The sudden ringing of the school bell jolted most of the students awake from their slumber rest awake. Well, those who were sleeping anyway, like Gray. For those who were daydreaming, like me, for example, jumped in surprise, totally not expecting the long awaited bell to ring.
And to the minority who were actually listening to the droning recorded voice that reads our literature book – or rather, the droning audio version of our literature book – Pride and Prejudice, out loud, looked crestfallen, like they wanted to hear more.
"Please read chapters five and six class," the teacher said. "We will have a quiz tomorrow."
The whole class groaned. Me included.
I didn't want to study Lit. It must be one of my worst subjects in school. Or maybe that's simply because I do not enjoy the story at all. It's just way too boring for my own good. I tend to fall asleep if I actually do study Lit.
I stuffed my Lit book into my bag and got up to leave.
"Hey! Willow! Wait for me!" someone called out to me from behind me.
I looked around for the person who had called me. My instincts told me that it was Gray. And when my eyes finally landed on the man itself, it proved my instincts right. It was Gray. And he was standing behind me.
"Let's go," he said, and I soon felt his arm snake around my waist.
For some odd reason, I feel like today... I feel like today is a bad day. I feel like today is totally not my day, at all. My instincts are telling me that something is going to happen today. And that 'something' is something bad.
Odd feeling.
Weird and impossible.
So, I just pushed all those thoughts out of my head and put my full concentration in walking.
If we can even concentrate in walking.
"I want to walk home today," I commented thoughtfully, obviously catching Gray off guard – and honestly, me too – because he shot me a bewildered look, but not before jumping a little.
"Why?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, I just feel like it."
"But –" he protested.
"I want to walk home alone," I cut him off before he could say anything else.
"Why?" he tried again.
But he is not going to get any answers out of me. Because even I do not know myself. Or maybe I do...
"I need time to think. I need time to gather my thoughts."
He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off once again. "And besides, the weather is quite good today."
Not a very good answer, I know, but still... And another reason as to why that was not a good answer was that I did not even know what to think about. Well, technically, I do, but at the same time, I don't. I have a lot of things to think about, but at the same time, I don't. If you get what I mean. I am pretty sure a lot of people have faced this situation before.
Gray stopped me. And that was when I noticed that we were already outside the school building. I could feel the cold air nipping at the exposed skin on my face.
"Look at me," he commanded.
I ignored him and quickly adverted my attention to my black converse.
"Willow, look at me."
I forced myself to look up, and straight into his piercing grey eyes. If looks could kill, now would be the right time. Because the way his eyes are looking at me are pretty freaky. He touched my cheek gently with one hand and his gaze softened.
I lifted my arm and put my hand against his, the one that was on my cheek. I could feel the warmth of his hand radiating against my cold cheek.
"You know how dangerous it is for you to be out alone nowadays right?' he asked.
I stared at him with a blank expression on my face.
"I mean, what with them on the hunt for you and everything," he added, this time, in a hushed voice.
I nodded, only so slightly. "Yeah."
As if you're not one of them, I accused silently. But who knows? He might not be one of them.
He continued staring at me, his grey eyes asking me the unspoken questions between us: Do you still want to walk home? All alone?
"Yes," I said stubbornly, looking at my converse once again, for just a moment, before looking back at his face, my eyes boring into his, my expression firm. "I am still going to walk home alone."
He sighed, and dropped his hands lifelessly to his sides. "I sincerely hope you know what you are doing, Willow."
Oh great. Why in the world did he have to say that? Now he only made me feel guilty. But I want to walk home alone. I need some space, and I haven't walked in the open for quite a while already.
I sent him a comforting smile. "It's okay, Gray. I do know what I am doing. No need to worry about me, Gray. I can look after myself perfectly fine. I'm not a kid anymore," I told him, trying to comfort him and make myself not feel so guilty at the same time.
"Okay, if you say so."
He pecked me swiftly on the cheek. That familiar warmth started to spread throughout my whole body.
"Thank you for understanding," I whispered.
I started to walk away from him, both hands shoved into my jacket pockets as my hands were freezing from the cold. I wish I had brought my gloves. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my left arm. I let out a small cry as I walked forward, but was held back by the hand.
So, I stopped moving, not able to go anywhere. Not with that firm grip keeping me in place anyway.
"Just promise me you'll be careful," Gray's voice was soft, firm and full of concern.
"Okay."
He let go of my arm, and I was soon on my way home. I was walking silently on the cement pavement, hands shoved into my pockets, head looking down, eyes on the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone in particular.
And just walking. Towards home.
I felt something vibrate in my jacket pocket. It was my phone. I pulled it out and flipped it open. The message '1 new message" was flashing on the screen. Just as I expected.
I opened the message , expecting it to be a threat or something along the lines. But to my surprise, it wasn't. Instead, it was a message from Gray.
"Text me when you reach home. <3 – Gray"
And that is Gray's way of making sure that I am okay, or rather, asking me if I'm okay.
How do I know? Well of course I know! I'm his girlfriend! But as his girlfriend, I sure do not know a lot about him. From an outsider's point of view, I seem to know a lot about him. But from my point of view, I don't.
I grinned upon reading the text, but did not reply it. Instead, I replaced it back in my pocket and just continued walking.
There were some twigs and dried leaves scattered on the pavement. How it came there? Honestly, who knows? Probably fallen from the trees in the neighbourhood. The twigs snapped under my weight, and the leaves crunched as I walked.
A sudden memory rushed to my mind.
I haven't opened the folder. Yet.
The one I had stolen from the office.
The one with my name in it.
I should open it; I want to open it. I started jogging a little, all too eager to get home and open the folder. I jogged along the curb. I am almost home.
I wonder what's inside there... There is such a wide range of possibilities. It could be anything, anything at all. But... What is it?
I am just so curious! And that is the only thing I have been for this whole week. Curious. Just curious, curious, curious.
I jogged up to the apartment building and reached out my hand to open the glass door. But before I could even open it, the door swung open, smacking me straight in the nose. So painful! I groaned, my eyes darting around to find out who did that. It was an accident, I know, so I don't blame them.
"I am so sorry..." a voice said, trailing off.
I quickly found the owner of the voice.
He's quite young, maybe around his mid-twenties, and had dark hair and olive green eyes. The man next to him looked almost the same as him, except that his eyes were emerald green instead of olive green, and that he is slightly older. I am guessing... They're brothers.
"It's okay..." I told the guy who apologised.
But something about their facial expressions made me curious. Again!
"Are you guys okay?" I asked.
They hastily changed their expressions of both shock and surprise into delight... That looked kind of forced.
"I'm Aaron," the olive green eyed guy said.
"I'm Thomas, his brother," the other told me.
Hah! So I was right! They are brothers!
I put on a warm smile on my face. "Hi. I'm Willow."
"I'm sorry Willow, we'd love to stay and chat, but we are kind of... Hurried... At the moment..." Aaron informed me.
I nodded in understanding. "Okay. I don't want to keep you from your activities. I'll... See you! When I see you...?"
"Yeah... I guess so..." the Thomas guy replied for his brother.
I bid a quick farewell to the pair and I watched as they rushed into a car.
For some reason, the car they got into looked almost exactly like Gray's car. The driver started the engine, and glanced at me.
He may be wearing a hood on his head, but there's something about his eyes that made him look so familiar... And now that I think about it, he looks suspiciously similar as Gray as well. Why? Well, it could be my imagination but...
I watched as the car drove away into the distance. Well, onto the main road, actually.
I soon came to the conclusion that that was just déjà vu... It must be anyway.
Ah well! Who could be bothered.
It's all probably in my head.
I waved all those useless thoughts out of my head and sighed. Today has just been so... Weird... I can't find the right word for that, so I'll just stick with 'weird' for the time being.
But then again, hasn't these past few weeks been so weird?
I wish I could be living the life of a normal teenager: happy, sociable, not depressed, enjoying life. But I can't. It seems as if fate has other plans for me. It's as if fate wants me to grow up fast. But then again, I do not believe in fate.
So why are all these things happening to me? Am I causing all the bad luck to myself? That is just so unlucky. I mean, my parent's accident, and then Gray's lying to me, and then I am having a déjà vu?
I wish I could be living a normal teenage life. But I can't. Not alone anyway, not without my family. It just doesn't fit. I wish they could be here. But they can't. I am not a necromancer. They do not even exist anyway, so why should I bother? Why waste the effort?
I might as well just accept the fact, and move on with my life.
But I can't.
If only I were not so close to them I might have –
I pushed all the thoughts away, not wanting to think about them anymore. Then, turning my heel, I pulled open the glass door and entered the building.
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