May It Be Forever

NICKNAMES

Guilherme started telling me about the community and the O.S. He also mentioned that there was a counter organization, which was kind of against the O.S. of good. He said that I had blue blood, and that my surname Graham was from an English royal family. The "boss" of the Reverse O.S. was named Richard, and his partner was Zoe. The reason why Richard wanted to kill me had been passed down from generation to generation. When Richard's father was alive, he looked for my mother, and when Richard's grandfather was alive, he looked for my grandmother, and so on. This search was old. I was totally lost and confused by all of Guilherme's talk.

"Ouch!" he suddenly grumbled.

I noticed that his wounds were bleeding. I had forgotten to clean and bandage them.

"Hold on, I'll just get my mother's first aid kit from the kitchen."

I swabbed the cotton with alcohol to disinfect them.

"Ouch, Emilly!"

He was quite whiny, I must say!

His forearms were absurdly muscular; you couldn't help but be afraid to even look at them!

"Sorry, but I have to clean it, right?" I said with an approving tone.

"But take it easy, will you?"

"Okay, okay... Continue what you were saying."

And he continued, saying that my parents would probably send me to this Secret Organization, but I certainly wouldn't go, ever. First of all, I would never leave my parents, my friends, and there was also school. I was only sixteen, still in the first year of high school. Stop studying? That was crazy! Leave school, my friends... Never!

"You won't have to stop studying. Who said that? Don't worry, they have high-level schools there, even better than in the 'normal' world."

"Are you kidding me? Really?! This is crazy. How come I've never heard of this society?"

"Why is it a secret?" he said wryly, raising his eyebrows.

"Sorry, I forgot. I just don't understand why my parents never told me about it."

"Maybe they just wanted to protect you?"

"Protect me? Really? There's a crazy murderer trying to kill me, and they kept it from me for years!"

"Imagine if they had told you when you were a child? You're sixteen now, and you totally freaked out when you found out..." 

"Maybe because I'm not used to seeing a kid standing in the middle of the road, literally," I said.

He glared at me, then took a deep breath and stared back. I felt embarrassed and swallowed hard.

"You were speeding!"

"It's a road! It's not common for people to stand in the middle of it!"

"It's also not common for a sixteen-year-old girl to be driving... Although in the O.S. it is allowed."

It was evening, the moon was high in the sky, and it was stunningly beautiful. Finally, my parents arrived, and to my "luck," all that O.S. stuff was true. Unfortunately, I would have to go to this secret society or community, whatever it was, with him," I said, pointing to the unmoving pile of muscles beside me.

"Yes, dear. I'm sorry, but this is the safest place for you. If you stay out here, your information will be discovered by Adam," said my father.

"Information?" I asked.

"They have computer systems far above the level considered normal."

I don't know how, but I ended up agreeing with my parents because I felt I couldn't disobey them. So I asked them to allow me to write at least one letter to my best friend, Jade.

From: Emilly Graham To: Jade Clear

Dear friend Jade,

I am writing this letter to say goodbye to you. I will be traveling somewhere else, so I can't write the name here, but I promise I will try to come back soon. I hope you understand. Please tell Blair, Monick, and Clara that I miss them so much already that I'm crying. If you want to have a girls' night, I just ask you not to forget me because I will never, never forget you. I can't explain what is happening, but I hope you all understand.

Love, Emilly!

After folding the letter and putting it in an envelope, I asked my mother to give it to Jade. With my eyes still filled with tears, I hugged my mother and went upstairs to my room to pack. Guilherme said that he didn't need to because there were already clothes of mine there, and even a house. I couldn't believe it. I slept, or pretended to sleep, while Guilherme stayed in the guest room. The next morning, I tied my long light brown hair into a ponytail, stared at myself in the mirror, and thought, 'This is completely insane! Am I really doing this?' I rolled my eyes and left. We had breakfast, and I said goodbye, crying and lamenting with my parents. Guilherme and I took the EFVM passenger train to Vitória, and then he took us to the Pedro Nolasco Museum.

"Are we going to a museum?" I asked as we walked slowly.

"It's not just a museum. Come on!" he replied.

I stopped and stared at him.

"Emilly, please trust me." He walked towards me and held my hand firmly. "You are safe with me, you don't have to be afraid." His gaze brought me pure confidence.

He said that there were secret passages to the O.S. in that museum, and to my surprise, there really were! The place looked like another country. I was amazed at how expansive it was. It was a huge hidden territory, and the ground was all covered with fresh green grass, like a huge green carpet. The place was immaculately clean, and the air was fresh and pure; it was a pleasure to breathe there. The sky was just beautiful! How ironic that was, wasn't it? We stopped in front of some large, tall iron gates.

"Nickname?" the red-haired girl asked, staring at Guilherme.

"Gui," he answered.

"And the new girl's?" she looked at me. Her eyes were lined with black eyeliner, and she seemed to be in a bad mood.

"Hmmm... I know! Emi," Guilherme said, smiling.

"Great. Noted. Welcome to O.S., Miss Emi Graham," the girl finally smiled, revealing deep red lipstick that almost matched her red hair.

The gates opened, and we entered.

"What is the purpose of nicknames? And how does she know my last name?" I asked.

"Everyone here at O.S. has one. I never stopped to think why, but I think it's pretty cool. And how does she know your last name? Well, you are famous and known around here because of your mother. You look a lot like her," Guilherme explained.

I shrugged.

"Graham," said the girl behind the counter. "Here are your house keys. My name is Rosana."

Rosana handed me not one, but several keys of different sizes.

"Thank you," I said, taking the keys.

"Gui, you explain everything to her - the rules, the schedules. Okay? Lunch is served promptly at noon in the central hall on the ninth floor of building three. Don't be late. You have plenty of time to show her around and explain everything."

Guilherme led me to my supposed "house," which I initially thought was just a joke, but it turned out to be the truth. My house had the number Seven impeccably varnished on top of its wooden door.

"Welcome to your new home. It's not very big, but when you get married, you'll get a bigger one."

"A bigger one? Really?" I exclaimed in surprise."

(I hope you enjoy it and that you keep reading. You can give your opinion about the story so I can improve it. Kisses and stay with God.)