Between Shadows Page 4

  Miranda smiled with the excitement of a child at Christmas, she could finally tell and show someone something and they didn’t call her a freak or run away from her.

  Jared smiled back nervously he wasn’t sure he wanted to see the “new” gift but he needed to tell the others everything.

  Jared nervously asked, “Can you explain what you’re going to do before you do it? If not that’s ok just go ahead and try it.”

  Miranda smiled, “I think I’m forcing all of the natural energy around me into my hand, look!”

  Miranda was so happy that she didn’t notice the look of shock on Jared’s face, which he quickly removed, she was just happy to be normal for whom or whatever she was.

  It was at that very moment that she looked into his eyes, and stated very pronounced, “I don’t think I’m as human as we both thought.”

  Jared looked at Miranda with a very particular look on his face that she couldn’t place, so she went on and continued with her story, “I thought something was wrong when I woke up. I knew it was a little strange that when I woke up last night and my face looked like I had gone ten rounds with a golden glove boxer, and then this morning it was completely fine, even you didn’t notice. My mother told people I was a fast healer! I guess here I really am!”

  Jared looked at Miranda again and smiled, “I’m going to tell the others know about you, I think you should understand what I am doing before I leave. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I will try to get you the answers you’re looking for first, and then we will see how the rest goes. You should know that they could kill me and then come after you next.”

  Jared was nervous and he knew Miranda could feel and see it, but at least he was honest, which was something he had never been accused of before.

  Miranda looked at him right in his eyes, “That is all I can ask of you. We need to remember I came to meet my fate and what I got was to meet you. You are my fate and for that fact I will never be sorry. ”

  Miranda very extremely relaxed. The outcome was not her own, but she had some say in how she got there, and for that she would be grateful.

  With that Jared started in on the rules again and then finally said goodbye. It was something in the way Jared said it that gave Miranda peace. As he turned and opened the door Jared looked back at Miranda and spoke asked, “Oh, one last thing, why didn’t you sleep in my bed last night?”

  Miranda gave him a devilish smile and answered, “Because I was never invited.”

  Miranda started to ask why he wanted to know, but stopped herself; she knew this was the best way to end it. Jared would need to come back to get a better answer.

  At that he laughed and took off through the front door, Jared knew wanted a better answer, but that was the only one Miranda was going to give him for now. He would need to come back to her to get anything more out of her and with that maybe he could even save her life.

  “I should want to kill her even destroy her and here I stand ready to plead her case, even give my own life for her, I know the rules about bringing a human here. What is going on with me?”

  Chapter 3

  After Jared left, Miranda thought about him and what they had said to each other, then she thought about what she was going to do today. Miranda looked around just staring at the walls and figured, if I can’t explore the woods, at least I can explore the house, so she started with the living room.

  The room was filled with cherry bookcases, and the bookcases were filled with photograph albums, and beautiful copies of every classic she had ever heard of. The cherry wood smell filled the air as Miranda looked at the antique furniture place beautifully around the room. No modern gadgets, no phones or TV’s, no electric, it was like a scene out of an old movie. Miranda couldn’t help but believe that this house had been made with the same kind of love that she tried to put into her own home that she had made with her family.

  As Miranda stroked the fire she looked at the many albums. All of the pictures were beautifully taken, each seemed to have a new timeline of life, in each new album she chose, a new timeline was born. Jared had obviously been around a very long time. Miranda had seen at least four very striking wives and with countless children, over what seemed to be a timeline of photography. There was a small bit of jealousy inside as she looked at the women, that she quickly pushed aside. There were pictures of what looked like Jared’s extended family; Miranda only noticed them because they were in every book of pictures no matter what the year had been. None of the books ever had dates but the clothing and background gave each one of them away. Jared and his family seemed to predate photography itself, and they seemed to have “normal” lives for quite some time they were right out in the open in the human world. It was at that point that Miranda wondered what had happened to make them go underground. She wanted to know why they weren’t with normal people now and why did they need to hide? Miranda knew this was just one question she needed to ask Jared before she died. Her stomach however, at this point, had other ideas.

  It was almost time for lunch and Miranda’s stomach seemed to want to keep reminding her about it, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. She was just so curious about these people and their lives that she didn’t want to think about anything else. Eventually the hunger won out and Miranda went into the bedroom to shower and change into something else. As she was changing thought about the last thing Jared had asked her and she realized he still hadn’t given her permission to use his bedroom. Miranda decided that she wouldn’t use it until Jared came back and told her it was ok. She wasn’t sure which wife it may have belonged to and Miranda didn’t want to anger Jared, especially since he seemed to want to be friends.

  Miranda went in to the room, with the hope that Jared would come back with his “friends” that she had seen in her vision quickly, and that he had convinced them that she wasn’t a threat, but more of a lost soul. Miranda somehow believed she really belong in this place and time with them.

  The fire started to get low and Miranda knew if it went out she would have a hard time keeping the cottage warm as night fell later on; so she started to tend the fire and added small pieces of wood to in hopes keep going at just the right temperature during the day. Miranda also hoped that it would be no problem to get it to warm up and keep the cottage toasty overnight. That’s when her stomach started again, just enough of a reminder to let Miranda know who was really in control.

  As Miranda began to eat her lunch, she started to go over what had happened to her in the last two days. She had meet with what she thought was her death; the one she wanted and got kidnapped, and then she was left alone to wait for whatever her fate would be. Only to have Jared to return to watch over her, find out the real truth about her, and become dare she say it a friends. This was all too strange and all to true.

  Miranda wondered who would ever have thought that this would happen, a year ago she would have laughed at all of this, and she would have never expected to have anyone see her with her power. It was the burden she worked so hard to keep down inside, controlled, and never let anyone see. It wasn’t long before Miranda finished her lunch and then cleaned up, just as before, she cleaned up the table for two.

  It was then that Miranda began to notice things, little things, like the pattern on the dishes. They were a beautiful small violet steamed plant, on a white bone china plate, curious how Jared would pick that out. As she put away the dishes she notice for the first time that it was a complete service for twelve and Miranda wondered if Jared entertained much, or could they possibly be from one of his marriages.

  As Miranda looked through the cabinet this time it wasn’t for food, but to see how Jared lived out here, was this a place he had built with a previous wife, a place simply to get away, or was this all by chance? As Miranda continued to look at the dishes she became aware that they hadn’t been cleaned in some time, it was then she decided a little spring cleaning was in order and soon she was knee deep in dishes of all sizes.

  M
iranda suddenly burst out, “How many people come for dinner here? I wonder what kind of food Jared serves them, or does he lure his meals here? Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him eat anything yet.”

  Miranda was happy to hear sound again; she hadn’t realized how quiet it had gotten in the last few hours, so she decided she would sing. Miranda knew it didn’t matter how loud because she was the only one who could hear her and if something out there did hear her maybe the noise of her singing would keep them at bay. Miranda smiled and then started to laugh, this time it really felt good, this time life didn’t seem so bad.

  Mirada had finished putting all of the dishes away and went back into the living room, she looked around after tending to the fire, and she decided that she should explored the rest of the house. As she walked out of the living room into the hall Miranda noticed one rooms was locked, and she found that to be very strange.

  “Why would he lock a room and then leave me here with the rest of the house?” she was very curious. “I wonder what Jared has in there, or maybe I should leave him one thing I don’t go through.”

  Miranda walked into the bedroom and starting going through the drawers, there wasn’t much in them so it didn’t take long. It was strange the only thing she found where her clothes, and in the bathroom again Miranda only found her things.

  “Did he ransack my house last night while I was sleeping? I guess I should be thankful, anyway, thanks I really need this stuff.”

  The closet held a different story for Miranda, Jared had hung all of her nightgowns, and she wasn’t really sure how she felt about that. That was the real problem Miranda wasn’t really sure how she felt about Jared, was he a friend or a foe, and how he feel about her. What mess, he should have just killed me, she thought. As she started to wonder through the rest of the cottage Miranda started thinking about the locked door again.

  “He only told me not to go outside or invite something or someone inside, Jared didn’t tell me I couldn’t go in a locked room. Jared never even mentioned a locked room, let alone a room I shouldn’t go into.”

  Miranda was starting let curiosity get the better of her as the sun started to go down again. She then realized at that point the fire was getting dangerously low and she forgot all about the locked room as she ran to the living room to stroke the fire. Again Miranda decided maybe reading would be the safer thing to do, so for a long time she sat staring at the fire, then reading and thinking about what she had let happen to her.

  “Do I really want to die? Why did this just come to me now? Why didn’t Jared just kill me right away?” she wanted to say this out loud so she could digest it easier.

  This really didn’t help and she was more confused than ever, going home wouldn’t help even if she could, no one there understood her and she was really getting very tired of that. It was also getting increasingly harder and more physically painful to suppress her power than ever before.

  Staying here wasn’t really an option, but Miranda didn’t have much choice; then it hit her, what if Jared didn’t come back? What if he tells them she’s not dead and they do kill him? What would happen to her then? Could it be that it was really safe outside during the day, and was the danger only at night? Or was that just her perception because she never heard the sounds during the day? It’s not like Miranda ever looked out the window during the day she was always afraid of what she might see. It didn’t matter what she thought, never the less she had already made the decision to stay here for now, and she realized she couldn’t change that fact. Jared promised he would be back with answers and she was willing to wait for him.

  Miranda walked over to the fire, stroked it slightly and sat down to read, hours had passed and before too long it was time for her stomach to take control again.

  “Dinner, I guess I should make some dinner.” Miranda said as she looked up at the curtains and noticed that the sun was going down.

  “Hey Jared actually has curtains up!” She laughed to herself. “I wonder if I’ll have any guests.” Miranda smiled ; she was really getting way too used to being all alone. “HHHMMMM, what will it be, steak, chicken, or should I just order a pizza or Chinese?”

  Miranda starting picking on herself , “it’s so easy to keep this up, only I could keep this fantasy going, as if nothing is going to wrong. I must finally be going crazy! Jared where are you? Please just finish the job before I totally loss my mind!”

  It seemed that picking on herself did make Miranda feel better. She was so used to being treated so gravely in the last few months that Miranda almost missed it.

  Miranda started making dinner as the sun went down and the noises outside started again. Miranda tried singing again but she just couldn’t sing loud enough. That’s when the door knob started to turn, it was very light but she caught it right away. Miranda was so completely taken back that she didn’t know what to do.

  She ran and grabbed the poker from the front of the fireplace, as Miranda started screaming out into the open, as if whatever was coming at her would really listen. It was then she thought to scream for Jared thinking he might have come back again and be waiting in the shadows.

  Miranda was looking around the room desperately and started screaming, “You said I was safe if played by your rules, did you lie to me, or did I do something wrong? How is this happening? I was starting to think you actually cared about me, was just some sick, sadistic little game? How can something kill me now?”

  Miranda was terrified, the sweat was running down her face, and she kept trying to think of anything she did to break his rules.

  She started to scream again, “I didn’t even go in the locked room and we never even talked about that!”

  The door slowly, painfully opened, what was worse is that Miranda wasn’t sure what she was going to find on the other side. What matter of creature was going to be there? Was it the creature that she had heard eating the others? Or was it something new?

  Miranda started screaming again “How did I get here, in this place and time, and where in God’s name is Jared? Jared I need you!”

  Miranda was absolutely terrified when she saw the face coming through the door, and then…in stepped Jared very carefully and quietly. He wasn’t sure what he was walking into or what was going on. Jared just knew Miranda was screaming at him again.

  Jared really couldn’t understand why she was so upset; it was just him, how could it be a problem. Wasn’t it just hours before that they had talked and he told her what was going on? Jared had been completely honest with her.

  He just stared at Miranda, her face was ghost white in terror, sweat was pouring off of her face and her entire body was shaking under the stress. Miranda held the red hot poker inches away from her face, ready to strike at any moment but to terrified to move.

  Jared had become very angry at her and started shouting “What’s your problem? Every time I see you, you’re either screaming at me, or ordering me around and I never even ask to meet you!”

  Jared really didn’t see how Miranda could be scared, he was the only one who could come and go in this place. It was only when she collapsed, he realized she wasn’t mad at him, Miranda really was just terrified.

  Jared laughed out loud at her, “I guess I forgot to tell you one other thing. I’m the only one that can come and go from this place.”

  Jared felt so bad about everything that had happened to Miranda in the last few days that he carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed until she could come out of it. This however, he thought would prove to take a long time because, Miranda had been very scared so Jared figured she would sleep for hours.

  Jared walked back to the kitchen and he also notice that she was starting to cooking dinner, and it looked good. He turned to look at the table, it was at that exact moment that he saw, and it had been set for two again.

  Jared started to wonder as he called out to Miranda, “why did you set the table for two? I wasn’t planning on coming back yet and you of all people must have kno
wn that.”

  Jared looked around, he had only been gone for a few hours and yet the whole kitchen had been cleaned from top and bottom. Every last dish was washed and not one thing had gone unclean.

  Jared yelled into the room at her, “I will never understand you, most women are pretty predictable, but you I just don’t get.”

  Jared finished up the dinner so it wouldn’t go bad, or get cold, then he waited and in the hopes that Miranda would wake up soon. While he was waiting he went to the wine cellar to retrieve a bottle of his favorite wine, and that’s when he noticed something else, Miranda had been drinking his wine.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to share it with her, it was because most humans would get sick, deadly sick from drinking it. Drinking wine with laced with real human blood in it was not a good thing for humans.

  Jared ran in the room with his full speed and ability to check on her worrying that Miranda might be dead when he got there and he thought to himself, this is was kind of amusing, since he was sent to kill her to start with. Now here he was racing to save Miranda and make sure she stayed alive.

  Miranda looked up at him, she caught the look on his face as he came through the door, “Worried? I thought I was of no concern to you?” Miranda was weak but she at least she was making jokes and she wasn’t yelling at him again.

  “Are you ok?” Jared said without hesitation and worry in his voice. “You’ve been drinking my wine stock, and it wasn’t meant for you!”

  “Ohh! Did I drink your best stuff?!” Miranda was starting to get annoyed once again, she had frustration in her voice when she said, “You mean you get to leave me here and I get to just trust you. I don’t even get to know when you’re coming back, and I’m supposed to know what wine not to touch!!!”