Encountering the Unknown

 T   w   o

Encountering the Unknown

 

Claire

His eyes were a shockingly mesmerizing bright green that stared into mine evaluating the very depths of my being. My body felt frozen in place, captured by his radiance. I couldn’t focus enough to get my brain to send a message to my legs so I just stood there staring back. An emotion flickered across his eyes so fast I couldn’t interpret it and then before I even had a chance to blink he was gone and the world seemed to start turning again. The noise grew in volume, movements sped up, and everything returned to its normal state as if nothing unusual had occurred.

My brain regained control allowing me to think my own thoughts. The halls were beginning to thin with less and less people. I remembered that I was on my way to Chemistry so I picked up the pace hurrying and trying not to be late.

I walked into the class fashionably late anyway despite my efforts and sat down in my normal seat. I could feel all the present eyes stare at the back of my head. My face blushed a darker shade of red as the heat of hurrying and self consciousness surged.

“And why are we late, Ms. Scarlett?” My chemistry teacher, Mr. Chezca, asked as he looked at me over a pair of bifocals that were perched on the bridge of his nose. It just so happened to be a coincidence that my face was the color of a tomato and Scarlett was my last name. It never seemed to fit my first name, in my opinion, but always seemed to fit my face.

“Sorry, Mr. Chezca. It wasn’t a legitimate reason to be late.”

“Yes, I can see that. Please open to page 218 in your text book so you don’t hold the class up any longer.”

“Yessir.” I muttered. Mr. Chezca was one of my least favorite teachers, but out of coincidental randomness he knew my mother from high school which I guess you could say put me in a higher level of respect in his class. I usually never got in trouble with him so this was a first.

I turned to the designated page and stared at the printed black letters that were laid upon the white. I tried to make out what they said, but they all seemed to run into each other. Silently sighing with defeat, I stared at the carvings previous students had made in the desk and allowed my mind to drift as far away from the present as it wanted to. There was definitely something unusual about Avery - something that I couldn’t pinpoint.

His eyes were the only thing I could focus on in the hall. They were my direct line of vision. The green iris probed against the pitched blackness of his pupils; which was the most uncanny, but beautifully exotic thing I had ever seen. It drew me in allowing me to be just beyond grasp of understanding all the mysteries that had unfolded within those several seconds. If I just had a few seconds more it would have seemed as if time unfolded the answers to the greatest questions man has ever wondered or asked, but they were just out of my reach. His eyes told me everything I needed to know about him at this point in time. The fact that he held a sense of power and security, was in control of his will power, and had strength in many different aspects; he had an uncontrollable desire for companionship that he fought back constantly, and a secret he had to keep protected at all costs. He fed me a desire to want to get to know him and a warning for me to stop where I was and continue life without his involvement.

Mixed emotions had flooded through my body just by the very thought of his presence. I wondered when I would see him again and when I did I wondered if I would run away taking his advice or run to him in an embrace to satisfy his desire. I knew that my heart, body, and mind were all on the same page, but the idea of the future that I couldn’t see lurked like a dark shadow within my bones.

I could sense my breathing growing heavier as the air seemed to become denser around me. My vision slowly faded into black and then regained light as new surroundings took place. The light dimmed to nearly darkness and I smelled the rotting wood underneath my feet. I was trapped in a narrow hallway with walls so close that I could put my hands out and touch both sides. Up ahead there was an eerie glow that made me want to turn around and run. I would have if I had known where I was and where I could run to, but at the moment there was nothing but the present. With no past or future knowledge to go from on this subject, all I could do was use all the present knowledge that I had.

The glow appeared to be similar to fog that was swiftly nearing me. Panic and fear churned in my stomach threatening to rise. Suddenly the skin on my back rose with goose bumps as a new chilled air brushed over me. I squeezed my eyes tight as I was thinking the words: this is not real, over and over again. I slowly regained my composure enough to slightly take a peek.

Both glowing fogs were right next to each other now, taking a new form. The one that neared me transformed into a female and the one that came from behind me was now a male. They stared at one another and began to talk. I couldn’t hear anything they said because they were speaking at such low intervals, but their mouths moved rapidly back and forth. I wondered if either noticed my presence for there was no acknowledgment from either of the two forms. Just as I had to think that horrid thought, both mouths stopped their movement and the male turned his head back to look at me. Time froze as I saw those unforgettable green eyes stare back at my own.

The female sneered at me with sharp fangs draping over her bottom lip as she glanced between the two of us. Fangs always reminded me of snakes, unless they were on humans than your first thought is vampire. Some undiscovered truth quaked inside my body trying to give me all the answers that were somehow in my brain, but unable to be triggered enough for me to gain access to. I somehow knew that no matter how the picture in front of me seemed to play out, she was not a vampire and I was going to make it out of here alive. His eyes guaranteed my safety and - even though I had no idea how or why - I believed him.

He turned back to the female and made an angry high pitched screech that was just barely audible for me to hear and then his whispy hand reached out and somehow locked around hers and they both disappeared in a puff of smoke. I stared at the emptiness bewildered with astonishment. I had no idea what to do next.

A loud noise from behind me broke through my thoughts shattering the silence. I turned around to see what the noise was and as I did a huge gust of wind rolled towards me. It barreled over my body, crushing me with freezing cold air. I gasped for breath, but there was nothing there to take in. Then I was back where I had started from, sitting in my seat in Chemistry. I sucked in a gulp of warm air as I tried to fight back the quivering jolts my body was giving off. Julie, the girl sitting next to me, leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“Hey, are you all right? You’re as pale as a ghost.” I couldn’t look at her; my eyes were fixed straight ahead. The words TEST TODAY were written on the whiteboard in red marker. Then life came back to me in a sudden flash of understanding.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just realized I had forgotten to study for the test.” I said with relief for having an excuse to give as to the rarity of my white skin. Although it was a lie, because I had studied for a good few hours last night for this test.

“Oh, I can see how that would cause a problem. Here you can borrow my notes and cram if you need to.” She said sliding me a stack of neatly printed notes. I mumbled a thanks and stared at the papers that I sprawled out in the space in front of me. Everything was just review so I didn’t bother paying much attention to what they said. I once again just stared as Mr. Chezca droned on in the background. I couldn’t get the sight of those big, bright, green eyes out of my head so I just stared into them looking for the answers to the new questions they presented me with.

›š›š›š›š

Avery

           

 My lungs weren’t on fire like every human in this school’s would have been after running how fast I had, but quite frankly no human I knew could run at my speed either. The breeze had felt refreshing but just added to the burning of my icy flesh. I was in class before everyone else, sitting in my new assigned seat when the rest of the students began to file in. It was a relief to not see her walk in with them, than I would have to sort out how I would explain myself to her, which I wasn’t by any means ready to do soon.

The class began to go smoothly. I was called on numerous occasions to answer questions, which I thought was just because the teacher wanted to test my understanding of the material, but than I noticed how her eyes were glazed over and her head lulling to one side as she stared at me. I looked around the room. Everyone was focused on me and all the girls had that same expression on their faces! Could it possibly be that they just wanted to look at me and hear my voice? I’m not one to boast, but I knew I was attractive, although I had no idea I had this much power over an entire room of both males and females.

There must be some way to not be able to stand out so much, but unfortunately no ideas were coming to me at the moment. I decided I had to get people to start paying attention to their own pathetic lives so I did the best thing I could do – for myself that is. I pulled out of my backpack an ipod, slipped the headphones in, and swirled it to full blast. My eardrums pounded, heavy metal screaming into my ears. I closed my eyes and pretended to relax as I waited for it. I was expecting the teacher to stomp over to my desk, grab the ipod and send me on my way to the principal’s office. Which would have of course drawn more attention to me, but I would have succeeded.

I decided what I wanted my image to be at this school. Maybe it would give people the impression to back off, plus I knew I could pull it off well. It would just be seconds before I could claim my position in this school as what would be known as a “bad boy”. Time passed rather slower than I expected. I added a few nods in to make is appear as if I were jamming. Finally, I sensed a presence approaching, but it was much different than I had anticipated.

Without warning I felt myself going through the same supernatural transition I went through a million times. Although this time I wasn’t controlling it. The booming of voices and the crashing of instruments faded as I moved away from my body becoming lighter and more flexible as I drifted out of its fleshly prison. IRENA! How could she even think of doing something so drastic in this public of a place?

Every living thing in the classroom was frozen in its last movements. A girl was texting underneath her desk; a fly getting ready to charge at the closed window; a nerdy kid stared dreamily in the direction of a cheerleader in the back who was in the process of batting her eyes in the direction of my body, which still lay unconscious. I smiled to myself as I saw the expression that was etched on my face – it was the exact one I had been hoping to achieve through my new rebellious attitude.

“Avery!” A sharp, disapproving voice whispered into my thoughts. I turned to see my sister floating next to me. She looked like she was going to burst a fuse. We were now outside of time and in a new spiritual realm – one of almost pure darkness.

“Yes, Irena?” I asked in cordial tone, once again smiling to myself because I knew that my nonchalance would get under her skin.

“How dare you!”

“How dare I what?”

“You are going to blow our cover and we just got here!”

“Whatever do you mean, dear sister?”

“She knows!” Irena just about yelled.

“Who knows what?” I had slipped up and I knew this conversation was coming, but playing dumb just felt like a better approach than being so serious.

“The girl! You lost focus and now everything is going to come crashing down upon us. Do you know all the trouble you’ve caused? And to think this is just the beginning!” Her eyes were glassy. She looked about ready to cry – if only she were able to. I felt a stab of pain for having to do this to her, but I couldn’t give in. I had to put up a fight.

“And what you’re doing at this very moment is any better? Step outside of time and all of its substance so you can have a nice conversation with me? Yes, Irena that’s very thoughtful of you. Except that every time you do you risk our exposure more and more yourself, especially now that we have her seeing into our depths.”

“You think this is my fault?” Her defensive tone proved to me that I struck the nerve I was looking for.

“Why, yes! That’s precisely what I think!” At that moment I felt warmth and I knew that Irena’s dismissive mistake on top of my own had resulted in the fact something catastrophic was going to take place. I turned my head away from Irena and looked into the darkness at where the heat was emitting from. Her eyes were glowing a light blue through the dark. Human eyes were surprisingly the only thing that could be seen by us in the darkness of this realm. I knew that’s where she stood in her human form, staring right into my eyes searching for the answers to the secrets I had given her. I unexpectedly read her thoughts as they ran through the exposed raw state that she was in.

“Those are his eyes! They’re so … shocking … I don’t even know how else to put it!”  She thought. Irena growled at her angrily out of the pain all of this was causing, but I knew the human couldn’t hear it – only see it. I softened my gaze on the girl, trying not to frighten her as much as possible. After all it was my entitled job to protect her, not scare her. I added some sincerity to try to show her my apologies on the situation that had been exposed to her. Within a second I whipped my self back to face Irena and made an unnatural hiss at her that happened to be a very high and discomforting sound even to me. She knew what I meant by this. Before, she hadn’t made connection that I was the girl’s imprinted protector and now she knew the consequences if she would step out of line. Unfortunately, I did too and even though she was my sister, my life was based on this one female’s safety and both of us knew it. I grabbed Irena’s arm and dragged her into another realm of time where we could talk privately.

“You’re her protector?” Irena asked shocked with the frustration of everything.

“Apparently.”

“Since when?”

 “I believe about a little less than an hour ago.” I smiled hesitantly at how ironic the situation was. Everything that could have gone wrong just about did and in less than an hour. Wow, record time! If Irena was back in her human form her face would have turned a bright red as her rage grew, but her pale white glow never changed its status; only did her facial expression waver to a guarded position which I recognized was the cause of her emotions. Irena was more of the serious, responsible one of the two of us. I on the other hand didn’t care much about anything. I just went on through “life” in a daze dreading the moment when I would unwillingly have to protect some human for the rest of her life.

“Why? Why do you have to be so apathetic?” She asked trying to smooth her words out so they weren’t as harsh as she would have liked to make them, but instead trying to control her anger by focusing on using it to stay calm.

“I don’t know it was the way I was made and if you have a problem with it than take it up with my Creator!”

“Well, why don’t you join me while I do, I’m sure he’d like to have a discussion with you about how not to screw everyone’s life up!”

“I can’t screw a life up if there isn’t a life to be lead!” I screamed.

“And whose life isn’t being led? Because you certainly seem to be leading yours right down the path of righteousness!” She screamed back. Our voices echoed in the distance as our argumentative shouts went back and forth.  

“Well, at least I have a purpose now!”

“Hate to break it to you hot stuff, but you’re only purpose in life is to protect that girl. Look what you’ve done! You put her in the worst danger any of us could ever put the person that we’re protecting in. On top of that, you’re not even watching her to protect her from that danger and that’s your job!” Irena was more concerned now than angry and it broke through to me that she really cared about this girl’s safety.

“You’re right.” I said casting my eyes down in shame. “I guess the last thing I should say before I go is that if you ever become a threat to her you know what I have to do. I’ve realized that it’s about time I do something right for a change. I’m going to try to stop being a disappointment and actually try to become someone that has respect reserved in others’ eyes. I guess I’ll see you around.” I walked back into time. Slid the headphones out of my body’s ears and tossed the ipod back into the backpack. My image would have to wait. I let my ghostly shadow slip back into my body and allowed time to resume once again.

For the rest of the hour I thought about how I was going to explain all the strange things that were now happening to the girl once I had that conversation with her. I kept to myself by ignoring all the stares and the now occasional questions that were thrown at me. I couldn’t help but wonder what this girl’s name was. I considered a lot of them, but none of them seemed to fit. The curiosity eventually became too much to bear and then it hit me that I could now use my abilities! It was against our guidelines to use our special abilities unless it was for the better of the one we were protecting. I let my mind wander throughout the school, looking into the classes, and listening to the conversations and thoughts that went on between the students and faculty searching to find out who she was.

As I was peering into one of the rooms, I caught a glimpse of something that held my interest. Kayla was flaunting herself over a jock. He seemed to be enjoying himself as he was watching her flirt. He began to flirt back, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Is something funny, Mr. Black?” Ms. Birch, my new literature teacher asked. My train of thought was lost within her words and my mind snapped back to the reality I was presently in.  

“No, no. I apologize for the interruption.” I said with a smirk.

“Well, alright than. Please try to control yourself.” She said with a smile. I used my abilities again; this time to hear her thoughts. “Well, this new student sure is an attractive one. I wonder why he transferred to St. Casper High. Nothing exciting happens here. Surely a good looking boy like him must be famous. Maybe he’s doing research on a character he’s going to play in an upcoming movie. Yes, that must be it; why else would he be here? The talent scouts would pick him out of a crowd in a heart beat.” That comment made me almost laugh again. She had no idea that I had in fact been asked to play many roles, but turned them all down because whether they wanted me to or not there was no way I’d show up on screen.  She continued on. “Who would like to give me a summary of the section you had to read for homework in Macbeth?” I ignored the question, with no intention on answering and once again began to search the school for the one I was now responsible for.

Finally, I found her sitting in a science lab, staring at the table with papers scattered in front of her. I searched the classmate’s minds for answers. I caught the same name twice coming from two different people. There was an intelligent looking girl sitting next to my strawberry-blonde haired treasure.

“I hope Claire’s ok. She looked flustered when she walked into class, and then her sudden paleness a few minutes ago, makes me wonder if she’s not coming down with something.” The intelligent looking girl thought. Sitting in the back of the room was a handsome male that stared adoringly at my protection. He also thought the name Claire.

“If only you were mine, Claire.” The male thought and then let out an audible sigh and turned back down and studied a paper that was in front of him. An unfamiliar emotion flooded my body as I heard those words. I tried to push it aside and ignore it, but it still ached deep down.  I didn’t understand what it meant, but wrapping my mind around it seemed too painful somehow.

All in all, at least now I knew what her name was. It was Claire. I was Claire’s protector. Avery protects Claire. I liked the way it sounded. It somehow just sounded right. Like a puzzle that now had all the pieces in their correct spot making a picture. I tried the name out one more time. Claire. Then I let my mind slowly find its way back to its place in literature class all the while holding on to that name and thinking it over and over again so I wouldn’t loose it. Claire.

 © By Amanda Gloth