Still Here (Part 2)

The lights above the mirror flickered and dimmed as Luce washed her hands. Must be part of the Halloween theme, she thought. There were fake spider webs hanging from the lights, after all. She smoothed out some tangled strands of her blue wig and reapplied her blue lipstick. The last time she had to go to the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup was around one hour ago, right after "7 minutes in heaven" with Daniel. Thinking about what they did in the dark closet made her heart race and her face hot. Luckily no one would be able to tell, since her face was all blue.

Luce took her phone out of her vintage clutch to take a selfie. She set the timer, made her best scary face, and waited for her phone to take the picture. The picture had a strange red tint to it. Thinking it was just a weird camera glitch, she posed again and took another picture. This time the picture was even more red, and blurry too. And was that a shadowy figure right behind her? Luce screamed and threw her phone in her clutch. The lights flickered rapidly now and all of a sudden it was freezing cold.

"This is not happening. This isn't real!" She tried to reassure herself that it was just a stupid prank someone was playing on her as she grabbed her clutch and then the doorknob.

The doorknob refused to turn, though she jiggled it many times and it was clearly unlocked. Luce started to panic and bang on the door. "Help! Something's wrong with this door! Someone let me out of here!"

The lights went out and Luce screamed. "NO! Let me out! Help! Somebody, let me out, please! This isn't funny!"

Taking her phone out to use as a flashlight, she realized she should call Daniel. But then she heard something from right outside the door. Disturbing, sinister laughter. It made her blood run cold, but she was determined not to let him know how scared she was.

"Okay, you scared me. Very funny. Now let me out, you freak! It's freezing in here!"

"I'm so sorry, Lucinda."

His apology gave her goosebumps. His voice was eerily deep and emotionless. Who the hell is this guy?

"I thought you loved Halloween and being scared. Is it too cold for you? I can fix that."

The walls and ceiling burst into flames. Luce screamed and jumped away from the burning door. Fire everywhere. She had always been afraid of fire and had nightmares about being burned to death. Was this a nightmare? The suffocating heat and smoke was making it hard to breathe or think. Curling up next to the sink, she shut her eyes and began to cry. This must be a nightmare, but why does it feel so real? Wake up! Wake up, Luce!

"I'm going to enjoy breaking your spirit. Little by little, until you beg for death." He waslaughing maniacally again.

Luce sobbed louder and covered her ears. "Why are you doing this? Please stop. I'm begging you!"

Seconds later, Luce woke up with a gasp. She was sweaty and curled up next to the sink. No fire, no smoke, no flickering lights. Why in the world would I fall asleep in the bathroom? But that was the only reasonable explanation. Her breathing gradually slowed and she finally stood up. It was just a bad dream. Luce pulled out her phone to look at the pictures she took. They were gone. Someone knocked on the door loudly, startling her. She immediately turned the doorknob and flung the door open. Daniel seemed relieved to see her.

"What took you so long?"

"Daniel!" Luce hugged him tightly. "I was so scared! I had a awful dream!"

"What are you talking about? Are you okay? You were gone a long time, so I decided to check on you." He rubbed her back soothingly.

Luce explained what happened as he sat on the side of the bathtub and she reapplied her makeup and fixed her hair.

"That is really weird. Well, sometimes I doze off in class without realizing it, so maybe that's kind of what happened."

"Yeah, I guess I am kind of tired... Oh, the ghost story! Tell me what happens!"

"Seriously? You were terrified just now and you still want to talk about ghosts?"

"I'm okay now, really. I love ghost stories, but I don't really believe in ghosts. I just like hearing ghost stories on Halloween."

"Oh, Lucinda..." His expression slowly became dark and menacing. "But they are real. Ghosts, angels, demons. I've seen them. In fact, there are some right outside, at this very party. And I don't mean people in monster costumes. They are monsters disguised as humans."

"Why are you being so weird? Don't try to scare me. I've had enough of that tonight."

Daniel laughed in that same sinister way as the guy from her dream, which frightened Luce and made her retreat from him. What is wrong with him? He gave her a creepy smile and winked at her. "I'm in character, Luce. I'm Thomas. Play along with me, it'll be fun to do some roleplaying. We're already dressed for the part."

"No. I don't want to. You're scaring me, Daniel. Seriously, that's enough."

He blinked a few times and frowned. "I'm sorry. That was a stupid idea. Come here. It's okay." He hugged her and stroked her hair, calming her down.

Luce hugged him back. "It's okay."

"Really? You'll forgive me?" He pulled away from her, a worried look still on his face.

"Yes, of course."

"I won't believe you unless you kiss me," he whispered, leaning close to her face.

"That's too bad, I don't feel like kissing you at all right now," she lied. He was already so gorgeous in his vintage suit. Now he was in full seduction mode. She had no chance but at least wanted to tease him a little.

He raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you breathing faster? And I'm quite certain you're blushing under all that blue stuff on your face. I hate it. I want to wash it off your face and body myself, preferably in a hot shower." He pointed to the shower. "And we conveniently have one right here, just waiting to be used."

Luce gave up. She grabbed his neck and pulled him down until their lips and bodies crashed together. Daniel easily picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to the shower and pushed her against the cold tiled wall. His tongue explored her mouth as his hands roamed over her body. He had never kissed her like this before. As if the world was about to end and this was all they had left.

"You're mine. You'll always be mine. No matter what happens." Daniel held her face possessively in his hands, squeezing a little too hard. His piercing gaze made her nervous, but it was also turning her on, how tough and dominant he was right now.

"Always, Daniel. You know I'll never want anyone but you." She gently touched his face but was surprised when he reacted by closing his eyes and letting out a sad sigh.

"Let's go downstairs." He put her down, wiped the blue lipstick from his lips, and quickly left the bathroom.

Luce wondered what was wrong. Did he think she would break up with him after a short time? What had she done recently to make him misunderstand or doubt her? She followed him downstairs to the living room where people were dancingor chatting with each other. Daniel sat down on the empty couch and gestured for her to sit next to him. She managed to give him an awkward smile as she sat down and tried to stop worrying about why he was upset with her. The only guy dressed as an old man at the party, Gandalf, walked pass them. He seemed worried or angry or possibly both. It was hard to tell because his beard covered up most of his face and he had a fake nose on, too. Maybe he was searching for his Men in Black agent friend, because he kept wandering around, muttering to himself.

Daniel cleared his throat and Luce turned to face her boyfriend. His cryptic smile made her uneasy. "Before I tell you the rest of the story, let's play a game."

Kate's Notes:

Posting up Part 2 to celebrate the Unforgiven's release day! :) Honestly...I don't think I'll like it that much. The plot just doesn't sound that interesting and I feel like I'm going to hate Lilith. But I'm still going to buy the book because...well, I just have to. It's Cam's own book! :P

I apologize for taking so long to finish writing this. Part 3 should be the last part of this scene. I've been feeling down and didn't feel like writing... I always tend to get depressed around Nov. and Dec. I'm feeling better now, though. But not sure if I can post a new scene every week. I feel like I'm repeating myself. Lol. Anyway, those of you who have been reading this story should already know that sometimes I post each week, sometimes I take forever. If you get bored while waiting for the new chapter, you can reread my older stories or visit my Instagram (I mentioned it in my notes at the end of one of the past chapters, right?) and see me fangirl about Tom Hiddleston. Haha.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I truly appreciate every review, favorite, follow, message that I get. Thank you very much for showing your support for me and my stories in those ways. Sending you all lots of love!

Oh, the title of this story, I took from the Digital Daggers song. And I listened to these two pieces of instrumental music (you can find them on Youtube) to get in the right mood to write this scene: Pan's Labyrinth Lullaby - Piano and Violin Version and Victor's Piano Solo [Looped]. Also, Broken Inside by Broken Iris.

The part about the red tint in the picture actually happened to me! I discovered it recenty but the picture was taken by me, using my phone, on my birthday (February of this year). I visited this house/museum that was built in the 1900s. There were rumors that it was haunted. I didn't really experience anything strange in that house, though the other house had a cabinet that rattled for no reason. But could have been because of a truck driving by outside, though I didn't hear it. Anyway, recently I wanted to post that picture on Instagram and it was too dark. I didn't try brightening it up before. Well, when I did, I saw this weird red tint. The more I brightened, the more red it was! It also had some weird digital "static" patterns on it, so i'm sure it was a glitch in the camera. but still...creepy! Was the perfect picture to post last month, with Halloween and my obsession with Crimson Peak happening, though.