Unraveling Sarah Cresley, Marisa Maichel [thriller books to read .txt] 📗

The Unraveling of Sarah Harper Cresley

He saw the darkness in her beauty. She saw the beauty in his darkness.-

I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul.- Bram Stoker

Eventually soulmates meet, for they have the same hiding place.- Robert Brown

She sits in the corner singing herself to sleep, wrapped around the promises no one seems to keep.- Unknown

Love is like playing from the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart.- Unknown

She looked at me as if I were the only star in her darkest night. And then she kissed me as if I were the air that filled her lungs. - Unknown

Love is giving someone the power to destroy you, but trusting them not to.

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. - William Shakespeare- A Midsummer Night's Dream

Romeo, doth thy name! - Juliet- Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

Though she be but little, she is fierce! - William Shakespeare- A Midsummer Night's Dream

What we call evil is simply ignorance bumping its head in the dark. - Henry Ford

I have a darkness inside of me, but I still bring it flowers. - JM Wonderland

Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. - Mark Twain

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. - Confucius

Prologue

People deal with me, but they love Sarah Harper Cresley. She has something about her that draws people to her. Even me. My name is Reese Emerson. And I am unconditionally in love with Sarah Harper Cresley. My crush started two years and three months ago, on the first day of freshman year. All I saw of her at first was her light brown hair tied into a bun. It was in an intricate braid that she had wrapped around. Those curls were enough to make my heart pound. And then she turned around, and I was a goner.

She has light green eyes that remind me of mint, rosy cheeks, a cute nose, full lips, and a beautiful slightly tanned fair skin tone. Her lips were painted dark red. I think my mouth opened and my eyes widened. She gave me a strange look and went on her way.

Most people give me a strange look. With my yellow eyes, black hair with white-tipped strands, pale skin, and large nose, I make for an odd-looking guy. What chance do I have compared with Caden Cartwright, gorgeous captain of the football team, or Mike Nales, blond-haired and blue-eyed? Even if I gave myself a makeover, that would not be enough.

I've tried many times to get over her. When I learned that I'm bisexual, I tried dating a guy. I only broke Evan Byrd's heart after we got into a nasty fight and our relationship ended. I considered him my boyfriend until then. And besides all that, he found out about my crush. I felt horrible, but there was nothing I could do.

Chapter One- Party All Night (or Party Until You Can't No More)

It was a Friday night when I was laying on my bed, hands laced over my stomach, thinking about Sarah. I started fingering the zipper on my black-and-lime-green jacket, when my cell phone rang, blaring "Through It All" by From Ashes To New. It was my ringtone for my best and only friend in school, Ariella Spears, who has brown hair and grey eyes. I rolled over and answered it.

"What would you rather do on a Friday night, watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the zillionth time or go to a party where Sarah Cresley will be present?" No contest.

"Party. If I go to this, do I have to talk to Sarah?" Ariella was one of the few people who knew about my crush.

"Um, yeah! It's been way too long." The last time I actually spoke to Sarah was when I said "pardon me" when I accidentally bumped into her. If I went to this, Ariella would for sure "make" me talk to Sarah. She thought my crush was the best thing ever, besides her own relationship.

~~~~~~~~~

The party was in full swing when I arrived. I recognized Death Cab For Cutie blaring from the speakers. Mike Nales was playing beer pong with Shelbi Vega, his cousin, and the rest of the cheerleading squad, some of them Sarah's friends, including Jordan and Scarlett Hartlett, the two most popular girls, and fraternal twins at that.

Jordan has dark blond hair and green eyes, and Scarlett has black hair and black eyes. Rumored to be witches, they think they're queens, especially Scarlett. There was also Mia Alexander, Sarah's best friend, who has blond hair and blue eyes, Rachel Griffin, a redheaded, brown-eyed beauty, Angela Montgomery, black-haired and brown-eyed, and Sara "Honey" Blynn, blond-haired and amber-eyed. They may call themselves queens (except for my Sarah), but everyone else simply calls them the Beautifuls.

I thought it was pretty stupid. Not to label them a clique, but to give them a name. Sarah thought it was pretty stupid too, or so I'd heard. She considered them good friends, and that was that.

Anyway, Ariella went to look for her boyfriend, Damon Sage. He was mostly into cars, leather jackets, cigarettes, and Ariella. And getting drunk and/or high on occasion. I thought he was pretty plain and not very dynamic, but Ariella was head over heels for him.

I headed to the kitchen, where Sarah sometimes stayed at these. She wasn't there. I searched all around for her. I moved past people who were chatting, eating, drinking, smoking. Sarah was not among them. My mind was completely focused on Sarah now. I started to lose hope, when I heard crying coming from the bathroom. I opened the door, only to see my Sarah bundled in a ball and sobbing.

I closed the door behind me. "Sarah, what's wrong?" I noticed that she had curled her hair and wore tight leather pants and a crop top, her feet adorned with black leather boots. "Sarah?" I sat beside her, ignoring the butterfly battlefield in my stomach. She only cried harder, smearing her makeup even more. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to-"

"I was raped!" she cried. I sat there frozen in shock. She looked up at me for the first time. She had black makeup trails down her face.

"S-Sarah..." My first thought went to Caden Cartwright and Mike Nales. Then anger bloomed in my chest. "Who?"

"This group of girls, they...they started beating me. And he...I thought he liked me."

"Who?"

"Mike Nales."

"Sarah...I'm so sorry." I wrapped an arm around her, inhaling her warm orange and gardenia scent. She buried her head in my chest and sobbed. For a moment, I pretended she was my girlfriend. Reese, you are a heartless imbecile. She's hurt, and you're only thinking of yourself. Still...do you love me like I love you?

"I can get my friend to take you to the hospital," I said.

"Fine," she said softly. I helped her up. I texted Ariella quickly.

Reese: 'Sarah's in trouble. She needs to get to the hospital. Can you drive us?'

Ariella: 'Yes, of course. Lemme say bye 2 Damon.'

I held Sarah while she picked herself up.

Ariella was waiting for us by the front door. She took in the sight of Sarah, and her eyes widened. She led Sarah out the door. I looked back at Mike Nales and frowned. He frowned back at me.

"What's the emo's problem?" he asked. He walked right up to me. "What's your deal?" I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over and struggled for breath. He cursed me as I went outside to find Sarah and Ariella waiting for me in her Civic. I sat in the backseat, Sarah in the front passenger seat.

I wanted to take her in my arms and protect her from the world, but I didn't want to scare her. The ride to the hospital was silent. I wasn't sure if I wanted to kill Mike Nales or the girls who hurt Sarah more. I called my father to tell him what was happening.

"One of my friends is in trouble," I said. "Ariella and I are taking her to the hospital."

"I trust you, son. I'll be there soon." With that, the conversation ended. When we reached the hospital, I half-carried Sarah to the front desk, where the male nurse took in the sight of her, and then me. He did a double take when he saw me, making me feel weird and a bit ugly. Ariella

spoke with the nurse, who never took his eyes off me.

Sarah was taken into a private room, where I could not see her. Father called again.

"What's going on, Reese? Tell me the truth." My father has a...condition...in which he gets mental images of the present, usually pertaining to me. This kind of gift is extremely rare, even in vampires. Did I mention that my father is a vampire prince? Forgive me, I usually try to forget that myself.

"Sarah's in the hospital, Father. She was...seriously hurt tonight."

"Describe Sarah to me again." I sighed and told him everything. I'm quite close to my father, and it's easy to tell him anything. When I came out, he told me that he had been wondering about that for a while and that he still loved me no matter what. I am at the center of his universe.

"Is Ariella okay?" he asked when I finished.

"Yes, she's fine." My father was particularly fond of Ariella. "She's a little shaken up."

"I'll be there soon, anyway."

~~~~~~~~~~

He was there in less than fifteen minutes. My father is thin, like me, with a more muscular chest. He has the same yellow eyes that most of our family has, and long blond hair with white tips that he ties back into a bun. Despite being over two thousand years old, he looks quite young, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties.

He kissed my hair quickly and started checking me for injuries.

"Father, please," I said.

"Mordecai," Ariella began, "Reese found Sarah and she told him that she'd been beaten and raped. Then he texted me, and now here we are."

"I don't understand," I said. "Sarah is so caring and loving. How could this have happened?"

"It can happen to anyone, son," Father said.

"Jerks like Mike think they're untouchable," Ariella added. We sat in silence. I couldn't help thinking, was this my fault? Did I not claim her quickly enough? I chided myself for such thoughts. If I had protected her better, maybe this would not have happened. I hated myself for that. More than that, I hated Mike. I hated his guts. The vampire in me wanted to do something violent and drastic, and I squashed him down.

I would still exact vengeance on Sarah's behalf. I would figure out how to do that on another day. I considered all the revenge tactics I could think of. As I thought about this, two women approached me, a brunette and a redhead.

"Hello, are you the one that found Sarah Cresley?" the brunette said to my father.

"My son did," he replied, gesturing to me.

"Hello, Reese, I'm Detective Emma Greene. This is my partner, Detective Suzanne Moon. We'd like to ask you some questions," Detective Greene said.

"Of course," I said.

"Tell us how you found Sarah."

"I was walking around, looking for my friend, when I heard crying coming from the bathroom. I thought someone might be hurt, so I opened the door. That's how I found Sarah."

"Which friend were you looking for?" I bit my bottom lip. This is what I'd been hoping to avoid.

"I was looking for Sarah." The detectives looked at each other.

"Why were you looking for her?"