t w i s t e d

summer '19

The way she felt wearing that pretty dress. That's all she could think about as she sat and looked at her boyfriend-minus-the-friend-part. She had never talked to him or even seen him eye to eye before this day. She could feel the wind blowing through the tiny weaves in the fabric, making her feel alive. Her 'boy' was staring at a fork with a blank expression plastered across his face.

"Thinking of all the ways you could kill me?" Zaalia grinned and jokingly kicked his foot underneath the plain glass table. His eyes focused on her, turning from blank to almost cataclysmic. It had to be the light she thought as the corners of his mouth turned upward, forming a grin.

"If that's the best you can think of to scare me off, all I can do is laugh," He chuckled to himself and brought his attention back to the silver fork, "I'm actually thinking of all the ways I could kill him."

The pale boy pointed across the vineyard field, to a man fighting with his wife. His expression stayed solemn, and he barely moved apart from the anxious wriggling of his fingers turning the fork. He was joking, right? It was so silent you could almost hear a pin drop.

"What do you think he did?" Caleb questioned, looking back at her.

"I don't know..." I looked frantically from the fork to the man, "Why?"

"I think he hurt her, bad. The world's cruel," He smiled at the ground, "You can stop with the eye-pacing. I'm no Ted Bundy."

"Of course not," Zaalia felt the headache she'd built up release, leaving her with a shy laugh, "What are you then?"

"A romantic, living my life as someone who will find the one and I can guarantee she'll never leave," He reached over and brushed Zaalia's hand with his own, chills running down her arm as he did so, "I can guarantee you'll never leave."

They locked eyes for a moment before Zaalia pulled her hand away and looked down. He acted in an almost.. Macabre way. She started to wish she could take back this date. Her friends had set her up with him during a game between two groups of friends; his and hers. They were all friendly people and relatively normal, but she'd noticed he was different. He had ice blue eyes and pale skin, his hair was brown and curly, hanging slightly over his eyes. When he'd sat and looked at Zaalia from across the room, he bit his lip slightly, leaving her curious. Her friends had told her to "make her move" after she'd mentioned her feelings for him a few times. She did and that landed her at the park cafe with a potential psycho.

"Hey, Caleb?" Zaalia looked at his eyes in the sunlight, it was almost as if they glowed, "Can I ask something?"

"Yes?" He was picking at a few strands of grass when his forehead crinkled and he looked up at her.

"What do you think about me?"

"I think you're a very curious girl, almost too curious," He said with a laugh, "Girls like you get far in life, if they make it."

"What do you mean 'if they make it'?"

"Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. Yesterday is the only thing we can count on. And death. We literally live for death. Are you scared of death? How do you want to die?"

"Uhm.." She looked at her lap, the way he thought wasn't normal, "I'm not scared, I think death balances out life, makes room for the new people, y'know?"

Caleb nodded as she continued answering his question, "I don't know how I'd like to die. I'd like it to be a big story though. Something people want to read about. Instead of "Zaalia Tate dies of death" I'd like to be remembered for something significant."

Zaalia had a confused expression on her face as Caleb took her hand in his. He looked into the small girl's eyes, but he was staring past her eyes, as if he could see someone through her. She turned around to look at what he was looking at and he caught the side of her face with his hand, directing her focus back on his eyes.

"You already are significant."