Sound
Tate played his pen making a clicking sound on the blue notebook's page. He closed his eyes and heard Lily's TV blaring in the living room. She must be watching a soap opera, Tate thought. He also felt the gentle summer breeze rustling the tree's leaves just outside his window, and kids playing in the street, skateboards clattering as they banged against the pavement. Somehow he found it all relaxing, and he felt his heartbeat in sync with the sounds. Boom Boom, Click click.
He stopped searching for inspiration, and while staring wide-eyed at the blank paper, he carelessly wrote on his notepad something that because of his sloppy handwriting, it would only be clear before his own eyes and understandable only for his brain.
Up and down, in and out -
They make you spin till you o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ fall out.
Back and forth too and fro --They'll take you high then let you go.Joy and S̶A̶D̶N̶E̶S̶S̶sorrow love and hate -t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶they mix them up till its too late. PASSION TO POISONpleasure to pain -
-your stuck on the rideand the ride ends i̲ n̲ s̲ a̲ n̲ e̲
"How could someone who lived a thousand lives not be driven insane?"
Tate jumped up and hit his knee with the table, making his notepad and pen falling to the floor. Alexander let out a disturbingly creepy laugh which echoed between the walls on of his room. He joined his black tattooed hands together and smiled. Tate sometimes blurted things out before thinking. This was one of those times.
"I really want to punch you," Tate said, picking up both the notebook and the pencil.
"I really want to punch you." He said, picking up the notebook ad the pencil up.
Alexander did not move.
"What do you want?" He said, he had only seen Alexander once or twice before, the youngest one of the twelve and Piero's brother.
His first thought was that maybe he was going to tell him something about Cassie. His heart started racing. Boom Boom Boom Boom. And he made the clicking sound to go with it. Click click click click. His head went: Cassie, Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. Like a trio sonata, with his heart playing the lead.
An image of her practicing ballet appeared on his head, a soft and blurry vision of her moving around a room full of dancers, although she was the only one who stood out.
"You must listen to me before reacting, Tate."
Tate lifted up his head, his eyes widened. It was the first time a guardian had called him by his other name and not Icarus.
"You have two minutes."
"Don't worry it will take less."
Alexander moved around the room although his eyes never looked away from the boy who sat on his chair, holding a pen so tight that his hands had a pale bloodless yellow colour. "We had a meeting with the twelve guardians and I felt like--It's my duty to tell you what is going on up there."
"Enlighten me, Mr. Alexander," Tate replied with a mocking tone. "Tell me what is going on in paradise, just what is bothering them so much that they'd send a celestial being such as you to take charge, Alexander, King of the Eastern Constellation, here on earth to torment my quiet summer evenings."
Alexander narrowed his golden eyes and whispered, "You sure are one of the most annoying creatures ever created."
"Well, let's say that if you don't like my current personality, not to worry because in less than two months I'll be reborn with a different one."
"Before then you won't exist anymore."
"And just who says that? You? Piero?"
"Cassie," Alexander prophetically declared.
Tate frowned. He didn't like the sound of Alexander's voice pronouncing her name. Alexander looked rather amused by Tate's sudden reaction.
"She is wants you dead."
"I'm pretty sure she wants me, if you know what I mean," Tate teased.
He hid his smile, thinking about the sassy implications of what he was saying. He attempted to mask his smile to show respect for Alexander. But did he really care about showing respect for the people who were trying to kill him all through the last centuries?
He cracked up, busting out laughing.
"Then tell me why is she planning on breaking your heart?"
The laughing ceased. "What are you talking about?"
"Heron gave her four weeks to prove she can fulfill the mission, if she doesn't... another apprentice will take her place. My apprentice," Alexander's severe look indicating he was deadly serious.
Tate knew for a fact that every king and queen guardian had an apprentice, a human apprentice. Each of them would be converted into guardians once they were assigned a mission. A ceremony marked when their human soul left their bodies, when the human part of them died to be transformed into a celestial being. Did Cassie have a ceremony or was her transformation something quick because of her terrible destiny to be the one who was supposed to be with him?
"And--and what would happen to her?"
"Sorry, you said I only had two minutes."
"Wait!"
In a blink of an eye Alexander disappeared in a storm of black clouds. Tate looked directly at the wall for a few minutes after Alexander was gone, narrowing his eyes and clenching his jaw. The pen he was holding was now broken on the floor. Analyzing each word that came from Alexander, the way he spoke, his gestures. He realized the game Cassie was playing. He realized he was being played by Cassie to gain the advantage in their impossible struggle. With both of his hands cupped together and his brows almost touching in fury, he screamed the only thing that came to his mind because of it's daily use,
"Oh, fuck!"
➳
The light from the window lit up the boy's back. He was staring at the once white wall in front of him. He felt a breeze from behind, While Alexander made a grand entrance, his apprentice merely turned around with a brush, dripping yellow paint to the floor, a floor covered in pictures and papers, a floor that hadn't been cleaned up in days.
"Any news?" he asked, taking a cell phone out of his pocket.
"I thought I should inform you that I spoke with Tate," Alexander said. "He is falling for Cassie but the look in his eyes when I told him that she would break his heart was... what are you thinking about, Petra-- I mean... Pete?"
Pete stood still, smiling. He had a perfect plan.
"I'm thinking about my first attack, it's going to be... memorable. Call me Petra once again and I swear I'll--"
"Ambitious little bastard," Alexander spat and they both exchanged nervous smiles. Petra had not been the same ever since Tate kicked him out of the band. He looked more threatening but Alexander knew it was going to happen ever since he changed his name to Pete.
"What are you painting?"
"Cascadia."
"As your master, should I be worried? Why are you painting her on your wall?"
"I believe in the appreciation of beautiful things, I like to keep them for myself. You see, Alexander, ever since I saw Cassie about a week ago when she was questioning Tate in that abandoned place, she's on my mind day all night."
"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that."
"Hear what?"
They smiled again. Alexander thought the poor kid's obsession with Cassie was his own fault, but if being crazy is necessary to end Icarus' curse then he, himself would be the one pushing buttons, screwing threads and driving recklessly on the freeway to insanity to insanity with Pete on his backseat.