Volatile

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 2

AWAKENING

THANE AVOIDED ME THENCEFORWARD. I wondered how many other vulnerable young women he had lured to his apartment and taken advantage of. Possibly, I was his first and only target. Either way, I’d never know.

Broken people draw sharks to them because of the blood that oozes from their wounded souls. Their abrasions make them the prime targets of predators. For whatever reason, the predators always discovered mine. Perhaps my internal void caused me to gleam like a beacon. It didn't take a psychoanalyst to see my internal pain. Thane wasn’t the only shark to detect the blood that seeped from within. Because of my naiveté, it would take me much longer to realize that far greater monsters lurked about.

* * *

I waited tables as a side job, whenever I could get the hours. Claudius would come in to visit me at work, entertaining me with his jokes and goofy romantic gestures like leaving silly notes behind. His company helped pass the time. No one else saw him. They’d just see me giggling to myself beside an empty booth and they thought I was crazy. That was the beauty of it all. I didn’t care if he was invisible to everyone else. At least I finally had someone who understood me to lend an ear.

We continued filming during June. My role in a horror film as a young archeologist in search of an Atlantean relic that had ended up in an undiscovered land mass was a perfect fit. Claudius and I lived out the plot by the day as he’d teleport me to wherever I wanted to go, teach me, and help me hone my craft as an actress.

* * *

“Mar!” a high pitched female voice squealed. I whisked around. Only one person called me by that pet name and it was my best friend Leslie, whom I had met at my first audition in New York City. Although she weighed under a hundred pounds and barely stood over five feet, she was full of more energy than most people twice her weight. As usual, her Prada shades were hiding her expressive, mocha eyes and long lashes.

“Les, I didn’t expect to see you here,” I said, as she embraced me.

“I moved down here a few weeks ago. I was a backup for a role in this movie, and lucky me, that other actress had a schedule conflict, so here I am!”

“That’s great! What kind of movie are you going to be in?”

“You’re going to love this one, take a guess?” She tossed her wavy chestnut hair behind her thin sun-kissed shoulders. No role ever seemed to be outside her comfort zone. Seconds passed without a response from me and she must have grown tired of waiting. “High school—I’m queen bee.”

“That fits you perfectly.”

“I know, right!”

“I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks, but do you know how hard it was for me to track you down Maricel? I had to search for you on every people search engine cause I haven’t heard from you since April,” she said.

“I’m sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been so busy with work,” I said, although I realized that for the past few months aside from filming, my time had been consumed with Claudius.

“Don’t sweat it, but I want you to make it up to me.”

“How?”

“So, I need a roommate and I know you’ve only been here a few months, and I figured since rent is expensive we could room together.” Her offer brought a smile to my face as I thought about how the rent was tough on my budget. “I also can drive you around.”

“Of course.”

“Perfect,” she said, linking arms with me.

“You’ve got to see the new Porsche my boyfriend bought me.”

“You have a boyfriend already?” I arched my brow.

“Come on girl, when have I ever been single?”

“I thought after what happened in New York you wanted to take a break and focus on work?”

“I just met Erich and I can tell he’s different.”

“You say that about every guy you date.”

“I know, but whenever you meet him, you’ll see.”

“I’m sure he’s a character,” I said.

* * *

We spent the entire weekend decorating Leslie’s room. Before she arrived, the room was black and dark red, but Leslie chose to repaint the walls white and the color purple for almost every piece of furniture she purchased and then finished the décor with some of her old poems she’d framed. My room consisted of a small wooden desk littered with mythology books, DC comic posters, and pinned up old sketches, my favorite, which was the one I had awoken to after first dreaming of Claudius in AP Calculus. The details were too precise for anything I could’ve drawn; it was a work of perfection. To this day, I wondered who the true hand was behind the drawing, I had never bothered to ask him.

“Meet anybody here?” Leslie said as we sat on the living-room floor, flipping through a pile of Cosmopolitan magazines on the glass coffee table, while painting our nails. Claudius came to mind. There was no way she’d ever find out about his existence and if I told her she’d think I had lost my mind. And apart from that, it was our little secret. I had, after all, promised him the night we met that I’d keep it between us.

“I’m too busy with work to socialize,” I said.

“Maricel! You’re a workaholic. You need someone to spice up your life!”

“Fewer people, fewer problems.”

“I have to put you on a dating app. You’re twenty-one, for God’s sake.”

“Nearly twenty-two, Miss Boy Magnet.”

“Boys like you too, but you’re just not the approachable type.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

“You’re a total ice princess. That’s intimidating to most guys.”

“Am not!”

“Are too.” We both giggled. “I have to grab something from the store. Do you want to tag along?”

“I’m good. I’ve had enough of the outside world for the day.”

“Okay, weirdo,” she said. I shoved her. “But now that you’re rooming with me, I’m going to make sure you don’t stay locked up all the time.” She got up and headed out. I rose and plodded to my room, in need of a mellow tune to match the overcast day.

My stomach erupted into a low growl, reminding me that I had forgotten to eat all day. I figured I could wait until she returned for dinner. As I stood in the frame of the door, a draft tickled the hairs on my arms and I glanced over to see the window was open. Then I spied Claudius leaned against the wall with his arms folded over his chest watching me.

“You used a window this time?” I said.

“I decided to try something new.”

“I see.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Leslie is going to wonder where I went.”

“How old are you?” he said. I crossed my arms. “If you’re that worried then send her a text message. Frankly, it’s none of her business.”

“I guess.” I shrugged. He teleported us to Venice Beach and set me down on the warm sand. My head rested against his shoulder.

“Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Close them!” he said. I folded my lids, unsettled by his sharp tone. He took my hand and led me. Granules of white sand stuck to the soles of my feet, sliding between my toes. With every step, I focused on the sound of bikes zipping by, people milling about chattering, and the low rumble of the ocean’s waves.

An object struck my foot and I let go of his hand. Reaching for something to break my fall, I clutched the sleeve of his leather jacket for support. “It’s okay,” he said.

“What was that?”

“A seashell. Are you all right?”

“I think so.” I nodded with my eyes still shut.

“Are you ready to resume our walk?” he said. I didn’t reply. “Do you trust me to lead you blindly?” His words frightened me. “Have faith,” he said. Nodding my head, we continued.

The longer we walked, the more distant the cacophony of the public became and the louder the cadence of the rolling waves grew. “You can open them now”

A large red blanket was spread across the sand and a picnic basket awaited me. I turned to him, gasping.

“This is wonderful!”

“I thought you’d like it,”

“Very much!”

“Take a seat,” he said. I sat on the blanket across from him, folded my legs to the right side, and kept my hands clasped in my lap. He reached into the basket, retrieved a couple of wine glasses and a bottle of Chateau Margaux and popped it with a corkscrew. Then he filled my glass with red wine and handed it to me. With a giggle, I received it by the stem, recalling the cheap wine at Thane’s place and I hoped that this would be preferable to that revolting taste. We clinked glasses, and I lowered my gaze with a smile.

“Toast to summer nights and new beginnings,” he said.

“Now you’re a poet?”

“I’m many things, but good isn’t one of them.” He grinned as he took a sip.

Cool wine met my full lips as I tipped the glass, savoring the taste, appreciating the warm evening breeze. The beach was the most pleasant place to be in late June. We broke our artisan bread, consumed it with Italian cheese and prosciutto and I fed him grapes as he laid beside me with his arms tucked behind his head. I placed my head on his chest as it rose and fell with the rhythm of his pulse.

“What’s it like watching the world from the heavens?” I said as I fixed my gaze on the thick clouds moving rapidly above us.

“It gets lonely.”

“How? If there were hundreds of other Watchers with you.”

“You delude yourself into believing you’re something you’re not.”

“Human?”

“Yes, there’s a huge difference.”

“Like what?”

“There just is,” he said, scooping up a pile of sand and letting it sift through his fingers. “In the end, even though you feel like a man rather than an angel, you can’t change your identity. So you end up an outcast. Something between an angel and fallen man,” he said.

“I can relate.” I sighed.

“To what part?”

“Feeling like an outsider.”

“How?”

“You’re the only one I can really be myself with. Everyone else only sees what I want them to.”

“Is that why you chose acting?”

“Yes, and I've gone through life never really fitting in or being a part of anything until now.” I glanced up at him.

“Now?” He wrinkled his brow.

“With you,” I said. He cuddled me closer to him.

“You’re part of something far greater than you could fathom.”

“Now you’re psychic?”

“I just know you well.”

“Oh really, you’ve been stalking me?”

“It’s my job to follow as your guardian angel.” He tickled me and I squealed with laughter.

We talked for hours about a range of topics. With him, conversations never were stale. Chats with everyone else were superficial and I often pretended to care about things that bored me. Before Claudius came along I was closest to Leslie. She was my first and only true friend. Yet, still I never felt I could open up to her. Rather, our conversations consisted of gossip, or her venting, and I never bothered to talk to her about what truly interested me out of fear that she’d find me strange the way most people in my hometown had.

Claudius shared my love for the fine arts, and ancient history, something that had alienated me from my family. They valued more practical things like news, mathematics and science. Excelling in the arts was never good enough for my mother, because it didn’t secure a steady career. Yet that was what spoke to me. My older brother had gone on to be a veterinarian and my mother had worked as an accountant for the past twenty-six years. While math came easy to me, I never cared for any of the careers in the field she’d tried to push me towards, like nursing. My freshman year of high-school I had tried out for the school play. When she found out, she refused to go see the play or even speak to me for weeks.

“Let’s take a walk,” Claudius said.

We strolled along the coast hand in hand as the sun dipped below the pink horizon. The wind rattled our clothing and hair. A shiver rippled down my spine.

“Thanks for the surprise,” I said, stopping to stare ahead at the sunset.

“There’s more to come,” he said, placing his hand on my chin.

“Like what?”

“You’ll have to stick around to see,” he said, reaching behind his back. I stared at his outstretched palm. In it was a bundle of blue wild indigo flowers fashioned into a crown. The crown stirred childhood memories. Each spring I’d collect blue wild indigo to construct a crown of flowers and twirl around in the high wheat of the prairies in the mid-day heat, pretending that I ruled the land.

Claudius set the crown on my head and beamed at me for an entire minute without saying a word.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked.