Chapter Ten.
Verity went down to her room, threw her stuff on the bed and got out her phone. There was a text from Reid, asking her if she really got beat up by Kiera, a text from Tyler saying he hoped she was ok and her bags were waiting for her at home, and one from Aaron, asking if he could study with her and that he was sorry Keira had whacked her with a ball.
Sighing, Verity replied to each one; "No Reid, I didn't get beat on by Keira, just a basketball to the face X", "Thanks Tyler, you're a star XX", "Hey Aaron, how did you get my number? No worries about the ball in the face thing, I'm fine :D".
With all the messages replied to, Verity went to bathroom and checked out the bruising. It throbbed like mad, and her head hurt, but she'd manage.
Verity went back in to her room and changed in to jeans and sweater, grabbed her iPod and digital camera and went upstairs to the kitchen and put on her wellingtons.
She was determined that the stupid old ruins were just ruins and were nothing to be afraid of, so she set out to find them again and confront her fears.
Plugging the buds in her ears, she turned up her latest download; Michael Jackson's greatest hits.
The music spurring her on faster and faster she finally came to the ruins again. There was nothing different about them. Old and crumbling, trees and ivy growing in and around where the buildings remains stood. Nothing sinister now it was daylight, unlike the last time she was here and the light was fading fast.
Verity took out her camera from her jeans pocket and began to take photos. From the side, then the front, then the other side of the old house/barn. The she went around to the back and took photos of it from that angle and the entire side was open, there was no roof, so she stepped over the loose bricks and stood in the centre and took photos. How could this silent and old place be so eerie and dangerous in her dreams, when it was just bricks during the day?
Verity had a look at the pictures she had taken, everything seemed pretty normal.
That was when she spotted the path.
A small foot path leading away from he ruins she was in and away from the fields that were familiar to her.
Curious, Verity looked at the time. It was only 3pm, plenty of time until the dark came, but not time enough to follow the path as well as get back home.
Verity took a photo of the path and put her camera away. She picked up a large fallen branch and placed it besides the beginning of the path, to remind her to go up there on the weekend.
Verity made her way back home, listening to dance music this time, to get her mood up and take her mind off her spooky dreams.
Verity's walking got slower as her body started to ache from the pounding it gave the court floor earlier on in the day. He face hurt and her head throbbed from where it tried to dent the floor.
Verity slowly pushed herself on, thoughts of a hot bubble bath and early night in her warm bed keeping her going.
The walked seemed to take for ever, the light in the sky was fading. She wondered what time her parents would be home this evening.
She trundled along up the path to her house, she saw something that stopped her in her tracks and made her blood run along her body.
There was a light on in her kitchen, a light she had not left on when she left the house.
Looking around her and seeing no one, Verity walked on, reasoning with herself that it was her parents, back home early.
The air got colder, so Verity walked faster, her body protesting the entire time.
As she neared the courtyard of her home, verity felt relief when she saw a familiar green Mustang where her parent's car was usually parked.
Finally, Verity made it through her front door, only to be ambushed by a worried Caleb who hugged her and shook her as he started saying something.
Verity looked confused and took out her headphones from her ears.
"What?" She asked.
"You had me worried, you weren't answering your phone so I came over and you weren't here. Why didn't you pick up your phone?" He let go of her, calming down.
"Why would I take my phone on a walk?" She asked, talking off her wellingtons and switching the kettle on.
"Well why not? You took you iPod with you!" He sat down.
"And my camera. Coffee?"
"Please. Where did you go Verity?" He watched Verity make them both a coffee each and sat down.
"A walk. After my first day at school, I went for a walk and found these old ruins of a bard or house. Anyway, after that I kept having weird dreams so I went back today to show myself that there's nothing sinister about it. Want to see the pictures?"
Caleb nodded and she handed him her camera and got the pictures up on the screen for him to see.
Caleb frowned as he looked through them.
"You shouldn't go there alone. You shouldn't go there at all. Especially when you were knocked out cold." He said, handing her camera back to her and sipping his coffee.
"Well I do and I did. Besides, there's this path there that I want to follow, was thinking about walking it this weekend. Want to come with me?" She asked.
"Actually, I already had an idea for this weekend. Getting you in the pool, movie marathon with the others, maybe some homework. Going to Nicky's too, on Friday. You should come." Caleb said, hoping to distract her from walking the path and going back to the ruins, he had a bad feeling about them, which got worse when Verity confessed she had been having weird dreams