Penumbrae: The origin

CHAPTER 2: THE CREEPY FRIEND

No one can top the annoying attribute of the alarm clocks especially when a person is in blissful sleep. I was having the best sleep I have had in decades but my alarm didn’t like that. It had to ring loudly to ruin my once dreamless and nightmare-less sleep but that’s not the most annoying thing, it’s the fact that my so called mother had removed curtains of my room so that the first thing sun does when it rise is to shine through my room.

I groaned as soon as someone started banging my door and stopped only when I replied back. I got up stretched out and did the daily morning routine of brushing teeth and my hair followed by showering then went back to room to wear clothes so I can get over with the last week of my 3rd semester in Washington university. I wore my black skinny jeans with white long sleeves shirt and maroon scarf around my neck. I adorned my red sneakers and grabbed my bag to rush out of the house without being stopped by any of ‘my family members’. Before heading out of my room I stopped in front of the long mirror beside my desk to look at myself.

I looked deep into the eyes of the person who was staring back, something I got used to but no one else could. As I looked into the mirror I checked myself out from top to bottom. The mirror couldn’t talk about all of me, I hid my soul pretty well so I can not be judged for being an open book. The only thing mirror could show was my appearance. My head was covered with long, wavy red hair which seem to be very tame without any of my effort and my oval face had some freckles lying here and there. Then I glanced at my body being disgusted with the lack of flesh on me. People would look at me and think that I am actually 15 years old and not 22. My figure was quite slender and I was often known as ‘slenderina’ in university.

It doesn’t matter if you are in school or university, people will always find interest in you and always find ways to bring you down. They always want to feel superior and they do this by bringing the others around them down. I was one of the victim for multiple reasons. They would always be mean to me just for entertainment and to show their superiority. I mean it’s not their fault, I let them walk all over me. I am a pushover and I hate that about me but I can’t change it.

“Lysander! Are you coming or should I let you walk to your university again?” My father screamed from outside the door and his footsteps being distant were an indication that he went away.

I glanced up at the mirror again and saw two green eyes look back at me with sadness. Yes guys, I am 22 and still living with s**t parents. I looked deeper into my eyes and came back to the same conclusion as every other day: I hate them. Why would I ever hate my green eyes you ask? I hated my eyes because the most repeated question the asked cause of my eyes was “is one of your parent a cat?” That’s right, I had cat eyes.

I sighed and rushed downstairs trying not to think about my eyes and without uttering any word to anyone and left the house just to witness my father race down the street just as I was about to open the car door. he didn't forget to scream “TOO LATE!”

I went to garage took my bicycle and rod it to university. University wasn’t my hell. Although people would find ways to bring me down by verbal bullying but after endearing it for almost 1 year I got used to it and didn't care about the whispers flying here and there. Usually people complained about going to their educational institutes as they were always scared of the bullies but for me my house was my hell. My house contained demons that couldn’t be seen by anyone but me. Literally and physically. I hated that place. I would spent 7 hours in university, then go to library to do all my assignments and if I wanted to eat I would always go to my favorite diner. I would only go home for sleeping. 

University of Washington is a small town based university which is hard to find as it’s surrounded by bushes but it accommodate a lot of students cause of the suitable prices. I chained my bicycle to a lamp post and started walking to my destination. One more year and I will be done with university and just thinking about it made me euphoric. Of course it meant starting a practical life, earning money for yourself and having tons of responsibilities but for me it was an opportunity to get away from my family without them fussing about it.

When I was 17 years old I had an argument with my parents about living in dorms and being independent. They weren’t allowing me to live alone or be independent like other students. So I did what every teenager would do. I ran. I thought if I ran away they won’t look for me, they will be thankful and leave me alone but I was wrong. They came for me. They searched for me everyday until they found me and when they did they punished me. I will never forget that punishment. Ever.

I wrapped the scarf around my neck tighter and dug my nails on the palm and walked inside the university. As soon as I walked inside I heard someone scream my name and as I turned around someone smashed into me sending me tumbling down on the floor with Harper on top of me.

“Ughhh Harper get off of me please.”

“I am sorry Isabelle.” Her apology is followed by a yelp sound as she is pulled away from me.

I look up to see two of my best friends standing over me. Harper and Lincoln.

Harper was my best friend from high school freshman year. I still remember the day when she was about to explode the whole chemistry lab by adding the wrong chemical. That was the day we became friends. If I wouldn’t have tripped near her desk and if Harper wouldn’t have left her station to help me, we all would have been dyed purple.

“Tell this doofus that Golden state warriors suck and they only win cause of Stephen!” Harper screamed and stood next to me glaring at Lincoln.

“You are just jealous because your team isn’t winning harp.”

“DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME HARP LINCOLN!” and there they go again, chasing each other in the corridors. I smile their way and move on to my first class. On the way to class another person’s shoulder smashed into me.

“Seriously? Again?” I questioned another friend of mine. Carter.

“Hello Izzy! How are you doing this fine morning?”Carter asked me as he kept his arm around my shoulder. I am 5”3 so I am always target in such situation. If Carter wanted he could easily keep his arm on my head but he probably was too scared from the last time when i tried to bite his hand. I am crazy not cannibal. There is a huge difference.

“You aren’t even going to apologize for smashing your steel like shoulder into me? Now don’t be rude carter” i tried to shrug his arms around my shoulder but of course it didn't work.

“Ahhh sorry princess.” Carter smiled knowing that I hate being called princess.

I met Lincoln and Carter in university. These two boys were the only boys who were curious enough to ask about my cat eyes rather than saying names to me and the more time they spent with me the more they enjoyed my presence. What can I say? I have an amazing personality. In the 1st semester I would always find people staring at me and whispering about me. The thing is when someone is constantly watching you and pointing at you even a confident person feel insecure and I was already an insecure person. Due to all the attention I was getting and the amount of time I had to tell people that one of my parents isn’t a cat and I have cat eyes since I was born I felt like digging a hole and hibernating.

I couldn’t take all the attention and I was scared that people will treat me the same they treated me in high school but I was wrong. Yes, there were some gossips and some verbal bullying but it was university and weird things happen here all the time and soon I was no more the talk of the town. I of course have Lincoln and carter to thank to. They were always beside me so all of the attention went to them. They both were famous for pranking professors and other academic staff, so when they started hanging out with me,  people would ignore my presence. Ignoring me didn’t mean that they would pretend I didn’t exist but they just didn’t care anymore.

“Heading to IT are we?” Carter asked looking around.

“Those two are chasing each other again. You won’t find them until the warning bell rings. And where else will I be going in this area?” I removed his hand from my shoulder and walked ahead.

“Wait! Hold up. How did you sleep today? Did you dream about some weird lady and shadows again?” Carter asked running up to me.

I stopped in my place and glanced down at my feet. I caught the glimpse my nails digging my palm again. I undid my fingers and shook my head no. Only carter knows about my constant dreams and that's also because he caught me crying and kept pestering me to tell me about the dream and carter can be quite persistent.

My dream only had two things: the creepy lady whose skin is crumbling from her bones and the shadows that kept looking at me and surrounding me until I was suffocated. I hated those dreams and they were constant and very similar to each other all the time. I can’t remember when I started having these dreams but all I know is that they won’t leave me alone. Except for today. I didn’t have the dream today. I didn’t think about it before but after having such constant nightmares why didn’t I have them today?

“That’s good that today you slept peacefully!”

“Yeah sure peaceful….” I said remembering the constant banging on my door that woke me up.

We sat in our normal places and waited for our professor to come. I turned to see carter wearing a mischievous smile on his face.

“Oh no what are you planing on doing now? Now that I think about it you weren’t with the other two and you were already in the corridor. Carter?” I questioned him looking around to find any water bucket or any suspicious object in the class. Harper and Lincoln entered the room and took their places next to me and Carter.

“What are you looking for Isabelle? And why have joker’s spirit possessed carter?” Harper asked me and turn to Lincoln for answer who just shrugged.

Then the Mr. Vlad entered our class and announced that today will be smart class. Smart class is when he uses laptop and other technology to teach the class. He came up with this theory to keep the student interested in lessons. He connected the computer to the multimedia projector and I heard a giggle from my side. I eyed Harper and watched Carter who was asking her to quiet down.

“You both are about to prank Mr Vlad!” I whispered screamed at Harper and carter, who just slapped my head to shut me up. I kept looking in front to see what was gonna happen.

He begin the class introducing the new programming language and gave us a short introduction. Nothing happened yet. I wonder what did those two rascal did. As soon as he started typing on computer I understood what carter and Harper were up to. The class erupted in laughter when Mr Vlad kept deleting and typing his words but they wouldn’t turn out correct.

“We changed the keyboard keys!” Carter whispered so that all three of us could hear him.

“And I picked the lock of this room!” Harper exclaimed and started excitedly clap her hands like a kid. “But wait for it! We did more!”

“Oh my god. What did you guys do?” I questioned enable to keep a straight face.

“Sir how about we forget about smart class and do normal studies. Just use whiteboard and the markers.” Carter told the Mr Vlad trying hard to contain his laughter.

Mr Vlad threw the keyboard and angrily grabbed the markers and duster in his hands and started writing on board. I took that was it but Harper couldn’t sit still on her seat and Carter was bursting in laughter every 10 minutes. Mr. Vlad got angry and turned around to probably throw the marker at Carter who dodged on instinct but nothing hit him. The marker didn’t even move from Mr Vlad’s hand. I focused on his hand to see that duster and marker were both stuck on his hands and Mr Vlad was furiously shaking his hands trying to get those of his hand. The class again started laughing at his failed attempt.

We students knew how to make our last week memorable. Every last week of every semester is basically the week where the professor should definitely bring extra clothes cause last week is the prank week. We students haven’t publicly announced this as we don’t prank all the professors, just those who made our life hell. We never victimized our English or public communication professor because those two are as Harper calls ‘the apple to our eye’.

“ENOUGH!” Mr Vlad screamed and dismissed the class after announcing that we only one exam left. Everyone rushed out of the class and all four of us were about to leave when Mr Vlad sat angrily on his chair from which a loud fart noise came out.

We turned around to see Mr Vlad face which was the shade of tomato. I just couldn’t figure it out if it was out of anger or embarrassment. We laughed loudly and exited the class.

“I didn’t do the Whoopie cushion thing! I swear!” Carter started laughing and dropped on the floor holding his stomach. We dragged a laughing maniac to our next class and the rest of our day passed quite fast.

The end of the university was indicated by the loud shrill of bell and everyone rushed to fill their empty stomachs in the cafeteria. Our university had lunch by the end of the day but they didn’t starve us till end. There was an hour break from 11 to 12 pm where the students could do anything they wanted. No one eats a whole meal during one hour break because according to science you get sleepy after you eat and become full which isn’t good for students as they have to focus on their studies so we eat when our university finishes. My friends and I sit on our regular place near the floor to ceiling window and eat our food and talk about everything and anything.

I am lucky to have this set of friends. I looked at them and thought that this was the kind of friendship that blooms in the center of your heart— a friendship with ups and downs but no matter what, we would always wind up together. They always knew what to talk about and when to talk about, which subject to avoid and which roast to use. It’s like we were magnet, always attracted to each other, never separated.

I was staring outside the floor to ceiling window thinking about the special people in my life when something in the corner of my eye caught my eye. I focused hard and saw someone watching me. They hid half of their body behind the wall and their head was poking out.I knew she was looking at me because her eyes followed my movement.

“Isabelle? Are you okay? It looks like you have seen a ghost.” Lincoln asked me observing my wide eyes. I looked away from the window and glanced at my hands where my nails were digging inside my palm again. I removed my nails from my palm and watched Carter look at me as if I will explode any second.

“Yeah I am fine. Guys excuse me.” I excused myself and walked in the ladies restroom to wash my face. I messaged my palms from constant nail digging and washed my face. I closed my eyes and splashed my face with water at least three times and chanted inside my mind that I am just hallucinating cause I am really tired. I opened my eyes but instead of focusing on my face in the mirror, my cat eyes focused automatically on the pale stalker standing behind me. I turned around to see if my eyes were just playing with me but she was still there. She extended her hand to touch me but I screamed and moved back only for my clumsy self to trip on air and fall on my butt and hit my head on the ceramic sink.

“Isabelle!” Harper rushed beside me and helped me up. I rubbed my head looking around and I didn’t see anyone. I left Harper in the restroom and rushed outside but I still didn’t find the creepy lady. “Are you okay Izzy? Carter asked me to come and check you cause your face showed concern. What happened? Who are you looking for?” Harper asked holding my hands.

“I don’t know. I saw someone. Maybe I am seeing ghosts now.” I said and turned to see horrified look on Harper’s face. “ I am kidding Harper.” I Laughed at her expression and we went to the other two boys waiting for us in the hallway.

Not gonna scare my friends away by telling them the weird things I see.