I sink to the bathroom floor in a state of complete mental collapse. Images of Olivia Macadam and Leo telling the College Board about my relationship with Caspar flooded my mind. I could see the College Dean shaking his head and informing me that my studies at the college were suspended and I would have to seek a college transfer elsewhere.
“Hazel, calm down,” Caspar said calmly from behind the door.
“You don’t understand,” I sobbed.
How could he? Caspar was a Prince- a vampire Prince who had no idea what it was like to be human. Caspar had been brought up in a strange world where it was acceptable to abduct a woman from a graveyard because they stood under some special tree, and force her to be his bride. Caspar knew nothing about romance or courtship- he did not even know how to treat me like a decent human being.
“Go away,” I cried as he began to shake the door more violently.
“Come on Hazel, open the door,” Caspar’s said.
When I refused Caspar calmly asserted with a dark voice, “Hazel, open the god damn door before I break it down.”
“Fine, break it down- I’m not opening it,” I snapped.
The bathroom door jumped on its hinges as Caspar’s fist slammed against the door. I flinched nervously and began to push my body away from the door.
“Hazel, I’m going to count to three, then I coming in,” Caspar growled.
“Please just leave me alone,” I cried.
“One,” Caspar’s voice threatened.
I stared at the locked bathroom door and realized that Caspar was serious when he said he was really going to smash down my bathroom door. Crap, I thought, if he destroys my door then I lose my deposit.
“Two,” Caspar continued to count.
I jump to my feet to rush over to the door, but then realize that I am too late as Caspar yells, “Three!”
I stumble away from the door to avoid being caught in the debris of splintered wood. As I step backwards the bathroom light unexpectedly cuts out plunging me into darkness. I close my eyes and wait for the sound of breaking door, but instead her silence.
For a few seconds I wait anxiously in the blackness expecting something to happen, but when nothing does happen I call to Caspar.
“Caspar,” I called softly, “Caspar are you there?”
I shuffled a few steps forward reaching for the bathroom door, but found myself grasping at thin air. This wasn’t right, my bathroom door was only a foot in front of me- it couldn’t have just disappeared. So I turned to the side to see if I could feel the bathroom counter or sink. Lifting my hands out I felt nothing … it was if I was no longer in the bathroom.
“Caspar!” I yelled out again.
Still there was nothing but an unsettling silence.
“Caspar, God damn it,” I whispered taking a few uneasy steps forward.
My breath caught in my throat and I could literally hear my own heart hammering in my chest. Where the hell was I? What had happened?
I moved forward and stopped suddenly. Behind me I could something like a shuffling sound. Turning slowly around I muttered, “Caspar?”
A long drawn out rattling breath suddenly cut through the silence. Fear paralyzed me and stood frozen to the spot. There was someone else in this place with me. I stood completely still and listened carefully.
Somewhere in the distance was a sound I couldn’t quite make out. It was high pitched and muffled, and radiated a kind of terrible sadness. I walked forward straining to hear better. There was a woman, and she was sobbing.
“Hello,” I called out to her, “Are you okay?”
It seemed like a redundant question to ask a crying woman but it was the only way to start a dialogue.
The crying stopped and then I heard a feminine voice whisper, “Hazel, is that you?”
I opened my mouth to speak but sound and light exploded through my head, and in that split second I had gone from being a place of endless darkness to being back in the familiar surroundings of my bathroom.
I was collapsed over the bathroom sink with half my toiletries scattered across the bathroom floor. The bathroom door was hanging off of its hinges and Caspar was stood in the door way, his eyes wide with fear and worry.
Shakily I tried to push myself up from the bathroom sink, but ended up falling down on to the bathroom floor. I could not explain it but I felt physically drained, like something or someone had sucked all the energy out of me.
Caspar swore under his breath and rushed to my side, “Hazel, what is the matter?” He asked. His voice was full of concern and worry.
I looked up at him and felt very sleepy and registered that my brain no longer wanted to work. With a tired yawn I replied, “I don’t know.”
Caspar pulled out his cell phone and rang somebody. I watched him talking to the person but I could not make sense of what he was saying. He then finished the conversation and snapped his phone shut, placing it in his back pocket. Disappearing into my bedroom, Caspar returned later with a blanket from my bed.
Carefully he wrapped me up in the blanket and gathered me up in his arms. The heat from his chest radiated through the blankets soothing me. I snuggled against his chest and asked sleepily, “Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere safe,” He replied.
“I am safe here,” I said.
Caspar made a gentle shushing sound and pressed a kiss against my forehead, “Go to sleep Hazel. I will take care of you now.”
“You can’t … if we get caught-” I mumbled into his chest.
“We won’t get caught, I promise you,” He reassured me.
I wanted to argue the case further but felt my conscious slipping away from me. Rubbing my cheek against Caspar’s shirt I began to fall into a dark dreamless sleep.