Destiny

The last table

When I returned home, I found my mom sitting on the living room couch, watching one of her favorite mystery series. It was strange, as she had stopped watching them since Dad died. I was glad to see that Mom was recovering after so much pain.
"Bianca? Is that you?" she exclaimed from the living room.
"Who else are you expecting?" I replied as I went up the stairs, and she laughed. "I'll leave my bag in my room and then join you."
"I'll wait for you."
I left my bag on the old desk Dad bought me three years ago. There were many things I couldn't part with, especially if they were gifts from my father. I took out the book I brought from the library and thought about that disconcertingly handsome guy. I couldn't stop thinking about him on the way home, even though I knew it wasn't worth it because, although he didn't say a word, I felt that he didn't like me.
I put his face out of my mind and returned to the living room with Mom.
"How was your first day of school?" she asked as I sat next to her on the couch.
I reflected on what was safe to tell her. A girl had died, and everyone at school was talking only about that. I also didn't feel like mentioning the guy from the library.
"Fine, it was an interesting day. I have a lot of homework to do."
She took the TV remote and turned down the volume. Her expression changed.
"Today I found out that a girl died three weeks ago. She was from your school. Her mother is a writer, and I will be working with her book."
"Now that you mention it, that's all I heard everyone talking about today."
The fact that the girl had disappeared and was then found in the condition she was would be a good sign to move far away from Salem. But there was nothing we could do because we didn't have the money to "start over."
"Some people say that witches kidnapped her."
I rolled my eyes and looked at the screen, where a policeman was searching for clues about someone missing in a hospital.
"They have no imagination," I murmured.

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On my second day of school, the sky was gray. I enjoyed the change in weather and the absence of heat. I missed the beaches, diving with my father, and the long roads where I drove with my mom at sunset, but it was nice not to suffer through the suffocating summers of Los Angeles.
When I arrived at school, I saw Alek and his friends next to a white car. Alek greeted me with his eccentric smile and a gesture to come over, but I shook my head with a smile of apology as I continued on my way. I didn't want to face a group of girls obsessed with Alek.
The first class was math. The teacher was explaining differential calculus. I did my best to understand what was on the board, but the strange feeling of a magnetic presence enveloped me, like the day before in the library. I discreetly looked around and saw him: the guy from the library, with his piercing blue eyes.
A shiver ran down my spine when our eyes met. I felt as if time had stopped and all the attention was focused on us. I looked away towards the teacher, trying to concentrate. Although the guy was at a distance, his presence felt close and inescapable.
At that moment, I didn't understand, but there was something dangerous about him, something beyond my comprehension. I tried to focus on the math, though his presence unsettled me.
The bell rang, indicating the end of the class. I quickly packed my things and left the room without looking at him, although I felt his eyes on me.
In the next class, I remained nervous, trying to concentrate. I wondered if he was upset with me or just didn't like me. I decided not to worry too much; he was just one guy, not the entire school, and I couldn't please everyone.
Later, the sound of the lunch bell brought me out of my thoughts, and I headed straight to the cafeteria. The large number of students made it difficult to find an empty table. Finally, I spotted a free table, but so did another girl. Our eyes met, and in hers, I saw sympathy for our desperate search for a seat.
With a smile of complicity, she pointed to the table.
"What do you think about sharing it?"
"Thank you, I was seriously about to lose hope of finding a place to sit," I said as I put my tray on the table.
She smiled understandingly.
"Don't worry, it's chaos here at this hour. I'm Ariana, by the way."
I recognized her name; she was the girl who asked questions about Katherine in History class the day before.
"Bianca," I replied as I opened my water bottle.
"Nice to meet you, Bianca. Are you new here?" she asked curiously as we started eating. "I think I saw you in my History class yesterday."
"Yes, I'm new in Salem. And I remember you too, you're the girl who put the teacher in a bad mood."
Ariana chuckled, not seeming the least bit guilty about it.
"I consider it a gift. Mr. Lee teaches local History and freaks out when I talk about my sister's murder. Believe me, Salem's history is scarier."
I blinked in surprise.
"Katherine was your sister?"
Ariana looked at a nonspecific point on our table. Suddenly, the friendly aura vanished.
"Yes, she was my younger sister."
"I'm very sorry."
"I'm okay now," she murmured, shrugging. Then she looked back at me. "Now I'm curious about you. Why did you and your family move here? Don't get me wrong, I grew up in Salem and I like living here, but outsiders often find this place inferior."
"I'll let you guess."
I knew she liked the idea when she smiled.
"Are you and your family running from the police?"
"It's less exciting than that. My dad died and... my mom wanted to start over."
I guessed the expression on Ariana's face when she heard that my father had died was the same one I made when I found out she was Katherine's sister.
"I'm sorry about your father. But of all the places you could have gone, it's surprising you came to Massachusetts."
"My father lived in Salem until he had to go to college. I think my mom just wanted to be in a place that reminded her more of my dad. I don't quite understand it, but she thinks my dad's essence is in the places he liked."
Ariana and I remained silent for a moment until she looked back at me.
"Do you believe humans are the only ones in this world?"
Her drastic change of topic caught me off guard.
"Honestly, it's not something I've thought about before."
She nodded reflexively.
"Do you know Matthew Weber?"
I guessed it was the name of a student.
"No. I don't know many guys, I just arrived yesterday."
"The guy with long hair and a leather jacket who's staring at you right now," Ariana's eyes moved subtly across the cafeteria, stopping at a specific point behind me.
I looked over my shoulder, following the direction of Ariana's gaze, and then I saw the bewilderingly attractive guy from the library again. Before he could meet my eyes, I turned back to Ariana.
"For some reason I don't understand, I think he doesn't like me. But I don't know him. Is he always like that?"
Ariana raised an eyebrow.
"Like what?"
"So... enigmatic," I decided not to mention everything I felt when he was around, that would sound too strange. "Though he remains very handsome, perhaps the most handsome human I've ever seen in my life."
"It must be personal," she commented to herself, looking at me and Matthew subtly. "Because there he is, watching you in the cafeteria."
I frowned. Was I missing something?
"What's so weird about that?"
"It's just that Matthew and his sister are never in the cafeteria. I think they eat somewhere else in the school, or maybe they don't eat at all."
"Do you think they go all day without eating at school?"
Ariana shrugged.
"I've never seen them eat anything."
"So it's not normal for him to be here, in the cafeteria, with a half-eaten tray of food, staring at me? I thought it was part of his routine."
She let out a smile.
"You're very funny, has anyone ever told you that?"
"Never. Yesterday he and I saw each other for the first time in the library, I didn't want to bother him, I didn't even say a word before he..."
"Wait," she raised both hands to stop me. "You said you were alone with Matthew in the library?"
"That's exactly what I just said. Okay, everyone here is very strange, including you," I joked.
"Don't be alone with him again."
I frowned at her warning.
"He's just a guy who doesn't like me. What's the problem with that? So far, I think I only have one class with him. I won't see him much."
"Bianca, listen to me," she interrupted me again in a low voice. "I think... Matthew Weber has something to do with my sister's death."
"Why do you think that?" I whispered loudly enough for only her to hear.
For some reason, I feared Matthew would hear us, no matter how impossible it seemed to me.
"Do you remember the Salem legends we talked about in class? I think he's not human."
I frowned again, more puzzled than the second before. My first friend and it turned out she was crazy.
"So you think he's a disguised witch? You can't believe all that, right? Ariana, you don't believe that, do you?"
"I know I sound like a lunatic, Bianca. But I know what I'm saying. Besides, the night my sister died, she went to find Matthew. My sister was very much in love with him, and not just her. You'll notice that many girls in the cafeteria drool over him."
It was true, I hadn't noticed, but I suppose Ariana was right about Matthew never being in the cafeteria because everyone was looking at him curiously and surprised. What were the chances that Matthew was in the cafeteria just because of me? Saying it like that sounded like a guy in love, but from Ariana's perspective, it seemed she implied Matthew was choosing his next victim in me.
"That doesn't prove he's an alien and neither that he killed your sister."
"I didn't say he's an alien. I have my theories, but I need to research more about that," Ariana subtly looked at Matthew again. "Bianca, I'm telling you this so you'll be careful with him. Matthew is really dazzling at first glance, but there's a monster inside him, I know it."
"I'll... be careful," was all I could think of to say to her.