Lessons Learned

Part 4

I woke up to the faint whisper of music in the auditorium. I uncurled myself from the seat and stretched. I had no idea how long I had slept. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know if I needed sleep. This whole 'limbo' thing was still a mystery to me.

I wandered towards the front of the room, yawning and muttering under my breath. If I was going to be here for a while I was defiantly going to have to find a more comfortable place to sleep.

Zayn was sitting on the edge of the stage, his fingers flying over the keys of his phone. The music was emitting from the iPod at Zayn's side. In the immense quiet of the limbo, the sound appeared a lot larger than it actually was.

I didn't recognize the song playing, but it sounded like a boyband tune.

Zayn looked up when I approached. "Sorry," he shut off the music and silence engulfed the room. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay," I rubbed my eyes and joined him on the stage. "Do I even need to sleep?"

He shrugged, "Well you don't technically need it but if you are going to be here for a while I would suggest it."

"How long am I going to be here?"

"I don't know. That's up to you," Zayn slipped the phone back into his pocket and met my gaze. "Once you learn the lesson you move on. But you are being stubborn. We could be here for weeks."

"Weeks?"

"Well yeah. You can't leave until you figure out the lesson on your own. I'm not allowed to help you."

I sighed and pulled my blonde hair up into a messy ponytail, "How long are most people usually here?"

"Not very long. When I tell them that they are here to learn something, they usually don't question me. You on the other hand..." he trailed off, as if he didn't want to stay too much and put me in a mood again. "It just depends."

"What if I don't want to leave?"

My question caught Zayn off-guard and he gave me a strange look, "Yesterday all you wanted was to get on with being dead, now you don't want to leave?"

"This is completely hypothetical, but say someone came here and fell in love with you. If they refused to learn the lesson would they stay here forever with you?"

Zayn ran a hand through his hand, "I have no idea. No one has ever asked me that before."

"You should know the answer to these types of things." I knew what Zayn's lesson was; I had known it since returning from the memory. But I wasn't ready to move on, to be thrown into a new situation without knowing all the details. That's why I was asking so many questions.

"It's not like I was handed a rule book or anything," Zayn rolled his eyes. "When I started this I was just as confused as you were."

"How long have you been a Nephilim?"

"Over fifty years."

I nodded. I had guessed as much, seeing as he had been 17 in Simon Cowell's time. It appeared that real Zayn was around the same age as my grandmother. "I thought so."

"Really?"

"Well yeah." I sat down next to Zayn and gave him a slight smile. "You were a teenager in the memory with Simon Cowell. I know that Simon was this big music guy from when my grandma was growing up. So using this," I tapped my brain, "I guessed that you were about 70 in real life now."

"Not bad," Zayn actually seemed really impressed. "You are putting a lot of thought it to this whole thing."

I shrugged, "I'm an over thinker. It's one of the things that led to me killing..." I hesitated and tried to find a more appropriate word, "attempting to kill myself."

"Being an over thinker isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"The way I do it is," I fiddled with the hair tie on my wrist. I didn't really want to talk about this anymore. "Who do you text? You obviously can't contact real people."

Once again Zayn looked surprised. I smiled to myself a bit; I'm a quiet person, we notice everything.

"You really do pay attention," he pulled the phone out and held it up to me. "The only people I can talk to on here are the other four Nephilim that you are going to meet. One of them was just asking about your progress. You go to him next."

"Nah," I leaned back, crossing my legs at the ankle. "I don't plan on leaving here."

"You have to."

"I don't have to do anything," I raised an eyebrow at him. "There's no one around to tell me what to do anymore, no one to judge me, no one to make me feel like I'm worthless. It's just me and you. I know you won't hurt me."

"You would stay here, in this empty auditorium, for the rest of forever?"

I shrugged, "Sure why not. I mean, you do it."

"I do it because it's my job. I have no choice."

"Well I do have a choice, and I choose to stay here." I leaned over so I was inches from Zayn's face and spoke slowly, Sandlot style. That movie was a classic. "Forever."

Suddenly the lights in the auditorium began flashing and I felt a hand grip mine. Everything went black and the only thing that existed was the pressure of Zayn's hand in mine and the shallow gasps of his breath.

"Vas happenin?" he yelled into the empty space. "What's going on?"

"Zayn?" I noticed that my voice had gone up an octave but I didn't know how to control it. "What is this?"

"I don't know," I could hear the panic in his voice. "This has never happened before."

A booming voice suddenly filled my head and I screamed in agony, pulling my hand out of Zayn's so I could grab my head. "You can't stay here," the voice screamed.

"Ahhhh," I clutched my head and double over in pain. The voice was eating my brain.

"Get out!" it roared. "He hates you just like everyone else. You are a waste of space. He doesn't want you coming into his world and ruining it."

"Annabelle?" Zayn's hand landed lightly on my shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Don't touch me," I spat out. "You're just like everyone else. You don't want me around."

"No, I never said that!"

"I bet you thought it!" the voice in my head was speaking through me. The same voice that told me every day how worthless I was.

"Annabelle, calm down."

"Don't be afraid to try something new just because you think you will be bad at it," the words slipped out. I couldn't control what I was saying. "That was your life lesson. I'll leave you alone now. Sorry for bothering you."

"Annabelle no!"

But it was too late. I blacked out and was gone.