A Bittersweet Story: Iris (Ch.3)
3, 2, 1. The Clock Ticks.
I blink awake as the cool sun streams through the blinds of my room. I shut my eyes tightly, not wanting to go back to reality just yet.
I sigh when I only see the black goo that covers my mind. The room is dark even though the sun silently makes its way to each corner of the room. I pear out of my window; cold and grey, yet the sun is still shining. I make my way into the bathroom and shower before I check out the closet. It’s small, but just slightly larger than the one I had at home. There are only a pair of loafers, a black jacket, and the grey and white school uniform in it.
When I exit my room a smell of toast fills my nose. On the table I see a plate of toast with butter and jam and orange juice next to it. As I move closer to it, I see a note reading “Eat” on top of the plate. I slightly smile.
“Told you he’s nice.” Abigail mutters.
“He just toasted some bread for her. Not that big of a deal.” William grumbles.
“Better than nothing.” Abigail smirks as I begin to spread butter onto the toast. It tastes burnt.
“Now then, in leaue of it being the start of Remembrance Month, today we shall read about the Legend of the Lost Couple.” Mr. Evry sparkles as he quickly writes the title and page number on the board. My mouth parts in shock to hear Mr. Evry’s surprisingly seductive, deep voice. Another person I can hear, I think. The class goes into an uproar of what I can only interpret as groans.
Hikaru groans next to me. I turn my head to look at him. “What's Remembrance Month? What’s the legend about?” I ask him.
“Oh!” Mr. Evry gasps when he hears my voice. He quickly smiles and almost seems to dance his way towards me. “I’m so happy you asked Ms. Vivienne!”
“Now you did it.” Hikaru mutters as I hear my classmates give out similar hollers. I look at Hikaru questioningly, but then turn my attention to Mr. Evry waiting for him to answer me.
Mr. Evry smiles as he begins, “Remembrance Month is to honor and remember the first civil war of our kind. The legend is a tale that has been told throughout the ages. It's a love even stronger than thee Wiliam Shakespeare could have wrote! A long time ago when the discovery of magic and abilities first existed there were two lovers. The male came from the human world and the female came from the land of the Gods.
These two happened to meet at a ball designed for the beings known as the Elements because, you see, the two of them had similar elemental powers-“
“Ice and water.” Hikaru interrupts.
“Yes, ice and water.” Mr. Evry glares at Hikaru before continuing. “Because of their type of powers, experts believe that is why this couple ended up falling in love with each other. No one really knows. But, after the second ball of the Elements known as the beginning of the Dark Era the couple suddenly disappeared, vanished into thin air!” Mr. Evry uses his hands to help visualize them ‘vanishing in thin air.’
“There are some theories to what happened to them.” Mr. Evry starts.
“Of course there are.” William snorts. ”That we died. Were in hiding and died. A Power found us and killed us. Yadda, yadda, yadda.” He mimics Mr. Evry trying to emphasis the point that all the historians believed the couple died, he was right. Everything that William stated, Mr. Evry states with a dramatic tone.
“But,” Mr. Evry smiles, “there is also one theory... that the two of them were killed, yet saved somehow inside of the man’s friend. It was a well-known fact that his friend was actually the last dragon. And a dragon holds very mysterious powers that even scientists nowadays can’t understand. I prefer this theory.”
“Why?” I ask as I listen intently to his story.
Mr. Evry stares at me. He shows me a small, sad smile. “It means somehow, somewhere they are together alive and living happily with one another.”
I descend back into the goo of my mind when Mr. Evry finishes. I neither hear nor see anything. I stare silently at the three in my mind. The couple and the friend.
There is no bell that sounds the alarm, but the school’s halls fill with students heading towards the cafeteria. I slosh along with them. As soon as we walk into the cafeteria the lunch vending machines are attacked by hungry students. I get passed back and forth until I reach one of them. I push another random button, still not able to read the haze of words. Not caring what I got, I jump into the line of students heading to find a seat.
I feel a hand pull on me and lead me out of the line toward a row of lunch tables. As soon as the person and I escape the crowd I’m able to see it is Ichi pulling me.
“It’s crazy here in lunch time, huh?” He laughs as he pulls us toward a table housing four people. We stop in front of the table and I’m able to see that the four people are Hikaru, the two people that helped me yesterday, and a man I don’t know.
Ichi smiles at the people before he places me in the seat opposite of them. He sits next to me as he introduces everyone. “Everyone this is Vivienne. Vivienne you already know Hikaru.” He motions his hand as he shows me Hikaru. “The boy next to him is Christopher Gibbons and the girl is Chrys Anne Grunwald. Both of them are your age and same class. The guy next to them is Gerrit Lukas Grunwald. He’s part of the college department with me.”
All of them, except Hikaru, wave and smile at me. All of them say things to me, but it only comes as jumbled noise. I cringe in distaste with what the goo is doing to me.
I see Ichi stare at me before he motions to the three to stop talking. All three of them stop before Hikaru laughs. “Still useless?”
“Hikaru!” Ichi snaps at him.
“What? It’s true isn’t it? She can’t hear anyone and you still can’t even see in that gunk. Whenever I look at her, she seems like a mindless zombie.” Hikaru bites into a meat bun. “She’s completely filled with that nasty gunk just because her family died! So, what? She’s not the only one who’s lost their family. Just get over it!”
“Hikaru!” Ichi yells louder at Hikaru.
I bite my lip and finally look at the food that I chose: pancakes, my sister’s favorite. I feel the tears forming as flashes of memories of my sister fill my mind.
“Don’t cry, Vivienne.” William coos to me.
“Mistress, please don’t cry.” Antoinette’s eyes begin to water as she tries to soothe me.
I cross my eyebrows as I dig into my meal, trying to savor each and every bite. The pancakes are warm and fluffy, filled with a delicious maple syrup. As usual, the center is the softest and the best part.
“It tastes salty.” I murmur, mainly to myself.
“I’m sorry he said that.” Ichi places his hand on my shoulder. I look at him and see his eyes looking deep inside of me. He must have seen my thoughts, I think as I look around the table. Only he, Gerrit, and I are left at the table.
“Hikaru left and the others went after him. He’s a really sweet kid. It’s just ever since his power awakened he’s constantly on edge. And for some reason he’s been even more aggravated recently. So… sorry.” Ichi sweetly smiled, trying to let me know that both of them really meant no harm.
I simply gave a small nod and look back at my now empty plate. “Do.. do you know what’s aggravating him?” I ask as I point to his head, asking if he’s seen anything in Hikaru’s head.
He shakes his head. “Hikaru’s mind is almost like yours. It’s too thick to find the real problem. Something is always blocking me from seeing everything in that vast mind of his.”
I bite my lip and then remember that Gerrit is still with us. I look up at him. “So, what’s your ability?”
He smiles and responds to me in a murmured mess. I pout and look at Ichi for his response.
“He said he doesn’t have one.” Ichi looks at Gerrit before looking back at me. “But, he’s basically waiting to see if his will awaken anytime soon. He and his sister, Chrys, were brought here seven years ago. Her powers awakened and since they’re twins the Superiors believe that he should somehow get a similar power, but others say she may have gotten all the power capability out of the two since he hasn’t shown any sign of power activity. So, just like you, he’s here to wait and see if any powers will pop up.”
I look at Gerrit. He notices my gaze and smiles at me. “Wait. He’s a twin with Chrys, but isn’t he in the college department?”
“Ah. Yes. Even though he looks like an easy-going, down-to-earth guy, he’s actually extraordinarily smart. So he was able to jump… 5 years?” He looks at Gerrit for his agreement. Gerrit nods. “The principal of the school lets him stay because of his intelligence and helpfulness to the school. Also, the principal likes it when there are siblings or family members coming here. It helps bring a more ‘family feeling’ to the school. His top priority is to have the students be comfortable and happy.” Ichi smiles as he takes my plate and puts it on his. “Come, we don’t want you to be late for class.”
I sit and stare out the window of our classroom. The math teacher has caught a flu, so our class is doing a self-study session even though most of the class decided to take this time to chat and hang out with friends. All I can hear from them is a murmured mess, so I decided to sit and listen to the sweet songs coming from the bird nest next to the classroom’s window. Hikaru is missing, but Christopher and Chrys are studying silently together. Chrys spots me looking their way and smiles. I give a simple nod back and look back at the birds.
“It was raining yesterday, but it’s so sunny today…” I mumble to myself.
I close my eyes and listen to the sweet harmony the birds make. A silent humming starts to entangle with the bird’s song. Deep, sweet, and calming. It begins to fill my entire head as I begin to hum along. I smile as I finally see William humming to me. He smiles back at me as he shows me a slow dance. Step, step, twirl, step.
He closes his eyes as he glides through the frosted goo in my head. His hair glistens with each twirl he makes. He stops and suddenly looks past me. His mouth parts open. “…No.”
“Open your eyes, now!” Abigail screeches at me; it sounded almost as if she was standing next to me. I quickly wake up and take huge gasps of air. I look to the birds and see that the tree branch they are on is completely iced over. I can see each breath that I take forming a slight fog as I try to calm myself. I look back into the class, no one else has noticed. I get up from my desk and head to the door. As I reach the door, it slams open.
Hikaru stands in front of me short of breath. I notice three black and red earings shining brightly on his right ear. He looks down at me, his eyes burning with fire. “Was it you?” He talks to me through his teeth. “Did you hear me? Was it you?” He yells at me and throws me back.
I cringe as I feel my spine harshly makes contact with the ground. “Ah!” I gasp as Hikaru lifts me up to his face by grabbing my collar. “Did you use that power?” He stares intently into my eyes, seeking answers that I am too confused to answer.
I press my eyes shut wanting to hide from this scary event. I feel his hand burn on the parts of my skin that he touches. I feel the heat of his breath. I feel the fire burning with his intense stare. It’s excruciating. It’s horrifying. Everything… He is making everything melt away and now I feel it. That goo which was not a liquid; that goo which was put there for a purpose; that goo that was meant to protect my mind is finally melting away. That goo was his icy protection from the pain that he knew he had caused. William, the king of ice, was meant to be my second awakened power, but by saving my life from the fire that he fears most he has caused me to feel the fire that ice brings.