The Perfect Hybrid

CHAPTER XX

Ella

The hallways were filled students as each of them has finished their own classes. Some are going home but most seniors like me are going to the gym to attend a memorial for our teacher.

Honestly, I find it weird that they are doing this only now, considering Mr. Tyler has been buried a week ago. It's as if the whole school decided to wait until I got back so I would feel guilty, as if they are silently placing the blame on me. If the looks, whispers and murmurs behind my back weren't indication enough, I don't know what is.

It did not help that I can't seem to get a hold of my bestfriend. At first, I thought she was avoiding me but that immediately vanished when we had lunch together. She was staring at me weirdly, as if she's searching for something which was weird considering she's the one who knows something and owes me an explanation. When I asked why she was staring, she said that she was supposed to know something about me.

"Yes. You know something about me that I don't; like what happened in the woods. You know something and you're supposed to tell me."

She shook her head. "No, this is different. I will tell you what happened in the woods and what I know after the memorial when there are no eyes looking in or ears listening in."

I exhaled. Good point. "So, what's this about me then?"

"I'm not sure." I gave her a pointed look before elaborating further. "It's the truth. It's about you. I know it is. I feel it is. I am just unsure whether it's something that happened in the past or that will happen in the future. I feel like I should know it but I don't."

I blinked before she took a deep breath and tried to explain further.

"It's like one of those dreams that are so vivid when you're asleep yet the moment you open your eyes, they're gone. But you know that there is something just within your reach but you just can't grasp it so you could hold it before relaying to others."

I don't know what to make of Skylar's words. I came up with the idea that maybe it was a premonition of some sort but she just dismissed it, saying that it was more like a vision. When she saw me roll my eyes and told her that it was just the same, she turned it into a lecture; premonitions are like warnings while visions are clear events on what will happen in the future.

"But you said so yourself that you can't even remember which means they are not clear," I pointed.

"It was clear when I was in this sort of dream scape," she argued back. "Besides, premonitions are warnings that something bad will happen."

I stiffened at this. That's a good thing, right? I don't want to experience another bad thing in my life ever again. What happened in the woods was enough experience in this lifetime, thank you very much. I relaxed a bit.

"So, that means that it's good, right?" I asked, hopeful for a positive answer.

"No, it's not. Not really. It's..." I stiffened and she stopped. Her eyes widened and I got a feeling that she realized this realization only now. "Ella, I'm sorry. I honestly don't know. But I have this feeling that it's bad, tragic even."

I sucked in a breath and we stared at each other. Her eyes showed me how helpless she felt at the moment and mine were probably showing how shock and terrified I was at the same time. We just stared at each other until the spell was broken by the sound of bell that signals the end of lunch.

That was almost four hours ago. I haven't talked or even seen Skylar since then. And with the escalating intensity of the stares and whispers I keep on receiving, I need her now. A girl could only take so much.