Whirling Storms: Darius

11

"I hope you all did well. That's it for today. You can check your ratings tomorrow at the faculty." our professor said and left the lecture hall.

We just had a grueling five hours straight examination today. I feel like all my energy has been sucked out of my body entirely. I felt so lifeless and drained. I don't think I can even walk properly now.

"I certainly hate Physics. The questions were super hard. Can you believe it?" one of my classmates complained.

"All of the things I studied weren't even in the test. Physics sucks real time."

I agree. I even studied hard to the bones just ti ace the exams only to see a very different kind of test. It was totally out of this world. Extremely difficult even for a grade conscious student like me.

"Class C is hosting a party to celebrate the end of the examination week. You will come right?"

"Mom's going to beat me up if I go to another party. I'll take a rain check and text you."

Poor him for not being able to attend parties freely. Speaking of party, attending one won't hurt. I hope my friends are already finished with their school tasks too. I stood up happily and zoomed out of the lecture hall.

"Is Neo inside?" I asked one Neo's classmate.

She nodded and smiled at me. "He's inside. I'll call him for you."

"Thanks." I replied as I wait by the hallway.

A lot of students were passing by for a bit until I saw Neo exiting his room. I smiled once I saw him and gave him a tap on his shoulders.

"Why the long face, buddy? Something wrong?" I asked because he looked so gloomy.

I waited and smiled at Neo to encourage him to speak up. I'm someone who he can truly trust and share difficulties with. But if he really doesn't want to talk, I don't push anymore. I know when to stop too.

"It's Alexa." he said after heaving a deep sigh.

"Alexa? What about her?" I asked because I wasn't updated.

"I told you last time that she was taking time off from school after exams, right?" he said which made my eyebrow rise.

"You did? When?" I asked because I don't remember when he told me that.

"Did you forgot already? It was just yesterday. I told you that morning about Alexa." he reminded and I bit my lip after remembering.

I am not exactly sure if he really did say this but I think he said something that day. I was too out of it that day so I wasn't able to process such new informations.

"Right. That morning." I pretended to finally remember and smiled at him.

"It turns out that her family's migrating to Hawaii." he said and I was stunned for a while.

"Migrate? All of a sudden? Where is she? You said she will take time off after exams. Today is the after exams." I pointed out and started shaking out of intense emotions.

Alexa can't just leave us like this. There's no way that she will ever leave us just like this.

"Where's her building again? We should go and talk to her before she goes, Neo. We can't just let her go." I persuaded but the look on Neo's face made me cry.

I have met Alexa when we were in middle school and she stayed with us until now. She's a precious long time friend of us and I can't accept that she just suddenly left. She's like a family to me now.

"Did...did she left already?" I asked in between crying.

"She left yesterday. I heard she took an early exam and got every official documents regarding school before leaving." Neo looked so defeated right now. So was I.

"Does that mean, she won't come back anymore?" I asked because she just took everything important and migrated.

If she was planning to come back, she wouldn't have gotten all her official records in the university. She would have left them here as an assurance that she will come back.

"Let's not think about it anymore. The exams are just over so let's not stress ourselves." Neo said and pulled me up.

I was still sobbing a little because tears kept on coming out. Why did this happen exactly after exams? Alexa could have gave us a warning sign.

"Mom is throwing a small celebration. Neil got a job promotion and today is the end of our exams. So Mom prepared a small get together." he informed while we walked lifelessly towards his car.

"Are all your relatives coming over?" I asked because I don't want to show up in a bad state.

"Nah. It'll be just Mom, Dad, my brothers, and the two of us." he answered.

We stayed quiet throughout the ride to their house. We really didn't have the energy anymore to bicker about so I guess it was a bit more nice that we were quiet inside the car. Exams just finished and a bad news came to us.

"Sydney! It's been a long time dear. How are you doing?" Aunty greeted and I gave her a hug.

"I'm doing fine, Aunty." I reiterated before she ushered me inside their house.

I didn't know how things went by but I just suddenly found myself walking around their subdivision heading to a nearby convenience store. The only thing I can remember was that I was asked to buy soft drinks.

"I can't even think straight. Why did I volunteered to buy again?" I mumbled to myself as I walked mindlessly on the street.

Maybe I was too out of it that I didn't noticed the approaching car. It was too fast and the only thing that I thought of doing was to close my eyes. I was waiting for the car to bump me but I felt a pair of hands gripping my shoulders and hugging me.

As I opened my eyes, Darius's eyes met mine. I didn't know what was the reason but the moment our eyes met, I was blinded by a light after seeing how Darius's eyes changed into blood red ones just like how Darla's eyes were before.

So I wasn't really dreaming when I saw her eyes changed into red ones?