Chapter 3

It was vacation and the last day of school before the long summer holiday.

As was the case among teens who feels overly burdened with school work and the daily routines of getting up early, whether or not you slept early, I felt relieved leaving the classroom that noon.

Charlie and his guys were gathered some yard away and I had decided to avoid him as long as possible since the incident at the dance but he had seen me before I could turn aside.

Waving, I darted back towards the library, hoping to stop and check on my locker. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me but the flashes of visions and the migraines was recurring so much I needed to keep hold of reality as much as possible. 

Coming closer, I saw a glimpse of my school janitor heading towards the store and being a good friend of mine for the past weeks since he saved me from Charlie's girlfriend and her pack of bullies, I was determined to say goodbye before leaving.

Few minutes of consistent calls, and intermittent knocking, but no one answered. Meanwhile, I felt being watched the entire time. I could feel a pair of eyes mounted on me like a flashlight, and creepy like a pair of hands crawling beneath the skin. I felt it longer before shrugging it off.

Indecisive of what step to take, I contemplated getting help but the only ones who were close enough to get here on time was Charlie and his gang, a pack I was undoubtedly avoiding.

The corridor was sparkling clean, with that calming scent of a dust-free environment, which in this case had been achieved further with more detergent.

It was long and dimmed, looking closer, it appeared like the inside of a mouth, and I was standing at the tip of the tongue right in its beginning.

Lost for a moment , I caught sight of a shadow at the end of the lockers by my right. It was the way that led to the library. My favourite spot in the entire school environment, where even silence is inspirational and thought provoking.

It cleaved to the last locker, hidden behind and taking a peek at me while I knocked. Strangely I couldn't move an inch, neither could I say a word. I was just glued at it and it at me, with the large space between us appearing so far as the index finger of a year old in distance.

"Hey, I figured you would be here,"Charlie touched my shoulders, startling me and for once since I got to know him, I was glad that he showed up.

"Hope you are alright."

"Yes, I am,"I curtly replied, gaining his baffled critical gaze.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Where are you off to?"I asked once he moved away heading to the end of the rows of lockers by my right.

" Angelica left something behind. Just want to get and I would be..."

"No!

You cannot go down there... it's dangerous,"I added when he was almost getting tired of listening to me.

"Is there something you would like to tell me..."

"No, Charlie, it's not what you are thinking."

"Then what is the matter... come on Olivia, what could happen in the place you were just moments ago... you know, I would appreciate it if you hit me, but you have to let go of your grudge..."

"Just go on ahead... and watch your back."

"What's that supposed to mean?"he asked as I made to leave.

"I'm uncomfortable with where you are headed. I have been..."

"Quiet! Don't tell!"

I stood nailed to the ground with my eyes fixed on Charlie. And after awhile, he left calling me a freak.

With ragged breathing, I stood stupefied, with a part of me hoping to hear the voice a second time, at least for a confirmation that my sanity was still intact but it didn't come and as he went closer, I was bothered because I could still feel the stare coming from whatever that was lurking behind, at that corner. It was either that Charlie saw and felt nothing or that he simply didn't care. Which in the former would only imply that I was getting overly paranoid.

"Hmmm!

And it turns out to be nothing," I thought, walking away, only to meet her few feet away, heading towards me with that familiar taunting look, finely laced by a clear bulging blue eyes that gave her a baby doll's look, gorgeously decked by the longest dark hair I had ever seen. Curly by the sides of her white flawless skin, it went down fully, sometimes, covering her like a jacket just like it was at the moment. But that was the face of my own demon. One arrayed so beautifully, yet the sole reason of my frustrated school life.

We walked across each other without a word to one another and I had only realized that she wasn't looking at me earlier when she was getting near.

Exiting the room, I looked back in time to see the janitor creep out of the same store before which I had been standing all along.

"What's wrong with Marcus? Didn't he hear me knocking,"I thought, skeptical until I saw the ear phones.

Catching sight of me, he galloped towards me, cheerfully, with a teasing smile.

Getting closer, he winked, pulling me but I held off, avoiding his eyes and diligently, he followed my face each time I turned away from him.

I was too shy to meet his eyes since he brushed his lips against mine on my way out of the library about a week before the incident with Angelica.

Carrying me out of the dance that night light a two year old, all my resistance crumbled.

"Missed me?"

"Oh, get out."

"Ouch! That hurt my feelings,"he scolded, lovingly, and pulled me into his embrace.

"We are still in the school... someone may see us,"I whispered as he claimed my lips, barely audible to my own hearing.

"Allow me to worry about that,"he said and breathed at the back of my left ear.