Beautiful misery

Part 8

"Giovanni… Hi"

"You‘re probably wondering why I asked you to meet me here, well you‘ll find out pretty soon, follow me."

I followed completely clueless as to what was going on.

"Where are we going?"

"You‘ll see."

We went down the main road near the school and took a sharp left towards a forest. After a few minutes of walking we finally stopped and I looked around, something about the place made me wonder, ‘have I already been here before?‘ but I just couldn‘t seem to grasp that little voice inside giving me the answer.

"Maya, does this place tell you anything?"

"No, why?" I lied. I didn‘t want to share my strange feeling with him quite yet, heck I hardly knew him!

"Well let‘s just put it this way, We‘ve already been here together before."

I stared at him as if he were crazy. What the hell was he on about?!

"Giovanni, I only just met you. How could we have ever been somewhere already together?"

He bowed his head, melancholically.

"You wouldn‘t know… I was stupid to bring it up, Sorry." As he said that last word, he looked up into my eyes with a serious expression, "Take care of yourself Maya. Don‘t let anyone or anything get to you, promise?"

I was shocked by his words but felt heat radiate through my body starting from the heart all the way down through my arms and legs down to the tips. This somehow comforted me and gave me a new confidence I had never received before.

"I promise." I whispered.

"Let me bring you back home." He said, turning back towards where we came from.

"Wait, uh… can‘t we stay here a while? You know, now that we‘re here…?" I said awkwardly. Truth is, I didn‘t want to go back home, even though I knew I‘d have to go back eventually. Plus, I felt at ease here, as if all my problems had just disappeared.

"Sure, if you‘d like." He said smiling lightly.

We sat down on a log where the sun shone through the trees. It felt good. For a moment we were both silent but at one point, he cleared his voice.

"So, how do you like the school?"

"It‘s pretty good," I said looking into his eyes.

"Where were you before?"

I hesitated for a few seconds, "I, uh, was home-schooled."

"I see."

When he said that, I thought I saw a flash of worry cross his eyes but it quickly disappeared.

"How long have you been in the school?"

"Ever since the first class."

We continued with our small talk for another hour almost. Even though it was sometimes slightly awkward, it was fun, and somewhat interesting. Giovanni then decided to walk me back home but I told him he could go his own way the minute we got out of the forest. The last thing I wanted was to run into my dad on the way back with Giovanni by my side. That wouldn‘t be too great.

The minute Giovanni left though, I suddenly felt like all my problems had found me once again. I wondered what time it was… hopefully my dad wouldn‘t be home. Strange, stressful feelings were starting to form themselves in my stomach, which automatically caused me to walk faster. It was probably already 5!

10 minutes later I was walking up to the front door, by which time I could feel my heart racing. I slowly opened the front door, trying very hard not to make any sound and peered inside. The second my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I jumped. Right there, standing at the entrance, was my dad looking furious as ever. He grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. I frantically tried to get away from his grasp turning around towards the exit and trying to get a hold of something but something caught me off guard for only a second. Right there in front of the house, standing on the pavement with his back towards me was Giovanni. He looked lost as if he were trying to find something… And just as my dad closed the door in front of me, he turned around and looked straight into my eyes for a split second.

Giovanni´s P.O.V :

I was walking out of the forest with her right by my side. It was amazing, I thought I‘d never see her again but yet just this morning, we bumped into each other like as if we never got parted. At least, that‘s what it was like for me… She didn‘t seem to remember anything from our past though. Well I couldn‘t blame her it was a while ago after all. Where was she this whole time?! I could tell she had changed. She used to be so full of life, so happy and perfect. Yet here we were, together once again, except her eyes weren‘t reflecting as much happiness, her smile wasn‘t as meaningful, her laugh wasn‘t as joyful and she just wasn‘t as energetic or full of life! It felt like there was something very different about her but I just couldn‘t figure out why. 

We arrived at the entrance of the forest and she turned to look at me.

"Thanks for today, it was great! But you can go back home now, no need to walk me back" She said smiling.

This made me a little suspicious. I could tell there was more to it than what she just told me.

"Ok, see you tomorrow then."

She started walking away from me faster and faster without looking back. I decided to follow her.

She was walking so fast it was hard to catch up and at one point I lost sight of her. Walking down the street slower and slower I searched around, finally coming to a stop in front of a big blue house. It didn‘t look anything like what I imagined her house to be so I decided it wasn‘t hers and kept searching. I turned around searching on the other side of the street until I saw someone getting pulled into a small house and watching the door close right behind her. It took me a moment to realize what just happened. Was that Maya? It must‘ve been her. I could remember those deep, beautiful eyes look in to mine for a split second, crying for help, just before the door closed.

I felt like I should‘ve done something but the fact was, I wasn‘t sure how to react, heck, I didn‘t even know if it was true! I decided to go back home and think about everything that had just happened. The conversation, the rush back home, the look of complete despair she wore just before closing the door... That‘s when it hit me, something very wrong was happening and I had to find a way to stop it.

But what was going on, and how was I to stop it?