Annual ~Four~

What comes around every year

I watched the boy, confused and anxiously excited if that makes any sense. He seemed pretty alone, and his things lay by a blue towel. The stranger looked about my age, maybe a year older.

 

If he went to my school, I could never approach him. I was an outcast there; it ruined people’s reputation when they did anything but try to insult me. But I don’t thin I’ve ever seen him before.

 

“Judgement is coming,” Max’s words ring in my ears and I close my eyes.

 

I can’t accept what’s “special’ about me, what I’m hiding. It will bring nothing good, I’m sure of it. But…what if he has accepted it? Maybe he has a way to deal with it. All these maybes…

 

“Hey, are you okay?” My eyes snap open to find the stranger in front of me. I blush, which is really odd, because I haven’t blushed for someone I didn’t know in awhile.

 

“Fine and dandy,” I say. I decide to tease him, just a little bit, “So do you make it a habit to interrupt strangers in the middle of relaxing?”

 

“Only when they have troubled looks on their pretty faces,” he shrugs. “What’s your name?”

 

“What’s yours?” I deflect, trying to figure out a way to ask him about the Mark.

 

“Ben,” he answers, and I start to smile, but I see someone standing on the rocks far behind him. It was Ellis.

 

“I’m Madisyn, do you go to Falkreach Regional?” I asked, now anxious.

 

“Ah, I’m actually starting there this year. I just moved here from Florida,” he grinned at me, and I sighed inside. Pretty soon he would never want to be seen with me again.

 

“That’s great…listen, you’ll probably never want to talk to me again after this. I need to ask you-” Ellis was moving and people were on the shore, slightly panicking. Nobody was supposed to be on those rocks, death was almost always close behind the pursuer.  “S**t, I have to go.”

 

I ran from the water and grabbed my pants as I was running. It took me a few more seconds than I’d like because of the crowd and Ben calling behind me. No one looked at me as I arrived; they just stared at Ellis on the dangerous rocks.

 

I jumped on the first rock and started to nimbly make my way out to Ellis. “B***h, there better be a good reason you made me come out here,” I pant.

 

“There's a storm coming,” he says robotically.

 

“I- what?” At that moment I almost slipped, but Ellis caught me. He didn’t let go of my arms as he repeated his sentence.

 

“What…?” I saw my confusion on his face, in the way he looked at me.

 

“There's a storm,” he murmured, looking off into the distance. “It's going to break things and leave disaster in it's wake..”

 

“Are you okay?” I asked, my hand on his shoulder. Ellis pulled me into a hug.

 

"What?" he asked, finally breaking out of his stupor. "What the Hell are we doing here? C'mon, let's go."

 

We jumped our way back to shore, ignoring the crowd. I didn’t let go of Ellis's hand. I think he needed the support as much as I did. I know he won't tell me what all that seriousness was about, so I derail my thoughts onto our future. "Ellis?" I ask uncertainly, squeezing his hand a bit.

 

 “Yeah?” he answers, his voice a sigh in the wind.

 

“Do you think things will ever change?”We both know what I mean.

 

He looks at me and nods to the beach. We go sit on the fence that separates the road from the sand. “I think…we can try to change…and if we believe that we have, something will. I mean, things can’t stay this way forever…can they?”

 

“I don’t know…” All I can think about is the spiral.

 

“Hey!” Someone calls, jogging toward us. As he arrives a few feet away, I realize it’s Ben.

 

“Ben?” I ask, confused. Nobody’s ever sought me out before, except Ellis and Meg. What could he possibly want?

 

“Yeah, what happened? You kind of took off. Didn’t know I smelled that bad…” He rolled his eyes, obviously wanting an explanation.

 

Ellis flicked out his knife, playing with the tip of the blade. I watched and didn’t look at Ben as I answered, “Why’d you come back?”

 

“What?” He asks, confused. “You said you had to ask me something…so I wanted to know…” His cheeks are slightly pink and I feel more like my old self.

 

Ellis gave me a sideways glance and I saw him trying not to laugh. “I just saw your tattoo. I wanted to know where you got it. See, my friend Ellis here is a tat junkie…”

 

Ellis raised his eyebrows at me and I pleaded to him with my eyes. “Yeah, that’s me. Ellis, le tattoo junkie.”

 

Ben looked like he’d just noticed El for the first time. His cheeks got darker for some reason. “Oh…I don’t have a tattoo. You probably saw my birthmark…”

 

My breath hitched. S**t. “Oh.”

 

“You okay?” He asked, scratching the back of his neck.

 

“Yeah…Ellis, why don’t we go? I see some Regional kids coming.” Ellis looks surprised, but Ben looks like he’s sure of something. I don’t have time to wonder, since those kids are real, and they’re very close. I push Ben and Ellis together, and Ellis takes the cue.

 

“Yeah, so I heard you were new here.” Ben looks back at me, confused, but I just shake my head slightly.

 

“Oh look who it is! Have you been having fun all by yourself, Angel?” One girl gasps, making her friends stop and look.

 

“You know, nobody likes her,” another stage whispers, “She’s a freak.”

 

“Kelly, watch out! She’ll bite you if you get too close,” one girl exclaims and they shriek with laughter as they walk away. My face is still down as Ellis sits beside me.

 

“What was that?” Ben asked angrily, gesturing to the crowd in the distance.

 

“I’m sorry I pushed you, but I didn’t feel like being a total b***h,” I shrug, rolling my eyes.

 

“How would not pushing me be bitchy?”

 

“If you’re seen talking to me, you’ll get ousted for sure. If you manage to pass the bar smelling that way…” I’m joking of course. The truth is, he smells amazing.

 

“What? Why?”

 

“We be the bad seeds, two among a few. Watch out, we like to bite,” Ellis says in a creepy voice, wiggling his fingers.

 

“Look, if you ever want to talk, call me,” I say brazenly. Ellis gives me a sharpie and I write the number on his hand. We laugh as we walk away, leaving Ben confused and staring at his hand. Truthfully, I really hope he uses that number.

What an eventful birthday...but it's not over yet.

Author's Note

"The happy ones; and sad ones;
The sober and silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;
The good ones-Yes, the good ones, too;
and all the lovely bad ones."
-All The Lovely Bad Ones, Mary Downing Hahn

Reviews

[Ahmad Cox]

I love how you hook me in deeper with each new chapter

[Sunny Skye]

Ben must be like wtf just happened lol. Good job i like the develpement and the events its really good you have me hooked shame on you lol just kidding. Good job!

-SkyeBlanco

[Amanda]

Yaay haha :)

[Sunny Skye]

Lol yep its very hard to get me hooked on stories yet you have achived it. You're a very good writer i like your style. Good job!

[Rhea752]

HAHA Ben must be so confuzzled :P

[Sophie]

more. now. more.
ahhhhhhhhh
i can't form words.

[♪The Girl Next Do..]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. I like this. I mean I REALLY like this. I'm excited to see what's in store :D

[Amanda]

Thanks! :)

[♪The Girl Next Door♪]

My pleasure :)