CHAPTER FOUR

I hate myself. Hell, I might even loathe myself for what I said to Shadow. It was too harsh and it hurt him. I'll try and make it up to him, apologise profusely with a little show of the waterworks might sway him a little in my favour even if I don't deserve it. I needed to talk to him even if he didn't want to talk to me but I had no idea how to piece my words together. I won't want to botch it at all. I want to mean every word and hopefully he would forgive me for what I said.

DAY FOUR

Kiera woke up in her bed with the biggest feeling of regret and guilt that she had every experienced. She just felt full of remorse because of it. She wanted to stay in bed all day, stewing in a cloud of shame. More of that came on when she realised she broke Shadow's promise. She didn't eat breakfast and she was about to miss lunch as well. She wasn't doing so good in that department.

Ever since they drove into Cedar Falls, she felt every single part of her become darker. Kiera believed she was in a deep funk and she couldn't feel happy at all. She was annoyed, angry and exhausted by everyone and everything in her path. She didn't even know why she felt this way. She didn't know if she was just a miserable bitch or the town was affecting her in a way she couldn't explain.

The old woman kept playing on her mind. She saw her twice now and that had to mean something. She had to be real, or she was just losing the plot. She's been leaning towards the latter lately.

The tree stump was just as confusing as everything else was. It looked like a bowl to her, it could have even looked like a cauldron – it was big enough to be one but she wouldn't cook anything in it. There were markings all over the tree stump. She had no idea what all of that meant, it was no language she had ever heard or seen of before. All she knew was that she was the only one that was experiencing this and she had no idea why she was the only one.

She wanted and needed answers.

I hate this town, she thought angrily as she pictured everything that happened to her in the last four days.

She focused on the tree stump. The symbols confused and intrigued her to the max. An idea came to her and now she had to put a brave face on and pushed herself out of her bed, not caring for her attire, heading downstairs. She met Amy, Tails and Cream when she walked into the living room.

"Do you where I could hijack a notepad and a few pens?" Kiera did this quite gently as she knew quite well that they all heard her tear Shadow a new one.

Cream gets up from her seat with a gentle smile. "I'll get them for you."

Amy went off to the kitchen and soon returned with a BLT sandwich on a plate. "Here, you need to eat."

She takes the sandwich from her. "Thanks."

Cream shuffled back into view, her innocent smile still plastered on her face. "Here you go, can I ask what you're up to?"

"Drawing."

Amy honestly thought that drawing could help her vent her emotions out instead of spitting it at Shadow while she is on the edge.

"I'll see you guys later. Thanks for this." She thanked them again before heading back up to her bedroom in the attic. She was glad she had her bedroom out of the way of everyone else. She wasn't a people person and she was genuinely surprised that they care about her after everything she has done.

Kiera closed the door behind her, walked to the desk in her room. She gently set the plate of food down on the desk and the notepad with the pens. She took a seat at the desk, opened the note pad and pulled the cap of a pen. She began to sketch out the markings that she could remember from what she saw in the forest before the old woman vanished without a trace.

She leant back and munched on the BLT that Amy gave to her and stared at the sketches of the markings she saw yesterday. A knock on her door made her jump a little but she wouldn't tell the person that was behind the door that.

"Who is it?" She called out.

"Shadow." His voice was small and gentle.

She paused before answering him, she was ready for this. "Come in."

So, he did. He came into her bedroom and closed the door behind him. "Can we have a talk?" She nodded and got up from her chair and sat down on her bed with him. Kiera wanted to be somewhere comfortable for this and the bed was perfect for it.

Shadow sat beside her on the bed, and the deafening silence began. Please, just say something. Yell at me, please. I deserve it. She thought full of panic. "About what you said yesterday-"

She interrupted him right then and there. "I am so sorry. I shouldn't have said that at all. I don't know what came over me! I just got so angry and I honestly don't know where it came from – I'm so sorry, Shadow." As Kiera rambled out her apology to Shadow with her heart on her sleeve. She meant every single word. It came from the heart and that brought out the waterworks.

There were tears sliding down her cheeks. Her emotions have overwhelmed her and everything fell apart. Shadow pulled her straight into his arms, holding her close as she cries. He forgave her straight away. He hated it when she was sad, especially when she cries her eyes out.

"Hey, hey. It's okay, shh." He rubbed her back in circular motions to try and calm her down.

He just wanted to hold until the pain went away. "What happened?" He asked her gently. He wanted to know what was happening with her and why she was acting the way she was. She knew she had to tell him about the old woman creeping her out but she wanted to figure all of that on her own.

She'll give her a taste of her insanity. "My mind is playing tricks on me and I don't know what to do anymore." It wasn't false, she could be possibly going insane for all she knows.

He holds her tighter towards his chest, he didn't want her to feel this way. He hated seeing her like this. He thought this trip to Cedar Falls would have done her some good but it happened to have done the exact opposite to what he had hoped for. He wanted to see her smile and laugh again, he would do anything to see that again.

Shadow gently threaded his fingers through her hair. "Are you okay now?"

She sniffled and nodded a 'yes'. "I'm good." She mumbled.

"Are you going to come down?" He wanted her to hang out with the others and socialise, he thought that she would feel better.

She shook her head. "I'm going to have a nap but I'll come down for dinner." Kiera knew he would be happy about that.

He smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead before getting up and heading for the door. He stopped when he heard her voice. "Do you forgive me?"

"Water under the bridge, Kiera. Enjoy your nap." He left and she wasn't going to crawl back into her bed just yet, she had other plans in mind.

Kiera went back to her notepad and sketched out every single marking she could remember. One symbol on one piece of paper at a time. Once she finished drawing them out, she brought them to her bed. Page by page she put them in the order she saw them in on the tree stump bowl.

She had them all nearly in the correct order that she remember from in the woods when she spotting something off in the corner of her eye. Kiera paused at what she was doing right then and there. Dropping the pieces of paper on the bed, she walked towards the window. Her heart basically dropped at the sight. The old woman was back and staring straight up at her.

Kiera tore out of her bedroom and zig-zagged down the stairs, and rushed to the double-glazed window in the living room. Everyone was staring at her like they were watching someone walk a cat by a lead. Kiera franticly looked at them. "Don't you see that?" She quickly got angry and exhaustion at them, at herself and at everything.

She ran out of the living room and darted out the house. The old woman disappeared again. Kiera screamed and yelled all her frustration, anger and irritation. The others came onto the porched and watched her cry out all her rage. They were staring at her like a circus animal.

Sonic pulled his eyes from her and whipped them to Shadow. "She's gone cuckoo for cocoa puffs."

Shadow glared at him. "She is losing her marbles, Shadow." He was serious that time, there was something wrong with that girl.

Kiera knelt to the floor, finding a rusted bracelet on the floor whereabouts the old woman vanished. The bracelet band was carved with the same markings as the tree stump she found in the forest.

Shadow walked over to her and she twisted her body to him, not showing the bracelet, she rose to face him. "How could you not see her?"

"See who?"

"The old woman."

That's it.

I spilt the beans about me seeing that crazy old woman to Shadow, and the rest of them. There are no secrets in that house, everyone finds out everything. I know what they thought of me in that moment. They thought I was going insane by seeing these things but they justified it and said I needed food and a tonne of sleep. Maybe, I have been losing sleep since I came into his god forsaken town but I know this is real.

I promise you.