Veiled

I was, as I liked to call myself, an ordinary girl. I had honey-brown skin, sky blue eyes, which earned me my name, and straight hazel-colored hair. I wasn't much expressive. I opted for peace than acting out, but I was strictly well-timed. So something out of my routine would get my mom worried, but she always had my back, just like right now. As per my custom, I would go take a bath, but since something held me up, she had picked out my clothes already as they hung on the cupboard handle while she made me some breakfast. Smiling at her thoughtfulness, I quickly finished up with the shower and got dressed. Grateful at my tamed hair, I let them dry on their own before slinging my bag over my shoulder.

When I came down, I saw my breakfast ready and looked at the time impulsively. A sigh of relief escaped when it was just seven-thirty, with a minute difference. Rejoicing internally at my tempo, I sat on the wooden dark brown round table in the kitchen and started eating. Mom came and sat on the other side with a questioning gaze which I knew I had it coming. Soon it was followed by the actual question.

"Why were you late from your jog today? Did something happen?" She asked politely before slapping Max upside on the head. I chuckled at Max's pout as he bent down to pick up the food he dropped. Turning my gaze to mom, I inhaled, telling her what happened on the roundabout. I was quite open with her, and it was the best feeling to know she was always there to hear me out. It wasn't like she let me a rebel or anything like that, but she always gently guided me to choose what was right or what had slightly worse consequences. At times I would talk about things that I couldn't even bring up to my best friend. It may seem odd to have more caution with my peer than my elder, but it was how it was.

"Was he cute?" She grinned at me as her eyes shone in excitement and mischief, and she wiggled her eyebrows as I groaned at her question. My mom and my best friend were the same in that matter. I didn't know why they had to pop those kinds of questions right at my face. I didn't even have enough willpower to stop my cheeks from being darkened. Hiding them was another matter entirely.

I shook my head, earning her pout, then clarified that he disappeared before I could take a good look at him. Of course, I told her how his eyes were enough to occupy my attention. It was safe to say that when it came to eyes, other facial features were always given a backseat. I wasn't very picky, but the eyes mattered to me the most, and the pair I had encountered today was going to stay with me for a long time. Not that I didn't have my own eyes to swoon over, but I wasn't too self-obsessed to stare at myself for longer than necessary.

She nodded in understanding and got up to get ready for her work after finishing her food. It seemed that today was an important day for her to decide to leave early, and so I was left alone with my panda of a brother who just couldn't seem to stop eating. Realizing I had no appetite, I looked up at Max wondering if he would finish my plate as well. Not so surprisingly, he already had his eyes trained on my food which made me grateful for not wasting it and terrified at his eating ability. What was the limit? Just how much could his stomach take?!

I grinned at him and pushed my plate, stopping next to his. He looked up at me surprised and gave me a sheepish grin when I granted him permission to eat it up. It wasn't too fancy, but a healthy omelet which was enough to keep us full until lunch, but my stomach couldn't fathom so long without food, so I grabbed an apple and took a bite.

"You're the best, Clean-Freak!" Max yelled after me, happily munching away as I remembered I had forgotten my journal. I trotted upstairs again to grab it, just in case I wanted to write about this morning. There weren't many pages left to jot down the details, but then again, I didn't even remember them all. I plucked it from the many novels I loved to read on the little shelf that hung on the wall just below the wall-clock. I wished for a whole library that belonged to me. But I settled for this when mom said that I could only have a library if I read every book since I had a tendency to buy more than I actually read. It just felt secure. However, mom had a hard time understanding that.

Coming back down, I slouched on the couch and waited for my redhead temperamental best friend, Rose Millers, to come to pick Max and me up for school. It started at around eight-fifteen, and it was currently seven forty-five, so I had some time to kill when my mind drifted back to the dream. I wondered what it was about. Now that I tried to think hard, I realized that I was supposed to know something important, but I couldn't put a finger on it. And as much as I would've liked to remember, it was fading away, and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

"Hey! Earth to Azi! Hello...? What's on your mind?" I was totally zoned in my thoughts when I focused on Max. He was waving his hand in front of me. I shifted in my seat as I turned my attention towards my brother. Facing him, I decided to fill him in because he was just too easy to talk to. And he was amazing at saying the right things at the right time.

"It's just today I had this really weird dream. And I know it's weird because I knew I was dreaming, but at the same time, I couldn't get up. No pinches were working." He listened intently and nodded when I finished telling him about the bits and pieces, which were clear. Such as an elderly man and how all of it was some kind of a warning for Max and me. Mostly me. And even when I couldn't remember most of it, I had this dread filling me that something huge was going to happen.

In deep thought, Max rubbed his chin for a few minutes before shaking his head. I patiently waited for him to say something but a honk came from outside. It was followed by more and more honks as I growled at the impatience. Max was jolted out of his trance. And before the hot-tempered girl could bang our door, he told me not to think much about it because if it really were that important, I never would've forgotten. And the man would've reminded me by now. I laughed at his perspective as both Max and I got up, walking towards our ride. I yelled goodbye to mom, earning a hit on the back of my head.

"What was that for?!" I screeched, hitting his arm as well when he replied by telling me that Mom was gone for work already. I guess I was deeper in thought than I originally intended to be.

"Oh," I said before giving him a goofy grin as he walked out of the house so I could come out and lock the door. I couldn't help but feel a pang in my chest for not being able to say anything to mom when she left. I was habitual of at least an adieu before leaving the house, and not being able to do so definitely put a damp on my cheer.

I shot out a salute in greeting when I saw Rose sitting in the driver's seat, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel as she waited for us to sit. She had her lips pursed when we reached the car doors.

"I call dibs!" I called out as I slapped my hand on the passenger seat so that I didn't get to sit in the backseat. Max didn't complain since it was how we sat every day but declaring my power never got old. I grinned at him creepily as he rolled his eyes at me before getting in the car.

"Oh, honey! Why are you so early? You should've slept in!" Rose said in a sickly sweet voice as her face contorted into concern. She batted her eyelashes at me for a moment before fuming and turning away.

"Only a minute wait and look at her," I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for Max to snicker.

"What was that?!" Rose growled.

"Nothing! Nothing." I held my hands up in surrender and apologized, which made Max snicker once again. I shot him a glare and looked back at our driver, who breathed as though fire would come out of her nostrils. She was scary. So, deciding to lighten her up, I extended my hand to put on some music, but she swatted it away.

"Behave!" I said sternly, making her stare daggers at me. It made Max laugh out loud because he knew I was referring to her as a wild animal and couldn't help the smirk that made its way on my face. Of course, it didn't help Rose's mood, but it definitely helped mine.

I went for the music once again, eyeing for her sudden movements, but this time none came. I went for some Korean pop song she liked so much and settled back on my seat, watching how her face relaxed into a smile.

"Ugh, this is garbage. Play another song!" Max whined from behind when I gasped. Uh oh, he had crossed a line. This wasn't good because Rose was quite possessive over Korean pop and her obsession was deadly.

"Maxwell Knight!" Rose called in bluster. "Do you want to get out of this car and walk all the way?!" She seethed. Max held a bored expression as he faced the angry redhead, but after a few minutes of a staredown, he looked away.

"If this is the cost of staying, I'd rather walk." He mumbled in distaste, but to his bad luck, Rose had heard him and screeched the car to a stop as the momentum jolted us forward.

"What did you say?" She commanded, turning back in her seat to face Max, who was finally backing away.

"Nothing! God! Just drive please!" He cowered away in the corner the furthest he could in the car. It was my turn to laugh, and after staring at me for a beat, Rose joined in as well as we heard Max mutter, 'crazy girls'. Well, we definitely were. This wasn't something new. It happened almost every other day. It was how we got along. Suffice to say, we were never bored.

As we finally drove in peace, I realized that my mind constantly went over towards the dream. But even then, I was forgetting it altogether. It was just a little thread in my brain now, and all else was fogging. Still, something bugged me, which my brain refused to look at, as though someone horrible was constantly knocking at the door, and my mind was just tuning them out so I would entirely forget. However, it was etched inside me. It was scratching the walls so it could come to the surface, and even as I felt myself letting go of it, I couldn't get those red glowing orbs out of my head. They warded off cautions with just the sight.

I knew I didn't want to find out what it was because it was bad. I couldn't decipher why I knew that, but I just did. And yet, my curiosity stretched out, wanting to extract the meaning behind what was veiled. I knew I had to find it out because if I didn't, I would pay the price, and the cost would be something I wouldn't be able to bear.

But who knew that it could be so deadly?