Finding Solace

Chapter 7

Jillian

This place is like fresh out of a nightmare. Just like that place which has witnessed some of my worst sufferings. Being here brought back those painful buried memories. Suddenly, I was five years old again. I had accidentally broken one of my father's souvenirs. Some trophy he obtained from some business achievement. He took the metal trophy and repeatedly beat me with it, ripping ear-piercing shrieks from me. I begged him for forgiveness, screamed for my mother, Dan, anyone to help me. But of course, all my pleadings fell on deaf ears. I vaguely heard father muttering something about me being too noisy. Then, I was being dragged by the hair through the house. I started hyperventilating when I realized where he was taking me. My pleadings became more frantic, but father backhanded me harshly, telling me to shut up. Next thing I knew, he was opening the trap door to the cellar and roughly shoved me down. The fall caused pain to explode through my already battered body. I watched in horror as he pulled up the ladder which was needed to climb back up. Then, the trap door was slammed shut with a resounding thud, plunging the room in utter darkness. My eyes opened wide with dread, I stared, unseeing, at the blackness in front of me. And then I heard them. The rodent rats, cockroaches and spiders, skittering through the room to approach me. They were coming to eat at my flesh just like they always do whenever I'm locked up here. No matter what I did to escape them, they always found me and mercilessly pierced my flesh. I've always had an extreme fear of those creatures. I felt the first one graze my leg and unable to help it, I started screaming at the top of my lungs. My throat felt raw, but I kept yelling for help, even though I knew no one could hear me from down here. Through all the horror, I heard someone calling my name repeatedly.

This snapped me out of my daze and I realized I was in the chemistry lab's storage room. Callum was standing right in front of me, looking at me worriedly. I stared into the green depths of his eyes for some time. This gave me a measure of calm. He looked so handsome. Just like that person. The one responsible for all our miseries. That familiar hatred started bubbling from my chest but I stamped it down.

"Are you okay?" Callum asked, his voice laced with concern. "You suddenly zoned out and wouldn't respond when I called you."

"Sorry about that." I blurted. "I'm fine now."

He appeared unconvinced, so I changed the subject. "Should we get started?"

"We're really doing this?" He asked incredulously.

"Sure, why not." I shrugged. "I don't want anyone saying I'm taking advantage of my 'status'. But if you don't feel like it, you can skip out. It's my fault you got dragged in all this after all." I lower my head dejectedly.

"It's not your fault at all. I was also late. Besides, there's no way I'm letting you do all this alone." He said reassuringly.

His words made my heart stutter. It was the first time someone had shown such concern for me and it was making me giddy.

"Thanks." I said with a shy smile, then turned my attention back to the room. "I'm sure it won't be as bad as it seems. Look! There's a window in the back. Maybe we can open it to get rid of the smell."

Making a decision, I headed to the back and pulled the curtains open. A cloud of dust rose in the air causing me to get into a coughing fit. I had trouble reaching the window so I painstakingly climbed on top of the pile of boxes stacked in front of it.

"Be careful." I heard Callum say from right behind me. "This thing seems rather unstable."

"It'll be fine, just let me get this open." I tried pushing the window but it wouldn't budge. I tried applying more pressure, but still nothing.

"Just leave it." Callum said. "We'll find another way."

"Just a bit more." I insisted. I pushed at the window with all my strength, using my foot as leverage.

Finally, it gave way but the momentum sent me toppling forward, straight towards a four stories fall.

"Whoa!" I cried out, but then I felt something pulling at me from behind. I was propelled backwards, landing with a resounding thud, but for some reason, it didn't hurt. That's when I realized that Callum had cushioned my fall.

"I'm so sorry!" I told him and quickly turned around to kneel beside him. "Are you okay."

"I'm fine." He said. "How about...you." The last word was barely audible as he quickly looked away, his cheeks slightly tinged red.

"What's wrong?" I asked in concern, holding his cheek to turn his face towards mine again. "Did you get hurt after all?"

He was still avoiding my gaze. I did a quick perusal of his body but nothing seemed out of place.

"Umm..." He stammered. "your...the buttons of your blouse are..."

I quickly shot my gaze downwards and my mouth hung open, my cheeks heating up. The first few buttons of my blouse had popped open, fully exposing my underwear. I quickly closed the gap. Oh god! This is so embarrassing! The worse is that the buttons had fallen off.

"Thank you." I mumbled and quickly started to stand up, eager to get away from this awkward situation.

However, in my rush, my foot slipped on some fallen papers, causing me to fall over again. Once again, I crashed against Callum's solid chest. His body was unexpectedly well toned. He had a rather lean figure so I never noticed.

"You really are clumsy, huh." He said jokingly, his chest vibrating against my cheek, where my head currently lay.

No, I've never been clumsy. This was all an excuse to hide my abuse. However, I seemed to keep making blunders in front of this guy.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, lifting my head up to look into his eyes.

I then realized we were in an extremely intimate position with me lying on top of him. However, I found myself frozen in place, unable to look away from the heated gaze he was giving me. My heart felt like it was running a rat race. Just then, we heard someone entering the lab. This snapped us out of our daze. I quickly got off of him, clutching my still gaping blouse.

"I'm sorry." I said again. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He said as he got up. "What's wrong with your blouse?"

"The buttons got ripped off earlier." I said, feeling flustered. The person who entered the lab seemed to be coming towards the storage room.

Callum quickly took off his jacket and handed it to me. "Here, wear this." He said.

When I hesitated, he pressed further. "Just take it, I won't be needing it."

"Thanks." I said begrudgingly and pulled on the oversized jacket. His smell enveloped me, making my heart rate pick up dramatically.

The person who entered the lab finally approached the door. It was the Janitor, Mr. Stevens.

"You kids okay?" He asked. "I heard a loud bang earlier and thought I'd come check."

"We're fine." I told him. "These boxes fell down while we were trying to open the window. "

He eyed me suspiciously. "You sure you're okay, kid? You look a little flushed."

I looked away, feeling embarrassed beyond words. "I'm fine, really." I blurted. Out of the corner of my gaze, I saw Callum trying to hide his smile. This irritated me for some reason and I discreetly glared at him. This seemed to amuse him even more, causing my fury to further spike.

"I'll get going now. If you kids need anything, feel free to call me." With those words Mr. Stevens left the room. An awkward silence ensued between Callum and I.

"Let's get some work done." I rushed out and started gathering the paper on the floor to stuff them back in the boxes.

"Jillian." Callum murmured.

"Yeah?"

"Are you angry?" He said as he approached me.

"Why would I be angry?" I scoffed. "Come on, help me out as well so we can be done soon."

"I'm sorry." He said.

"I said I'm not angry! Why apologize?" I said irritatingly.

"Then, look at me." He said once he was right next to me.

I had been avoiding his gaze this whole time. I sighed and turned my head in his direction. Once our eyes met, I felt my heart fluttering. His piercing gaze met mine, causing strange sensations to course throughout my body. He gave me a small smile and leaned closer to me, saying. "Forgive me?" He murmurs.

"Fine." I stammered. "You're forgiven. Can we get started now."

He flashed me a blinding smile and whispered in my ear. "Thank you, Jillian." I shivered involuntarily which did not escape his notice. He gave me one last wicked smile before proceeding to pick up the scattered papers.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. He was just flirting with me, wasn't he? And it was affecting me in all the intended ways. Even now, all I could think about was the heated gazes he gave me and the way his body felt against mine.

"Are you coming or will you let me do all the work?" Callum asked.

"I'm coming." I said exasperatedly.

We ended up sorting through all the boxes by the window. I caught him stealing glances at me from time to time. Okay, maybe I knew this because I was also secretly looking at him. I couldn't seem to be able to control these impulses of mine. I gave my head a shake to clear it. Befriending Callum was fine but I couldn't let myself fall for him. The consequences would be too disastrous. Besides, I'm sure he does this to all girls, seeing as he's so popular and always surrounded by females. Just like he was flirting with the teacher before I arrived. I felt the anger and jealousy burning all over again at the memory. Callum is probably used to all this, I shouldn't allow myself to be fooled. I'll just befriend him but anything more is out of question. Some time later, Mrs. Fowler came to see us and after a long series of complaints about our work, she finally let us off.