6: Ara?
2108 Words
Chapter 6
"Is Nathan around?" Marcus asked, confirming my fears. "I want to talk to both of you, make sure you're not killing each other."
He said it like a joke but my smile felt painfully fake. "Um, let me see if he's available."
I walked out of my room and down the stairs, my heart pounding with every step.
I found Nathan in the living room, sitting on the couch with his laptop open, he looked up when I entered, his dark eyes meeting mine.
"Marcus wants to talk to both of us," I said, holding up my phone.
Nathan's jaw tightened but he nodded, he closed his laptop and moved over on the couch, making space for me to sit beside him, I sat down stiffly, keeping as much distance between us as possible while still being in frame.
"Hey man," Marcus's voice came through the phone. "How's it going? Are you two behaving?"
"Everything's fine," Nathan said smoothly, and his voice was so normal and friendly that I almost believed him myself.
"Lyra's been a perfect houseguest."
Immediately those lies came out, it made me feel sick, a scoff almost spilling from my mouth, I forced another smile.
"Yeah, Nathan's been great… very accommodating." I lied too.
Marcus looked between us on the screen, seeming satisfied. "Good, good. I was worried you two might end up strangling each other within the first day."
"Why would we do that?" Nathan asked, and there was something in his tone that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. A challenge? maybe. Or a warning.
"You know how you two are," Marcus laughed. "You guys are always arguing about something. But I'm glad you're getting along for once."
We talked for another ten minutes, me and Nathan both performing this perfect act of two people who could coexist peacefully.
The whole time I was painfully aware of Nathan sitting next to me, of the warmth radiating from his body, of the scent
that made something in me start pacing restlessly in my mind.
"Alright, I'll let you guys go," Marcus finally said. "But I'll call again in a few days to check in…love you, Lyra."
"Love you too," I said, and then the call ended.
The silence that fell over the living room was deafening. Nathan stood up immediately and walked toward the kitchen without looking at me.
I followed him, not ready to let this fake peace continue.
"We should probably have dinner," Nathan said, opening the refrigerator. "Since Marcus will expect us to be eating together."
The casual way he said it, like we were just playing roles in some performance, made anger flare hot in my chest remembering what happened yesterday night. "Is that all this is to you? Just an act for Marcus?"
Nathan pulled out some leftover containers and set them on the counter.
"What else would it be?"
"I don't know, maybe basic human decency?" I shot back, my voice rising more than I intended to. "Maybe treating me like an actual person instead of an inconvenience you have to tolerate?"
"You want me to treat you like a person?" Nathan asked, turning to look at me. His eyes were cold again, all traces of the warmth he had shown Marcus completely gone.
"Fine. You're a person who made a mistake by sleeping with me, you're a person who is staying in my house temporarily because of circumstances beyond my control. You're a person I have to pretend to get along with for my best friend's sake, is that personal enough for you?"
Each word was like a knife twisting in my gut, my hands started shaking and I clenched them into fists to hide it.
"You're such an asshole."
"And you're playing the victim," Nathan said, turning back to the food. "What did you think was going to happen, Lyra? Did you think sleeping together would change something between us? Did you think I would suddenly want you?"
The words hit me so hard I actually took a step backward. My vision blurred with tears but I refused to let them fall, I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry again.
"I never asked you to want me," I said, and my voice came out shaking with rage. "I never asked for any of this, you're the one who came into my room last night again.
"I came to check on you because you were screaming," Nathan said through gritted teeth. "Stop making it into something it wasn't."
"You're lying!" I shouted, and something inside me snapped. All the hurt and humiliation and anger from the past few days came rushing up at once.
"You stood there staring at me like you wanted to devour me and now you're acting like I imagined the whole thing!"
"You did imagine it," Nathan said coldly. "Just like you're imagining that there's something between us, there's nothing, Lyra. There never was and there never will be."
I grabbed my plate from where he had set it on the counter and threw it against the wall as hard as I could.
It shattered with a loud crash, the pieces of ceramic scattering across the kitchen floor, food splattered against the white wall, leaving a dark stain.
Nathan stared at the broken plate, then back at me, his eyes were wide, like he was almost shocked.
"There," I said, my whole body shaking now. "Is that personal enough for you?"
Before Nathan could respond, something happened that made all the anger drain out of me in an instant.
Something in my head drew out like a part of me was ripped out from my body, my legs shook as I couldn't feel the familiar presence again.
Wait…what's happening.. I couldn't feel his presence again.
"Kael?" I called out frantically in my mind. "Kael!"
Nothing, just empty silence where his warm presence should be.
Panic flooded through me so fast and so intense that I couldn't breathe.
My hands flew to my head like I could physically feel for him, like I could find where he had gone.
This isn't possible, Keal has never leave me for once.. what's happening?
"Kael!" I screamed out loud this time, not caring how insane I looked.
“Who's Keal?” I heard Nathan's voice in the background, almost echoing.
At the same moment, he made a strangled sound and doubled over, clutching his chest, which made me turn to look at him.
His face contorted in pain and he gasped for air like someone had punched him in the stomach.
"Nathan?" I took a step toward him, forgetting everything else for a moment. "What's wrong?"
Nathan's eyes were squeezed shut and his breathing came in harsh, labored gasps.
He stumbled backward until he hit the counter, using it to keep himself upright, his knuckles were white from gripping the edge so hard.
"What's happening to you?" I asked, and my voice came out small and terrified.
Nathan opened his mouth to answer, but before he could say anything, his eyes rolled back in his head and his legs gave out.
He collapsed to the kitchen floor, unconscious, leaving me standing there in a room dumbfounded.
"Nathan!" I screamed, my eyes widening in horror, I droped to my knees beside him on the kitchen floor.
My hands hovered over his body, not sure where to touch, not sure what to do. His eyes were closed and his chest was barely moving with shallow breaths.
I pressed my fingers against his neck, searching for a pulse.
It was there, thank god, but it was racing so fast it felt like his heart might burst right out of his chest.
His skin was burning hot under my touch, like he had a fever of a hundred and ten.
"Nathan, wake up," I said, shaking his shoulder. "Please wake up."
He didn't respond, his head lolled to the side limply and a sound escaped his throat that made my blood run cold.
It was somewhere between a groan and a growl, then his body started convulsing.
His back arched off the floor and his limbs jerked violently. His head snapped back and forth and I scrambled backward to avoid getting hit.
Foam appeared at the corners of his mouth and his eyes were moving rapidly beneath his closed eyelids.
"Oh god, oh god, what do I do?" I was crying, tears streaming down my face as I watched Nathan's body seize on the kitchen floor.
"Someone help me, please!" I cried out, not sure of what to do.
But I know there was no one here, it was just me and Nathan and whatever the hell was happening to him.
I tried reaching for Kael in my mind again, desperately searching for that familiar presence that had always been there.
"Kael, please, I need you! Something is wrong with Nathan and I don't know what to do!"
The silence that answered me was absolute and terrifying. It wasn't just that Kael wasn't responding, It was like the space where he should be had been completely erased.
For fourteen years, since I was eight years old, I had never been truly alone in my own head.
There had always been Kael's calming presence in the background, always someone to talk to when I needed comfort.
"Ivy?" I called out, my voice shaking. "Ivy, are you still there?"
"I'm here," Ivy's voice came back immediately, but she sounded wrong…like she was panicking.
Ivy never panicked.
"But Kael is gone. He's completely gone, I can't sense him anywhere."
"Where did he go?" I sobbed, watching Nathan's body continue to jerk and spasm.
"What's happening?"
"I don't know!" Ivy snarled, and I could feel her pacing frantically in my mind. "This shouldn't be possible”
Nathan's convulsions were getting worse, his fingers were clawed and his jaw was clenched so tight I was afraid he might break his own teeth.
Blood appeared on his lower lip where he had bitten through it.
I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and pulled up Marcus's number. I hit the phone and pressed it to my ear, listening to it ring once, twice, three times.
"Come on, come on, pick up," I begged.
Marcus answered on the fourth ring. "Lyra? What's wrong?"
"It's Nathan," I said, the words tumbling out in a rush. "He collapsed and now he's convulsing and I don't know what to do—"
I was still talking when Nathan suddenly went completely still.
The convulsions stopped as abruptly as they had started. His body relaxed against the kitchen floor and his breathing evened out.
The only sound was my own ragged breathing and Marcus's voice coming through the phone asking what was happening.
"Marcus, I have to go," I said, not taking my eyes off Nathan. "I'll call you back."
I hung up before he could protest and tossed my phone aside. I crawled closer to Nathan, reaching out with trembling hands to check if he was still breathing.
His chest was rising and falling normally now. The feverish heat had faded from his skin. He looked peaceful, almost like he was just sleeping.
"Nathan?" I whispered, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Can you hear me?"
His eyelids fluttered. Then, slowly, they opened.
I gasped and jerked backward.
Nathan's eyes were glowing silver. Not his usual dark gray, but actual silver light that seemed to shine from within.
It was beautiful and terrifying all at once.
He blinked several times and the silver glow faded, leaving his normal eye color.
But something about his expression was different. The cold hardness that usually lived in his face was gone, replaced by confusion and something softer.
He sat up slowly, looking around the kitchen like he was seeing it for the first time.
His gaze landed on his own hands and he turned them over, staring at his palms with an expression of wonder.
"This is strange," he said quietly, and my heart stopped.
Because that wasn't Nathan's voice. I mean, it was his voice, his vocal cords producing the sound. But the tone, the cadence, the way the words were shaped was all wrong. It was gentler, more careful, more...
His head snapped up and those eyes focused on me. A smile broke across his face, Nathan's face, but it wasn't Nathan's smile. It was warm and relieved and full of affection I had never seen on Nathan's features before.
"Ara," he said, and that single word confirmed everything, I stumbled backward, my eyes widening.
What the hell is this!?
- Writer
