Return of the Past

Someone was there by the window and as I looked in the direction of the window, the person jumped out. I got up to see but nothing was there but my heart kept racing as I was sure that happened but then I thought if this place was driving me insane so I closed the window and with some difficulty went off to sleep again. I suddenly heard some noise which woke me up and felt like someone moving out of the room but that was way too fast so I decided to ignore that taking it as a part of my weird dream. To clear my doubts I looked around the room once more before falling asleep again.

Everyone was so excited about the trip that they were almost ready by the time I woke up.

"We were waiting for you to get up. We thought you needed some rest." Selena said helping me get up.

"Now get ready fast" Ashlie was so excited.

I gave them a strange look and they knew what it was for, the girls who were scared to go for mountain climbing by yesterday were so excited about it today. They all bend their heads on my look, to avoid this akward I got up to take bath. Jessica gave me all the instructions as if it was her own house. I was ready within an hour, went out, wished everyone and then we planned the trip. Now I was less excited about the trip and more to know about the Blacks.

Mr. Black gave instructions "We will go in pairs. Jessica and Emily will go together, Will will accompany Selena and Ashlie, me and Ella, and then Isabel will go with James" the idea of going with James gave me Goosebumps, that was the strangest reactin my body ever gave to me so I tried to concentrate on the instructions. "We will set a point where we meet but everybody has to be careful as it is a very dangerous place. I hope you don't have any problem with this."

James was about to object when Mrs. Black took him outside. I followed them just to listen to them. I heard Mrs. Black saying that it was the only safest thing to protect me. This made me laugh inside because I knew what I had to do when there would be no other way out to save my life but the only thing I feared was that the secret we people had hid since a long time would have to be revealed and it may also endanger my life. I had to be very careful all the time during our trip.

 "Everybody ready" Ella was really excited but not more than my friends who almost shouted a yes.

"So let's go."

Will, Mr. Black and James had already put all the bags in the car. We went to our car, I was just about to open the door of the driver's seat when Mr. Black jumped in front of me and smiled "If you don't mind can I take your car, your friends and Emily can come with me."

I couldn't say no due to their hospitality so I gave him the keys. "So who goes with me?" Though I knew the answer but I had to ask.

"With James, Emily and Will will come a little later as Will had some work to do" again the same Goosebumps ran through my body.

"Where is he?"

"Over there, in the garage." He pointed towards a gate on the left.

I went inside and saw that there were 4 expensive cars which shocked me. James was standing next to A Mercedes, before I could come out of the shock he called me.

We both sat in the car without exchanging any words and started our trip. I was thinking that why was James always forced to follow me, I could make out that it was quite difficult for him but he had to do so.

It was a silent trip until I felt quite cold. He saw me shiver and silently turned off the A.C. "Is it fine now. Are you comfortable?"

"Yes…. Can I ask you a question?"

"Emm…. I know my family appears strange to you but somethings can't be told. I hope that you would not interfere in our personal matters."

"I respect your privacy but it is not about your family, it is about you. I hope you don't mind answering that."

"Ok, go ahead."

"Tell me honestly, how did you save me I know nobody was around me"

He hesitated before speaking and as I knew he would lie yet I waited for his explanation "No, you were busy fighting so you probably must not have noticed me passing by."

I gave my sarcastic smile saying "If you say so" and he knew that I didn't believe his story "Ok so what do you think."

"Both of us know that you are lying but I will not force you to tell the truth until you are."

"I fear I will never be"

"Why do you feel it so difficult to hang out with me? I have seen you feeling so uncomfortable."

I knew that this time I had touched his soft corner. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I just wanna be friends with you, if you don't mind."

"Sure, I just hope I can answer all your questions but you will start hating me after knowing the truth and honestly I fear that. I don't want to hurt you that's the reason I just want to stay away from you."

I could not speak after that, his tone just touched my heart and I knew what it meant. The following 5 minutes silence was so uncomfortable, I could see that James was regretting what he just said. So I decided to say something to make him feel comfortable.

"I think I will never hate you, you have saved my life and who doesn't have secrets I have them too I understand that there are some things that cannot be shared that easily, I understand you. You can feel comfortable with me and can trust me completely I won't hurt you." and then my smile seemed to have taken away all his pains and making him smile back which totally send shivers in my whole body. It was strange I never felt this way…or maybe once a long time back and I feared it the most because I knew what was happening to me so I had to distract myself. As I started becoming uncomfortable he slowly started feeling comfortable with my sense of understanding.

"Don't be too sweet I may fall for you. I warn you it's better for you to stay away from me." He gave a sarcastic smile and continued coming a little closer to me "I may be dangerous" and then we both laughed only that my laugh send strange chills to my body as if his flirting affected me badly.

"I may be dangerous too don't you fear me then"

"No, you can't be more dangerous than me"

"We will see to it later" and then we both laughed together.

My hand accidently touched his that made me shiver and my strange look made him conscious as if he was reminded of the truth he was hiding.

"Your skin is so cold as if I touched ice"

"Can we keep this for later?"

"Sure"

It was around 2'o clock when we reached our spot. Others were not there but we came out of the car and decided to set the food so that when they reach we have our food and start climbing.

No sooner did we finish setting the things when others were there, Will and Ella followed them too. We had some light food then wrapped all the stuff kept it in the car, took out the things we required for camping and in few minutes we started climbing, James by my side and my friends on the other side of James fighting to be by his side which made us laugh.

We started climbing, James continuously staring at me as if I will fall anytime which made me uncomfortable. Soon I realised that there must be some danger which made me conscious about me. I looked around myself but could not find anything so I concentrated on climbing.

We were almost half way when we were all tired except his family. They had the strength to climb the whole mountain in just one go.

I turned towards James "I am tired can we take a break"

"Yes, I am tired too but we will have to climb a little more"

As soon as he completed his sentence I saw something move very fast just next to me. It almost scared me and my feet slipped I knew my truth would be exposed after this but I had to save my life so I reached out for my bag but I was caught by James before I did it. I was so shocked by what had happened that I almost shouted

"James….. h..o..w…."

"Shhh"

I was resting in his arms which made me speechless.

"Please close your eyes"

Within few minutes we were up with others as he asked me to open my eyes. Mr. Black had already handled everything and nobody knew about what had happened. We joined them silently but I was so busy in my thoughts that I didn't have any idea what was going on around me.

"I think we should set our camps over here and then we will start climbing again tomorrow." Mr. Black said this to me specifically as he thought that I won't be able to climb after all this but in the corner of my heart I was so relieved that my secret was safe with me.

"And yes please maintain the groups we made, sleep accordingly"

This time no thrill ran through my body I wanted answers to my questions. This time he could not escape and he knew that, he was already preparing for it.

 I helped his set our tent although he didn't let me do much work. It was 8:00 by the time we were all set. Mrs. Black had been preparing the food since then and it was ready by now so she called us. Everyone was so tired that we quietly had our food and went to our tents. James was scared of the question answer round but he knew he will have to face it so we went inside the tent together. There was some awkward silence which was finally broken by me.

"So, I hope you know what am I gonna ask"

Silence

"James I need an answer right now, how did you do that"

"I was em… right next to you"

"You were there I know but when I was falling how did you catch me and how did you climb half the mountain we had fallen in just 1 minute."

Before he could answer his mom entered our tent.

"Sorry to disturb you guys but if you need anything you can tell me I am right next to you"

I looked at James, he was trying to tell his mother and was asking for help which was soon interrupted by my harsh voice.

"Yes I need something. I mean I need some answers and please don't act innocent, you know what I mean."

"Your anger is justified but I hope you understand that everything can't be answered."

"At least the things related to me should be answered. You know that it only attacked me. Nobody else even felt it."

"Ok darling I can answer some of it. He was Cameron em… he is really dangerous and those people you were fighting were his colleges they were about to kidnap you so James was there to save you. You are only safe with James. He says that you know him and he has some secret of yours. I don't know what is it but we just want you to stay safe this is the reason why James is always with you. Please forget about everything else."

"Cha…rl…ie, o my God hh..eee is back, Ha…rr…y o God"

They saw me panicking so James hugged me tightly because he knew that something was wrong but it did not stop my shivers it brought back my past I had tried to suppress in my mind all the thoughts of Ethan's death and my painful escape came flashing back

"Do you know him!" Emily was shocked.

"Yes, I mean he already…."

I could not speak and soon fainted. James was sleeping besides me I could feel his cool body, cooling my hot body. Soon I woke up screaming Ethan's name I saw him dying the same way he died years ago which woke me up. As I opened my eyes breathing heavily I was surrounded by the Black family.

"Who is Ethan, Isabel" James gave me a suspicious look.

I was so scared that words were struck in my throat. I wished to tell them everything about me but I was not able to say it.

Mr. Black noticed that and said "Let her rest we have to continue climbing tomorrow and her friends should not know anything about it. Isabel you should not worry until James is with you he can't harm you. You have to be strong so that your friends should not know anything about it." This was the point on which I totally agreed with Mr. Black, they should not know anything.

"Yes you are right. I am fine now." Then everyone went out and James hugged me asking about Ethan. To avoid this conversation I changed the topic.

"You should stay away from me all this is really dangerous. I know he will never harm me but he can kill anyone for me. If you stay with me you will die and I do not want that. I already lost someone I loved but not again."I almost shouted and fear could be seen easily through my eyes.

I knew this hurt James but he was satisfied by the thought that he is dead. The whole night I was occupied by the thought of Ethan, how we used to spent time together, how I went into depression when he died and then how my friends helped me forget that scary past. I had already defeated my past which was again in front of me.

"You know James, only I can kill Cameron but whenever he comes in front of me he turns me so weak that I can't even protect myself"

He hugged me more tightly "I will protect you and this time you will kill him."

"He will kill you."

"Don't worry nobody can kill me you will soon come to know why but hey, did you just express your feelings" he teased me and then hugged me a little more tightly, kissed my forehead and asked me to sleep after answering his own question " I have never felt like this before but I just want to protect you forever."

His words made me angry so I pushed him back almost yelling at him "Why do you want to protect me, I can protect myself and I have been preparing for this since a long time. I have made myself strong enough to fight against anyone and having someone by my side turns me weaker so better stay away from me. It is too dangerous."

My words defiantly confused him which was transparent on his face. Coming back to my senses I realised that I already spoke too much. Letting my guard off I had already said things I should not have said and I knew I would have to prevent myself from his upcoming questions occupied in his mind which I surely feared so before he could say anything words hastily came out of my mouth to prevent the awkward conversation. "I am feeling sleepy, good night." But before I could lie down he held my waist to prevent it and now my heart started beating faster as I knew there was no escape left and I had to face it.

His voice interrupted my thoughts pushing me back to the reality "Not before answering my questions as I believe I am not the only one keeping secrets. He is back after 70 years how do you know so much about him."

"I have already told you nobody can kill him except me so I had to know everything about him. I hope this information is enough because I need some rest so you can pull your hand away."

He was defiantly not satisfied by my answers but he had no right to force me because we were not that close yet. He slowly pulled away his hand and I fell asleep soon enough. After Ethan's death I used to have nightmares each night for a year then they slowly subsided to twice a week, once a week, thrice a month and finally those nightmares stopped in 5 years. Today after so many years I had one again.

I was turned weak by his spells, lying on the bed rendered powerless. I could hear Cameron's footsteps, with each footstep that came closer to the room my heartbeat fastened. It had been 2 months since I was captured there tired of the daily routine. He was in love with me and he would ruthlessly kill anyone who would come in his way of power and love. He daily come to the room each night where I was captured and torture me hard enough to marry him, he would touch and kiss every part of my body making me weaker day by day but I never gave up. He slowly entered the room with a bright smile as if he was going to win me that day.

"In these two months I have seen that you are really stubborn and you won't agree to it so today I brought a surprise for you to which I am sure you would not deny my proposal." He grinned as he moved closer to me. By now I could hardly breathe, he lowered his face kissed my lips and spoke again making it harder for me to breathe, scaring me "I won't make you wait longer" then he turned towards the guards "Bring in the surprise, please."

Two guards brought a captive into the room. "E…tt….hhhh….aa…n" these words barely came out of my mouth as I was too scared and tired of Cameron's daily torture. Then he turned towards me laughing villainously "Now, darling if you want him alive just marry me." I loved Ethan so I could not let him die and he was well aware of the fact so I had to agree but before I could say anything Ethan cut my words "No bel! You don't have to do that he will kill me anyway."

I had to ignore his words and a faint "yes" soon came out of my mouth taking a lots of effort and his already villainous laughter grew louder and louder as he imagined how powerful he would become after marrying me. He signaled everyone to leave the room and take Ethan away then he slowly pulled himself closer and pressed his lips hard on mine without losing the contact he removed his clothes and then he tore mine apart. I was hardly able to breathe as he pushed himself hard on me. When I was no longer able to retain my consciousness and wore his shirt and once again neared himself to say the last words before leaving "Make sure to have a good rest tomorrow we have our wedding." Even before he left the room I felt unconscious.

Next morning when I woke up, his maids were ready to dress me up but before that I saw Ethan from the window and then I woke up shouting his name in the middle of the night, my feet and hands trembling and completely cold.