Reborn: Daughter of Darkness Prequel Read online

  When it came to dusting, if I wasn't tall enough to notice, it didn't get done.

  "Anyway, I was standing on the toilet seat and it slipped, and I fell."

  I couldn't help it--I was giggling like a school girl.

  She made a face and continued, "Ruined my new shoes, too."

  "Gaylin, I swear these things only happen to you. What I need to be doing is writing a book about your life." I waved my hand in the air like I imagining a marquee. "The girl who gets pushed down the stairs and then thanks her assailant for not breaking her leg. You got more heart than me."

  Remember earlier when I spoke about osmosis and Gaylin having a forgiving heart? I could learn a thing or two. The way I was feeling right at that moment I could have planned my ex-boss' slow, painful demise. And not feel ashamed one bit.

  But Gaylin, she just shrugged like it was no big deal. That was one thing I liked about her. She wasn't that way to get attention. She honestly thought it was the right way to live. To forgive and forget. That was her mantra. Mine was, scorn me and you best get outta the way. My problem was that I was really good at holding a grudge. Not something to be proud of and it certainly wasn't a skill pleasant enough to put on a resume.

  I took another big gulp of margarita. "Whatcha doing later? Wanna play some Halo and drink more of these until we forget our problems and pass out?"

  "No, I better get home and rearrange my pantry for the coming week."

  I rolled my eyes. "Of course you do." My sarcasm had a mind of its own and usually came out before I had a chance to control it. Fortunately, Gaylin expected nothing less from me.

  She stared at me while I took a bite of my chimichanga. "You still having the dreams?"

  Was it that obvious? Gaylin always could see right through me. Even when we were kids, she could tell when I was lying. She didn't like it when I said things like 'drink myself to sleep', but sometimes it was the only way.

  I have had weird dreams of dying my whole life. I never knew what they meant. Moving back to Blackwood must have triggered something.

  I parked my bike in the garage and went inside. Thunder, my Labrador Retriever, met me at the door. I patted him on the head and fed him.

  The margaritas had long worn off, so I poured another one and plopped down on the couch. I ripped the plastic from the game box. Thunder nudged my hand. His desire for my attention always won out. How could it not? I had the best companion in my yellow Lab. I found him in an alley shortly after moving back. He was thin and frightened. Another few days and... I don't like to think about it. I took him home and gave him food and lots of love, and he bounced back like nothing was wrong. He never judged me, not even when things were going south.

  "Maybe Gaylin is right. Nah, I don't even know enough people to help support a game store. And the ones I do know are all broke." I kissed Thunder on the head. He seemed to like it when I talked to him. "Like we'll be if I don't find a job."

  From behind me, in the darkness of the rest of the open den, there was a noise. It sounded like whispering and then a faint sound of music. I looked at Thunder. "You heard it, too, huh? Least I know I'm not crazy."

  Thunder whimpered.

  "I'll go check it out." To be safe, I grabbed my replica Gears of War Lancer. Yeah, so it wasn't real, but an intruder didn't know that.

  I turned back to Thunder who was content in letting me go alone. "Scaredy-cat." I loved him like crazy, but he was the biggest fucking coward. Scared of his own shadow.

  I checked out the dark corner of the living room where the piano sat. There was nothing ever there. I felt silly chasing after ghosts, but it had been happening since the first night I moved in. I could only imagine the spirits that still haunted this place. My mom's grandparents originally owned it, and I remember stories about how they hoped it would stay in our family forever. My dad died first, when I was very young. I only knew him for a short time, but it was enough to know he hung the moon. My mom died a year ago, and I remember her fondly, despite her having sent me away.

  Like me, she had brown hair, hers much more beautiful. She was a musician. My grandmother was, too, and along with the house, I was fortunate enough to inherit the family piano. It sat in a corner behind the couch and TV area. I turned on the small lamp that sat on top of the upright piano. The lid still covered the keys.

  I glanced at my phone. April third. Exactly one year ago today. I probably should have thought that was odd, perhaps a weird coincidence at the least, but I didn't give it a second thought.

  "Come on, Thunder, probably just the wind."

  That night, I had the dream again. Out on a jagged cliff with the deep blue sea crashing beneath me. I had no idea what it meant, but the next thing I knew, I woke up on a wet bed of sand.

  I could hear waves crashing around me. I could feel the sand in my hair, taste it in my teeth. I felt around. My wet clothes clung to me and an IV hung from my arm. Someone's hand was on me pushing me down.

  No! No, I don't wanna drown!

  A stranger's voice said, "Miss, miss, calm down. You're okay."

  When I opened my eyes again, there were medical people all around. I sat straight up on the sand and ripped out my IV. I flinched at the pain. Never did like needles.

  Through my haze, I heard one of the medical crew tell me to lay back and rest. But I didn't need rest. I needed to get out of there. There was a man. He was wrapped in towels, shivering. Medical personnel were tending to him.

  "Ma'am, you've had a tragic accident."

  I looked down at myself. Still very much alive. "Must not'of been that tragic." I hopped up. My head a little swimmy.

  "Ma'am, you have to lie still. We'll take you to a hospital. You'll be okay."

  Medical personnel swarmed me. I felt like I was being suffocated. Like I was drowning. I pushed through the crowd.

  One of the medical team stopped me. "Ma'am, you should really get checked out."

  "Who's that?" I nodded toward the man.

  He hesitated, but then he said, "You saved him from drowning."

  My chest. There was this odd feeling of a weight baring down on me. I wasn't sure if I felt relieved or scared. Probably both. I finally asked the EMT, "What happened?"

  He didn't want to answer. Maybe he felt it wasn't his place. After a big sigh, he finally said, "Ma'am, you had drowned by the time we got to you."

  "I what?"

  He glanced over my shoulder, presumably at the man in the towel behind me. I was already planning to bolt if he touched me again. Instead, he spoke the seven words I would never forget. Words that changed my life forever.

  "You were dead when we found you."

  3

  Thunder licking my hand woke me. Rubbing my eyes to clear the fog, I see that it was nine forty-five. "Sorry, buddy, didn't mean to sleep so late."

  See, I died yesterday, yet I was alive and well today.

  To be fair, well was a relative term. Other than feeling like I'd been hit by a semi, I felt normal. I thought back to dinner. Tequila doesn't usually make me feel like shit the next day, much less even give me a headache. What'd they put in those margaritas, anyway?

  I stumbled out of bed and into the shower. I don't know how long I was in there. The water was so hot and soothing to my achy muscles that I was in no hurry to get out. After I toweled off, I did the cliche thing of standing in front of the foggy mirror staring at my reflection and pondering my situation.

  I'd lost my job and my life in the same damn day.

  I patted my face with the towel. Something on my wrist caught my eye. Running parallel with my arm, just below my palm on my left wrist was a vertical scar. It looked burned into my skin.

  "The hell?"

  I dressed as easily as I could. Shooting pain, needles, stabbed the muscles in my back and legs when I moved. I grabbed a sneaker. It was soaking wet. That was some dream. I flashed to the same nightmare I had many times before of standing above the ocean. That was no coincidence.

  I went down to th
e kitchen, poured Thunder his dog food, and grabbed a box of cereal from the cabinet. There were multiple kinds for my different moods. My eyes fell on the box cover. Lucky Charms. Of all the boxes to grab, it was that one. Another coincidence?

  Being Saturday, and seeing as I felt like death, no pun intended, I decided a little gaming was in order. I had no where to be. I could kill the whole day right there on my couch if I so desired. And at that moment, I did.

  Hours passed as I played my new game. My stomach growled. The fuel from the cereal had long worn off. After peeling myself off the couch, I re-heated the leftover enchilada and rice and sat down at my desk. I tapped the spacebar to wake up my MacBook Air.

  I traced the scar on my wrist with my finger. What did it mean?

  My email dinged. It was from Gaylin thanking me for dinner the night before. She was always so cordial about stuff like that. We were best friends yet she still thanks me for hanging out with her.

  I sent Spratlin a short email telling him how awesome the game was. Then, I shoved down the last bite of enchilada and carefully made my way out the door.

  I stepped out onto my huge, white front porch. I leaned against the railing for support. My house sat at the end of the cove and, from my porch, I could see all around. I liked my new-old neighborhood. It was so old it felt original. Oak trees loomed over the houses and offered a canopy of shade over the street. Each house had a different look. You don't see that much anymore. Builders opted for the cookie-cutter design because it was quicker to build. Never mind the fact that everyone had almost the same house.

  Mrs. G was watering her flowers next door. She was an older lady, who had lived next door ever since I was a kid. I had only a vague memory of her from when I originally lived there. Her name was Beatrice Gonzales, but I took to calling her Mrs. G shortly after I moved in. She seemed to like it.

  I waved, "Good morning, Mrs. G!" as I walked to the mailbox.

  She smiled. "Oh, you kids and your late nights. Good afternoon!"

  Yeah, I guess it was getting late. I had slept a good chunk of the morning thanks to that crazy dream. Was it just a dream? That didn't explain why I felt like hell or why my sneaker was wet.

  "Would you like for me to get your mail?" I usually got hers, too. It was a good excuse to see her each day, and I liked spending time with her.

  "Already got it, but come on by. I've got cold sweet tea and warm sopapillas waiting for us."

  She knew the way to my heart. I sat down on the swing on her front porch, one of my favorite spots. It was a gorgeous spring day. The flowers had bloomed thanks to all the rain we had recently, and it was already getting warm. I lived in the South where warm quickly turned to squelching hot.

  Mrs. G returned with tea and yummy treats. "I hope you don't mind me saying so, dear, but you look tired."

  "I had a pretty shitty, er, crappy day yesterday." Dammit. I hate swearing around Mrs. G. She was too kind to reprimand me, but I knew she didn't like it. "I was fired yesterday."

  "Oh, dear Heavens! What ever for?"

  I shrugged. "I didn't really get a good reason. Just that my services there were no longer required. Whatever that means." I took a gulp. Man, she made the best sweet tea in all the South.

  Mrs. G patted my leg. "Now don't you worry. I'm sure you'll find an even better job with all your computer skills."

  I smiled. She meant well. To someone technology-challenged like her, if you could turn on a computer and it not crash, you were a computer whiz. The day I taught her how to operate Tivo, she thought I was a fucking genius.

  "Gaylin says I should open my own game store."

  "That's a great idea! You're always playing them anyway. Might as well get paid to."

  Her innocence of all things gaming always made me smile. "I dunno. I've always wanted to, but I don't have a clue where to start. Maybe one day."

  We sat in silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the breeze and sunshine. Even though I had only really gotten to know her over the past year, we had become close. She was one of few people who I felt comfortable enough to be around and not feel like I had to fill every second with small talk.

  She finally broke the silence and said, "That music you were playing last night was beautiful. You play as well as your mother."

  I choked and spit tea back into the glass. She heard that music, too? How is that possible? "I, I, I'm very sorry. I didn't realize it was so late and that it was that loud."

  "No, no, it's fine! Besides, a retired old lady like me, what else is there to do in the middle of the night?"

  I thought her choice of words was odd, her being up late, but I blew it off. The weird thing was how she looked at me. I got the feeling she wanted to tell me something. And either she couldn't, or was too scared.

  She continued. "It was beautiful. What was the piece called?"

  I honestly had no clue. The only music I heard last night was faint, not enough to make out anything specific. And I certainly didn't play anything last night.

  Did I?

  "Oh, just something I heard once. I don't remember what it's called." Chills prickled down my neck. Now that I thought about it, it was something my mom used to play. But that was a long time ago.

  My phone dinged, and I pulled it from my pocket to see I had an email from Spratlin. He asked if I would meet him at the arcade.

  I stood and sat the glass down on the wooden table beside her rocking chair. "Thanks for the tea, Mrs. G."

  "Going so soon?"

  "I guess. This guy I met at Level Up wants to meet me at the arcade."

  She perked up. "Oh, a new boyfriend?"

  I chuckled. She was as bad as Gaylin, always encouraging me to go out more. "I just met him yesterday. Nothing says romantic like spending the afternoon around a bunch of loud music and screaming kids."

  I had half a mind not to go. Quite the contrast to the peaceful front porch swing.

  "Oh, you'll have fun. Just remember to go easy on him every now and then."

  Mrs. G may not have known much about computers or gaming, but that part was true. I could hold my own against most gamers, although truth be known, I preferred a controller to a joystick to a keyboard and mouse. I was a bonafide d-pad junkie.

  We hugged as she said. "Go. Have fun."

  Oh, why the hell not? I was gonna be sore whether I was home vegging on the couch or out somewhere. Might as well try to have some fun. Besides, I was still a little shaken over that crazy dream. For the life of me, I couldn't remember what I had done to cause me to be so sore.

  4

  Spratlin was waiting at the door when I drove up. I waved and continued on until I found a parking spot. I don't think he realized it was me on the motorcycle. When he saw my leather biker jacket, he put it together.

  "That your bike?" He opened the door for me. Look who's the gentleman.

  "Yep."

  "That's so cool. I've got one at home I'm fixing up."

  How sweet. We could be a biker couple.

  "You like Skee-ball?"

  "Do I like Skee-ball? That's like asking a kid if she likes cotton candy. Of course I like Skee-ball!"

  The first game was a close one. It had been a few months since I had played, so I was a little rusty.

  "Go again?" he asked.

  "Sure!"

  The next game, however, was more to my liking. I beat him by several thousand points. Luckily, he was secure enough in his gamerdom that he didn't run away.

  "How do you hit that fifty so easily?"

  I shrugged. "I have good aim."

  As we walked down one of the rows of stand-up arcade machines, Spratlin asked, "How bout an old school shooter?" He pointed at Galaga.

  My eyes lit up and a wicked smile spread across my face. "Now you're talking."

  We took turns on the same machine, trying to top each other's high scores. He was really good, and I hung with him the best I could.

  My fist was clinched as I watched him burn his last life in a swarm o
f Galaga space bugs.

  "Yes!"

  "You dog!" I teased.

  He spread his arms wide. "Bow before the ultimate Galaga master."

  I threw our Skee-ball tickets at him and walked away.

  He caught up to me and asked, "Did you let me win?"

  I just flipped my hair around. "I'll never tell." Truth was, he beat me fair and square, but it would be fun watching him squirm.

  "Oh, come on! Just a simple yes or no."

  A little boy and his mom were walking toward us. His face was red like he had been crying. As we approached, Spratlin stopped in front of the boy.

  "Hey, kid. Have some tickets."

  The little boy's face lit up. "Thanks!"

  Spratlin looked at the mother and smiled, "Enjoy."

  The mother thanked him, then looked at me and said, "You have such a nice boyfriend."

  I quickly turned my head to hide my blush. She was right, though. He was awfully nice.

  Then Spratlin asked, "Hungry?"

  I replied with a simple, "Always," thankful that he didn't say anything about the lady's assumption.

  The Inferno had some awesome food for an arcade. My favorite was the cheeseburger, loaded with extra pickle and nacho cheese sauce. Spratlin ordered the same and we shared a pile of nachos.

  Spratlin scooped a heaping of cheese, meat, and sour cream onto a chip. "Come clean. Did you let me win?"

  "You just can't let that go, can you?"

  "You're good. I just want to know who's better." He stuffed his mouth with another chip, and then asked, "Rematch?"

  Finally, a chance to redeem myself. "You're on."

  "So, what do you do when you're not hanging out a game stores or arcades?"

  I chuckled. "Not much. Gaming's always been a huge part of my life." I shoved another chip in my mouth and chewed. "I've always wanted to have my own store."

  "That's awesome! Why don't you?"

  I told him about getting fired and how Gaylin was encouraging me to finally do it.

  "Sorry to hear that."

  "That job was gonna be the death of me. I'm not that upset."