HIBISCUS

By Grace Tyler

Erika is a small-town girl leaving behind a ghostly secret admirer and her parents' looming divorce to embark on her own journey as an empath and a college student. Little does she know she enters a world where her admiration for fictional vampires will become a reality in a fight for her life. Love, suspense, danger, and death await her as she struggles with her growing abilities as an empath to discover she is going to have to face death or become the monster of the creature that is hunting her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781638813453

Book preview

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my husband Andrew for his continued support on my writing journey. Thank you to my family and friends: my W.Glenn girls, Lisa, Mary and Danielle for their love, help and encouragement. Last but not least, thank you to Newman Springs Publishing for believing in me and encouraging me to take a leap.

Prologue

I never thought about the hibiscuses left on my pillow the eighteenth of every month or the daffodil I find in my locker two days later. Some say I have a gift. If you call being an empath a gift, then I wish I could give it back or to someone else, but it looks like I am stuck with it. A handful of mediums I have been to say I should learn to develop my powers because there are other talents I have. I say, No way. No, thanks! It is complicated enough being completely drained by the end of a day due to people’s energies. I would rather say that I am an overly sensitive person who needs to learn and balance her mind better.

Back to the flowers. I laugh every time I receive one because, if I have mediumship abilities, maybe this means I have a ghost or a spirit that thinks I am a delicate beauty, which is the meaning of a hibiscus, and that I am his or her only one, according to the daffodil. In a nutshell, I have an admirer that I can’t see.

The one thing I question is the date the flowers are left. Why the eighteenth and the twentieth? I rack my brain and jot down thoughts and ideas as to the significance of those days, but nothing comes to mind. I guess I’m not much of a medium after all. The day I left for college, I said goodbye to my secret admirer and told him or her thank you for the flowers that I had received since the onset of my intuitive abilities and the transformation of developing into a young adult.

Chapter 1

It was my junior year of college. I had transferred here from a smaller community campus back home. I didn’t like being the new girl especially this late in the year, but it was time to start somewhere fresh. It was time I had my own life—and own worries. My parents needed time to sort their issues out, and I didn’t want to be there to watch anymore. I unpacked all my personal items from home, and once I was satisfied with the placement of my treasures, I grabbed my toiletries and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. When I returned, there was a hibiscus lying on my blue/beige Rivington fitted pillowcase. I dropped my bag of toiletries and stood there, looking confused. I mean, come on, I should be used to seeing the flower adorn my pillow by now; but I was hoping my college years would be a fresh new start—no ghosts and spirits, just me. Was that too much to ask for? Taking a deep breath, I glanced toward my calendar, and to my already knowledge, it said September 18, 2009. Blowing a piece of my fallen hair from my beret, I snatched the flower from my pillow and put it in a vase with water and thanked the thin air around me. It’s a good thing I was rooming alone.

Speaking of my room, it wasn’t anything real fancy. The only nice thing about it was the fact it was brand spanking new; and I was the first to sleep on the mattress, the first to use the brand-new dishes with the pretty purple flowers, and, last but not least, the first to use the toilet, so I was told when I called to inquire about the dorm room. Other than that, the room was a basic, modern design with light-trek-tan color; and the only reason I knew this was because my room at home was the same color. The color was the reason I chose this room to begin with. The bed was a single IKEA bed. My dresser was by IKEA, and it was the coolest dresser ever but very dorm roomy. The furniture reminded me of the furniture out of my Sims game. My kitchen was against one wall and had an eat-in-bar for a table with barstools. I loved my room and looked very forward to hibernating in my dorm buried in homework.

September 23

The next day was orientation, and I was a little nervous. Washington University is a large, diverse university unlike the small college campus I transferred from. There are more people to try and tune out here, making my meditation sessions much longer. It’s also wet here, and not as much sun peeks through the clouds. That will be an adjustment. As I entered the crowded lecture room, I quickly scanned the room, looking for a place to sit, preferably by myself. I took the seat farthest to the back on the right side because I don’t like sitting on the odd side, a.k.a. left side. I’m a bit superstitious. I guess that comes with the territory.

As I slouched down in the red padded seat, I allowed myself to relax just enough to get comfortable but not too comfortable because my ears were already ringing. I was still working on shutting my environment out. It wasn’t easy at times. Being an empath comes with a lot of groundwork that needs to be completed in order to stay balanced and set boundaries. As I glanced through the room, I saw that many people were sitting in cliques, kind of like high school. Directly in front of me, a few rows down, there was a group of three girls—one blond and two brunettes. The blond with the high cheekbones and pouty red lips was doing all the talking as she sat anchored at the edge of her seat in a poised and ready-to-attack position. So cliché. She reminded me of Alecia Silverstone’s character from 1995.

I typically set my intention bubble before I enter a chaotic space. I did that today before I left my apartment, but I felt the need to do it again here. I closed my eyes, and I envisioned a white light of protection around me and then a bubble. Nothing can penetrate my bubble. It keeps their energies with them and mine with me. Maybe it’s all in my head, but it’s always worked with some practice.

Sighing, I slowly opened my eyes and scanned the rest of the room. I love to people-watch. It’s amazing what you can catch a person doing when they think that no one is watching them, like the person in the back-left corner picking his nose and flinging the boogers toward the people in front of him. Icky! Gross! gag me! I made a mental picture of him so I’d remember to never sit by him. Or the group of five momma’s boys with their hair slicked back with gel and their preppy cardigan sweaters over khaki pants, whistling as pretty girls walk by. I rolled my eyes and thought, by now, men shouldn’t act like such dogs. So annoying…Or the girl in the opposite corner of me, scribbling all over her notebook and tearing the pages up, tossing them to the ground.

Laughing, I scratched the back of my neck and let my mind wander to another place for a moment. I pulled out my pen, paper and soda to calm my nerves, and I wondered how long it would take for my parents to work through their divorce. They have separated several times over the past two years, and still neither of them are happy. I wish they would get the divorce over with. The energy they projected was exhausting, and that was why I wanted to go to a college far away from Massachusetts. It’s easier to distance oneself when you live on the other side of the country. It made me sad to see Mom let her guard down to have her hurt by my dad again. My dad is an awesome guy, but he makes a lot of empty promises. I want to protect my mother even from my father, but she doesn’t see their relationship as toxic. I realize I don’t know what it’s like to be married or have a relationship with a man like she does my dad, but I know I wouldn’t allow it to continue hurting me. It isn’t like he ever cheated, but they just don’t have a connection anymore. Sometimes when I look at my dad, all I see is a stranger. He has changed especially in the past ten years. He lost his job because his place of employment downsized. He had been there twenty years, and he was released from his duties, the paper had read. A couple of years ago, my mom found out it was because of his drinking.

Good morning, class of 2011. Welcome to Washington University, a deep, raspy voice interrupted my thoughts, pulling me back to the present.

A cold chill coursed through my body, making me hug my arms closer to myself. The lights dimmed as he turned the projector on. I adjusted my eyes to the sudden darkness, and that was when I saw him standing casually against the doorframe with his arms hanging loosely to his sides. Who was he staring at? I followed his stare as he nodded to the blond girl with the pouty red lips in front of me. She waved and giggled along with her two friends as she quickly whispered something probably obnoxious to the other girls and flipped her hair flirtatiously behind her shoulder. He began to stroll toward her when he paused and glanced up to where I was sitting and frowned. He didn’t look friendly at all. Turning away to avoid his unpleasantness, I couldn’t help but wonder why he would look at me the way he did. I hesitantly looked out the corner of my eye to see if he was still there, and he was gone.

The blond laughed out loud, grabbing my attention, and when I looked at her, the guy was sitting next to her. Scrunching my eyebrows, I was confused as to how he got to our side of the room and next to the blond as fast as he did. Looking at her, all I could do was shake my head. Girls like her annoy the shit out of me.

The presentation was a video introducing the campus, clubs, and other tidbits of information they felt would be important to know. I yawned and stretched as though I had been sitting in this chair for hours although I had only been sitting there for twenty minutes. As I settled back into my chair after my lingering stretch, I took a sip of my ginger ale glancing toward the front of the room where the snarky blond was sitting with her entourage, and that’s when it happened. My eyes locked with his, and I felt an instant jolt of electric course through my body that left my entire limbs feeling numb. He took my breath away, and I almost choked on my soda! His eyes were an ice-silver color that set evenly proportioned beneath thick dark-chestnut-colored eyelashes, the same color as his hair. His lips looked like a deep-pinkish-red color against his pale, almost-translucent skin. His haircut was very chic and trendy with one side longer than the other. It reminded me of Adam Lambert’s hairstyle back in 2009. He had sharp cheekbones and a strong jawline. There was something modern and yet something else altogether about him that set him apart from the rest of the young preppy, hippy, emo, average-looking Joe; and I wasn’t sure what it was. The blond noticed he was staring at me and must not have liked it because that prissy smile drained from her face the instant she caught us gazing at each other. She gripped his face and jerked it toward her and gave him a pouty, almost-pissed look. He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it tenderly, breaking eye contact with her, only to glance up at me before departing the room.

I couldn’t move! I could breathe! I felt heavy, and my ears were buzzing. Trying to pull myself back to reality, I noticed the blond and her friends gazing and pointing at me. I ignored them the best that I could. I didn’t have time for their jealous bullshit, and orientation was over, so I no longer needed to sit there. I grabbed my bag and headed toward the door, and that was when she stopped me.

Hey, the blond snapped at me as I tried to dart past her toward the door.

Turning around slowly, I licked my lips and looked at her. Yeah?

I really didn’t want a confrontation because her boyfriend looked at me. I was feeling jolted and didn’t like it, and I wanted to get back to the comfort of my own room fast and think about what had just happened.

I have never seen you around here before, she said with a cocky voice.

I wasn’t feeling incredibly friendly probably because the energy pouring from her was exceptionally negative. I wanted to get away from her as fast as I could. Plus she already