cameron, who was trying to make her feel better. She felt that nothing, at that moment, could ever make her more joyful ever again.

At school, her eyes rested on his empty desk in form time. The very thought of it made her heart seem equally as empty. She had lost something that day, something that could never, ever be returned.

As she wandered through school, zombie-like, people said hi to her and stopped to ask how she was. But she ignored these people. She still couldn’t understand how they could be so normal, when life would never be normal again.

When asked about Christian, it was all she could do to stop the tears from flowing. Putting on her cold front, she merely asked, “Christian, who?” and carried on when they gave her weird looks. How could they understand? No one understood.

Loneliness came crashing upon her for the first time that night. Her bed seemed so large, and she felt like a tiny fish compared to an ocean, and she struggled to keep her sobs quiet, so Cameron wouldn’t hear her. She didn’t want his sympathy. She wanted Christian back.

Today, she remembered, would have been Christian’s birthday. She remembered being told about it earlier on. She was thinking of having a party, a party in memory of her beloved, but decided that he wouldn’t have wanted it. Christian was never really the party person. Once she returned home, she discovered Sadie hadn’t returned. She traipsed to Sorsa’s grave, but she wasn’t there either. She had disappeared. She never came back, though some nights Tanitha could swear that she felt a presence beneath the window, staring into the night. Sometimes she could almost hear her whine for the life-long friend she lost. Tanitha didn’t know where she went, or even if she was still alive, but both the dogs’ presences still haunted her, keeping her comfort at night.

What hurt was that she’d never feel the lips of one who had given her her first kiss. She didn’t believe this to be fair. Everyone should have a chance to be with their soul mate, even if it was for only a year. But not just an hour. She felt that her and Christian could have had a future together.

It wasn’t as if she could forget him either, just pretend that he had never been there. Sure, his love was imprinted on her heart, but there was a stronger, more deep-seated reason than that. The moon had stirred within her wild belongings and primal anxiety. The moon, so cold and lonely in its anguish, would call to her to join it.

For Christian had left her a parting gift, one which would stay with her permanently. One which made her desires seem petty compared to the one thing it focused her mind on. One which made her realise she wasn’t completely human after all.

Because with this, she found something out about herself that she never even thought would happen to her. She began to dread the night.