Ghosts Of The Attic

5. New Face

     “Fancy seeing you here,” a familiar voice teased.

     The whispers behind me ceased as I glanced up to see Alaric with an amused expression on his pale face. Unfortunately, he took the seat next to mine before positioning himself to face me. He pointed a finger at my fist then cocked an eyebrow. “Do you get into a lot of scraps?” he inquired.

     I answered him with silence, but that only seemed to motivate him more.

     “Come on, you have to answer me,” he continued. “I’m the only one talking to you nicely and I’m sure you’re not friends with that git from before.”

     I glanced at Alaric again; this time noticing the Ouroboros tattoo wrapped around his wrist. But when I blinked, it was gone. What was that? I thought. Am I seeing things again? When I pulled away from my thought, Alaric was still talking to me although his words passed me.

     “Could you please stop talking for a second?” I inquired.

     He raised his eyebrows in surprise before frowning. “Sure,” he replied. “What for?”

     “Because–”

     The shrill bell cut me off and class began. Hours later, I was in the back of the lunch line with Alaric beside me. But I didn’t mind him anymore; it was nice to have someone to talk to since it seemed none of my former friends would even acknowledge my existence. After grabbing a sandwich and paying for it, he led me to a table outside, where we were the only ones out in the crisp weather. I brushed some snow off the table before sitting on it.

     “When’d you move here?” I asked, taking a bite of my food.

     “About…a couple of weeks ago,” he answered, taking a swig of water. “My mum wanted to move away from the old man as soon as the divorce papers were filed.”

     “Something wrong with him?”

     “He was cheating on her with another bird,” he explained. “Mum was cheesed off as you can probably see.”

     Nodding, I stared up at the clouds, the snow still falling.

     “You never told me about your fist,” he commented. “Something happened?”

     “Yeah, I…hit a mirror twice.”

     “Fourteen years of bad luck then,” he replied, “and do you mind me asking why exactly? You don’t seem like a nutcase.”

     “It was an…accident.”

     “Sure.”

     While Alaric was still talking, my mind was elsewhere while my eyes were scanning the area around us. A flash of red caught my eye and I hopped off the table, only to have the sighting gone. Sighing, I turned back to Alaric except it wasn’t Alaric anymore, it was the dead girl. Her amber eyes were staring me down and I backed away until I slipped on ice, falling into a pile of snow. My breathing was getting shallower and the temperature seemed to drop rapidly as I began to freeze. Closing my eyes, I counted to ten to slow my heart rate and to escape from the girl’s eerie stare, but when I opened my eyes, all I saw was Alaric with a worried expression on his face.

     “Shit,” I muttered.

     “Something wrong?” he inquired.

     “Nothing,” I replied. “I thought I saw something.”

     Slowly, I managed to remove myself from the cold pile before brushing the frigid snow off. “I’ll be right back,” I sighed. Alaric nodded in response as I scurried back inside, the heat slamming me right in the face. I sighed contently before navigating through the halls until I reached the restroom.