CHAPTER 8 : CLEO’S ENCOUNTER (1)

"Wake up child, wake up."

Cleo opened her eyes to find this mesmerizing beauty adorned in gold and royal regalia standing over her in the dining room.

Her eyes still flickered as she drifted in and out of the deep sleep.

The strange beauty came closer and Cleo noticed some markings on her left and right wrists. "Wake up child!" She continued to insist.

"Arise! Find the Mijer! Renew the seal! Before it's too late! Ariseeeee!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, the specter disappeared and Cleo got up. Eyes open but dead inside like she wasn't at all awake, just sleepwalking.

She went straight to the computer in the living room as if being led by an invisible force and began to type into it aggressively.

She typed and typed getting more and more aggressive until she suddenly stopped.

Her mouth began to foam and her head fell face first into the keyboard of the computer.

With that, Cleo was asleep again.

The storm roared wildly outside her windows and everything faded to black.

........

"Mmmmh...mm" Cleo moaned as she rose her head from the keyboard and lifted her hands to her face to rub her eyes.

As soon as her hands touched her face she felt a sharp pain.

"Ow!" She screamed. "What? What's all this? Ow! Ow! Ow!" Cleo winced running her hands all through her face and feeling the tiny square shaped depressions created by resting her head on the keyboard.

'Why am I at the computer? Did I pass out here?' She thought to herself staring at her reflection in the the computer's dark screen. 'I really must have been very tired to fall asleep at the computer.'

"Where's my phone?" Cleo mumbled getting up and wandering around to look for it. She finally found it on the dining table. The table which now mocked her with the absence of her parents, still containing the special appreciation dinner she had made for them last night. Sitting there, long gone cold.

"Hmmm, family..." she sighed. "They're never here."

A notification for a sale at 'Chanal' popped up on her phone breaking her concentration. She opened it up and her eyes inevitably glanced up at the time on her screen.

"Holy Moly!!" She screamed almost jumping out of her skin as she saw the time.

"Is this the real time?! Oh no! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" She exclaimed running to her room, stripping on her way there to save time.

Cleo had a quick shower and got ready for school in record time. Too bad she was already late.

She burst into one of the school doors panting and gasping for air.

As she stopped for a moment to rest, she noticed another person burst through the other door breathing heavily just like her. The body frame was familiar and when she looked closer, she recognized him.

Still breathless she whispered "Jason?".

Jason of course didn't hear her whisper. He was looking extremely worn out and after a breath or two, he wobbled to class like jelly in a very slow pace. The struggle in his expressions was not hidden.

Cleo got to class before Jason and sat at her desk at the front of the class.

Jason got in about 2 minutes later and slumped on his desk at the back of the class next to the window.

Cleo turned around to look at him feeling deeply worried and found that he had already drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

This made Cleo worry even more about Jason. 'Why's he so weak? He should really stop overworking himself.' She thought to herself while staring intently at him from her front seat.

Classes went on and Cleo kept turning around occasionally to check on Jason. She noticed that no matter who the teacher was, Jason was so tired that he slept through the whole of their teaching and never once woke up.

It was finally break time and Cleo now had the opportunity to ask him what was wrong.

She strutted to his desk and stood over him. The sun shone right over his desk and a sudden glow came upon him. He looked so peaceful, his beautiful silver hair was scattered all over his face and reflected like diamonds in the sun. His kissable lips, pink and full were highlighted under the sun light.

Cleo couldn't help but blush at the sight of this beautiful man. She was enchanted and her hands began to move of their own accord, stretching themselves out to touch his beautiful hair.

Cleo suddenly shook her head like someone broken out of an enchantment. 'Snap out of it Cleo. You're here to just check on him. Don't do anything weird.' She said to herself.

"Hey Ramen! Hey!!! Ramen!!! JASON RAMI!!! Wake tf up!!!!"

Jason opened his eyes and Cleo's heart practically stopped for a second. His eyes were prepossessing. Ocean blue piercing into her heart with all the love in the world in them.

'XXXX! Why does he have to be so xxxxing gorgeous?! Stay calm Cleo or you're gonna lose.' She thought while calming her poor heart.

"Hey Ramen! What gives? You've been sleeping and drooling all over your desk in every class today. What? Did you go prostituting at night? Hahaha!!" Cleo laughed in a sultry voice.

"Hhahaha...hey Cleo." Jason smirked at her while sitting up. "Still a potty mouth now aren't we?"

"Oh please..." Cleo purred as she leaned in slowly on Jason's adoring face, "don't act as if you don't like it..."

Cleo stared into Jason's eyes completely lost for this boy.

Looking at his body and trying take in all that beauty, she stopped as she noticed something strange.

He had a tattoo on his hand of a familiar symbol.

"Hold the m-effing phone...! Is this what I think it is?!" Cleo's eyes widened as she suddenly grabbed Jason's arm to examine his wrist.

"You got a tattoo...of the symbol of 'anapkh'?!"

'Why does this symbol look so familiar like I've seen it somewhere recently, in real life and not just in Miss Park's teachings?'

The question burned at Cleo so hard. She knew she was forgetting something important but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was.

Even though she knew the theories from Miss Park's teachings, she knew there was something else she had to know.

Cleo's curiosity piqued as she noticed that Jason was also equally as curious about the symbol as she was.

'I've got to know why this symbol is tugging at my brain'. She thought as she took a decision to go to the library and make her research with her new found sidekick Jason.

'At least there's a perk, I get to spend time with Jason.' She smiled to herself catwalking her way to the library, Jason's hand intertwined tightly with hers as she lead him.