The Imperials

Hunted

Halima POV: 

"Chromosomes are thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal and plant cells. Each chromosome is made of protein and a single molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid ..." Mr. Davis, my biology teacher, lectured in front of the class with the holo screen open that displayed a huge picture of chromosomes. 

Obediently, I scribbled and noted his words down only for the sake of acing another stupid test and making my parents proud. 

"Gideon, why are you taking selfies during class?" Mr. Davis glowered with his pointer in hand. 

We all turned around to stare at the back seats to find him with his lips puckered up towards his camera. At the call of his name, it took him several seconds to realize that he was red-handedly caught and was going to obediently serve detention in the evening. "It was j-just...ah..."

"Save it Gideon, detention at 3:15. Right after school. Give me that phone now!" Mr. Davis yelled, extending his hand out and Gideon scowled but thrust his device in his hand anyway. 

Finding everything uninteresting, I sighed. I was seated next to the floor-length window of our classroom that spilled midday light into the class. From here, the bright clear sky was bright and visible. The white cloud swam away in the vast oceanic sky in various fluffy shapes and sizes. One of the clouds looked like a cuddly teddy and the other a mattress, each changing shapes every minute. 

I glanced at the ground, a story below from our class, a few heads scurried here and there sauntering in the school parking lot. From here, I could see a variety of different polished cars parked in neat rows ahead, glimmering like gems under the tense sunlight. I spotted my black car shadowed among others, sunlight reflecting on its polished metals. 

Suddenly my eyes drifted onto a black-haired woman clad in a black leather jacket and tight black jeans jogging rapidly to her car. She seemed to be in her mid-forties, her hair wavily falling below her shoulders, and her face pale as a blanket of snow. Her posture, the way how she walked was so familiar, where did I see her again?

Wait, she was the woman. The woman who was in the mirror, the woman who haunted my dreams, the woman who followed me everywhere. 

My heart rapidly beat in my chest, adrenaline pumped in my veins, and I instinctively jumped up from my seat and dashed out of the classroom. My feet picked up their pace and I was running down the hall with my mind clouded. I didn't care when a few teachers called out my name, I didn't care that I pushed people in halls, I just needed to stop this woman. I needed answers. Was she alive or was she dead? Was she a real or an illusion? Why was she haunting me? Why was she making me crazy?

At last, when I broke free out of the building and under the tense sun, I frantically searched for her figure. Her familiar hair. To spot at least a speck of that black hair or that familiar haunting face would probably comfort me for a thousand nights.

I crazily ran through rows of cars, corners of the school building, I even tried calling out her name, but there was no luck. She just evaporated into thin air. 

Like always, she was just an illusion playing tricks with my head. 

Everyone was right. I was going crazy.

At last, feeling defeated, I found my camouflaged car amid other cars and dragged myself inside it. I sat in the driver's seat with my face squeezed between my hands, my head a turmoil, and my heart clenched into a tight fist. Deep sobs wanted to escape the cage of my mouth, but I zipped my lips stuffing everything in even though I was in the isolation of my car. 

No, I can handle this. I was so much stronger, I comforted myself. 

Not wanting to face Mr. Davis, I decided to leave school. I stuffed my keys in and started my car, the engines immediately screamed to life. Looking back, I tried to back out of the parking lot, but my car simply won't budge a single bit, stubbornly staying at its post.