SIGHT

Chapter 5

 ( MILLIE )

I was first transferred to this school 2 years ago. At first, I thought it will be difficult, being a new girl again and had to get myself used to the new surroundings and had to make new friends. I hated it so much, I begged my parents to not move away, but obviously, we can't. My dad had been promoted, and he had been waiting for this opportunity to come for a long time, now that he already got it there is no way he would let it go just because his daughter begged him not to. On my last day at school, I cried so much next to my best friend at that time, Janet. We talked about how much we going to miss each other and how much I'm going to hate this new school and all the people and the teachers there. But, I guess I was wrong. On my first day at the new school, well, it wasn't as bad as I thought. The teachers there are great, and the students there are even better. They didn't give you this judgmental stare because I'm a new girl they treat me like all of the other students too. To top it all, I had the best classmates ever, especially Emma, now my best friend, not that I had forgotten about Janet, we still do keep in touch. But Emma is such an amazing person. When she first greeted me, both of us knew we are going to be soulmates. She loved supernatural stuff as much as I do too, and she makes me feel so comfortable to just be myself.

This is where it started. The first time I met with this boy named Danny Clive. Well, as all normal teen girls would do, our most favourite subjects to talk about are, of course, boys. Emma and all my girlfriends like to share about our crushes. All of them knew how I was so into Danny. Danny... he isn't like any other boy. I always think there is something about him, and of course, he is so cute. We are in the same class, and as I enter on my first day, he is the first person that immediately catches my attention. There he is, sitting next to the window, how he glows from the sunlight, our eyes found each other. Tall and lean, fair pale skin, his dark hair looks perfectly messy, his big dark brown eyes still connected to mine, the way his lips parted a little, he is so dreamy, definitely my type of boy I thought to myself. I smiled at him, he blushes and quickly looked away but I can see his little smile.

 But, there is more about him other than his look that gets me, there this mystery surrounds him that I can't unveil. I always catch him stared away in a certain direction like he's seeing something that no one else can. There's this one time I saw him standing under full bloom cherry blossom trees and I swear I saw the flowers falling without any blowing wind, and Danny just stood there looking up at a branch and just keep on smiling. How weird and at the same time beautifully mysterious the scene was to me. I wanted to ask him about my curiosity but I just couldn't find the courage to do it. I keep the thoughts only to myself. Even though I like him, but we never talked much at school or even in class. He seems alright with his guy friends and especially his best friend, Ash. But when around girls, he always gets a little shy and doesn't talk much to us. But that shyness and cuteness that we us girls finds very attractive. He probably never noticed it, but he is very popular among the girls at school. He never knew, but I had been given him chocolates anonymously on Valentine's Day last year and this year too. He always received so many chocs every year, that's what Emma had told me. I gotta say, I do get a little bit jealous when I hear about it. But what can I do, Danny isn't even my boyfriend, we are nothing more than just classmates.

A few days ago, while I was hanging out with Emma at our favourite coffee house, we saw Danny and Ash coming in. They probably are going to the library as usual. Emma calls out to Ash, and she nudges me "go on Millie, say Hi to Danny", I look at her with an exasperated stare. She just laughed at me. That's Emma; she just liked to tease me when it comes to Danny. "If you didn't want to, I'll do it then," she raised her left eyebrow and give a playful nudge, "don't you dare" I pointed my finger at her. She snorted out loud. As they were leaving I sneak a glance towards Danny, and I saw him smiling towards me. I give him a little wave, and both of them left. I sighed while watching him walked away, Emma turned to look at me, "girl, looking at you right now, is killing me. You had to take a chance, if you're too slow, you going to lose,". I just sipped my coffee and smile at Emma, but deep down I know Emma is right, I had to do something. In the evening, I was on the train, on my way home. Emma wasn't with me, because she had made a plan with her little sister, both of them are going to catch a movie. She asked me to join them, but I refused since I still had some more homework left to finish. As I was on the train, I saw Danny. He is in the same compartment as I. There he was, sitting all alone, I guess Ash already left home or something. My eyes still watching him as he puts on his earphone, and leaned on against the wall. The way he slumped on that seat makes me want to go there and just hold his hands. I keep on staring, I was mentally arguing with myself whether if I should go and talk to him or not. I was confident that he didn't even notice me sitting in the same compartment. As I was busy with my thoughts, suddenly Danny yelled out and quickly standing up, "f**k!" that's what I heard him said. I was surprised and worried at the same time that he might go to see me, I quickly cover my face a little with the novel I was reading. Then I peeked a little at the top of my book, I saw him looking next to him and then glancing towards a lady in a black suit who sits not too far from him. She was giving him a weird look, and Danny veered his gaze again on the seat next to him. After a few seconds, he let out a loud sigh and sits back. What just happened? Why did Danny yelping out of surprised back then? Probably he saw a bug or something that makes him jump out of his seats like that. Or probably, he saw something else?

 We were stopping at the same station, and I managed to get out without being seen. I decided I'm going to follow him. Not that I'm being a stalker or anything, we are going in the same direction. I'm just going to follow him without him knowing, I was curious about what I had seen back on the train. We were walking, him at the front, and I'm like a shadow following behind. He didn't even realize it, I guess I was doing a great job of shadowing him. I giggled at my thoughts. I saw him always glancing to his side like there's something there. I'm still behind, following with careful steps. As he arrived at his front door, he stands there for a few seconds. I was hiding behind one of the oak trees outside his front yard. Then he suddenly turned around, I duck a little lower. Still keeping my eyes on him, I heard him let out another sigh and said "Yes, and goodnight," to the nothingness in front of him. Then he turned his key and gets in without looking back. I stand slowly, shocked by what I just saw and heard. That was so weird. Who is he talking to? It can't be me, right? There's no way. I stand there for a moment lost in my thoughts. The sound of my phone shakes me back to reality, I took it out from my back pocket, and saw mom's message, "where are you?" She must be worried since she knows I'm not coming home with Emma. I glance back to Danny's front door one more time and started walking home.

That night, I still can't stop thinking about Danny and what I just saw. I had a sleepless night, and the dream I had was a strange one. In my dream, I was on the road that looks familiar to me, it's the road that I used to take to get to school. Then, there was Danny standing on the other side. I saw him smiling at me, he started to cross the road, trying to get to me. I look up and saw such a bright light coming at the front, it was almost blinding, but I know it's coming from a car. I screamed at him, but he doesn't seem to hear, still walking towards me. I panicked, and the car is getting closer. Without a second thought, I started to run to get to Danny, managed to push him aside. I turned around and saw that now the car is only a second to hit me, its lights blinding me. I hear Danny screaming then I woke up with a jolt. I get up, panting. I coughed when I tried to ease my breathing. My thought was a haze. What was that dream?

As I'm getting ready for school that morning, my head still buzzes with the dream and what I had seen the night before. My curiosity and the urge of getting an answer are welling up. I need to talk to Danny. I need to open up about my thoughts, I need to get it out. I immediately took my phone that's been sitting on the study table and started texting him.

 I'm in the library, sitting in front of Danny. It feels like a date with just the two of us there. I can feel that both of us are getting more and more comfortable. I enjoyed having him as my company. We were laughing and talking. But, in my head, I am trying to find the right words to say to him about what I thought. Suddenly, he looked a bit weird, his focus kept on shifting away. He turned around all of a sudden, looking at the table behind him. Searching. I was confused with the sudden change in his behaviour, like how he was when on the train last night. I too glanced up behind him, looking in the same direction. But, there is nothing there. I call out his name, turned and his face was a little surprised like he was just realizing that he's not alone. "What are you looking at? Is something there", I shifted my eyes on the table behind him again. Now, his face turning anxious. I can see him fidgeting, feeling uncomfortable. I keep my eyes on him. "Nothing, probably just my imagination," he replied. His face is full of worriedness. I feel like he's lying to me right now. At that moment, I think is the right time. I need an answer to all of these questions inside my head. I need to ask him. Ask him now or never. "I've been meaning to ask you this Danny, I've been thinking whether it's a good idea to ask, but I just can't help getting more curious about it. Could it be that you can see something that no one can see? Like a spirit or more precise, ghost?" I blurted out the question. I can see him turning pale. "What do you mean?" he asked, "are you trying to say that I had this some kind of weird ability? That I can see freaky shitty things like that?" his tone changing, almost yelling at me.

 I was taken aback by it, I realized that it was such a stupid thing to say. I was being selfish, that I didn't even consider his feelings towards that. I wanted to say how much he can tell me the truth, which I would never think of him as weird, or a freak or anything bad. " I. I didn't mean," Danny said to me, but I can't look straight to his face now, I just keep my gaze down. Guilty seeping through me now. I feel like I want to cry. "No, I was wrong, I shouldn't have asked you such a stupid question. I didn't mean it in the wrong way, I would never say or think of you as weird," I said slowly trying to hold in my tears. Danny leaned forward and grab my hand suddenly, I look up at him and saw his face full of regret, he squeezed my hand hard, It hurts but I don't mind, I didn't realize that I'm holding my breath. "Hey, Millie, I'm so sorry. It wasn't my intention at all to yell or even said those words back at you, it was very stupid of me. I didn't mean it, I swear," his voice was so gentle, sounded like the usual Danny that I know. I smiled "it's okay Dan, I know you didn't mean it. Just forget about it," he let out a relieved sigh and smiled back at me. Our eyes locked on each other for a moment, I'm thinking about how badly I want to hold him close to me right now. "I think it's getting late, maybe we should head back home now. Time sure flies by when you having a good time," I stammered out looking after disappointment. I was just trying to break the thoughts that I had just now. He gets up, nodding "yeah, time sure is very jealous of us." He grinned back at me. I laughed and starting to get up. I was already putting on my school bag, Danny was still on the admin table, so, I helped him to gather his stuff. As I made my way to him, he stands up abruptly and staring up ahead. His face turned paler than usual, a look of shock written on his face. I turned slowly around towards the direction that his eyes lingered on right now.