Someday - A Short Story

Someday: Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

A Fun Life is All About a New Girl

MY MOUTH DROPPED OPEN when I saw the girl. I knew her. Oh wait. Wrong phrase. I thought I knew her. She had skin as white as snow, neck as slender as a bird’s, hair as bright as starlight, and eyes as red as blood. But on top of it all, there was an arm sling that was supporting a fractured arm.

I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine. It reminded me of a certain event a few days ago when I was staring into the eyes of my avian friend which had the same colour as this girl’s.

As I stared, she blushed, looked down at her feet, and brought her arms behind her before speaking to the whole class, “Erm... I-I have no n-name... Torph, will you g-give me o-one?”

I froze as the whole class turned to look at me.

“W-wh-what?” I asked the class.

The girls were suspicious of me, the boys were boiling with jealousy, and Aika and Hana were, well, they were Hell incarnate.

“Torph, you know that girl?” Aika asked furiously. I felt impending doom.

“Are you acquainted with that girl, Torph?” Hana asked, fuming. I felt death imminent.

“N-no!” I raised my hands. “I don’t!”

The girl at the platform spoke again, “What are you saying, Torph? Have you forgotten the night we spent together? I slept beside you, remember?”

At that, the classroom went into chaos.

“Torph, you slept with a girl already?!” a male classmate asked.

“How dare you do that to us girls?!” a female classmate raised.

Why wasn’t the teacher doing anything?!

Panicking, I stood up and walked towards the girl. I grabbed her good arm, brought her outside the classroom, and that’s where I spoke to her.

“Wh-what were you saying inside?!” I asked.

“We-well,” she started as she avoided my gaze and looked down, “it’s all true. Everything I said was true.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said.

“Ye-yeah... I guess not,” she sighed.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me even i-if I to-told you a-anyway...” she turned her head to face me.

I smirked. “Try me.”

“Well, if you say so...” She inhaled and exhaled before continuing, “Days ago, I was travelling. But as I got tired, I tried to look for a place where I can rest. Unfortunately, after a few moments, some people came near and spotted my resting. Sensing I was in danger, I tried to get away, but one of them was able to hit me, causing me to stop my movement. Then, another person came. At first, I thought he was like the others. I even thought that he wanted to kill me, but what he did was to save me. He helped fix my injury, he nurtured me, he fed me, and, though probably not much, he loved me. That was enough.”

“Well, that’s some amazing person... I guess,” I said.

“Yes, you sure are amazing, Torph,” the girl replied.

Dumbfounded, I spoke, “Um, beg pardon?”

The girl hesitated, but spoke after a while, “That person was you, Torph.”

“So, you are that bird,” I sighed, scratching the back of my head.

“You believe me now?” she asked as she looked straight into my eyes.

“Nothing else I can believe in right now anyway.”

“I-I see...”

Then I said, “You have no name, you say?”

“Y-yes... I thought you might give me one...”

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully before musing out loud, “Since you’re the first person to break my routine... Let’s see... First... One... Isa... Isanna...?” Shaking my head, I dismissed the name. I looked at her blood red eyes that reminded me of rubies.

“Yes?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

Crystalline eyes... We can work that in. “Isaline...?”

“Isa... line?” she said slowly, as if tasting the words in her mouth.

“You don’t like it?” I asked, somewhat dismayed.

“No! Not at all!” she exclaimed. “It is a beautiful name!”

“That so?” I asked, smiling a little.

“It is!”

“I see,” I said. “But you’ll also need a last name.”

“Oh,” she said. “Right. What do you think would be a nice name?”

My eyes immediately darted to her hair and skin. Her hair was a beautiful silver and her skin was as light as snow, albeit pale snow. “Silverlight.”

“Silverlight?”

“Isaline Silverlight,” I said firmly. “Nice to meet you. My name’s Torph Yeako.” Then I smiled.

“It is a beautiful name!” she said as she jumped into me, hugging me tightly with one arm. “Thank you, Torph,” she whispered.

“Hm?”

She then let go of me and held me at arm’s length. “Thank you for giving me a name,” she said through watery eyes.

“It’s nothing,” I said, smiling at her.

“No, Torph,” she disagreed. “To me, it is everything.” Then her tears fell.

I brought up my hand to wipe the tears that fell. “You wouldn’t want your face to be all smudgy and blotchy the whole day.”

“Ye-yeah,” she said chuckling.

Then we entered the room, and I introduced her properly as ‘Isaline Silverlight.’

After that, the rest of the day up until lunch went by peacefully. Save for the murderous intent in both Aika’s and Hana’s stares and whispers. All the while, Isaline was sitting to my right, unaware of everything that had just happened. Fortunately, none of my classmates had further inquiry as to who and where Isaline came from.

Then came lunch.

Even before the bell rang, Aika and Hana already had a possessive hand on either of my shoulders, rendering me unable to escape through the window or run out of the door. I sighed.

“Escaping is futile,” Aika said slowly, her irritation like a hot desert wind.

“You will eat with one of us today,” Hana said slowly as well, her annoyance like a cold icy wind. A stark contrast to Aika’s hot desert wind.

“I’m sorry ladies,” I said apologetically. “But I have a date with miss Isaline here,” I gestured towards the girl to my right. Then I immediately regretted talking. The hands on both of my shoulders suddenly started to weigh heavier. Not slowly and threatening, but exponentially and deadly.

“Oh?” Isaline said, bringing her left hand to her chest and looking every bit the excited and unaware girl that she was. “Really Torph?!”

“NO!” Aika and Hana said together, looking at Isaline.

But, even before the long, two-letter word came out of their mouths, I was up. Isaline had her left arm locked into mine. And we were out of the classroom. I got away as easy as that.