The awakener (bxb)✔

TA 4

"Yo Logan, do you have my bag?" I asked as soon as I got to the table.

"Where were you?" Casey asked, sounding like the concerned and annoying friend that he was.

"Oh, sticking some freshman boy's head in the toilet bowl", I said indifferently.

Casey choked on his food.

"Relax Case, you know me", I said smiling, patting him on his back.

He stared daggers at me.

"You know I hate boys who do that Riley", he said. There was heaviness in his voice.

Casey was bullied throughout elementary and middle school. Bullying was a sensitive topic and I sometimes stupidly made light of it. It was really dumb of me and I hated that I'd made such a stupid comment.

I noticed my bag on the floor, next to Casey. I grabbed Casey's apple and took a huge bite. Casey shook his head and said to Mandy,

"Better hide your apple now! Believe me, it will disappear". His voice was light now and I relieved.

Logan laughed. I took a seat next to Casey, facing Mandy.

"Mandy...you were still telling us about Silica town", Casey broke the silence.

Mandy smiled shyly. I noticed dimples I had not noticed before. She started blabbing about a town I had only heard of about an hour and a half ago. I sat against my chair, scanning the room while chewing on Casey's apple...my apple. Halfway through her description, Mandy looked at me, right at the same time I decided to look at her. Our eyes locked. She looked away.

"It is pretty quiet, no one really knows anybody...." She continued.

"So, how are you finding Aqua town, too loud?" Logan asked.

"I have not made my judgment yet. I haven't been here long".

"Case, can you write my story for me?" I blurted.

Casey looked at me and grinned. He started laughing as if I had cracked a joke.

"No! I will give you an idea though. Turn one of your drawings into a story", she said.

I stared at him blankly. I was certain then he was mad.

"Give me your pad, I'll show you".

I opened my bag, removed my pad and handed it to him. He laid it on the table and started paging. He came across a drawing of a mansion burning, with a small rundown house on its left. The inhabitants of the mansion looked distressed while the ones in the small house seem relaxed. She pointed at the drawing.

"What was in your mind when you drew this?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I just draw", I replied.

"Okay, what does it make you think of?"

Mandy and Logan leaned in to see the drawing.

"She who will bear the one who will..." a voice screamed, the same voice as earlier. It was more violent, so close, yet so far. I closed my eyes and mentally shouted,

"Stop it!"

"Hello, earth to Riley!" Casey said, punching me on the arm.

"I have to go!" I said callously. Taking my pad and bag I walked to the door. Casey stared at me in disbelief.

*

I rushed to the main door of the building, eager to be free. For some reason, I felt Casey was following me so I did not stop until I was out of the building. I walked leisurely then, trying to free my mind from all thoughts. I had no idea where I was walking, but I walked on.

"Riley!" a girl shouted behind me.

The melody of the voice suggested it was not Casey. When Casey was mad at me, he sounded like my mother. There was only one girl in the school who had a voice so melodious. Her name was Abby Monroe. She was the popular girl at school. She was insanely beautiful, with long blonde hair that reached her hip which she would not be caught dead tying into a ponytail, luscious lips, full breasts and a small curve. She was enchanting to look at for some. For me, she just turned me off. There was just something about her that made me go the other way.

"What?" I barked, turning.

A goddess was standing there. Her beauty did not come close to Abby's. She did not have Abby's blonde hair or her huge breasts. Instead, she had neck-long brunette hair, small A-cup breasts, small curves and eyes that promised you all the unseen riches of the world. She was beautiful, beautifully sculpted by the hands of a gifted sculptor.

"When you picked up your bag, this fell out", she said handing me a magazine.

I took it and mumbled a "thanks".

She turned to go back inside the building.

"Mandy!" I called her.

I had no idea what I wanted to say to her. Calling her name had felt so right. It was like a force, like I was meant to say her name one time or the other.

"Yes?" she said, turning.

"That book... that book you mentioned in class, do you have it?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"...Lands of Azuria?" she asked.

I nodded. I did not feel like talking.

"Yeah, but it's my mom's. Do you want it?"

Somehow I felt like she was making fun of me. The way she had phrased that question made it seem like she was surprised I actually read. She had reason to be.

"Yes", I said.

"I'll get it for you, but you have to promise you'll return it in the same condition I give it to you".

"Thanks", I said curtly and turned.

I walked away. A huge part of me wanted to stay but I forced myself to walk.

"Riley!" Mandy shouted.

She walked fast to catch up with me.

"Why are you leaving?" she asked.

"I have some things to do", I said quietly.

Suddenly, my head started spinning so fast and the world started dissolving. I searched for something to hold on to, and the only thing I found was Mandy's hand. It was so soft, so reassuring. It could not stop me from collapsing to the ground though. The last thing I saw was Mandy holding on to my hand, shouting my name frantically.