Too Human

Neighbours

Miss Greenwood, what did I just say?"

I hadn't heard what Mrs Launder said. I was daydreaming. "Emmm..." I looked to Bonnie for advice and she wrote in her jotter, "Jen'ai pas ètè à l'ècoute."

The teacher translated, " 'I haven't been listening.' " The class burst out laughing. "I think you should be paying attention rather than relying on Miss Clevelands to tell you what to do. Now listen..." I turned to my right where Bonnie sat in hysterics.

"Thanks!" She has always been smart, but used it for the all wrong reasons.

"Well you shouldv'e been listening." I looked away and tried to direct my attention towards the whiteboard. I would've listened if I thought it would help me in any way. I've always been bad at French; my memory is brilliant and yet since primary all I've remembered without having my memory jogged is Jesuisappelè Mercy, J'ai bosoind'aide avec desdirections and pouvezvousm'aider à trouver la banque. And if I ever go to France I'm going to want to do more than go to the bank.

And so I sat there staring half into space and half at the clock untill waiting for the bell to ring and I could finally leave. As we walked along the dreary, overcrowded languages corridor towards the stairs, Steph, Cody and Alison joined us from their English class.

"Friday. Finally! I think it's hiding from us or something cause this week's felt like a decade!" Steph was is good mood as her cousin was staying from Wales and they were throwing party. It was a big deal to her; she hadn't seen her cousin in a year and her parents hardly let more than a few people over at one time.

"Awww! Does the week feel long for the little 15 year old?" Steph tried to hit Cody with her bag and he recoiled. He pretended to rub his eyes. "Awww boo hooo- Ahh!" He tripped over a stray pencil and Steph got her fill of laughing at him when Alison asked,

"Are you coming tomorrow, Mercy?" My stomach churned and the thought of dancing and drinking for three hours put me off.

"I don't think so, I still don't feel too well."

"You shouldv'e stayed off. Youv'e been ill for, like, a month." It was true; I hadn't been myself lately.

"Oh well, I can sleep through the weekend." We got out of the school and the others left for the bus while I walked home.

Genivon was a small village centred betweenmany other small towns. There was no other reason for so many students to come to Turalene High except accessibility and popularity. The town itself was a different story; hardly anyone occupied the houses further into the village, except, of course, me. It was quiet this way and more peaceful, but it felt quite... deserted. As I walked down the little street that led to the cottage I spotted a man by one of the houses. Tall, dark-haired and hidden. Although he seemed to let me notice him, he vanished before I concluded that he didn't live here. It's too small to not at least recognise a neighbour.

I reached the little white cottage with the rusted 39 that was only just hanging above the door. I went in brushing past the wilting flowers by the door step. I got dressed into my usual; black jeans, blue top and my blond hair back in a ponytail. I started to feel a bit better, so I grabbed my trainers to go out but as I walked through to the hallway, the same shadowy figure from earlier appeared in front of me making me jump out of my skins. I squinted to see if I did recognise him and hadn't realised it, but before I could he vanished from thin air. Only a second afterwards a gush of wind sent my hair flying forward. It was so strange, as if a car had just gone passed. Even though I only got a glance at him, I could still see him in front of me. He had thick black hair reaching down to his neck, seemingly brightening his blue eyes. He wore a black suit and shirt without a tie and a metal bracelet round his left wrist. It was scratched several times. My memory has always been this incredible; even as a child I would remember words or phrases I didn't know the meaning of to impress my teacher later. But even though this image quickly faded from my mind I would still know him when I saw him.

"Mum, do we have guests in?" I opened the living room door to find a practically empty room, all except the small dark-blond haired woman watching Coronation Street.

"No, why?" No? Then who was he? Then it occurred to me that he wanted me no notice him. Was he real or my imagination? I mulled over the prospect of telling her.

"No reason. I'm just going out." I didn't want her to freak out.

"Ok, be back for tea!" she replied before focusing her attension on the ending break. I walked out and tripped over my loose shoe lace. As I was tying it, I noticed the doormat had moved. I pushed it back to the door to find a small red dot under it. Blood. At first I thought it was a stain, but I realised it had been smudged when I moved the mat. I got up and left to find more obviously placed red dots. It was bizarre; on the wall, the path, the road. I walked out following what seemed to be a trail of them. This was too weird to be a coincidence.

I ran to catch up with whoever this man was and to comfront him and ended up at the old warehouse that sat at the end of the street. I examined the old wooden door. There was a single dot of blood on the rusty gold handle. My stomach hurt badly again and I began to feel nauseous. I thought about going home, about turning around and leaving the door closed as it should be. But I had a strange feeling at the back of my mind that this was important. Then I changed my life forever with the turn of my wrist and stepped into the darkness. I shut the door.