CHAPTER 14

I walk for a few minutes before hitchhiking. Thankfully the old man giving me a lift is very understanding when I tell him I don't have any money to pay him for his generosity.

I offer to go with him to the penthouse so my dad can pay him but he declines, saying he's happy to help. I'm grateful that someone without ulterior motives is happy to help for once.

The journey continues and I don't talk much except for the occasional answers to questions about school and why I'm out on a Sunday. Wait, Sunday?

Wasn't it Friday when this whole mess occurred? I was unconscious for one full day!

"Are you okay?" The man asks me.

I give him a tight smile. "Yes, just anxious to get home." I add with fake cheerfulness.

He doesn't seem to buy my excuse buy he doesn't ask any further questions.

I thank the man once again when he leaves me right outside the building where I live. It begins to rain and I wonder if I should go inside.

No doubt my dad will be mad at me but that's the least of my worries right now.

I need to be with someone who means the world to me and it needs to be right now. Besides, I need to come up with a believeble story for my parents to justify my absence and I have a feeling Ella can help with that.

No one comes when I ring the doorbell so I just let myself in. It's so quiet that I'm almost tempted to go home but when I think of all I have been through and the walking I endured to get here, I decide to at least check before I go.

I quietly make my way upstairs in case their dad is here. I enter Sky's room and ignore the fact that I'm making a mess with the raindrops from my clothes.

He's asleep and as much as I wanna wake him I don't think it will be such a good idea. I'm in no mood to talk. I move closer to him and caress his face before kissing him softly, unlike last time he doesn't kiss me back. He must really be tired.

"You look so peaceful and gorgeous." I murmur whilest softly playing with his hair. "I needed to see you." I sigh. "Something is happening to me and I fear it may cause problems between us. I don't think I'm like everyone else." I tell him sadly. "I'm scared Sky. I keep seeing things and hearing things and it scares me. I hope it won't matter to you." But I know it will because it matters to me. "I love you."

I want to kiss him one last time but I'm startled when his eyes spring open and he grabs my hand, pulling me closer to him.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

"Ummm...." I don't know how to explain that I practically broke into his house and fondled him whilst he was asleep.

That explanation alone points me out to be a stalker, just like James or the Rosemont weirdos. Hmmmmm, maybe I am nonhuman after all.

I remove my hand from Sky's hold, the realisation of my thoughts hits me. What if Sky heard what I said?

"I was looking for Ella but I didn't find her so bye. I'm going now." I rumble fastly, a trait that's become normal for me.

"Heaven wait! Let's talk." But I don't want to talk, at least not right now.

I rush out of his room quickly. Boy what a weird day, never would I have thought Sky would ever chase after me.

You would think that a seventeen year old girl would be terrified of facing her parents after disappearing for two days but no I don't feel fear, I feel numb. My heart isn't beating rapidly in my chest and my fingers aren't shaking as I type in the code to the penthouse.

I'm exhausted and too wrapped up in my own world filled with dark secrets to care about my father's wrath.

The elevator stops and I step out without a care in the world. I must have made some kind of noise because my father, Alice, Ronnie and two men I don't recognize are already approaching me.

"Oh God, Heaven where were you?" Alice is the first one to talk to me. She attempts to hug me but I stop her.

"I'm wet." I tell her so she doesn't feel like I'm deliberately avoiding her touch.

She flushes with embarrassment. "Honey where were you? We were all so worried."

"Is this the girl?" One of the two men asks before I can answer my stepmother.

My father nods. "Yes, that's my daughter." I can tell from the way he avoids saying my name and how he's not looking at me, that he's very upset with me.

"Well I guess she's not missing after all." The other man says with a hint of irritation. He pushes back his leather jacket and whether the act is deliberate or not, it gets me a glimpse of his badge, a police badge. Oh God, my dad called the police.

"Apparently not." My dad says as if apologising to then. "Sorry for the inconvenience."

The detectives just brush it off. "Next time you decide to take a little trip please inform your family." He says to me but I don't reply him.

My dad waits until they enter the elevator before he unleashes his anger on me. Here we go.

"Where the hell were you?" He shouts.

"Out." I say simply.

"It's been two days Heaven! You didn't call...."

"I left my phone here." My nonchalant tone serves to only further anger my dad.

"I can't believe how childish you are. We didn't know where you were and we had to call the police because we thought something might have happened to you guys no, you were just out!" He continues to scold me and I just stare at him, waiting for it to be over.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"I'm sorry I was out, can I go to my room now?"

"Why you spoiled little brat!"

Alice chooses this exact moment to intervene because my dad is clearly out of his mind with anger.

"Maybe you should let her go upstairs so she can change, her clothes are wet and we don't want her catching a cold." She says, trying to reason with her fuming husband.

And it works. "Fine but you are grounded." He adds gruffly. "No phone and no going out."

"Ok." I say and move further into the apartment so I can go up to my room.

Maybe if I wasn't so messed up I would care that I just got grounded but what difference does it make? I didn't go out for nine years of my life, why would I care if I suddenly had to go back to that lifestyle?

I feel better after a quick shower. I wear my oversized pajamas and sit cross-legged on my bed. With the dreams I have been having lately I don't think sleep us the best thing for me.

Also I need to think about what Amelia and her sisters told me. As much as I try to wrap my head around it, I just can't accept what they are saying about me.

But I have to admit it would explain a lot if I am what they say I am. It explains the dreams, how they seem to know everything about me and James. And as much as I hate to admit it, I felt a connection with them the first time I saw them, it was like I was drawn to them.

But what about James? What's his role in all of this? I recall Cassandra calling him a demon. Is that what he is?

And Aurora? That girl, am I her? Is that why James calls me that?

But I can't be her because she called me sister. Is she a nonhuman too?

James isn't the only one who called me Aurora though. The girl who tried to kill did call me Aurora. But why, who is this Aurora and why does everyone think I'm her?