If I Chose You Instead

"Baekla. Baekla Johnson," I replied.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"...and then after I met Jackson, he taught me about the Erebos Board so that I could talk to Mom and Marra. And soon the connection got so strong that I could see them and they would visit me. I'm really glad I was able to meet Jackson."

I looked to Shawn and saw that his whole face became a sickly pale whenever I said Jackson's name. Did he know him? Did they have some kind of history?

"Shaw--" I started to ask but he cut me off.

"Give me your board," he said, a stern, demanding tone in his voice.

My mouth opened a little at the tone in his voice. "No."

"What did you say?"

"No," I said, trying to make my voice sound confident and clear. "Why should I give it to you? I need it."

"Because I have someone coming over soon, and I don't need you to scare them away with all your talking to ghosts type shit." This time his voice came out in a sneer.

"Fine, I'll give it to you. When do I get it back?"

Shawn let out a huff of air. "Since I care about you, you'll get it back after the meeting. But you better not bring up any nonsense while my brother is here."

I gave him a puzzled look. His brother? But why?

"All of your clothes have been brought from your house. Your room is the first on the right upstairs. Dress appropriately. Make sure to get Delilah ready when you're done and come downstairs. " He waved me off with a gesture of his hand. "You can just leave the Erebos Board on that table over there," he said, pointing to a coffee table in the living room.

I put the board on the table and started to head up the stairs when I felt my wrist get grabbed again. I looked back to see Shawn looking at me.

"Go tell Delilah to get ready too," he simply said, letting go of my wrist and walked away. I rushed up the stairs, taking two at a time. The door opened suddenly, catching me off guard. Delilah walked out, the Erebos Board in her hand still, her eyes opened wide.

"Baekla," she said, a look of concern spread across her face. "Who's Jackson?"

"Why do you ask?" I replied, hesitantly. Delilah looked down at the board and back up at me.

"Someone would like to talk to you," she said, handing the board back to you, and began walking away.

"Wait!" I said, grabbing her wrist. She spun back around to face me, her face showing no emotion. "Your dad wants you to get ready for a visitor," I said, grimacing at the word dad. Delilah gave a small nod and ran to another room in the hall. I'm guessing it's hers.

I went back to the room I woken up in, in search of some different clothes. I opened the closet and quickly scanned through all the clothes. Eventually, I had decided on a dark blue turtleneck sweater, black jeans, and black Converse shoes. My hair was thrown up in a messy bun. I could dress better, but to be honest, I don't care about Shawn and whatever visitor he has.

"Baekla, what do you think you're wearing?"

I turned around to see Shawn standing at the door, looking me up and down.

"Clothes," I said simply, turning back to my mirror, trying to fix my hair. Suddenly, I felt hands placed lightly on my waist. I quickly turned around to see Shawn, our noses almost touching.

I glared my eyes at him. "Get your musty dusty crusty hands off of me."

He took his hands off my waist but didn't move back at all. He looked at me for awhile, taking in what my outfit looked like. Then he went to the closet and pulled out a new outfit. I stared at it, my mouth slightly open in shock.

"No, definitely not. I am not wearing that." It was a red crop top with no straps, black high waisted shorts, and fishnet stockings. Shawn ignored me and walked over to a drawer next to me that contained lots of different accessories. After a couple of minutes of searching, he brought out a black choker with a small circle charm on it. Other stuff he brought out were black fishnet gloves that came up to my forearm and black ankle high boots with bright red laces with 5 inch tall heels.

Shawn came up behind me, letting all my hair down. Before I could yell at him for doing that, he said, "Listen, the people who are visiting today are really important in my job. And at my job, the girls that we keep--"

"Wait a second, keep? What the f.u.c.k do you mean keep?"

Shawn let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry, Baekla. I really do like you. Why do you think I came on so strong to you when we were younger?"

I looked at him, with a confused expression on my face.

He put a finger under my chin and said, "After the visit, I promise I'll explain everything to you, darling."

Before I could object to that, a loud knocking was heard on the door.

"Okay, put on all these," he said handing me the clothes and stuff. "and you should be fine." Then he left me to deal with the clothes.

I heard distant voices talking and I assumed it to be the visitors. So I quickly got dressed in the clothes, choker, and gloves that Shawn gave me. I decided I was going to leave my hair down. I was pulling the boots on over my fishnet stockings when I heard someone from downstairs yell, "Baekla! Delilah!"

Delilah and I quickly rushed down the stairs to find Shawn and three other guys talking, with their backs to us. I cleared my throat and Shawn glanced at us.

All four of them turned around to you look at us, and I immediately noticed the guy to the far right, older than the other three boys.

"Dad?"