Don't Wander

It's Official

I stood in a large, dim room, lit only by a small fire in a stone fireplace. I looked around and saw a table on the other side of the room, along with what seemed to be a kitchen area. I wasn’t sure where I was. It was obviously someone’s home, but whose I didn’t know. In a mirror over the fireplace, I saw my reflection, but it wasn’t me.

The woman in the reflection looked to be in her mid to late twenties, with fair skin, green eyes, and long pitch-black hair.

Suddenly, a tall young man burst through the door and said quickly, “Marian, wake Eden. Hide him in the tunnel under the floor. They’re here.” All at once I could hear gun shots and terrified screams of both women and men alike. I could also hear beastly snarls followed by shrieks of pain as I ran to a small bedroom. I didn’t seem to have control over this body that wasn’t really mine. I rushed over to the bed and shook a small child gently.

“Eden, baby, wake up,” I said firmly. The boy awoke and rubbed his beautiful green eyes. He had the same dark hair as the woman whose body I seemed to currently inhabit, and he looked to be six years old at the most.

“What is it mommy?” Eden asked, his voice thick with sleepiness.

“There’s not much time. Remember when we talked about what to do in case of an emergency?”

He looked slightly confused, but said, “Yes mommy.”

“Well, now is an emergency and I need you to do what we talked about. Promise me that you will go and stay hidden, no matter what.” My voice was strong, but full of grief.

“Why can’t you come with me? Where’s daddy?” Eden sounded afraid and his eyes began to fill with tears.

“We have to stay to protect you. They might find you if we all go together.”

“Who? Why?” A loud boom followed by a ferocious growl erupted from the room I had just been in.

“There’s no time!” I grabbed his arm and tugged him across the room. I shoved the small bookcase out of my way and pulled up a rug to reveal a door underneath. I opened it and gently pushed Eden down. “Be very quiet Eden. Remember what I told you. I love you baby,” I said. Tears spilled over against my wishes. I didn’t want him to see me like this. He had to be brave.

I was filled with both pride and sorrow when he swallowed and said confidently, “I will. I love you too.” I heard shots and a yelp.

“Go,” I whispered urgently as I shut the door. I knew I would never see him grow up; I would never see him again. I just barely had time to move everything back into place and open the small window when a man kicked down the bedroom door. It was dark and I couldn’t see his face. “Leave me alone! I’ve done nothing to you!” I yelled, scurrying against the far wall.

He said calmly, “Oh but you have. The day you procreated with that animal; that day you became a danger to everyone.” He raised his gun and I heard a shot fire.

I jolted up in bed, screaming. As I patted my chest frantically, I realized it was all just a dream and I sighed deeply. I looked at my clock and saw that it was five am. My mom was at work and I would have to get up in a little over an hour to get ready for school. I decided that I wouldn’t bother trying to back to sleep, so I laid there and thought about my bizarre dream. My gut told me that the small child in my dream was the same Eden whom I had just been making out with a few hours before.

The only reasonable thing to assume was that I had been in his mother’s body, and it was her persona I saw in the mirror. The strangest part of it all was that I thought I recognized the voice of the man with the gun, but couldn’t place it. I wondered whether or not I should tell Eden about it. It seemed so real, but he would probably just think I was crazy. I remembered that he had told me that his parents died, and now I wanted to know how.

***

When I stepped outside to walk to the bus stop, I saw Eden leaning on his motorcycle, which was parked in front of my house on the curb. I froze and blurted, “What are you doing here?” He laughed and walked toward me.

“It’s nice to see you too. I’m here to give you a ride,” he said.

“I don’t need a ride. I take the bus.”

Eden rolled his eyes and said, “That’s boring. You’re saying you’d rather ride that old bus than ride with me?”

“My mom wouldn’t like it.”

He raised his brows and asked, “How do you know? Is she here?”

“Yeah, she is actually. She got home about half an hour ago. She’s probably about to go to bed,” I explained.

“She won’t know until I bring you home. I’ll go meet her if you want me to.”

“No, that’s okay. Let’s just go,” I said hastily. Eden shrugged and followed me to his motorcycle. “My hair will get all messed up,” I complained.

“Don’t girls carry brushes and makeup and lotion and all that junk with them constantly?” he asked.

“It’s not junk, and yeah, I have that stuff in my bag.”

He got on the bike and said, “Then chill. You can go to the bathroom and make yourself beautiful again when we get there.”

“Beautiful again?”

“You’re always beautiful,” he said simply. I continued to stand there, blushing, and he said, “Whatever, just come on.”

“Fine,” I said as I sat down behind him and adjusted my bag. He started the bike and I held on before he quickly accelerated down the road.

The air was chilly, but I was wearing a jacket and it didn’t bother me too much. I found that I enjoyed riding with Eden, and not only because of the required physical contact. I felt free and adventurous; the vibration of the bike beneath me, along with the warmth of Eden’s body against mine, was invigorating.

When we approached the school, traffic got heavier, and instead of slowing down, Eden accelerated and weaved between cars. “Oh my God, you’re going to kill us both!” I yelled.

“No, I’m not. I drive like this all the time, and I’m still alive. I have no patience for traffic.”

“That’s comforting,” I said. As we pulled into the parking lot and sped into Eden’s assigned parking space, I noticed that almost everyone was looking at us. Eden switched the motorcycle off and stretched. I dug my hairbrush out of my bag and ran it through my hair a couple times as Eden dismounted and shoved his keys in his pocket.

“Your hair is fine,” he said.

I tossed the brush back in my bag and said, “Did you notice that half the school is staring at us?”

He looked around for a second before he shrugged and said, “So?”

“What do you mean ‘So’? I knew I should have ridden the bus like I always do. They must think we’re a couple or something.”

Eden c****d his head to the side and asked, “Aren’t we?” I gaped at him.

“I don’t know. You didn’t ask or say anything, so I didn’t think we were.”

“I’m not the type to make out with girls randomly. So do you want to be or not?” I couldn’t believe he was actually asking me out.

“Sure,” I managed.

He smiled and said, “Give me your hand, then.”

“Why?”

“So I can brand you with my initial, to mark you as mine.” I stared at him with horror. “You know, like they do with cattle?” I felt my mouth drop open, but before I could reply, he said in a patronizing tone, “I want your hand so I can hold it, of course.” Then he leaned toward me whispered, “Although I’m not entirely opposed to marking you as mine.”

“Shut up or I won’t be your girlfriend at all,” I said, completely embarrassed, but I took his hand and interlaced my fingers with his.

Eden smiled smugly and we started walking toward the school where clumps of people were staring even more avidly than before.

Eden mumbled, “This will be slightly annoying for a while.”

“What will?” I asked.

“Everyone will be talking about us and will ask us if we’re together, even though it’s excruciatingly obvious. Plus, your friends will be all shrill and girly—or in that one dude’s case, he’ll probably want to beat me up or something.”

“You mean Ben? I don’t think he would want to beat you up, but he will probably be mad.” My friends must have wondered what everyone else was gawking at, because when we came into view of them, they were already looking in our direction.

Britt reacted exactly how Eden had predicted. Her mouth fell open and she began jumping up and down, clapping and squealing loudly. “Britt, stop. That’s kinda embarrassing,” I said when we walked up to them, glancing around at the other students who were all now definitely staring at us.

She stopped jumping and clapping, but then squealed, “Ohmygosh Bek! When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?”

I said hi to everyone, who all responded cheerfully, except for Ben. He glared at me and walked away without saying a word.

“Great,” I sighed, and then I turned to Britt. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t really know until just now. We kinda made out last night, but I wasn’t sure we were together,” I whispered.

She squealed again and said, “Last night? Where were you? How was it? Does your mom know?”

“In my room, and no she doesn’t yet, so keep quiet. I’ll tell you about it more later.”

“You’d better, or I’ll track you down to find out,” she warned. I noticed then that Jordan was talking with Eden about motorcycles.

Britt interrupted their conversation and said, “So Eden, this is kind of sudden. Will you be sitting with us at lunch?”

“I go where she goes,” he replied.

“Devotion. That’s sexy.” The bell rang then, and we all walked to our lockers and then to class.

A few things were different now. Eden started sitting next to me in algebra class, and aside from the many stares we received, I also got quite a few dirty looks from girls I didn’t even talk to. In my third hour history class, a popular cheerleader that usually paid little attention to me walked over to my desk and slammed her hands down on it.

She said venomously, “You little slut.”

I looked up at her astonished and said, “Excuse me?”

“Don’t play all innocent with me. Eden and I were gonna hook up before you came along and stole him from me.”

“I didn’t steal him. He asked me to be his girlfriend.”

She crossed her arms over her well-endowed chest and sneered, “Did you bribe him or something? I can’t think of a reason why he would choose you of all girls.”

“Actually, Eden wants to be with me. Maybe he prefers girls like me over fake bitches like you.” I smiled sweetly at her.

“How dare—” she began.

“Something wrong Journey? Jordan piped up.

“Yeah, this skank is a thief,” She replied.

“Don’t kid yourself Journey. Just because you wanted him, doesn’t mean he was yours. He likes Rebekah, get over it,” Jordan said. Kerry watched curiously from her desk nearby. Journey made a furious noise and stomped away.

“Wow, thank you Jordan. I don’t know what’s wrong with everyone,” I said.

“Eden’s the new guy, so lots of girls were after him. Now that he’s with you, I think they’re all jealous. It might take some time for them to get used to it.”

“Yeah, I guess.” After class, it was time for lunch. Eden was waiting for me at my locker and I asked him how his class was.

“Aggravating. No one would shut up about this morning. They kept asking me stuff like, ‘Are the quiet ones really kinkier?’ and, ‘You’re tapping that, right?’ or just giving me these stupid looks.”

“They asked that? Are you serious?” I felt insulted.

“Yeah, all the guys think we’re going at it like horny rabbits or something.”

“Ew!” I exclaimed.

Eden laughed and asked, “Who cares what they think?”

“I do! It’s bad enough that girls I barely even know are threatening me, but now I find out that guys think I’m some s*x toy? It’s humiliating.”

Eden wrapped his arm around my waist and we started making our way to the cafeteria. People kept eying us as we passed by.

Eden said, “Listen. People can think whatever they want. No one is going to actually mess with you though, or I’ll kick their ass. Who threatened you?”

I sighed, “Just this uber-slut cheerleader, Journey. She said you were hers and I stole you from her.” He started laughing hysterically. “I know she’s delirious, but it’s not that funny,” I pouted.

He instantly stopped laughing and said flatly, “You’re right. Not funny at all.” This time it was my turn to laugh.

“Okay, you made your point. It’s a little funny.” We filled our trays and headed towards my friends’ table.

“Hell yes it’s funny. Who is she again?”

“She’s the very popular cheerleader with huge boobs and a beauty mark.”

“Pfft, beauty my ass. I couldn’t pick her out of a line up.”

“You’re so mean Eden,” I joked. We sat down at the table, which was glaringly missing one of its occupants. “Hey guys. Where’s Ben?”

“I have a feeling he isn’t going to sit with us,” Morgan said.

“So, he’s still being a p***y huh?” Eden said.

“Eden!” I said sharply.

He looked at me with wide eyes and said innocently, “What?”

“Face it Bek, Ben is acting like a child,” Morgan said.

“Yeah. I told him if he liked you so much, he should have gone after you. Now he’s lost his chance, and he needs to move on.” Jordan agreed.

I was quiet for a moment, and then I said quietly, “He tried. I told him that it wouldn’t feel right.”

“Oh.. Well, he should still chill out,” Jordan said awkwardly.

Britt crossed her arms and asked me, “Okay, when did he ask you out, and why did you not tell me this either?”

“I’m sorry! It was only a couple days ago, and I had other things on my mind…” I said.

“Yeah, like me,” Eden said as he slung his arm over my shoulders.

I looked at him and said, “You’re full of yourself.”

He smirked and said, “It’s true and you know it.”

“It’s not like I can help it,” I said. Everyone made suggestive noises in response. I just rolled my eyes. “You guys are all immature.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Kerry spoke softly.

“Okay, except for Kerry,” I corrected.

“Well, this conversation is getting boring,” Eden announced.

“It might get better,” Britt said. She was looking past Eden and I, so I turned to see what had gotten her attention. I saw that Ben was marching toward the table.