SHADOWS

22. TERRIFIED

September 14, Thursday.

Dean didn't sleep, haunted by the knowledge that Jibrail, his ex best friend who turned out to be his step brother, had returned to town. The mere presence of Jibrail not only left him uneasy but plunged him into a state of terror. The uncertainty surrounding Jibrail's intentions and the reasons behind his return fueled Dean's fear. The looming possibility of Jibrail posing a threat to the entire town and, more significantly, to Ilena, injected a cocktail of anger, frustration, and fear into Dean's veins.

As he swallowed anxiously, Dean mentally braced himself for the challenges of the day. Igniting the engine, he drove all the way to Ilena's house, intending to pick her up and go to school together. However, upon reaching Ilena's residence, Aqui delivered the unsettling news that Ilena had already left.

Dean couldn't escape the palpable tension between him and Aqui, sensing an unease that amplified his racing heart. The worrisome thought crept in-had Ilena discovered the truth about his monstrous nature?

Overwhelmed by trepidation, he drove in dismay, steering his way through the streets and then carefully parking his car in the parking lot outside the high school building. Exiting the Mercedes benz, that he had to fix last night, his eyes scanned the surroundings in an urgent quest for Ilena, yet his emerald eyes unexpectedly caught sight of Kaia. She look evidently distressed, her head bowed as she tentatively ascended the steps leading to the entrance of the high school building. Letting out a deep sigh, he decided to follow Kaia, his steps slowing until he came to a stop, positioned just in front of her.

Kaia gasped, her sudden panic perceptible in the way her eyes enlarged at the unexpected presence of Dean.

"Woah, easy," Dean chuckled ineptly, adopting a non-threatening posture with both hands raised just shy of his head's height. "Have you seen Ilena?"

Cautiously surveying the area, Kaia, seemingly wary of attracting undue attention, responded, "No, I haven't seen her since yesterday morning. And we haven't talked." Her gaze then fixed upon Dean's face, her arms folding above her chest. "Why? Are you two fighting?" she ventured to ask.

Dean's brows arched in contemplation as he shook his head, grappling with the complexity of the question. How could he provide a clear answer when he himself wasn't certain if Ilena and him were fighting or not, "No...? I don't know...?" he admitted, his uncertainty hanging in the air.

Kaia's brows tilted in a stern expression as she glared at him. "Speak up."

With a sigh, Dean yielded to the pressure of honesty. "Look, I have no idea if she's mad at me. It's just- I know I'm being unfair to her by not letting her know things about me, and I..."

"Kaia, mind if I have a word with you?" A voice, unmistakably familiar, interjected from Kaia's back, prompting her to pivot.

In a sudden moment of clarity, Dean's gaze aligned with Karl, whose heaving chest and fidgeting hands betrayed a sense of urgency, the motorcycle keys dancing in his grip. The atmosphere crackled with unspoken tension, as if the impending conversation held the weight of uncharted territories and undisclosed emotions.

Kaia's thoughts was filled with a turbulent mix of trauma, pain, and boiling rage, threatening to engulf her. However, she resolutely suppressed these volatile feelings, preferring to create an attitude of indifference. With a contemptuous scoff tinged with melancholy, she carelessly rolled her eyes in response to Karl's presence, as if dismissing him with a deliberate attitude of contempt. She walked past Karl swiftly, maintaining an air of apathy, disguising the psychological turmoil that raged behind her ostensibly calm appearance.

Sharp and cutting, Karl's accusatory words sliced through the air, leaving an uncomfortable tension in their wake. "You only used me for my motorcycle, didn't you?" he interrogated, his tone laden with bitterness.