Descending Darkness(15)

Tom brings in four pizzas. We guys could eat all them ourselves. We let Ryanne and Emma grab their pieces before we start eating. Ryanne grabs one, while Emma takes two. “That’s all you want?” I ask her.

She sits down beside me. “Yeah, I’m not really that hungry.”

“Ryanne, you need to eat more than that. You just exercised a lot.” She bites into her piece and rolls her eyes at me. I know she thinks I worry too much. When she finishes that piece, I place another on her plate. She glares at me, but eats the piece anyway.

“You’re trying to make me fat,” she mumbles. “Why do we exercise and then eat fattening food?”

Emma laughs and says, “We exercise so we can eat fattening food. Who cares about being fit? I want to eat chocolate and not gain weight.”

“That makes sense. I’ve been looking at it wrong this whole time,” she says while finishing off the second piece. I pick up her plate and put it in the sink. She thanks me before turning back to Emma.

“Ryanne, when did you take gymnastics?” she asks.

“Um, I started when I was seven and was in it for almost ten years. I quit when my mom died because I couldn’t afford to stay in anymore.”

“No offense, but you really don’t look like a gymnast. You’re small and skinny like one, but you’re…”

“I’ve got curves. I know. I didn’t have them when I was in gymnastics,” she laughs. “I was training for hours every day after school and on weekends. You have to sacrifice a lot to be a competitive gymnast which is why I didn’t really miss it when I stopped. I love gymnastics, but I love having a life more.”

“Ryanne in a leotard…hmm…” Larkin says. She reaches over and slaps him in the chest. I’m glad that she hit him. Otherwise I would have had to do it. He doesn’t need to think about her like that. He isn’t her soulmate; I am. However, I understand because I am having trouble keeping the mental image out of my mind.

“You always have to go there, don’t you?” she asks him.

“Yes,” he says, winking at her. I glare at him. When he sees my expression, his smile widens. Ryanne glances over at me and starts laughing. When she sits back down, I reach over and pull her closer to me.

Ryanne leans over and whispers in my ear, “You know he’s just flirty. There’s nothing to be jealous of.” Her lips brush against my ear. I want to pull her closer and kiss her right then, but I know she would be embarrassed by the public display.

“I’m not jealous,” I say through clenched teeth. She laughs and faces the table again. David looks over and shakes his head. He knows what I am going through. Despite not knowing, I’m pretty sure he and Emma are soulmates. They’re perfect for each other.

“Has anyone seen Olive recently? I don’t think I’ve seen her all day,” Ryanne says. She gets out of the chair and walks out of the room to search for her cat. Before leaving, she pats Bragden on the back. He jumps away from her touch and stares at her as she skips away laughing.

“I don’t know when she’s going to do something. I want to be prepared.” he says.

“You won’t know when she’s going to do it until she does it,” I tell him.

“That girl…” Bragden says while shaking his head. I laugh at him and turn as Olive runs into the room, going straight for her food bowl.

“Emma forgot to take her off the bed this morning. It’s too high for her to jump down.”

Emma cringes and looks down at Olive. “Sorry sweetie.”

“She said it’s okay, but she’ll use your legs as a scratching post next time it happens,” Ryanne tells her.

“Evil kitty,” Emma mumbles. “She reminds me of someone.” Emma whips her head around and glares accusingly at Ryanne.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” she says while leaning back against me. A couple seconds later, she gets back up and walks out of the room.

“Now, where is she going?”

“I don’t know,” I tell them. I really don’t. She returns to the room a couple seconds later, holding the sketchbook I bought her. Sitting back down in the chair, she opens to the first page and starts drawing. We are all watching her. She is acting strange and that usually doesn’t turn out well. After a minute, I start to recognize the image she is drawing—another door.

“Ryanne, don’t finish that drawing.”

“I can’t. You don’t understand. I’m not really drawing this. My hand is doing all the work. I can’t stop it.” She looks toward me while her hand continues to draw the door. “There’s something happening right now, and I’m needed where this door is located.”