Teen Romance Fantasy

Act 33 (Ty)

"Damn it! Can't you watch where you're running?! What the fuck has gotten into you?!" Of all the people in the world, of course I had to run into the freak. Because of everything, I had entirely forgotten that she was going to come over and honestly I was not actually in the mood to see her.

I tried to hide my tears but she saw them anyways. How would she react? She was probably laughing at me. I was pathetic for running away because of something as trivial as having a fight with the old man. Even then I remembered the way he silently stared at the food after my comment about mom. He was hurt just as much as I was.

"Geez, you're making things way more complicated than they are. Let's go." All of a sudden the freak grabbed my wrist tightly. I tried to jerk my hand free but it was impossible. Just how strong was her grip?

"Do you really want all these people to see you like this?" 

I had not noticed, until she mentioned it. The streets were filled with people. Men. Women. Children. Dogs. The whole world seemed to be gathered around me. Just the thought of it was embarrassing enough. Without another word, I let the freak lead the way. We walked and walked through the green of the nature. Bushes and trees. Tiny leafs falling on our heads. Colourful flowers growing in every corner. Birds and squirrels above our heads.

Eventually we found ourselves at a lake. Since when had this one been here? The water was clear as glass. Once I stepped closer, I noticed my own reflection. My brown eyes looked unusually empty as if the light inside of me had gone instinct. My eyes looked a little like the freak's, when she was Siren. Cold and empty, just like marbles.

The freak sat down on a large stone and did not say anything. Since when had she gotten this quiet? Was she not going to scold me for no reason at all? I confusedly eyed her until she let out a long sigh.

"If you want me to listen, I'll listen. If you want me to speak, I'll speak. If you want to stay, you can stay. If you want to leave, you can leave. In the end, no matter what you choose, I'll be here."

"This is stupid."

"Then go."

Her eyes were dead and yet sincere. She was serious. She was going to stay. I could not believe that I was actually having this conversation with the freak. If only it had been Alexy and not her. I could tell Alexy everything my heart desired. With the freak however, it was the entire opposite. We did not understand each other. We absolutely despised each other.

"I hate you." I sighed, as I sat down on the large stone right next to her.

"Believe me, the feeling is mutual."

She opened her black purse and took a small package filled with cigarettes out of it. She offered me one but I declined. She simply shrugged and lit one up for herself. As she took a deep breath and inhaled all the poisonous smoke into her lungs, I noticed how she instantly hid her purse behind the stone. How unusual.

At first I did not want to talk. Instead my eyes bounced between the water of the lake and the stone the freak was sitting on. It was calming and besides the freak did not say anything either. She was waiting for me to make the first move, while I waited for fate to help me. Just like a dandelion in the wind I waited to be taken to my final destination but I was running in circles. No matter which path I chose, all roads led to this one moment.

"I got into a fight with my old man. Our mom died a few years ago. Since then I had been the one to take care of everything. The old man is always working and my brother is a good-for-nothing idiot. I know the old man is doing all this for our sake but suddenly I just snapped..." I began explaining, despite feeling insanely awkward. The way the freak looked at me, drove me insane. Her expression was empty. I could not tell at all what she was thinking. I continued speaking.

"When we were younger, I used to look up to him. I even wanted to become a doctor just like him. Even back then he used to work a lot but he always took his time to be with his family. I know that I should already be used to this but the older I get, the more I realise that this is wrong. He's the father, not I."

Again, the freak did not say anything. The way she looked me in the easy made me feel uneasy. Her gaze was unsettling. It was cold and warm at the same time. It was as if she did not know if she should put on a mask or not. Right now, who was I even talking to? Was it really the freak or perhaps was it actually Siren?

"Are you not going to say anything?"

"I figured you'd rather want me to listen to you. But honestly, sucks to hear that. Those past years must have been hard on you."

"I guess so. There were a lot of times where I just wanted to run away from all of this."

"Run away..." She tasted the flavour of those two words. When she said them out loud, it sounded frightening, as if it was a thread. I began questioning why I even told the freak all of this. Not even Alexy knew about my past. I was too scared of her realising who my mother was. Of course eventually she had to find out but I told myself that now was not the right moment.

Based on how I felt, the right moment was most likely never going to come. The truth was that I was scared. It was a secret that I wanted to keep locked up far away. Everyone had those secrets. The freak for example was trying to hide the fact that she was Siren. Christian tried to keep his condition a secret, even if he did not do a good job and Alexy... Well, I did not really know what she was trying to hide but at the beginning I thought that she could actually have been Siren. I used to think that the pieces connected perfectly. Sure, I was wrong but at least there must have been a logical explanation for all those connections.

"Why didn't you do it then?" Siren suddenly asked. I tilted my head at her in confusion before she took a deep breath and added: "Why didn't you run away?".