I hardly slept. I was rolling over and over my bed all night. My eyes are so sore; I’ve spent the night in between consciousness and unconsciousness, with my eyes closed but all my other senses working.
I could hear the wind, I could hear the trees scratching my windows and then all that information…I could hear their voices in my head all night long.
- The lines around you are too short
- But everybody else is pretty much dead, didn’t they tell you?
- Do you believe in supernatural stuff?
- Is she being bitchy with you?
- How are you so clumsy?
Aaaaah! I wanted the voices to stop and the only way was opening my eyes and getting into the world of consciousness. But I was tired; I wanted to stay under my sheets for a bit longer. But I had to open my eyes, I had to wake up.
I had my shower and came out fresh, that’s exactly what I needed. I went downstairs and of course Jeremy was waiting for me so I gave him a dark glance and sat down. We stood in silence for a while till he broke the ice:
“Why are you so moody?” he said with a smile
“Don’t make me talk” I said very serious
“I told you, you would have to talk to her one way or another”
“Thanks for that” I said very harshly
“If you act with me that way, I don’t know if I’ll back you up when she comes” so now you are threatening me…good way to go Jeremy
“You won’t let it go, will you?
“Nop!” I stopped what I was doing and look straight at him
“Why don’t you understand that I don’t want to talk to her?”
“Maybe you will. With time” I didn’t say anything just stared at him and he continued talking “she wanted to get you something you know, but she didn’t know if you would wear it”
“I wouldn’t” I said at once and he looked at me, this time frowning
“This isn’t easy for her either, you know”
“Look” I took my medallion from under my sweater and showed it to him “I’m already wearing this so don’t ask for more” he focussed on my medallion “you’re wearing it” he said in disbelieve and surprised.
“Dad begged me to so erase that smile from your face, I’m not wearing it because of her” he was now looking at an empty space, like thinking and then spoke.
“She said she lost it, ha! And she gave it to you” I looked at him in wonder, it looked like my medallion meant something to him, so I asked what it was. He said it was an old family relic that it’s been around for ages. I could actually guess that, it was a weird medallion; it was a purple mineral, inlaid in a gold rounded base with weird designs. You could tell it was old.
“It was from our ancestor our great, great, great; grand whatever cousin back in 1703. That’s when they found it”
“What do you mean when they found it?”
“It was hers but it was founded away from her body…she was killed” ooh really…and he continued “so is important for us”
“Why?” I couldn’t understand the importance of a medallion, it was nice but weird.
“It’s been around to remind our family what St. Martyr’s day is about” he said and I remembered Jenny talking about it yesterday.
“It’s in a few weeks right?” He nodded “and what is it about?” I asked
“Well is just an old story” I just waited for him to continue “ok, we are suppose to go hunting…for the darkness for those with red eyes but we hunt animals”
“Animals, is that legal?” as much as I hate them, we need to be fair with nature
“It is in here, that one day besides, we need to chase them out of the border” I wonder how my face looked like cause he suddenly said “but we don’t all go hunting, that’s just a man thing”
“A man thing?” so sexist
“Is dangerous, like I told you…people dies”
“I see…and what does everybody else do while man hunt?
“Is a celebration isn’t it? Is not all about hunting, there’s parties and people wears costumes simulation the 18th Century, even a few wear red lenses, you just have fun” and in the middle of our conversation Elizabeth came. I looked at him and told him to move in a low voice. He smiled and stood up, then I realised that I forgot to tell them something about tonight so I turned to look at Jeremy but I spoke loud enough for her to hear me. “I forgot to tell you that I’ll go to the Zet zone from Brook’s house so there’s no need for you to pick me from school, I’ll probably have dinner in her house and she’ll bring me home after that” claver said Jeremy under his breath so I guessed he understood what I was doing. I walked towards the door when she started talking.
“Don’t forget to be here”
“Before 11 I know” I cut her off and kept walking, she called after me so I had to stop and turn, she walked towards me and looked at the medallion…”you’re wearing it” she said and when I looked at her face I don’t know if I liked what I saw. She had a smile on her lips and her eyes were…watering? Is she going to cry?? So I took it from her hand put it back underneath my sweater and kept walking. Jeremy came after a few seconds and then drove off. While in the truck I couldn’t stop thinking about St. Martyr’s day. So they went hunting even though they knew people died…that’s just mere stupidity.
After he left me in the park lot –early by the way- I went to Jenny’s first class hoping to see her so I could talk to her. I waited even though the bell rang but she never came, so I went to my class.
I recognised Ben -the nice guy- he was in one of the front seats and he smiled at me, I smiled back. When I was walking thru the classroom I noticed a ginger haired colour girl looking at me as if I’ve done something wrong to her, I quickly looked down and sat in the first free chair I saw. For my “good” fortune, I was surrounded by the basketball team players and they were saying stupid things to me.
“Hey, new girl” said one of them “would you like me to seat next to you?”
“Hey! New girl” said another one “why don’t you give me your number?”
“Hey...” the voices trailed off when Ben caught their attention with a hiss. They all stopped in no second. So they respect him…good cause I want to pay attention!
Even though I was taking notes from the blackboard I couldn’t stop thinking about Jenny, is she ok? Maybe she’s late, there might be nothing to worry about, I thought. When the class finished Ben came to my desk and asked me if I was going to the Zet zone and I told him that I was going “good, I’ll see you there then but now you better hurry if you don’t want to be late again” he winked at me and then left and as I stood up somebody pushed me. I turned to realised it was the ginger girl, she apologised but I knew she didn’t mean it I could see it in her face but I let it go. I had better things to worry about like Jenny. Our next class was gym and we would all be there, I wonder if he would be there too, that rude guy. So I went to my locker to get my stuff. Brook was already there waiting for me. I told her about Jenny and she said that she couldn’t get hold on her mobile phone.
“So are we still going to the Zet zone?” I asked a bit dubious
“Hell yeah!!”
“Maybe we should call her at home” I said
“Let’s do that and if not we can go check on her before going”
We changed our clothes and went outside, we were playing Rugby today…I’m not really good with sports but I’m sure I can run faster than any girl here, cause I know how to run from danger and people running after me plus hard balls means danger for me and for them.
After warming our bodies up a little the coach divided us in groups so we could play, after that I could see that Jenny wasn’t here and neither was he.
In my team were Brook, the ginger girl, Ben and two other guys. Brook was glad to have Ben in our team cause at least he could play out of all of us. The other two guys looked like they were about to brake with a single touch, but then there were another teams were no one could even retain the ball which made us happy. I didn’t lie, I told them that I could run which was a good thing to play this game but I didn’t think they would take it seriously.
Ben started preparing our tactic:
“ok, Brook and Sarah –that was the ginger’s name- you will run with Gabrielle and if anybody gets close, push them out of the way, we” indicating the guys “will make sure they don’t have a chance to get close” then he looked at the guys and corrected “well I’ll make sure of that” “Done!” said Brook. “Do you want me to use my body as a shield to protect her?!” said Sarah pointing me with her finger. “Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to do, nobody will hurt you, you are girls and I’m here they won’t dare” said Ben, “right, unless that big girl over there gets us first” said Sarah pointing to one of the girls from the opposite team, wow she was big. “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back baby” said Brook smiling at me and Ben kept explaining.
So the plan was that one of the guys would pass him the ball and then he would pass it to me without the other team noticing which meant that Brook and Sarah would have to distract them with the other 2 guys, then Ben would run away from me simulating that he still have the ball. After that Brook and Sarah would have to run with me to make sure nobody blocked me and then I would do the touch down. I should have closed my mouth.
“Are you ready?” said Ben
“I don’t think this is a good idea” I said “me neither” said Sarah
“What if I loose the ball?” I said pleading for him to give it to someone else
“You won’t” he said
“But what if...”
“You won’t, we trust you” and he walked away. Good! Now I’ll be held responsible if I loose the ball, just how I like it…more pressure?
Our team was playing next and the opposite team would have the ball in the first round, I didn’t want to play this game is dangerous. Why would they make us play this stupid, hurtful game? The whistle sounded so we had to get in position, we needed to get the ball from the other team and as I looked at them I agreed with Sarah in one thing. That big girl could smash the 3 of us with just a push from her elbow, but she wouldn’t be able to catch me. I think.
Piii the whistle sounded again, we were about to start. I was really shaking; we weren’t even wearing helmets for CRYING OUT LOUD!!! We were supposed to play soft, but that’s a girl thing, playing gently. How can man play gently when they were so competitive!!! Suddenly Hip Hip GO!! We started running trying to catch the boy with the ball. I could see Brook from my periphery, she smashed the girl on the floor before she could get the ball from the guy so I ran towards it but Ben got it before I could and he told me to run away, so I did. I ran towards the line when he threw the ball at me. I was about to get it when somebody jumped over me and smashed me on the floor, but it wasn’t just a playful smash, it hurted, it really hurted.
I stood on the floor for a few seconds and then I heard the touch down!!! We lost.
Brook helped me up and when I turned…of course Sarah was the one.
“Sorry Gaby, I didn’t see you” she said with a smile, at that moment I wanted to punch her but I just smiled back and corrected her “is Gabrielle”.
Ben came around in no second and put his hand on my back, checking for injury I guessed. After everybody made sure that I was ok, we started the second round, this time we had the ball and were going to put our tactic to the test.
“She did it on purpose” said Brooke in my ear while taking our positions, that I already knew so I smiled at Ben making sure that Sarah saw me, it was obvious that she liked him, and because he was being attentive with me, she was taking it on me. Piii, it sounded again. I was shaking, the adrenaline ran thru my veins, I wanted to win but I feared Sarah taking me down again. Then Brook winked at me I’ve got your back Hip Hip GO!! It all happened really fast, I ran away from them. I could see Ben getting close to me with the ball, he gave it to me and ran away then Brook and Sara went behind me. A few girls followed him but the big girl wasn’t fooled, she was coming to get me. “Slow down!” yelled Brook, so I did and both Brook and Sara situated in front of me, they attacked together and pushed the big girl down, WOW!! So I kept running. I could see Ben crashing people when finally TOUCH DOWN!!! I did it. Ben came running and carried me up, and then I saw Sarah on the floor and Brook leaning over her, what was going on? After a few more teams played that was it. I could finally be me again. It was the first time I played good, I usually run from those things, dangerous games; I have a healthy respect for my body so I never plaid. Back in California
We went to Latin class, my first Latin class since I got here, I was exited, I love languages and more ancient languages, I don’t know why so don’t ask, I just like them. It was one of the classes the tree of us shared; strangely enough we were into languages. I was chatting with Brook, she sat next to me which was cool cause I could copy everything she had from prior classes that I didn’t have. The teacher wasn’t here yet so we kept talking…when I saw him coming thru the door. You are joking!! I thought, I’ve been like crazy looking around for him and he was in my Latin class…He sat a few desks behind me but I could glance at him every now and then over my shoulder. He didn’t look at me, not even once. I didn’t know anything about him and I was curious, today was the day I would know his name, so I asked Brook.
“Who’s that guy?”
“Who?” she looked around
“The one with the brown golden hair” and I moved my head pointing to him
“Oh, THAT guy, he’s Christopher Martyr” ???????? I thought.
“As in Stephen Martyr?”
“Yeah, they are related” I just nodded and she continued talking “his ancestor founded this place, he and his family live in a huge house like a castle outside town, but don’t waist your time he’s just not into anybody from this school believe me, every girl have tried but they have come empty handed” I looked at her wondering if she had tried too, I guessed she knew what I was thinking cause she quickly said
“Is not like I’ve tried, I’m just saying that it would be a waist of time”
“Sure” I said, I never thought about trying anything anyway but there was something about him…then Brook looked at him and back at me, she gasped “don’t tell me that he’s your mystery guy? Brown hair, brown eyes and pale” I nodded and she continued “girl…don’t waist your time”. And that was the end of our conversation. Mr Garcia the teacher came in, I was paying attention but I glanced at him a few times, he never met my eyes but he looked very focused in something. The class went by quickly, I didn’t want to leave cause I didn’t know when I would see him again but Brook dragged me out and told me to wait for her in my locker after our last class, so we could go together.
After that Brook went to music and I went to History. I was a bit happy now. I won a game today and we would see Jenny afterwards. I was glad to at least have the both of them by my side considering how most of the people looked at me, it sure wasn’t like having Zoe and Miranda around but it was nice enough. And most of all, I was happy cause I saw him.
I went into class with enough time to choose my desk, after a while everybody was getting in and you wouldn’t imagine who else got in. Yes exactly, Christopher…at least now I knew his name and I wouldn’t have to call him the mystery guy or the rude guy, I wouldn’t mind keep calling him rude though, cause that’s what he was.
Once Mr Kent
“Well Mr Martyr, why didn’t you come yesterday?” said Mr Kent
“I was not feeling well but I’m good now, thank you” Christopher said. Listen to them talking was like watching an old movie, the way they talked to each other so politely and with words that I didn’t think people still use. So he’s the one that was missing yesterday, I wonder if him being ill was the reason why he looked at me like that, yeah that might be it, maybe he had stomach ache and was in pain…I laughed at my stupidity, thinking before that he had a problem with me. And after their little chit chat he sat down, again away from me but this time there was just one desk in between us, nobody sat there, so I could secretly look at him without another eyes on me. Ben was there too and Sarah but I didn’t care about them.
I could see from my periphery that Christopher was glancing back a few times, like if he was listening to something but the only one talking was Mr Kent and he was at the blackboard in front of us. The curiosity was killing me and I couldn’t help by looking back, the only one behind us was Ben and I had to smile at him cause he was looking at me, I then turned slowly and as I did my eyes met Christopher’s and I quickly look at the blackboard. I wanted to look at him but Ben was behind. So I just glanced from the corner of my eye. I spent the whole hour like that.
Class ended and I started putting my stuff together when Ben came to my desk and remembered me that we’d see each other in the Zet zone tonight. I don’t know why I felt a bit angry at Ben. I didn’t want him to mention that we’ll see each other in front of Christopher; I didn’t think he cared but I didn’t want him to think that there was something going on in between Ben and me. After Ben left I turned to look at Christopher I wanted to ask him if he would go too but he was gone.
I met Brook in my locker and we went to her house. It was a nice house; she lived with both her parents, lucky her. We went into her room after greeting her parents. Her room was bright and big. She told me it was one of her big brother’s room and she got it after he went to college. She had sketches all over the walls; one of her walls was a bright red colour, when I asked her about it she said that one day she just woke up wanting it red, so she got it red. Nice…She had a big guitar on one of the corners of her room, I bent down to pick it up and my medallion came out from under my sweater.
“What’s that?” Brook said grabbing my medallion
“Oh, this…is Elizabeth
“Why do you keep calling her Elizabeth
“Mmn…cause is her name?” I knew what she meant by that but I wasn’t going to explain, not yet. I moved onto another subject, her sketches. She had beautiful stuff on her walls, from babies to sun sets, from animals to the sea. It was beautiful and I told her that. Then I saw a file on her desk, it had weird stuff printed on the front page.
“What is this?” I asked her showing her the file “it is what it says, weird stuff” she said, I asked her if I could see it and she nodded so I opened it. It really was weird, there were sketches with a lot of faces, beautiful faces but their expressions were horrifying, like if they were in shock or like if they were seeing something bad, really bad, one of the sketches had a woman running from a shadow and another one a woman faint or dead in the woods, something about that picture caught my attention, it had something familiar but I didn’t know what, anyway she took the file from me before I could think in anything else and then she led me to her closet. She was picking cloths and giving them to me, shirts, jeans, dresses? When she looked at my unhappy face she said “there’s no way you are going like that to the Zet zone” indicating what I was wearing “well there’s no way I’m wearing dresses” I said and she took them from my hand and put them back in the closet, “then wear this” she said giving me a red low cut shirt that left nothing to the imagination “mmh nop” I said, I wasn’t going to wear that, no way. So she moved from her closet and said “pick something and wear it” so I got a black long sleeve shirt that said kiss me in red blood. After a while we went down to have dinner.
It was nice to have a funny, chatty dinner. It’s been ages I haven’t had one. I used to do it with my dad; he always made me laugh with his occurrences…I kind of felt sad a little and I couldn’t help by wonder how was he doing up there, was he looking after me? I don’t even know if I believe there is something up there but I hoped he was good.
After our fantastic dinner we went to Jenny’s gram’s house but she said that Jenny wasn’t there, that she mentioned something about a pub, so we guessed she’d be in the Zet zone and we left. Her grams sure looked like her and sometimes she looked at me a bit weird…I didn’t give it much thought.
We were finally out the pub and a big sign welcomed us with a red Zet Zone printed on it crossed with a sword in the middle.
The pub was big enough, the music was nice too and it had a pool table in it. Ben was already there with the basketball team and Sara looked a bit drunk and Christopher was in one of the corners, not talking with anybody, not drinking, just standing there…but we were looking for Jenny. We couldn’t find her anywhere when she suddenly appeared behind us making us jump a little.
“Hey! Are you all right?” I said with a bit of hesitation
“I’m fine” she replied smiling at us as if nothing happened and I saw a brightness in her eyes that I never saw before…”well are you going to tell us what happened yesterday cause if you were sick you didn’t look like it and look at you now smiling like if nothing happened” Brook said breaking thru my thoughts but Jenny kept staring and smiling at us till she finally broke her silence “are you girls up for a sleep over? I have to show you something” “when tonight?” I said “no, tomorrow, I need to prepare myself and we could do our homework” Jenny said.
“Prepare for what” Brook asked her “you’ll see” Jenny said giving me a glance that disturbed me a bit and then she smiled again. “I’ll tell you tomorrow but now can anybody explain me what is Christopher doing here?” Jenny said.
“Why do you ask? I thought you said everybody comes here” I said
“Well everybody but not him” Jenny said, I was already lost in thoughts
“You can barely see him outside school” said Brook explaining it to me
“Not him not his family, they are just weird like that” said Jenny and continued “but they all come out from their hiding place in St. Martyr’s day” I just nodded, I didn’t really understand it.
“He’s been looking at you since I came” said Jenny, I felt the need to look back but she told me not to.
“Jenny…he’s her mystery guy” said Brook and Jenny looked at me surprised “he’s your mystery guy?”
“What’s wrong with that? I’m not going hyper about him so don’t worry, he’s rude and unbearable anyway” I said remembering the few times we’ve met, then I saw their questioning eyes on me “*sigh* we’ve bumped into each other a few times and that’s it…can we change subjects?” Jenny’s eye brows were getting into her normal position by then.
“Ok are you coming tomorrow then?” she asked
“Is a good idea and as much as I’d love to go I don’t think I can make it” their questioning eyes were on me again so I explained “I don’t have a good relationship with Elizabeth and to have a sleep over I would have to ask her for permission, thing that I won’t do cause I’ve talked to her to much already, that’s too much for me to handle”
“You don’t talk to your mum?” said Jenny
“She’s not my mum” I said sharply
“Of course she is…isn’t she?” said Brook hesitating
“Just because we share the same blood type it doesn’t mean she’s my mum. I don’t have a mother she’s just Elizabeth
“How can you said that?” said Brook
“And why not? I’ve been 17 years of my life without her, knowing just her name, seeing just a picture of her when she was 17 so how do you expect me to call her mother when I don’t know what that is. I’ve never had one.”
“Sorry” said Brook with understanding
“That’s ok; just don’t repeat what I’ve said or you girls are dead”
“So what now? I really need to tell you something, well to show you something” said Jenny
“This mystery you is driving me nuts” Brook said
“Do you think if we talk to her it will be ok? Said Jenny ignoring Brook’s comment
“I’m not going to make you do that”
“It’s ok, I was going to do it anyway” said Jenny, that thing she wanted to show us must be really important then. So after a while chatting and playing on the pool table I went to the bar to get some refreshments and there he was…I was confused, for a moment I thought I saw him still standing by the wall but he was at the bar. I tried hard not to look at him. I asked for 2 sodas and while waiting I couldn’t contain myself so without looking at him –I could see him from my periphery- I said:
“I’ve been told you never come here, what are you doing here?”
“I don’t see how that’s your business” he said with a harsh voice without looking at me either, grrr so rude like always, I wanted to smack the back of his head…
“Why were you looking at me?”
“How do you know I was, were you?”
“Don’t turn this on me I asked first” then he turned to face me and in a harsh tone he told me to go. I stared at him for a few seconds before I got my drinks, and walked away until he called after me and I stopped. When I turned I thought he would say something but he just looked from my face to my…neck? I didn’t take my eyes off him and he looked disconcerted.
“Nothing” he said so I walked away filled with frustration, why was I hoping he would say something coherent? I can’t figure this guy out.
I went to the pool table were I left the girls and where now Ben was, we talked for a while and laughed when Sarah came along…she’s so annoying.
“Look who we have in here Gabrielle Thomas or should I say McGraw?” McGraw was Elizabeth
“Thomas is fine thank you, what do you want?” she was drunk so nothing good
“Nothing really…I just saw you talking with gorgeous Christopher, it looked like you guys had a bit of a tension there and now here you are, getting a piece of Ben too…like mother like daughter”
“Meaning?” said Brook, she was already pissed with her so just imagine, she was about to jump on her, I had to put my hand before her to limit her access to Sarah.
“Oh c’mon, everybody knows about your mum and Sam” said Sarah ignoring Brook
“They are part of the town’s council and you know that so shut up” said Ben
“Why don’t you say what you really want to say?” I asked I really wanted her to leave me alone, what have I done to her? She’s starting to piss me off.
“You are not welcome here, I don’t welcome you here”
“Like I care” did she really think I cared about what se thought or what she wanted? So she continued talking I couldn’t bear with it anymore so I stopped her “now you listen to me, if you’re pissed cause I’m getting more attention from him that you are that’s your problem not mine, is not like there’s something in between us anyway so back off” she was drunk so I didn’t want to make a fuss but I couldn’t hold it all in. Ben took her away and after that people started looking at me weird. I haven’t done anything to her so what was this all about? “Complications” said Jenny answering my question? But I wasn’t talking I was thinking, she gave me that weird glance again and then she started smiling and continued talking “she just likes Ben so that’s her problem isn’t it?” …something was wrong with Jenny, if people couldn’t notice it I could and it was weird.
After a while I asked Brook to take me home, I had to obey Elizabeth
I was actually happy to be home, I just wanted to have my shower and get into my bed. Is not like I didn’t have fun cause I did, but there were just so many weird stuff happening around me that the only place I felt save and secure was in my room, I needed to think, like I seem to do a lot lately.
When I got into my bed I couldn’t sleep for a while, I felt so much frustration from talking to Christopher…knowing his name didn’t help me cause now it was the only thing I could hear in my head. It was driving me crazy…who the hell was he to talk to me like that? What have I done to him? Why was he treating me with such anger...maybe he hates me, like the other kids he might think that my mothe…well Elizabeth
To be continued…
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