Chevallier

Chapter 2 & 3

Chapter 2: Meet the Anomalies

                Okay, time out let me catch my breath for a while and tell you something about the place I live in.

                It’s not really a big town, we only have a population of 3000 and almost half of that number consists of students that attend the University just a short walk away from home. Apart from that, the town is mostly made up of residential areas, with two subdivisions to the north and east, a lot of apartments in the west side, and the middle class residential zone in the south. I guess you can sort of think about it as a cross, with the University in the middle. I almost forgot to mention that we live in an island, actually one of the four that make up our state. The other three are a just a few kilometers away from ours and since I don’t really go there much often, I’ll let your imaginations describe them when I say that it contains an industrial district, one huge park, shopping malls(three), a seaport, an airport and the other University and are named Levath, Metron and Ile.

Okay back to the story.

                The cool night air caressed our skin as we walked slowly, not talking but still aware of each other’s presence. I looked at Paula beside me, hugging my arm tightly as if hoping it would become a part of her. She was staring far off, as though in deep thought, she seemed to have felt my stare for she looked at me and smiled. “Hey, you uh need to say something?” I thought long and hard on how I should tell her what I wanted to say. “Can I uh” my voice failed and I tried again, “Can I uh, take you out on a date tomorrow?” her smile became more radiant and she leaned against my shoulder “Of course, James, I would very much like to.” I smiled and we continued walking in silence. “But,” a voice beside us said “we’re coming with the both of you.” I looked beside me and saw that it was Bob, Mayu and Patricia, the three of them grinning from ear to ear; they seem to have snuck up to us while Paula and I were talking. I managed to give a look of uncertainty at this, partly because I want Paula and me to be alone and also because I don’t want someone else intruding into those times when the two of us were alone. I was about to say a negatory response when I looked at Paula to back up my response to be and just in time saw her nod her head slightly and speak “Yes, of course, it would be better if you three come along with us, right, James?” she said the last two words with a glance towards me, showing me a radiant smile that practically told me that I can’t refuse. Admitting defeat, I finally nodded and mumbled a small yes. “Well that’s decided then,” I can practically see the glint of triumph from their eyes, almost as if they knew what I was experiencing at that moment, “tell you what, I know a great place down by the beach, just a few minutes’ drive from here, we can rent a car and I’ll go take care of the cottage and everything. In fact, we can spend the rest of the weekend there.” Bob and Mayu seemed to already have talked about this particular detail as Bob seemed to be reciting all that he said and Patricia seemed to have also taken a part in this.

                We reached a fork in the road and Bob and Mayu chose the left path together with Patricia, waving goodbye at us as we chose the right one. We continued walking and soon we were in front of Paula’s house, she turned to me, stood on tiptoe and kissed me in the cheek. “Well, I’ll go now, thank you for taking me home, take care when you go back.” She smiled as I assured her that I will watch out for myself. She entered the gate and waved at me again before closing the door, I stood there for a while, watching the house. After a few minutes, I finally turned around to walk home, as I did, I happened to glance at the dark mansion directly across from Paula’s house and spied a dark figure standing atop the roof. I did a double take and looked again, paying more attention, but it must have been a trick of the eye; there was nobody there. I turned again towards home when I found another dark figure, this time standing ten feet away from me, “Hello?” I shouted hesitantly, the figure did not budge. “Er, you need something fella?” again no response, I nervously walked up to him, taking slow cautious steps “Uh…” I stopped a few feet away from him, between the two of us is the light of a solitary street lamp, the only one for at least a hundred feet, I swear they don’t give enough funds to fix street lighting here. The figure moved when I stopped, slowly stepping into the light, revealing himself to be-a woman. It seemed hard at first because of the dark suit she was wearing but those curves most certainly scream woman. I backed up a few paces, suddenly alarmed when I saw her head, there was no face or rather she was wearing a mask. It must have been a mask, for what else could it have been? It was pure black and covered her whole head, a white, even handed cross covered the part of her face, with two holes on each end of the horizontal bars, the cross must have been made of something else other than being painted on the mask; it looked like it was raised above the mask, as though added. She continued advancing towards me, my instincts screaming at me to turn around and run, which I did, running at a speed I did not know I possessed, reaching the Meritt Island University gate, a whole five kilometers away, within a few minutes. I stopped and looked behind me to check if the mysterious person gave chase, she did not and I breathed a sigh of relief and clutched at my chest, my heart banging away incessantly.