Chapter 36

"Why did you scream like that? You almost blew up my eardrums!" She said like she was scolding me. Her body was wrapped in a white towel that covered only her bosom and stomach. Maybe she was preparing to bathe. Her legs were smooth, slim and long like a model's.

Her hair was red, very long and beautiful and it fell over her shoulders, down to her lower back. Maybe it was a wig because how could anyone's hair be so long and beautiful? And bright red, like fresh blood. Bloody red then. Her eyes looked like it ate deep into your soul when she looked at you. I can't explain it better.

I admired her hair so much but I didn't think I liked the redness, only the length and silky softness caught my fancy. Not that my hair was not long, but hers was longer and softer in a way that seemed unreal. She was eerily beautiful.

"Did you not hear me?" She yelled , jerking me back from my reverie.

"Err... Sorry...I.." I stuttered. The last thing I needed was noise. My head was thumping hard.

Just then, uncle Robinson walked in. I quickly covered my lower body with my pajamas trousers.

"What's going on here?" He asked, looking from Vicky, the girl with the long red hair to me, back to her and finally to me.

"Maybe you tell this girl here to stop blowing my eardrums with her screams!" She said and went out of the cabin towards the other rooms. For a girl so young looking, she was rude to her teacher-Uncle Robinson but what did I know? She could be older than he was, in their realm

I was left with Uncle Robinson in the room after she left.

"What happened? Was it a nightmare? " He asked pulling me down from the bed carefully. I let him because I needed to use the bathroom.

"Did you hear my screams too?" I asked

"Yes, it's all over the camp. A nightmare huh?" He asked. "About your sister?"

"No..no" i said. I didn't want to talk about my sister. I didn't want him to tell me for the umpteenth time that I should be his mate so he'd help me save my sister. I didn't want to think of anything other than the ordinary things at that moment.

"Did anyone come here to take off my trousers? At midnight maybe?" I asked, trying to change the topic as I did a double check around the room. Lucas was back in the room, rubbing his damp face with a pink towel. Lucas was one of the guys in final year at Enchanting Promises high school, very quiet and easygoing. He was toned and looked good but his hair was weird, it had spikes and seemed to be suspended on air, it looked like it would be as hard as rock. I was indifferent about him--meaning I didn't like him, neither did I dislike him. He was just there like a regular guy. I hoped he was the one who took off my trousers. If he was, I'd be able to take it better.

"I did" A chill went down my spine. Uncle Robinson did. Yikes!

I tried not to look at his face. Not that I thought he did anything to me but I didn't want any male touching me especially a grown ass one who was your teacher, and who liked you. Weird.

"You were really sweating, I had to pull up the curtains, take them off and blow air on your body" he said. I wondered how I could have fallen so deeply asleep that I didn't even know a thing. He even blew air on my body. Oh Jeez. My thighs were the smoothest part of my body, all other parts were hairy(for my face, only my head was hairy) still I didn't like to flaunt my thighs because of their size.. He must have stared at my body for long, my thighs especially, and I must have even turned around while still deeply asleep and created a better view for him. Dammit!

"It's 4:15" he said, changing the topic. Oh wow. I should go back to bed then' I thought. It was actually still dark outside. 4:15am in the morning

"The competition begins by 10am. I want you to have a bath now and follow me" he said and sat on the lower bunk. "You have 10 minutes" 'No this is torture' I thought. I never woke up at 4:15am at home, I never was forced to bathe and dress up for only ten minutes. I never was stared at with such stern expression as was on the face of Uncle Robinson that morning.

I reluctantly went over to my backpack and fetched my blue towel. I wanted to get out of my pajamas but he was looking. So, I wore my shower cap, went into the bathroom, still dressed up in my pajamas, with my towel and soap case, and shower cream in hand. He just watched me without batting an eyelid. I hoped against hopes that he wouldn't be there when I returned. I wanted to bathe for not ten minutes, but forty minutes, stand under the shower and let the cool water wash away last night's terrors. But I had only ten minutes and only God knew where he was taking me to.

He said "...And Follow me"

The way he had said it sounded creepy, like he was taking me somewhere to kill and eat me. And my body would never be found, like Anita's. Don't mind me, Maybe I was overthinking but I couldn't help it. I knew I was surrounded by people who were not regular humans, but I had to fulfil my mission of coming to the camp in the first place no matter how tempted I was to turn away and run back home or call Mom to come pick me up immediately. I had to fulfil that mission of finding peace--no, scrap that, there was no peace here except heat, and angry birds, I had to fulfil the mission of saving my sister's future. And that was what I had to face squarely.

Hopefully I'd find some solutions there in the camp. I stood under the shower and let the cool water wash me thoroughly; it was one of the things Dr Brown recommended at the onset of our meetings. It worked, temporarily and in order to make the good feeling last longer, I sat in my tub for an hour or more on days I didn't go to school. But I couldn't do that now because--

"Who's that?" I heard a sound. Someone was definitely coming in towards me. I locked the door, didn't I? Was the lock bad? I thought. I was sure I locked the door but now someone was coming towards me. I had this heavy feeling in my head, you know the feeling you have when you've been spun around a room for some minutes. Yeah, that! It felt like my head was expanding and had something trying to let itself loose from it. I heard sounds that didn't seem like footsteps. I can't place it but they were eerie sounds. Was someone trying to scare me on purpose? Maybe one of the students? Lucas maybe? No, Lucas didn't look like one who would do such. It wasn't funny.

"I said who is that?" Grateful to God there was power in the bathroom or I'd have bolted immediately. Or maybe I wouldn't have come in the bath without a torch at least. Nobody answered me. I felt someone touching my towel, the one I had hung on the rail between two basins. I had heard stories of mischievous students stealing towels while their owners were in the bathroom, and so they'd have to shout and beg for their towel or they won't come out of the bathroom and they always had a good laugh from this. Who was this trying to steal my towel?

"Hey that's mine!" I yelled. I didn't see nobody but at that instant, the sounds stopped but the heaviness in my head remained. I wiped my face with water and slowly came out from under the shower and towards my towel. I picked it up and wrapped it round my body hurriedly. I was about to turn to bolt from the bathroom when I saw him.

And no, it was neither Lucas nor Uncle Robinson. It was him. I knew it even though I hadn't exactly seen his face before. It was always a reflection of a figure and he always stood in the woods facing my room and looking directly at me, back in Kangaroo Estate, back at home. The spooky figure. Somehow I was so sure it was him. The one who appeared by my window--actually 3 or 5 inches away, and scared the shit out of me. Almost everyday. The one who might be after my sister , eight years later. The reason mom had helped me move into the guest room. I thought he only stayed at home, turned out he also followed me to the camp. He was everywhere then? Now he revealed himself clearly to me. Not too clearly because I still didn't see his face but at least he was closer to me now. Maybe he didn't even have a face. Actually he didn't.

His face was like a ball of darkness, I didn't see any features on it. Imagine someone having a head on his neck but all that's on the face is darkness , smoky darkness, darkness that oozed black, light smoke. I saw his body which was as hard as rock and wrapped like a burrito in a old, ragged piece of clothing. He was very quiet. So quiet I didn't hear his breaths despite that he was only a feet away from me. I waited for split seconds to see if he'd go or at least talk to me about what he wanted, or hurt me but he didn't do any.

Looking at his 'face' made you almost go blind because he had no face. You know when you stare at darkness for too long, it hurts your eyes. Yeah, that's it with this spooky figure. So, I stared at the door and waited. He was tall, definitely tall because he was towering above me. He filled the bathroom like a misty smoke that would disappear with the wind. I couldn't scream because I was shivering, maybe I was turning numb like Dr Brown said. Maybe I was indeed going out of my mind.

I walked past him towards the door which was still shut tight, and as I did, the heaviness in my head increased so much that I heard a spark in my head like a bulb going off and dropping to the ground, and I shut my eyes. When I opened them again, I actually expected to find a part of my head exploded or on fire at least but it was intact. So i just hurriedly walked to the door and as i turned the handle, I looked back once again but he was gone.

As I walked hurriedly away from the bathroom towards my cabin, I kept looking back in case he grabbed me. I kept turning and turning back. The 'hallway' had a very dim light , so I had to watch my steps. I couldn't wait to get back in my room and breathe because I had been holding my breath since I saw him, or maybe it was his effect on me. As I turned back while hurriedly walking, I ran into Uncle Robinson who was obviously coming to see what took me so long in the bathroom. He had only given me ten minutes and I had spent twenty five already.

I fell onto him and he picked me up swiftly. Honestly it felt like magic. The way he scooped me up before I touched the ground.

"What is wrong?"

"I've wasted time, I'm sorry" i said hurriedly, making him think I was actually running to catch up with time.

"Hurry" he said and dropped me to the ground. I ran into my room in the cabin and tried to make sure i dressed up before he came in. I had already taken off my towel when I heard Lucas's voice. I had totally forgotten he was in the cabin

"Hey Ariana" he said. He was laying on the other lower bed. I turned to look at him. His chest was bare but he had a towel wrapped around his waist. He was not alone. A girl was also seated on the bed near him, when I looked closely, I realized it was Maria. Shocking. I had not seen her after we landed last night. Not even over supper. Now here she was, about to do bad things with a boy, almost double her age. Maybe not almost double, but at least seven or eight years older.

"Hey" i replied him, trying to look surprised. I wondered what they were doing. Maria was only twelve and this guy was well above eighteen..

"Go on and dress up, we are not going to disturb you" he said and scooped Maria on his arms dumping her on his bed roughly. She laughed. What was going on? I didn't know Maria to be this cheerful and flirty, at least not openly flirty. Uncle Robinson was just behind the door but it seemed they didn't care at all. I watched them kiss and cuddle and laugh at each other as I rubbed cream on my body quickly and slipped into my school uniform because that was what was requested of us on the day of competition. Then, I took my backpack and put some cookies in it. I stared at the two students making out on the bed for one last time, and then grabbed the door handle. I shook my head because it was shocking and gross.

"Do us proud, huh?" I heard Lucas turn towards me. Maria turned his head towards her with her hands just then as if to say, "Look at me baby, ignore her". I opened the door without saying a word back, and joined uncle Robinson outside. He was outside, standing by the door of the cabin with a new brown pouch in his hand. He was dressed in casuals.. he actually looked like a hunter.

He inspected me from my head to toe and nodded, then pulled my hand towards wherever we were headed. No, wait, was that a smirk I saw on his face? Whatever it was, I couldn't tell. It was still dark, it was barely 5am. All I wanted to do was turn back and run into the cabin or somewhere else. Was I really going to follow this man? The man who killed Anita in my presence and no one found out? Only God knew where this man was taking me to. If he killed me and dumped me somewhere in the woods, no one will ever know too. It seemed to me that he had a way of clearing people's memories supernaturally.

My palms began to itch from scratching too much. I did it subconsciously and it was usually when I was really freaked out. He pulled my other hand further into the secluded area, and we moved with so much speed I could hear the wind brush past my eyes and nose and blow my hair sideways. He was only walking but he seemed to be flying. I wondered how he could see the road very well without streetlight or torch. There was no power around this area and I could barely even see him. I shut my eyes and rubbed my other hand on my cloth in exasperation. I was tempted to let my hands loose and turn back swiftly. I sighed and shivered because the air suddenly turned cold instead of warm, and because we were moving really fast. I looked back to see the long cabins far away behind us. We were far away from Meteors Contention Camp, yet we were still on the move.

Suddenly, he grabbed me tighter, stopped and looked at me. His eyes glowed in the dark. Glowed red and black.

"Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you. Stop thinking too much about running away, it's not gonna happen" he said and kept pulling me forward on the lone road surrounded by thick bulrushes. How did he hear my thoughts? Could Uncle Robinson possibly be able to read minds? I thought. It was freaking me out but I was quiet and I tried as much as possible to not think about anything. I held my breath.

"Release your breath, we are here already" he said, releasing my hands. How the hell did he know I was holding my breath? I had to be wary of this man or I would be caught thinking of him dying, the next minute

I'm sure that despite that we were moving fast, we must have spent one hour on the move, still when we got to his destination, it was still pretty dark. We stopped at the foot of a tree in the woods. A tree so large I felt so small underneath it. He took out something from his pouch and before I knew it, we had landed somewhere else. Somewhere inside the tree. I didn't remember him opening the door on the large tree but I know we went in through the door on the tree. Yes, it was an old house we landed in, but it was inside the tree. A pretty tree-house it was. I liked it even though I was still scared. I've always heard about tree-houses but never seen one physically neither have I ever entered one until that moment. It had several small windows and little wooden doors, some iron but mostly wooden.