Ember X (Death Collectors) - By Jessica Sorensen Page 0,20
contours his piercing eyes. His skin is as pale as a ghostly fog and his hair as black as a raven feather.
“Laden?” I squint, leaning out.
His gaze holds mine as a hostile smile curves on his lips and he mouths something, but he’s too far away for me to tell what.
Shaking my head, I yank the window shut and back away off the bed. I change into a pair of black and pink plaid shorts and my favorite Alkaline Trio T-shirt, and then I scrub the red off my hands and the marker off my face. I dab some kohl eyeliner around my grey eyes, tousle my fingers through my long, black hair, and turn to head downstairs. The aches and pains from the accident have subsided, except for a minor headache and a tiny cut on my forehead, which has shrank in size.
Raven and Ian are sitting at the table when I step into the kitchen. Raven’s denim skirt barely covers the top of her legs and she has her favorite pink shirt on, the one that shows a lot of cleavage (her words not mine). Ian has a grey knitted beanie pulled over his messy brown hair and his jeans and t-shirt are splattered with various colors of paint.
Raven bats her eyelashes at him and skims her fingernails up Ian’s arm. “God, that’s so cool.”
“It’s so fabulous, right?” he says in his deep voice he only uses to impress girls. “You should totally come check it out.”
“Oh, I bet it is.” Raven licks her lips and smiles, like everything is fine. She glances up at me and her smile brightens. “Em, darling, I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” She hops up from the chair and links her arm through mine, scorching me with her omen. “See ya later, Ian.” She winks at him and gives him a flirty wave.
“Later, beautiful,” he says and then targets his attention to me. “Hey, Em, have you talked to Mom lately?”
“No,” I reply as Raven tugs me toward the front door. I wiggle my arm free and breathe in the death-free air. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” He wanders into the foyer, trialing after us. “She’s been acting kind of weird and not her normal weird… I caught her talking to herself, but it was almost like she was talking to someone that wasn’t there.”
“Are you worried she’s not taking her meds again?” I gather my leather jacket from the coat rack and the fabric is crisp and smells like murky lake water mixed with fresh rain.
“I’m not sure.” He glances at Raven and lowers his voice, leaning in. “I was running low on mine, so I went to get some from her bottle, and it was full.”
“Why didn’t you just go get a refill?” I slip on my jacket and dust off the dried dirt. Sometimes I feel like a babysitter, between Ian and my mom. I wonder what would happen if I ever move out—how bad things would fall apart. “You guys don’t even have the same prescription.”
“It’s all the same to me,” he says with a nonchalant shrug. “Besides, that’s not the point. The prescription was from like a month ago.”
Raven’s cell phone rings and she unlocks the door and walks onto the front lawn to answer it.
“Well, we need to talk to her,” I tell him, pressing the importance. “You know what she’s like when she’s not on them and the last thing she needs to go through again is another meltdown.”
“I know,” he agrees with a frown. “Why don’t you make sure you’re home tonight and I’ll make something and we can sit down and talk to her?”
“You’ll make something?” I question with doubt.
“Well, I’ll pick up something.”
“Alright, I’ll be here then.” I step outside and shut the door, inhaling the cool air, trying to relax, but my mom has me worried.
Raven’s still chatting on the phone, bobbing her head up and down when I walk up beside her. “Yeah, uh-huh.” She mouths to me, Where’s your car?
“That’s part of the long story,” I say with a heavy sigh. My car’s gone. I officially have no way to get anywhere, like work and school. And I can’t afford a new one. “Damn it,” I curse under my breath.
Raven’s face contorts at my reaction. “Huh… No, not you,” she says into the phone.
She carries on with her conversation while I stand on the curb in the exact spot where Asher dropped me off last night.