All her senses came back to her in an instant. She heard Kyiana scream her name. Faolan howled in her head.
Something hard bumped into her before she could hit the ground. In a reflex she grabbed whatever bumped into her and held on tight with her eyes closed.
What have I done? Why did I do that?
‘Are you crazy?!’ she heard Tyler yell in her ear. Slowly she opened one eye, then the other. The first thing she noticed was that is was Tyler who she was desperately holding on to. The second thing she noticed was that Tyler was sticking to the wall.
‘I guess the camouflage isn’t the only thing you have like a chameleon.’ Caera said, trying to soften his obvious anger. Not that he didn’t have reason to be angry. Tyler started climbing back up the wall to where Kyiana was waiting, tears in her eyes from the fear of losing her best friend. When they were on top of the roof Tyler put her down and walked off.
‘Tyler...’ Caera started. She wanted to explain to him what had happened. Why she had jumped. But she didn’t know the answer to that either. Telling him she heard a voice in her head wouldn’t do. He would never believe it. Tyler hesitated but left the roof. Kyiana sat next to Caera, trying to hold back the tears.
‘He left.’ was all Caera could say.
‘Just give him some time.’ Kyiana sniffed. ‘But what were you thinking?!’ She hit Caera to the shoulder.
‘I wasn’t.’ Caera replied absentmindedly, rubbing her shoulder. Suddenly she stood up.
‘I need to thank him and tell him I’m sorry.’ she said while running to the stairs. Kyiana stopped her and shook her head.
‘No sweetie, you need to leave him alone for a bit. He’ll come back when he’s not angry anymore.’ she explained.
‘But what if he doesn’t come back?’ Caera asked shocked. It was what she feared the most. Losing the people she cared about.
‘He will.’ Kyiana reassured her. ‘We’re friends, right?’ Caera nodded and gave her best friend a big hug.
‘I’m sorry I made you worry.’ she said.
‘It’s okay, but you have to promise me one thing.’ Kyiana said, pulling out of the embrace and pointing a finger at Caera. ‘Don’t you EVER do that again.’
‘Yesh ma’am.’ Caera replied, the guilt written all over her face.
The two friends walked back to the ground floor.
‘Is there a library here? I need to look something up.’ Caera asked. It was a lie, probably a very obvious one for the person she spent almost her entire life together with, but she needed to rethink about everything that had happened. Get it straight. There were too many questions roaming around in her head, too many feelings making a mess of her heart.
Kyiana showed her the way to the library and then left to check up on Tyler. Caera sat down at one of the tables and started organizing her thoughts.
First that inexplicable feeling that something bad would happen if Faolan had left in the angry state he was in.
Second the voice telling her not to let him go. That must have been a good voice, because everything ended alright.
Then Tyler and Kyiana popping up. They probably saw and heard the entire thing, hiding with Tyler’s ability.
Fourth the bad voice telling her to kill herself. She had tried to shake it off, to outrun it, but it had caught up with her and if it wasn’t for Tyler she would’ve been dead. Caera nervously swallowed away the big lump in her throat at that thought.
Where did those voices come from anyway? Why would anyone want her dead? That is if it isn’t a part of herself... What if she had a split personality? But no, even if she did, it shared the same body. Killing her meant it killed itself too. Or maybe her other personality was suicidal.
Thinking about it didn’t really help. It just frustrated her that there were so many questions she couldn’t answer. The more she thought about it, the more questions popped up in her head.
She had to find someone to talk about this. Someone who might have an idea about what was happening to her.
Caera sighed in defeat. Who was she kidding. She was attending a Monster School and nobody could even tell her what kind of monster she was. There was no way anyone would be able to explain the voices in her head to her. Besides telling her she was just plain crazy.
Exhausted by all that had happened she let her head rest on the table. Remembering to place it there gently instead of just letting it fall. Tears built up in her eyes. She never cried in front of others. She always made sure to show no weakness so others could let her support them. When she felt sad or hurt or angry she would hide it and let it out when she was alone. That way no one would feel bad. Nessa had cried on her shoulder plenty of times when a child didn’t want, or couldn’t, adjust to the life in the orphanage, or when another kid with a sad past came to live with us. Caera felt she needed to be strong to support Nessa so she made sure to never show negative emotions in front of her. After a while she stopped showing them to anyone. The only one she would confide in every now and then, was Kyiana, but even she didn’t know most of the negativity Caera was feeling.
Caera jumped up from a rustling sound.
‘Who’s there?’ she asked the dark surroundings, wiping her tears away as fast as she could.
‘Don’t worry, it’s just me.’ a familiar voice sounded from the dark. ‘I just needed to get away from the noisy crowds, and that dumbass zombi that’s been following me around since the start of this school year.’ Devlin appeared from behind a bookcase, his hands risen in defense. ‘So what got you all worked up?’
Caera sat back down. ‘Nothing I’d tell you about.’ she said. Devlin shrugged and took place on the chair next to her.
‘Whatever. I just tried to be nice, not that I cared.’
Caera snorted.
‘If you didn’t care then why try to be nice?’
Devlin was about to reply but then realised he didn’t have an answer causing Caera to laugh out loud. A grin spread on his face.
‘Good, you’re laughing again.’ he said.
‘Not that you care though, right.’ Caera looked at him with a wide grin on her face,
seeing his grin fade. Then her face softened. ‘Thanks.’ she said.
‘For what?’ Devlin asked confused.
‘For cheering me up, even though you don’t care.’ Caera said with a small smile.
Devlin’s grin appeared on his face again, twice as big, as he patted her back.
‘Anytime.’
