Page 9 of Magpie
The room is the size of a closet, covered in cobwebs and smelling of stale air. I don’t give the darkness a second glance. All I have eyes for is the cord dangling just in front of me. Looking up, I see the outline of a door. An attic door.
Go Up To Get Out.
Grabbing the rope with both hands, wincing against the sting of the fibers biting into my open wound, I give it a swift tug. I have to leap back to avoid the accordion stairs that swing down and spill open in front of me.
“Maggie!” Tim’s voice calls, sounding panicked.
I turn my back on the attic and the mystery that awaits me in there, focusing on the hallway of doors as Tim and Jessica shout for me, begging for me to come back. Their frenzied voices cut through the fog of quiet.
“Maggie, please, come back.”
Squaring my shoulders, I turn away from their frantic cries. They aren’t going to trick me. I shut the door to the hallway, cutting off their voices, and consequently the only light source. I don’t feel a single prick of fear as I am plunged into darkness. Instead, I begin to climb up.
To get out.
“Youcan’tbe here,” I say, barely tasting the words on my tongue as they leave my mouth. I do not let my gaze travel to his, do not let our eyes meet. I refuse to believe he is standing here. I’m looking at the moon, but every fiber of my body can sense him, canfeelhimas he moves around my apartment. He is seemingly studying the bare walls of my empty home, as untouched as the day I first entered it. He may simply be standing beside me, but the urge to resist his aura is staggering. He is a need I cannot resist, and hefucking knows it.He knows all he has to do is stand near me, and I will melt into him.
Just as he knows the darkness in me calls out to the darkness in him.
No.
I am more than that darkness; I am stronger than it. I clawed my way out of its murky embrace once, and I refuse to let myself fall back in.
I close my eyes forcefully, steeling my spine and holding myself tight. I do not need him. I never did. I can feel hisirritation wafting off him as I continue to hold my ground against the alluring call of his essence. Against that sickly-sweet numbness that begs me to sink into its depths.
“It’s time to come home,” he says again, the spell of his voice settling over me, tingling down my skin.
I keep my eyes shut. “You’re not here. You can’t be here.”
I hear his shoes clicking on the floor as he moves. I feelhim come to a stop in front of me. I will not meet his eyes. I will not.
“Magpie…” he croons.
I clench my jaw. “You’re not here. You can’t—”
A strangled gasp escapes my lips, cutting off my whispered mantra, as his velvety gloved fingers grip my chin. He tips my head back. My mouth is still slightly open, breathing in the midnight-rich scent of him. His other hand rests against my cheek, swirling his fingers in a soothing motion over my skin. I am helpless against him, no matter how much I scream at myself to pull away, to turn, to run. My flesh refuses to fight, instead leaning into his touch.
I feel his icy lips brushing mine as he whispers, “Open your eyes.”
Because part of me still longs for him, and maybe that part of me always will, I obey.
He grins, his teeth flashing bright in the night-dark apartment. “You know you cannot survive without me, so why do you insist on flying so far from home, Magpie?”
His hand drops from my cheek, instead curling around me, pulling me close against him. My heart hammers in my chest as his hand travels up and down my back in a soothing gesture. It moves up my shoulders, my neck, until it is winding in my hair, weaving into the tangled locks. His heady scent fills my nose, numbing my mind with that all-too-familiar haze. He presses his cheek against mine, his mouth close to my ear. My arms twitch. A desperate yearning to wrap myself around him begins to pullat my resolve. I feel him smile as I am unable to stop myself from leaning against him, desperate for the heat his body can provide.
I have been cold forso long.
I feel his lips parting, hear the brief inhale of air before he will whisper in my ear, before he will fill my mind with beautiful words and desperate longing. I will be his once more, and I’m not sure I will ever find the strength to break away again.
“No!” I shout, launching myself backward with such force that I fall, the back of my head cracking against the floor, my eyes shut tight against the spell of his gaze. I cannot let him envelop me in that dark embrace again. I cannot let myself fall into that oblivion.
After a few breathless moments, when he does not reach out to me, does not whisper poisoned words in my ear, I pause. Straining to hear even the tiniest creak of a floorboard, I am greeted with nothing but silence.
I must stay like that for minutes, or maybe hours, my ears aching for the slightest noise. Exhausted from the effort of listening, I finally venture to peek my eyes open. I see an empty room, illuminated by soft moonlight. He is gone.
I look around my small apartment, not believing my eyes. Then I feel it: that growing, gnawing ache in my chest, directly over my heart. A gasp escapes my lips when I realize what has happened.
He is gone.
