Beyond The Realms

Chapter 4

Have you ever woken up and questioned your sanity the first thing in the morning?

What happened yesterday seemed like a dream. An absolutely twisted and unbelievably strange dream.

" You don't have to go to school today, "Mom says as soon as she sees me coming downstairs for breakfast. 

This is a big thing coming from her because no matter what she never allows me to miss school.

She still looks very shaken by what had happened yesterday at the diner and it takes a good half an hour for me to convince her that I'll be fine at school. Besides being alone at home today after mom had gone off to work will drive me out of my mind. Shadows somehow seem darker to me and the tiny hairs at the back of my neck are in constant alert because the feeling of being watched has increased to paranoid levels.

Being alone doesn't seem an ideal option to me and I also don't want Naina to worry about my absence. 

"Maybe you should ask your Aunt Vic for a talisman or something " are the first words out of my best friend's mouth as soon as I take my place beside her on the school bus today because of course, I had texted her last night as soon as I got home from the diner.

Despite the tense situation, I let out a chuckle."She doesn't work that way "

I've wondered many times about how my Aunt got her powers yet my mother seems to have none. She is completely normal. 

As for my father, I never knew who he was and my usually pleasant mom doesn't like to talk about him so I have concluded that whoever he was, he must have been a douche bag.

" Why haven't you ever dated someone else ?" I had asked her once.

" I had dated someone after him," She says her entire being turning somber but her lips hold a small smile " He was the most generous, funny, and handsome person I had ever met. Let's just say after him I lost interest in all the other men"

" What happened? " I ask the obvious question with a raised  eyebrow " Where is he now ?" If the guy was nice as she was saying why isn't he in our lives now?

" Fortune isn't in a habit of smiling for long on your mother, Sweetie," She replied nostalgia and pain clear on her face yet she still seemed happy to talk about him.

And I become sure that whoever this special man was, they were in love.

I had asked mom for his name but she had refused to tell me .

" At least tell me something about him ?" I had whined like a child.

" He had the most gorgeous eyes," She had answered reminiscing  " Gold in color  and always alight with humor "

From the few things my mom had told me about the guy, he seems like a nice person. I wonder why he isn't around anymore.

I wish he were in our lives. Not because I need a father figure but because mom is lonely. I have never seen her go out on dates.

•
•
•

I sigh as the school hours pass by and sooner than I had hoped I find myself on the school grounds for the gym class.

For a person like me who hates physical activities and finds contentment in sitting in a corner with a good book and a hot coffee, the gym class is a nightmare.

The gym teacher is a ruthless tyrant who makes the class run the entire school ground.

After the fifth and the final round, I and a number of my classmates are half dead and breathing as if there is a shortage of oxygen.

The tyrant looks around with a satisfied smile and blows his whistle yelling at us to start playing dodgeball which is as tiring as it is troublesome.

 I'm no good at it and soon enough the glaring coach points me towards the bleachers. He means it as a  punishment and I hang down my head to play along but on the inside, I'm doing a little happy dance.

Naina looks at me wistfully clearly wishing to be on the bleachers rather than on the school ground. I shoot her a wide smile 'Too bad you are too good at sports'.

I'm chilling out on the bleachers all by myself when I see it.....

Blazing like a live flame as it swoops down from the sky at an insane speed. Its fiery wings powerful and brilliant are larger than any I have seen on a bird, and they only seem to grow bigger as it gets closer.

Its gleaming bright eyes are pinned on me with a hostile precision.

The sound it lets out is unlike any I have ever heard a bird make. It's like a freaking battle cry!

I fleetingly wonder how no one else here except me can see such a huge bird.

With its enormous size and flame-colored wings, it is impossible to miss it.

The Pheonix is only getting closer by the second!

It's the sight of the wickedly sharp talons and dangerously gleaming enormous beak that kicks common sense into my brains and urges my legs into motion " Dammit! " Cursing under my breath I turn on my heels and run.

I'm running at a speed that would make my gym teacher proud and the track racers envious because confirming what Aunt Vic had said this bird is attacking me relentlessly as it swoops down towards me from the sky with outstretched talons and deadly intent in its copper eyes. I manage to get away from it twice but its angry screeching and deadly talons are never too far from me as it actively tries to crack my head open with its frighteningly enormous beak.

I'm too terrified to scream or see where the hell I'm going. All I know is that I should get the hell away from this huge murderous bird.

I can't even imagine what the headlines in the newspaper would be like if I end up dying like this.

My arms flailing around like a lunatic, my hair falling out of my ponytail and flying in every possible direction I'm positive that I look like a person high on something or a possessed person. Or maybe both.

But I don't stop my mad rush until I finally get into a room and slam the door shut behind me.

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