Free Lightning Kissed by Lila Felix

in consciousness. I
stretched, making the blood return to my legs. They’d gone to sleep
sometime in the night. Colby had to be put to bed or her neck would
be killing her later. Putting her empty treat in the trash, I
closed the notebook and picked up her feather-light form. I wanted
more than anything to close the distance between her mouth and
mine, but thought better of it. Tucking her into my tiny bed seemed
like a shame without me next to her, but I wouldn’t sleep with her
unless I had her explicit permission, preferably with her
prompting.
    Instead, I would make do with the
loveseat.
    The next morning, I woke with the crick in
my neck that I’d saved Colby from.
    I pulled my body this way and that trying to
relieve its stiffness. I heard the shower start to run and saw the
steam billowing from the gap between the door and the hardwood
flooring. From this vantage point, her voice could be heard belting
out the chords of Nirvana and the smell of her white, ‘Please for
the love of all that’s holy don’t ever buy her another color other
than white’ Dove soap wafted in with the steam. A myriad of
memories were brought to life by just that one scent. She was a
fickle princess when she wanted to be.
    In order to give her the privacy she would
want, I took a frigid shower outside in the makeshift stall that
looked like it was built more for after beach outings than regular
cleanliness. Its walls were nothing more than nailed and patched
driftwood from the sea. There was certainly no steam coming from my
shower since it was colder than a snowman’s ass.
    I dressed as quickly as I could and went
back into the cottage, hoping she was ready. I was more than eager
to introduce her to Collin and get her take on the things I’d found
thus far. When I entered, she was cleaning up the place, picking up
after herself and packing her bag.
    “Have a good shower?” I asked her.
    “Yeah, thank you. You didn’t have to go
outside. Just knock on the door and tell me to hurry up next
time.”
    “I will. Are you ready now?”
    “Yes. Got anything to eat?”
    “There are apples and pears in the
fridge.”
    I knew she ate like a bird, always had.
    She grabbed a few, one for now and two for
later. Collin would surely put a damper on her eating plans later
on. I wanted to get just a little satisfaction over watching her
get into all the trouble I had with Collin over eating and touching
things—mostly, general breathing in the direction of the books.
    I’d texted her pictures of the castle where
the records were kept, so it was easy for us, in a matter of
seconds, to get to the castle. I wanted the first experience at
this place to be completely real for her—so a few things had to
happen. First, she had to discover that knocking on the door did
absolutely no good. She propped her fists on her hips after the
second knock.
    “What the hell?”
    I pointed to the rope with the
larger-than-life tassel hanging from it.
    “You’ve got to be kidding, Theo. What is
this, the Addams Family?”
    “Try it.”
    Colby was such a lightweight that I had to
help her pull on the rope. A reverberating gong could be heard
echoing through the place. She made a satisfied ‘huh’ and crossed
her arms over her chest.
    She observed the surroundings for the first
time in person. She allowed the purple flowers to float along her
fingertips while we waited. She’d always been infatuated with all
things delicate in nature. She didn’t want to be involved with
them, but she respected their beauty. Like babies—Colby loved to
look at babies, but when propositioned to hold one, she would back
away slowly and shake her head with a resounding ‘no’. The
monstrous door began to creak open and I stepped back, wanting
Colby to get the full effect of Collin’s size and stature. Collin
looked haggard this time though, and I regained my previous step to
get a closer look.
    “Collin, what’s wrong?”
    He looked around and waved us in