Irresistible Fear (6 page)

Sasha got out of the car and started heading towards the two large doors at the front of the admissions building. Emily slowly followed her, slinging her back pack over her shoulder. Sasha stopped and tapped her foot impatiently. “We’re lucky this isn’t a race Em. Pick it up please. I don’t want to miss the opening speech by the president.” Emily hurried to catch up. “Sorry.” She mumbled.

Emily saw a bunch of kids from their school. Several of her photography buddies were there and she waved to them from across the crowd. Emily was surprised at how many people were there. A bunch of kids were with their parents and Emily felt a little conspicuous not being with hers'. Not that she would be caught dead in a place like this with her mother.

Sasha’s parents were both working but would be coming on a campus tour with Sasha next week. Sasha had already tried talking Emily into joining them. Emily was waiting to see how today went before putting her eggs in the basket.

“I’m delighted to see so many people here today. Welcome to Black Briar Community College. We first opened our doors in 1956 and have been providing an important foundation for thousands of students ever since.” The school’s president began. Emily immediately tuned him out and began to check out the room and the people in it.

Emily was surprised to see Jeremy sitting on a bench on the other side of the front foyer. His older brother sat beside him. Emily wasn’t surprised that his parents were absent; given that they had little to do with their son, leaving him to practically raise himself. His parents were more focused on their careers than their children. The lack of parental involvement on both of their parts was what created their immediate bond. Though Jeremy wasn’t aware of the extent of her mother’s negligence, he had enough of a picture to feel a kinship with her.

Jeremy though, had gotten past his bitterness a long time ago. Emily wished she had more of his positive outlook; unfortunately she was still mired in her own anger to be very optimistic where her mother was concerned. Emily knew his parents had been pushing him to attend the same Ivy League school as they had. Jeremy’s parents had both attended Brown University, which is where they had met. Emily was also aware that he didn’t share their vision for his future. So this was his form of rebellion it seemed. She could only imagine the horror his parents would experience if their son attended a …gasp…community college.

Emily had only met Jeremy’s parents once and she had immediately known that they were anything but happy about her relationship with their son. Emily had often wondered if that had played some part in his initial attraction to her. Emily caught Jeremy’s eye and he gave her a small wave. Emily waved back and then attempted to concentrate on the president’s address.

It was useless of course and she attempted to suppress a yawn. Sasha elbowed her. “Pay attention.” She hissed. Emily frowned at Sasha. Her friend was taking all of this entirely too seriously. She moved away a bit.

God! How long was this guy going to drone on? Emily was getting very antsy and bobbed back and forth on her feet to try and stay awake. His speech was like an immediate sleep aide. Maybe Emily should look into getting a recording of this dude if she was suffering from insomnia. She giggled to herself but stopped when she noticed Sasha shooting daggers at her.

Finally, the president stopped talking and directed them to begin their individual tours. Sasha grabbed her arm. “Come on already. Let’s go take a look around.” Emily and Sasha left the main building and began to walk around the grounds. The day was really warm and Emily enjoyed the sun on her back. She took off her fleece jacket and tied it around her waist.

They wandered in and out of the buildings, looking in classrooms, asking questions of people who attended the school. Despite her misgivings, Emily was becoming excited. She could see herself going to school here. And when they went into Deacon Hall that housed the art programs, her excitement went through the roof. They had a full on dark room and the classrooms were covered in the most amazing photographs she had ever seen.

Emily stood in the doorway, watching the light come through the windows, several of which were stained glass. Sasha smiled at her open mouthed appreciation. “Like it huh?” Sasha asked. Emily nodded. “The ambience is unbelievable.” Sasha snorted. “The ambience huh?”

“Oh shut up.” Emily playfully shoved Sasha and the two left the classroom. “You can see yourself here can’t you?” Sasha asked her. Emily nodded. “Okay, so you were right. I like it. But that doesn’t change the fact that I couldn’t even begin to afford it. So don't start celebrating yet.” Sasha rolled her eyes. “Alright Negative Nelly, I think that's our cue to go meet with the financial aid officer. I will love to see you get proven oh, so wrong, yet again!” Emily didn't want to admit it but she hoped Sasha was right...this once.

They were walking down the hallway when Emily felt an uncomfortable sensation. Every hair on the back of her neck stood on end and prickles of ice spread through her arms. She immediately stopped walking and looked around.

Emily’s stomach knotted up and she felt dizzy. “You okay?” Sasha asked, peering at her questioningly. Emily just shook her head and doubled over as she was wracked with a wave of nausea. “Are you going to be sick or something? Because you know I don’t do vomit.” Sasha sounded panicked as she scouted the area for a trashcan.

“Just give me a sec.” Emily whispered, taking deep breaths. Sasha paced back in forth and front of her, waiting for the first signs of sick. Emily wanted to tell her to stop, but didn’t trust herself to open her mouth.

“Are you alright?” A voice cut through her single focus of not throwing up. However, the sensation intensified and lights flashed in her eyes. She sagged to the floor, putting her head between her legs. “Whoa Emily! Help me please.” Emily didn’t know who Sasha was speaking to but suddenly felt two pairs of hands picking her up by her arms and helping her out of the building. She could tell Sasha’s hands by the slight warmth and the prick of her manicured nails.

The other hands were hot, as if they had been left in scalding water. They hurt and Emily wanted to yell out for whoever it was to let her go. But just as she was about to say something, the hands released her and she sat down hard on a cold stone bench outside. The nausea continued to roll through her stomach and a sickeningly sweet smell filled her nostrils.

“Go get her some water.” The strange, female voice told Sasha. “Okay.” Sasha sounded relieved to do something and Emily heard her steps hurry away. Emily felt the person lean towards her, as if they were checking on her. Not once had Emily lifted her head to look at them, though she wanted to. Emily didn’t feel as if she were able to.

She felt as if she were going to black out, stars appeared on the backs of her closed eye lids and her heart beat increased to the point where she felt it would explode from her chest. Just as she felt she couldn’t stay conscious anymore, she heard a soft voice next to her ear. “Why is he so interested in you? You are nothing.” Emily was confused. The voice was whispery soft and Emily wasn’t sure she had heard correctly. She tried to look up at the woman but she felt like there was a hand at the base of her neck, making it impossible for her to lift her head. The woman's anger was obvious, rolling off of her in waves like heat. The bile rose in Emily's throat and she knew she was about to spew everywhere.

The very pissed off lady gripped Emily's arm, her nails biting into her arm and probably drew blood. “I'll be watching you Emily. Every second of every day. I'm watching you both.” What? Emily wanted to ask. There was a rush of air and the intense heat disappeared and Emily was suddenly able to move again.

She opened her eyes, the nausea miraculously gone, though she could still taste vomit in the back of her throat. Emily looked around for the woman who had just been with her but didn’t see anyone. What the hell had she been talking about? She got the distinct impression the woman had sought her out on purpose. But why? Her last words had the distinct sound of a threat and it totally freaked Emily out.

Emily saw Sasha running down the cobbled path towards her, a bottle of water in her hands. She thrust it into Emily’s hands. “Drink this now.” She commanded. “I’m fine Sasha. Calm down.” To make her friend feel better, Emily took a big gulp from the bottle.

“What the hell was that Emily? You scared me to death!” Sasha lightly punched her upper arm. “I don’t know Sash. I thought I was going to puke there for a sec. But see, all better.” Emily stood and did a little tap dance, ending with a flourish. “You dork. Don't do that stuff to me.” Sasha told her angrily.

“Where did that lady go? I wanted to thank her for helping me. There was no way I was gonna drag your butt outside by myself.” Emily shrugged but couldn't help but ask. “What did she look like Sash?” Sasha frowned and seemed to think about it.

“You know what's weird? I don't really know. I mean, I looked right at her but it's like it was all fuzzy or something.” Emily felt her heart sputter. Some instinct was telling her not to ignore this, that this whole thing was extremely important.

Sasha shrugged. “Whatever, it's probably my stress from dealing with your traumatic ass. Again, don't do that to me ever again.” Sasha picked up her purse that she had thrown on the ground in her mad dash for a bottle of water.

“Alright, well let's go see the financial aid person and then I think you need to go home.” Sasha said, walking across the grass. Suddenly Sasha stopped and turned to face Emily; that confused frown back on her face. “What Sash...you look like you're going to blow a gasket.” Emily asked.

“You know, I do remember something about that lady now.” Sasha looked at Emily in a funny way. Emily felt her breath stop for a second. “What?” She whispered. “Her eyes. They were purple.” Sasha told her with a cocked eyebrow.

“Purple?” Emily asked incredulously. “I know right...but they were. Anyway...” Sasha's words trailed off and she walked away. Emily just stood there, not sure what to make of all of it. Rubbing her arm, she winced at the sudden sting. Looking down there were four clear punctures in the skin, the woman’s nails branding her.

“Hey, wait up.” Emily called to Sasha, running after her friend who was making a bee line toward the financial aid office. Walking quickly to catch up with Sasha, Emily couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling of eyes on her.

Chapter 5

“See that wasn’t so bad. And you even got some good news.” Sasha enthused as they sat in her living room eating popcorn and watching an old black and white horror movie. Emily put a handful of popcorn in her mouth instead of answering.

Sasha was right. Emily had been pleasantly surprised at the options she had for paying for college. Even with the less than stellar grades she had recently, there were loans and grants available to her. Emily had never dared hope that college was in her future but it suddenly seemed attainable.
Emily however, didn’t want to talk about it. Almost as if discussing it too often would jinx it and it would never happen. But she conceded with Sasha. “Yep, not bad at all.” She mumbled around the food in her mouth.

Sasha gave her a self-satisfied smile. She was basking in “I told you so.” Emily let her have her moment of glory, not putting into words any of the million other worries that threatened that feel good moment.

“Do you really have to work this evening?” Sasha whined, pouting from across the sofa. Emily chuckled. “Yes, some of us have that thing called...responsibility.” Emily laughed at her friend. She pulled out the sleeve of pictures she just had developed from the local drug store. She was excited to see how her latest pictures turned out.

“I do not know this word you speak of.” Sasha joked. Sasha got up to microwave some more popcorn. “What time do you have to be there?” “5:30.” Emily answered. “Well, I can give you a lift if you want.”

Emily nodded, not really paying attention. Her focus was on the pictures that sat in her lap. “What the hell?” She whispered, flipping through them quickly. Each picture was obscured by a large shadow. Emily picked up picture after picture, squinting her eyes as she held them close to her face. There was something about the shape that was familiar.

“Hey, how did your pictures turn out?” Sasha asked coming up behind her. She grabbed a pile from beside Emily and looked through them. “Well that sucks. You can barely see them.” Sasha moved the pictures to view them from different angles.

“It doesn’t make any sense. This doesn’t look like overexposed film or anything.” Emily really looked at the pictures. The photographs were essentially shadowed by a dark object. She could make out the trees and the clouds but it was as if someone had walked in front of the light.

The thing that really bothered Emily was that the shadows seem to be in the shape of a person, a female person to be exact. Sasha picked up on this as well. “Who was standing next to you? You should give them hell for ruining your pictures like that. They look like they could have been really good.” Sasha tossed them back on the couch without another thought and returned to the kitchen to get the popcorn.

Emily couldn’t look away from the photographs. She wished Sasha’s explanation was the end of it. But what really bothered her was the fact that she knew she had been alone when she took the pictures. She would never have been with anyone while taking photographs; it wasn’t the way she worked. So there was no way someone’s shadow could have shown up on the film. A tingle started running down her arms and she had a feeling of foreboding. She felt as if ice water was running through her veins and that uncomfortably familiar sick feeling began in her stomach.

When Sasha returned, she quickly put the photos away, stuffing them into her backpack. “You alright?” Sasha asked, flopping back down on the sofa beside her. Emily plastered a smile back on her face. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just not wanting to go to work this evening.” “Then don’t go. Call in sick.” Sasha gave her an amused look. “Have you ever called in sick before?”