Page 53 of When Darkness Calls

The book makes a dull thud when I sit it down on the table and my weight shifts as I lean against it, crossing my arms. “Is this your inconspicuous way of prepping me for your class when I take it?”

“Maybe…There’s also a twenty dollar gift card for the bookstore inside it. I think it could be wisely spent on sticky tabs and a highlighter or two.” Nick gives me a sly smile over his shoulder as he walks over to the fridge to get another drink.

“Dully noted!” I call out then exhale a deep sigh as my gaze lands on Grays’s present.

“You can wait to open it when he’s here,” Cade supplies from my right, but I dismiss the suggestion, pulling the lid off the top of the plain box.

Inside was a beautiful Canon film camera. Just like the one that my mom used to have. My heart burst into a million pieces as I held back happy tears, picking up the camera, and feeling that long forgotten weight in my hands. I played with the one my mom had as a kid. She said that it had broken before I was born and she gave it to the guys to play with. Then, after a while it passed along to me.

I loved carrying it around, pretending the camera was actually recording everything instead of only taking photos. Maybe that was the true beginning of my love and appreciation for photography and cinematography.

Keegan, Alex, and Nick, all gave me a hug, shoulder squeeze, and back pat in that order. Cay just watched me, a small smile lighting up his face.

Rolling over, I see, sitting on my desk in all its glory, my new camera. The number of ideas I have for shots with this beauty. I can’t wait.

There was even a surprise visit by the mystery shadow last night. Which was a little odd, since usually I only see glimpses of him on the nights I’m here alone, but he was here.

After the guys had left and Cade and I got the kitchen cleaned up, he went to his room for the night, and I made the slow ascent upstairs to my own with my gifts. Everything found a home. The hoodie is sitting on my desk chair for me to wear today. The VCR is beside my TV waiting to be set up. I had the book on the table beside me, having already cracked it open before I went to sleep. Even Alex’s mish-mash has been put away. The picture frame is beside the book on my bedside table, the movie is on my shelf with the rest of my growing collection…despite the fact that he may have gotten me notably the worst Scooby-Doo movie ever made. And I may or may not have eaten a chunk off the corner of that candy bar, before I came upstairs last night, which is now in my fridge.

While I was getting everything put away and I went through my usual nightly routine, I caught the shift in the night from my bedroom window. Not the balcony door, but the window above my desk that looks out over the front yard and Mr. Jenkin’s house across the turnaround.

With his back to the streetlight, I could just make out his silhouette in the darkness, but the shadow he cast was a small comfort. One I welcomed openly, especially with the obvious hole in the night left by Grayson’s absence. It didn’t quite fill the gap, but it helped to know that my guardian was there to watch over me as the quiet began to fall over the street and the boring eyes made their return, and with them the cold I can’t ever seem to escape.

But, today is a new day. A new opportunity for me to work toward my “Getting My Shit Together” plan. Maybe I can see if Cade would like to go for a walk around the neighborhood this evening before we go to Pinehaven for the midnight movie, or I could clean my room and rearrange everything. Do the whole “throw out what doesn’t bring me joy” shit that everyone’s been talking about lately.

“DAANIII!!!” Cade calls, his voice carries but it’s muffled and faint, probably from the kitchen.

Well, no matter what today will bring, it’s starting now.

The floor creaks softly as my feet drag me across the room. I rifle around my drawers pulling on leggings and a tank top, then throwing my new hoodie over it, leaving it half zipped.

Before my hand can touch the doorknob, I spot a torn piece of paper lying just inside the threshold. I groan as I bent to pick it up.

Fuck, I need to start doing stretches or something. Liz might be on to something doing stretches every morning.

The paper’s been folded in half…kind of horribly to be honest. The edges aren’t lined up and the tear along the top is messy.

But my heart seizes when I read it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANI.

I’M SORRY I MISSED YOUR PARTY. I PROMISE I’LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU. I HOPE THIS YEAR BRINGS YOU ALL THE HAPPINESS AND ADVENTURE YOU HAVE MISSED SO MUCH.

YOU’RE A STRONG, FEARLESS WOMAN.

DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE.

-You know who

Did he come back last night? If he did it had to have been really fucking late because I don’t remember hearing his bike before I fell asleep. Or did he come back this morning?

That’s more likely. Maybe Cade had called when he woke up. God knows Cade doesn’t sleep past 5 a.m. Grayson had probably got here before sunrise for whatever insane shit Cade needed and is already gone by now.

I unplug my phone and the time stares back at me. It’s a little after eleven.

Yeah, there’s no way he’s still here.

I deflate, folding the paper back up and laying it next to the picture of Alex and “me”, and taking the small stroll down the hall and stairwell.