Ivy's Second Shadow

CHAPTER 2: WHO COULD IT BE?

"Why did Kash suddenly go away?" I thought to myself standing alone in the corridor. I picked up the envelope scared of the message. Who was watching me? This was getting really, really serious. I decided to go to the sick bay because I was feeling uncomfortably sick. My bones felt weak and I was mentally drained thinking about "someone". 

I grabbed my bag and instead of heading down to the cafeteria, I took a left walking to the sick bay in order to visit the school's matron. Her name was Mrs. Park and I felt that probably she could be having some answers for having this kind of sick feeling.

Nevertheless, I entered the sick bay whimpering, "May I come in, Mrs. Park?"

"Come in and sit here," she replied with a stern nod. I walked inside feeling the chill of the air conditioner pressing against me like a cold levanter wind. The room was chilling intensely like a freezer and there were a few coarse, dilapidated seats and beds charred with rust. There was a tiny refrigerator and a kettle brimming with piping hot water stowed in a cupboard/table kind of thing (I have no idea what that was). 

On Mrs. Park's table, there was a little clock that was ticking with butterflies drawn on it like little precious paintings. The walls were adorned with wallpapers and stickers that had washed off its colors seeming to have become really fatigued from being stuck there for ages. The room was like a box of cold waves at such a tremendous scale that I could feel my breath turning thinner. However, Mrs. Park seemed oblivious to the coldness of the room. I could even smell the air incensed with fresh mint making me think of toothpaste for some reason as I took a seat.

"Name?" Mrs. Jones asked sullenly.

"Ivy. Ivy Cooper," I replied.

"Problem?" she asked.

"I have this weird feeling like someone's following me..."

"Take some ice. You'll feel better," she said giving me a soggy packet of dripping ice.

"Wait. How will ice help? At least listen to me!" I said indignantly.

"Okay then, take some hot water," she said handing me a mug of water looking like it was bubbling out of a volcano.

"No, you don't understand!"

"Okay, take this muscle relaxant," she said.

"Ugh!" I groaned as I went out of there. I opened the door and saw Dave outside. He was standing there holding a yellowish diary and in between some of those pages was a little flower. The diary seemed to have been an old one. He looked at me as he gave a weak smile and ran away like he was afraid of me. Why was he gazing at me? He was looking at me in class, the cafeteria and even now? 

I decided to follow Dave and ask him about what was going on? I began to follow him until I saw Kash coming towards me and he said, "Hey there Ivy! Are you okay? I heard that you had went to the sick bay."

"You weren't there at the cafeteria," he said as his eyes looked at me in concern.

"I'm okay, Kash. But, why did you..."

"Glad to know you're okay. Now I have to go for something," he said as he sprinted away before I could even ask him that why did he suddenly leave me in the corridor on looking at the "Votre deuxième ombre" envelope. I needed to ask Dave and Kash about what was happening. And to add on, someone needed to tell Mrs. Park that not everything can be solved by ice, hot water or muscle relaxant- I thought to myself.

*

It was evening as I was irked with all the assignments to finish. The longest work of today's was to finish Miss Wilson's English assignment based on the short story done in class. I remembered that Miss Wilson had handed out the classwork notebook back to us at the end of the day at school. Taking out the classwork notebook, an envelope fell out of the notebook's pages saying:

My dearest Ivy,

You are weak, helpless, fragile and nothing but a puppet to me. Your tiny, linen-like hands are nothing but candy sticks for me to clasp upon and your mind is nothing but something I shall control. You can't get rid of me and don't even think about it.

- Votre deuxième ombre

Who was writing this? And why was I a puppet to him/her? Reading those musty, red, blood-thirsty words engraved on it, I felt scared. My heart jerked as my stomach grumbled in pain. 

Who wrote this again to me? Was it Dave? Because Dave was always around me- the class, the cafeteria, the sick bay. Could he be following me? 

Or was it Kash?  No...how can someone looking that good be the "someone" haunting me. His hair was so beautiful and his eyes were so angelic that I could scream my lungs out every time I see him. He was no way the guy who wrote this dumb message. I mean, the British accent which he would sinuously speak with such consummate grace. I mean, do you think someone like that can be some weirdo stalker? 

But wait...he was always around me too and he was also near the sickbay? And why did he oddly leave when he saw the envelope that time in the corridor? And when I tried to ask him about why did he suddenly rush away on seeing the envelope, he would interrupt me and say he had some work to do? But I still didn't think that Kash could be "someone".

 I mean he looked drop-dead gorgeous enough to be a handsome movie star in a film or even he looked so nice just like my favorite band BTS. But what if he was the handsome villain in my story? I mean it's always the villains with their bewitching faces. 

Wait a second, the envelope had fallen out of the classroom notebook. This same notebook was being used by Kash to copy the last question and even Dave had taken it when he was being asked to collect all the notebooks. So, this means that it was either Kash or Dave who had slipped in this envelope in my notebook...I needed some time to breathe so I looked outside my window trying to think it all out and perhaps see if "someone" was lurking outside because I could still feel that sixth sense.

I saw a boy trotting down with a yellowish thing in his hand and he walked away down the street. I observed him briskly scurrying away. Was that "someone"? I quickly braced myself and opened the door to only find Kash standing at my door. The boy with the yellowish thing had disappeared by the time I opened the door finding Kash at the vendetta.

"Hey Ivy!" he said.

"Kash, are you following me?" I asked, "because how do you even know my address? And did you write this stupid note?"

"No, I didn't write that and well, I had come to know about your address because you know, my dad's a huge business typhoon. So, he pulled a few strings and I came to know about it. I really wanted to know if you were okay," he said. "Wait...why did you suddenly get scared on seeing one of these envelopes on the floor in the corridor at school?" I interrogated.

"Okay, you know I'll just come clean on this one. Ivy, I actually wanted to ask you to go with me to the prom and when I saw the envelope, I thought that it was a love letter making me think that you were already interested to go out with someone else and I ran away thinking that I was just the new guy so why would you even go out with me?"

"Love letter! These are literally words written by some crazy stalker threatening me saying that he or she is watching me for life and you call this a love letter?" I cried.

"I mean I saw that the letter addressed you as 'My dearest Ivy' and the font was so beautifully done making me think that it was a love letter and when you have a crush on someone and she likes someone else just hurts," he said.

"Okay. Fine. I'll also come clean on something," I said, "even I have a crush on you apparently."

"Haha! I knew it. That's why you were blushing in class and you were so lovesick that you went to the sick bay," he said, "wait, there's some stalker behind you?"

 He finally realized the gravity of the situation. The first one who actually heard me and gave value to the word "stalker". My parents laughed at me and my friends were ignorant about this situation happening to me for days. Grateful that Kash had actually listened to what I said, I called him inside (because my parents were not at home and my brother Harry was out with his friends at the mall) thinking that maybe it was Dave all along. Who could it be? The answer's Dave. At least for now...

***

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