Underneath the clouds

XIII

Her ankles seemed glued together, her feet planted to the floor. She stood still, watching as the building burned to the ground. This was the fifth time she's had the same nightmare in a row, but this time around it was different. Well, not too different. It was the same until the end, when she heard the stairs creaking, dark shadows painting the burning walls. Immediately, she felt uneven, a strong urge to run and hide from the thing that was slowly coming up the stairs. Stopping briefly at the landing, it turned. Jolin couldn't scream, because when the thing turned around it didn't have a face. It's whole body from head to toe was just a black silhouette. It seemed to notice Jolin, and started to creepily walk over to her. Suddenly she couldn't breathe, and her body was squished. It was like she was at the bottom of the ocean, an anchor keeping her grounded as she floated in the water helplessly, counting down her last remaining seconds. It touched her, a hot and cold sensation hit her body. It's touch was gentle and warm at first, but then turned icy cold, it seemed to burn her skin. She's never felt that cold before, and she didn't want to feel it again. Forcing herself to wake up, Jolin forcefully opened her eyes, staring up at the dark ceiling. It was still night, well maybe dusk, she couldn't tell because of her curtains. Jolin stared up to the ceiling empty minded, waiting for the sun to come up so she could just get up. It had been 2 weeks since Jolin went over to Bree's house, and that they kissed, but ever since Mark has been just trying to talk to her nonstop. One time they even made a small conversation. Despite hearing his voice a couple times, when they talked she felt like this was a new voice. Cool, and calm. Like psychopathic calm. Eventually she fell back asleep, getting to comfortable. She was dreamless, and Jolin was thankful, not until she had to get up for a Friday. Breakfast was brewing, and she stumbled down the stairs, hair messy, and her eyes half lidded. "Morning Jolin." Her mother greeted. "Hi mom." Jolin groaned sitting at the island. Angelica looked behind her, seeing the dark circles underneath her daughters eyes. "Gettin' much sleep?"
"No." Jolin growled. "Reasons? It's not because of that phone is it?" Jolin shook her head. "No, I've just been having really bad nightmares, and they keep me up at night." Angelica furrowed her eyebrows, feeling bad for the teenager. "It's okay, I'm sure they'll go away soon." She kissed her forehead, setting down a giant plate of pancakes in front of her. "I don't think so..." she thought taking a bite into the pancakes.

At school, she felt dizzy, and sick, but she refused to go to the nurse. Jolin felt her whole world spiraling down the drain. Not even the butterflies that Bree gave her could cure the sickness. If at all, it made it worse. "Jesus Christ... you look like shit." Kimberly fixed her glasses. "I know," Jolin groaned, sleepily eating a fry. "Kimberly, you know you don't have to be so rude about it." Bree laughed under her breath. "What? It's true, I mean look at her." Kimberly motioned towards Jolin. She fought back the urge to flip her off, and instead lowered her head, her nose almost touching her food. "You haven't been getting much sleep now have you?" Bree rubbed Jolin's shoulder. Jolin groaned without answering, only slouching back, her eyes closed. "Any reason?"
"It's because of,"
"Her nightmares she has every night." Kimberly finished the sentence. Jolin quietly growled, leaning back, getting a clear look on the cafeteria. Suddenly, she saw a pair of grey eyes in the crowd, an oversized black sweater, and earrings. Mark. He kept his head back, exposing a fair amount of his neck. The guy showed the entire cafeteria how sharp his jawline was, almost flaunting it as he walked past the girls of the lunch room. A slight smile was on his face, as he walked towards Jolin's table. The dark circles under her eyes must've made him mistake her for an e-girl wearing very poorly placed makeup. Jolin had her arms folded down on the table, as she kept her head down, only looking at him through her eyebrows. Bree put a firm hand on Jolin's thigh, a more serious look in her eye. Putting a hand on the table, he grinned looking at her, as his hood inched further into his face. Mark's hair was in front of one eye, while the other stared longingly at Jolin. "What do you want?" Bree growled, slightly squeezing the tired girl's thigh. "I just wanted to say high to your little gorgeous friend here..." she was surprised by his voice. Usually calm, and cool, he now possessed a little fire in his voice, a passion that suddenly had came out once he spoke to Jolin. Looking up, they gazed into each other's eyes, before she broke the silence. "Hello Mark." There was a hint of attitude in her voice. Mark grinned, staring into her brown eyes. "A bit formal isn't it?" He joke. "Sure, but still... what do you want?" Jolin straightened her back, sitting up from her hunched position. He seemed to smile like a douche when she revealed her upper body. "I just wanted to say hello, and maybe get to know you. Because you seem..." Jolin raised an eyebrow, resisting the urge to bark back. "Interesting." He finished. "You know what'll be interesting... the news tomorrow." Bree quietly threatened. Kimberly kept her head down, in fear he'd make fun of her because of her eyes. "Oh really?" Genuinely intrigued by his appearance she leaned into him, pressing further. "Indeed, you seem smart, and obviously... very stunning." Kimberly kept muttering underneath her breath every time he'd deliver a line. "This guys a flirt..." Bree silently agreed on that one, watching as Jolin became a little flustered as he continued to smile, and converse with her. "Well, lunch is almost done, I look forward to seeing you in class." He smirked, and walked away, hands in his pockets. Jolin nodded silently, turning back to the food she barely ate. Kimberly fixed her glasses, looking worriedly at Brianna. "I don't think you should mess with him... or be involved. He seems like a dick." Bree said, her eyebrows furrowed. "Like a total asshole." Kimberly crossed her arms. "I-I don't know," Jolin stuttered, looking after him. "Please. Don't. Fall. For. Him." Bree watched him walk away, eyes squinted with suspicion. Jolin wasn't so sure anymore... it just gave little butterflies in her stomach, not as bad as Bree, but she could still tell they were there. The bell rang, and everybody got up, walking for the exits, Kimberly went the opposite way, and Bree followed Jolin upstairs.

Back home, Jolin heard a few new noises, like clanking in the garage, and a drill going downstairs. Her mother had called for someone to redo a room in the basement, and he had been there all day. Opening the garage, she saw the beaker with "her" serum, completely full, and now a new color. Whilst the other beaker was half full, and the same color. A very pretty shade of purple. "Hey dad." Jolin walked in, watching as he scribbled away on a piece of paper. "Hey sugar cube. How was school today?"
"Actually surprisingly decent." Jolin slowly walked by the beakers, looking at them with a pit of worry in her stomach. "That's good."
"Yeah... dad, when are you going to tell me what these are for?" He turned around, looking as she pointed to "her" beaker. He smiled, pulling her close, pointing to a few words. Surprised Jolin read them, seeing GMH. "What's 'GMH'?" Jolin questioned. "It stands for Genetically Mutated Humans." Snapping her head back to him, her face showed worry. "Mutated?" Nodding, he smiled, writing more letters down. "And yours, is basically that, but I've customized it."
"Huh?"
Getting a marker, and walking over to his whiteboard, he made a circle. A pie chart.
"You see 34 percent of what the serum will make of you, is what you are. Simple right?" Jolin slowly sat down. "Yeah... I guess."
"The other 25 percent is what others see you as." He explained, while drawing, and adding to the pie chart. "Another 15 percent is what you see yourself as, another 24 percent is what you want to become..." only a little slice remained on the chart. Jeffery marked it. "And that... that's 2% of the serum that's a wish." He turned back around, capping the marker and putting it on the ledge. "Make sense?"
"Yeah..." Jolin stared at the chart, it did make sense, but what didn't is how he was able to do this. It perplexed her, but she knew he was way more smarter than her, so she let it be. "I'm going to go and hang out with ma."
"Alright sugar cube." He sat back down to work, ignoring the loud click of the door shutting.