Chapter 2

The second chapter in my as yet untitled fantasy novel, where Samara is confronted by a ghost from her past.

I sat outside for a long time, I wouldn’t have minded another cigarette. My senses were in overdrive. I flinched whenever I heard a noise from inside the tavern. Drunken laughter echoed out the open windows. My skin tingled. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being

watched. My hand hovered protectively over my sword. The weight of it was comforting.

I stayed outside so long that I thought I could see the faint smudged pinks and oranges of sunrise, though I knew I must have been imagining it. The night was so black that it was hard to imagine that it would ever end.

Finally, I couldn’t take the paranoia any longer and decided to call it a night.

It was a relief to be back inside the noisy tavern. Despite the late hour, it seemed just as crowded as it was before I left. I pushed my way through bodies to the stairwell that lay almost invisible to the right.

As I passed I saw the man from outside draped all over a young prostitute. I couldn’t help but grimace.

I ascended the stairs, they were indeed creaky. There was a sort of irony in the name of the tavern. They felt incredibly flimsy under my feet, though that might have just been because of the heavy boots I was wearing. The stairwell was completely shrouded in darkness. I couldn’t

help but keep looking behind me, as though I was expecting someone to give me a cheap jump scare.

The upstairs area was sparse; four rooms. The whole area had an aura of neglect. I walked all the way down to the end of the corridor to room three. The room was unlocked, and that didn’t surprise me. I wasn’t expecting great security here.

What if someone found me? I’d be vulnerable whilst sleeping. What if this was an elaborate trap by Lois? Surely there was some kind of price tag on my head. He cashed in on the reward, he could spruce this place up a little, I’m sure he wants to.

Room three was almost empty apart from a bedside table and a rather rickety looking bed. The air smelled stale and I immediately went to open the window, storm or no storm I needed some fresh air. Now that I was alone I safely discarded my cloak and rolled my shoulders. It felt good to not be weighed down by it.

I sat down on the bed, bouncing on it in an experimental fashion. It was as hard as a rock. I got under the covers, struggling to warm myself up. The sheets were scratchy on my bare skin. From the room next to me I could hear the unmistakable noises of intercourse. I sighed. It was just my luck, apparently. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, a combination of the slab like bed, the noises from next door and downstairs and my own fear. I surprised myself by falling asleep almost immediately like a log.

The next thing I was aware of was someone watching me. I wasn’t fully awake�"I was in that state between waking and sleeping, where you’re just about familiar with your surroundings. My first instinct was to roll over and reach for my sword. My heart crawled into my throat when I realised it wasn’t where I left it last night. My mind scrambled with possibilities, I didn’t have that much to drink last night so my memory wasn’t impaired. Could I have moved it before falling asleep? Hidden it somewhere just in case something like this happened?

Think, think! My mind still itched with sleep, I longed to sleep for a little while longer�"this could just be a very vivid dream.

I didn’t dare open my eyes. This was a dream, it had to be. They couldn’t have caught up to me already. I was so careful. I was aware of my heart thumping against my ribcage louder than usual.

“Looking for this?” I still didn’t open my eyes, but I could just feel whoever it was dangling my sword over me like bait. I wouldn’t fall for it. Anxiety flooded me, but I couldn’t place why. That voice. It sounded vaguely familiar. It couldn’t be who I thought it was. Not now.

The temptation was too great and I cracked my eyes open. Over my bed stood Pharus�"completely and utterly unchanged from the last time I saw him. His indigo eyes sparkled with good natured humour and his dishevelled inky black hair still hung at the exact same length. My breath caught in my throat.

I’d like to say I reacted calmly and maturely. I reached for my stiletto dagger under my pillow and hurled it at him as hard as I could muster.

Pharus barely dodged out of the way in time and the stiletto got lodged in the opposite wall with a dull thud.

Pharus slowly got to his feet again, staring from the stiletto to me with a look of utter bemusement on his face. I’d nicked his face lightly, blood trickled down his left cheek slowly down to his chin.

“Alright, I won’t say that I didn’t deserve that.” He said, removing a handkerchief from somewhere in his jacket. He dabbed it to his face and then glanced at the blood on it curiously.

“Why’d you have to ruin my good looks like that? This might scar, you know.” He sighed taking a seat next to me on the bed. I scampered away from him as though he was contagious. He looked vaguely offended.

“Good.” I muttered.

Pharus smiled crookedly at that. “You still haven’t changed I see.”

I stared at him with a look of barely concealed disgust.

“What are you doing here, Pharus?”

He shrugged his lanky shoulders. “Just passing through. I needed a room and the bartender was nice enough to give me a room.” Pharus stopped to clear his throat. “He seems quite taken with you.” I might have imagined the tinge of jealousy in his voice.

“He kept muttering something about a beautiful woman with silver hair, and well, I knew that had to be you. How many other people do you know that look like you?”

I blushed furiously. “What makes you think that you have the right to just barge in here?”

He shrugged again. “Dunno. What happened was a long time ago, I figured that you might have simmered down a little bit.”

I scoffed. “Please.”

Pharus half smiled. “You know I’ve gotten a lot of less than warm welcomes but this is the first time anyone’s thrown a dagger at me before they’ve even truly woken up.” There was no denying the pride that he spoke with.

I rolled my eyes. “That’s nothing to be proud of. You should count yourself lucky that that’s all I did.”

Pharus inched closer to me and moved his hand as though he wanted to place it on my shoulder. I caught him mid-movement and gripped it. “Don’t you dare think for one moment that you can show up here out of the blue and expect me to forgive you. I don’t forgive people in general, don’t think you’ll be an exception to that rule.” I spat at him.

Pharus tried to twist his wrist out of my grip. “Alright, alright. I get it, now let go.”

I released his wrist as though I’d been electrocuted. I felt unclean just touching his wrist. I wanted to run and douse myself in ice cold water.

He inspected his pale wrist carefully. “This is gonna bruise. I can feel it.” He said conversationally.

“If you’re looking for an apology you aren’t getting one.” I muttered.

“Any other form of physical pain you want to inflict on me?” Pharus asked though I couldn’t be sure if he was speaking to me or not.

Faster than he could blink my fist collided with his face. His head snapped back and he cradled the side of his face.

“I’m not at all surprised. Would it kill you to use words to communicate like normal people?” he said, sounding resigned.

“You’re an arse.” I said spitefully.

“Tell me something I don’t know. Anything else?”

“Face me again.”

Wham! My other fist thudded into the other side of his face.

Pharus sighed. “What was that for?”

“That was for leaving. And because I’ve always wanted to punch you right in your stupid smug little face.”

I jumped out of bed and refused to look at him. I could already see the beginning of a large purple bruise blossoming on his face. I felt a vague sense of satisfaction. Then a little regret.

“You know you don’t have to put up with it.” I spoke almost softly.

“Put up with what?” Pharus looked vaguely confused.

“Me. I mean�"already I’ve thrown a dagger at you and punched you in the face twice. The violence I mean. I know you’re capable of stopping me, you just don’t for some reason.”    

“You’re faster than me. You always have been. And you’ve never let me forget it.”

I couldn’t meet his eye. I walked to the opposite wall and yanked out my stiletto. I shoved it between the belt in my trousers and pulled on my travelling cloak.

“Where are you going? I just got here!” Pharus complained.

“Unlike you, I don’t have all the unlimited time in the world. I need to keep moving.”

Pharus leaped to his feet. It never failed to surprise me how nimble he was for someone who had always struck me as incredibly uncoordinated.

“Then I’m coming with you!” he announced.

“You what?”

“I’m coming with you.” Pharus repeated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I muttered to myself. Then I spoke up: “Don’t be stupid. You aren’t coming with me. If you can find me then anyone can. I can’t stay here.” I said pulling my hood up.

I stormed out the room, slamming the door behind me, my cloak trailing.

When I got downstairs Lois was already up, cleaning the bar down. The bar itself was completely deserted.

“Oh, Violet!” he said, his face splitting into a wide smile when he saw me. “Good morning!”

I nodded politely at him. “Hey Lois.”

I could hear Pharus’ footsteps behind me, loud and lacking any kind of grace. He got down the stairs and parked himself at my side, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet in that infuriating way he did.

I glared at him. “There it goes, that famous glare of yours.” He smirked.

“Thank you for letting me stay here last night, Lois.” I spoke to Lois directly, choosing to ignore Pharus’ snide comment.

“It’s not a problem. Are you leaving already?” Lois sounded disappointed.

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

Lois nodded. “Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.” He seemed to notice Pharus for the first time and stared at him.

“Who’s your friend?”

I glared at Pharus again. “This is Pharus. He’s a very old…friend of mine.” I could barely get the word out.

“I don’t know where you come from but you must have one hell of a gene pool.” Lois said, whistling through his teeth when he spotted Pharus.

Pharus looked so smug my hand twitched with desire to smack him again.

“Hey, look, man, I’m flattered but I just don’t swing that way.” Pharus smiled hugely.

“I’m not a homosexual you idiot.” Lois rolled his eyes.

I was glad to see that Pharus’ smile drooped and faltered. “Oh. Of course not. Sometimes I forget that people can just complement me without wanting to sleep with me.”

I yanked my dagger out so that only Pharus could see it. “Say that again you egotistical b*****d. I f*****g dare you.”

Pharus didn’t look scared, not that I expected him to but shook his head. “Apparently my companion here thinks that my comment was uncalled for.”

Lois laughed. “Don’t I know about that. I tell you she pulled a knife on one of my most loyal customers because he was trying to hit on her?”

Pharus laughed. “That’s Sam for ya. Show the slightest sign of affection and she’ll pay you back with a gallon of your own blood.”

Lois frowned at me. “I thought your name was Violet.”

I glared at Pharus again. “It is. Sam is just a stupid nickname.” I hurried to smooth the situation over.

“How do you get Sam from Violet?” Pharus questioned.

I shrugged as innocently as I could. “Who knows? It was a long time ago that you came up with it.”

Pharus finally understood. “Oh! Right! Of course! We were kids, yeah.” He trailed off unconvincingly.

“Yeah, alright.” Lois said, crossing his arms. He didn’t sound convinced at all.

I grabbed Pharus’ arm and dragged him behind me as I headed for the door. “Right well, we need to be going. Thanks again Lois for everything. Urm,” I hesitated, “I’m sorry about the wall. I’ll be happy to pay for it.”

“What did you do to my wall?” Lois asked, looking a little afraid.

“Nothing a little DIY won’t fix.” Pharus winked.

Lois looked suspiciously after us. “Yeah. Good luck with whatever it is you’re looking for.”

Reviews

[Ashish]

Fresh morning, and i am starting my day by reading this awesome chapter..
I love to read it further and further as of course I want to know more about Violet..ah.. I like that name :)
great going...

Waiting for chapter-3

[Asya Kardzhaliyska]

Aw thank you so much!! I'm so glad you're enjoying this! :)