Everyone has secrets. The man who always carries a metal key with him. The little girl who smiles at the graveyard. The woman whose face you can't see. Every stranger you pass by, every member of your family and all of your friends hide something. It doesn't matter who you are, everyone has secrets. Some are just darker than others.
Jonathan's pov:
I always knew he was somehow... irregular. The way he glanced at others, how he smiled suspiciously at me and how he was always writing on his blue notebook. How he never raised his voice or talked about himself.
I can't explain the exact feeling I got when we first met. It was a year ago. I was walking in the woods near my house and I had my dog, Roxanne, with me. After 20 minutes of walking, I decided to take a short break and just listen to the nature. I sat on a rock and she lied down next to me.
We listened to the peaceful forest, the wind and the birds. We even saw a couple of rabbits, before they ran off.
All of a sudden she got up and started to growl at something. She's never been agressive. I looked around but didn't see anything so I thought she heard something from afar. I was about to turn back and go home with her when she ran off.
"Roxanne!" Her strap slipped off my hand and I ran after her. Luckily I was a fast runner and she was starting to get old, so I reached her fast enough.
I found her looking at a tree and growling. I didn't actually see anything, so I thought there was a bear or some other animal.
"C'mon girl, let's go back home. I don't wanna get eaten by a bear", I whispered calmly. I grabbed her strap from the ground and tried to drag her away. She didn't want to move. She kept looking at the tree, her eyes on something.
I heard a snap.
I quickly turned around and saw a small branch falling to the ground. At the same moment my eyes scanned everything around it and I saw a person sitting on a lower, stronger branch.
His back was against the tree and he was looking at us. Looking at me. How did I not see him?
His dark eyes were focused on mine and his black hair moved back and forth along the wind. His hands were hidden in his hoodie's pockets and the collar hid his mouth.
'How did I not see him earlier?' I asked myself again. I was... confused and scared, because how can you not notice a person up in a tree?
"Is that your dog?" he asked, looking at Roxanne. I nodded, mumbled a 'yeah' and turned to look at her. She stopped growling but wouldn't look away from him.
The boy nodded and then there was an awkward silence between us. He was staring at me the whole time.
"So, um.. I have to go. Goodbye", I said awkwardly and turned around, started walking back home while this weird feeling filled me. I was freaked out. This guy just appeared out of nowhere and acted all normal.
"I'm Rico", I heard him say and I just kind of got confused. Why would I care?
I turned around but he was gone. It was freaky so I just quickly ran home without looking back.
The thing is, we saw each other again. He came to my school after a week from when we met, and we had a lot of classes together. I remember how I started to feel like someone was looking at me and I found him doing it. Well, I was too nice to say it to his face but I was annoyed and freaked out.
One day he sat next to me during lunch. I felt uncomfortable, but it went away after a while. Well, we started hanging out after that. It was really, really awkward at first but I got used to it after some time. He was a quiet guy, and we actually talked about me everytime. Well, actually I talked and he listened, sometimes commenting my stories of my life.
When I asked for his number, he told me he doesn't need a phone. I was, once again, kind of confused.
Sometimes I could find him staring at a painting or a mirror. I don't mean a normal 'hold up I gotta fix my appearance' or 'wow this painting is cool'. He stared. When he saw me, he just smiled and walked away.
Sometimes I tried to read his blue notebook but he would cover it, saying: "Secrets" with a mysterious smile.
Once I heard him talking to someone in a bathroom, (the door was open a little) and I could hear a man's voice. The man's voice echoed, as if he spoke through a pipe. When Rico came out of there, he was alone. He didn't have a phone, so I was really freaked out. I thought that I had just imagined it.
I also noticed how he never showed his wrists or his back. I know, it's not that weird. During a hot day, he wore a long-sleeved shirt and he didn't even sweat. Weird.
When I tried to ask about his life or anything about him, he answered with a word or two and changed the subject fast. In the end I accepted the fact that he absolutely didn't want to talk about himself.
And still, after all these weird, freaky things, I couldn't stay away from him. Not even if I tried to, he was always in the same room as I.
Days passed, weeks passed and months passed. Actually only one month. One night I asked if he wanted to stay over, because I was feeling lonely, but he didn't want to. Somehow, after asking him over and over again, he finally agreed. We watched a movie, ordered a pizza and when it was 1am, I started to get sleepy, no matter how hard I tried to stay awake. We had dragged a mattress into my room and he was gonna sleep on it.
I fell asleep before he did.
However I woke up to something. When I opened my eyes, Rico was sitting in front of my mirror and talking to himself. No, not to himself, to someone.
It was dark and I couldn't see well, but I saw someone. And that someone was on the other side of that mirror, my mirror.
I freezed and my heart started to beat really fast. I couldn't move, it was scary, yet exciting. I heard a little bit of a converstation he was having with the mirror-man.
"No, he hasn't figured it out yet and I think he isn't going to. I don't wanna do it, I want to quit this mission", said Rico quietly. A voice answered him but it sounded cloudy and it echoed. Rico was quiet for a while.
"Then be it. I back out." Rico said, touched the mirror and the man in it disappeared. He saw my reflection and turned around.
"You heard, didn't you?" he asked, calmly. I nodded, shivering.
"And you wonder what the hell was that about, right? I think it's time to explain", he sighed and started speaking.
"I'm not a human, Jonathan. I'm a..." he thought about it for a moment. "I'm an angel-like creature. Not a good one. I'm a demonic angel who takes people's lives away. You were supposed to be my next target but I think I..." he looked away and went silent.
"You uh.. you don't want to like, kill me?" I spoke. He nodded and looked down at his hands.
"But why was I the.. the target?"
He looked back at me, a hint of sadness in his eyes. No, probably not sadness, just.. worry. Rico inhaled slowly and exhaled just as slow. I was waiting patiently.
"Our targets get selected randomly. I got you and from the moment I saw you, I knew I couldn't do it. You're..." he hesitated for a moment.
"Different. You didn't run away or ask any questions, even when I almost, almost pushed you off a bridge, you just brushed it off. I don't know if that's stupid or brave", he looked down again.
"You're different. That's why you got my attention."
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alright sorry it's messy and not realistic but it's 3am and I just wanted to finish this. i'm soooorry
