The Realm of Truth (Book 1) [In the process of editing]

Chapter 10: Gemini

I arrived in Mr. Tanner's classroom at the end of the day and everyone whispered rumors, just as I expected.

"See? I knew she was a freak." someone in the back said. "It's been a whole day. Where is Celeste, and did you hear? Apparently, an ambulance swung by the graveyard yesterday."

"You think it was a freak accident?" Another person spoke.

"I'm thinking it was an Odette accident." Another irritating voice chimed in.

I slammed my hands down on the desk to startle them. "Freak accident or not, Celeste is fine." I snapped, and they all looked at me in surprise. I turned to everyone who showed up. "She may be in the hospital, but before you guys can conjure up some weird theory on what happened: it was just a weird animal attack. That's all. Talk all you want, but stop throwing the word freak in the air like it's no big deal. Got it?" They all nodded at me afraid and went back to being quiet. "Okay."

I sat back down, and looked up to  Mr. Tanner standing in front of me. "Can I speak to you outside for a moment?" He asked and I nodded in agreement. I followed him outside after he gave the whole class an assignment. The door closed behind him, and he sighed. "Listen, Odette-"

"I already said it was just an animal attack." I defended straight away, crossing my arms. "The car flipped over and the animal hurried off. I talked to Celeste yesterday and I planned on visiting her at the hospital later today."

"That was all that happened?" Mr. Tanner asked, and I nodded in a "duh" way. "Look, Odette, you're a very smart student, and I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You seem pretty shaken up."

"Probably from when the car flipped." I managed to say, feeling antsy. "It happened very quickly, okay?"

"I'm glad you're both alright, then." He calmly said, but he didn't sound convinced to me. "For the slideshow project, I'm going to have to push it back until Celeste returns from recovery."

That's only if Celeste recovers. Not only am I worried about her safety, but I'm also worried about her knowing my secret. I can't risk it. She's a bright girl, and she seems like the type of person to notice things straight away. Celeste didn't though, and if she's keeping it a secret, then she's putting herself in danger.

~~~

Damien drove me to the hospital where Celeste stayed at. On the way there, he was telling me all these cool facts about the Rhode Island hospital.

In all honesty, I was only half-paying attention to him as a distraction. He turned on Blackstone Street to get to the parking garage and I was dreading my worst nightmare.

Finally, we arrived inside, and I went ahead to the front desk to check in to seek where her room was. "Hi, uhm...I'm a friend of Celeste Walker, who's stayed overnight. Where may I find her?" I asked one of the receptionists, and she looked at me for a few minutes. The woman was smacking her gum which slightly irritated me. She finally looked back down at her clipboard to pretend she was doing some work, and pointed to the left side of the hallway towards the elevator.

"Room 212." She replied dryly with a sigh.

"Wow...friendly today, aren't we?" I muttered, narrowing a glare as I left.

I headed down the hallway and saw Celeste's room.

The lights were on through the windows. Maybe her nurse was there to make some rounds.

I stopped and noticed the door was cracked open and I thought, "Huh?" Then, from my peripheral vision, a small trail of blood was on the floor. I looked around before hurrying inside, and stopped myself from shrieking.

Blood was splattered around Celeste's body and her neck was twisted. I stood there, stammering in complete shock and disbelief. How in the world have none of these nurses notice?!

I saw the blood painted on the walls above Celeste's dead body that was used with her blood and it said, "Gemini".

I quickly closed the door behind me before anyone else saw and had my hands covering my mouth. My breath was shaky and I heard footsteps coming. "Odette?" Damien said, knocking quietly on the door. "I'm here if you want to...you know, maybe open up?" I opened the door and yanked him inside quickly. "What the hell-?" He muttered slowly. Damien turned to me and saw me sliding down to the floor. "Hey, Odette..." He started to reach for my arm to pull me back up, but I pulled away. "It's okay-"

"No, Damien. It's not." I said, starting to get furious. "It is not okay! Do you see this? Everywhere I go, this is going to happen! I can't stay here anymore, I have to leave Rhode Island for good or more innocent people will die, and for what reason?! I don't understand why this is had to happen, and Celeste is dead because of me! This is all my fault, Damien. I-I can't. I'm the reason I lose friends!" My eyes started to glow, and I've noticed that whenever I started going haywire. It was something I couldn't control.

Damien was taken aback, but he pulled me up to my feet and I was about to throw him off until he kept his hands firm on my shoulders. "Let me go-!" I struggled against him and he started glaring at me. In the next moment, I found myself shocked when he kissed me. "D-Damien?" I managed to say. I didn't know how to react, much less know how to kiss.

No, this is wrong. I pushed him back, and I placed my hand towards my mouth. He's my best friend, I can't kiss him!

He frowned and looked behind my shoulders. A woman screamed in fear when she saw the blood through the windows. "Shouldn't you have closed curtains?!" Damien cursed, and walked over to close them quickly.

I opened the windows beside Celeste's bed, and I grabbed him with me. I hauled him over my back and I just jumped out.

"Wait, Odette-!"

I landed on my feet and let him down. "Sorry, Damien, but I can't risk getting you in the mix. You deserve a normal, human life."

I started to walk away from him. "Where are you going? You're not seriously leaving just like that, are you?" I winced, feeling a pang from the tone of his voice.

"I have to go back to the graveyard," I called out to him. "Maybe she'll be there. It seems to be our little hangout spot."