QUASAR - English Version

CHAPTER 8

Chapter 8

I hate being late; seriously, I abhor it. I look at my watch and see that thirty minutes have passed since eleven. What do I hope to discover from this? Maybe I'm just reliving the morning hallucination of the current rock star specter. The evocative feelings from my late father's figure have played a trick on me. Anyway, he won't show up either. I must be going completely mad, and that didn't stop me from lying. I had to deceive Mom to stay at Angelo until closing time. Getting rid of Mom was relatively easy, but with Melissa, it was another story.

"Laura is going to exploit you? Is she that much of a slave driver with her own blood?" While my mother, ready to leave, looked up impressed, Melissa continued, "Oh, honey, demand extra Christmas and birthday bonuses!"

According to Melissa, everything is negotiable. She rolls her eyes for the tenth time, remembering that I'll turn thirty without having resolved my inability to say no.

After freeing myself from her with a psychology assignment, I find myself alone inside the shop, debating my actions. Was it really a mistake? Here, I determine if I've lost my sanity. Why am I getting involved in this? This dilemma leaves me in an indescribable state. I find the message wrapper next to where I threw it. I can't tell if that guy guesses I'm waiting for him or if there's some way to summon him. I stand stunned, reproaching my situation. I don't know how to act in these matters. I suppose I'm the skeptical type; I don't believe in fantasy outside of fiction.

"You're too gullible, Candela Long," I scold myself as I approach the counter. I climb onto a chair to fulfill my mother's last request before going home. I grumble while adjusting my shirt, which barely covers my belly button. As I stretch to reach the end of a string of lights, my head shakes in disagreement.

My thoughts turn to the shocking event, and the first thing I conjecture is the tempting appearance of that boy. Too real to be a dream, I surrender to the judgment and internal debate. Impossible, much less to seek me out if we had no prior connection. What force attracted him to me?

"Pff, who could he be useful for? A ghost in Angelo? Please, nothing less than a rock ghost?"

I don't even pray, and now a rock spirit appears out of nowhere. God, I huff and angrily grip the rest of the string. I try to stay calm where there is none, intertwining the lights one by one.

"That's not right. My mother says they're unusable afterward. Oh, infinite crap!"

The chair wobbles under my feet, and I lose my balance. My long legs seek stability where it's unsustainable. Inevitably, I'm floating in the air. I curse as I fall, discovering something. This boy advances like Doctor Strange, with an astral projection following his body. As for the boy, he's a blur before my eyes.

After witnessing the spectacle, I flail uselessly at the sensation of vertigo, wanting to cling on, but the only thing I manage is the floor. I end up with my face glued to the Christmas lights.

On the other hand, I hear a hiss. Flustered, with my elbows and stomach aching, I manage to raise my head. My loose hair falls to both sides in a thick curtain that disperses as I straighten up. After blowing away the remaining hair, I observe him through my lashes.

"You didn't catch me!"

"I'm so sorry, I'm not good at this," he shifts from one foot to the other. "I've been very clumsy."

I frown in confusion and anger.

"You caught a book and the note..."

He swallows, moving his Adam's apple in his throat.