Normal for One Day

Chapter 5 Moving?

Eryck's POV

I hate doing that to her. Every time I force her to leave her home, I feel like I'm hurting her.

She's been here for too long, though. I'd left her when she was in 8th grade and she's now a sophomore or junior. She needs to go somewhere else before they get to her.

But I can't keep them from her forever. Especially since it's me who's protecting her. If they find me again, after getting away from them last year, then she will be lost to us. And the Lost Family will have won.

The next day, I sat in the bushes, watching her, disguised as a bird so it wouldn't look like I was stalking her (which I guess you could say I was). When she left for school, her eyes were slightly puffed and red, like she'd been crying. Of course. It would've been my fault she was crying, since she's going to lose all of her current friends in her move.

I followed her all the way to school, then morphed into a new student who was in all of her classes. At lunch, I came up behind her, tapping her shoulder with my open hand. When she turned, I smiled, and asked if I could sit with her.

"Sure," she said, brightening up. I had a feeling she already knew it was me who was under the disguise of the new boy. Of course, this disguise would be gone by the time she moved. I sat next to her, leaning in and whispering to her.

"Melli, it's me."

"I know, Eryck," she responded when she got the chance, since her one friend Susan was chatting away with her, taking up most of the time.

After school, I walked her home, after she came up with the excuse that she wanted to show the "new kid" around town, so she could get away from Susan.

"I thought you weren't going to show u0 today, Eryck," she said about halfway to her house.

"I wasn't, but then I decided to come anyway. You know, to keep an eye on you."

She snorted. "Like I need looking after. I'm perfectly fine at school, Eryck."

"You never know. Maybe, one day, one of them will find you. Then what will you do, if I'm not around to keep them away?"

She sighed. "Let's figure that out when we get to it, okay? Right now I just want to focus on getting home and finishing with packing, since I have to leave this weekend."

When we got to her house, I greeted her mother, who, for the first time, wasn't hiding in her room working with the tome she'd received from her husband sixteen years ago.

Melissa had gone right to her room, so I went there after her mother finished speaking to me.

Melissa sat on her bed, looking at the many packed boxes around her. When I came in, she looked up, a troubled look on her face.

"Eryck?"

"Yeah?" I came over to her.

"Why can't I just stay? What if they don't come? It's not like I've caught the attention of the entire country."

I sighed, sitting down next to her. "Melli, there is a specific reason why you have to go. Even if you haven't caught the attention of more than just your school, they can find out. They have access to everything. I don't know how they do, but they do. And every time you catch the attention of your classmates, they find out. Since you caught Aaron's attention, they'll be here soon. Which is why we have to leave as soon as I get back tomorrow."

"What if I don't want to leave? What if I want to stay?"

"Melli, you can't stay. They will find you if you stay. We can't afford to lose you; you're our only hope for winning the war against them. Which is why you have to leave."

Melissa sighed, getting up. "I don't care, Eryck. I hate how you have always decided that I have to go as soon as something tiny happens, such as me being asked out on a date. It's wrong. I get to have a life, you know. Not one that you create for me. One I create on my own."

"Fine. Go ahead and try. But if they show up, know that it was your fault that you didn't run," I said, getting up as well. "Oh, and just so you know, since you decided to do this, I'm not going on that date for you tomorrow. You can go on your own, and risk everything I've fought to make right for you," I added, leaving her room.