"Why are you following me?" I questioned, my lips barely moving.
"I bound to you. I have to follow you. It's not like I had a choice..." Rem told me.
"Oh, you had a choice..." I grumbled, sarcastically.
"You said you were interested!" Rem repeated, throwing his hands up.
We were just walking out of Wal-Mart, when I finally gathered the courage to say something to Rem. Of course, it bursts into an argument...
"That doesn't mean I wanted to join you." I threw at him with a sharp glance.
"Same difference. You can complain all you want. You can't change what happened! Neither can I! Once your bound to me, you can't get... un-bound... You have to stay bound to me until our job is done or I trust you enough." Rem explained irritatedly.
"Don't you dare explain to me the whole 'job' thing again." I snapped, mumbling.
This is hard. I can't let my voice get louder than a whisper or someone'll think I'm crazy. Ugh. This is harder than I thought. I thought.
"Is there some why I can talk to you that doesn't draw attention?" I questioned in a hushed voice.
My mom and I got into the car and she started the engine. Rem walked through the car door and sat down behind me.
"At this point in time, no." Rem declined, with a rather loud voice. "I can establish a mental communication after you contain or slay five zombies. I'll do the talking so that you don't get any attention from your mom.
"Okay, this little 'job' is almost like a game but there is no entertainment. If you do the requirements you unlock a new ability. It sounds awfully strange but its true. And let me just say this to you now. I am a very powerful Zombie Hoarder. Not trying to brag or anything but it's true Thus, the abilities you could possess are practically endless. The only disadvantage is to me. I'm kind of... lending some of my power to you so I'll come-by as weak. But that also depends on how much power the ability takes up.
"The mental communication, honestly, doesn't take up much. That's how most Zombie Hoarders and Zombie Slayers talk. Talking physically is way too risky. Plus, it makes us look like total newbies. You are a beginner after all." Rem explained.
"Beginner?" I echoed quizzically.
"Oh yes!" Rem cried. "You have a lot to learn about slaying zombies and containing them... Ugh." Rem rested his head in his palm. "This is going to take forever."
"Where do you want to eat, Alyssa?" My mom inquired, barely taking her attention off the road.
"Oh, I don't know. What sounds good?" I replied. Rem sat back and pulled his legs up and folded them. He probably assumed that he would be there a while and wanted to get comfortable.
"How about Cathy's Cafe?" My mom reasoned with a grin.
"Yeah! Sure." I agreed managing a smile myself.
Cathy's Cafe was a quaint, old cafe in the downtown area of our city. It's been here for ages, I reckon. And possibly haunted, I've heard numerous stories but never really experienced anything. But their food is excellent, heart-warming, and overall comfort food. The cafe is owned by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Rivers, they're a nice couple and my parents happen to be fairly good friends with them.
Rem was quiet most of the way to Cathy's Cafe, which surprised me. I hoped he wasn't scheming to do some out of the ordinary... Like pull off a stunt at the Cafe.
My mom pulled into Cathy's Cafe and Rem stood up and walked through the car door again.
The cafe was in the middle of absolutely no where. It was built next to a rushing river, surrounded by an over-abundance of tall, cumbersome pines, and the cafe itself was astonishing.
It had clean, white shingles, a black roof with a chimney puffing smoke, a maroon door, lace-curtained windows, and small flower boxes with lush, gold poppies blossoming merrily.
It seemed too much like a fantasy to be real.
My mom and I strode up to the door with a causal pace. Rem was standing there, his gaze on me. (I was only assuming that) I looked up at him, a small shiver tickled down my spine. Rem let me pass him and soon fell behind me. He was silent when he walked, that was helpful. My mom pulled the latch and held it open for me. I stepped in, followed by the rest.
We had stepped into a rectangular foyer, the walls were a floral wallpaper, the floor was a tan carpet and to our left, there was a young woman with long, ebony hair cascading down her shoulders was hugging a clipboard to her chest. She had a precious smile. I couldn't help on either.
Beyond the foyer was a large room, dark, chestnut wood paneling on the walls and floors. The small windows were curtained with a golden lace and there were many tables of many sizes and quantities scattered around the room. The room itself gave off a soft amber glow and oppressed a sense of comfort and ease. I relaxed my shoulder and took a deep exhale.
"Hello, and welcome to Cathy's Cafe." The young woman with black hair greeted, her eyes squinting from the smile she wore. "How many?"
"Two." My mom answered, too, smiling.
"Excellent." The woman snatched two menus from her stash. "Come. This way." She beckoned. The woman lead us into the room with tables and we weaved around them. Rem was still following, floating through the tables and people who were in his way. He made no attempt to out of their way. The woman turned, gestured with her extended hand to a small, circular table with two chairs. "Here is your table, and your waiter will come shortly."
"Thank you." I said.
The table was right next to the wall, which had a wide window. Outside, the sun was shining, bright rays of golden delight streamed in. We both sat down and Rem just stood next to me. He folded his arms over his chest and he swayed causally looking about.
The table was set up in a pleasant manner. There were two glass cups sitting on top of two granite coasters. They were filled with water and ice, which condensates all over the coaster. The silverware was set on top of two, hand-made silk napkins. And the center piece was a vase of light pink poppies, blooming widely.
"Nice place." Rem remarked.
I nodded in agreement.
"Oh, this is so nice." My mom exclaimed, overjoyed. "I really love this place. I can't imagine living without it."
"Yeah. You've taken me here since I was little..." I added.
I finally looked down at the black, leather menu in front of me. It had golden letters engraved into its cover: Cathy's Cafe.
I opened it and began to browse through the food items.
"Hey, Alyssa." Rem called tapping my shoulder. "There's another Zombie Slayer here."
My eyes widened and I quickly inhaled.
"What is it?" My mom asked, not looking up from her menu.
"Oh, it's just that... they have one of my favourite dishes." I lied.
"That's good." My mom told me and continued to browse.
"Where?" I mumbled.
"Other side of the place." Rem said.
I causally looked around, as if surveying the area. I didn't see anything that looked suspicious.
"I don't see anything." I whispered.
"Ugh." Rem's shoulder's collapsed. "Looks like he has a cloak." Rem sighed. "That's another ability. The Zombie Hoarder can cloak him or herself from other Zombie Hoarders. They can either choose to just cloak themselves or their Slayer or Seeker as well. Looks like he took the liberty of doing both. That would take a moderate amount of power to do. It becomes very useful if your a 'bad' Zombie Hoarder."
"Interesting." I murmured.
"Hello, I'm Kendall and I'm your server for today." I looked up from the menu.
There was a blonde haired, middle aged girl standing at the edge of our table with a pen and pad of paper. She had a soft face, small nose, and high cheek bones. She wore a white blouse, black pants, a waist pouch with restaurant essentials, and a silver plate on her right collar bone that read: Kendall Crimshaw.
"Hello." We greeted back politely.
"What can I get you?" She inquired getting her hand ready to write.
My mom looked at me with a blank expression. I assumed she wanted me to go first.
"Oh, uh, I'll have the Old-Fashioned Omelet, please." I requested.
"Alrighty. And what do you want on the side?" Kendall scrawled hastily across the pad.
"Fruit and bacon, please." I answered.
"Okay. And what can I get for you, ma'am?" Kendall turned to my mom.
"I'll have..." That's all I heard until Rem's chuckle drowned her voice.
"What's so funny?" I demanded, whispering.
"Nothing." Rem waved me away. "Nothing at all. It's an inside thing..." He chuckled again.
My eyebrows pulled together.
I cannot believe this is actually happening... This is... too... Oh, God, I don't know. Half of me wants to believe but the other half just wants to flip out. I knew if I did my mom would flip out and everyone else would flip out because I'm flipping out... That didn't make any sense... I argued mentally.
Surely, this was going to eventually get to me...
"Okay. We'll have it right now." Kendall departed and started towards the kitchen.
I desperately dug through my over-the-shoulder bag for a pencil and paper. My hand came across a crumbled up piece of notebook paper and a dull pencil.
"Yes..." I cheered, hushed.
I uncrumbled the piece of paper and saw that my proper heading was in the top left hand corner of the sheet.
Alyssa Miller
October 25
Life Science - 8
I shrugged scratched that out.
This was the only way I was going to hold a conversation with Rem without gathering attention. It was pathetic. Passing a note to someone who was standing right next to me.
I nudged Rem. "What?"
I tapped the piece of paper. Rem moved himself to where he was gazing right over my shoulder.
I wrote: Where is Hiemon?
"Hiemon?" Rem glanced over his shoulder and lipped something. "Uh..." He listened and then lipped something else. "Oh, he went off the find his own Slayer... We won't be seeing him for a while. No one knows how long that'll take." Rem told me.
I wrote: Why is he off finding his own? He is your assistant... Why does he need his own? Can't you... this might sound weird... Share me?
Rem chuckled. I knew that was coming. Then he said, "Because the last time someone did that, it was total chaos. There was all these rivalries and back-stabs between them and what not. So, the ZRT forbid anyone to do that because we didn't want a repeat. A Zombie Hoarder can only have one Slayer or Seeker. And Slayer or Seeker can only have one Hoarder."
I wrote: Well, there's a lot to this game. But you better get prepared for a tantrum when I get home.
"Why?" Rem asked.
I wrote: Because... This will get to me, I know it. And I need time to vent as some point. I'm burning inside... Be prepared. I'm just warning you. - Hey wait a sec... How did you know there was another Hoarder and Slayer here?
"Because..." Rem paused for a moment, a smile creasing his mouth. "Because I have powerful eyes."
I almost burst out laughing. I bit down on my lip to keep from laughing.
I wrote: Ha! You have powerful eyes? I didn't see that.
"Ha, very funny." Rem laughed humourlessly. "I probably have the most powerful eyes in the entire ZRT. Their just covered up. Doesn't matter. I can still see. I can see cloaked Hoarders, Seekers, and Slayers. It's a nice advantage I have. But you can't have eyes like mine. You have to... earn them." Rem hissed the word "earn".
I wrote: Earn? How?
"You seem interested. As if I'm going to say, you're not going to be able to get them any time soon, I can assure you that." Rem told me. I sighed.
Kendall came by, dropped off our food, and disappeared into the kitchen again.
I had probably eaten about half of my giant omelet, when a boy and his mom walked up.
"Jason?" I said in disbelief, a smile ceasing me.
"Hey, Alyssa." He waved. Jason had silky, black hair and vibrant green eyes, which were shaded by thin glasses. He had a perfect face as far as I was concerned. And I had a crush on him, so did he. And it all worked out fine. I jumped up and embraced him.
"Hey, how are you?" I asked, pulling away.
"Good, just got finished eating. About to go to my brother's football game." Jason returned with a grin. "How are you?"
"I'm good too." I remarked. I glanced at Rem who was staring at me gaping. "Just about to finish eating."
"Oh, sorry to intrude." Jason's mom said apologetically.
"Oh, it's okay." My mom shot back, with an innocent smile. "Don't worry about it."
"It was nice seeing you two." Jason's mom waved a good-bye as did Jason.
"See you at..."
My mind was drawn blank when the piercing and terrifying thought inched into my mind.
I have school tomorrow...
I smiled and waved goodbye. Could this possibly get ANY WORST?