Trapped (3 page)

“You
need
to get to bed early so yo
u won’t be tired in the morning,
”
he responded with a quick smile as he turned away from me.
He sounded worse than my parents
did
when they were alive.
I glared at him.

“Hey, it was your decision
to go back to school,
”
he said, still not turning to look at me
.
I could feel my anger and frustration growing as I stood there. I tried desperately
not to throw something at him
. How dare he be so controlling. He left without another word
or a glance back to me
. I grabb
ed the phone and called Carlos immediately.

“Hello
?
”
he answered
, in a thick Brazil
ian accent. I immediately wished he wasn’t so far away from me.

“Carlos! It's Natalie.
How are you? I hope I didn’t call at a bad time?”
I felt nervous all f a sudden.

“Natalie, darling, have I missed you. What have you been doing?”
h
is voice
sounded so good to me just then.
I didn’t realize just h
ow much I missed his friendship, or how much I missed him.

“Well
, I’m going back to high school,
” I
told him. I
could hear him laughing.

“Are you done?”
I said, trying
to
sound annoyed
.

“Sorry
Nat but
I just can’t picture you
sitting still,
”
he continued laughing.

“Well, just between you and me
, I did jump off the roof o
f the school today, four
stories
Carlos!
I landed
perfectly, thank you very much,
”
I boa
sted, feeling proud of my
accomplishment.

“That’s my girl. You’ll have to show me when I get there.”

“When are you getting her
e?” I squealed with excitement.

“Have you missed me?”
he ask
ed sweetly.

“Of course I have. I need to get out. I nee
d to run. I need my trainer
. When are you coming?”
I tried to not sound as desperate for his company as I felt.

“I’m flying in on Saturday. I have a special mission. I actually
begged Clive for it because it’
s close to
you. Don’t tell Hayden because he’ll be pissed that Clive didn’t
tell him
about it
. Clive’s
already given him an assignment
though
, as I’m sure you know
. It’ll keep him busy so
I can take you out on the town,” he said excitedly.

“
I’ll call your cell Saturday aft
ernoon
then
. I can’t wait to see you
Carlos,
”
I twirled around the room.

“I’ve missed you
Natalie. See you soon. Bye
darling,” he said just before he hung up.

As I gently placed my phone down, I caught mys
elf grinning
. My emotions
kind of
surprised
me, the butterflies swirling in my stomach
and my elated mood
. The anticipation almost seemed too much
. I haven’t felt this way in a long time.
I finished my homework and
tried to study
for a
few hours. Hayden still wasn’t
home
when
I
decided I couldn’t stay awake any longer. I
climbed into be
d and eventually
fell into a deep sleep.

In my dream
,
I
arrived
back at the beach house,
alone
again, without Hayden
.
I walked along the shore
. The stars were
out
and the moon shone
bright
ly
down on me as
I began
to ru
n. I really don’t know why but I ra
n as fast as I could.
I eventually realized
I could see
a man
up
ahead.
I started to run faster when
I saw him wave to me, but it didn’t matter how fast I
ran I couldn’t reach him, he continued to be
too far in the distance.
I awoke covered in sweat and
panting as Hayden walked into the room.

“Natalie, what is it? What were
you dream
ing about
?”
he
asked as he
held me up.

“I’m okay
Hayden
. I’ve
just
been running in my dream.
I don’t know why,
” I lied but I didn’t want him to come
to any conclusions. I still needed
to figure it out
for
myself
.
Wh
y
couldn’t I reach Carlos? Why did I decide to run
to him
?
I loved Hayden but I felt a
craving
for
the fun
I knew Carlos would give me. Could
I really
be
so wrong? I hoped not. I ro
lled back over and fell asleep.

“So how did
your night
go
?” I asked as I ate my cereal the next morning. I tried
not to sound mad but the
hurt still lingered
.
I
wanted to go with him
so badly
.

“It didn’t exactly go as
I
planned but I’m working on it
. I have
a S
e
eker from the south end join
ing
up with
me
to help
,
”
he explained nonchalantly.

“What Seeker from the south end
?”
I asked as I looked up at him, feeling a little left out.

“No one you have met
. I’m sure you will
though
, don’t worry.”

“Have you hunted with this S
eeker before?”
I persisted, I couldn’t let this go.

“Yes, we have
collaborated
on a few occasions,
” he answered as he looked away. My curiosity rose by his avoidance of my eyes as he spoke.

“Is this S
eeker male or female?”

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it does,
”
I said as I tried to control my anger. I stood and rinsed my bowl, not looking at him. I slammed the dishwasher door shut and turned to leave the kitchen.

“Natalie, please don’t read anything into this. You know I love you. I want you to finish this school business quickly. T
hen we can go out
together. Please
trust me that it’s just
business. I assure you I a
m not interested in anyone else,” he tried to explain himself, but
I felt
furious now. I didn’t like his lam
e
ass excuse about school. I’ve
been
given the light.
I possessed
the power
to Seek
. Hell I’m
even
stronger tha
n most S
eekers that have been doin
g this for years. Why did he have a
problem
with me hunting
?
I couldn
’t even look at him
right now
.

“Natalie, please don’t be angry
with me,
”
he begged.
I ignored his plea
. I shut my mouth and gave him
the silent treatment because if I spoke
now
I knew I would go off. I grabbed my books and walked out the door. Hayden knew better then to follow me.
The last thing he would want is an
alte
rcation in public.

As I walked to school I trie
d to take my mind off
of
Hayden
out in the dark
with
some
other
girl
,
hunting together. I must
think of something else
or I’ll go mad
. Carlos came to mind.
I couldn’
t wait
to tell Beth that
Carlos
is coming to see me
.

“What else did Carlos
teach you
Natalie
?”
Beth asked me as I laid out my lunch on the ta
ble outside the cafeteria.
I looked around
before I spoke making sure it was safe
to talk to her
. The only other person out here was
a
boy with his headphones on sitting on the far side of the
lunch
area.

“What do you mean?”
I questioned her interest.

“I have been talking with a few
of the
others. They told me about the S
eeker
s
. They also told
me they have
a
new one that can
see us better th
a
n any
of the others
. Are you the new S
eeker Na
talie?” I couldn’t lie to her. S
he already
k
new the answer
anyway
.

“Yes
,
I guess I am the newest. Y
ou don’t have to worry about me Beth,
you know that right?”
I whispered, not wanting to attract any attention.

“
I know,
”
s
he whisper
ed
unnecessarily,
as she looked away from me.

“Did they tell you that we only go after the
poltergeists, the ones
that are causing trouble and fr
ig
htening the living?” I asked. Trying to figure out why she felt
so worried.

“No, actually the ones I talked to seem to th
ink that your captures were random,
”
she explained as she looked back to
me. She stared at me like
she didn’t know
me
anymore. I
smiled and tried to remain calm,
control
ling
my voice.

“That is
ridiculous
Beth
. Do you have any idea how many spirits I see on a daily basis?
Do you really think I w
ould just randomly choose anyone? If a spirit is really happy to stay here,
peacefully living in their
afterlife
the
n I would never interfere
?
Beth,
I am not a monster. I’ve
made
many
friends
hips
with spirits
in my life
, you are not my first
. To me
all of
you
are real. I hope you can understand
this?” I need
ed her to understand how I felt and how I lived surrounded by gho
sts every day. Everywhere I go I see
ghosts.
No wonder she
seemed
af
raid of me this morning. She did
n’t
really want to go yet, she wasn’t
ready
to
move on. She needed to stay a little longer
and I did
not
intend
on being the one that ends her life permanently
.

Hayden continued to go out
at the same time
for
the next two nights. He
even
asked me to join him if I would just talk to him again. I refused and I moved bac
k in to the den. Hayden didn’t always show his emotions
with me
, but he couldn’t hide his anger over this.
I gave him
his
space and he
eventually
cooled off
.
Late l
ast nig
ht he begged me to forgive him.