Every Last Kiss, Final Copy, June 30, 2011 Read Online Free Page B

in…disappeared.   He didn’t walk past me to get into the house and there was no way that he exited through the garage door because it was still closed.  I quickly walked a circle around my car.  He was just gone.  
            Holy Mary Mother of God.  Had I gone crazy ?  Had this whole mess with Derek stressed me out so much that I had lost my mind?
            I sat down on the step with a whoosh. 
            Should I call the police?  And tell them what?  That some man wearing makeup and strange long robes was in my house and then disappeared into thin air? And if I added the fact that some strange necklace was giving me visions, they would strap me to a gurney and send me to a place where lunch consisted of small orange pills. 
            What to do, what to do.  I picked up my phone with shaking hands and dialed… but it went straight to Jessa’s voicemail.  The Gray family reunion….I forgot.  There was no use calling Jenn, then.  She was there, too.  I didn’t want to call my mother- she would rush home from running errands and then promptly call one of her psychiatrist friends. 
            As I was debating with myself, something rustled behind me, a strange whisper-like sound and I spun around. 
            Nothing.
            The oddly dressed man wasn’t standing there, which was good…but there was also nothing else to explain the sound.  And I knew, beyond any doubt, that it had been real.  I scrambled up and looked behind every nook and cranny in the garage, kitchen and family room.  Nothing.
            It was official. I was crazy. 
            And about to get crazier. 
            I suddenly felt an inexplicable pull- the need to begin walking, as though I was being pulled by an invisible cord. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the same sensations that I had experienced when I held the bloodstone.  I couldn’t resist it.  I felt like some sort of freakish robot as my feet began moving on their own accord, one after the other; through the kitchen, up the stairs and finally stopping in front of my closed bedroom door.  
            As I stared at the wood grain, I knew beyond any doubt that I hadn’t left it closed.  So, the burning question was…who had closed it?
            My heart started pounding and I pushed the door open.
            Nothing.
            Not a thing was out of place.  My bed was made and my room was neat, except for the shoes scattered on the floor.  Most importantly, though, it was empty. I almost took a deep breath of relief.
            But then the whispering began again.   All around me… raspy whispering with incoherent, foreign words, getting louder and louder. The room seemed to spin and suddenly I was moving again, toward my dresser.  My hand didn’t even feel attached to me as it reached out, pulling open a drawer. 
            The bloodstone glowed wildly from among my panties, the veins pulsating.  I couldn’t help myself- I reached out my shaking fingers and wrapped them around the stone. It felt like I was holding a beating heart in my hand. 
            The whispering stopped. 
            “All will be lost, Charmian.”       
            I would recognize the scary man’s voice anywhere.  Clutching the stone to my chest, I whirled around. 
            And screamed.  Because that is what a normal girl does when she finds someone in her bedroom.  And I’m normal.  Damn it, I’m normal.  
            The man from my garage stood perched at the edge of my room, ominously out of place, like an overgrown vulture.  His voluminous dark robes hung heavily around him and he stretched a gnarled, twisted hand toward me.  As he moved, thick swirls of incense swirled around me and I froze. 
            Unbidden thoughts sprung into my head. 
            I was suddenly consumed with fear.  Not for the obvious, sane