A/N: Hey everyone, long time no talk! Well, i finally getting back into a writing gig, now i'm at uni studying it(it's wicked!)!I'm slowly working my way through my stories and updating them, so bare with me and I'll try and become more regular with it all.

Enjoy!

Chapter Five

Darkness. It was everywhere. Like a deadly cloak suffocating me. Here darkness was my own skin, stocking to me. My only enemy in this world, but an endless one. Victory was the light that didn't exist.

Then suddenly the darkness changed. It blurred and merged, slipping like oil on a dirty river. Dark greens and blue streaked the black. Hope fluttered in my heart. Colours washed out the black. Instead I found myself somewhere new. Before me is an image. It's a garden. It's dark, night, but you can't see the stars and the grey clouds hiding the moon. Row upon row of flowers surround the garden, it's lawn neatly trimmed. The light from the back of the house failed to find the back of the garden, leaving it's colours matted and faded.

Then a girl came down the garden, to where I stood. She wore a white night gown, that flowed to her feet, with an old fashioned law neck. Around her she held a cotton shawl to keep the summer chill at bay. Her soft blond hair hung loose, a lock of it laid across her shoulder. Her skin was fair and she bore a pink smudge, like a crushed flower upon her cheek. As she reached the end of the garden she reached to stroke one the roses by her, which looked almost black in the night. She looked at the sky in grief and mouthed the words, "Oh, Thierry".

Then suddenly a huge black shape broke through the wall of the garden, rearing high. The girl reeled back in shock and fear as it thundered through the rose bush. The scene played out before me like a silent movie, the sound crackling out but the picture never once breaking. I couldn't hear the bear roar, or the girls screams, the sound of cloth tearing, skin ripping, blood gushing. The sound of teeth scrapping bone, the squelch of breaking organs or the sickening pop and snap of limbs. But I could see it. I could see all of it. The light that had been lacking before was suddenly present, the blood sharp red against her pale broken skin, every hair of the bear moving in the wind as it shook its ugly head. And I knew every sound, could hear them even though they were absent, ringing in my memory like the deafening shot of a gun. I watched the scene play, end, and then rewind itself and play again, and again, and again…

…suddenly I wished for the darkness again…

I awoke to dull sunshine flaying across my bed. For a moment I felt a twinge inside, the possibility of freedom from hell building, then felt it fade away as I realised this wasn't my dream anymore, but I was back in the grey cell. I closed my eyes in dispare then opened them hastily as the images rushed at me. Tears fell without any effect, leaving my cheeks with cold trails down them. My mind kept miraculously still, holding steady and quiet for the first time all night.

"Cai, sweety?"

Father, my mind told me quietly.

"How are you feeling?"

I turned my neck painfully, trying to make out his face through the blur of tears. I tried to fend a fresh wave off but my face crumpled and they broke through. Dad grabbed me fast, holding me tight.

"Shh, baby girl, it's ok," he murmured, "You're safe, it's all going to be ok."

"There's so much blood," I whispered, my throat course, "And screaming. Always screaming. Make it stop daddy, make the screaming stop."

He stroked my hair gently, soothing me, "Shh, shh. No one's screaming anymore. It's all ok, baby girl. You don't need t think about it, don't think it at all."

I swallowed a groan, blood rolling around my mind, "But he's hurting her. There's so much blood…"

My father pulled back and looked me in the eyes, his bright green ones swirling with a troubled darkness. He shook his head.

"No sweety. He didn't hurt her. Your mother got there in time. She's safe. She's here and she's safe. Not a mark on her, I promise."

For a moment the visions of blood and destruction slipped from my mind. I tried to wrap my thoughts around this information.

"She's…safe?" I asked, still confused.

Dad smiled warmly, encouragingly, "Yes, safe."

I tried harder to grasp the words. "No one's hurt?"

"No one. Everyone is ok, they all came home."

My mind finally began to move faster, breaking the surface of the water into sharp clear air. As I began to realise nothing was wrong, that everyone was fine, the blood and screaming faded, little by little. It made things almost bearable.

"Lady Hannah can't wait to talk to you," he told me, smiling.

I frowned, "Why?"

He golden eyebrows rose, "Because you saved her life honey. You have no idea the impact you've had upon her and Thierry."

I struggled with the information and when it didn't process I ignored it. It wasn't important, only keeping the blood away was important. I leaned heavily on my father, worn from the conversation.

I heard a snap, then smelt a sweet creamy aroma.

"Here sweety," my dad said softly, pressing something to my mouth, "It'll help."

I automatically opened my mouth and bit down on the food. Coco burst into life in my mouth, my tongue starved for taste. Eagerly swallowing the chocolate I opened my mouth for more. More was given to me, the rich flavours dancing across my tongue. It's creaminess soothed me, making my eyelids heavy while at the same time the sugar pumped through my system, boosting my energy.

"Ok, that's enough."

I whimpered, wanting more of the sweet food. My father laughed, "If you have much more you'll upset your stomach."

Accepting his words as truth I sank back into my pillow, buzzing slight from the sugar rush. My body hummed pleasantly.

"Cai, are you listening?"

I looked up, blinking. Had he been talking? I tried to get my mind to concentrate in my dad.

"Now, hon, we can't let you out yet. I tried to get your mother to, after last night, but she wouldn't have it. She felt this was the best place for you, seems we can see you 24/7 and well…she's just not budging on this friendship thing. I'm sorry sweetheart."

I just nodded, humming. None of it made any sense really, the silly shapes spinning in my head made it impossible to understand anything he said.

Someone spoke from the other side of the room, "What's she doing?"

"Pardon?"

They spoke again, "Her hand. What's it doing? Is she having another fit?"

My eyes slid to the speaker and I found myself staring at silvery blue eyes. A handsome face watched me with concern and clear confusion.

Hmm…who's that? I thought and a voice whispered back to me, clear and sure.

Harvey.

Growing bored quickly I moved back to the shapes in my head.

"Oh! Ah, it's started. That is exactly what these are for," he told Harvey, holding uo a pencil and thick notebook, "You see the after effects include her writing these…well, I don't know what they are. She writes something, it looks like another language, but no one has been able to find the origins of it and translate the words. She doesn't even know what they mean, and she never remembers writing it, but she writes pages upon pages. They're pretty useless but last time we tried to throw them away she threw a fit."

Silence filled the room.

"After effects of what exactly?"

"I'm sorry Harvey, truly I am. It's not my place to tell you. Cai would hunt me down if I did. She's best at explaining it, seems it's what she experiences," My father told him, the apology heavy in his voice.

"Now, if that pad runs out there are two more over there. If she goes through them tell us before she's finished the last pad. It seems, even in this huge place all the pens have gone missing so there are four pencils. Do not let her use the sharpener! She's not aware of much so if she tries to use it she'll probably end up sharpening her finger. I need you to turn the pages for her too, just for a while. She'll cotton on eventually, don't worry. Just keep her pencil in use and in her hand, that's all I need you to do."

There was silence for a while as Harvey took this all in.

"I know we're asking a lot of you Harvey, on blind faith, but…well, she needs you right now. You're the only one who can be here to care for her."

Harvey must have agreed to whatever was being asked because my father stood and said, "We are in debt to you."

He placed a pad under my hand and placed a long thin object between my fingers. I looked down at the blank page, unblemished and smooth. I pressed the tip of the object to it and was fascinated by the dark line that followed it, harsh against the stark brightness of the page. It burned into my vision, mimicking the symbol in my mind. I continued to mark the paper, copying out the patterns I saw, barely aware that my father was no longer by my side.

He spoke from across the room, "There, she's set. All you have to do now is what I said."

He opened the heavy door, leaving. Then he turned one last time and said to have, "Thank you."

And then he left me alone with the vampire and the shapes in my head.

-OOO-

I was babysitting. Except the baby was nearly an adult and I was getting paid squat. I'd been sharpening Cai's pencil and turning the pages in her thick notebook for an hour and she showed no signs of regaining any sanity. If anything it seemed she had sunk further into her mind.

I fought the angry that welled in me as I watched her reach the end of her page again. This is was ridiculous. Why was I trapped in this room caring for someone who had clearly lost the plot? I chugged the bottle of blood beside me as I turned another page. How had I gotten into this situation?

My mind mussed as I considered this. I remembered countless of times when I had tormented Cai, for the sake of a laugh.

I held the bag of inching power at a distance, sneaking down the hall. Discretely I popped open her door and slipped inside. Her room was various shades of violet and her bed sat waiting for my gift. I grinned like a madman and began to pour the contents of my bag under her sheets. This was going to be sweet.

Later, as I sat in my room reading, I heard an enraged scream from down the hall and I erupted into bellowing laughter. I peeked out my door to find her in the hallway, cover in nasty red scratched along her face, arms and legs. The scratches didn't fade for a week and each time I saw them I had to fight laughter.

-ooo-

I stole her phone while she was in the bathroom and riffled through it. I copied her number down and then deleted her entire address book. With a snigger I flicked through her text, which were filled with gooey messages to some douche. With a click of a button those were gone too, so were the pictures and songs. Then I transferred the file and set it into action. I placed her phone back on her desk and fled.

When I heard her crawl into bed I took out my phone and dialled her number. From her room a voice sounded.

"Hello, I want to play a game."

Screaming ensued immediately and I legged it as her door slammed open. The screaming rang down the hall and I wet myself, collapsing in my room in hysterics.

-ooo-

Jo, Rick and I had spent an hour digging this freaking hole. It was ridiculous deep and it took us climbing on top of one another to leap out. There's no way anyone could get out of by themselves. Perfect.

We waited for it to rain so mud clogged the bottom and the walls had no grip before we covered it in a thin material and leaves. Then we climbed into the trees and watched, waiting for our prey.

Then, after what seemed like forever, a swish came through the forest and a rabbit raced over the net, too light to affect it. Then after came a large black shape. The cat flew towards the rabbit, and the net. She crashed down into the hole exactly like we'd planned. I nearly fell from my tree laughing. We all peered into the hole to find a dirty riled tiger trying to climb up the walls of the hole, only to slip back into the pit of mud below. We creased and ran back to the house to bask in our victory.

I chuckled at our cruel fun; I'd forgotten how creative I had been growing up. And Cai had been the perfect guinea pig for my pranks. I had never once failed, and she hadn't never cottoned on that it was me pulling them, though to be fair I had help with the more outrageous stunts. I think she may have suspected once or twice, but she never had any proof and I had plenty of scapegoats if she ever did accuse me. After all, her siblings loved pulling as much shit as I did. Hell, they'd even helped me once or twice.

I laughed again, looking at Cai. This whole episode had just given me weeks of material. My mind churned as I thought about what had happened, what I could do once I was out. If it weren't so obvious I'd do it in here, but then I really couldn't argue it wasn't me.

But then, as I watched her, a tear slid down her pale cheek. tracking it with my eyes I paused in my schemeing. For the first time I thought about what my pranks had done to Cai. She hadn't been able to get the power off her skin for days, the scratches had been so raw they had bled often and eventually she had resorted to wear leather gloves.

The Saw prank had given her weeks of nightmares, which had probably induced her insomnia. She rarely slept, napping in the day and moving restlessly around the house at night. I had heard her countless of times sighing in the corridor or playing her music as 3am in her small studio.

When her aunt Nissa had gotten her out of the hole she was covered in dirt. She had broken her wrist on the way down and now it clicked when she rotated it. She had sneezed and shivered for weeks, the cold refusing to leave her in peace.

I swallowed hard, watching her cry. Nearly every prank had left her bruised or damaged in some way. They weren't harmless. And until now I hadn't cared. It hadn't even registered that I had caused her so much pain, so much fear. The longer I thought of this the more her erratic and strange behaviour made sense. The more her freakishness seemed to be my fault. Shamed filled me. What was wrong with me? Who the hell does that to a person?

Her pencil scratched to the bottom of the page and I leant forward to turn it for her. But suddenly her fingers were there, flicking the page with ease. Her wrist clicked as she did and I winced. I guess Mr. Drache had been right, she would get there. Eventually.

If she could learn, maybe I could too.

Sorry it wasn't super long, but it's a good length and i hope it was enjoyable.

Virtual cookies for all that review! Hee hee hee hee hee!