When Lights Collide Chapter 8

Cara, still in her towel, and now desperately wanting to go to bed and call it a night, hoped the tapping at her door was just her imagination.

She stood, listening, debating.

When her Guardians spoke to,  “Answer it Cara, it's important.”

Cara rolled her eyes “So is me getting some sleep'” she mumbled in reply.

As she turned toward the door, Cara heard another tapping sound and then:  “Come on Cara, it's me, I have your package.”

Cara dropped her head in surrender, it was Estelle, her next door neighbor.

As she replayed the words in her mind, Cara wondered “Package?  What package?”

Cara was reaching for the door when Estelle spoke again, “You know, the one from your office…”

Damn.  Cara was hopeful that ‘that package’ had been delivered to wherever he belonged, never to return.

“The gift that keeps on giving” Cara muttered to herself as she touched the door.

She closed her eyes and answered Estelle, “Let me get dressed, I’ll come to your back door.”

“Ok sugar, be careful” Estelle answered as she faded from Cara’s mind.

Cara relaxed and locked her door, then she turned and headed for her bedroom.

She was standing in her closet trying to decide between pajamas or actual clothes when her Guardians spoke again.

“He needs your help Cara, Daniel is lost to us”

Cara thought on their choice of words as she bent to put on her jeans….only one word caught her attention… ‘lost….lost’, that word tickled at her memory, causing her to stop moving altogether ….’lost…..lost….’

She snapped bolt upright and demanded of her Guardians, “Lost?!-Wait...Is this another Micheal thing?”

Still silence, and maybe even the sound of crickets...

“Great, choose now not to talk to me!”….she paused to listen to the still silence, then she spoke, “seriously, I can’t do another Micheal thing….”

Memories of Micheal flowed across her mind’s eye, she had worked hard to put him far out of her mind, to heal from the wounds he’d inflicted upon her heart and her soul.  

Cara had been directed by her Guardians to help him, to teach him, to guide him.  Micheal had been ‘lost’ too….. too far lost.  Which Cara only realized after she had fallen, (into what she thought) was love with him.

Tears threatened to flow, building up in her eyes, as she recalled the last time she saw Micheal.

They had been at the beach, listening to the water splash against the sand, watching a gorgeous and calming sunset.  It had been a beautiful day of just hanging out and relaxing around a campfire.

Well, at least it would have been if Cara had not been so distracted.  She knew she had to tell Micheal who she was, about her gifts, about her Guardians.  

Yet, she debated, she knew she wasn’t supposed to have fallen in love with Micheal, and Cara wasn’t certain what else to do.  

She needed to tell him to help him, she could see no other way to guide him.

Cara was new to her calling then, and was quite naive on some levels.  She had always believed that the truth was best, and so decided that complete honesty was the road to take.

“Once you tell him, you can’t un-tell him.” her Guardians had warned.

Cara believed that she and Micheal shared a deep connection, a love and a chance at a happy future together.

She had been so very wrong.

Micheal had just stared at her, wide eyed and mocking, even giggling at her from time to time as she spoke.

As soon as she had finished speaking, he was scoffing at her, making fun of her, belittling her.

Shaming her.

He stood and dusted the sand from his pants “Yea, see ya! He stated and headed toward his car.

He had just walked away, taking nothing with him, not even Cara.

Michael stopped, and while opening the car door, turned and looked at Cara, his cruel laughter washed over her like a greasy wave of hate, 

“If you’re an angel, then I’m God!” he laughed harder and shook his head, still laughing, got into his car, flipped her the bird and drove off, leaving her heartbroken, alone, with tears burning down her face.

She’d had no idea how long she’d sat there that night, no idea what time it was, no idea when the campfire had burned out and no idea when Estelle had happened upon her at the beach that night.

At first, Estelle just sat with her, saying nothing, and stared out at the stars and the water with Cara.

Then, eventually, Estelle took her by the hand, “Come Cara, it's time to go.”

She’d had no idea who Estelle was that night, but, with her Guardians prodding, Cara stood and allowed this strange woman to take her home.

Cara, still standing in her room, one pant leg on, one not, snapped out of her reverie and back into the present “Estelle!”

She remembered that she was supposed to be on her way to see Estelle, so she quickly finished putting on her jeans, grabbed a top and a hoodie, slipped into her sneakers and headed for the kitchen.

One thing Cara absolutely loved about this house was the secret exit in the back of the pantry.  She stood, watching the video monitor, making sure that no one was in her yard, then pushed hard on the wall panel.

As the door clicked open and inward, Cara stepped out.  Once outside, she placed her hand over the switch hidden in the door jamb and pushed until she heard a click, then the door swung shut.

Cara took a deep breath of fresh night air, squared her shoulders and walked toward the garage and slipped behind it. 

Walking the width of the garage toward the hedge in front of her, Cara tried to shake off the feelings and memory of her past with Micheal.

Her Guardians, suddenly agitated and sending waves of energy through her body, demanded “Stop moving! Stop Cara!”

Immediately, she froze.

Cara closed her eyes and tried to focus on what her Guardians needed her to know, she could feel a darkness near her, and it had nothing to do with the late dark hour of the night.

Whatever or whoever it was, was on her left as her back pressed against the back of the garage, she could feel the waves of hurt and angry energy expelled, there was no sense of control.  Just Chaos.

Cara knew that to her right was clear, that no one or no~thing stood in her way, so she took a deep breath and launched herself to the right, around the corner of the garage and running straight toward the street that lay 50 feet in front of her.

Trying to think of her next move, she knew that she couldn’t go to Estelle’s ~ not now.  Cara debated about running into her own house, but the secret door only operated from the inside and the front door was locked. 

“My keys!” Cara realized that in her distracted haste, she had forgotten her keys, with her purse, in her room.

“Great!” she muttered to herself as she continued to run, she was just passing the front corner of the house, almost at the road, when her Guardians spoke “Right! Now! Turn Right!” Cara didn’t second guess, she trusted that all would be well and again threw herself to the right, ran the width of the front of her house and stopped at the far corner, in the shadows, trying to catch her breath.

Cara placed her back against the wall of the house and was weighing her options, yet still ready to run again, when she felt the hurt and angry energy radiating toward her in the darkness.  

She froze, she knew it was still a good distance from her, but she knew it was also headed her way, from along the side of the house.

She took off running, with no other choice, she spoke to Estelle in her mind “Estelle, open the front door, trouble, running, help, now!”

Cara kept repeating the words over in her mind, hopeful that Estelle was in a receiving kind of mood, as she ran for all she was worth towards Estelle’s front step.

As she hit the first step of the stairs, she all but screamed Estelle’s name in her mind, Cara knew that if she stopped running it would be game over, she just hoped Estelle had gotten the message too.

Clearing the top step and completing the 3 steps needed to get across the deep porch, Cara squeezed her eyes shut, kept running and hoped for the best.

She heard the door open…

To keep reading, CLICK HERE for chapter 9!