Chapter Two

He stood against the furnace, a wine glass in his hand. She had never seen anyone so tall and imposing. So dark. Slowly, his face turned to see her standing in the hallway. She raised her eyes to meet his gaze from under her hood. She nearly reeled back in shock as his eyes pierced through hers, into her brain, down to her heart… she suddenly realized that she had a soul and that he was searching it, uninhibited, carefully. She couldn’t break contact, she felt her body stagger back yet it remained frozen.

What took place in a span of a few seconds seemed like hours and years. When he finally broke eye contact, she had to catch her breath.“Riley, are you back?” her mom called from around the corner. Riley nodded, before she realized her mom couldn’t see her. The stranger smirked.

“Yeah,” she managed to croak, her heart pounding. Again, he smirked, and slowly raised the glass to his lips. “You don’t sound good. You need to stop spending so much time in the rain. Why don’t you make a tea and join us?”

“Why don’t you introduce her to Reidar first?” her father broke in.

“I can do my own introducing,” the stranger spoke, and his voice pierced her in the same dark and intoxicating way that his eyes had. She was left breathless, paralyzed… frightened.

“I’m Reidar, an old friend of your father’s. I will be imposing upon you for the next few days. I hope you don’t mind,” he smiled, extending his hand out towards her. She brought her eyes to meet his, involuntarily and yet automatic. He read her hesitation, her fear. He was reading her emotions as if they were words illuminating her very being.

For one brief moment, there flickered a light in his eyes, almost as if he had nodded, encouraging her to take his hand. Mechanically, instinctively, she reached out and accepted. The touch sent electrical sparks searing through her very nerves. She nearly cried out in pain. If he had held on only a moment longer, she would have.

She stepped back, almost in a panic, and fled for the kitchen. Inside, she went through the motions. Her mind wasn’t even capable of reeling, she had no thoughts to process. Everything was a blank swirl. Her body was capable of no more than basic motions. She didn’t even notice her mother enter the kitchen behind her.

“Are you alright?”

Some people wince, or whirl around, when surprised. Riley went deathly still and silent. “I’m fine,” she murmured.

“Long day at class?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you rather just go to bed?”

“I would.”

Her feet moved up the stairs and toward her room. Her hands closed the door and her legs gave way before her bed. Her body was going through the motions while her brain still attempted to recharge.

Hours passed in silence and darkness, before she was able to gather her scattered thoughts. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and made her way down the stairs.

He was already waiting.

Reviews

[Jamie Lee]

The one thing that I've been trying to work on as a writer is to never use the same word more than once in too small a window. At the beginning you used "smirked" twice with just one sentence in between. That may be personal preference, and I'm not sure if any sort of rule actually applies, but I thought I'd point it out just in case :)

I love your descriptions. When you describe the way she feels about Reidar I can feel the urgency, the intrusiveness, that Riley is feeling.

Anyways, another cliffhanger! You're good at those. I can see I'll be sitting here reading through everything you have posted for this novel.