UNTITLED

two

I was expecting him to be waiting outside but when I stepped out, I noticed that he was nowhere to be seen. At the moment, I was perplexed and yet, I was curious too.

Who was that, anyway?

My thoughts were quickly ridden as Dad snapped me out of my daze, calling out to me when I had stood at the front door, still unmoving to get in the car. I shook my head at myself as I walked to him, sliding into the passenger seat next to him.

The whole car ride to breakfast and school was uneventful, except for the looks I was getting from some people who had the same ghostly skin the man had. Some of them looked at me as if they wanted to eat me while others seemed shocked. A handful of them seemed to be amused, watching me from a rather safe distance from the others.

When I got to school, Dad gave me a quick hug, promising that he'd be home for dinner.

Bullocks.

Without looking at him or even giving him a smile, I trudged up to school, expecting to see the discipline teacher, Mr Keenan waiting for me at the door like every other Wednesday when I stepped in but then, he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in his place was the man from earlier, a rather smug smile on his face.

What's he so proud of?

I let out a noise similar to a growl, growing annoyed of his presence even though I've only seen him for no more than an hour. His smile grew wider and smugger. Moving to walk past him, I let my shoulder hit against his only to feel like it just went through ice. 

A shudder went down my spine when my mind had finally registered the feeling.

"It does not feel pleasant, does it?" He asked when he noticed my confused and somewhat horrified look.

I didn't notice that I was staring at my shoulder until I looked up to him. The smugness was wiped off from his face, a look of sorrow replacing it. His blue eyes showed great melancholy as they bore into mine again, as if he was trying to look into my soul.

Maybe he was.

"No," I mumbled without thinking as I tore my eyes away. "It doesn't."

A knot was forming in the pit of my stomach as realization hit me that he wasn't human. Which explained his ability to walk through the door and his disappearance from the kitchen from earlier this morning. A shudder racked through my body again and a strong need to get away from him grew inside me.

But there was something that made me think otherwise, though that still didn't stop me from quickly walking towards the library that wasn't too far away from where I was, not wanting to get caught that I wasn't in class. I was completely aware that there wasn't any footsteps behind me and the quietness of the corridor was violent, as if it was trying to drive me insane.

Just when I was about to reach the library, I noticed that there was someone at the other end of the hall, not too far away from me. She was staring at me with her mouth hung open. Her skin was pale like all the others that had been staring at me and there was this huge gash on the side of her head.

"Miss?" I called out, worried of her condition without even thinking the possibilities of her being human. "Miss, are you alright?"

She let out a sickly moan as she limped towards me, stumbling ever so slightly in her step as her leg was bent in an odd way. My eyes widened at the realization but before I could get away, her ice cold hands grabbed onto my shoulders as her eyes bore into mine.

They were pitch black, showing me the moment of her death, making me relive it.

A truck came out of nowhere, hitting her car and sending it spinning across the road.

I gasped, feeling the air being taken out of me as I tried to look away from her but to no avail.

Her head had hit against the window, cracking it as her head bled.

It felt like she was sucking my soul out of me, draining me of my life.

A loud crack was heard and a burning sensation shot up from her leg as it broke.

A whimper escaped my lips at the pain and tears were welling up in my eyes. Right before I had wanted to stop getting away from her, a pair of cold hands grabbed my arms, pulling me away. I fell onto my knees as I wrapped my arms around myself, gasping for breath.

"LEAVE!" I heard him yelling at the woman, rage clear in his voice. "YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE! LEAVE BEFORE I RIP YOUR HEAD OFF YOUR BODY!"

I blinked my eyes a few times, refocusing my gaze as well as getting rid of the tears. He knelt down in front of me. My eyes avoided his, not wanting to go through what I did earlier with someone else.

"Adeline," he said softly. "I am very sorry that you had to go through that. I truly am."

There was regret in his words, as was misery.

"W-what was t-that?" I stammered, still shaken up and still not wanting to look at him.

"I think that I should explain a few things to you now but at the moment,"  he sighed, pausing his words for a few moments. "I believe that you should go inside first. You do not wish to get caught by Sir Keenan, yes?"

I looked at him for a moment, avoiding his gaze as I pursed my lips into a thin line. With shaky legs, I stood up and staggered into the library. I glanced behind me and saw him watching me, as if he was unsure of making me walk but after a while, he disappeared.

"Good morning, Adeline," the librarian said, adjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

There was a huge smile on her face, which made me force out a smile of my own.

"Good morning, Mrs Sylvester."

"You're quite late, today," Slyly, she commented, her smile turning into a cheeky grin.

Her hand had moved to cover something on her desk and I paid no heed towards it.

"As always, Mrs Sylvester. They don't call me a rebel for nothing," I replied, ignoring the dread in my stomach from earlier.

With that, I moved away from her desk, walking towards the back of the library. I kept walking until I reached a secluded area where my usual spot was. The exact moment I sat down, staring at the table, a soft gust of wind whipped past me and I shuddered.

I took a glance at the chair opposite me and the man was sitting there, an air of melancholy surrounding him.