Bloody Rose
Prelude
They say there is nothing to fear but fear itself, but their dead wrong. Fear is something to be afraid of and I wish I would've listened when he warned me not to go into the forest at night, but I was stubborn and idiotic back then. Now as I stared into the merciless eyes of the dark shadowy figure in front of me, I openly welcomed the already awaiting death that was about to be given to me.
1. First Encounters
The nightmare all started on a dark and stormy night, it was raining and thundering loudly outside my bedroom window. I was lying on my bed tossing and thrashing around. Slowly I felt unconsciousness swallowing me up as I started to fall asleep. In my dream, it was also raining, but I looked around and saw that I was in a dark void; there was no light, nothing except myself in the everlasting darkness. Where am I? I thought to myself as fear started to overcome me. Suddenly, I heard someone, or something chuckling lightly in the darkness that surrounded me. I turned around and all I saw was a pale white glowing hand that was outstretched towards me, as if it was telling me to come here. The mysterious hand frightened me, so I hesitated and I called out "who are u?" I asked the mysterious glowing hand, wondering what it was connected to. Once again, I heard the strange mysterious laughter that I had heard earlier and then I heard a male voice that sounded as sweet as vanilla and as smooth as silk "We will meet soon." Before I could ask what the mysterious voice meant, I heard my mother's voice echoing through the darkness, calling to me with a frantic "Emma, Emma, wake up sweetie."
My eyes shot open and I realized that I had fallen asleep; I looked up to see my mother had a worried look in her eyes. I shook my head as I stared out the window and that's when I realized it was sunny in Atlanta. For some strange reason I felt something wet on the back of my neck and I realized I was sweating. Suddenly, I heard my mother say to me "Emma sweetie, are you alright?" I merely nodded my head and I noticed that she had a bottle of cool water in her hands and she was handing it to me. I gladly accepted the water and I smiled at her "Hey mom, I guess I fell asleep." My mother laughed lightly and then she said in a worried tone "You looked like you were having a nightmare, are you sure your alright Emma?" "Yes mom, I'm fine, it was just a dream." I said, hoping to convince my mother that I was alright. My mother sighed and we didn't bring the subject up again.
I sighed as I slouched in the backseat of my mom's red Honda; I stared outside the window with a bored look on my face. The sky was completely deprived of any clouds and it was very humid in Atlanta. The temperature was seventy-seven degrees. I was wearing my favorite short-sleeved black t-shirt-it had a white skull across the front. It was one of my mom's favorite shirts; she always said I looked cute in it, so I decided to wear it as a goodbye present to her. The item I choose to carry on the plane with me was my black backpack that was hanging loosely on my slender shoulders. I was going to spend sometime with my dad in the gloomy and dull town of Mobile, where the weather was always raining. I was born in Mobile, but my mother fled with me from that dark, troublesome town when I was about three years old. Mobile was now where I was headed, I wasn't really all that happy with going back to that dark abyss where my father lived his life, but I was sadly forced to spend almost every summer there until I was thirteen years old. When I turned thirteen that was when I finally could take no more of it. I was sick of spending the last few summers with my dad Tony, which were always so boring and uninteresting.
But I now forced myself to go back to Mobile and that was not a decision I was proud of myself for. I absolutely hated Mobile, but I would never tell either of my parents this. Mobile wasn't anything like sunny and warm Atlanta.
"Emma," my mother asked me for the hundredth time before I got on the plane "Are you sure you want to do this, I mean we can go back home."
I felt like I was looking into a mirror, my mom was exactly like me, only her jet-black hair is shorter then mine and she was slightly clueless sometimes. I felt like panicking as I stared into my mother's carefree eyes. Why in god's name would I leave my naive and clueless mother to look after herself, even if it was only for a little while? I mean of course she had Alvin, my step-dad, so now they'd be able to spend more time together since they got married, but….
"I really want to see my dad," I told her. I knew I was lying, but I didn't care, I just didn't want my dad to be by himself in Mobile.
"Will you tell Tony I asked how's he doing?"
"I will mom and thanks."
"I'll see you later," she told as she smiled warmly at me. "You can call me whenever you want to come home-Abe and I will come rushing to pick you up ok, Emma?"
"Please mom, I'm seventeen years old now, I'll be fine, promise." I told her, while trying my best not to show I was worried." I love you so much, see ya."
My mother embraced me firmly for a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity to me, and then I boarded the plane and she disappeared from my sight.
It was at least a five-hour drive from Atlanta to Alabama, then another two hours in another plane to Royal Boston, and finally, an hour drive down to Mobile, which was very irritating. The flying wasn't what irritated me; the being in a Chevy Toyota with Tony was what annoyed me though.
Tony was happy that I was coming back to live with him in Mobile again for the first time since I was an infant. Thankfully, he'd already admissioned me into school and hopefully, he'd help me buy a car to drive on my own.
But it was sometimes weird to be with Tony, not that he wasn't cool or anything, but he did really crazy stuff when he was excited, like the time when I saw him doing the chicken dance in his underwear when I was seven, that was embarrassing. Anyone that knew us would say we didn't have a "normal" father-daughter relationship, we weren't really talkative with each other, but we did talk to one another, just not that much. In fact, when it came to talking to Tony, I didn't know what there was to say regardless. I already knew he was going to be way more than a little surprised by my decision, but just like my mother, I didn't hide my strong hatred of Mobile inside me.
When I landed in Royal Boston, it was raining. Typical weather in Mobile, Alabama. I thought to myself as I stared at the glistening rain that was tapping lightly on my window. It wasn't a bad thing-just sadly unavoidable, but then again in Mobile it always rained. I'd already said my farewells to the warm sun the minute I got on the plane.
I saw that Tony was waiting for me with the jeep. This I had already expected, just like the depressing rain. Tony is Major Lieutenant Smith to the people in Mobile. My main motivation behind buying myself a car, was that I absolutely am not allowing my father to drive me around town like a little kid.
Tony gave me a warm hug when I got off the plane when it landed at the airport at 7:30 pm.
"I'm so glad to see you, emms," he said, smiling at me. "My how've you've grown Emma." "How's Rebecca doing now a days?"
"Mom's doing just great. I'm glad to see you too dad." Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to call my dad by his name, it was kinda forbidden.
Thankfully, I had only a few bags with me, so there wasn't much for my dad to help me carry. Most of my clothes were back home in Atlanta. All of my stuff fit easily into the truck of the jeep, which was a good thing.
"I found you a good car, and its really cheap too, I can't wait till you see it Emma." Tony told me excitedly when we got into the jeep and buckled up.
"What type of car is it?" I asked Tony suspiously, I wondered what he meant by "a really cheap car".
"Well, it's a Porsche actually, it's in good condition."
"Where'd you get it from?"
"Do you remember Ray Cyrus down in Port Royal?" Port Royal was a tiny Mexican and Indian reservation on the coast not that far from town.
"Nope."
"He use to go water skiing with us in the summertime, when it wasn't raining." Tony said when he realized I had no idea who he was talking about.
That probably explained why I didn't remember him. I had always been able to block unwanted memories from my mind ever since I was little, it was actually pretty cool.
"Unfortunately, he can't walk anymore," Tony continued when I didn't respond to him " he lost one of his legs in a bear attack, so he can't ever drive again, so he let me have his old car for a real cheap price."
"What year was it made in?" I knew that he was hoping I wouldn't ask that question by the strange, almost horrified look on his face, but I ignored it without even looking at him.
"Well Ray's done tons of work on the engine-it's only a few years old."
If my dad thought I was going to give up just like that, he was dead wrong. "When did he buy it?"
"He bought it in 1975, why?"
"Did he buy it new or old?"
"Well, I think it was originally new in the early seventies, or maybe it was the late seventies, I believe." Tony said bashfully.
"To-Dad, I don't know squat about cars. I wouldn't be able to afford a mechanic if it broke down or something."
"Emma, it runs great."
"How cheap was it?" That was the one part I couldn't understand.
"Well, it's already been bought… as a welcome home present for you emms."
Tony smiled as he stared at me out of the corner of his eye.
Free Porsche, no way.
"Dad, you didn't have to do that, I could've bought my own car, that's what I was planning to do anyway," I said as I stared out the window with a curious look in my eyes. I wondered what my new Porsche would look like, I hoped it wasn't pink, I hated the color pink.
"Oh don't be so modest Emma; I bought it for you because I wanted to, ok?" He was looking straight ahead as he said this. Tony was trying to hide the joy and excitement that was playing in his eyes, but I noticed this and I giggled softly to myself. I decided not to look directly at him, because I didn't want him to get even more excited, so I also looked ahead into the wet, misty fog that was surrounding us as I responded.
"Thanks so much dad, you're the best, I love you." There wasn't a need for Tony to say anything, I knew he just wanted me to be happy in Mobile, but there was a major zero percent chance of me being happy in a town that always rained. But, then again, I had never had a free Porsche before and so I was looking forward to seeing it.
"Your welcome, Emma, I hope you like it." Tony mumbled softly, his face turned slightly red from embarrassment at my sudden thanks and appreciation for the car. But, I smiled happily, knowing that I was making my dad at least a little bit happy.
After that we only exchanged a few more comments about how I was enjoying living with my mom and Abe, school, and that was about it for talking between us. For the remainder of the ride, we both stared out the side windows of my dad's jeep in pure, yet awkward silence, which was fine by me.
Suddenly, I noticed that it was devastatingly beautiful outside, everything was completely brown: the trees, their branches, and even the ground. In fact, the sky was somewhat brown through the leaves, which were decorated in autumn colors. It was kinda strange-it was like being on a foreign land where everything was brown.
Eventually we arrived at Tony's house. He lived in a big two-story house that he and my mom had bought back when they were married. Then, there, parked in the street where my father's house that hadn't changed ever since I was born was my new-well sorta new- Porsche. It was painted a faded blue color, but to my shock-I instantly fell in love with it. My eyes sparkled with joy as I hastily jumped out the jeep and I ran to my new car, Tony laughed when he saw my hugging my car and he could tell that I loved it. I ran up to him and I hugged him tightly around his waist, Tony blushed and he gently hugged me back, seeing how much I really loved my new car.
"Oh my god, dad, I love it. It's says "I maybe old but I'm hot." The good news was at least now I wouldn't have to choose between walking to school in the pouring rain or having the major drive me to school in his jeep. My father was a police officer and also a former U.S. marine before I was born, but he isn't in the military anymore, so he now worked as a police officer on the force at the police station downtown. Even though he's no longer a marine, people still call him Major Lieutenant Smith.
"I'm glad you love it Emma, now could you please let go of me, your suffocating me." Tony said as his face turned scarlet as he was once again embarrassed by my sudden show of affection.
Thankfully, it took only a single trip for me to get all of my stuff up to my room on the second floor of my dad's house. I stayed in the bedroom on the right side of the house that faced the front yard. My room had a balcony connected to it, which was closed off thanks to two-pane glass doors with golden rim handles on them. The room hadn't changed much over the past few years, still the same oak wooden floors; same old huge ceiling that could give a great view of the stars if you pressed the left light switch by my bedroom door. The same old maroon colored curtains that were covering up the doors to my balcony. The same old room from the early parts of my childhood before my mother took me away to live in Atlanta, Georgia for a great period of my life. Tony had added a queen-sized bed and he'd taken my crib out and he'd also added a desk and a computer that ran very fast, so that my mom and I could talk more while I was here. Tony had given me the computer and desk for my tenth birthday. The only thing that he hadn't taken out of my room from my baby days was my old mahogany rocking chair, which was sitting next to my computer desk.
In Tony's house, there were about three bathrooms at the top of the stairs, one for me, one for Tony, and one for guests, but if the first two bathrooms were occupied then I was forced to share a bathroom with Tony until the other two bathrooms were empty and sharing a bathroom with Tony was not a nice experience, especially if he had to use it really bad and that was something I didn't want to look forward to any time soon.
Thankfully, unlike most dads, Tony was a little more carefree and he didn't bother me when I was in my room, unless he was joking around with me, or he was checking on me. Other then that he left me in my room to unpack my stuff and get comfortable, which my mother couldn't handle without standing behind me as I unpacked my stuff like I was three years old again. I was very happy to be able to be myself in my room, it was the one place where I didn't have to smile and act like I was happy when I really wasn't. It was a silent relief to be able to stare out my window into the tearing rain and to let some of my tears escape my eyes. I wasn't about to have a tear festival, I was holding those tears back for nighttime, when I was staring at the stars from my ceiling as I was thinking about the soon approaching morning that awaited me tomorrow.
Mobile High School had a total of only seven-hundred and eighty-nine-now including me- ninety students. There were about nine hundred and seventy students back home in my junior class at my old school. Most of the kids here had known each other since their diaper days.
I was going to be the new girl that came from the big city of Atlanta- I was probably going to be a curiosity and an outsider here.
Maybe, if I dressed like a girl from Atlanta did, and then maybe things wouldn't be too bad. But sadly, I wasn't tan, sporty, or blonde- nor was I a tracker runner or a cheerleader; I was none of those things that went with living in the big city, where the sun always shined.
Instead, I was not too pale, and not too dark either, I was slender with long hair and I didn't have blue eyes either. My hand-eye coordination wasn't all that great with sports; I rarely offered to play any of the sports in gym. I had a bad habit of tripping over anything or anyone that was in my way-harming myself and the other people that were too close to me.
When I was done putting my clothes away, I took my bag of bathroom supplies and went into my bathroom, cleaned myself up after the long hours that I had to travel just to get here. Then I brushed through my wet, tangled hair as I stared at myself in my pine oval-shaped mirror. I couldn't tell if it was just the light or me, but I noticed I looked somewhat unhealthy. My face was completely deprived of any color in it, but I sighed and continued brushing my hair.
As I stared at my parallel reflection in the mirror, I forced myself to admit I was lying to myself about my looks. I realized that I didn't really relate to people in my age group, or maybe it was that I didn't relate to others at all. Sometimes, my own mother and I were never exactly on the same page with each other. I wondered if there was something wrong with me.
I did not have a good night's sleep that night even after I was done crying and staring at the stars from my ceiling. Unfortunately, due to the rain and the violent whooshing of the wind I wasn't able to go to sleep till twilight, when the wind and rain had died down into a quieter breeze.
Fog was all I saw the next morning outside my window, I suddenly felt fear started to overtake me again, just like in my dream I had had yesterday. The sky could never be seen in this dark town, it was like being in a cage with no way out.
Breakfast with Tony was an extremely silent event. He'd wished me good luck as he headed out to door after breakfast. I thanked him with a fake smile on my face, knowing that his hope was in vain. Good luck was my mortal enemy; it was avoiding me as much as possible. Tony had gone off to the police station where his follow officers were calling him to fight in the war known as doughnuts. After he left, I stared at the huge kitchen from one of the oak chairs that was sitting around his old orchard table. I examined his kitchen thoroughly with its white hard walls, baby-blue cabinets, and marble tile floors. My mother had painted the cabinets nineteen years ago, hoping to bring some, if not a little sunlight into my father's dark and dreary house. Over the fireplace, that went all the way to the ceiling in my father's bakery-sized family room was a huge row of pictures. The first one was a wedding picture of Tony and my mom in Hawaii for their honeymoon, then one of all three of us on the day I was born in the hospital, it was taken by one of my mom's friends that was working as a nurse there, finally those two pictures were followed by my school pictures all the way up to last year's, during my junior year. I felt embarrassed and ashamed as I realized that Tony had never gotten over my mom.
I couldn't take it anymore; I was suffocating while I was in that house. It made me feel uncomfortable being in my father's house, so I quickly put on my jacket and walked out the door into the rain.
It was still drizzling outside, but not enough to soak my clothes. I grabbed the key that was hidden under the welcome doormat by the door and I quickly locked up. The sloshing of the water on my new water-resistant boots and the whooshing of the wind was unbearable. I missed the normal crunching of leaves under my feet as I walked towards my car.
Inside my car, it was nice and dry. Either Ray or Tony must've cleaned it out, the black leather seats slightly smelled like spearmint. The engine quickly started to life. That I wasn't expecting from a car this old and to add to my surprise, the antique radio also worked.
Searching for my new school wasn't even the least bit difficult, even though I'd never even been there before. The school was just off the highway; there was only a sign that said it was Mobile High School that caused me to turn into the parking lot. It was as huge as an apartment complex, made with magenta-colored bricks. Despite all the trees and shrubs, I could still see its size.
I quickly parked in front of the first building, the sign on the door read Registration and Front Office. No one was parked there, so I decided to park there just to ask for directions, instead of driving around the parking lot in the rain like a retard. I unwillingly stepped out of my warm Porsche and I walked down the marble stone path and I took a deep breath before I opened the office door.
Inside the office, it was well lit, almost blindingly bright and a lot warmer then I was expecting. The office was huge, a medium-sized waiting area with padded wooden stools and gray folding chairs, and red and black carpets with the school's name on it. There were notes and awards covering the walls, a mini watchtower clock that was ticking loudly by the receptionist's desks. There were tons of flowers that were growing everywhere in tons of plastic pots all around the room, it was as if there weren't enough plants outside. The room was divided into thirds by two long counters. The receptionist was a heavy-weighted blonde-haired woman that had a huge zit on her face. She wore a dark brown t-shirt, which made me think of my old third-grade science teacher Mrs. Brown.
The blonde-haired receptionist looked up at me and she said calmly "Can I help you with something?"
"I'm Emmally Smith," I told her and I saw the sparkle in her eyes as if she already knew who I was. I sighed and I could see I was most likely the subject of gossip in this town. The major's daughter finally comes home after seventeen years of absence.
The receptionist swiftly searched through a stack of papers till she found what she was looking for. "Here you go, here's a map of the school and here's your schedule, now you have a nice day Miss Smith." The blonde receptionist said after she had gone through all of my classes for me and highlighted the quickest route to each of them and then she handed me a slip of paper to have all of my teachers sign and then I was to return the slip back to her after school was over. She smiled at me, she was probably hoping, just like my dad that I would enjoy living in Mobile. I smiled back at her, knowing that just like Tony, her hope was sadly in vain.
When I arrived back at my car, I saw other students were starting to arrive. I silently followed the line of traffic in front of me. I was glad to see that most of the cars and trucks were old, just like mine, none of them were flashy. Back in Atlanta, I lived in the Madison Square District. It was a common thing in Atlanta to see a new Honda or Mitsubishi in the student parking lot at my old school. The two nicest cars here were two sparkling Volvos, one black, the other red; they probably stood out with all the other cars here. I wondered who they belonged to. Once I had found a parking spot, I quickly cut the engine to my car so no one would hear the thunderous roar from it, even though I knew my car didn't make much noise.
I quickly tried to memorize my school map in my car. Hopefully, I wouldn't need to walk around with it stuck in my nose like a book all day. Once I decided I had memorized the map enough, I threw all of my things into my backpack, slugged it over my shoulders and I took a deep breathe to try to relax myself. I can do this, its not like someone's going to bite my head off., I told myself as I tried to think positively, but I knew I wasn't convincing myself in the least bit. I sighed and exhaled the long breath I was holding in and I stepped out of my car and headed to class.
I made sure my face was hidden inside my hood. I didn't want anyone to see my face as I walked towards the sidewalk filled with rowdy teenagers.
Once I had made it pass the cafeteria, which was about the size of a restaurant, building four was easy to spot, despite the towering rain that was shielding my vision. There was a huge "4" painted in thick black paint on the wooden pine door. I could feel my breathing creeping towards the point to where it was starting to become hyperventilation as I was slowly approaching the door to my first class. That's when I noticed there were two other kids in front of me. I quickly followed them into the classroom and I noticed that the classroom was as big as a kitchen. The two kids that were in front of me stopped inside the door to put their rain jackets on a huge row of hooks. I quickly hung my jacket on the rack just like the other kids did. I noticed that the two kids that had walked into the kitchen-sized classroom before me were both girls. One of them was a pastel-colored brunette, and the other who was also pale, had short blonde hair with red highlights in it. I was glad my skin didn't stand out here, but it wasn't pale like the two girls standing in front of me.
I quietly took my sign-in slip to my teacher, a tall bald man who looked to be about 6"4 and his nameplate identified him as Mr. Evans. He had bored blue eyes, and he wore thin glasses. He rolled his eyes at me when he saw my name, which was not real welcoming reaction that I was expecting from a teacher. Thankfully, he sent me to a seat all the way in the back of the enormous classroom without introducing me to the class. I was silently praying that my classmates would have a very hard time staring at me from all the way in the back of the room, but somehow they seemed to manage it without even trying. I could feel their curious stares on me, but I kept my head down on the reading list Mr. Evans had given me. It was fairly basic: Shakespeare, and Faulkner. I'd already read about these two during my first two years in high school, so it was boring and homey at the same time. I wondered if my mother would send me my old essays and reports, or would she probably want me to think of something different to write for this school year. I disputed with my mom in my head while Mr. Evans dragged on and on during the whole class period.
When the bell rang to end first period, a tall lean looking boy with hair blacker then mine and slick like he had used too much gel or grease on it, leaned across the aisle to talk to me. As to why he would talk to a newcomer like me, I wasn't sure, but I decided to be polite, eventhough I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.
"You're Emmally Smith, right?" He looked like the extra helpful genius type that could get good grades without even studying at all.
"Emma," I told him in a calm voice, eventhough I was slightly annoyed with the way people kept calling me emmally. Suddenly, everyone that was in a three to five seat radius turned to look at me, but the boy didn't seem to care as he continued to talk to me.
"Where's your next class?" He asked as he stared at me with curiosity in his happy dark-brown eyes.
Unfortunately, I couldn't for the life of me remember what exactly my next class was, so I checked my backpack for my schedule. "Umm, World History with Rothfield, in building seven I think."
There wasn't anywhere to look without being met by a pair of curious eyes all around me as the boy and I continued to talk.
"I'm heading towards building eleven, I can show you the way if u want me to… This guy is definitely overly helpful, I thought to myself. "Oh by the way, I'm Arthur," He said as he held out his hand like he wanted me to shake it while he was smiling politely at me.
I smiled back at him hesitantly "Thanks and it's nice to meet you Arthur," I said as I shook his hand swiftly and I then pulled my hand away from his, hoping he wasn't thinking I liked him, or anything.
We then grabbed our jackets off the rack and we headed out into the pouring rain outside, which hadn't let up at all. I was positive I saw a few people from our last class following us as if they were trying to get close enough to eavesdrop on our conversation. I prayed that I wasn't imagining things.
"So how's life in Atlanta compared to here?" Arthur asked me as we walked down the hall towards the cafeteria.
"It's… different, let's just keep it that way, okay?"
"Does it rain there often?" He asked as he nodded his head, complying with my wish to drop the subject about whether, or not I like Mobile.
"Not really, mostly it rains about three to four times a year, unlike here." I said jokingly.
"Cool, it rains here a lot you know." He said laughing, hoping to make me feel comfortable around him.
"You know Emma, I noticed that you don't look very tan, nor are you too light either." He added as he studied me like I was an open book.
"My parents are Cambodian."
Arthur stared at me with a skeptical look on his face and I sighed. I sadly realized that parents and a sense of humor didn't mix to well. If things kept going on like this for a few more months, I'd probably forget how to use sarcasm.
We walked silently back around the cafeteria, towards the south buildings by the gymnasium. Arthur watched as I walked to the gym door and he smiled at me.
"Well good luck," He said as I was reaching for the gym door.
"Maybe we'll have some other classes together, see ya later." Arthur said in a hopeful voice.
I smiled back at Arthur as I disappeared behind the gym door.
The rest of the school morning was about the same as first and second period. My Calculus teacher, Mr. Draco, who I hated not only because of the subject he taught, but mostly because he was the only one who made me introduce myself in front of the entire class, which was unbelievably embarrassing, because I stuttered, blushed like crazy and I almost tripped over my own boots, but thankfully, I caught myself just in time, but everyone still laughed at me.
After my next two classes, which were Art and French, I started to recognize some of the kids in each class. The good news was that there was always someone who was braver then the others, who would kindly introduce themselves and they'd ask me questions about what my life was like in Atlanta. Mostly, I lied a lot and told them it was okay, just too hot. But, I was very happy I didn't need the school map after all.
One of the girls, who sat with me in both Art and French, walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was more built then I was, with long wavy lite-brown hair that went to her waist and she was about the same height as my five foot three, if she wasn't an inch or two shorter, but she didn't seem to mind. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember her name, but I noticed that her eyes were shifting different colors every second, I didn't want to offend her by asking her why her eye color kept changing, so I just smiled and nodded as the other girls that were also from my Art class rambled on and on about teachers, boys and classes; Even though, neither I nor the first girl from my Art class tired to keep up with the conversation.
The four of us sat the end of a huge table with a few of her friends, who the other two girls kindly introduced me to, even thought I forgot their names after they said them. The boy from my English class, Arthur, waved at me from across the cafeteria. I decided to be polite, so I waved back at him.
It was there in the massive and crowd lunch room that I first layed my eyes on them.
All ten of them were sitting in a far off corner of the cafeteria, none of them were eating. I noticed that the girl from my art class was also staring at them. Each of their trays were laying untouched in front of them. Thankfully, none of them were staring or giving me strange looks like the others had today, so it was safe enough to look at them without fearing being stared down by curious eyes. However, that wasn't why I couldn't keep my eyes off them.
The girl from my Art class and I both noticed that the ten kids we were staring at didn't look the least bit similar. Out of the six boys, one of them that looked to be the oldest had short wavy black-brown hair; the other boy sitting across from him had light curly hair, and they both looked like professional wrestlers. The next two boys looked taller, less muscular then the first two, but they were both still very strong-looking with the bodies of a lion; one of them had strawberry-blonde hair that went everywhere like a porcupine with quills. The other boy had rusty dark-brown hair that went to his ears in short curls. The last two boys were leaner, less muscular then their brothers, one of them had unruly snow-white hair and the other had unkempt silver hair. They both were more boyish-looking then the other boys, who looked like they were in College instead of High School. For some reason the boy with unruly snow-white hair reminded me of the strange boy from my dream that I had before I came here.
That's when the girl from my art class and I turned our attention to the four girls, they all looked like complete opposites of one another. The two tallest ones had beautiful bodies; they looked like the type of girls that made every single girl hit on them because of their beauty. One of them had dark reddish-brown hair that gently flew down to her waist; the other girl had strawberry-blonde hair that fell to her hips in long layers. The last two girls we saw were both thin, but not to the extreme, they had the bodies of a dancer, or model, with small curvy features that showed eventhough they had such fragile, almost breakable looking bodies like a chinese doll made of glass. One of the girls had silky straight onyx-black hair with red highlights at the ends of it, which went to her shoulders, the other girl had dark-brown hair that if you didn't look closely, you would've actually thought it was black, it went to her waist with silver tips at the ends of it.
But that didn't matter because they all looked the same, all ten of them had ghostly pale skin, they were the palest out of all the students in this sun deprived town. They were even paler then me, the Cambodian even though I wasn't pale at all. They all had abnormally dark eyes, regardless of their different hair tones. We also noticed that they had dark sores under their eyes, the first five had bluish sleep-deprived looking sores and the other five had purple sores. They all looked like they hadn't had a good night's sleep, or like they all were wearing mascara that had gotten messed up because they were crying, but I couldn't tell if they had been crying or not.
However, this wasn't why we couldn't keep our eyes off them.
We were mesmerized by their faces, each so different, yet so much alike in many ways that were all devastatingly beautiful. They all looked like angels that had descended from the heavens to this dull, gruesome town. I think me and the girl from my Art class found it very hard to decided which one of them was the most beautiful, but it was out of the strawberry-blonde girl, the white-haired boy and the silver-haired boy, we just couldn't decide and so that mystery remained sadly unsolved.
We noticed that they all were staring each other, but they weren't making direct eye-contact with one another; they seemed to be looking away from each other and the other students as well. We watched the two smallest girls rise from their seats with quick felinely grace as they went to dump their trays and then they swiftly, yet silently like the wind, glided out the cafeteria door faster then normal human beings. After they had left, we turned our attention back to the other eight that remained at the table; it was as if they hadn't noticed the two girls had left at all.
"Who are those kids over there?" I asked the three girls from my art class, whose names I couldn't remember at the moment.
The first two looked up and knew instantly who I was talking about, but the last girl, the girl with long wavy lite-brown hair didn't even respond, I guessed she was still staring at the silver-haired boy. Suddenly, I noticed that the white-haired boy was staring at me, but as soon as I looked back at him, he looked away quickly, I noticed this and I dropped my head on the table to distract myself. I looked out of the corner of my eye at the girl with wavy lite-brown hair and I was shocked that she was still staring at the silver-haired boy; it was almost as if she wasn't worried about him staring back at her. The other two girls that sat with us also noticed this but they didn't seem to mind until suddenly, I saw that the silver-haired boy and the white-haired boy were looking straight at my three neighbors, it was almost as if they had said something to them and they had looked up based on their involuntary impulse, but they'd already decided not to answer them.
My first two neighbors giggled, they both probably felt nervous with the strange stares the white and silver-haired boys were giving them. Both of them were looking down at the floor under the table, while the girl with long wavy lite-brown hair kept her eyes on the boy with silver hair.
"Those kids over there are Will and Keoni Kleins, Daniel and Rupert Ronins, Kanna and Ron Cage, Esmeralda and Jack Phillips, and the two little girls that just left were Ava Kleins and Angel Ronins, their the youngest, I think; their all live with Dr. Kleins and Dr. Ronins and their wives Aurora and Anastasia." One of the girls said as she giggled softly under her breathe.
I stared at the two enchanting boys; they were staring at their trays, picking away at the pizza on their trays with their long white fingers. I noticed that their mouths were moving rapidly and their pale lips looked like they were barely opening at all. Their other six siblings were still not speaking to each other and looking pass each other without blinking, and yet it felt like they were talking to the others silently without needing to move their lips much at all.
Suddenly, like a bolt of electricity had just been shot to my brain, I finally remembered that my neighbors' names were Heather, Jennifer, and Maya. Heather and Jennifer both had long chestnut-brown hair, but Heather had blonde highlights in her hair, while Jennifer had black highlights in hers, which both went to their waist just like Maya.
"They're very….interesting." I said as I struggled to find the right words to say about the insanely beautiful teens that were sitting across from me in the far off table.
'Yeah they are." Jennifer said and Heather agreed with another giggle, I noticed Maya was still staring at the silver-haired boy. She seemed almost in a trance-like state as she stared at him, Heather and Jennifer noticed this as well, but they ignored it and Jennifer said "They're all taken though-Rupert and Kanna are together, Keoni is with Esmeralda, Jack is with Ava, and Ron is with little Angel. The only ones that aren't with anyone are Daniel and Will…" Suddenly, Jennifer trailed off, her twin noticed this and she giggled again, but this time in amusement.
"But the ten of them all live together… in the same house I believe." Heather said as she finished her twin's sentence without hesitating.
"Which ones are the Kleins and which are the Ronins?" I asked to Jennifer and Heather in a curious voice, seeing as how Maya wasn't responding to anything we said. "They don't look like their blood related."
"Oh, their not… related by blood that is. Both Dr. Kleins and Dr. Ronins are very young for their age, we think they might be in their in early twenties, and they're all adopted, none of them are related, except the Cages and the Phillips's, and the four of them are twins-the redheads and the brunettes. The doctors and their wives adopted them when they were young." Heather and Jennifer said at the same time, which kind of freaked me out a little bit, but Maya didn't seem to notice at all, so I guessed that this was Heather and Jennifer's normal behavior.
"They seem too old to be foster children, shouldn't they be in college, or something right now?" I asked Heather and Jennifer with a confused look on my face.
"Well now they are, Ron, Kanna, Jack, and Esmeralda are all eighteen, but we heard that Mrs. Kleins and Mrs. Radcliff have adopted them since they were about eight, or so." Heather and Jennifer once again said at the same time.
"That's really generous of them to take care of all ten of those kids at such a young age and all."
"I guess, but still that's a lot of kids," Jennifer said roughly. For some reason I was starting to get the feeling that Jennifer didn't like the doctors or their wives, and with the weird looks she was giving their eight adopted children, I guessed the two main reasons for those looks were envy and jealousy. Heather and Maya must've also noticed the strange looks that Jennifer that was giving the eight gorgeously beautiful teens, because I saw Maya's eyes turn red as if she was angry. Heather must've kicked her twin in the leg under the table to where I couldn't see, because I saw Jennifer slightly jump from her seat while she was rubbing her now bruised leg in pain. Maya glared at Jennifer and she said in a low threatening voice "Jennifer, shut up, or else I'll kick u harder then Heather did, got it?" Jennifer looked slightly frightened by Maya's intimidating glare, Heather sighed, but Jennifer ignored it and she said softly "I think neither Mrs. Kleins, not Mrs. Radcliff are able to have kids anymore, so that's probably why they adopted all those kids." She added as she rolled her eyes at Maya. I guess she thought that statement would loosen the Ronins and the Kleins's kindness for adopting so many kids, even though they couldn't have kids of their own.
As the boring conversation with Jennifer dragged on, Maya and I kept our eyes on the two strange families as they continued to look pass each other and not eat anything on their trays.
"How long have they lived here, I mean… Have they always lived down here in Mobile?" I asked Jennifer, Heather and Maya after Jennifer and Maya were done arguing and glaring ay each other. Maybe I had seen them during one of my summers here when I was younger, but I didn't remember ever seeing them at all.
"No, they just moved down here two years ago from somewhere in Asia, we think." Jennifer and Heather responded in perfect harmony, it was almost like they were singing. I wondered if they enjoyed saying stuff at the same time, because they kept saying the same stuff like mocking birds.
I felt an overwhelming wave of pity and comfort wash over me. I felt comfort because I was glad that I wasn't the only new kid here, but I also felt pity because as magnificently and enchantingly beautiful as each of them were, they were foreigners and they were considered freaks at this school.
As Maya and I studied them, one of the Ronins looked up and he met my wandering gaze, this time I saw there was uttermost curiosity on his face. I looked away quickly, for some reason it seemed to me that his eyes held some kind of unmet requirement, or longing for something as to what it was, I didn't know. It was like an unsolved puzzle that I wanted so badly to solve.
"Who's the white-haired boy and who's the silver-haired boy?" I asked Heather, Jennifer, and Maya even though, Maya was too bust staring at the silver-haired boy that was sitting by the white-haired boy. I shyly stared at the white-haired boy out of the corner of my eye, and I noticed that he was still staring at me, but thankfully he wasn't gazing at me with weird looks like the others had today-which I was happy about, but I noticed he had a annoyed, or rather angry look on his face. I quickly looked down at the table again, not wanting to look at him out of embarrassment.
"That's Daniel and the other boy that Maya is staring at is named Will. They're both very handsome aren't they, but neither of you should waste your time on them, they don't date at all. It would seem that none of the girls here are beautiful enough for them, or maybe they just don't like any of the girls here." Heather and Jennifer sniffed sadly, apparently this was a case of rotten tomatoes, Maya and I looked at each other and then we sighed. We felt sorry for Heather and Jennifer; we wondered when they'd had been turned down by the two beautiful boys.
I bit down of my bottom lip to try to hide my grin, and then I glanced at the white and silver-haired boys again. I noticed that their cheeks were lifted up; it was almost looked like they were smiling, but I couldn't really tell because their faces were turned away from my view.
After Maya and I continued to watch the two boys and their "siblings" for a few more minutes, we saw the eight of them leave the table together. In that instant it had occurred us that they were all unbelievably graceful, despite their figures-even the oldest looking boys. I found it very unnerving to watch as they were leaving the cafeteria. The boys named Daniel and Will didn't even look back at me and Maya again as they silently walked out of the cafeteria.
I sat at the table with Jennifer, Heather, and Maya longer then I should have. I wasn't really anxious to be early to class, but I knew that if I was late then it would probably make a bad impression on my teachers and they would probably think that I was bad student that would always be late to their class and I didn't want that. As it turned out, Maya had Biology I with me; it made me feel little less nervous knowing that I would have a friend with me to face my new classmates as they ambushed me with questions. As we made our way to Biology I with our new friend Amanda, who had to constantly remind me that was her name, she seemed calm about going to class, but I wasn't the least bit calm at all. All three of us walked to class in silence, I noticed that Maya and Amanda were both somewhat shy just like I was, which was completely different from Maya's attitude at lunch. I wondered if she had multiple-personality disorder, or something.
When we entered the classroom, which looked like a laboratory more then a classroom, Amanda went to sit at a gray-topped lad table, just like the ones back at my old school. I noticed that Amanda already had a partner. That's when I noticed that Maya was still standing beside me; she looked like she was lost. I sighed and I asked her in a calm voice "Would you like to sit with me, Maya?" To my surprise, Maya responded in a timid, almost silent voice "Sure, umm sorry about what happened at lunch today. I was just mad at Jennifer that's all. Heather might punish her when they get home though." I merely gave Maya a warm smile and I shook my head "Nah don't worry about it. I mean it was Jennifer's fault for saying all those unnecessary things." Suddenly Maya's eyes turned back to their normal caramel-brown color, and she smiled back at me. That's when we both noticed that all the tables were completely occupied except for two. In the center aisle of the lab-looking classroom, Maya and I were shocked as we both recognized that Daniel Ronins and Will Kleins by their silver and white hair and that's when we noticed that they were sitting next to the last two seats in the classroom.
As Maya and I slowly walked towards the teacher's desk to introduce ourselves and get our slips signed, we were watching Daniel and Will intensely. What I didn't realize until Maya had gotten her slip back from the teacher, was that she was also new here. Maya noticed that I was staring at her and as if she had read my mind, she said in a low voiced to where the teacher couldn't hear her "I was born here, but I went to a different school during my freshmen and sophomore years, it's my first year here." All I did was nod my head and we walked towards our seats.
As we passed by them, we noticed Will and Daniel had shifted slightly in their seats. They were both staring at us, Daniel was staring at me and Will locked his eyes on Maya, meeting out eyes with the strangest looks on their faces- there was frustration and annoyance. We both looked away from them quickly, and with both of our faces turning red in embarrassment. I almost tripped over a book that was laying in the walkway of the aisle, but I quickly caught myself on the edge of a nearby table. The girl that was sitting there giggled in a taunting tone, Maya sent the girl a death glare, causing her eyes to turn red with anger, the girl shuddered in fear and Maya smirked as she helped me steady myself.
I noticed that Daniel and Will's eyes were black-like a dark void.
Mr. Thomas then handed us each a textbook without making us introduce ourselves to the class. Maya and I could tell we were going to get along well with our Biology teacher. But we hated him instantly because he had absolutely no choice but to send us to the two seats in the middle of the room, where everyone could see us. We both kept our eyes down as we went to go sit by them; Maya and I were confused as to why they were giving us such despising looks.
Neither I nor Maya looked up at them as we set our books on the lab table and we took our seats, but out of the corners of our eyes, we saw their posture had changed. They had weird looks on their faces, like they smelled something horrible. Subconsciously, Maya and I both sniffed our own hair and then each others. Hers smelled like lavender and vanilla, and mine smelled like melon and cucumbers. They seemed like nice smelling fragrances, we wondered why Daniel and Will were acting so strange around us. I let my hair fall back over my shoulders and Maya let hers glide down to her waist silently. We were hoping we could at least try to pay attention to the teacher, so we separated the four of us by making light and dark curtains with our hair.
Unluckily for us, the lecture Mr. Thomas was teaching us was on Reproductive Cellular Construction, which I had already studied back home. Maya suddenly passed me a note, it read: I already studied this stuff, I think those two boys don't like us Emma. She wrote in perfect cursive handwriting. I quickly wrote back to her: Yeah I know, I wonder why, I mean we don't even know each other, what's wrong with them? I wrote as neatly as I could, and then handed the note back to Maya. Maya and I decided to write notes, despite the fact that we'd already studied it and we always kept looking down at the table, hoping that Daniel and Will weren't looking at us anymore.
Maya and I couldn't resist from staring through the screens of our hair at the two strange boys sitting next to us. Throughout the whole period, neither of them relaxed their postures on the edges of their seats, keeping their distance from us as much as possible. We could see their hands were balled into tight fists on each of their legs, their veins and tendons were standing out underneath their ghost-colored skin. But, they never relaxed, not even a little bit. They had the long sleeves of their black shirts rolled back to their lean elbows, and we noticed that their arms were unrealistically hard and very robust despite that they had lean arms. We also noticed that they weren't nearly as brawny as their older brothers.
Unfortunately, class was dragging on a lot longer then the others had today, excluding lunch. I wondered whether it was because Maya and I knew our first day of school was finally ending, or because we were anxiously waiting for Daniel and Will's unyielding fists to loosen from their bound grip? Sadly to our disappointment, they never loosened their grip on their legs, it was almost as if they were dead, or not even breathing at all. We both exchanged confused looks at one another as we wondered whether, or not this was their ordinary demeanor. Suddenly, we both pondered our opinion on Jennifer's enmity at lunch today. Perhaps she wasn't as envious of them as we thought she was.
We glanced at them once more, and we both swiftly regretted it at immediately. They were both glaring at us once more, just like they had during lunch; their ebony eyes were full of loathing. As Maya and I quivered away from them, cowering in fear against our chairs, suddenly the idiom Beauty is the Beast ran through our heads at the same time as we gazed at Daniel and Will. As to how it was possible for Maya and I to be thinking the same thing at the same time, was another mystery that neither of us knew the answer to.
At that exact instant, the bell rang clamorously over the intercom speakers that were directly above us, making me and Maya bounce out of our seats and after the bell rang Daniel Ronins and Will Kleins were out of their seats. Fluent like water, they both rose from their seats, we noticed that they were a lot taller then we'd both thought- their backs were to us and in a flash, they were out of the classroom before anyone else was out of their seats.
Maya and I sat immovable in our seats, both of us gazing expressionlessly after them. They were so cruel to us and for no reason. I sluggishly began gathering my things, trying to repress the anger that was desperate to consume me. Maya had already gathered up her stuff and she sat there, waiting on me without saying a word to me. I noticed her eyes were red once again. I assumed she was angry, but she refused to say anything at all. For some unknown reason, it felt like my rage was connected to my tears in my eyes. I regularly cried when I was upset, it was an embarrassing habit I had.
"Are you two girls Emmally Smith and Maya Shaw?" A soft male voice asked Maya and I.
Maya and I looked up slowly from our desks to see two innocent-faced boys, one of them had black hair with a white streak going through it and the other boy had blond spiky hair that stuck out like he had been attacked by static electricity. They were both smiling at us in a neighborly way that was welcoming. Apparently, neither of them thought we smelled bad at all.
"It's emma and miya." Maya and I corrected the two boys with smiles on our faces.
"I'm Matthew and this is my younger brother Martin," The boy with black hair said as he pointed to the boy next to him.
"Hi there." Martin said as he smiled at Maya in a timid voice Maya smiled back warmly at him.
"It's very nice to meet you Matthew and Martin." Maya and I said at the same time slightly amazing ourselves.
"Do you two require an escort to your next classes?" Matthew and Martin asked us with optimistic looks in their dark-brown eyes. Maya and I both shook our heads at the same time.
"We're actually headed to the gym and I think we can figure out where it by ourselves thanks."
"Cool, gym's my next class too, but Martin's got band next period!" Matthew said as he once again pointed to his younger brother. He appeared excited even though, it wasn't weird to have the same classes in a school this massive.
The four of us walked to class together, after we had reached the band hall, we dropped Martin off and then we walked to gym together. As it turned out Matthew and Martin were from Colorado, they had lived there ever since they were ten years old. Matthew also told us that he and Martin were only a few minutes apart, but they were twins. We didn't see much of a similarity between them, except their faces. Matthew must've noticed this because he chuckled lightly and he said "Martin just recently dyed his hair blonde, it was originally black." "Oh we didn't know." Maya and I said as we both blushed from embarrassment. What surprised me was that, just like Arthur, Matthew was also in my English class. Besides Maya, Matthew and his twin Martin were the nicest people I'd met all day.
However, as we approached the gym, Matthew asked us curiously "Did you two stab Daniel Ronins and Will Kleins in the side with a knife or something; they looked like they were in intense pain or something. I don't think Martin and I have ever seen them act like that before."
Maya and I felt as if a knife was being stabbed into our backs and we winced in pain at Matthew's observation. So it looks like we weren't the only ones who had seen Daniel Ronins's and Will Kleins's strange behavior during Biology today and evidently this wasn't their normal behavior at all. Instead of telling Matthew the truth, Maya and I pretended to play stupid.
"Were those the boys we sat next to in Biology?" Maya and I asked Matthew simply as if we didn't know who he was talking about.
"Yes, those were the two boys you guys sat next to in biology." Matthew said calmly.
"We didn't know sorry, we're both not good with remembering people's names, let alone their faces." Maya and I said at the same time without thinking about it. "We've never spoken to them, so we wouldn't know anything about them." I guessed we were scaring Matthew a little bit because we kept saying things at the same time, but he didn't seem to care.
"Their both odd guys, that's why no one talks to them," Matthew said as he stayed by me and Maya instead of heading into the boys' locker room. "If Martin and I were lucky enough to seat by you two beautiful ladies then we would've talked to you both, but sadly it didn't work out that way."
Maya and I smiled at Matthew warmly before we walked through the girls' locker room. He was very friendly and definitely idolizing. However, it wasn't nearly acceptable to erase the enrage and frustration Maya and I felt from the harsh treatment that we'd suffered during Biology.
Our gym teacher, Coach Washington, a tall lady with caramel-colored skin and dark-brown eyes, found Maya and I some uniforms and thankfully, neither of us had to dress out today. Back home, only one year of P.E. was required, but here all four years of P.E. were required to graduate here. Mobile was definitely my official hell and I hated it with a burning passion.
Maya and I watched five basketball games run coincidently in front of us, though neither of us were paying any attention to them. I was remembering how many injuries I had suffered and given others when I played basketball, volleyball or any kind of sports. My stomach felt woozy and Maya turned green in the face, she looked like she was about to throw up.
Finally, the last bell rang at last. Maya and I walked sluggishly to the front office to return our paperwork. The rain had finally stopped, but in its place was a strong wind that was colder then before. We wrapped our arms around ourselves to keep our bodies from freezing.
When we walked into the toasty office, we almost instantly turned around and walked back outside when we saw the two boys at the front desk.
Daniel Ronins and Will Kleins both stood at the desk in front of us. We both remembered their unruly and unkempt silver and snow-white hair. They didn't notice that we had entered the room and we stood with our backs pressed against the back wall, waiting patiently for the receptionist to through with them.
They looked like they were arguing with her in low, appealing voices. Maya and I swiftly picked up on the essence of the argument. They were trying to trade sixth period Biology to any other time besides sixth period.
Neither I nor Maya could absolutely believe that this whole argument was about us. It had to be a misunderstanding, something must've happened before Maya and I entered the Biology Lab. The looks on their faces must have been about some other irritation completely. It was absolutely unbelievable that these two strangers could have such intense hatred towards Maya and me.
Suddenly we heard the door open behind us; the freezing wind swirled around us, causing the papers on the receptionist's desk to scatter around the room. We saw a girl walk in, she merely walked to the receptionist's desk and she quietly placed a small note on her desk and the girl silently walked out of the office without a word.
After the girl left, Daniel and Will turned to glare at us as if they were in slow-motion-their faces were insanely elegant- with penetrating, enraged eyes. For a moment, Maya and I felt a chill of absolute fear, raising the hair on the back of my neck and causing Maya's eyes to turn yellow in terror. Their hate-filled looks only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to chill us more then the blistering rain outside. Thankfully Daniel and Will released us from their intimidating stares and they turned back to face the receptionist in front of them.
"Fine we can see that this argument is pointless, then." They both said in voices that sounded like pure silk. "Thank you very much for your time m'am." Then they sharply turned on their heels without saying another word to me and Maya as they disappeared out the door and into the freezing cold outside.
After Daniel and Will had left Maya and I shyly went up to the receptionist's desk, our faces were deathly pale instead of crimson red and we handed her the two signed slips.
"So how was your first day, dearies?" The blonde-haired receptionist asked us as she smiled at us cheerfully.
"It was okay." Maya said in a timid voice.
"Fine I guess." I said in a weak voice. We could tell she wasn't the least bit convinced.
After I walked Maya to her car, which was a red four-seat Porsche that looked brand new, she waved at me and she told me she's call me when she got home. During Biology, she'd given me her number and I'd given her mine. I waved back at her and I watched as she drove off into the misty freezing cold road.
When I arrived at my car, I quickly turned on the heater and waited a few minutes before I headed back to Tony's house, for some reason Daniel Ronins reminded me of the strange boy from my dream that I had before I came here. But I couldn't think about that, it was unimportant, I was too busy thinking about the strange looks he and Will Kleins had given me and Maya earlier today and it frustrated me even more. I groaned in irritation as I started my car, trying to resist the urge to cry all the way there.