Undone

You're not going to appreciate this interruption, but I do what I have to to get you to read this. First, I won't lie and say that the feedback I got the last time sent me over the moon, but I'm not going to throw a female-dog-fit over it either. Second, I'm not even subtly trying to get people to comment or anything now - I know I've already lost a ton of readers with the irregular updates (and lack of 'scenes', so to speak), so whoever's stuck by this, thank you. It doesn't come off with the sincerity I mean it with, but really, thank you. Especially since you're going to get more of a reason to quit soon.

This is for you - I hope you like it!

And the mirror revealed an all too familiar pair of dark eyes staring right at me.

I screamed.

“Hey, you okay there?”

I stumbled back, away from the mirror, but also into…him. His hands were back on me, steadying me so that I wouldn’t fall.

It can’t be!

I withdrew immediately, flinching, taking a few quick steps away from him. I shut my eyes and inhaled, doing what I could to regain my footing. Maybe I’d just been hallucinating. I had been thinking about him, and so-

“Um, hi.”

Or not. He was there!

I peeked open one eye cautiously, and then another, and turned out that the guy standing paces away from me…wasn’t John.His skin was darker, and frame just slighter, and the eyes I’d thought to be his were, however slightly, different. His general appearance, however, down to the messy hair and stereotyped-as-emo attire was disturbingly alike to that of the boy that haunted my nightmares.

“Who-who are you?” I choked out, still reeling from shock.

He blinked, surprised. “Um, I’m Leo,” he paused, “are you alright?”

I ignored him. “What’s your full name?”

“Leonardo Bartolli,” he sounded hesitant, “look, are you sure you’re alright? We could go to the nurse if you-”

“I’m fine.”

I studied him, heart still in my throat. This isn’t him, Max. Still, he looked so alike. It was uncanny, eerie, inexplicable and- wait. What if they’re related?

“I’m fine,” I repeated at the realization that he was coming closer.

A battle was raging in my head.

His concern didn’t seem false, but then, neither had the relationship you had, Max. And he’d seemed genuinely confused about why I was acting up, which could be understood if he did just coincidentally look like John, but once again, your ex did pretend to learn of your existence the day you met.

What do I do?

Run!

Before he could take another step, I fled. I whirled around and all but ran from the washroom, head buzzing and heart pounding.

*

I marched into Biology without really acknowledging the teacher, who looked at me questioningly – I was fifteen minutes late. I must have looked quite a wreck though, because he didn’t pursue it, even though he did make it as far as arriving at the desk I’d chosen to sit at and peering at me suspiciously.

“As we were saying, most students make mistakes in the practical examination when it comes to identifying the stages in meiosis,” I turned to my side when I felt a piece of paper hit me. A quick sweep revealed that Nick had been the sender.

I retrieved it to read a note: What happened?

His eyes were trained on me, watching for signs of a response but I shook my head.

I’d thought about it when I’d received that first text message, and decided. I wasn’t going to tell him about any of it. He’d done enough for me as it was - I needed to do stand up on my own feet for a change. I couldn’t keep relying on others to fix my problems for me, and…I guess I just wanted to believe that I wasn’t a complete chicken. I wanted to prove to myself, more than anything, that I could handle it.

He wasn’t satisfied with that, because moments later I received another chit. You can tell me.

I started to shake my head again, when:

“Yes? Who would you be?”

A voice that had recently become familiar to me answered, soft, apprehensive. “My name is Leonardo. I was transferred over from Mr. Albert’s class?”

“Care to explain why you are twenty minutes late?”