Mystery...

I was in a car, the sun was going down and I felt happy, really happy.

Someone beside me was taking my hand into his, and when I looked at him, he was looking right back at me with passion -like the kind of look you give to someone that you want to kiss, right there, right now-.

It made me blush a little. He was beautiful, a black haired blue eyes young man, a bit pale for my liking but it didn’t seem to bother me, we were happy together, I was happy. I caught my reflection in the driver’s mirror, and I was wearing a period dress again. I felt comfortable in it, of course forgetting about the fact that I couldn’t breathe properly, corset problems, but I looked beautiful in it. I didn’t ask where we were going, maybe I already knew it and without me seeing it coming he kissed my cheek. I felt butterflies in my stomach; my cheeks were getting hot and red. I had to look away from him so he wouldn’t notice, and the only way was looking through my window to hide it. I think he liked my reaction because he laughed joyfully as he felt my hand shaking underneath his…and then I saw it. A beautiful house with wooden stairs big windows and very bright. I loved that house and I wanted to have it.

The alarm sounded waking me up in a sec, I slept nice and easy but I couldn’t remember what I dreamed about. I knew I dreamed about something and I liked the feeling in it but I just couldn’t seem to remember what it was.

I went to the bathroom. I needed to wake up so I wet my face with cold water after brushing my teeth. I felt really heavy and didn’t know why. I usually have a good awakening but I felt weak, a little bit. Today I was what my dad used to call “a walking sleepy head”. I stripped my clothes off and got under the water, not so hot this time cause I wanted to wake up not to sleep more and after that refreshing shower I worn my blue jeans with a yellow jumper. The weather was getting a bit colder so I got my coat too. I left my hair down so it could dry, I liked it down anyway, that was just an excuse. I took my backpack and went downstairs just in time for breakfast. A quiet and nice breakfast cause she wasn’t there.

Breakfast went smooth; I ate slowly to enjoy it, just a salad fruit and orange juice.

“You are not eating pancakes and toasts today?” he said with a mocking face, hey if we start like this so early in the morning, I don’t think I’m going to like for much longer I thought.

“What you saw yesterday is not my usual eating behaviour ok? I was just hungry”

“Sure, you don’t have to justify yourself you know that right?” but he kept mocking me, it was actually quite funny, when I recalled it I couldn’t help by smiling, and then she opened the front door.

“Are you taking me to school?” I asked him quickly

“Yeah” he said with a bit of hesitation

“Can we go? NOW” I said emphasizing the last word “sure” as he answered I took my backpack and walked towards the front door leaving Elizabeth behind.

“Hi Gabrielle, bye Gabrielle” she didn’t have time to say anything else.

I waited outside for Jeremy 5 points for getting me out of here, I like him again. After a few minutes of me pacing up and down the stairs he finally got out. As I saw him closing the door a déjà vu came through me again, like the first time I saw the house. As I walked to the car, I couldn’t stop looking back at the house, why was it so familiar to me so warm to me? It really felt like home, like I’ve lived there for years. Where have I seen this house before? Jeremy drove off and I couldn’t stop thinking about the house, I knew something was missing, but what?

“What are you trying to resolve?”

“Huh?”

“It looks like you are concentrating really hard in something, what is it?”

“It’s nothing”

“C’mon I might help”

“Is nothing really, I just had a déjà vu”

“Déjà vu?”

“Yes, is the second time that I have it by looking at the house”

“Which house, our house?” I nodded

“And what do you think that you’ve lived here before?”

“Why would I think that?”

“You might have. People say that when you have a déjà vu you are seeing things that you already saw in another life”

“And you believe that?”

“Well, that’s what people say” I think he actually believed that.

“Well science says that a déjà vu is just an error product of your brain that processes the information twice through your eyes giving you the feeling of repetition”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about that too, in a movie. Why are you talking about science? We are talking about déjà vu’s here, there’s not scientific explanation for that, that’s supernatural”

“Yeah right”

“What, you don’t believe in supernatural stuff?”

“Why should I?”

“Well this is Zoneville baby”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see…aren’t you getting down?” I didn’t realize we were already here. After our interesting conversation about supernatural stuff he left me in the parking lot and I went to my first class. Today it was biology and we were talking about eyes and brains, what a coincidence right.

Jenny sat two desks away from mine and Brook was behind me. Mr Benner the professor was the kind of teacher that just went on and on talking, guessing that we all understood what he was saying. After half an hour I couldn’t keep up so I just stopped paying attention. Suddenly Brook touched my back, I turned to see what she wanted and she gave me a note. I took it and read it.

ARE YOU COMING TO THE ZET ZONE TOMORROW NIGHT????

I wrote back WHAT IS THE ZET ZONE? And I gave it to her; we were passing it back and forth IS A PUB WE CAN HANG OUT, ARE BOTH OF YOU GOING? YES!!! ALMOST EVERYBODY WILL BE THERE I turned around so I could face her.

“Mmh…I don’t know” I said

“C’mon, it’ll be fun” she whispered at me

“ok” I said not very sure of it and then Brook turned towards Jenny –that was looking at us- and gave her two thumps up indicating that I was going, it made me smile.

“Is there anything you’d like to share with us Miss Prado?” said Mr Benner, oops!

“No sir” answered Jenny

“Then pay attention” said Mr Benner

“Yes sir!” Jenny said with a military tone and we all laughed. It looked like we pissed Mr Benner off a little because he sent us a lot of homework for next week. Well…at least I’ll be busy in the weekend.

Trigonometry went by really quick; I liked Mrs Anderson she knew how to teach. While getting a few notes from the blackboard my pen started loosing ink and my hands got messy, my sheets too. I asked for permission to go to the toilet, I felt a bit stupid.

I found the toilet after a few minutes and I went straight to the sink to wash my hands.

I could see smoke coming out from one of the cubical toilets, it looked like some girls were breaking the rules by smoking in school. Bad girls, I liked it.

“My mum says that she has seen her a lot of times getting in Sam’s house” said one of the girls.

“Sam from the grocery shop?” said the other

“Yes” they were gossiping about somebody, I’m not a gossip girl but I had to wash my hands, I wasn’t going to leave because they were minding other people’s business.

“My mum said” she continued “that she remembers when they came from California, Elizabeth left town for almost 10 months”.

“Really?”

“Yeah, Maybe she was pregnant then” They were talking about Elizabeth? About me?

Seconds after they came out, and when they saw me their faces went blank with shock and they left.

The bell rang indicating change of class. I wet my face with cold water to calm me down and went back to class to get my stuff. Thankfully Jenny had it already and was waiting for me at the door.

“Brook has gone to her music class, now our next stop, History” she said to me giving me my book and notebook. We went to our lockers to leave our books and pick the history ones. She was talking to me on our way there but I couldn’t hear what she was saying, people were talking and running through the corridors which made it a bit difficult. “I can’t hear you” I said while opening my locker, she was doing the same, she was one locker to my right away from mine but I couldn’t hear her. It wasn’t just the people around us talking what disturbed my hearing; maybe I have some water in my ear from my shower so I tried to massage my tragus with my finger leaning my head to the left and then I went blank…

I’ve had to die and go to heaven cause what I was seeing was an angel, he had to be. He had the sweetest face I’ve ever seen in my life. He was so beautiful so perfect that it couldn’t be real. For a moment I wanted to stretch my hand to touch him but it all broke off when I looked at his face. He was walking towards my direction and when he got closer I could see his eyes, the way he was looking at me…it shocked almost scared me. He looked like in pain, like if somebody had stabbed him with a dagger and he looked scared too.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him and when he walked passed me I felt Goosebumps, I turned to keep looking at him, and he was looking at me over his shoulder, with the same painful eyes, I was shocked and I dropped what I was holding. I couldn’t even pick it up; I just kept looking at his direction. Then Jenny started talking, did she actually stop talking? And I could hear her but I couldn’t react. She had to shake me so I could wake up.

“Gabrielle! Are you ok?” I looked at her “huh?” I shook my head “yeah sorry” but I was still looking at his direction, nobody was in the corridors, we were alone.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nobody”

“I said what not who”

I looked at her “nothing” I looked around and realized we were alone “shoot, we better run” I said, closing my locker I grabbed her and drag her while running.

When we got into the classroom they were calling our names out.

“It looks like he’s not here today…” said the professor, somebody was missing, and then he continued “Amanda Porter?” “Here” “Jennifer Prado” “here” “Gabrielle Thomas” “here” he kept on, -good thing we were one of the last names on the list- till he started the lesson, I was really interested in history but right now I couldn’t keep up with anything. It was like I’ve had memorized his face and I was seeing it in my head again and again like a picture. He had kind of gold brown hair, brown eyes and pale skin, paler than usual but he was gorgeous, like a model from a cat walk, even his body was great he was perfect. But why was he looking at me like that? I don’t remember seeing him around and I couldn’t help by wonder where was he now, what was he doing, why did he look at me like that. Goosebumps didn’t leave my body throughout the whole hour, even Jenny was throwing notes at me asking ARE YOU OK? I just looked at her and nodded. But I wasn’t ok; I needed to see him again to ask him if he had a problem with me. When the class finished I grabbed Jenny and dragged her into the cafeteria, everybody was going there so I expected to find him there too. Jenny asked me if something was wrong and I told her that I needed to check something so I needed to hurry. She must have been thinking that I lost it, but I didn’t care I needed to find him so I just kept dragging her.

We finally got in the cafeteria and I started looking around without making it too obvious. Brook was already waiting for us in our table, so Jenny and I went to get our food. I couldn’t see him anywhere and I was starting to think that it was a hallucinating.

“What are you looking for?” Jenny said while walking towards the table, I didn’t answer just kept looking around. We got to the table and said hi to Brook.

“Have you lost something?” said Brook

“Me?”

“Yeah you, what are you looking for?” she continued

“Is nothing, I’m just tying to locate somebody I saw in the corridors but now is like he’s disappeared” I said looking around but then Jenny made me look at her

“Ah! So that’s what you saw, a guy” she said with a cheeky smile and then she turned to Brook and continued “she’s been acting weird this last our and then she dragged me in here with such a hurry for guy” both of them turned to face me.

“What’s wrong, the hormones are causing you troubles Gabrielle?” said Brook

“Is not like that, I just need to ask him something but he’s not here”

“Well how’s him? Maybe we know who he is” Brook continued

“Well, he’s got brown hair and brown eyes. He’s pale too”

“You are going to have to give us more information missy” I knew that, but what could I say, it was obvious that he wasn’t the only guy that looked like that, but he was paler than anybody else, I think.

“Aaah! Forget it” I finally said “maybe I was daydreaming… what are you doing? I said to Jenny when she closed her eyes and started chanting in I don’t know which language.

“Oh! We didn’t tell you, did we? Jenny here says that she’s a witch” said Brook that was looking at Jenny like saying here we go again.

“I am. My grandma told me, she said it jumps a generation my mother wasn’t so I am” said Jenny very proud of herself

“Right…so what are you doing now? I said, making the effort in looking interested

“St.Martyr’s day is a few weeks away so I’m throwing a good luck spell on everyone” I nodded instinctively “why?” I continued.

“Cause in St.Martyr’s day something always happens”

“This is Zoneville baby” said Brook, I remembered Jeremy saying the same thing this morning. “So?” I said, Jeremy didn’t say anything else and I was hoping they would explain.

“Wow” said Brook “you’ve never heard of the mysteries and disappearances of Zoneville?

“Not…really. Is there something going on here?”

“Do you believe in supernatural?” Brook continued

“I don’t know, do you?” I said, she looked at me for a while, I don’t know what she was looking for and then she said “of course not, there’s lots of animals around here, if somebody disappears ask the wolfs”

“Wolfs?” I almost choked at it; remember when I said I didn’t like animals, of any kind? I wasn’t joking and they have wolfs in here??? What!!!

“Yeah, huge wolfs” Jenny said, and then they looked at each other and started laughing ooh what’s going on in here? Brook looked at me “we are joking Gabrielle relax” “you should’ve seen you face…wolfs!!” said Jenny mockingly, I smiled at them sarcastically but I was relieve that there were no wolfs around.

“Let me read you hand” said Jenny

“What?”

“Let me practice with someone new”

“She’s done it with me already, she says that I see things in a way people don’t” said Brook “and is true, C’mon Gabrielle let read your hand” Jenny insisted, I don’t believe in those things but what do I have to loose? So I extended my arm and opened my hand, she examined it for a while and then started talking.

“Let’s see, this line over here” indicating the one in the middle of my palm “is the line of the present and this two are the lines of your past and future” indicating the ones above and below the middle “this other lines are the lives of the people around you” she stood in silence for a minute looking at my palm “the lines around you are too short” she said looking at me “say something we don’t know” said Brook, what did she mean by that? “Your present live is complicated but I see love and mystery lots of mystery” ok I can deal with that, she was about to talk about my past and future when she suddenly broke off. “What? What do you see? I said, she looked up at me and with urgency she said “nothing, I see nothing. I need to go to the toilet” and she left almost running.

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked Brook

“I don’t know…maybe she saw something bad in your future” she said mockingly, we both started laughing.

“Right…hey what did she mean by the lines around me are too short?”

“You didn’t get it? It’s pretty obvious you know?” Brook said

“Mmh no, I didn’t get it” and it was true, I didn’t know what she was talking about. Brook looked at me as if saying Duh! And then started explaining

“You do know that all your family is dead right?”

“Excuse me?” I said confused

“I mean not all your family; you still have your mum and your uncle. But everybody else is pretty much dead” She said leaving me in shock “they didn’t tell you?” she continued.

“No they didn’t… what happened to them?” was she joking? Cause this wasn’t funny

“Who knows, they talked about animal attacks and a few disappeared” so they are huge animals in here they are just not wolfs, OK…she continued “they never truly confirmed anything though, but like I said who knows. Ask your family they must know more than I do” sure they knew, but would they want me to know, they didn’t mention anything about a big family being killed or disappearing.

While in class I couldn’t forget what Brook told me all your family is dead, the lines around you are too short. And then Jenny’s been acting all weird since we left the cafeteria, whenever I asked her about the rest of the lecture she ignored me or avoided my question. Did she really see something? I doubt it, she said that my present was complicated but anyone could’ve guessed that. Just think about my father’s recent dead and my moving with Elizabeth, of course is complicated. Then she talked about love and mystery, and there is this mystery guy…but I told her about that too. What disturbs me is that she’s been so quiet in the last two classes when that never happens, she’s usually always chatting away. I don’t know what, but something is not right.

Mrs Newton gave us a lot of homework too; it looks like I’ll be really busy this weekend. That’s fine for me I’ll be in my room.

We finally finished class; I wanted to talk to Jenny but she run out of the door before I could even get up of my seat, it was starting to annoy me. I looked at Brook and she looked at me with the same expression I had in my face, we really didn’t know what was wrong with her.

“Maybe she is ill” said Brook but I didn’t think so, she looked fine “or something happened and she didn’t want to tell us” she continued saying, maybe she had bad news from home, I just could not believe that it had something to do with my hand reading.

After a while I said bye to Brook cause we were in different class rooms now and I had to run to mine. We spent lot of time talking. I ran through the corridors with my long hair covering my eyes almost blinding me, I was going to turn around the corner and when I did I bumped into something hard again. Ouch! That hurts but I didn’t fall this time and I realized that it wasn’t something but somebody. Oops! I apologised and looked up and when I did, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was the mystery guy…his eyes a topaz brown colour, looked straight into my eyes. They were unreadable. Nothing to do with the way he looked at me this morning. His eyes were hard on me, he was looking straight at me and then he moved his lips to talk, my heart started beating without a reason, so hard that it felt like it was about to pop out of my chest. I wanted to ask him why he looked at me that way and then he stepped back and said

“How are you so clumsy?” that’s not what I was expecting him to say to me considering how shocked he was when we had our first meeting. And he said it in a rude way, why was he using that tone with me? So I answered.

“I’m not clumsy I’m just in a hurry” I said in a really soft voice, he intimidated me a little bit.

“Is not the first time you bumped into somebody or trip over your on feet” He said in a harsh voice so you’ve been watching me then I thought, and I answered with the same harsh tone that he was using with me.

“Yes I’ve tripped a few times today but is just cause I think too much which unable me to pay attention to what’s going on around me thank you very much”

“Then you should think less, I can’t hear it anyway” what is that suppose to mean??

“Are you making fun of me? He was starting to irritate me

“Just be careful from now on” he said harder than ever and then he left, just like that.

All the time we were talking, I could sense that he wanted to leave. He was leaning away from me and stepping back whenever I got closer. What’s wrong with this guy, haven’t his parents taught him manners? And how many times have I bumped into him for him to say that anyway? Then somebody poked me, I was really irritated so when I turned I wasn’t the most pleasant person in the world.

“What!” I said making pretty obvious that I wasn’t in the mood for conversation and then I realized who he was. Is not that I knew him but I saw him before, he was a nice guy.

“Sorry if I disturbed you” he said very kind

“No, it’s ok. Sorry about that I’m not in a good mood”

“I can see that” he said with a smile

“Did you want something?”

“Not really, I just saw you standing here alone, when you should be going to class and I thought to myself, lets annoy her a little” that actually made me smile and then…

“Oops! I’m late” I said

“Yep, we both are. I’m Ben” he said extending his hand.

“I’m Ga”

“Gabrielle yes I know” he cut me off, of course he knew.

“Shall we go?” he said showing me the way through the corridor and after a few seconds of quiet walking he said.

“It must be pretty annoying that everybody knows about you?” you can’t imagine

“A little” I said

“Sorry about that”

“Is not your fault, consequences of a small town” he nodded; I realized that he was still walking in my direction so I asked him.

“Are you following me?” he laughed

“We are going to the same class”

“Are we?” I asked incredulous, he looked at me and said

“Have you ever noticed me in any of the classes?”

“Nop…sorry”

“Is ok” he said

“But I knew I saw you before” I said quickly, he then stopped in front of the door of our class room “ladies first” he said with another smile, like I said he was a nice guy. In between class I found out that he plays in the basketball team, well he’s actually the captain. They even won a few games, yay! A bit of excitement for Zoneville tsk tsk…I thought.

I feel uneasy and I don’t like this feeling, was it because of Jenny and the whole hand reading thing or because of that rude mystery guy? *sigh* what’s wrong Gabrielle, what’s wrong…I need to talk with my girls, the only ones that really know me, Zoe and Miranda. They must be thinking of me as a horrible friend I haven’t called them yet. I’ll make sure to do that ones I get “home”.

Jeremy picked me up, he said he would sort out this situation but he still takes me to school and picking me up, I didn’t want to ask him about it yet cause I didn’t want to upset him. And I didn’t want to upset him cause I wanted to tell him about tomorrow’s plan. So after a few minutes I started talking.

“Jeremy, just letting you know that I’ll be going to the Zet zone tomorrow night with some friends”

“Friends, you have friends?” he said in disbelieve

“What did you think that I was a loner?”

“Kind of, you don’t look like a talker girl, who would go near you with that face of bitterness that you carry around”

“Ha ha, very funny” after a few seconds of silence he started

“You should tell your mum” I looked up at him and at that moment I felt like boxing with his face.

“I’m telling YOU, isn’t that enough?”

“I’m not your mum neither your dad, you are going to have to talk to her someday”

“A little bit of help here, please?” he wasn’t going to give in but I wasn’t neither

“Just tell her, will you die if you talk to her?”

“Maybe” I said in a harsh voice

“C’mon” he insisted

“You know what, forget it I’m not going” I said

“What?”

“I’m not going”

“But you need to have fun with people of your age, what are you going to do in the house in a Friday night”

“Mmh… I’ve got homework to do, I might as well start”

“You’ve got the rest of the weekend for that”

“I’ve got lots” I insisted “don’t worry I’ll stay in tomorrow, I won’t get bored” after a few minutes of joyful silence for me, uncomfortable for him, he started talking.

“I don’t think you should just stay home the whole weekend”

“Me neither but that’s exactly what I’ll do”

“Ok, ok I’ll tell her for you” he said

“There’s no need” I insisted

“I said I will”

“Ok” I finally agreed, reverse psychology, I love it. I still wanted to ask him about what Brook said and I didn’t know how to start, but the sentence they are pretty much dead came to my mind and I wanted to know.

“Jeremy?”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure”

“How big is your family” I said with a bit of hesitation

“Why do you keep saying your family, like your house? Is YOUR family and YOUR house too”

“Well yeah whatever” he looked at me like in defeat and after a sec he continued

 “Is just the three of us.”

“But before I came, was it just the two of you?”

“No. We were lots, we had a huge family here in Zoneville, Cousins, uncles, sister” she said the last word in a sad tone

“Where are they now?” I said I knew what he was going to say but I wanted a confirmation, his expression was suddenly filled with pain, I looked at him waiting for his answer, answer that never came after a while.

“Well Gabrielle *sigh* accidents do happen and when you are in a place filled with animals…people die” people die…but just our family? How is that fair?

“Where they all attacked by animals?” he looked at me with surprise and thoughtful

“Where is this coming from?”

“What?”

“All this questions. Why are you asking about our family so suddenly?”

Busted!! I thought and I answered quickly “curiosity”

“Careful, curiosity killed the cat”

“Meaning?”

“*Sigh* Gabrielle…just leave the dead dead and don’t ask questions, is hard to not revive the pain whenever you ask about it”

“Sure, sorry” and that was all we talked about in the truck.

Once in my room, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things that had happen today. Let’s recap: Jenny’s weirdness, the girls in the toilet talking about Elizabeth, my discovery of the family’s dead secret, then there’s the mystery guy, the nice guy and let’s not forget about the déjà vu. Déjà vu… Déjà vu…and then I remembered, isn’t it the same house of my dream? I remember that I wanted the house, and somebody was seating beside me but who was him? I couldn’t remember his face. But it couldn’t be just a dream, it felt so real, I’ve had to seen it somewhere else. And then I stopped my foolishness, why was I thinking about seeing it before, when I’m on the side of science. That’s just an error of my brain and that’s it so stop it now.

I had my shower and changed into new clothes. I needed to call my girls, so for the first time I switched on the computer on my desk and connected to the internet, hopefully they both would be connected and we could talk. I waited impatiently for the green light to appear and yes!! They were so I rang them, a video call.

“Hey Gabrielle at last” said Miranda

“How are you honey?” said Zoe

“Hi girls, I’m fine how are you?” they both said at the same time “we miss you”

“Yeah I miss you too, you can’t imagine how much”

“How are things going over there?” said Miranda

“Tell us about your mum” said Zoe “she’s not my mum” I said “well, you know what I meant, is she being bitchy with you?” said Zoe “why would she be bitchy?” said Miranda “I don’t know” said Zoe “no, she’s not” I said and continued “we don’t see each other much, thank god and when we are in the house I avoid her as much as possible” I could see Miranda thoughtful “well done” said Zoe “no, that’s not good” said Miranda and continued “if you don’t talk to her you will never know what were the reasons she had to leave you” “abandon her” corrected Zoe “whatever you want to call it” said Miranda “girls I didn’t call to talk about her” I said making sad faces to the screen “what’s wrong honey?” said Zoe “have you made any friends yet?” said Miranda dubiously “Miranda you too?” I said “What?” she replied and continued “we know you Gabrielle, you are not what we could call a friendly girl, if we wouldn’t have grown up together, I don’t know if we would have been friends” “yo! Missy what are you saying of course we would have” said Zoe “for your information I have two girlfriends and a possible male friend, he’s the captain of the basketball team” “is he cute?” asked Zoe “mmh yeah” “what do you mean mmh yeah, is he cute or not” insisted Zoe “he is, all right?” after a few seconds “What’s wrong?” said Miranda and continued “you’ve always been like an opened book to me Gabrielle, so tell us, I can see that something is bothering you”  I sighed “my day has just been a bit weird” “start from the beginning” said Miranda “well…one of the girls I hang out with has been acting a bit weird after reading my hand and then” “wait, reading your hand?” said Zoe and continued “what kind of people are you hanging out with?” “Let her finish” said Miranda, I really need Miranda with me. Whenever she talks to me is like having all my thoughts put together in order, coherent and fluent like a road without potholes.

“Well, like I was saying, she’s been acting weird after that, and then I found out that Elizabeth’s family, well my family have been dying kind of one by one from animal attacks which freaks me out and then there’s this guy” “wait a minute, a guy? Is he cute?” said Zoe, I looked at her hopeless “have you been listening to what I’ve been saying or you were just waiting for a romantic story to come up?” “I was hoping that, yes, but I listened about the family thing too, pretty spooky, so what’s with the guy?” “You are impossible” said Miranda “I’m not going to apologise girls, you know how I am and you know you love me” said Zoe. “Dinner’s ready!!!!” said Jeremy, “that’s mu cue girls; I have to get going” “who’s that?” asked Zoe “is my uncle Jeremy” “is he hot?” Zoe continued “Ew Zoe is my uncle!” “But you sure can tell…” “Bye Zoe” I cut her off “call us soon Gabrielle” said Miranda “I’ll try” “don’t try, do it” Miranda said “yes mum” We said good bye to each other and I switched off the computer, then while stepping out of the room I got a call from Brook.

“Hey Brook, what’s up?”

“Just confirming that you are going tomorrow to the Zet zone”

“Yeah I’m going don’t worry, I told my uncle already”

“Ok, and don’t worry about your transport either, I’ll take you home when we are done so tell you uncle not to pick you up after school, we can go to my house with Jenny and then go together”

“Sure, that’s a good idea. Have you spoken with Jenny?”

“No, I’ll check on her later” “GABRIELLE!! Jeremy called me.

“I have to go dinner’s ready, see you tomorrow”

“Ok, bye” I hung up and got downstairs. We had pasta tonight with salad. It was again a quiet dinner till Jeremy started talking, I was about to tune him out when he started talking about the Zet zone, hold on, is he going to tell her with me in here? What was he doing down here, he could’ve told her before me getting down or after me going up!!

“Eli, I was talking to Gabrielle and…she wants to tell you something” my mouth was hanging open, I couldn’t believe what he just did, Elizabeth turn to look at me and I looked at him with rage, I just talked to Brook and told her that I’d go I couldn’t back up now, I hate you Jeremy you will regret this I thought then I turned to Elizabeth and said.

“Tomorrow I’m going with friends to the Zet zone” and started eating again cause otherwise I would have thrown him my glass of soda.

“At what time would you be back?” she said. Right it wasn’t enough, now she wants the details too, any excuse to make me talk, seriously Jeremy you will regret this I kept thinking.

“I don’t know, when we are done”

“You better be here before eleven” she said making me tighten my jaw, is she really going to play this on me now? I just stopped eating leaving my fork fall into the plate.

“I’m done can I leave now?”

“Sure” said Jeremy with a cheeky smile. I stood up and stormed through the stairs and into my room.

It’s been a crazy day and this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I wanted to cry, I wanted to cry badly and rip his head off. But I went to bed instead thinking that tomorrow will be another day. A different day, it has to be.

To be continued                                                          

 

Copyright© Nansi N

St. Martyr high school

I was awake from early in the morning, that irritating dream where that monster was about to rip my head off left me without much of a sleep *sigh*

I need my sleep.

I didn’t want to get out of bed yet, I still had like 2h left to start getting ready for school. I guess is a good thing that I’m starting school straight away, I don’t think I would stand being in this house the whole day, being around her.

My head couldn’t get around the fact that she really didn’t ask how I was last night; neither took a second look at me to see how a grownup I am.

It kind of upsets me.

Actually, what did I expect? She was never there for me why would she be there now? Even though we live in the same house, what’s wrong with me? I shouldn’t even care, I don’t care. I hate her! I shook all those thoughts out of my head, I knew I wasn’t going to sleep any more so I stood up, opened my suitcase and got my toothbrush and towel, unlocked the door and got out of the room.

I walked very slowly through the corridor not wanting to wake anybody up and then I stopped in place when I realized that Jeremy didn’t tell me where the bathroom was.

This house was huge with lots of doors which one would it be?

“Now I’m gonna have to play hide and seek with the bathroom”

 I muttered under my breath

“Great, just great!”

I opened the first door I saw. No, that wasn’t it, so I kept walking. Suddenly a rough voice saying

“The 3^rd door to the left” Made me jump.

I looked at her –that was standing in front of what I guess it was her bedroom’s door— and I walked into the 3^rd door to the left without saying a word.

When I got in I stripped my clothes off and got into the shower, mmh! That’s what I needed, a hot shower to relax, 30 min of my time were gone in that shower, when I got out I was relaxed and feeling kinda good –all the good I could feel in that house— I brushed my teeth, walked out and back into my room.

As soon as I sat down I started to feel dizzy so I lay on my bed for a while.

It always happened to me when I took a really hot shower, so hot that it almost burned my skin, but I liked it that way, it helped me relax –I don’t hope you to understand, that’s just my thing—.

After a while I started to doze off but a knock on my door made it impossible, I woke up completely and went to see who it was, I opened the door just a little to peek in and of course it was Jeremy

“Where you still sleeping?”

I opened the door a bit more so he could see that I just came from the shower,

“Ok”

He said with a smile

“Just letting you know that breakfast is ready, you better hurry if you don’t want to be late” I nodded and he left.

Late? Why would I be late when I still had like an hour or so to get ready? Whatever…I didn’t unpack last night so I had to search in my suitcase for a while. I finally found a pair of blue jeans and a grey sweater with a hood that I worn with a plane white t-shirt underneath, I left my hair down so it could dry by itself, I emptied my backpack on the floor leaving in just a few pens and a notebook, I will clean all that later tonight I thought, the perfect excuse to be in my room after school, so I got out leaving all the mess behind. I knew she would be downstairs but I thought to myself I’ll act like she doesn’t exist, I’ve been doing that my whole life so it wasn’t going to be difficult now and as I thought about that I went downstairs.

The smell of toasts and pancakes made my mouth water again like last night, this time I didn’t have any excuse to not to eat and I didn’t want to have it either, I hadn’t have a bite of anything in the last 24h and I was starving.

As I walked into the kitchen the smell was getting deeper and deeper into my nose and then I saw Jeremy sat waiting for me.

Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen which made me happy and my body suddenly relaxed –I wasn’t aware that I was that tense— because I could sit and eat.

I didn’t like Jeremy either but I didn’t mind him that much.

“Thought you would take time to get ready”

          “I took time”

“10 minutes?” he said gauging my reaction

“Yeah, why?” I sat down

“…nothing” He said eying me amused, his eyes run from my head to toes and then shook his head, a shadow of a smile lingering on his lips.

“Eat you must be hungry” he couldn’t be more right.

“Just a little” I lied, and he moved his head pointing to the food, making me signs to eat. I didn’t think twice. I took 3 pancakes that I showered in syrup and 2 toasts that I dressed with butter, I poured a full glass of fruit juice and I started eating without stopping.

After a few minutes I could feel his scrutinizing stare making wholes on the top of my head which made me stop and look at him. His eyes were wide open like his mouth was hanging open, he looked at my face and then at my food, his mouth was then slowly closing as his eyes were getting his usual shape, suddenly the corners of his mouth were twitching till a wide smile broke through and it turned into a noisy laughter.

I looked at him shocked; I didn’t know what was going on is he laughing at me? 

“I thought you were just a little bit hungry”

He said, and a nervous smile came through my lips as I realized that I was eating like a Viking, shucking it all in like a hoover.

 “Ok, I was really hungry” I said and with a louder laughter he said

“If you were that hungry why didn’t you come down before?”

I went blank for a few seconds, blinking stupidly at the question and then we both started laughing. In that precise moment I didn’t dislike him so much, I was actually enjoying his company…and then she came slumming the door shut behind her. My mood changed drastically, I was no longer laughing and I couldn’t finish my food because my stomach closed like a shield at the thought of having her close.

My body tensed.

She walked into the kitchen I looked down and stared at my plate 

“What are you wearing” Did she just snort?

“Is there a problem?” I said letting her know how unwelcomed her comment was

 “What’s wrong with the dresses I left for you?”

 “I don’t wear dresses” I snapped and she stared at me in disbelieve

“Every teenage girl wears dresses from time to time”

“I’m not like any teenage girl” I said as I stood up

“Something you would’ve known if you knew me”

I got my backpack and stormed out of the door. Once outside I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know where to go I didn’t know how to get to school, I just wanted to get out of there and Jeremy came to the rescue, 5 points for Jeremy I thought.

He got out of the house and put his hand on my shoulder, I looked at him a bit uncomfortable I thought I told him last night that I wasn’t the emotion showing kind I didn’t need his sympathy. I shook him off, making me feel uneasy you’re gone from 5 to 2 points Jeremy; he looked at me with another one of his annoying smiles and then started walking towards the truck

“C’mon I’ll take you to school” 

Without hesitation I got into the truck, he was about to drive off when he asked me to put my seatbelt on

“There are lots of animals around; you never know what can come across your path”

Animals? Great!, I quickly fastened my seatbelt.

I wasn’t fond of animals of any kind, when my friends used to beg for their parents to get them puppies; I used to run from them, just imagine what a big wild animal could do. Suddenly the dream of last night –where that huge, big monster or whatever it was, was attacking me— came to my mind.

“Gabriella” I mumbled under my breath

          “What?” Jeremy was looking at me quizzically

“Nothing”

I turned to my window while holding my medallion. Why was my name Gabriella and not Gabrielle in my dream? I’ve had lots of dreams and my name always remained intact but then I thought that maybe the fact that Jeremy’s been calling me Gabriella all night long might have something to do with it, and I forgot about it. I was again just looking through the window, I saw a few houses around Elizabeth’s house, all the houses were old but Elizabeth’s looked older even though it was refurbished, I could tell. And her house was bigger than the others as well; the neighbourhood wasn’t really big, after a few minutes all you could see where trees and more trees, the mountains at the far end. I don’t remember Jeremy asking any questions, I wasn’t paying attention either so I wouldn’t know, as always I was trapped in my thoughts. I wanted to call my friends but last night I dozed off early and this morning…well you know.

We were in town now; I could see shops and kids all over the place going hand by hand in a long row. Going to school I guess *sigh* this is going to be booooring…

After a while I just let my eyes wonder through town without paying much attention to what I was seeing and then I saw it, a big old building like castle, how did we get here? I thought while looking around, we were surrounded by trees how’s anybody supposed to know where this is. I looked straight forward and I saw a sign that said St. Martyr’s high school are you kidding me?

“What?” Jeremy said looking at me

“Martyr?”

I sure was a martyr going to a school called St. Martyr he then smiled at me with understanding

“Stephen Marty was the founder of this town, so the council named the school after him to commemorate his actions; he did well to this town”

I see, I looked away from him and stared at the school

“How old is this place?”

“Old enough” he said and I didn’t ask anything else.

He parked in the school’s parking lot and I got my backpack after taking my seatbelt off, he did too. And as I opened the door he opened his door too, it took me just a second to realize what he was doing and I slammed my door shut, oh no, hell no.

“You are so NOT getting in there with me”

“Somebody needs to show you around”

“I’ll get a map, I’ll find my way to the head office don’t worry about that” after a few seconds he closed his door and put his seatbelt on. I inhaled and exhaled and got out of the truck, I took a few steps and then went back quickly to show my face through the passenger’s window.

“Did you change your mind?” he said with excitement

“No” I said at once “you won’t be taking me to school every day, will you? All the excitement disappeared from his face as he heard me saying that making me feel uneasy again. I don’t know how but he always has a way of making me feel bad for my comments, so I quickly fixed it

“I’m really independent; I’m not used to letting people take care of me”

And it was true, even with daddy; I was the one taking care of him. He smiled making me feel a bit better. Just a bit cause it stilled annoyed me that he smiled that much.

“You drive?” he finally said, Mmh…duh! 

“Any teenager drives from age 16” he nodded

“I thought you weren’t like any other teenager”

He said and I gave him one of my wonderfully fake smiles, when I realized what he really meant by that.

“I’ll see what I can do”

He said and then left, I wanted to kick his ass but I decided to save my frustration for Elizabeth, so for now 0 points for Jeremy.

I started to walk towards the building, I could feel eyes on me and I didn’t like that. You see I may be brave when it comes to facing Elizabeth but I’m not a people’s person, I don’t do nice and I don’t like to be the centre of attention.

I tend to lose my equilibrium when I’m surrounded by people, my palms sweat and I get a little bit shy. And the people at the parking lot weren’t helping with my phobia. I started walking faster till I tripped with my own feet, how apt!!! 

Thank god I didn’t fall just tripped, and once I got my balance back I got into the building all flushed like a traffic light.

There were like 3 different routes to go through, but I didn’t know which one to get to find the head office, so I had to do what I didn’t want to do…ask for help.

I choose the straight forward route trying to look for somebody friendly enough to ask, but they were all looking… No, staring at me. That made me nervous, Stop looking at me please!

“You look like you need help”

Said a voice behind me, as I turned I found myself facing a rock chick kind of girl, she had shoulder length strawberry blonde hair with a pink strip in her long fringe, her hair falling down in curls and she was wearing a black leather jacket with blue jeans and black boots, she looked nice.

“I think I could use some help” I finally said

“Ok, what are you looking for?

“The head office, I need to get my books”

She looked at me for a moment and it felt like she was trying to see through me and then her face lighted up as it looked like realization came to her.

“Oh right, you must be Gabrielle” should it surprise me that she knows who I am, such a small town...

“That’s me” I said

“Yeah…I was wondering why I never saw you around, I’m Brook by the way” we shook hands

“Nice to meet you” She pointed to the left and we started walking

“So…how are you finding it here?”

“I got here yesterday, couldn’t tell”

“Well there isn’t much to do around here as you may already know but if you ever want to do something call me”

She gave me her card, it read

“Brook Scott, artiste and musician?”

“That’s me and this” pointing to the office “what you were looking for”

“Thank you”

“I have to go now…see you around” and she went as she came, suddenly.

I got into the office; it was a cubical, small for such a building. There was a woman at the desk, she was small and slim, a cute woman. Her half moon spectacles were rested over her nose as she searched for something on her monitor, I waited till she was free from the phone and then I went on.

“Hello I’m—

“Gabrielle Thomas, I know” Will I ever be able to introduce myself??

 “I was waiting for you” she went on “let me take a look at you”

She held me at arms length looking at me from head to toe.

“Wow! You are such a big girl, huh? Look at you! You have her wavy black her and her same eyes; yep you definitely are her daughter how cute. I’m friends with your mum; you can call me Anny. I really don’t understand how did she manage to keep you hidden for so long without telling anybody, but we are all very happy to finally be able to meet you. There’s been a buzz going around ever since she enlisted you in the school, so everybody is very excited. You are gonna love it here. How are you by the way?

“Good thanks”

“Ooh you even have her kind of deep voice” Shut up, please… 

“Look, here are your books, locker’s number and password. This is your map; you can find anything and everything in it”

She said giving me a pile of books and a few single sheets.

“Thank you” I took everything and start stepping back towards the door, as I did she moved forward.

“Will you be ok?”

“Sure”

“I can help you if you want” NO! 

“It’s ok I’ll be fine” I said getting out of the office “Thanks” I screamed already halfway through the corridor.  For a second I was glad that she kept me hidden from her. I started processing what she said back in there and my mind couldn’t accept those compliments??? Why? What? What!! Her wavy hair; her same eyes? Nobody had ever offended me the way she did in my own face.

I thought I had enough of my dad in me to overpower whatever similarities I could have with her but it looked like I was wrong, I even sound like her, aaaaah!!! So annoying, I wanted to scream but the corridors were now full of people and I didn’t want to draw more attention to me.

Afterwards I found my locker –where I deposited my books— and my first classroom with the help of my map. I told Jeremy I would find my way around here, didn’t I? 10 points for me.

Morning classes went by very quick putting aside those 5 minutes –that felt like hours—I had to spend in front of 30 people on each class to introduce myself.

One word.

 Humiliating.

 I tripped over twice, making a statement about my lack of equilibrium. I was pulled on the board too soon to solve some maths problems, letting people know that I was a freaking nerd and I broke my nail, not that I cared but just to add to the pile.

I found Brook in Spanish and then she showed me around till we got into the cafeteria, I wasn’t really hungry so I just got a sandwich, an apple and a bottle of water. I looked at her tray and she had all kind of groceries, from cheesy biscuits to lollypops. She then led me into an empty table where later another girl joined us.

She was a dark hair black girl, she dressed kind of hippy for cold season, and she had red lipstick on, she looked cool. They both were obviously making a personality statement. I liked it; they didn’t look like everybody else.

“Hi I’m Jennifer Prado, you can call me Jenny”

She said while letting her tray fall on the table making a lousy noise

“Hi, I’m G—

“Gabrielle Thomas yeah, yeah I know” she interrupted me “well everybody knows who you are actually”

“I see, I guess I won’t need to introduce myself to anybody next time”

“No you won’t, how do you feel about that?

 Jenny said as she gave a bite to her sandwich, seeing that I wasn’t going to reply she continued.

“I’m just asking cause I’d be pretty pissed if everybody knew who I was but I couldn’t return the favour”

“It’s overwhelming”

I replied picking up my sandwich to give it a bite, but I felt eyes on me what’s wrong with this people? Have they never seen a new comer?

“Why is everybody looking at me like that?”

My palms were starting to moisten. They both looked around and then back to their trays.

“How would you want them to look at you? This is a small town you know, everybody knows everybody around here and we just found out that Elizabeth, the young and beautiful Elizabeth has a 17 year old girl that nobody knew about” said Jenny

How is that my fault? Huh? How is that fair?

          “Is just weird” said Brook apologetic.

“Is not like I’m thrilled about it either” I muttered under my breath

“Did you say something?” asked while gulping down her bottle of water “Nope”

“So you lived in California right?” she kept questioning me

I hate talking about me with estrangers but if I’m going to be around these 2 girls most of the time I better start being nice, be friendly Gabrielle

“Yeah, with my dad”

“Where is he now?” 

I thought this was a small town where everybody knew about other people’s business, so shouldn’t they know where my father is? Brook was looking at Jenny with shock, she obviously knew

“He’s dead”

Jenny’s face went blank, if she could’ve gotten red she would have.

“I’m sorry I—

“It’s ok”

Although it was not ok, I had been trying hard not to think about my dad while I was here because I knew I would break down, and now I could feel tears pushing their way through

“I’m gonna go get some fresh air”

I suddenly stood up almost knocking my chair backwards making its legs cares the cool floor with a hiss. Again, all the heads snapped in my direction

“This place is a bit crowded”

I hurried to the door; the closest one to the outdoors was a few metres away. I needed to get out as soon as possible.

Once finally out, I got lost in my thoughts, concentrating in pushing those tears back to the back of my head, paying attention to nothing but my thoughts and as a normal consequence I bumped into something hard slamming my bum on the floor. 

Ouch! I don’t remember seeing any pillar standing out here. 

          “Sorry” I mumbled.

When I recovered from the crash I tried to stand, of course facing the floor, I didn’t want to meet any of the eyes that were now laid on me and as I did a hand was offered to me, I took it instinctively to help me up without looking at him –cause he had to be a he; no girl could be that hard and strong—

Sparks seemed to crawl from the tip of my fingers up my arm at his touch and I flinched away instinctively. I apologised again and kept walking, this time looking up front so I wouldn’t bump into anything else.

For some strange reason my scalp started prickling again and I felt Goosebumps, I could feel eyes on the back of my head, making a whole on my skull with the stare. It made me feel uncomfortable, so I turned to look however nobody was there.

I felt silly.

The rest of the day went by even quicker, I wasn’t bother by the comments anymore, and I was a pro in tuning unpleasant things out of my head.

Jenny apologized to me like a 100 times before she let me go it didn’t matter the 101 times I told her not to worry about it.

Jeremy picked me up and we talked a little on our way “to the house I’ll live in”. When we arrived she wasn’t there so I excused myself saying that I still had to unpack and clean the mess I left in my room this morning, he didn’t mind but he told me to be down by dinner time

“I don’t want to see you starving again, do you understand me?”

He wasn’t smiling.

I decided to continue with my morning plans, she’s not here she doesn’t exist I repeated to myself over and over again.

I grabbed a few stuff from my room so I could clean myself up and change my clothes to more comfortable ones. After I got into my room again and locked the door. I started unpacking and cleaning and while putting my clothes in the wardrobe I couldn’t avoid seeing those dresses hanging in there.

I wanted to chuck them away, but that would lead me into an argument with her and I wanted to avoid her as much as possible let aside arguing with her, so I pushed them into the far end of the wardrobe letting them get dusty.

I chuckled, a maleficent laugh, the kind of laugh bad guys have in bad movies, a ha-ha-ha kind of laugh, but a

“Dinner’s ready!”

Call from Jeremy snapped me out of my pleasure; I didn’t realize time went by so quick. What’s up with today?

I got out of my room and washed my hands before walking down, concentrating in my performance for the night, she’s not here, she doesn’t exist.

I didn’t understand why it felt so difficult for me to handle it, why I thought so much about her but then, I guess that before I didn’t have a face to look at, a voice to ignore or a presence to avoid, she was here now, she was tangible she was real, and that bothered me like you could never imagine.

Dinner was good, but I ate really fast so I could leave the table, it was a quiet dinner. I liked the silence I didn’t feel awkward in it, I couldn’t say the same thing for them though and whenever they tried to talk to me or to each other, I just tuned them out.

After I finished with my food I waited for them to finish so I could clean the dishes, even though I didn’t like staying in the same place as her for long my dad taught me manners and my duty was to wash the dishes, but Jeremy said he’d do it. I’m starting to like him again 5 points Jeremy.

Now finally in my bed I could relax, the bed was warm and soft, easy to sleep in and I was soooo tired because remember, that dream didn’t let me sleep, I wish I could remember more of it.

To be continued…..                        Copyright © Nansi N

Zoneville

I never thought this day would come.

The day I would stand face to face with Elizabeth A.K.A mum.

I hate the idea so much that it hurts me, I hate her.

Everything used to be easier before, I used to live in California with my dad, Johan.

He was a business man, a good one and an excellent father.

He took me in without knowing for sure if I was his real daughter; he never asked any questions, he never run any tests to make sure...he just took me in and loved me. But he died two weeks ago, on my birthday from a heart attack, what a present right? But it felt somehow strange because he was healthy, as far as I knew; I always made sure of that.

Well…he suffered from high blood pressure and we used to have lots of funny arguments about the type of food that should be served at the table.

“I’m hungry!” He would complaint.

“Then eat this”

I would say placing in front of him a plate of trees –broccoli— with tomato couscous salad while telling him

“Dad, what you eat and drink has a real effect on your heart and blood pressure. The healthier your eating habits are, the lower your blood pressure will be.”

“But it doesn’t taste like anything”

He would say with a snort. And it was true; I barely added salt to our food, yes OUR food including mine to show him I was with him in it. Suffering and enjoying the suffering with him. He would always fight with me about food but eventually he would eat it grinning from ear to ear. *sigh*

And now I have to live with her since I'm still 17 –for at least another 11 months 2 weeks and 5h— and I don't have any other family left.

I would have wanted them to send me to an institution, to a privet school or boot camp instead but social services wouldn't let me.

It looks like my father left an statement or something like that just in case something like this was about to happen.

WEIRD.

 And I hate him for that.

A little.

No I don't, he was my daddy, the one and only and there was nothing he could do to keep me angry at him for more than 10 seconds, which brings me back to Elizabeth.

I saw her once, in a picture from my daddy's high school's album; he threw away everything else that reminded him to her. Not because he hated her but because he loved her so much that he never married neither had kids again.

It was just him and me against the world.

Their Story; my dad's and Elizabeth's –Because she will always be Elizabeth— starts from back in the days in high school.

 He was the wealthy boy and she was the sexy and popular girl that every guy wanted to be with and every girl wanted to be like.

I remember him smiling whenever he talked about her, but his smile never touched his eyes...I didn't like that.

Everybody used to be jealous of them, he used to say they were the perfect couple but then, not everything that glitters is gold, is it? Rumours of her dating different guys came to his ears, for some estrange reason he didn't care much

"I was in love with her honey, since when have you seen love and reason going hand by hand"

He used to say, but I couldn’t understand that. I've never dated to know how it feels like to be in love and I’ve never met anyone that made me want to be in love but still, it wasn't right but they kept dating, till one day she disappeared.

No letters, no phone calls, she just "puffed" and disappeared.

My dad was desperate to find her, nobody knew where she was and 9 months and a half later I appeared on his door step enrolled in a white blanket with a medallion around my wrist and a note.

I never asked what was in that note; I wasn't interested in knowing what she had to say.

I'm still wearing that medallion now, just because he begged me too. I would have never worn it otherwise. Like honestly, why would I take something that came from her when she never called me, never visited neither even sent a post card or something, asking how I was growing, and now I have to live with her. Anger was going through me as I thought about it. I took my 1.5L bottle of water that I kept in the bag tugged on the back of the chair in front of me and I drank it all without stopping, without breathing.

I wanted to choke at it, I wanted to let the air dissipate from my lungs, and I wanted my lungs to scream for air so I could feel the pain.

While deep in my thoughts, that annoying voice from the speakers came up saying that we were about to land in Michigan, but wait, is not there where I'm staying, nooo, in the south of the upper peninsula there is a tiny cold town called Zoneville, where Elizabeth has settled down with her new family, I guess, and I was about to join them.

I shook my head at that thought, how small was that town anyway? I couldn't even find it on a map.

I googled it but the only thing that came up was an estrange website about supernatural stuff that I closed without reading, is not even in google for crying out LOUD!!!!! I took a deep breath remembering that we were about to land.

I hate planes but thinking about what I was going to find made me want to stay here, up in the air and never land.

I fastened my seat belt, well, it wasn't really necessary because I never took it off and I sat deep down in my seat trying to think about the friends I left in California, Zoe and Miranda, my girls, my only friends, the only ones that understood my strange personality.

I thought about my house, my room, my dad, tears were coming of my eyes and suddenly 

"We are now in Michigan, please unfasten your seat belts, thank you for..."

I left that annoying voice fly out of my head right away, while I took my back pack from the compartment situated above my head and then I sat back down on my seat not wanting to move and inch...everybody was walking by, stepping out of the plain, smiling, chatting, I didn't want to move but I felt an estrange presence, my scalp prickled so I turned to realize that somebody was seating beside me, staring right at me waiting for me to move so he could get out, probably thinking that I was crazy judging my behaviour trough the whole flight.

"Sorry"

I mumbled and I stood up as quickly as I could to let him through, bad news was I didn't have another excuse to sit back down again, the plane was almost empty and the stewardess was staring at me, crossing her arms on her chest and pouting.

Jeez I don’t think I was such a bad customer! Although I had her moving around for quite a while.

I had to get down.

I stepped out of the plane and walked really slowly through the corridors to get my luggage, I was doing everything possible to delay our first meeting.

I finally arrived to that big place that is the luggage claim, crowded with people waiting for their bags; I just stopped in the middle staring at the huge sign that read Welcome to Michigan.

I didn't want to move but I had to, even when my bag came out I left it go around 3 times before I took it.

Like I said, delaying it as much as possible.

When I decided to finally move, I walked straight to the exit, my heart was beating really fast, people where walking past me really quick, a few of them even pushed me, it looked like everybody was happy to be there but me, but I didn't care.

I was concentrating in not to scream while I was getting closer to the exit, breathing slowly, facing the floor but glancing up from time to time so I wouldn't bump into anybody, and then I was suddenly out, seeing a lot of people in front of me, waving at the people behind me, I looked at the floor once more not wanting to meet her glance, not wanting to see her but I wasn't going to be able to hide forever so I braced myself and looked up and around, she wasn't there.

I couldn't recognize anybody, well it was going to be a bit difficult to recognize her anyway, I just saw her ones in a picture and she was probably my age.

When I couldn't see her anywhere joy was going through my mind

“She forgot”

I said under my breath but as suspected, my joy couldn't last, my eyes adjusted to a young tan man how could he be tan, when there was no sun? Maybe they went on holiday I walked towards him because he was holding a white sign with my name on it.

Anger again ran through me and my mind was going wild with thoughts don't tell me she is sending her husband to pick me up, this is too much for me to handle, well...in the other hand, that's a few more hours without having to see her, so that's a good thing, isn't it? 

As I walked closer to him I realized that his face looked familiar to me, I didn't know from where but I could swear that I saw him before. We were finally face to face and he looked at me as if with...fear? no, he wasn't actually looking at me but staring at me, I was starting to feel uncomfortable when he suddenly hugged me.

That took me by surprise.

"Hi to you too"

I said unable to move, I didn't know what to do, how do you react to some estranger hugging you, even if he was her husband what gave him the right to touch me, after a few seconds I shook him off, he then looked at me a bit embarrassed I guessed,

"Sorry"

I said quickly not wanting him to feel uneasy, he should feel uneasy but for some reason I didn't want him to

"I'm not the affection showing kind"

I said when he didn't say anything after the awkward hug.

"It's ok, I'm the one who should apologize for that, I...just never thought you would look so much like her"

"Like who?" I gasped. He hesitated a bit

"Let me get that"

He said, taking my bag from my hand and leading me towards the exit, who do I look like? *sigh* he must mean Elizabeth, please don't tell me I look like her, please.

"In case you were wondering why she didn't come to pick you up is—

"I wasn't"

I interrupted him; he looked at me amused and let a smile go through his lips

"Like I was saying, she didn't come because she's preparing your room and a surprise" 

Great! I hate surprises and when did she find out that I was coming? Why is she still preparing my room...again think positive, she's not here now which saves you a few hours without her.

He led me into an old beige truck, I don't know much about cars so that's all the description I can give you, a huge old beige truck with a huge bed behind, so much for not calling attention.

I got in and he started the engine, I just stared out of the window, letting my thoughts swim through my mind, Zoe, Miranda, Daddy, home, when he interrupted me saying something about the flight, so I turned to look at him

"Sorry what?"

"How was the flight?"

He said smiling at me, why is he smiling so much?

"Was it good?"

"Yeah, but apparently not long enough"

What? I said the truth, he asked and I answered

"I thought you were scared of planes"

"I am, wait how—" I stopped it there, I didn't want to know how he knew about that, I didn't want to know anything, just wanted to get into my room and hide under the blankets till the year went by and I could be freed from this torment.

"I just realized that I haven't introduce myself to you, what an idiot you must be thinking"

He said with another smile and exited eyes. I didn't really care

"Not really"

I gave him a fake smile and he chuckled, why the hell is he smiling that much? It’s starting to annoy me.

"Well? Are you not asking who I am?

"Who are you?"

I asked not because I was dying to know but because I wanted him to say it and shut up

"A bit more of enthusiasm please?

Does she really think I care!!? I took a deep breath and put on another fake smile for him.

"Who are you?"

“Jeremy, that's my name and I'm your uncle"

I looked at him a bit puzzled and then I turned and looked back through my window, that explains why he looked so familiar to me, unfortunately I kind of look like him, I didn't say another word through the whole trip, he kept talking and mumbling questions but I kept ignoring him.

It was almost dark already and we were getting deeper into the forest, trees, trees and more trees where passing through my eyes, where are we? I thought, and then a big sign saying welcome to Zoneville made my eyes widen with realization that I was closer to her than ever.

I could now see houses through the window, houses and people, Jeremy waved at a few people on the way "home" I hate to think about that house as home, because it is NOT. Let’s just settle with “the house I’ll leave in”.

We finally stopped in front of a white house with wooden stairs on the way up with big windows covered with curtains. It was a beautiful house, a sudden weird sensation of déjà vu came through me and it made me shiver.

My heart started beating so loud that I couldn't hear anything but the thump it produced. I felt like a street Brazilian Carnival was playing Batucada in my head. My vision clouded and my scalp prickled severely.

I didn’t even know when Jeremy got out of the truck and took my bags to stand waiting for me at the top of the door step. When I actually looked at him –willing all my strength to give me back my sight— and not at the house I realized that the door behind him was opened and a really nice smell came out of it, suddenly everything stopped and I wondered what is she cooking, it smells sooo good and I’m famished.

I shook that thought out of my head and snapped out of it, what the hell was I thinking, this is not good, I don't want this, I finally really looked at him and I think he called my name a few times because when I finally heard him, he was looking at me a bit thoughtful and quizzical

"Gabriella, are you ok?"

He said annoying me more because he said my name wrong.

I walked towards him and I got my backpack from him  

"It's Gabrielle"

I growled, and I walked into the house. I could hear rather than hear his face splitting in half by a grin.

I stopped at the entrance and looked around a bit shocked by the beauty of the house.

The interior kept the elegance of the 18^th century and the modernity of the 21^st century, all morphed into one beautiful house. I don't know why I felt this warmth and the smell what is she cooking? I thought and I sniffed, my mouth watering while letting my imagination fly.

My craziness didn't last long tough; I heard what I think it was her voice. Somebody was coming, she was coming towards me, my heart started again, thump, thump, thump, I panicked, my breath was coming heavy I could hear steps getting closer. Jeremy stood beside me, again I didn't know when he got here, I thought I was going crazy and suddenly she came out.

I'm not going to lie, she was beautiful, and she had long black hair and golden eyes with green dots making it the strangest hazel eyes I’ve ever seen beside of my own eyes. She was slim and was carrying a lasagne in her hands

"I hope you like lasagne"

She said and with just that she walked back into the kitchen.

What was that? Not even a “hi Gabrielle, how was your flight” stupid question? 

Jeremy took my backpack from my hands and smiled at me, aaah!! So annoying, he made me follow him upstairs

"I'll show you your room so you can leave your stuff" 

Was she even happy to see me? I couldn't stop thoughts like that from going through my mind, by the time I shook it off, I was behind the door that would lead me into my room, where I would spend most of the time of this year because I was surely not going to find anything to do in this small town.

Jeremy always with an smile on his face opened the door, the room was ok, the bed was big enough for me, I had a desk with a computer, and the wardrobe –that was opened— had a few dresses hanging in it, I walked towards it and I glanced at the dresses, I looked at Jeremy quizzically

"Let me guess, my surprise?"

He nodded

"I'll leave now, get downstairs when you are ready" 

Meaning never 

“So you can have dinner" He continued.

After I nodded he left. I slouched to my bed making my body crash on the mattress with a loud Puff and left my thoughts strangle me.

 I didn't want to breath, again, I needed that pain so I stopped breathing while thinking I can't believe she's just downstairs, I can see why dad and everybody else liked her, she is a painting, but I don't like her and just the thought of me having her same eyes makes me angry 

I didn't want to have anything in me that made me look like her; thank god I have a lot of my dad in me but her eyes...

"Gabriella"

My trail of thoughts was again interrupted by Jeremy. I quickly sat up feeling suddenly anxious and stormed out of the room walking down the stairs until I was face to face with him, that was waiting for me at the bottom of the staircase

"Why do you keep calling me Gabriella when I'm telling you that my name is Gabrielle?"

I snarled at him, more aggressive than intended. He was still smiling up at me. Unbelievable!

"As you wish, Gabrielle"

He said resigned and bowed at me, making a reverence as if I was a princess

"That's not funny"

"I'll find something else to make you smile then"

He said and walked into what I guess was the kitchen. I followed after him to find a table full of food and to find her seating there at the head of the table with an unreadable face.

Whenever I looked at her I got angry so I didn't even sit down

"I'm not hungry, just want to sleep"

I turned around and started to the stairs

"Stop there"

Elizabeth said, I turned around

"Excuse me?"

“You are not excused; you haven't eaten anything in hours, just sit down and eat"

My mouth fell open. So now she thought she had the right to tell me what to do? Now? At 17?

"Oh, now you care"

It wasn't a question; I wasn't looking for any answers

"Gabrielle, let's not be childish, ok? Just eat"

"I don't want to, good night"

And I ran upstairs as she was about to call after me again but Jeremy stopped her. I only heard him say

          “Let her be. She’s here now”

I was now in my room; I didn't want to risk her coming in so I looked it.

I wanted to be left alone with my pain so I lie on the bed and closed my eyes. 

I'm starting school tomorrow, not really looking forward to it, I didn't give it much thought before and I wasn't about to start now so I allowed my mind go blank for a while till I guess I fell asleep because what I was seeing now, couldn't be real, could it?

I was in a big room, that was so not my room; this one was bigger and bright, with big golden curtains and a huge bed, king size, princess style.

There were many paintings on the walls, like the ones you see in the times of kings and queens and I was wearing a beautiful period beige lace dress with a big red lace that went around my wait to then fall behind my back and down to the floor. It looked more like a bridal dress with sleeves and I looked stunning. It looks like I was getting ready for something a party perhaps, I was seating in front of a mirror and when I looked down I had all this perfumes, golden combs and lots of jewellery.

I shivered suddenly and my scalp prickled.

I couldn't be sure but I knew something was about to happen. When I heard I scream from one of the rooms I ran to take a quick look and I saw who I think it was one of my guards being attacked by something, I gasped but I couldn't move, I was paralysed. Then my eyes met its red eyes and I screamed as that thing snapped the head of the guard and flew across the hall and though the door.

I didn't know what that thing was, was it an animal? Was it human? I couldn't tell but its read eyes focused on me, I knew it was a dream but I couldn't wake up, I still felt scared and unprotected under the scrutinising eyes of this thing.

IT looked me up and down till it stopped his glance focusing on my neck or that's what I thought at first.

I was scared but I looked down anyway to realize that it was looking at my medallion

"Gabriella"

He said under his breath, it didn't sound human and then it bared his teeth at me as if he angry with me, furious he walked towards me so fast that it was blur.

In no second he was in front of me, so close I could feel its breath on me.

He ripped my medallion from its chain and looked at it, confused? I noise of terror escaped the back of my throat drawing its attention back to me.

It opened its mouth, in that instant I knew it, I was going to die.

He leaned forward so brutally that when I thought that’s it, I’m dead; I woke up in the middle of the night, in my room.

Well, my new room.

I looked at my phone. 2:00 AM still.

I lied back in bed and went under the blankets this time, shaking off my boots in the process because I forgot to take them off before going to bed, well I actually forgot to take my clothes off and change into a more comfortable attire to sleep in but that, I would worry about in the morning, now I just wanted to go back to sleep and dream with something more peaceful.

To be continued................