Chapter 2
It's a strange thing, life. With all its crazy twists and turns, you never know what will happen next. A person can go from rich to poor, unknown to famous, sad to happy.
This was a crucial lesson Max learned on her birthday when the night went from good to bad.
"Max, for the last time, nothing is going wrong. Why can't you just enjoy your birthday for once and quit being so depressed?" Nudge yelled, feeling frustrated at her friend.
"Well, I'm sorry, okay? I can't help this weird intuition I get that something doesn't feel right!"
It had started out okay. Nudge brought over tubs of Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream to put on the famous chocolate chip cookies Valencia had made. Then, they sat in front of Max's television to watch the second season of Sherlock.
Unfortunately, it was halfway through "The Hounds of Baskerville" that Nudge realized Max was way too quiet and was not even paying attention to the TV.
This new awareness led to their current argument. "Can't you see I'm trying?" Max pleaded. "I wouldn't have invited you over if I didn't feel bad!"
"Did you even open my present?"
Max froze, thinking about the brightly wrapped gift she had received…and shoved into her school locker without remembering to bring it home. "Yeah, it was that—that one thing I wanted really badly, that new one, right?"
Nudge pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled deeply. "Okay, whatever. I'm leaving. Have fun with your ice cream. I'll see you at school tomorrow." She got up from the couch, grabbed her purse and headed towards the door.
"Nudge, wait! Don't leave now, I promise I'll try to enjoy myself, just don't be mad at me!" She was responded with the sound of the door slamming shut and sighed in disappointment. Now she was home alone on her birthday, without any friends or family, considering her mom was at the hospital right now doing surgery.
Suddenly, a jolt of electricity traveled through her brain.
Out of the frickin' nowhere, it felt like someone was using Max's head as a pair of bongos. A pain had begun and slowly increased each second. Max doubled over and grabbed her head in shock, gritting her teeth. Not again. She began to take deep breaths to distract herself from the pain. In, out, in, out, she told herself. Just a few more seconds, and the headache will disappear.
Unfortunately for her, it just got worse from there and on top of it all, a strange image appeared in Max's mind.
It was a man's face, a man different from the dark-haired one who typically showed up in her nightmares. No, this man looked older by a good ten years and had blond hair. His face was not blurry to her; instead, she could clearly see every feature on his visage during the two seconds that were stretched out so it felt like hours. Bushy eyebrows, a hooked nose, a strong jaw, Max could picture of all of it.
And as quickly as the image came, it disappeared.
Straightening her posture, Max blinked rapidly, feeling disoriented. The last time she saw that man's face in her mind was at her cousin's house in seventh grade, meaning it was practically five to six years ago. She didn't have trouble remembering any of her visions; she could recall all of them quite easily, considering how vivid they were and how much they perturbed her.
Strange, she thought. The man felt very familiar to her, as if she saw him in a dream before, which was weird because she only ever saw those two other people in her dreams.
Then, Max remembered her Indian classmate, Sonia. Sonia was a Hindu and one time for a school project, the two had done a research project on world religions. For the Hinduism segment, Sonia had informed her about a certain myth. It was so long ago that Max could not remember the belief she had mentioned.
The only thing that came to her was that a person retains memories of someone else's life. If the life belonged to the person or someone else, Max could not remember.
Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. Yawning loudly, Max looked at the clock. It read eleven PM. She decided it was getting late, so she got off the couch and decided to head straight to bed. Calling Nudge was something that could wait till tomorrow.
"Happy Birthday, Fang!" the crowed cheered at the same time.
Fang tried to smile in appreciation, thinking it probably came out more like a grimace. He rose his plastic cup high in the air. "Thanks, everyone, especially Holden, for holding this party. You guys are great." He probably could have said more, but he thought extra words were entirely unnecessary. He wasn't called "tall, dark, and silent" for saying more than he was supposed to, anyway.
The crowd whooped at his response and the party continued with a pulsing fervor that was present in all high school gatherings, complete with underage drinking, a dance floor filled with gyrating bodies, and the whole senior class present.
Well, almost the whole class.
Fang didn't see Max there. Or her friend Nudge. Of course, it wasn't like he expected her to show up. The last time she was at his birthday party was in freshman year, when they used to share the attention. It seemed like ever since that happened, Max became a hermit.
Stop thinking about her, Fang silently chastised himself. Focus on the freaking party. But the party was something he didn't want to focus on either. After Max left, everybody's eyes were only on him.
And he hated it. A lot.
He never liked being in the spotlight. Max, on the other hand, seemed like she was born to be a leader and the center of attention. Now, it was like their positions were reversed; Max spent those annual nights alone at home, and Fang was the celebrity at these parties.
Fang shivered, feeling a slight chill. It was strange because he was inside, so what was it that bothered him so much?
Ah, right.
He had never been able to shake off that vision today he felt in class. There was more pain in the headache than usual, and that word, that strange word that didn't sound like a name at all, just a horrible jumble of letters, that word that was bothering him more than it should.
Itex.
Decidedly setting his Dixie cup down, Fang straightened his leather jacket and headed towards the door of the house. On his way out, however, a guy clad in a flannel and huge headphones around his neck put a hand in front of Fang's chest.
"Hey, man, where are you leaving?" Holden asked, fingering the cord of his headphones. "It's only ten."
"Sorry, Holden, not feeling so great," Fang lied through his teeth.
His friend frowned. "Oh. Well, then why not just pop a couple Advil and not leave? I think I might have a container in the kitchen," he suggested. "It's your party."
Fang shook his head. "No, thanks. My siblings are probably waiting for me anyway. Sorry, I can't stay longer." Without waiting to hear a response, he pushed his way through the mass of partygoers and exited through the front door. Fang quickly hurried down the steps and into his car.
When he arrived home to a pristine two-story house with a green front lawn, he quietly unlocked the entrance. He took of his shoes and padded softly across the carpeted floor. The living room was cloaked in darkness, so there couldn't have been anyone still there.
As far as Fang knew, his mom was on a business trip, and his dad was most likely at a game with his poker buddies, which meant—
Fang froze at the sound of footsteps coming down the steps.
"Fang?" A child's voice reached his voice. "Is that you?"
He turned around to see a little girl with blond hair and blue eyes. "Angel," he said his sister's name. "Why are you still awake? Is Gazzy also awake?"
The girl approached him, and Fang knelt down to gather her in his arms. "No, but I couldn't sleep," she said in a tiny voice. "I think the monsters came back 'cuz I can hear them."
Fang sighed. "Here, let's go up to your bedroom," he gently told her. He took her small, dainty hand in his large, calloused one and led her upstairs. They entered Angel's bedroom and turned on the lights.
Fang pretended to go around the room and look for the monsters. He checked under the bed and in the closet, the two places children usually think monsters are. Feeling satisfied, he doubtfully said, "I don't know, Ange. I can't find any monsters here."
Angel tugged his shirt. "That's cuz they only come during the dark, but I can't sleep with the lights on!"
"OK, then let's try this. Get into bed." Angel made a noise of protest, but one look from him quieted her, and she promptly lied down on her bed. Fang came to her side and properly tucked her in. "I'll be right back," he promised, and left the room, leaving Angel alone.
A minute later, he came back holding a candle and a box of matches in his hands. He put the candle on Angel's bedside table, struck a match, and lit the candle. Then, he turned the lights off.
A soft glow of the candle filled the room. "See?" Fang asked. "Now the candlelight will scare away the monsters."
His sister beamed from her spot in the bed and snuggled into her comforter.
"Thanks, Fang. Goodnight!"
"'Night, Ange." He shut the door and let out a breath. At least that's over. He headed to his own room and sat at his desk.
Fang turned on his computer and opened the Google search engine. He typed in the word "Itex" and waited for it to load. Once it did, he read the first suggestion that popped up:
Showing results for Ibex
The dark-haired boy mentally groaned as he saw the pictures of the forest animal pop up. He clicked the highlighted phrase, "Search instead for Itex."
0 results for Itex
This caused him to frown. What? He refreshed the site several times and the same thing showed again and again, showing no results at all. Fang immediately felt suspicious. It wasn't very often that a person got no results at all. Actually, he was pretty sure it never happened.
Maybe Itex was just a random jumble of letters after all. If not, researching it would be like chasing ghosts.
A/N- Hehe, hi guys. Long time no see. Extremely, extremely sorry. I know in the beginning I said I was going to finish the story, but I just CAN'T help myself xD I am a junior in high school now (wow, it's been four years already?) and I moved to Pakistan last summer, so things have been very, very busy. But fear not! I will hopefully have the opportunity to write this summer. The thing is, I haven't been able to find my muse lately. I've also been more focused on poetry :P So, what have you guys been up to lately?
Shout out to those who reviewed last chapter (YOU DA REAL MVP). I probably don't deserve any, but can we reach ten reviews? Please? Constructive criticism is much appreciated, thanks.
BY THE WAY. CHECK OUT MY POETRY BLOG PLEASE. Link on profile.
Love you all -blows kiss-
-pronounced . ALEEZAH