CHAPTER 5

I land the mini astral ship of Adrianna right in front of La Caja Encantada, the Night Party Center frequented by Ryzen and his group of friends. Purple lights just like magic are floating from the wide rectangular windows as if the whole complex is vomiting rays of glitter and other girly stuff. However, nothing is girly and miraculously there, but only corrupto y podrido, as almost any teenager is out there. Except for non-crystallites and some high-class families, just like mine. Even though my adoptive father is la gran Guardia real, and his wife - one of the many lawyers of the Kings' Ejercito de abrocados, I still feel as if we were ordinary citizens.

A few shyly made steps later, I come across Rodrigo, who was smoking outside.

"Maybe I've smoked too much," I hear him murmuring, a thought only for himself. "I should quit until the illusions increase in number."

He takes a glimpse at his half-smoked cigarette and extinguishes it by throwing it on the metal surface, stepping on it with his luscious, dark-colored lather pointy shoe. I've never seen him like this in a long time. Now, he is dressed in a white molded shirt, so flimsy that I could see, even on night-time, his peachy sweated skin under, with tight black jeans, with no holes, cuts, and chains, as he has his ordinary daily jeans. He looks like any other handsome, wealthy young man who goes night by night at Night Party Centers.

I think I blushed a little there because I feel my cheeks burn. Great Creator, what a handsome boyfriend I have!

"But I know normal cigarettes don't have substances in them," he gets me out from the dreamy state I got into, forgetting what I've come here for.

"They, indeed, don't," I answer, approaching him. "Surprise!" I hug him, brightly smiling. While he was embracing me, I could feel the pleasant smell of amber mixed with tobacco from his shirt.

"Enigel, what are you doing here? I thought I was hallucinating when I saw you getting out of the astral ship!" he shouts at me, letting me free from the embrace. "I thought you weren't serious when you told me that you're coming! How did you know I was there?" he looks at me, perplexed, in the eyes.

"Everyone knows that's the place where Ryzen and his acolytes usually go to party," I roll my eyes at him, sniffing. "Come on now, we should find that bastard half of mine," I drag him to the entrance of the partying rink.

I haven't even made so many steps into the building that I bump into Ryzen, who was holding a glass of alcohol, spilling it all over my dark-colored hoodie.

"Look where you're going, you bitch!" I shout at him, nearly slapping him.

"And what a tasty drink it was, too good not to get onto your trashy blouse! What are you doing there, whore? Shouldn't you be already asleep?" he grins.

"Ha, ha, very funny," I shake my head. "I'm not a baby anymore," I try to protect myself in front of his insults. "I am eighteen now, so I'll do whatever I want."

"Is that so, crybaby?" he laughs and gets near my face, so near that I can feel his breath, smelling of alcohol, onto my cold and sweaty cheek.

Then he pours all the remained drink from his glass right onto my head. The amber substance dripped into my eyes, falling over my perfectly arched eyebrows, making my eyes itch.

"Enough!" I shout and go straight to the toilet, already seeing the neon sign to it.

While trying to dry my hair and my hoodie with toilet wipes, I saw on my wrist written:

"What does it take her so long?"

What? Which her? Me or his girlfriend?

As seeing my thoughts, my half explained to me with his thoughts: "My crush. The love of my life. My princess, my queen, Enigel Garcia" was written all over my arm.

What?!

No way! Could he be in this Night Partying Center? Could have he seen me running straight to the toilet after Ryzen made fun of me?

I pull my hair into a tail and burst out of the toilet door: "Where are you? Who are you?"

Ryzen was at the corner as if he were waiting for me. I could hear his machiavellic laughter.

"What more do you want, whore? Wasn't it enough for you to do that to me?"

"I never get enough, you know," he winks at me. "Have fun!" he greets me, turning the back to me, going to the bar to refill his glass with alcohol.

The clock streaks midnight. There have already been 26 hours passed from the day, the day on which I found I have a half.

It is about time to find out which is the next stage I have to get through to meet my half.

"Where have you been? I thought I lost you in the crowd," Rodrigo cried. I was in the toilet, I had an urgency," I kinda lied to him. The only urgency I had was the one of drying my hair and clothes after that bitch laughed at me. The good thing was that Rodrigo didn't know about this. Even though they are good friends, he would have punched Ryzen in the face for what he did to me,

Suddenly, I feel in my whole body flowing a deep river, a dark one, full of pressure, going down my veins, aiming my heart, promising to slice it, burn it, strangle it. At the same time, my skin becomes itching, as I feel a hand touching it, scrunching it. I look all over myself, and it was just me and Rodrigo, with his hands in his trousers, in a ray of approximately ten meters.

"It's past midnight. You should watch what your next stage is. They come very randomly."

"I know," I whisper, now feeling my body burn as I think there is a pair of eyes, other than Rodrigo's, who's watching me closely. I turn my gaze all over my surroundings, but nobody was directly watching me, seeing me small and thin, covered in a large and long dark-grey hoodie, exhausted and pissed-off. And besides, frightened about the avalanche of the new feelings I feel in my body and skin.

"Where are you?" I say to myself, being aware of the fact that the pair of eyes might belong to my half.

"Who, you're half? Don't worry, girl, you'll find him!" Rodrigo hugs me, probably feeling my fear and insecurity. "We are finding him and talking with him," he smiles at me warmly, that kind of smile assuring me everything will be alright.

That's a lie. "Nothing will be alright!" I scream in my mind.

"Don't touch me! My skin is boiling!" I retreat from the sweet hug. "Have you ever felt as if there's a river of venom inside you aiming at your heart?" I say as I feel getting down my throat a hot, spicy yet sour substance.

Alcohol. That's the unmistakable taste of the alcohol.

No way!

The next thing I know, my teeth chattered.

"No. Why?" he lifts a brow.

"Because that's how I feel right now. Don't ask me, why, because I don't even know how to explain it to myself, especially to somebody else, which means you!"

"What else do you feel?"

"Well, can one possibly feel the taste of what the other drinks?"

"And even the taste of what they eat, the feelings, the physical and the mental ones. Don't you tell me that…?" he widens his eyes at me.

"Oh, yeah," I purse my lips, nodding.

"Then, what you felt previously… I fear it's envy. Or this is how I put it," he remarks.

"He is here," I explain. "I am a hundred percent sure about it. And he doesn't like seeing me around you," I close my eyes.

"What a jerk! Where do you think he is."

"No idea," I lift my shoulders. "All I know is that he's drinking a very bad alcohol beverage."

"Well, everybody out there drinks not-so-tasty alcohol," he puts his hand in his head. "Except for you, my dear," he admits.

"So, it's kinda hard, you say," I conclude.

"Kinda? It's a lot harder! But eventually, we'll figure it out, especially you," he winks at me, smiling. "I'm sure of it," he tries to encourage me, but fails inevitably.

While thinking of a fusible way in which I could find him, I begin to feel very, very bad, as if I were watching my best friend cuddling with the boy of my dreams. Except for the fact that I almost had no friends. The only dear people I have in my life are Lynne and Rodrigo. And that's it.

"What other friends of yours are in this place?" I find myself asking.

"Only me and Ryzen. Why?" he narrows his eyes at me.

"Nothing. It's nothing," I shake my head.

Ryzen couldn't possibly be in love with me. He hates me with all his heart. It's a constant kind of hate, nourished from the third year of the medium cycle.

I and Ryzen have been series mates since the beginning of the medium cycle.

Moreover, he wasn't even in our proximity, being somewhere lost in the crowd, or maybe in the toilet, doing the nasty with a newfound chick.

Ryzen was very well-known in our educational field for having had numerous relationships, romantic or professional ones.

And with no past attention, a feeling, to tell me to prepare for the worse, to acknowledge me what is it to come, I feel as if my right hand cracked, as is something spiky got into my palm and tore it.

I might have gone pale, because Rodrigo turns me to him, looking very concerned at my face.

"What's wrong?"

"My hand… is bleeding," I cry, as I'm looking down at my hand in hurt, which was all covered in blood.

But I didn't do anything with it.

That's right. That jerk of a half did something bad with his hands and injured himself. I bet that he played with his friends with the knife. The beginner's misfortune. I could do that with high speed, at any point in the day and night, even with my eyes closed. I was a master of the knives, only Korag taught me how to properly use them since I was eight.

Or, maybe, he crushed glass with his bare hand because of envy.

Oh, Great Creator!

And then again I find myself rushing to the toilet to wash my bloody hand.

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