His Eyes

HIS EYES: Chapter 10

I WOKE up in the middle of the night. I tried hundreds of positions but I couldn't go back to sleep. When I went out of my room, I heard someone snoring from the living room. It turned out that it was Neo who was sleeping on the sofa.

It smelled alcohol and flavored chips in here. Was he drinking? Yes. His right leg was hanging on the sofa and he seemed tired. I wouldn't ever feel any sympathy toward him. I went to the kitchen to drink water. It rehydrated my dry throat.

I was about to go upstairs where my room was located when I saw Neo's room was open. There was no one inside. I went outside and saw Orlstein. Her hair wasn't tied and she was wearing her pajamas.

We had bermudagrass on our front yard and two swings. Those swings were actually rusty and broken. She was sitting on one of those swings.

"Hey," I called. She was startled and turned to look at me. Then I realized I wasn't wearing my protection. "Don't look at me."

"Oh yeah. I forgot," she said and looked away. I went closer to her without looking at her eyes.

The moon was out, bright and white. There were millions of stars in the sky, twinkling. The air was cold and I was freezing out here. I sat on the other swing and started to move it.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" I asked while looking at the stars. Some stars were outshining the others and there were some which didn't stand out at all. It looked like in real life. Like a group of achievers, all of them are competing to be on top. But what if they will just help each other and together they will excel without being pressured? It would be boring just like the stars if all of them were shining at the same level. Dull.

"I don't want to. How about you?" She took a sip of coffee then exhaled.

"I couldn't go back to sleep," I answered. A moment of silence. "So, what course did you finish?"

"Civil engineering. But it seems like my hard work since day one of my college days is wasted because my job is way too far from what I had studied."

"That sucks. I didn't even go to college nor high school. But I had some online school before. I tried going to school but I was expelled for always wearing sunglasses."

Even though I wasn't looking at her, I could see her reaction. Shocked.

"How the heck were you expelled because of that? Your former school's stupid," she said. There was hatred in her voice. I agree with her statement.

"You're hundred percent correct! I can still remember what the principal told me. 'We don't know if you're sleeping or not during class because of your sunglasses. It also distracts your teachers. Better transfer to another school or we'll expel you' But I didn't transfer so they kicked me out," I said. I even mimicked my former principal's husky voice. Orlstein laughed. Her laugh was sweet and cute. The laugh I missed the most since she left and never heard it for several years.

"He or she? Of she, she's jealous of your charisma," she laughed. She almost spilled her coffee.

"Or she was just scared of my eyes if she knows," I said. That was a joke but it turned out to be the period of our conversation or maybe not. "You know, there were rumors in our school that I can kill people by staring at their eyes."

"I didn't spread those rumors," she said defensively. She raised her hands as if she was surrendering to me. As if I was going to kill her. "Anyway, the ticket center will be opening at 4 A.M., let's go."

~~~~

While waiting for the bus to leave, Orlstein was looking something from her backpack. There were only three passengers, including the two of us. The sun hadn't risen yet so maybe that explained why there were only a few passengers. To be honest, this was my first time going to town 3.

"Want some?" Orlstein was holding two candies, grapes and strawberry flavor. I took the grapes flavor. I really didn't like strawberries. It made me puke or something.

"How many hours 'till we get there?" I asked. I wished it was only thirty minutes but it turned out I would be sitting here for six hours.

I opened my walkman and played my new playlist. It consisted of My Chemical Romance, Panic! At the Disco and Guns n roses songs. These were also Orlstein's favorite but when I offered her to listen with me, she said she's going to listen to soft-pop songs.

Finally, the bus had left the station carrying four passengers, a conductor and a driver. The street lights were still on and there were only a few vehicles on the road. Most were passenger vans and buses.

I glanced at Orlstein. She was sleeping and her head was leaning forward then backward. It looked like her head was going to fall from her neck. So I moved her shoulder toward mine and let her head relax on my broad chest. It was just a friendly thing, no other meaning.

I felt a little amount of guilt. She was being nice to me and all she wanted to know was find Adolf in order to fulfill my mom's dying wish. She even told me she's going to find the killer and send her to jail. I was afraid of telling her. I didn't want her to know that I was the real intention of the killer and it was all my fault.

I already lost my parents and Neo hated me. Maybe he would hate me forever. And I didn't want that Orlstein would leave me.

~<>~

Thank you starry_rosie!

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