Chapter 2: Zero Alexander Neville
It's been a week since Zero entered Scylian High School but I never found anything suspicious about him so I listened to what Cassy told me to just drop the "Peculiar Topic" off and just focus on making my parents proud but of course, I don't listen to her but now, I'm considering her suggestion about working hard to be a good daughter to my parents by having high grades and graduating as the batch's valedictorian. Meh.
My classmates also stopped giving me death glares as I made myself clear that I am not interested in Zero so they can just shut the fuck up and just leave me alone. Cassy also told the class to try their best to make Zero notice them because Zero never talked to them. Like, he never say a word to them which is again, weird. He only talks to me and Cassy which the others find it as a privilege. "Oh you know, because he's the handsomest guy in the campus" tsss. I can still hear them blabbering about it which I decided to just ignore it and enjoy my remaining months in Scylian. Please take note of the overflowing sarcasm by the way.
It's Saturday and I should be enjoying my weekend but then Cassy kicked my ass up to help her in her club. She's the Science Club President by the way. So, I am sitting beside her, waiting for students to submit their applications to the club.
"Ah, Earth to Hera. Why aren't you getting the application?" I looked in front and there's two students handing their applications. I frowned at her.
"You could've just received it by yourself" I commented.
"Well, that's the reason why you are here"
"Why don't you give this assignment to your vice presidents because I should be enjoying my weekend!"
"They're busy with the recruitment so shut your mouth and just help me" I gave two stabs to the students for the club orientation on Monday. They both applied for the Physics Division so I they'll be my co-members. And just as when I was about to put the application forms in the box, a familiar person appeared from the crowd. He sure stands out with his height and good looks. "Here comes the prince" Cassy whispered beside me. Other clubs tried to have him but he ignored all of them and went straight towards our table. "He looks like your knight in shining armor"
"You should really stop pestering me or I'll leave you"
"Oh darling, that's not a threat" I glared at her but she just winked at me. "Hello Zero! It's nice of you to come here" Cassy greeted her with her widest smile but I can already sense mockery from it; mockery towards me.
"I told Hera that I'll be joining the Science Club"
"Oh did you? She never mentioned it" I just shook my head because she's obviously mocking me right now and I don't want to deal with it. "Anyway, do you have an application form?"
"None"
"Great. Just fill this up and submit your form to Hera and she'll do the rest" Zero nodded and politely did what he was told but not so long after he sat down, a number of applicants lined up in front of our table, most of which are girls and I think I know why. Is it an advantage or the other way around?
After filling up his application form, Zero was told to do so. He handed me his but when he was about to leave, Cassy stopped him so I raised a brow at her. She then smirked at me so I know that this won't be good.
"It seems like you're attracting a lot of students. Why don't you help us with the recruitment? Well, if you'r enot busy" I don't know why but it seems like she's being seductive or something. "Or you can just sit with Hera here and I'll join the others for the recruitment" Zero looked at me and without any words, he took the seat beside me. Cassy winked at me and left us with a smirk on her face. Not too long when Zero seated beside me, I'm already filing a pile of application forms into their proper receptacle and although he never said a thing, the students still hand him their application form. And the Chemistry Division is already full! Ugh!
"Looks like these girls want to join you in Chemistry"
"So does the guys" he commented and I frowned. He raised a pile of papers he's holding and all of which are to be put in the Physics Division. "You're quite popular, I see" he added.
"Says the guy who already attracted attention during his first week at Scylian High" I replied.
"Does that annoy you?"
"Hmmm?"
"Do these girls annoy you?" he asked.
"Yes"
"Why?"
"They're noisy, aren't they" he then nodded and we continued our tasks quietly. There has already been an unwritten rule that all male students will hand their application forms to Zero and that the girls will hand theirs to me while glancing at Zero because he never attend to them.
"Woah! It looks like the Physics and Chemistry Department will have a lot of members!" Cassy exclaimed seeing the full receptacles of application form.
"Well, thanks to Zero who let us display his handsome face" Marjory commented. Cassy rolled her eyes heavenwards.
"Ah, excuse me. Hera's beautiful face also helped" of course, Cassy will never let Marjory go.
"I agree. They'll make a cute couple" I just shook my head and left the group. As I am already near the girl's dormitory, someone grabbed my arm, and dragged me behind the building. I was about to punch him but I saw Zero's face.
"What the hell? Why did you drag me?"
"We need to talk" he said.
"About what?"
"Northsey" my frown turned into a surprise look.
"Why do you want to talk about the woods?" I asked.
"Tell me where you saw the Phantoms?"
"How did you know about the Phantoms?" I asked.
"Everything's in your personal blog" and that shocked me even more.
"Y-you've read my blog? But wait, nobody knows that it's my blog"
"I didn't know too"
"Then why did you---"
"I just thought it was you and you just confirmed it" my jaw dropped. "How do they look like?"
"I was told to never tell this to anyone" I said and I was about to leave when he pinned me on the wall with on hand. Damn! I'm tall but he's much taller than I am so struggling will not help.
"But I want to know"
"I won't tell you" he stared at me for a while until he leaned closer. Those eyes got me distracted for a while until the touch of his minty breath reached my lips. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I stared at his lips. It's been a while since my last kiss --- wait, What the hell?! What were you thinking Hera?
"You will" he said in a serious tone and it feels like he's hypnotizing me as his eyes never left mine and it's making me uncomfortable. If the mistress found out that I told someone about what I saw, I'll surely get a beating and I don't want that because her punishments are annoying. It's not difficult, it's just annoying!
"What do you want to know?" I asked silently, almost like a whisper.
"Everything"
"I can't tell you eveything"
"Why?"
"Because I do not know everything Zero. What are you up to?" I asked. He, again, stared at me for a while before releasing me. That's when I was able to let a breath of air. Didn't notice that I was holding my breath for too long. Well, he was too close!
"Go to your dorm and forget what happened" he said and then he walked away. I was left there, standing and figuring out what just happened. I looked at Zero and wodered why he's suddenly interested about the phantoms. No one ever dared to mention that name again and here he is, asking me who they are. Just as when I was about to go our dorm as what Zero said, I got a message from the mistress asking me to go to her office. Okay. What did I do this time?
Letting out a breath of air, I knocked on her office door and went inside the instant I heard her invite me in. She's sitting on her swivel chair so I sitted on the chair that's in front of her table. She's been my father's eyes inside Scylian high School and I don't even know how they knew each other.
"Do you need something, mistress?" I asked.
"How's school?" she asked back.
"It's been good, mistress"
"You're still doing good, I guess"
"I hope so mistress" then there was a moment of silence before she dropped her pen and looked at me. It feels like judgement day as she's already scrutinizing my whole life story with those stares.
"The real question is, how is Zero?"
"Uhm, good?"
"Is he not behaving, differently?"
"Why would he behave differently?"
"Nothing. I just thought that maybe he's still adapting to his new environment"
"I think he adapted well. Only that he doesn't really interact with other students except for Cassy and me. He only talks to the two of us and some guys. I never saw him interact with other women"
"He hates women"
"How do you know?" I asked.
"It's in his bio data" although she's the mistress, I can't help but to doubt some of her words and this is one of them. You don't put "I don't like girls" in your biodata because first of all, that's not necessary and second of all, why would you want to know if he hates women or not? "Anyway, is he not asking you any questions that seem odd to you?"
I was to tell her about Zero's curiosity for the phantoms but I decided not to. First of all, why is she asking these questions? Second of all, why is she so interested about the new comer? Is there something that I should know too? I never saw her put so.much interest to someone who she just met. Or, does she knew Zero even before he came to Scylian? If there is something odd, then it's about her asking these questions. Is he under some observations? But why would she ask me and why would he behave differently? I'm curious.
"May I also know why you're asking me these questions, mistress?" I asked. She opened her mouth and decided to close it again. I'm seeing hesitation from her so I can't predict if she'll tell me or not.
"I was asked by his parents to look after him. So, I wanted to know if he's doing something strange from your point-of-view" she answered. I stared at her for a while and though I couldn't see it, it's making her uncomfortable.
"You're lying"
"No I'm not"
"So, do you ask each students about everyone? Do you ask Cassy about me too? Because I think I was here when my father asked you to look after me too" I said and that caught her off guard. "Well, I guess not"
"It's strictly confidential, Hera. I can't tell you becau---" I smiled at her.
"Enjoy the rest of your day, mistress" I said then left her. I even heard her calling me but I did not look back. I am walking back to the dormitory when someone talked behind me that almost gave me a heart attack.
"What did she say?" I looked back and saw Zero's face yet again. I'm seeing a lot today.
"Stop doing that!"
"Doing what?"
"Popping out anywhere!"
"Should I always announce my arrival then?"
"That's not what I meant" I sighed. "I thought you went back to your dorm room"
"I saw you entering the mistress' office so I thought I got you in trouble when we entered the woods"
"That's not it"
"Then what?"
"Just stop asking me questions, will you? I've reached my quota"
"Hera! Zero!" then Cassy popped out of nowhere and linked her arms with me and Zero. "Let's go!" she said. Heading the direction where I came from.
"Where?" I asked.
"Cafeteria"
"Are you not going to cook dinner?"
"I'm lazy plus, we just finished filing out all the application forms and it was tiring and we are out of groceries now missy so we need to go out and buy them tomorrow"
"You can go out of the school premises?" Zero asked and that's when I realized that I did not tell him anything about the rules here.
"Yes. You can go out during weekends"
"Can I come with you then?" he asked. Cassy and I looked at each other. I just shrugged so she smiled at me.
"Of course! I'll make the request later so that so can pass it tomorrow. I need your ID though" Zero then handed her his ID. "Okay! Let's eat"
We spent dinner at the cafeteria with some of the Science Club's Vice Presidents. Marjory is, of course, shooting flirtatious glances at Zero who's ignoring her. And I swear! He only talks to Cassy and I. But he did answer some questions and after that, he shut down. Zero then volunteered to wall us to our dormitory though he never really said something, he just walked with us. And I thought he'll only walk us at the entrace, he entered the dormitory and walked Cassy and I to our room. There is an awkward silence surrounding the three of us as we did not say anything so Cassy decided to break it by unlocking the door.
"Well, I guess I need to go ahead" Cassy entered our room leavibg me alone with Zero.
"Do you have something to tell me?" I asked. Zero looked at me dead in the eye and said...
"Good night" before leaving me with my mouth open. Did he came with us just to say good night? I shook my head and entered our room. I was locking the door when I saw Cassy sitting on her bed with a smirk.
It's already late and Cassy's fast asleep while I'm still contemplating to either drink a carton of milk or just drink one pill just to help me sleep. But in the end, I chose to stare at the ceiling when Zero's face popped in my mind.
"Everything's in your personal blog"
"Everything's in your personal blog"
"Everything's in your personal blog"
His words rang in my ears so I reached for my phone and logged into my personal blog. It's been quite a while since I've visited it. The whole school knew about it but they don't know who run it. I mean. I never really told anyone that I am Autumn plus I think that it's better that way. People were also curious about my blogs so they waited for my updates until I stopped and never log back into my account. So as soon as I clicked the log in button, notifications started flooding my wall but I ignored them and went to my last update.
September 26, 2013
Curiosity kills the cat but satisfaction brought it back.
My father never really liked how "adventurous" his daughter is. I always get into a lot of fights since elementary and I have a very bad reputation since second grade. I've been friends with our guidance councilor plus all the school bullies. I am the infamous Hennesy Raigh Snowthrie that always gets into trouble. I don't even know how I graduated from elementary and how I got good grades despite my absences and iniquity. I still graduated as the batch's valedictorian. I never knew what fear means until I entered Scylian High School.
There's this eerie feeling that I am being watched by someone I cannot see. DO you know the quote, "The walls have ears"? It feels as though the walls are watching my every moves. I was walking around the school when I decided to spend the rest of my day at the Scylian Park, near the woods but the longer that I stay there, the more that it feels like the trees are watching me breathe - it's a dead forest but it feels like someone I cannot see is observing me, like a phantom.
So, with all the courage I gathered, I stood and entered Northsey. I've been warned to never enter the woods but I never listen to anything they say and my curiosity got the best of me. As I was already deep in the woods, the feeling of getting watched became stronger as the trees started dancing. I do not know if they're talking to me and telling me to continue or telling me to just go back and listen to what they're saying because honestly, it felt like they're telling me to proceed or was I just a hard headed bitch? Maybe both.
I was cautiously walking when I heard gunshots fired at a distance and that made my heart skip a beat. I looked around my surroundings to know if there's someone there with me but as I've said, they're invisible. So, I decided to go back from where I came from when I saw 4 silhouettes. I hide behind a big tree and watched them cautiously. My eyes grew wide when I realized that they are heavily armed and my bad ass bitch side won't be of any help. I maybe a troublemaker but I know when my enemies are much stronger than I am. Plus, that's how bullies work. You don't bully someone who's stronger than you.
I never liked the idea of being afraid because that makes me weak and just as when I was about to leave, shots were fired on the tree where I'm hiding. My heart's beating fast and my breathing became heavy. I checked myself for any gunshot wounds and luckily, I didn't get any. I rooted myself firmly on the tree when I heard footsteps heading towards me. I readied myself by picking a rock when a squirrel jumped out of nowhere.
"It's just a fvcking squirrel you dumbass" first of all, what's a squirrel doing in this place? I though this forest is already dead?
"I thought I saw someone"
"Tsss. Let's go"
I sank from where I stood as soon as they left. With my fast beating heart, I lifted myself and ran towards the entrance of the woods. I was panting when I reached Scylian Park. I looked back into the woods and realized that Scylian High School is a lot bigger than it seems. But, are we still safe?
When I finished reading my blog, I went to check the comments section. Scylian High stud
ents became interested about my story and it's maybe one of the reasons why they tried to enter the woods. Some thought it was a nicely written SHS fiction and some thought it's weird and at the same time, alarming.
levodopa63: If this is true, then Scylian High School will be the coolest!
inktattoo: You're a good writer, why don't you write for the publication?
I've been getting a lot o comments like those until that incident happened.
blacktears: when I heard the what happened earlier, I remember this blog post.
hugsandbears: after what happened, I reread this blog post and it kept me and my roomie awake for the whole night! This is dope!
velvetsky: Wait. who's the owner of this blog? Is she the woman who died?
And then they started asking about my identity. I never answered them and I went on hiatus after that incident so they really thought that the woman who died is the owner of this blog. even Cassy were worried of our safety in Scylian High School but I decided to keep my mouth shut. But why did Zero suddenly decided to visit my blog? And how did he found my blog in the first place?
Are you investigating something, Zero?
I shook my head and turned my phone off, that's a weird idea. I decided to get myself some milk as I need to sleep early because I am sure that Cassy will wake me up early again tomorrow for our grocery shopping. I stayed in the open corridors where you can look over the field. I finished my milk and was about to go inside when I saw someone who just went out from our dormitory. I frowned and left my glass on the floor and ran towards the exit. The guards are maybe patrolling because they're not here.
I tried to be as light as a feather as I do not want to blow my cover. I do not know who she is but I am certain that it's a she judging by her hair and the way she walks. There were light posts everywhere but I decided to stay in the dark as I do not want to alarm her. I frowned when I realized that she's walking towards the Scylian Park. what will she do there at this hour? I think it's already past 11 pm.
I thought she's going to stop at the park when she continued to walk until the entrance of Northsey. She looked behind her so I hid under a table. And that's when I realized that going out with your shorts at this hour is not a very good idea. It's freaking cold and there are insects everywhere! And when she's satisfied, she entered the woods and I followed behind her. I made sure to never ever step on dried leaves as possible as it will make some noise and it will rattle her so to be safe, I danced with each of her footsteps to give her the idea that it's her that's making all the noise.
We are going deeper into the woods and it's getting darker too as larger trees came into sight with much thicker and bigger leaves. She continued going into the woods until we reached a small clearing and I sensed that the danger became more intense as the atmosphere became heavy - it's hard to breathe.
She then stopped at a spot and looked at her wrist, probably checking the time. So I decided to secure my spot by climbing a tree no too far from where she's standing. Then two heavily armed men came to her making my eye grow wide.
"What the hell?" I whispered to myself as I realized that someone in Scylian knows these heavily armed men.
"What do you want?" the woman asked and I swear, her voice is so familiar but I cannot recall who owns it but I am sure as fvck that it's familiar!
"You know what he wants" he? Who is he?
"I hate that you're still controlling me" who's controlling who?
"You were given the chance to live but it's not for free"
"So this is not freedom then"
"Freedom is not in our vocabulary"
"Are you going to give us some information or are you going to waste our time?"
"He's doing good. He doesn't seem to be doing something that's against your rules" he? again, who is this he?
"Are you sure?"
"Yes"
"He's been the problem of the group so
you have to keep an eye on him"
"He'll notice it if I get too close to him"
"You don't need to befriend him"
"What else?"
"He only talks to some people. If he's suspicious about you then he will not even look at you"
"What's important is that he'll stop being a big problem to the group"
"You kept putting him on spree though"
"Because he's the perfect tester" tester? What the hell are they talking about? Is this some kind of sick joke? Is this some king of SIP? Well, I doubt that.
"I don't care about your project because first of all, it's immoral"
"You are being paid to be our eyes. So shut up and just do your fvcking job"
"What am I going to do with his friends then?"
"Leave them. They're not important. For as long as they're not suspicious of him then they're insignificant. You don't need to worry about them"
"I'm just being careful"
"Speaking of being careful, are you sure that no one followed you here?" and that's when my heart beat started racing again.
"Of course"
"Then why am I seeing a shadow" and then they started shooting at the tree where I am. I almost dropped to the ground but I was able to grab a strong branch for support. Then I saw a furry creature jumped out of nowhere. What the hell?! It's a squirrel!
"It's a squirrel dumbass. You're always scared of squirrel. You also shot one two years ago" my ears rang when I heard that and tried to focus my sight on them. Two years ago. It means that they're the same people I encountered two years ago. They finished their conversation and I waited for a moment then I went down and followed the woman. She's carelessly walking towards the entrance so I don't know if she's aware of my presence but I don't care. As soon as we both Scylian Park, the light from the moon helped me see but unfortunately I wasn't able to recognize her but as she flipped her hair, I saw a tattoo on her nape. It's a figure of a flower that's unfamiliar to me. I am not good at flowers but I am. positive that it's a tattoo of a flower that's inked on her skin.
And it's the only thing that I recognized. I looked back at the woods then at her. I still followed her until the dormitory but it's so unfortunate that the guards came as soon as she entered the building so I was not able to find out where her room is. But one thing's for sure... something bad is going to happen.