Taylor and Victor

Chapter 40

Taylor

She's walking to her art class, looking out the window in an empty hallway. The bell rang five minutes ago, and she'll have five more minutes for Mr. Soliman to appear.

She's humming to the music down the hallway, enjoying whatever left life's giving to her. They had two more months until summer, and she was already excited about what she could do with him in their summer break.

Taylor bumped into a kid when she's too distracted in her thoughts. She takes a few steps back and apologies, but his figure standing still with his eyes scanning her around is making her confused. And he was strangely familiar. The boy is looking at her the same way she's looking at him, questionable and untrustable.

"Do you need my help with anything?" she begins.

"Where have you been last Sunday?" he asked, taken by her surprise.

She tried to avoid his question by looking down at her watch, acting as if she's late to her class. Taylor walked past him only for him to pull her back by her arm. A creeped feeling grows inside her gut with shivering running through her spine when his face is utterly dead serious.

"What did you do last weekend?" he said again, with his low, threatening voice.

"I don't see why it's your problem." She wiggled out of his grip.

Taylor walked away, uncomfortable with what he's causing her.

"You know Victor, don't you."

She continued walking in her direction, hoping to push his imagination away.

"I know what he did."

Taylor stopped, giving the boy a strange look with her eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know."

He eyed her with suspicion. Taylor did the same, wondering what's going on inside his head.

"Aren't you his girlfriend?"

"Why, do you need to know?"

"No, I just." He lightened up his voice. "You don't seemed to know anything."

"Do I need to know anything?" she said again, with her now strong and emphasized voice when he changed his attitude in a sudden.

"Nothing, just stay away from him. As much as you can."

"Why would I?" she confused, partly angry with him. She eyes him up and down, can't find a reason to not see him bizarre and creeped.

He stood still, scanning her once again before shrugging, turning back to walk in his way, humming in his melody.

Taylor was almost late to her class, still wanting to kick him. She looked back at him with a hard glance just when he took a turn, before coming rushing to her class.

She got in just at the right time, as Mr. Soliman came right after she settled down her seat.

For the rest of the day, she could not stop thinking about him. About what he said and what he meant, and about things she could have missed. The world around her started to evolve in the opposite direction since Mia talked her about, and what she had heard today made her world move out of orbit.

Taylor knew thinking about him made her question Victor's fidelity, or what the problem might be. She thought of asking him through lunch, but seeing his present makes her less wanting to ask.

Sometimes, she asked herself about all the things she could not think of.

The boy vanished after she met him. Maybe because she didn't pay much attention. She still thought he's a cursed spirit wandered around, teasing people. Though honestly, no head people could have such positive energy to ever appear. She then thought he's a God in disguise, and she'll come to meet him soon.

But sometimes he still lingered around.

Next week, she found him sitting in the last row of her class, waving to her and a smile to delete all the uncomfortable space in between them. She gave him a careless look before settling down to her seat, one not so far away.

She wanted to ask him again about what could go wrong, but Taylor forced herself to consume all the advance of stoichiometry she could never master.

Taylor thought she could ever get away from him, not after he started to approach her this afternoon, when she gathered her things from her locker.

He asked her if she's still gonna stay with Victor, to which she walked away cause of irritation.

Victor

He saw Justin's little brother approach her when she's standing in her locker. He thought of what they might want to said, but Taylor soon walk away after.

He thought Ben's behavior's not like what a kid his age will do. Or anyone. He never made his appearance noticeable, nor how he's walking around almost invisible. Victor could not even tell if his love for his brother is genuine or obsessive, Ben is merely sad since Justin passed away, he only finds him walking around with him now curious about her.

Victor questioned what happened to his brother he could have known, when Ben never listened to canards.

If anything, he stands first in Victor's suspicious list.

Taylor walked up to him and linked their arms. He gave the boy a last glance before walking ahead.

Taylor

She didn't become so depressed or addled about Paige anymore, she became curious.

Taylor's looking through her sister's stuff every night, in hope of finding something new. She started how much she could have missed about her twin's life, the same look but with mystery.

One night, she found her not full of scribbled words and ripped pages. Taylor carefully picks up what's left from the words, finding something like a tale. A tale with deadly threads. One might be false. She saw what occurred guns, rabbits, and holes. She could not make even a paragraph to grab a sense of what's going on. If not scribble, it was dirt and stains overdyed the pages.

In the same notebook, she saw her attempt to draw faces. Paige's drawing was bad, but she could tell they are repeated portraits of a man. With a rough hairstyle and uneven face. She can't assume the cause of constantly changing geometric shape. Somes thin, some round, some big and others small. The ratio is what's maintained. And there is this picture, with him finally looking like a person, got scribbled out with bad words she didn't think Paige would think of. With rough texture of red ink.

Another night, very deep under stacks of books and notebooks of hers, Taylor found a paper portraying scenery of a wood. She quickly figured out where the place was. But also confused when there's a picture of a man standing, looking far in the middle.

Sometimes, she asked herself if Paige could have been a fortune teller, so that she knew where she'd be killed.

But some other time, Taylor wondered why she had never tried to prevent her death.