"Nyx! That's illegal!" Casey shrieked.
"And?" I asked.
She ran ahead on the sidewalk and stopped in front of me.
"AND! You could get arrested for interfering with a crime scene!" Casey roared. "Why don't we just visit your mom instead?"
I grumbled and stopped walking.
"For one, the doctors said she's in critical condition. I can't even see her if I wanted to. So what's sulking outside of her hospital room gonna do? And just be happy I even agreed to go to school. Whatever attacked us last night wasn't human, I doubt the cops are gonna be able to figure out what's going on. They practically laughed at me when I said the guy had three fingers!"
Casey opened her mouth, but not a word came out. Her eyes left mine and drifted down to the ground.
"Nyx, I just, I don't want you to go to jail.." She mumbled.
I went to fire back, but this cold sensation wrapped around me. This feeling of bewilderment and dread poured off of Casey. Her dad, that's who she was thinking of. I stepped over to her and rested my hand on her shoulder.
"Listen, Casey." She hesitated, but she slowly looked up into my eyes. "My mom was hurt, because that thing wanted me. If I don't do something, he could hurt a lot more people,including you. And I'm not letting that happen."
She bit her lip, but nodded. Then something strange happened, I started to feel insatiably hungry. I moved my hand from her and quickly stepped back. The feeling didn't die, but it started to fade.
"I understand, so maybe, maybe I can come with you. Like we planned before." She suggested.
"Are you sure? I know you don't like to take a lot of risks." I replied.
"It'll be fine! Look, you agreed to come to school, so I'll play watch while you investigate later. We can search for Dino Fred too!"
"Thomas."
"Oh yeah! By the way! Have your eyes always been white?"
I blinked a few times.
"Wait what?"
....
As soon as we got to school, I took off towards the bathroom. White eyes!? My eyes are white now!? I rushed to the dirty mirror in the bathroom and stared into my own eyes. She was right, my irises weren't brown anymore, they were porcelain white. I rubbed my eyes and splashed water over my face, but they never changed. Let me check everything.
I reached around and took my mask off, then traced my eyes over my exposed cheek. No changes there. My body suddenly shuttered as I felt another presence behind me. Whatever it was, it felt exhausted. A ghost? Here? That's never happened before. I turned around, and my eyes met those of another student.
"What the h-"
He stuttered and caught himself. Not finishing his statement and hurrying into a stall. That tired feeling slowly began to shift to one of disgust and confusion. I sighed and moved my mask back on. Right, I disgusted him. But how did I...feel that? I looked back into the mirror and took in my eyes again. Come to think of it, I was throwing up something black last night. I looked down to my hands and remembered the creature had black fluid too.
No way, am I turning into that thing!?I rushed into the stall and locked myself in, then I took out my craft art knife and stabbed it into my thumb. Relief washed over me as a trail of scarlet leaked from my cut.
Good, so my blood is still red. However, my eyes are white, and I'm feeling others emotions. My stomach started to growl, and for some reason Casey's sadness came into mind. I practically drooled at the thought of it, which was another red flag.
So, let's put this all together cohesively. A three-fingered monster stalked me for a while. He attacked all of my stuff, and attacked my home last night. It was obvious he wanted to get me, and mom seemed prepared for this.
But why now? Why all of the sudden on my sixteenth birthday? Did something awaken inside of me? Am I even human? I lifted my hand up and stared at the cut. Even before this I could sense ghosts, I guess now I can accept I'm not Schizophrenic. Casey pointed out my eyes to me too. So this isn't all in my head. But what does this even mean?
Maybe this has something to do with dad.
'He's cursed! Just like his father!'
'It's from that man's blood!'
My grandma's words came to mind. I leaned back against the stall wall and stared at my finger.
"Maybe the curse is more intense than I thought..." I mumbled.
Maybe I can call my grandma and-. My arm started to shake as the thought came to mind. Nah, let's only do that if I have too. I'll do my own research.
The bell rang for everyone to go to their classes, and I started putting my stuff away. I'll skip class and go to the library, I'll see how far I can get with Google. I've gotta just be a psychic or something.
....
"You've gotta be kidding me.." I mumbled.
I looked over the list I made of possible species I could be related to, and I wasn't happy with the results. Vampires and werewolves fit the eyes in some cases. But literally didn't work with anything else I had. The only options I had was coming from a cursed bloodline, being demon possessed, or being the antichrist. Being psychic technically worked, but there weren't many cases for the eye changes. Plus I don't understand why someone would stalk and try to kill me if I was one.
It makes more sense if I was cursed to have something wanting to kill me. And if I was possessed by something that would explain the voices I heard all those years ago. Which means I could potentially be caught up in a spirits scuffle. Then there's the antichrist theory...
Wait, maybe I am just Psychic and possessed! I groaned and leaned back against my chair.
"Then there's that guardian line he said.." I mumbled and wrote down the word Guardian under my list.
What if he was talking about me, if I stick with the possession theory. Maybe I'm the guardian of the spirit that's inside my body. Or maybe I'm a special type of psychic and I'm supposed to be their guardian. Then again that's only if he was talking to me and not mom. Which in that case, would aid the cursed bloodline theory. Or the other one...
BBBBRRRRINNNNNGGG!!!
The second lunch bell finally rang, ah Casey's lunch period. I can show her what I'm thinking. I packed my bags and headed out, rushing to get into the pizza line. Once I arrived, I started texting Casey that I was in line.
As the lunch room began to flood with kids, my mind started to drown. Anger, love, anxiety, depression, regret. I had all these thoughts and feelings, I couldn't even think straight! My heart raced and my breathing became ragged. Names flooded my mind, and the world started spinning. It was like I was caged in by all this noise and emotion! People's lives whispering into my ear from all around! I wanted to scream, I wanted to break everything around me. I just needed it to stop!
"Shut up!" I roared.
I grabbed my arm and dug my nails into it. The cool river of blood that raced down my arm, the burning sensation that overtook my arm. It made all the voices start to fade. I panted and hesitantly released my arm. That's when I started to feel the new wave of fear and concern. I glanced around, and all eyes were on me.
Crap, everyone's staring at me. I looked away and just wipped the blood off on my shirt.
"That's him, that's him!"
"What!? No way, the Monster can't be at school."
"Yeah, you heard what happened last night? He straight slashed his own mom!"
The kids behind not so quietly muttered about me. I lifted my phone and prehnd to text, but I could see them pointing at me from my phone's reflection. The overwhelming feeling of anxiety replaced the emotion of concern.
"Yeah, that's the same kid that stabbed someone back in the day."
"What, no way? Why'd they let him back inside the school?"
The whispers only continued, even after I got out of line. The whole lunch room was staring at me. I could even feel the anxiety and fear people had as I passed them. How did they even know about last night? Did Casey say something!?
"Nyx!" Casey shrieked.
I looked up and saw Casey running at me. She skidded to a stop and smiled up at me.
"Nyx, you're famous!" She cheered.
I squinted my eyes at her.
"I'm what?" I asked.
"Everyone's talking about you!" She cheered. "Isn't it awesome!?"
"Casey, did you tell everyone!?" I snapped.
She giggled.
"Of course not silly! You hate people! Why would I tell people about you?"
I grumbled, "if you understand that. Then why would I think it's awesome being famous!?"
"Because it's about how they're scared of you! No one's gonna wanna talk to you now. They think you're a serial killer!"
I blinked a few times. On one hand, her logic was sound. On the other hand, ouch.
I glanced over at a few girls who seemed to be waiting on Casey. There was concern and fear gripping them. I guess they thought I was gonna hurt Casey.
"Hey, just meet me outside when you finish lunch." I said.
"What!? No way! I wanna see your findings! Two heads are always better than one." She chirped.
I sighed and glanced back at the girls who were staring.
"If you say so." I mumbled.
We both moved outside and sat down under a tree. Casey focused on her salad and I couldn't really concentrate. The eyes were all over me, everywhere I turned was fear and anxiety. Every so often I'd feel pity, but it wasn't directed toward me. It was toward Casey.
I looked over at Casey and watched her aggressively stab into her croutons. Even before last night, I was the monster. Yet she's always been right here. Why does she stay? Even now she left all her friends to come sit with me outside on the dirt ground. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the tree. Mom may be dead right now, and it was because I was born. Casey could be next.
"Casey, I've been thinking, maybe you shouldn't hang out with me anymore." I mumbled and opened my eyes.
Casey coughed and quickly set her bowl down.
"Excuse me!? What? Did I get my glitter on you!?" She squeaked.
"No I just-"
"Is it my super spunky monkey perfume!?"
"No Casey I just-"
"No wait! Is it because I ate your last dumpling!?"
"Casey no I- Wait you did what!?" I sat up and glared at her, and she just laughed nervously.
"N-nothing." She mumbled.
I'll deal with that later.
"Casey, I'm a monster. Someone like you shouldn't be around someone like me."
"What? Is this because of your scar?" She asked.
"My scar, my past and my present. Mom was attacked because of me. I tried stabbing someone to death, and I'm ruining your relationship with your friends. I think, I think it be better for you if you just abandoned me." I said.
I glanced over to her, and she had her eyes squinted at me. Then, she just stabbed her fork into my leg. I jumped and smacked her hand away.
"Ah! What the hell!?" I yelled.
"See, you're not that big bad of a monster Ka Kuie!" She giggled.
"I'm serious Casey!" I roared and rubbed my leg.
Crap! I think I'm bleeding!
"It's okay if you think that. But that's not what I think. People like to say what they want, think what they want. And that isn't always the reality." She said and looked over to me. "When I was hiding in the closet because I was scared of ghosts. My friends left me there to whatever fate was coming to me. But you're the one who came in and saved me. A complete stranger."
I looked away.
"Casey that's-"
"I'm not done!" She snapped. "Nyx, your family to me. You've been the best friend I've ever had. So if a monster is chasing you, I'm running right beside you. If everyone hates you, they can hate me too. Because they don't know the Nyx I know, and you apparently don't know the Nyx I know either. But that's okay."
"Casey, this isn't a game." I mumbled.
"Like I said you can think what you want, do what you want. But I'm not leaving your side, especially right now." She reached over and grabbed my hand. "I don't care if you're fighting the devil himself! We'll do it together! Whether you like it or not." She raised my hand up and formed my fingers into a fist.
Then she did the same to hers and fist bumped me.
"So you might as well factor me into your plans, or else I may mess everything up." She added with a chuckle.
I laughed and shook my head.
"I see, so I guess I'm stuck with you then?" I asked.
"Like winnie the pooh and Eyeore!" She cheered.