Disclaimer: I do not own the movie The Covenant. Anything you recognize does not belong to me.
When the door of happiness closes, another opens. But often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us. –Unknown
"Cameron Elizabeth, you are in so much trouble!" My dad yelled, griping the steering wheel tighter as he took his frustration out on the speed limit. "What were you thinking? You don't-"
My emotions reached their pinnacle; I couldn't hold it in anymore. I expected it to come out in a scream, a swear, or even me just hitting the back of the seat with my hands. But it didn't. Something unfamiliar, something new, something unexpected lashed out of my chest. I caught a glimpse of my black eyes in the glass of the windshield right before it splintered and imploded.
"Look out!" I screamed voice shaking as my dad swerved into the other lane out of surprise. An oncoming car blared its horn. We swerved again, this time off the road. The headlights illuminated the tree right before we impacted. I felt a protective cocoon of power surround my body right before I was lashed forward suddenly, only to be stopped by the seat belt. Everything, everything hurt. I looked to my left to see my brother, covered in blood; eyes wide open almost as if –
I woke with a start, panting deeply as I wiped away the beads of sweat that were trickling down my forehead.
"Just a dream." I tried to convince myself "It was just a dream."
But it had been so real, so unnervingly real. I sat there, taking deep breaths in an attempt to gather my composure, to calm myself down.
"It wasn't real." I reminded myself.
I had to make sure, I had to make sure they were alright. Pushing the blankets away, I swung my legs over the side of the bed before kicking on my slippers.
I quickly descended the stairs, looking around the living room for any sign of my family. There wasn't any.
"It's ok," I told myself "They're probably doing something."
Still my nerves were not consoled.
"Eric!" I called out, panic creeping into my voice. "Eric!"
Biting the sleeve of my sweat shirt I waited for a response; A yell, a grunt, a cough…Anything, anything to tell me my big brother was alright.
"Eric?" I felt a tear sliding down my face and quickly wiped it away. Where was he?
"Yeah Cam?" He asked, pushing open the kitchen door to get a better look at me. That's when he noticed I was crying. "What's wrong?"
He crossed the living room in two strides, stopping less than a foot away from me. He looked me up and down, making sure I was physically fine.
"Nothing," I wiped away the last of the tears, instantly calmed at the sight at him. "Nothing, just a nightmare."
"It must have been pretty bad."
"You have no idea."
"Well it's gonna be alright now." He told me with a smile before he stuck out a hand to ruffle my hair affectionately. "You should go upstairs and get dressed then come to the kitchen; I have a surprise for you."
Wasting no time, I ran back up stairs and changed into some decent clothes before making my way into the kitchen.
As soon as I entered the room, a pair of hands snaked themselves around my waist and pulled me into an affectionate hug.
"How's the birthday girl?" My cousin asked me.
I looked at the clock. It was 8:17 on December 2, 2003. I had officially turned thirteen at 2:04 that morning. I was finally a teenager.
"The birthday girl's doin' fine!" I admitted with a laugh as Pogue put me back down.
"You should be," Tyler told me from the kitchen table. "You only turn thirteen once."
"And fourteen, and fifteen, and sixteen…" I trailed off "Anyone else seeing a pattern?"
"Yeah, yeah." Tyler brushed me off with wave of his hand.
"So," I began as I sat down next to Tyler "How are you doing on this fine December morning?"
"I'm doing ok." He admitted.
"Ok?" I gave him a skeptical look "Just ok? It's your birthday too! You should be doing more than fine. You're officially 14; you survived your first year as a teenager!"
"Well if you put it that way…"
"Baby Boy's just angry 'cause he's a year younger than the rest of us." Caleb told me with a smile "Don't let his negative attitude bother you."
"Don't worry, it won't." I assured Caleb with a nod as I accepted a plate of pancakes from my brother.
"Who made them?" I asked apprehensively.
"Mom did." I gave him a skeptical look.
"Ok," He admitted "So she didn't actually make them. She went to a diner and bought them."
"That's more like it." I said, taking a bite and savoring the sweet taste.
"How is it?" Reid asked, obviously amused with how much I was enjoying the pancakes.
"Fan-freakin' tastic." I smiled at him.
"So what are the plans for today?" I asked Eric.
"You know the rules; your birthday, you pick." Caleb answered for my brother.
"Thanks, Eric." I rolled my eyes at Caleb. "It's Tyler's birthday too!"
"My choice is a basketball game playing in Boston later. Your mom told us she'd give us ride on her way to work. What do you want to do?" Tyler asked me.
"I just want to hit up a book store and a camera shop later." I admitted with a shrug.
"A camera shop?" Reid asked in confusion.
"She's been saving up for a camera for like a year." Eric told the sons.
"Yep! And I finally have enough money!" I said, finishing up my pancakes and getting up to put my plate in the dishwasher.
"Cameron!" My mother's voice carried itself through the kitchen. "Could you come here for a minute?"
"I'll be right back." I told boys before following my mother's voice into the study.
"Yeah mom?" I asked as I entered the room. My mom stood at her desk, shifting through a stack of papers. She was wearing a perfectly tailored suite and as always her hair and make-up were flawless. Like my dad, my mother was all about personal appearances, something my parents and I greatly disagreed on.
"Happy birthday Sweetheart!" She told me, fingering a beautifully wrapped package.
"Thanks mom." I said with a smile. I expected her to say something else, but she didn't. Instead she just stood in front of me, biting her bottom lip apprehensively. "What's wrong?"
She took a deep breath before taking a seat in a chair, patting the one next to her, an indication that she wanted me to sit.
"There's something important we need to discuss." Mom tried to explain to me, she was still fingering the wrapped package as if it contained something incredibly important.
I didn't move.
"What's wrong?" My mind instantly flashed to the terrible dream I had just awoken from. "Is it Dad? Is he alright?"
"You're father's fine Cameron." She tried to reassure me. "It's just…Now that you're thirteen there's some things I need to tell you."
"Ew, Mom, please tell me you're not trying to have the sex talk with me." I sighed slightly, so not looking forward to this conversation.
My mom laughed slightly "No, Cameron, that's not what I want to talk to you about. Please, just take a seat."
But I didn't get the chance to.
"Mom," Eric said, knocking on the door as he opened it slightly. "Sorry to interrupt, but the game's gonna start in a couple of hours and…"
"Sure thing Hun," My mom said with a smile "Are you all ready to go?"
"Yeah, just waiting for Cameron and you." Eric said with a nod.
"Ok, go get in the car; we'll be out in a minute."
Mom turned her attention back to me as Eric left the room. She sighed slightly, still fingering the package.
"Do you have your clothes for dinner tonight?" Mom asked me. It was a birthday tradition; because Tyler and I shared the same birthday, every year the sons, my aunt, my uncle, my brother and my parents would get together for a fancy dinner in Boston.
"Not yet." I admitted with a shrug.
"Go up stairs and grab some clothes for tonight." She handed me the wrapped package "This is for you, but I need you to wait till later to open it. There's something I need to talk to you about first."
"Sure thing Mom." I grabbed it out of her hand, weighing the heavy packaging as I contemplated what it could be. "I'll meet you in the car."
"Make sure you get a skirt!" She called after me as I ran up the stairs.
I hated skirts. I was most defiantly not a skirtsy type of person, but my mom loved seeing me in them.
I threw the wrapped package on my bed before shoving a nice skirt and shirt into my messenger bag.
"What took you so long?" Eric asked as I shut the door of the minivan.
Ignoring his comment I strapped on my seat belt, choosing to spend the car ride listening to the conversation rather than participating in it.
"Make sure you're at the restaurant at six!" My mom warned us, waiting for our nods of acknowledgment before she pulled away from the curb.
I threw the strap of my bag over my shoulder and turned around to face the boys.
"Alright," Caleb said, taking over the situation. "The game starts in an hour, just enough time to hit up a couple of stores."
"Let's get this done then!"Tyler said, all too eager to get to his game.
"Let's check that store first." Pogue muttered, pointing to a store across the street.
"Sure." I nodded, walking over to the side walk with every intention of crossing the street when the traffic cleared up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Eric asked, sticking out his hand. It was an indication, that even at the age of thirteen, I still wasn't responsible enough to cross the street without holding his hand.
"You're kidding, right?" I asked with a laugh.
He wasn't.
Nodding down at his outstretched hand, Eric spoke "You're not crossing any streets until you're holding my freakin' hand."
"I'm thirteen." I reminded him.
"Yeah, you are. But you're still my baby sister."
"Come on guys, hurry up!" Reid yelled from across the street, he and the other sons had already crossed.
"You're so freakin' annoying!"I spat at Eric, grabbing his hand and letting him steer me across the street. He just gave me a satisfied smile.
"It's good to know that you two are still concerned with traffic safety." Pogue said with a slight smile that just succeeded in pissing Eric off.
"She's your family too Pogue!" He yelled "You're supposed to take care of her. What if I'm not around, can I trust you to take care of her?"
All of the sons looked taken aback with my brother's sudden outburst. To be complete honest, I was just as surprised.
"Geeze man," Pogue said, gesturing with his hands for Eric to calm down. "Calm down. It's fine. I always have, and always will, take care of her when you're not around."
"Promise?" Eric demanded and, to be completely honest, he sounded kinda desperate. Why the heck was he asking that? Nothing was going to happen to him.
"Yeah man, I promise." Pogue ensured him with a nod.
"I'm not a child guys," I tried to explain to them "I don't need watching and I can take care of myself."
"We'll be the judge of that one." Caleb told me with a playful smile. I just rolled my eyes.
"Come oooooon!" I coaxed the boys, pulling at Eric's hand as I made my way through the doors of Carlo's Camera Shop.
The store was fairly large, two stories tall with shelves and shelves of electronic equipment lining either side of the store.
I eagerly skipped off in the direction I suspected the cameras would be in.
"Hey!" Eric called after me "Don't do anything stupid, don't talk to any strangers and call us if you need any help."
"Got it!" I replied, reasonably amused that he'd let me go off by myself in a large store, but crossing the street alone was out of the question.
I ran up the stairs, barely making it to the second landing before I ran right into a boy my brother's age. The boxes he was carrying tumbled to the floor and the force of the blow knocked me to the ground.
"I'm so sorry!" I stammered, scurrying to gather up the boxes "I didn't see you there."
"It's fine." He assured me, kneeling down to help me pick them up "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," I flashed him a smile as I handed him over the boxes "I'm fine."
He reached out, intended to take them from my hands. But when our hands brushed against each other I was overwhelmed with a sudden pressing sensation in my chest. My vision clouded over and random pictures filled my mind. Slowly the formed together, creating a sort of film strip, and then it consumed me completely.
"Hey Camera!" A boy only a few years older than me called from the kitchen of the rundown apartment. "I didn't think you were coming in for another week."
He walked over to me, grabbed me up into a hug and spun me around.
"It's good to see you too Ben!" He dropped me on the floor and I looked up into his face.
"Look at you, you got taller."He said with a smile.
"Yeah," I rolled my eyes. "Among other things."
"You're what? Twelve now?" He questioned.
"Yeah." I nodded mockingly. "I'm fourteen you dork!" I hit him playfully on the arm.
"How was California?" He asked walking into the kitchen
"Laaame without you."I followed him into the room, sitting down at the small table.
"Well, that's what you get for wanting to see the country."
"Well, now that I've succeeded in hitchhiking across the nation I think I'll settle down in Boston for a while."
"Yeah! Totally! Gale doesn't care of you crash here, he thinks you're great."
"What about you? Are you ok with me being here?"
"Hum…" He pretended to think about it for a second. "I think I'll be able to survive."
"You jerk!" I laughed.
"How are your powers? You have any more control?" He looked genuinely concerned for me as he spoke.
"Yeah, I've got more control over the visions and the spell casting but the stupid telekinesis…"
Just as suddenly as they had started, the images stopped. I pulled my arm away from the strange boy and looked up to meet his gaze. The thing that freaked me out the most was that the boy looked like he had seen it too.
I stood up slowly; refusing to look away from the boy who I knew had just plagued my supernatural experience.
The boy, Ben, mimicked my movements.
"So what are you?" He asked me, looking down at me with calm eyes.
"What?" I didn't understand what he was asking.
"Witch, soothsayer, medium, shaman…" He trailed off at my confused look.
"I'm Cameron…" I said, stepping back slightly. Something weird was going on and I didn't like it at all.
"I gathered that. I meant why'd you just get a vision about me and you."
"A vision?" I couldn't help but laugh at his stupidity "Like of the future?"
"Yeah." It was his turn to give me a weird look. "How old are you? Did you just turn thirteen?"
"Today's my birthday, how'd you know that?" I took another step back, not comfortable with the boy's insight.
"No wonder why you have no idea what's going on." He muttered before sticking out his hand "I'm Ben."
"I'm not interested." I informed him.
"Of course you're not." He sighed before dropping his hand awkwardly at his side.
"Hey Ben, what's taking you so long?" An older boy rounded a corner, stopping ten feet away to look at both of us curiously. "Who's she?"
"She's no one." I murmured, not comfortable with the situation, not at all, not one bit.
"Cameron?" Eric called from the first floor "You got the stupid camera yet?"
"No, but I'll be down in a minute." I yelled back.
"Looking for a camera?" The much older boy asked.
"Yeah," I nodded, looking at his name tag "Gale…"
"Well, luckily for you I'm here to help." He offered me a small smile as he walked behind a sales counter. "So what are you looking for?"
"A digital camera with the largest megapixel count you have." I told him.
"This one came out a couple of weeks ago," He said, unlocking a cabinet and handing me a box. "Has a high megapixel count, quality zoom and a good brand."
"I'll take it." I said, pulling out my wallet and handing over the required amount.
"Here ya go." He said handing over a plastic bag. "I even included a memory card free of charge to make up for my little brother's abrasive attitude."
"You two are brothers?" I asked, looking in between the two boys.
"All my life," Gale murmured. "Unfortunately."
Well, that didn't make me feel any better. But it most certainly didn't surprise me.
"See you soon, Camera Girl." Ben told me as I walked past him and down the stairs.
"Not likely." I muttered as I continued down to meet my brother and the sons.
"What took you so long?" Reid asked me in an annoyed voice as I hoped down the remaining steps.
"I felt like annoying you." I said with a smile.
"Come on! We're gonna miss the game." Tyler told me, play fully grabbing a hold of my arm and dragging me out of the store and down the street.
"You're such a petulant fourteen year old." I huffed.
"It's my birthday; I'm allowed to be petulant." Tyler defended.
"Yeah, well, It's MY birthday too! I'm allowed to be slow." I laughed, shoving my new camera in my messenger bag.
"Yeah, yeah…"Tyler let go of my arm, unable to come up with a comeback as we finally came to a stop in front of the stadium.
"Alright!" Caleb pulled out the tickets and handed them to each of us. "The game starts in like 20 minutes but they're seating now so we might as well go in."
I made to follow the sons into the stadium but before I could go anywhere Eric grabbed my arm and pulled me back to face him.
"What's wrong?" He demanded, looking at me with a concerned expression on his face. "You've been acting strange ever since we left the store. What happened in there?"
"Noting." I insisted, trying to pull my arm out of his grasp. He held my arm tightly, ensuring that I didn't make it anywhere unless he wanted me to.
"Cam, what's goin' on with you? This morning I thought you were acting weird, now I'm sure something's up."
"I just-I had a really weird dream last night." I admitted.
"Like a nightmare?"
"Yeah, we were in a car accident, mom, dad, you and me…It was bad Eric, real bad." I shook my head, trying to get the visual images out of my head.
"Did we all die or something?" He asked, concerned.
"You did, I didn't." My voice caught in my throat "It was horrible, I don't-"
A sob sounded in my chest and Eric pulled me tightly into a hug.
"Don't worry Cam," he coaxed, wiping away my tears. "It's gonna be ok, I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be here for you, I promise."
"I know." I whispered "Sorry, I was just being silly."
"It's fine Cam." He said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and steering me into the stadium. We surrendered our tickets to the man at the entrance before following the remaining stubs to our seats.
"Heeey, what took you so long?" Pogue asked, glancing between my brother and me and noticing my red eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I lied "Just allergies."
"Sure it is." Pogue muttered, unconvinced.
The majority of the game was uneventful, but half way through my impatient caught up with me.
"Where are you going?" Eric asked as I stood up.
"Bathroom." I responded, waiting for his nod of acknowledgement before I walked up the stairs and sauntered off toward the bathroom.
"Ops, sorry." A teenage girl muttered as she bumped into my shoulder, causing me to stumble slightly.
She continued walking, not even bothering to look back as she continued her way down the hall.
"Weird…" I muttered, grabbing my head as a sudden pain consumed it.
A picture entered my vision and I did my best to shake it out of my line of sight as I entered the bathroom. Walking over to the sink I splashed some water on my face before gripping the edge of the sink in a tight grip.
I looked up to meet my own eyes in the mirror, cold, distant and afraid. Another wave of images flashed before my eyes, but this time they consumed me.
The teenage girl who had just run into me stood by the side walk, waiting for the traffic to clear before she could cross. She didn't think any cars were coming, not paying attention the girl made to move across the street. The car didn't see her, the girl didn't see the car, and before anyone knew what had happened the two had collided. The girl went flying and landed on the ground, unmoving and unresponsive.
I wasn't sure why I started running as soon as the stream of pictures stopped. Maybe it was because I was desperate for my thirteenth birthday to hold something special, something that set me apart from everyone else. Something like psychic visions of the future…
Either way, I couldn't help but run through the building, ignoring any protests security guards as I jumped the barrier and barreled through the front doors. Once on the street I looked around desperately, trying to locate the girl.
There she was, one hundred feet away and already stepping onto the street. Catching up to her was a pain, but I managed to do it, pulling her away right before the car zoomed by. We both feel backward on to the sidewalk and I was to relieved she was safe to be freaked out that my weirdo visions were coming true.
"Are you ok?" I panted.
"Yeah." The girl looked at me with a mixture of surprise and appreciation. "You saved my life."
"No problem." I stood up, wiping off the dirt that had accumulated on my clothes.
"But you-" She pointed behind herself "How'd you…?"
"I-I was just walking by and…" I trialed off, having no idea what I should say.
"Well thanks." She said, giving me a nod. "Really thanks."
I gave her a small smile and watched as she turned around and walked away, leaving me to realize exactly what had just happened.
"What the hell?" Eric demanded, standing over me with his arm out stretched. "Did you just think it was a good idea to take off and not tell me where you were going?"
"I'm sorry," I told him, standing up and looking and the five very angry boys that were glaring at me. "I came out to get some air and realized I dropped my ticket so I couldn't come back in."
"We waited for like twenty minutes before we realized you weren't coming back. Anything could have happened to you! You don't just take off without one of us!" To my surprise, it was Eric who was scolding me this time…It was Pogue.
"I'm sorry." I repeated "It's not like I meant for this to happen."
"I know you didn't Cam," Eric hesitated before running his hand through his hair "But don't you ever disappear on me like that again. You got it?"
I sighed deeply "Yeah, I've got it."
"Good." Eric seemed decently surprise that my answer came so easily and without protest.
"You guys should go back in and finish up the game, I'm not gonna go anywhere." I told them, feeling terrible that I caused them so much worry.
"Nah," Tyler said, shaking his head "The game was getting pretty lame, the other team was kicking butt and taking names."
"Sorry about ruining your birthday game." I muttered.
"It's fine Cammie," He smiled at me "It's your birthday too anyway."
We spent the remaining hours until dinner trailing around Boston, taking in our favorite sights and sounds as the daylight drew to a close.
Around five-thirty we stopped off briefly to change into our dinner clothes before continuing to the restaurant.
"What's up with the skirt Cameron?" Reid asked with a laugh.
"Shut up." I snapped, brushing out the fabric and avoiding everyone's gaze.
"Mom's idea?" Eric asked
"Mom's idea." I nodded
"Figured." He sighed as we continued walking.
Mom, Dad, Aunt Trixi and Uncle Wayne were already there when we got to the restaurant. Tyler's parents were out of town for business so they wouldn't be joining us.
We were greeted by a mass of hugs as soon as my family saw us. My aunt pulled me into a tight hug, telling me how much I'd grown since she had last seen me…Even though it had been less than a week… Aunt Trixi had a soft spot for me. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that I was the first female to be born in the family for six generations. She had always wanted a daughter; instead she had just gotten Pogue before discovering she couldn't have any more children.
By the time dinner was almost completely over I was on edge, I hated sitting for long periods of time. I was bouncing my legs to the point that my dad was glaring at me, an indication that I needed to stop.
"Cameron." He warned me with a stern voice.
I stopped bouncing my legs. That's when the fingering tapping started.
"Cameron." He grunted, giving me my final warning.
I huffed, needing to stretch my legs.
"I'll be right back." I said, standing up and pushing back my chair. I hadn't been paying attention to what was going on, so technically what was happening next was my fault.
An unsuspecting waiter was passing by at the exact moment I chose to push back my chair. Unfortunately he was carrying a tray of food, and managed to trip and fall backward onto a neighboring table, spewing food and drink everywhere.
My parents, embarrassed, buried their heads in their hands. A manager came over and began to yell at the waiter and I myself was ashamed of what had happened.
"We'll take the check." My mom told a passing employee with a fake smile.
Ten minutes later we were on the curb, waiting for the valleys to pull up the adult's cars.
Reid, who had already been wicked annoying all throughout dinner, was getting on my last nerve.
"So," Reid asked me "Do you like, enjoy, screwing up people's plans? 'Cause you're two-for-two right now."
"Reid." Eric warned, rubbing my shoulders in an effort to calm me down.
"What?" He brought up his hands and gestured at me "I don't care if it's her birthday. She's being a total bitch."
And just like that, I punched Reid Garwin in the face.
"Ow!" He grabbed his now bloody nose with his hands "You just broke my nose!"
"That's what you get for being an ass!"
If Reid's complaining hadn't been enough to alert the parents, then my yelling had.
Horrified with the situation, my father ran over to me, dragging me as far away from Reid as he could. Aunt Trixi instantly ran over to Reid, checking to make sure he was alright.
Mom went over to talk to Aunt Trixi, a horrified expression still on her face. By the time our car pulled up my dad was furious.
"Get in the car." He told me through gritted teeth.
I wasted no time complying. Dad didn't usually get angry.
A minute later my parents entered the car, both of them slamming their doors behind them. No one said anything, it was quite, it was scary, and I didn't know what was going to happen.
"Why?" Dad finally demanded when we had been in the car for a good fifteen minutes. "Why would you punch him?"
"I didn't think-"
"That's right!" Dad yelled at me "You didn't think! You can't just go punching people when you're angry Cameron! Do you have any idea how embarrassing the chair incident was in the restaurant? Or how inappropriate you punching Reid was?"
"I'm sorry, I just-" I tried to explain
"No, you listen and you listen well," My dad's voice was filled with anger. Eric grabbed my hand, stroking it comfortably in an effort to alleviate my feelings of anger and guilt.
My dad wasn't giving me a chance to explain myself; there was nothing more degrading than that.
"Cameron Elizabeth, you are in so much trouble!" My dad yelled, griping the steering wheel tighter as he took his frustration out on the speed limit. "What were you thinking? You don't-"
My emotions reached their pinnacle; I couldn't hold it in anymore. I expected it to come out in a scream, a swear, or even me just hitting the back of the seat with my hands. But it didn't. Something unfamiliar, something new, something unexpected lashed out of my chest. I caught a glimpse of my black eyes in the glass of the windshield right before it splintered and imploded.
"Look out!" I screamed voice shaking as my dad swerved into the other lane out of surprise. An oncoming car blared its horn. We swerved again, this time off the road. The headlights illuminated the tree right before we impacted. I felt a protective cocoon of power surround my body right before I was lashed forward suddenly, only to be stopped by the seat belt. Everything, everything hurt. I looked to my left to see my brother, covered in blood; eyes wide open almost as if, almost as if he were dead.
"Eric?" I sobbed, letting go of his hand to check the pulse at the base of his neck. My hands slipped against the blood, I couldn't steady my shaking hand enough to feel a heartbeat. I gave up with the neck, checking his wrist instead.
Nothing. No heartbeat.
"No, no, no, no, no. I'm-I'm just not doing it right. He's not…" I couldn't even bare to say the words out loud, I was too afraid that saying them would mean it was true.
"Mom? Dad?" I asked, not able to hold back my sobs. "Mommy? Daddy?"
Whatever barrier had been protecting me fell away, and a whole new level of pain consumed me. I started screaming, in pain, in desperation, in distress.
"Is everyone ok in there?" A heard a voice called from the road.
"Help!" I managed to croak out.
"We called 9-1-1. Help will be here soon. Don't worry, it'll be alright. Just don't go to sleep."
The words echoed in my ears, but it was too late. Darkness had already consumed my vision as I felt my consciousness slipping away.
When I awoke next, it was to the steady beeping of a heart monitor. Everything, God everything hurt. I forced my eyes open and saw the painfully bright white of a hospital room.
"Mom?" I called out.
I felt someone grab my hand and was instantly relived…Until I saw it was only my aunt.
"Aunt Trixi?" I questioned, using my arms to push me up. It took more effort than it should have and, looking down, I realized why. My left arm was wrapped in plaster, removing all of my remaining hope that the accident could have just been a horrible dream. "Where's my mom, my dad and my brother?" I pleaded.
She didn't say anything, her eyes just tiered up.
"Where are they?" I asked a little louder this time.
"Cam, I'm sorry. The paramedics…" She trailed off and whipped away a stray tear. "They did everything they could. But they were all pronounced DOA."
Her words echoed in my ears. I knew what DOA meant, but I didn't want it to be true.
"What?" I asked, hoping beyond all hope that I simply didn't understand what was going on.
"I'm sorry Cam." Why was she calling me Cam? Eric was the only one that ever called me that. It was his endearing term for me, the way he marked me as his little sister. No one else called me that unless…Unless something terrible had happened. "But they're dead."
"No." I said sternly, tears running down my face. "No. They're not dead. They can't be dead."
"Cam, I'm so sorry." She tried to rub my face affectionately, I wouldn't let her. I slapped away her hand, not wanting any close contact.
"No." I yelled this time. "No!"
"Cam I-"
"No! You don't get to call me that! Eric only calls me that, no one else!" I was choking on my own tears. "I want him, I want Eric. I want my big brother!"
She tried to hug me, to calm me down. I shoved away. I didn't want her, I wanted my mom, I wanted my dad and I wanted my brother. They couldn't be…. They were always supposed to be there, Eric had promised me he would always be there for me.
"Get away from me!" I yelled, picking up a water pitcher from a side table. I chucked it at the wall, it shatter completely. Maybe now she'd understand that I didn't want her around.
My aunt looked scared, unsure of what she should do. I heard the beeping of the heart monitor pick up its pace. Nurses rushed into the room to see what was going on, Pogue and my uncle trailed behind.
"Leave me alone!" I yelled, thrashing around desperately, trying to get them away from me. "I don't want you to touch me. I want my family!"
"We're going to have to sedate her." A doctor told my aunt. She nodded yes before the doctor pulled out a needle.
"I don't want to go to sleep!" I yelled, pushing away from the doctor as he approached. My aunt looked hysterical. Pogue and my uncle looked like they had no idea what to do. "I want my brother, I want my mom, I want my dad!"
He came closer and I pushed away from the bed. No sleep, sleep meant nightmares, it meant strange dreams. Dreams that came true.
I stood up, ducking under the nurse's arms as they tried to grab me. The door, I was almost at the door. Just a few more feet-
A strong pair of hands grabbed me around the waist and picked me off of the ground.
"NO!" I yelled, kicking out at my captor. I thrashed my arms and legs around desperately. "Let me go, let me go! I want my brother. I don't want to be here, I want to be with them!"
"Shhh." Pogue's stern voice consoled me as he hugged me tighter. My blows did nothing to deter him. "Shhhh Cam, it'll be alright."
A felt a small prick at the base of my arm and it only took seconds for my eye lids to start to droop. "Don't call me Cam." I tried to yell, but my voice was barely louder than a whisper. "Only Eric is allowed to call me that. Only Eric. Only my brother."
"Alright Cammie." Pogue told me as he set me on the hospital bed.
"I don't want to go to sleep." I sobbed as I grabbed his sleeve. "Please don't leave me alone. I can't do it alone. The dreams are too bad, they're too dark, the dreams…"
"I'm not going anywhere Cammie." He whispered in a scared voice. Pogue never got scared, why was he scared now? He looked down at me, rubbing my arm affectionately.
I couldn't fight it anymore. My eyes closed and darkness once again consumed me, but not before I realized one thing.
I had killed them, I had killed my family.
"Cameron," Aunt Trixi called from the bottom of the stairs "Come on, we're leaving honey!"
I stood in my room, it was the first and last time I had been there since the accident. My aunt and uncle had already sold the house, tomorrow movers would come and put everything into boxes and then put it into storage until I turn eighteen and everything legally became mine.
My room was virtually bare, all my pictures, clothes and stuffed animals had been moved to my aunt and uncle's house already and the only things that remained were my old bed room furniture and a sense of despair.
The past week had been hard, extremely hard, the funeral most of all. People kept telling me that they understood what I was going through, that 'the pain will heal with time'…But I honestly don't see how it could.
I endured the entire afternoon of people telling me how sorry they were for my loss, how terrible the accident was, how they couldn't imagine why such a horrible thing would have happened to such wonderful people.
If only they knew.
The thing that freaked me out the most, far more than anything else, was the fact that not only did my weirdo dream came true, since the incident in the car my anger had succeeded in triggering a sort of 'telekinesis'. Every time I became angry things would begin to shake, even fly across the room. I did my best to keep it a secret, to not alert anyone, but the guilt I was feeling was slowly consuming me whole.
"Cameron!" Aunt Trixi called me again, worry creeping into her voice. I heard her muttering something and a few seconds later a pair of feet started up the stairs.
"Cammie?" Pogue knocked on my door before pushing it open and entering the room. "We're heading out."
"I know." I muttered, biting on my sleeve as I walked over to my bed and picked up the discarded birthday present my mom had given me what felt like a lifetime ago.
"Come on, let's go." He said, steering me out to the car.
The ride home was short, uneventful and awkward. I didn't say anything, Pogue didn't say anything, and my aunt just tried to get us to speak.
Neither of us was in the mood to talk so it wasn't exactly a surprise that when we pulled up to my aunt and uncle's house, Pogue scrambled to his room. I stayed behind, grabbing a small box of my remaining possession as I started up the stairs.
When I reached the top I heard Aunt Trixi mutter my name to Uncle Wayne, stopping me in my tracks.
"What's going on with her?" My aunt was near hysterical "She hasn't been herself lately."
"We've had a terrible loss Beatrice, Cameron most of all. I have a feeling that it's going to be a while before she gets back to her usual self."
"Oh honey." I heard Aunt Trixi walk across the room. "I didn't mean to down play your loss. You lost your brother, I can't imagine…" She was crying again.
"We've all lost family Trixi. Whether we like it or not, our lives will never be the same."
"At least we still have Cameron." Aunt Trixi whispered.
"I still don't understand that. You saw the car, she should be dead. She shouldn't be alive. Why did she live, even though her other family died? Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy she's alright, it's just that…"
"Wayne…" She consoled. "It wasn't her fault; it wasn't like she caused it. If she had, it would be different…"
The way her words rung in the air, they held an air of hatred at just the thought of me causing the accident. I knew they didn't mean to be angry at me; they just kind of were…
I started to panic. My breaths come in ragged breaths. What if they found out? What if they guessed? I'd deserve it, I realized. I didn't deserve a family, I didn't deserve a home or people who loved me.
Maybe I should just leave. That would eliminate any future issues of them possibly finding out about what happened. It was way too much to handle. Crap like this wasn't supposed to exist. Dreams weren't suppose to come true, people shouldn't be able to move things with their mind. Then why could I?
"What are you doing?" I jumped about a foot in the air; I hadn't even heard Pogue come up behind me.
"No-nothing." I told him with a shrug. He gave me a hollow stare. Erica and had been close to all the sons, Pogue in particular. It was hard for Pogue, losing someone who he had grown up with.
Would he hate me if he figured out I killed him?
I would, if I were him. I already hated myself.
"Then what are you doing standing in the hall?" He asked me.
"Nothing."
"Then maybe you should find a better place to stand." He suggested, not too kindly.
A sob sounded in my chest and I pushed past Pogue and into my room, slamming and locking the door shut behind me. I threw myself down onto my bed, stifling my sobs with a pillow. I waited until I had calmed down before sitting up and unwrapping the birthday present.
"A book?" I muttered to myself, examining the ancient volume in my hand. "Mom was apprehensive about giving me a book?"
I flipped the cover open, instantly tensing when I saw a bracket of names and dates tracing all the way back to the 1800s. My name was among them, but that wasn't the thing that freaked me out the most. I traced over the lines, grimacing when I came to the realization that the crimson ink that connected them was actually blood.
"What the hell is this?" I whispered, instantly sickened by my realization.
The pages contained spells, hand written side notes and an explanation I was none too happy to read about.
"Magic?" I laughed slightly and the thought. "There's no such thing as magic."
Still, I couldn't ignore the part of my brain that was urging me to try one of the spells out. It was stupid, it was childish, and it was most certainly impossible… So what harm could it do?
Fingering through the pages I found a spell for invisibility. Sighing deeply, I focused my gaze on a doll sitting on the middle ledge of the bookshelf.
"Let the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the seen to be unseen." I blinked, and it was gone.
I swallowed before rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn't just seeing things. Getting up, I walked over to the shelf and felt for where the doll had been sitting before it disappeared. Reaching my hand out it brushed against the unmistakable touch of a doll's hair.
Just like that, I knew I was going crazy.
I found the counter spell, the one that should make the stupid doll reappear.
"What is and should be here, let come now and reappear." I chanted
Of course, when the doll did become visible once again, it was far from comforting; as was the sudden wave of exhaustion that consumed me with the release of what I suspected to be magic. I barely had enough energy to walk over to my bed and lay down before my eye lids drooped and I fell asleep.
It was one in the morning when I next awoke; pretty disturbing considering it had been around noon when I had fallen asleep. Thirteen hours, the use of two of those spells had knocked me out for thirteen hours. It made me fearful of how the other spells could possibly affect me.
I read what I had come to realize was a spell book for the next two hours. Which made me come to the conclusion that, even among the supernatural and the occult, I was a freak. Visions of the future, weird spells people could cast…Those weren't exactly uncommon among the magical blood line that ran through my mother's side of the family.
Telekinesis and eyes that turned black… That was never even heard of.
I was panicking, beyond all reason, beyond all control, simply panicking.
It didn't make any sense. Why me? Why now? I wasn't special; I wasn't supposed to have things like this happen to me, especially because whatever 'gifts' I had been given caused me to kill my family.
I needed answers; I needed a way out of everything that was happening to me. I was swimming, barely managing to stay afloat as massive waves of despair crashed down around me. I needed a new start, a place where I wouldn't have people continually staring at me in a sad, depressing, partially accusatory way.
And they didn't even know the truth yet, I couldn't imagine what would happen if, or when, they figured it out. Because of this, I knew staying wasn't an option. I needed answers; I needed closure, something or someone that would explain everything to me.
It took me ten minutes to compile some necessary items into a backpack before picking up my mom's spell book and looking it over. I wanted to take it with me, to examine it and understand more about it…But I couldn't, my bag already weighted too much and the extra weight of the book would slow me down.
I hid the book behind the top drawer of the built in wardrobe in the back of my walk in closet. It was hard; I knew I'd probably never see it again. I guess I'd just have to make do with a note book full of spells instead.
I allowed myself to look around the large bed room one more time, trying to give myself a good enough reason to stay. I didn't exactly want to leave, but I had to, I couldn't bear the thought of staying after everything. Coming to the realization that this chapter in my life was now over wasn't exactly easy. Whatever my future held it wasn't supposed to happen here and with that thought, I left the room and never looked back.
Walking all the way to Boston hadn't been easy or fun, but I had done it.
Carlo's Camera Shop opened its doors at nine o'clock…Which meant that by 8:45 I was already standing out front, waiting for the store to open. When it did, I wasted no time running up stairs to the sale's counter I had been at just over a week ago. So much had changed since then…
"Can I help you?" Gale asked me.
"Yeah," I nodded "I want to talk to your brother."
Gale looked confused for a second before motioning that he'd be back in a minute. Less than thirty seconds later the two boys emerged from the back storage room.
"Hey Camera," Ben smiled as he spoke to me. I could tell that, regardless of what he had said, he hadn't actually been expecting to see me this soon. "What's up?"
"Did you just call me Camera?" I asked, slightly confused with his name choice.
"Yeah, I guess I did…" He shook his head before meeting my eyes. "What do you need?"
"Answer." I told him, my voice firm.
"To what?" He asked, a slightly cocky smile on his face. No one else was around; it was just Gale, Ben and me.
"You know what." I snapped.
"Yeah, I do." He looked me up and down, trying to figure out if I was serious or not. "But you have to realize, when you know about this crap, your old life as you knew is as good as over. Are you willing to give that up?"
"I already have."
"Alright," He nodded in understanding. "Let's get started. What do you want to know about first?"
"Anything and everything you can tell me about magic."
Ben nodded in understanding before motioning for me to follow him into the back storage room so we could talk more privately. He sat at a table, pulling out a chair for me to sit in.
"So what do you know about magic so far?" He asked me as I sat down.
"That it's practiced by creepy people wearing pointed black hats who ride broom sticks?" I asked, knowing that wasn't the answer he wanted.
Instead of getting angry, Ben just let off a small, delicate and calming laugh that left me at ease.
"You sure you want to know?" Ben asked me again.
"I'm sure." I whispered soundly and convincingly enough to make him realize that I was in this until the end.