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Remembering that Carrie had told Donnie where I lived, I began to panic. “Don’t come any closer to me! I have pepper spray,” I threatened.
“Oh, come on. I know I’m not your most favorite person in the world, but pepper spray? You wouldn’t use that on me.” This time, I recognized the deep voice when he spoke. I breathed a partial sigh of relief; I was glad that it wasn’t Donnie, but I had no idea why Jackson would be standing outside my house waiting for me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, louder than I meant to. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“Carrie told me this was where you lived,” Jackson replied with a shrug, his face still partially covered in shadows.
“She seems to be doing that a lot lately,” I said, sighing. “So you just sat around waiting for me in the dark?”
“I’ve only been here for a few minutes, actually,” Jackson replied. “I was just about to ring the doorbell when I saw you and that girl walking down the street.”
I wanted to tell him that he couldn’t mention to anyone that he had seen me with Scarlett, but I knew that would just draw more attention to the fact that I was with her. So, instead, I asked, “Why didn’t Carrie just give you my phone number?”
“She thought this would be more spontaneous of me,” Jackson replied. From the tone of his voice, I understood what he meant: Carrie was trying to play matchmaker again.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, just cut to the chase. Why are you here?”
“Now, now, don’t get feisty. I need to know something for my own safety, first. Do you really have pepper spray?” Jackson asked.
“No, I lied,” I admitted. “I just thought it would make me sound scarier. Would it have intimidated you if you had been planning to attack me or something?”
“Pepper spray? Absolutely. Your stubbornness, on the other hand . . .” Jackson trailed off.
“Anyway, get to the point. Why are you here? You haven’t been at work lately.” I realized it was the first time I had seen him at all since the incident with Nora.
“I just wanted to thank you,” Jackson said. “If it weren’t for you, my sister would have fired me for good. Instead, she gave me a three week suspension. And that was just for calling her a bitch.”
I smiled. “I’m happy for you.” I started to walk past him to go into the house, but he held his hands up in the air to stop me.
“Wait, that’s not all,” he went on. “I was wondering . . .” He hesitated. “Would you like to go out with me sometime?”
I opened my mouth and quickly closed it, speechless. Did I want to go out with him? I wasn’t sure. There was something that drew me to those gorgeous blue eyes. But . . . I had Tyler.
Now, I wasn’t so sure if Tyler was such a good idea. Since I had become a siren, I had been thinking that maybe it was best if I left him—and any other guy—alone. At least for now.
Meeting Jackson’s gaze, I said, “I don’t know. I’m busy for the next week, but maybe sometime after then.” I figured that would keep him satisfied for at least a few days—and it would give me enough time to figure this whole thing out. Even if I didn’t date Tyler or Jackson, I still wanted to be their friend. So, turning to Jackson, I said, “Give me your phone.”
Jackson pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me with a confused look on his face. Once I had it in my hands, I opened his address book and added my phone number. “There, now you can call me instead of showing up randomly at my house.”
Jackson flashed me a cocky grin. “Okay, I will. And I’m sorry I scared you tonight. I didn’t mean to make you threaten me with pepper spray.”
I laughed. “It’s okay.”
Jackson lingered for a moment longer, and I was positive that he was going to say something else, but all he said was, “Goodnight, Felicia.”
“Goodnight, Jackson,” I replied, smiling as I walked to the front door. Little did I know, the night ahead of me was going to be far from good.
*
As soon as I got inside, I texted Tyler. Hey. I need to talk to u. Think we can get together tomorrow night? As much as I didn’t want to, I knew I should tell him I wanted to go on a break for now, at least until I talked to Angelica to find out if dating was safe or not.
I waited a long while for him to respond to me. When I was sure that I wasn’t going to hear back from him tonight at all, I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard the bleeping sound alerting me that I had a new text message.
I’m busy tomorrow night. Sorry.
I was expecting Tyler to suggest another time when we could hang out, but he didn’t. Is everything okay? I pressed.
His second text came back to me right away. I’m fine.
I hesitated before writing, Do you know when you can see me instead?
I expected him to give me a day, but when my phone bleeped, I found that all he had said was, No clue.
Deciding that maybe it didn’t even matter if I broke up with him because maybe he wasn’t interested in me after all, I silenced my phone and rested my head on my pillow. After sulking for about a half hour, I finally drifted off to sleep.
*
I didn’t dream that night. At least, I don’t think I did. All I could remember was seeing my eyelids close and the next thing I knew, I was being drawn to the water.
Sing for me. The words were merely a whisper, and they drifted past me as quickly as the wind, but I was positive that I had heard someone calling to me. I wasn’t even sure if it was male or female, but for some reason, I knew that I had to do as the voice said.
Felicia, you must sing for me. It is your destiny to sing, the whispery voice pleaded with me again, and this time, I felt myself being enveloped by the water as I waded through it. I began humming the same melody that I had been captivated by all my life, singing words that I had never heard before, but that drifted out of me as though I knew them by heart. Though I was consciously aware that I was singing, I had no control of it. My body was singing all on its own.
As I waded further into the ocean, where my feet could no longer touch the sand below me, I lost myself in the music. Everything in front of me became clouded. I reached my hand out in front of me; though I could see its silhouette, there was a heavy fog in front of my eyes that prevented me from being able to see it fully.
It felt like the water was a part of me, like we were connected as one. So, when someone else waded into the ocean, I could feel it instantly. It was like the waves that were rocking me gently in the water were being disrupted by this stranger who was entering my ocean, my water.
I could feel the person swimming in the water frantically to reach me, and I realized what was happening—but I couldn’t do anything to stop it, either. I wanted to stop my song just long enough to scream at the person to stay away from me, to somehow break their trance.
But I couldn’t.
Even though every ounce of my being tried to stop myself from singing, the words and the melody came out all on their own. Singing was like breathing, and I had no choice but to give into the music that streamed out of me.
As the person inched closer to me, I felt myself slipping under the water. Even while I was under the water, I sang. In fact, the deeper I went under the water, the louder I could hear my voice echoing around me. I plunged into the dark depths of the ocean, running my hands through the salt water that soaked into my skin, feeding my yearning for it, before everything went black.