Chapter 6
I slept with my light on and with Chum cuddled up beside me,
When I woke up, I started to panic..
Chum was nowhere in sight. I was sure I closed my door when I slept, so surely, it wouldn’t have escaped? And if it did, which is really impossible, it wouldn’t have the chance to actually get outside the house. I remember bolting all the doors too.
I scrambled out of my bed, still groggy with sleep but I tried to focus. But as I started to stand up and push the covers away from me, I had another shocker.
I felt something hard and cold and heavy hanging upon my neck, and when I checked it, I was wearing the keychain-like pendant I saw from Chum yesterday. Only it was bigger.
The blue star was shimmering in the sunlight from the windows and for a moment, I couldn’t move from my position. I just stared at the object like it was something out of this world. Maybe it really was.
How it latched itself unto my neck, I would never know.
Great. What a great way to start my morning. Discovering my newly adopted pet is missing and getting freaked out by the item of curiosity now dangling on my neck.
My first instinct was to call Todd and inquire about Chum. Maybe he took him.
But..how could he possibly? I was certain I locked all the doors and entrances to the house, and I certainly slept with Chum snuggled up to me.
I sat at the foot of my bed and thought the events over.
This has to be one of those dreams, where the details are so real, you’d think it’s reality.
Well, if it is, I am hoping to wake up soon.
Then as I pondered as I was, I absent-mindedly twisted and pulled at the pendant. My fingers traced its surface slowly, causing me to discover something in its centre.
There was definitely a small area with inscriptions, somewhat more like engravings.
I was so curious I jumped away from the bed and ran towards my desk drawer. I pulled out the magnifying glass my dad gave me for my fifth birthday. At that time, I really had no clue as to what I could do with it, but now I have the chance to make use of it.
I lifted the pendant towards the lens and took a good look.
My guess was right, a word was there. It was small that when I looked at the pendant again without any aid, I could barely see it. Not with the use of a magnifying glass.
Heal.
That was the word.
Okay, technically speaking, that means giving help to someone with a health condition. To let wounds and illnesses heal.
That made totally perfect sense. Not.
I decided to forget about it so I just removed the necklace and placed it in my jewellery box.
It’s time to take a bath so I can face the world, enough worrying in the meantime.
As soon as I got out of bath, I left Todd a voicemail.
‘Hey, good morning. Could I come over today? You left your wine, the flowers are on a vase, if you want them back, they haven’t withered yet. Thanks.’
I don’t know if it is a good idea to see him again this soon, but I decided to go for it. I just kept on telling myself this will be the last time.
It surprised me to see his text almost only five minutes later.
‘Kay. Just let yourself in, I’m in my room. The door is unlocked.’
Good morning to you too Todd.
What was that? I’m supposed to go inside his room? Well. Okay.
As I crossed the path towards their front door, I noticed a bike leaning against one of the garden walls. Huh. Funny I didn’t notice that before. But with the looks of it, I can say that it’s not new.
I did what Todd said. I went inside, tiptoeing, just being careful because when I glanced at my wristwatch, the time was only eight in the morning. Hopefully, I wouldn’t wake the house up.
When I was there already at the front of his bedroom door, I suddenly hesitated. Should I knock? Or just let myself in?
Oh for goodness’ sake. He told me to let myself in, so I’ll do that.
And with that, I turned the door knob to his room.
I slowly pushed the door open to not wake him, just in case he slept again.
But he was not sleeping. He was wide-awake and dressed to go out.
Those hypnotic eyes stared at me. Even as he was sitting there on a small chair, I can see that he sleep didn’t come to him last night. I was starting to regret letting him go. He clearly was in need of someone who cares.
“Hiya sleepyhead.” I sat on the floor in front of him. “I decided not to give you back the wine and flowers. I like ‘em and I’ll keep them. If you don’t mind, I mean.”
“Of course I don’t mind. I brought those for you, and I’m not going to get them back even if you did bring them here.” He gave me a playful pat on my head and mussed my hair.
“Hey! That’s not fair!” I protested as I stood up and did the same to his hair.
“No one messes with my hair!”
“Apparently, I did, and so did you to mine. I guess we’re even then.” He laughed and it finally dawned on me that I really can’t avoid him after this. He makes me feel like myself whenever I’m around him and though he has kissed me twice already, I still feel comfortable. It’s like I’m feeling a special kind of friendship.
“So, you love bikes huh?” I wanted to make some small talk so I asked him about the bike I saw a while ago.
“Yeah I love them. But how did you know? I don’t even have one. The whole family doesn’t own even a single bike. The only thing closest to a bike that you’ve seen me ride is Matt’s Harley.” He shot me a look of confusion.
“And one more thing, my last bike was when I was still ten years old. How did you find that out?”
Now it’s my turn to get confused. I tried to shake my head.
“Huh? Then what’s the old bike doing there in your garden?”
“What bike?”
“Oh come on, you’re kidding me right? There’s a bike outside. If you don’t want to believe me, fine. I’ll show you.”
I pulled on his hand and forced him to get up.
“There,” I pointed it out, “That’s what I was telling you.”
Only, it wasn’t the same bike I saw a while ago.
Standing in front of us was a brand-new mountain bike, with no rust, dirt or scratch in sight.
“What the hell? That’s not what I saw a minute ago.”
I tried to blink, hoping my eyes were only playing a trick on me.
Todd, apparently wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to me. He knelt in front of the bike and examined it.
“Cool. I have always wanted a bike like this.” He said. More like to the bike itself rather than me.
“And there’s even a tag here, saying it’s for me!”
And clearly, there was a note tag, saying ‘Matt’s bike’.
Well, I accepted the fact that I was wrong.
He stood up and faced me.
“Hey, want to test it out with me? I know a traffic-free place.” A slow crept into his mouth and I am aware he’s finally having fun.
“Sure, I have no plans for today. Let me just go drop by my house again, I need to change my outfit.”
He checked me out from head to toe.
“What’s wrong with what you’re wearing now?” He caught the hem of my tank top.
“This is definitely outdoors wear.”
Then he looked at my denim cut-offs.
“This is absolutely outdoors wear.”
And finally, my Chuck’s.
“This is fine. All of it is fine, why do you have to go and change? And besides, I like what you’re wearing now, it makes you look sporty, makes you look cuter.” He winked.
“Alright, alright. I won’t change.”
It amazed me that I was that easy to persuade. But given the fact that it was Todd, I can understand why. I wanted to please him. I wanted to look pretty for him. Even though I know he only sticks around because of my company.
I forgot all about Chum that morning. The only thing that mattered to me was that I was with Todd and we were spending time together.
“So, where’s this place you know about?”
“It’s just somewhere further into the subdivision. It’s an abandoned park but it’s still open for the public. It’s quiet and not much people go there.”
He started mounting on the bike.
“Okay, how am I supposed to get there?” I stupidly asked.
“Dummy, how else? You’re riding with me in this fine piece of a bike!”
He tapped the space I was supposed to be sitting on.
I hesitated, but then decided to trust him.
I watched him go rounds with his bike and I just sat there at one of the old park benches.
Every time he waves, I smile and wave back.
He finally got exhausted so he leaned the bike against the bench beside mine.
He came to me and sat beside me.
“So, what else do you want to do today? It’s a Saturday, it’s our free day, so stop worrying about work. Just relax.”
Little did he know, I was not tense because of my worries for work.
I was tense because there was that realization again that we were alone in the place.
“Come on, I want to show you something else.”
He nudged me to stand up, but I jumped before he could grab my waist.
I ran before him and looked back at him.
“That can wait. I want to explore the woods first. You just catch on, ‘kay?”
When I was sure that he was a few feet behind me, I slowed down my pace.
He caught up with me and came to my left-hand side. He took my hand.
Amazingly, I didn’t try to yank my arm off. It felt so right to be held like that, to have our entwined fingers a perfect fit. I just held on.
As we were walking side by side, I asked him, “Hey, I actually don’t know the vicinity, where to?”
“Hmm.. I know a spot here where it’s quiet. Only the rustling of tree leaves and birds chirping. It’s like the heart of the woods, but it’s safe there, trust me.”
“Okay,” I nodded. It was just what I needed, a distraction, and peace among chaos.
“What should we do there, babe?” Okay, so he’s getting comfortable calling me pet names.
“Mmmm. I don’t know..? You tell me!” I said teasingly. “Maybe we could climb the trees?”
I tried to look serious but to no avail. We both burst out laughing.
As we kept on walking, I noticed that the skies were getting dark. There were faint traces of thunder. “Hey Todd, look at the sky. It will go down on us! Do you know a shade here?”
“Yeah, come on!”
He pulled me to a place where there were concrete walls behind the trees. There were a lot of trees actually, perfect for a shade.
As we just stood there under the trees, we looked at each other.
That was when I noticed his appearance completely. He was wearing a fit t-shirt, therefore, showing off his buff arms and well-toned chest and abs. A wonderful combination, if you ask me.
He was also wearing loose-fitting denim pants.
Then he suddenly pushed me against one of the big trees.
“Tell me Ky1la, why don’t you want me? I’ve been doing a lot of things so you would notice me, but no! I got this feeling you only see me as a friend.”
His intense staring made me lose all words in my mouth.
“See, I like you Todd. Ever since the day I saw you at our job. Why the hell do you think I gave you my number? I never do that to anyone. Ever.
And if you want to know, I don’t like you anymore. You wanna know why?
Because I am freaking in love with you already!”
I shouted at him between breaths. It was so hard to let him get away, knowing that he thinks that I only think of him as a friend. I felt the urge to defend myself.
I was expecting him to answer back, but he just pinned me to the tree and grabbed my arms. He just kept looking at me like before, but his mouth showed disbelief.
“You see! That is the problem! I tell guys I love them and they freak out!”
I was already crying, trying to get out of his grasp.
But he kept his hold on me firmly.
Then without warning, he kissed me again. This time, he planted a soft smooch on my lips, then just stayed there.
I wanted him to move so I kissed back. This time, the aggressive one was me.
Make-out time is so on.
He responded with a fervour that made my body tingle inside.
I can feel my limbs turning Jell-O so I tried to slide down and sit, he just followed me.
Both sitting now, we continued kissing. We only stopped once in a while for air, but other than that, it was a heavy make-out session.
As I tried to change the pace of our kissing, he just mumbled incomprehensible words in agreement.
“mm.”
I tried to hold on to his hair, grasping it with both hands while he placed both his hands on the sides of my waist.
It was a good ten-minute make-out, and it would have been longer,
if not for one thing.
I reluctantly stopped kissing to turn around to where I felt someone poke me in the back.
I pushed Todd on the chest and asked him breathlessly,
“Hey, where were your hands the whole time we were kissing?”
He looked at me and answered with a laugh.
“Babe, come on. Let’s just get back to where we were a while ago. I admit you were having your own show a while ago, but now is my turn.”
And with that, the kissing continued, only now, Todd was trying to play with tongues.
I admit, I have never made out with anyone ever before, more or less used tongue.
So when he tried to push open my mouth with his tongue, I gave in, letting him take what he wanted.
But then I felt another poke in my back. This time, I really pushed Todd hard and turned around again.
“What the hell?” Todd said. “Honey, if you wanted to take it slow, why didn’t you just tell me? Why do you need to push me?”
But I wasn’t looking at him.
I was staring at something lying there behind me.
A black body bag. And something poked me from that direction.
It took a second for it to register in my mind.
Then I screamed. Maybe ‘screeched’ was the right term for it.
“Baby, baby. What’s wrong??”
I stood up and he did the same.
“Can’t you see that there’s a freaking body bag beside me??”
I was going to point it out to him but when I turned around again, there was nothing there.
“Kyla, take it easy. You’re just tense, that’s all. There is no body bag. We were just getting hot and heavy, alright?”
Then he hugged me to his chest.
“Jesus! Kyla, you’re so hot. You’re burning, you have a fever. Let me take you home.”
I felt like my tongue was stung by a million bees, I couldn’t even speak.
I just nodded.
As he lifted me up and cradled me in his arms, I felt safe, secure.
Then I let myself fall into deep sleep.
A's N:
I'm sleepy already so I'll jus update the due dedications a few hours later.
Ayt this is my last upload for tonight. :D