Danger, And Its Human

Ten Years Later

I walked the halls of my new school, my heart thumping. I was scared, my adopted parents moved to a small town of nowhere in Virginia during the midseason. I was nervous that they wouldn’t welcome me into their school. I was alone as I walked down the hall towards the main office. I opened the door to see the sectary look up and handed me a piece of paper. I looked at it and realized it was my schedule. “Uh, thanks I think,” I whispered as I walked out of the office and looked at the paper, P.E, was highlighted so it must be next. I looked down the hall and wondered where the gym could possibly be at. The bell rang and I tried to ask the kids who walked by but no one stopped to tell me directions. Everyone overlooked me, except for the tall boy at the end of the hall. He looked so familiar, but I was sure that there couldn’t be a possibility that I knew him. I looked around and it differently looked as if no one was going to help me, so I did what I had to do. I walk over to the boy who was looking at me for the past two minutes. He smiled as I got closer, leaned on the locker and waited. “Hey, I’m Claire, I’m new and I was looking for the gym but I don’t have a clue to where it could be,” I stated nervously.

“I can walk you, that’s my next class,” he stated. He grabbed my papers and nodded. “We got almost every class together except for three, so stick with me and I’ll get you to where you need to go,” he stated.

“Oh, thank you so much,” I thanked, looking around him.

“Your locker is 432, it’s upstairs on the fourth floor, which makes you sixteen,” he stated.

“Yep, I turned sixteen a month ago,” I laughed nervously. “Do you have a name?” I asked, grabbing the strap of my backpack.

“James,” he laughed. I looked at his long black hair which was tied in a ponytail, then to the chain ear-piercing he had on his left ear. “James Gordon Hills, sorry, that’s my birth name, my adopted name is James Michael Petersburg,” he mumbled.

“Your adopted?” I asked, pleased that someone was adopted too.

“Yep,” he mumbled, throwing his beat-up notebook in the locker.

“I am too,” I stated, looking at him with a smile. “My name is Claire Annabelle Galesburg but now is Claire Isabelle Parker, which I don’t have a clue why they would change my middle name, it’s almost the same,” I complained, making him laughed again. “What orphanage did you go too?” I asked as he wrapped his arm around me.

“I can’t really remember the name, it was long ago, I was eight when I was adopted,” he stated. “I do know that it was in Ohio, and it was in the woods,” he stated.

“Me, too,” I mumbled puzzled. He started walking as I followed with him over my shoulder. “It was supposed to be for troubled kids,” I stated, he stopped and looked at me seriously. “Kids of the Future, is the name of the orphanage I was at,” I stated looking at his wide eyes.

“You can’t be my Claire!” he barked. “They told my adopted parents she was killed, fell over the cliffs,” he barked. I grabbed my backpack, and ran away. I was confused. They never mentioned a James when they tried over and over to get my memories back, but I felt as if I knew him. I saw a bathroom and ran into it. I opened the booth and went in locking myself in it. I pulled a picture out of my backpack that they took they day I got there. There he was, the boy with black hair. He was there, but they told me he wasn’t really that close to me, so why did he call me his Claire? “Claire,” he whispered. I heard the door open and closed. I could hear his footsteps as he got closer to my booth.

“You’re gonna get in trouble,” I barked.

“Like I care, I’m always in trouble,” he laughed. I unlocked the door and looked at him as I opened it. I gave him the picture and watched as his eyes were filled with tears. “I can’t believe it’s really you,” he cried, touching my face and then stopped at my scare on my forehead.

“I don’t remember anything, not since my accident,” I stated truthfully.

“Why would they lie?” he asked.

“I did fell, but I didn’t die, which Mrs. Alvabee was completely astonished, she thinks god saved me,” I laughed then quickly stopped to look at a girl with blonde hair looking at them. He walked towards her grabbed her arms and pushed her against the wall, placing a finger over his mouth. I walked up to him and grabbed his arm, I wanted to take him out of the room before he got in trouble because of me. “Let’s go to class,” I begged. He let her go and put his arm around my shoulder as he did before.

“So you say you don’t remember me?” he asked. We stopped at the locker as he touched my scare again. “Did you hit your head when you fell over the cliff?” he asked.

“Yep, I got amnesia, I can’t remember anything before my fall,” I stated, biting my lower lip. He looked down to his palm then back to me.

“Does Avé still talk to you?” he asked.

“Avé?” I asked doubtful. The name sounded familiar but in a strange way.

“The…” he paused. “Never mind wouldn’t believe me if I told you so,” he laughed. He started walking again, towards the staircase. He went down a flight of stairs to the boiler room, I looked at him puzzled. “I’m not really fond of Mr. Cage, and he isn’t really fond of me, I stay out of his room, and he gives me an A, it’s a win-win scenario,” he laughed.

“But, I don’t have that,” she whispered.

“Today’s your first day, no one will realize you’re not there, they’ll probably think you’re lost,” he stated, reaching for my hand. I grabbed his hand and started laughing.

“I never skipped a class before,” I stated. He looked at me and smiled.

“I’ve notice,” he teased. He opened up a door and went in, there was a small bunk bed, a mini fridge and a small Television with antennas . “Welcome to my humble home,” he stated throwing his book bag down and grabbed the photo out of his pocket. He sat on the bed and looked at the photo. “What happened to them?” he asked, touching each one with his fingers.

“Marie, Areca, and Odessa ate poison berries, which I don’t think that’s completely true, we all did things together, and then shouldn’t we all be dead by now?” I asked, he nodded and looked at Jenny. “She fell off the roof, she’s still in a coma, it’s like she doesn’t want to wake up, she doesn’t need life support, they haven’t found Nicolas nor Daniel, they think they ran away but I think that’s not true either, I don’t believe Daniel would leave Daniela, but I have no memories so I got to believe what they told me, Daniela had an asthma attack when she saw me fall and she’s died when she couldn’t find her inhaler,” I stated, looking at the picture. He put the picture down and looked at her.

“What hospital is Jenny in?” he asked.

“St. Maria’s,” she stated. He nodded and looked away. “What are thinking about?” I asked.

“I think this all had to do with Avé,” he whispered.

“You mention that before, who is Avé?” I asked.

“An alien,” he whispered, I got off the bed and grabbed the photo from him. “I knew you’d never believe me, but he is an alien, and he choose you, he talks to you,” he barked.

“An alien? Come on be real!” I barked. I grabbed my backpack and left the room slamming the door behind him. I had dreams of space, of cat creatures that devoured everything in its path. I woke up screaming because I could feel its pain, its fear. Whatever it is?

 I walked up the steps and looked at a couple kissing in the staircase. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the gym is?” I asked.

“Second floor to the left,” the girl answered her. The girl had blue eyes and blonde hair, with heavy make-up, a girl I would never hang out with. I walked up the stairs and entered the gym, it wasn’t hard to find. I walked in to see the coach, as he walked to her.

“You’re the new girl?” he asked. I nodded and looked at everyone who was looking at her. “Okay, rules, never be late, and always wear gym shoes, and also shorts or sweats, go sit and watch the game, the floor is slippery for those kind of shoes, next time you’ll play if you have the right equipment, also, if you need to change the girl’s shower is to the right of the hallway opposite to the boys, okay, you got all that?” he asked. I nodded as he patted my shoulder and walked to the game, screaming over the loud noises coming from the kids on the bleachers. I walked to it and fell on my bottom. The kids laughed and the coached yelled at them for it. A tall boy with really short, army shaven blonde hair with the bluest eyes I had ever seen came up to me and helped me up.

“The floor’s really slippery, if you’re wearing…” he stated till James cut him off.

“Thanks Moore, but I can help her now,” he barked, ushering me behind him.

“James, stop it… I’m not your Claire anymore, not since you left us,” I barked. He turned too looked at me and nodded. He walked out of the gym, upset and jealous I could tell, and strangely I could feel it. I turned to the blonde kid and tried to smile.

“You know James?” he asked dumbfounded.

“Yeah, we went to the same orphanage,” I stated, looking at the doors.

“You must have really liked him before he became this loser he is right now,” he laughed. I looked at him angry.

“He’s not a loser,” I barked. I was surprised how protective I felt and tried to ignore it, to apologized but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. He left his hands up in surrender.

“I’m sorry, no offense,” he apologized. I nodded. He turned around to go back to the game as I stopped him.

“Thank you for helping me up,” I thanked, he grabbed my hand and walked me to the bleachers. “Why is the floor so slippery anyway?” I asked.

“They wax it almost every day, they just love that shinny look, they are fond of sports here,” he stated. I nodded and sat on the bottom of the bleachers. “I’m David by the way,” he stated.

“Claire,” I whispered as I opened my backpack and took out my sketchbook and started to draw James. I couldn’t take my mind off of him, I wasn’t angry at him, so I don’t know why I acted the way I did. He probably was never going to talk to me again after I said what I said. I quickly put my sketchbook back and carefully walked towards the exit. I ran to the boiler room as soon as I was out of the gym. I wanted to be with him, something inside me wanted to be with him. I stopped at the door and looked in through the window; he was lying down looking at the same picture. Sensing as if I was there he turned to look at me and smiled when he saw me standing there. I opened the door and walked in, put my backpack on the floor and lied next to him as he placed his hand under my head and the other on my hip. We looked into each other’s eyes, without talking as if we knew what we needed to say before we even said it.

“Claire, I’ve always loved you,” he whispered.

“I know, but…” I mumbled but he stopped me by placing a finger over my lips.

“In time,” he whispered. I couldn’t help but to smile at him and snuggled closer to him. “We use to do this whenever you were upset with Mrs. Alvabee,” he laughed. Well at least I know now that those feelings I felt when I was upset and needed someone, not just anyone, that one but I couldn’t figure out who, now I understood, it was always him. “When I heard about Jenny, I begged my adopted parents to adopt you too, when they finally agreed, they called but the agency told them you were dead,” he whispered into her ears.

“Maybe they mixed up my file, it was a hard time, they lost all the kids in the B side almost all at once,” I whispered back. He nodded and continued to look into my eyes. I smiled and I knew at this moment I loved him too, I always have loved him, it never went away so what I did next not only surprised him, it surprised me too, for I kissed him. It wasn’t a peck on the lips it was a deep passionate kiss that I’ve been waiting for.