Strangers (Fighting the Darkness series)

Animagic

We left at about 8.15. Crystal and I left Teddy and Louise asleep in the hotel room because Crystal wanted to get a head start. Too damn early if you ask me. I don’t care if anyone thinks I’m cranky, I don’t wake early for anything except school.

I already had a bad night. I’d woken up in a bad sweat after a nightmare at around 2AM. I was in a forest, my heart racing with adrenaline, toes sunk deep into the earth and I was being chased by something. Except I was different, in some strange form, but I couldn’t make out what it was. I could smell the earth and my long fringe covered my eyes as I ran. I could make out shapes and animals, then the thing jumped onto my back and heavy jaws clamped around the back of my neck. That’s when I woke up. I felt the back of my neck, but nothing was there, no marks, just my skin slick with sweat. So I went for a cold shower and took a long walk. When I came back I managed to have a dreamless sleep for a few more hours, then Crystal was shaking my shoulders to wake me up.

Crystal Winters was the ‘leader’ of our group, maybe because she is the oldest. She almost always took charge in a situation and is the most, as I like to call it, ‘success orientated’ and is most likely to do well in her life. Even though she is Chinese, her obsession with Japanese culture can let her personality down sometimes. This, I believe, is the weak spot in the wall of her prowess. That may be the reason why she is attached to Teddy; being Japanese herself, she is twice the ‘Asian Maniac’ Crystal is – a direct quote that I use lightly. It’s a good thing that she’s with Louise instead. Let’s just say the hierarchical status of the group allows Louise to do as she pleases.

“There were lots to see in China Town and little time to see it in one day,” Crystal stated, part of her usual catchphrase. Crystal was in her element, going into each shop like there was no tomorrow. First was the market. She couldn’t decide what to buy, so I made her buy a large wooden fan, a supersized sushi sampler, a maid ‘cosplay’ outfit she has always wanted to buy and a few JUMP comics that weren’t available back in England, just so that some of her holiday money would be saved for the rest of the holiday. After that, it was ‘Can we buy this, can we buy that,’ ‘oh, lets visit this shop for a minute…’ it just wouldn’t stop.

After spending three and a half hours in a Hello Kitty shop being swamped by Crystal saying, ‘Do you think this would go with this outfit or on this bag or with my denim skirt or would this be nice for Teddy and Louise…’ we finally managed to head back to the hotel at close to 8pm after texting the guys we were finally finished. As we were walking back, I noticed that we had turned up the same forgotten little street as yesterday, or what looked remotely the same. As we neared the area where the strange shop from yesterday was, or should have been, I started to become very anxious, with the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. But as we came to pass in front of it, it wasn’t there, with absolutely no trace of it; except an empty patch of yellow grass. I thought nothing of it, thinking it must have been in another street and gave a sigh of relief, reassuring myself that I was mistaken and kept on walking. Crystal was too giddy and hyper about today’s ‘findings’ to notice anything, especially the fact that I had to double my pace to keep up with her. With her being so tall and me only topping five feet, she was usually considerate. Although I am an inch taller than Teddy; and I don’t let her forget about it.

As we neared the end of the street, there was another palm reading store. As we got closser, I noticed the peeling lavender paint and deep blue curtain embroidered with golden stars and symbols, pulled halfway over the glass, leaving a gap in the middle. We got closer and I peaked in the crack in the window. All the shelves were full of jars, containing strange lifeless forms; like organs in blood. It was the same store. It must have been. There couldn’t be two of the same shop in the same district that looked exactly alike. But how could it have moved from where it was yesterday? I thought. Only something like magic could have done this, like when my friends didn’t remember anything of what happened yesterday. But why do I remember? It’s impossible that I can remember everything, every little detail, but my friends can’t. Then an image of the man in blue flashed in my head and the hairs on the back of my neck stood higher on their tips, nearly jumping out of my skin. I ran away from the shop and caught up to Crystal who was still walking merrily. I knew it would have been bad if we walked any slower, so when I caught up to her, I shoved her all the way back to the hotel at twice the speed.