The Spellbounds - Discovering Your Potential

Chapter 36 - No Shortcuts

  
     I was in my room lying down on my bed staring at the ceiling above. I had not asked Carl what the mark on his neck was for and who had done that to him. I was too stunned to ask him anything. He didn't have that mark in the morning when we were working, nor did he have it when we were in the canteen.

     Was it possible that his aunt, Mrs Manolo had hit Carl? Why would she do that? Just because we were talking to eachother. Okay okay, talking to eachother behind a pillar in an awkward position. My Dad would have scolded me a lot and probably grounded me but he wouldn't slap me like that. That was really cruel and inhumane. He had probably been slapped for some other reason but whatever that reason was the slap seemed kind of unnecessary to me.

Carl is smart and if he had done something wrong then his aunt could have explained things to him in a better way. Probably by talking. A loud thud interrupted my thoughts. I sprang up from bed and stood there in silence. In my reverie, I had switched off the all the lights and the only light on was the lamp at my bedpost. What? It helps me concentrate on what I'm thinking of.

I had heard the sound coming from the window. I tiptoed upto it. When I was halfway through I saw a figure of a creature bent over. It was moving and it was groaning as if in pain. I grabbed a the metal dish in which I had made a sandwich to help myself, which was now over. A metal dish was not what I preferred but I seemed to be out of choices. That thing was rising up on its two feet. Wait, it had two feet? Okay new discovery. I couldn't take in the anxiety anymore.

I pounced on that creature and began smacking it with the metal dish. I landed three hard blows on its back. I was going to strike him with a fourth when I heard that creature speaking in a voice I was very well familiar with, " Stop it you crazy lady! Do you plan on killing me?!? ". I paused and got down from that creatures back. I fumbled for the switches and when I found them, I flipped them on.

    Standing before me was no creature, it was Shaun! I had proved myself to be the worst best friend ever. Welcoming my friend by smacking him instead of greeting him warmly. I felt like drowning myself in a drain. This was too embarrassing. Shaun was standing in front of me rubbing his head. I approached him saying, " What are you doing here and why did you climb through the window instead of coming through the front door? ". He just glared at me and said, " A sorry would have been better. ". I sighed and mumbled an apology. He nodded accepting it. I asked him to sit down on my bed while I got an ice pack.

As I was going to get it from the freezer, Shaun held my hand to stopped me by saying, " There's no time for all of this. We need to talk. I'll put an ice pack on my head when I get home. Talking to you right now is really important. ". We sat on my bed, legs folded. I glanced at the watch and observed that it was past midnight. Wow! Now I know why Shaun had come through the window. Dad would have lost it if any of my friends would have come knocking at my door at this time.

I looked at Shaun's feet, he was shaking his thighs. I know he was doing it because he was stressed but it looked weird. Then I looked at Shaun's face and the weird shaking of his thighs didn't seem to matter anymore He was genuinely worried. I could see it on his face.

   I gently put my hand on Shaun's thigh to stop the shaking, looked into his eyes and said, " What is it Shaun? Why are you so worried? Is everything okay? ". Shaun turned away and spoke in a whisper. I literally had to lean in towards him to listen properly, " Everything is not okay Elly. That guy..he... he hides his true identity. You should stay away from him. He can be dangerous. I don't know why he's hiding his identity and..". I took Shaun's hand saying, " Who's hiding his identity? Whom are you talking about? ". Shaun looked a bit taken aback.

  He probably expected me to know the person who he was talking about but I didn't have the slightest idea who it was. He looked at my hand which was placed over his. I quickly removed mine. Shaun coughed and said in a hushed tone, " I am talking about Carl. He's a bad guy Ellen. I heard him say.... ". That was the last straw now.

I lost patience and began screaming at him, " Why are you all after him? What has he ever done to you guys? First Jeff and now you too Shaun! Carl is the only guy who has treated me as a Spellbound and not as some jerk. He helped me in my need and you are trying to create differences between us. Why Shaun? Did Jeff ask you to do all of this? All of you are liars and I can't trust anyone. Not even you Shaun!".

   I regretted it as soon as I had said it. My anger had just poured out of me. I knew that what I had said was not right. I took a step towards Shaun mumbling a sorry but he just stepped away from me. His face was pale and I could see his lips twitching. He always did that when he was about to cry but instead he began laughing. It was a dry raspy laugh. He turned away and began laughing louder than before. I reached for his shoulder but he just shoved my hand off and turned swiftly towards me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and I could see pure anger in his eyes.

   For the first time in my life I was scared being with Shaun. He spoke in his dry raspy tone, " I tried warning you because I thought we were friends. I wanted to protect you but now I know how you feel about me. You raised your voice at me for that Carl, huh? Go to him then and don't you ever dare to look back if you need me because I'll not be there. ". With that he let go of my shoulders. He exhaled deeply and turned. I called out to him but he didn't look back even once and climbed out of the window. I don't know how he had come up or gone down but none of that seemed to matter now.

   I had lost another friend. I shivered and hugged myself. It was not cold but I felt goosebumps on my whole body. Was this for real or was it just a nightmare? I touched my shoulders in the process of hugging myself. I lay down on my bed once again and gave a thought to what Shaun had said.

  Carl had indeed hidden his identity but why and why would he be a threat to me? He was my friend right? What did Shaun want to protect me from? How did he know all of this in the first place? So many questions but how many answers did I have? None. I was too upset due to this incident. Would Shaun really never be there for me when I needed him? Would we ever even see each other again? Of course we would. I was just thinking too much. I knew Shaun and I knew that we could never stay mad at eachother for long.

  All those things we said, well I didn't mean to say any of that and I'm pretty much sure that Shaun didn't mean it too. I heard my phone buzz and picked it up from the dresser. There was a text sent by Kristen saying, " Only 1 more day 4 d party. Yaaaayyyy!!!! Get ready gal. V r gonna have loads of fun. Keep everything ready for day after tomorrow.". Kristen loves sending messages with tons of short forms. She always says, " Why waste your time in writing full forms? What were short forms invented for? ". Messaging is a really great way of expressing your feelings and....That's when something clicked in my mind.

Whenever Shaun and I had a fight, he was the one to say sorry first. This fight was my mistake and I had to be the one to apologize. I typed Shaun's number on the messenger screen and left him a message to see, " Sorry dude. I know you were trying to say something to warn me and I just said whatever I felt like and I just couldn't stop. I'm sorry. I don't want to end our friendship this way. In fact, I don't want our friendship to end. You are my best friend and whenever I look back I want you to be there because I'll always need you.

I want you to know this that I always had, always did and always will, think of you as my best friend because you are irreplaceable. ". I pressed the send button. This message was my only hope. I poured out all my emotions in that little message and please note, ' Without any short forms '.