Nirvana

Chapter thirteen

    Vanessa ran through the halls as she desperately tried to find a place to hide. The orphanage was rather small considering how many kids lived there. Not to mention, she was unlikely going to find a place that no one has ever hidden. Her younger siblings were so lucky, they were smaller thus, could fit in the smallest places. She spotted a cupboard that no one ever really opened. It was just large enough that she’d be able to fit inside. When she opened it, she was startled by several tiny spiders. iT must have been a while since anyone had used this cupboard. There were old antique figurines and china. She contemplated whether it would be a good idea to move them. The last thing she wanted was to make father or one of her uncles upset. However, as long as she didn’t break them and returned them after the game, things should be okay. As she began climbing into the cupboard she heard the slight mumbles of her sister. Emma was a shy girl, only a year younger than her. Emma often hated playing hide and seek, mainly because she could never find a good hiding spot and she’d always end up getting caught first. Vanessa felt bad, this was a perfect hiding spot. 

    “Emma” she called. She waved at her to come over. “Why don’t you hide in here? It doesn’t look like a lot of people know about this cupboard.”

    “Ew, but there are spiderwebs and likely spiders in there.” she whined. 

    “It’s alright, these are nice spiders, see,” they looked back down and a few spiders crawled over to make a small heart. “They won’t hurt you, I promise. We can dust away the webs as long as there aren’t any eggs on them. Plus they can form a spider web outside the door so no one thinks you’re in there.”

    “Nessa, that sounds disgusting. What if they start crawling on me in the dark?”

    Ready or not, here I come. A child’s voice echoed through the halls. They knew it was the seeker. It wouldn’t be long before they were caught if they didn’t hide soon. 

    “Do you want the spot or not? We don’t have time to argue, unless you wanna be ‘It’ again so soon.” Emma sighed and crawled into the hiding spot. Vanessa carefully closed the door behind her. Once that was over, she hurried to find herself another hiding spot. She made sure to avoid going where she heard the seekers voice the loudest. She spotted a closet near the bathrooms. It wasn’t exactly the most unknown hiding spot, but it would have to do for now. She was already breaking the rules by moving around so much. She’d just have to deal with being ‘It’ next round. As she neared the closet, her ears picked up a sound. As an angel, her senses were heightened compared to normal humans. It sounded like a muffled yelp or cry. It was so faint, she couldn’t exactly point out where it had come from. Shrugging it off, she continued to the closet where she heard another cry, slightly louder. She felt a slight vibration under her feet. It was as if the cry had come from below. She kneeled down and placed her ear to the floor. It was hard to make out what she heard, but it sounded like muffled crying. Then there was another voice, deeper. She couldn’t make out any words, but it almost sounded like they were shouting.

    “BOO!” bellowed a voice behind her. Startled, Vanessa let out a yelp of surprise. She turned to see one of her older sisters standing behind her, laughing. “I found you! What a weird hiding place.” Vanessa placed her hand on her chest and waited for her heartrate to slow. “What were you even doing down there?” Vanessa hushed her.

    “Listen, do you hear that?” Vanessa asked. Both remained silent and waited. 

    “Hear what?” she finally asked. Vanessa hushed her again and pointed a finger at the floor. Curious, both girls placed their ears on the floor and listened. There weren’t any voices to hear, but Vanessa could pick up the faint sound of movement and soft thumping. “I don’t really hear much Vanessa. Are you trying to distract me from finding the others?” 

    “No, you don’t hear that thumping?” she asked. The girl shook her head. “Do we have a basement here?” 

    “I don’t know, maybe , but I’ve never seen it. Maybe you’re hearing the furnace or rats under the floorboards.”

    “No, I heard voices.” They both started at the floor for several seconds. 

    “Maybe our uncles go down there for storage. We shouldn’t bother them.” Before they could say anything else, they heard a deep cough. They turned to see a man standing behind them. The girl shot to her feet. “F-Father, I didn’t know you were home. Welcome back. How was work?” The man known as Father stared down at them. His tie hung loose around his neck, his hair matted to his forehead from sweat. It was obvious he had a long day. 

    “What are you two doing on the floor?” he asked. 

    “Oh, um, we…” the girl trailed off searching for words. By the shakiness of her hands, Vanessa could tell she was nervous. A lot of her sisters were, mainly the older ones when confronting the adults. Especially since they weren’t allowed to go snooping around the house while the adults were away. “We were all playing hide and seek and Ness here,...” she stopped and looked at Vanessa with worried eyes. 

    “I wanted to show her this cool group of spiders.” As the words left her lips, they all looked down to see several spiders crawl over and form a small heart. Her sister flinched, but tried not to give away her surprise. “Isn’t it cool? I gave them a piece of cracker and they formed a heart. It’s like they’re trying to say thank you.” Vanessa gave him an innocent smile. His face softened slightly and he kneeled down to pat Vanessa’s head. 

    “That is really cool, sweetheart. Even the insects adore you.” he gave her a warm smile and it made her heart giddy. She couldn’t understand why her sisters were so frightened. Father was the sweetest human she’d ever met. She glanced at her sister, surprised to see that she still looked worried. Their father turned to her sister and she flinched. “Is dinner ready?”

    “M-Me and Mel were just about to get started. We had decided to play a game while the chicken was marinating. Figures, it’d help the younger ones work up an appetite.” Father rose and it was obvious she was trying hard not to look him in the eye. 

    “See to it that dinner is ready in 30 minutes. Your uncles should be arriving home soon. They most certainly have worked up an appetite.” with that he walked away. The sister let out a long breath. She grabbed Vanessa’s hand and pulled her to her feet. 

    “Wait, what about the floor?” Vanessa protests.  

    “Stop it before you get us in trouble.” she stared at Vanessa sternly. “Whether it is the furnace or not, the basement has nothing to do with us. You better learn now to do as you’re told, otherwise you won’t get adopted.”

    “Then I’ll stay here with father.” Vanessa pouted. She noticed  her sister’s face grow sad. 

    “Trust me, it’s better that you get adopted as soon as possible before you hit puberty.” 

    Vanessa awoke to the sound of her alarm. Her head felt hazy as she took in her surroundings. When did she get back to her room. As sleep washed away, she started to recall the events of the night before. Sorrow and hatred crept into her heart as she remembered Dylan’s betrayal. It ached to know that he’d kept such a big secret from her for so many years. She felt like a fool. How could she ever look at him the same again? No, she wouldn't. She’d never forgive him. Yet, the thought made her unbearably sad. She contemplated whether she should skip school for the day and grieve. However, she knew that’d only make it worse. She needed to be busy, distracted. Her head ached as she started to recall the dream she’d been having. Was that a part of the memories Jason had told her about? It confused her on why she’d asked to forget it. For all she could see, there wasn’t much alarming about that memory. Was it before or after she met Dylan? And why had she forgotten the Emaa girl? Well, no use dwelling on it now. She knew her questions would be answered eventually. 

    School progressed as usual. New security had been implemented earlier that morning. A magic dome made of salt and holy water was placed around the campus to prevent demonic presences. It amazed her that Dylan was still capable of showing up to school. She’d wanted to ask how, but chose to keep her distance. None of her friends seemed to want to talk about the night before. They must still be processing the information. Still it made her sad. Were they shunning Dylan as well? She’d hate for him to be left all alone. He was quite awkward when it came to making friends in the past. Wait, why did she care. He’s the one who ruined their friendship so he should bear the consequences. During PE, it was too cold outside to run the track, so students ran laps around the gymnasium. Darren sped up to catch up to Vanessa. Vanessa was in pretty good shape so she wasn’t using up as much energy as him. After several seconds of matching her pace, his breathing grew heavy and she could tell he was struggling to keep up.

    “Are you okay?” she asked. “You can take a break.” 

    “I’m fine. I’m on the basketball team. This is nothing. Coach says if it burns you’re doing it right.” he winced as he felt a cramp developing in his side. “But it wouldn’t hurt to slow our pace a bit.” 

Slightly amused, Vanessa slowed to a stop and allowed him to catch his breath. She noticed how he held onto his side. 

    “I...wanted to...ask you...something.” he said between breaths. 

    “Ask me what?” 

    “Are you busy...after school?” he asked. “It’s kinda boring being in the house everyday. I was thinking we could go out and do something fun. We can go out to eat or see a movie.” 

    Vanessa blushed “Are you asking me on a date?” It had been so long since Vanessa had done anything other than fight or study. She had almost forgotten things like this were normal for teengagers.

    “I’m trying to, but I guess I don’t look that cool hunched over like this.” he smiled nervously. She let out a small chuckle. Suddenly she recalled what the headmaster had said the day before.

“Even if I wanted to, I can’t leave the campus. Headmaster’s orders.” she let out a disappointed huff. “He said it’s for our own safety.” 

    “What if I can get you out without getting you in trouble.”

    “No, I’m not allowing you to break the rules for my sake. Just because I’m grounded doesn’t mean I wanna bring you down with me.”

    “It’s fine,” he reassured her. “You aren’t the only one who’s close to one of the staff members. I promise, neither one of us will get in trouble.” 

    She took a moment to think. It seemed like she’s been doing a lot of things she’s not supposed to lately. However, it may do her some good to relax for once and forget about all the things happening around her. Then she thought about the caped woman. Would she be looking for her? No, whoever she is, she’s obviously after Dylan. As long as he’s not around, they should be safe. It worried her, but she shook it away. He wasn’t her problem anymore. That woman wasn’t her problem anymore. “I’d love to go. But you have to promise, at the first sight of danger, we book it back to school. I can’t fight without my license.” he smiled and nodded in agreement. Playfully he moved his hand to form a bow.

    “Until then, my lady, I shall count the hours.” he winked. Vanessa giggled and he let out a nervous laughter. ‘That sounded less cheesy in my head.” as he stood, he winced and held his side again. The cramp had gotten worse. 

    Vanessa hesitated at first, but placed a hand on side. “Here, let me.” her eyes shimmered and a green glow poured out from her hand. Within seconds, Darren was able to stand without pain. 

    “No wonder everyone likes you. You really are amazing.” Both of them smiled bashfully. 

    Dylan was across the room, doing warm up exercises. He growled silently. Vanessa wasn’t in his next class, which was one of the two classes that they didn’t have together. Katskai was seated next to him, talking, but he wasn’t listening. His mind was elsewhere. The events of the night before, left him feeling empty and hurt. His chest hadn’t stopped aching since he woke up. How could he had let this happen? How could he have hurt her so much that she’d avoid him. He knew one day he’d have to tell her the truth, but he wasn’t expecting a reaction this bad. Though, maybe he did, which is why he avoided it for so long. How was he going to fix this if she wouldn’t even look at him?

    “Yo, earth to Dylan, are you there?” Katskai asked, waving his hand in front of his eyes.

    “Huh? You say something?” Dylan asked, snapping back.

    “Seriously dude, you weren’t listening to anything I said?” 

    “Sorry, my head’s not in a good place right now. What were you saying?” 

    “You’re thinking about Nessa aren’t you?” he guessed. Dylan nodded sadly. 

    “I don’t know what to do.” he admitted. “I messed up big time. I wanted to tell her so many times, but I was so scared. Now, she might never talk to me again. I just got back to her and she’s already slipping away.” He rested his face in his hands. Katskai patted his back comfortingly. “I’m surprised you’re still talking to me. Don’t you feel betrayed too?” 

    I was surprised, yeah.” he started. “But I’m not really hurt. I guess I haven’t known you as long as Vanessa to feel betrayed. Plus you’re entitled to your secrets. Maybe your secret was a little extreme, but I’m not the one to judge. We’ve all got our fair share of skeletons in the closet." Before Dylan could respond they were interrupted by a girl with red curly hair. 

    “G-Good evening Katskai, Dylan.” she greeted them

    “Hey, what’s up?” Katskai greeted her back wearing a welcoming smile. She looked nervous, fondling the edge of her skirt. Her face looked red and she was looking down at the floor.

    What’s up with her? Dylan thought.

    “M-My name is Nina. Am I interrupting?”  

    “Naw babe, what do you need?” Katskai asked. Nina smiled back at him, her eyes darting to Dylan.

        “I-I was sorta hoping that I could talk to Dylan for a minute, if that’s okay.” she said. Katskai glanced at Dylan then smirked. He stood up.

    “Oh, sure thing.” he said. “I’ll give you two some privacy.” he walked away giving Dylan a thumbs up. He rolled his eyes. He stared up at the girl, waiting for her to speak. Seconds passed, but it felt like minutes. When she didn’t say anything he raised his brow. 

    “Are you going to say something or just stand there?” he asked. Was she nervous? What for? She took a deep breath.

    “D-Dylan, would you like to go out with me...sometime?” she blurted out, jumping straight to the point. The question caught him off guard. 

    “What?” 

    “I-I know that it’s kinda sudden since we don’t really know each other, but I think you’re really cool and I thought it’d be fun if we went out and got to know each other.” she exhaled, relieved to have the words out. Dylan stared at her. She was cute, but he didn’t find her attractive. He wasn’t interested in dating anyone when there was already someone who had his heart.

    “Sorry, but I already like someone,” he admitted. 

    “Y-You do? I thought...I didn’t know...I’m sorry to have bothered you.” she said, averting her eyes. “I wasn’t going to do this at first because I thought you and Vanessa were dating, but she said you were only friends and gave me the go ahead. I just thought you didn’t have anyone special in mind. I’m sorry.” she stopped rambling and walked away, disappointment in her eyes. Her words lingered in his mind.

    Only friends huh? He thought. Can she even call me that anymore? Man, I feel shitty. 

    At the end of the day, Dylan caught Vanessa in the student council office. She appeared to be getting ready to leave. He knew he should wait for her, but he couldn’t stand being avoided like this. He needed to try and talk to her. “Hey Ness, can I talk to you for a moment?”

    “No.” she said bluntly as she gathered her things and walked toward the door. He caught her arm, but instantly let go when she glared. 

    “I’m sorry,” he started. “I know I really messed up. You have every right to be upset,”

    “Then why are we having this conversation?” 

    “Because I can’t stand this. I can’t stand this gap between us now. It’s unbearable. It’s like there’s this void inside me.”

    “You should have thought about that before you lied to me.” she shot back. 

    “I didn’t want to,” he argued. “I was a kid, I was scared. I tried so many times to tell you, but the fear would get to me. I didn’t want to lose someone so dear to me.” he reached for her hand and surprisingly she didn’t pull away. “You’re still dear to me. I...I” 

    “I have to go.” she interrupted, fighting back the urge to cry. Why couldn’t he just leave her be? Why did he have to make this harder than it needed to be? 

    “Vanessa, please, just talk to me. Just stay here and talk to me.” Silence fell over them. Dylan’s eyes felt watery and he feared he’d cry. He needed to get through to her. Yet despite his efforts, she pulled away from him.

    “I have to go.” she said again. A sniffle followed and within seconds, she was gone. His chest ached and all he could feel was sorrow and hatred. Hatred for himself for not actually being born human. Hatred for the lies he told. Hatred for Daren for asking her out at a time like this. He tried to accept it, but he just couldn’t. He was jealous. He basically had what he wanted. He was human, he was harmless. He wouldn’t make her worry. It infuriated him. Now he was taking her out while he sat miserably at home. This wasn’t fair. A nearby conversation caught his attention. It was coming from the east corridor. He picked up 3 feminine voices. One, he recognized, was Nina. He stayed quiet, listening in. 

    “Nina, what’s wrong? You look a little down.” one girl said. 

    “It’s nothing, it’s just...I asked Dylan  out today.” she replied. 

    “Dylan?” the other girl asked. “He’s the new senior boy right?”

    “I see you Nina,” the first girl cheered, patting her on the back. “Trying to get with an older guy. So what did he say?” 

    “He rejected me.” Nina sighed. “He said he already liked someone.”

    “Yeah, isn’t he dating Vanessa?” the second girl asked. “I always see them together.”

    "No, Vanessa said that they were only friends.”

    “If you say so. Who else could he be talking about? I’ve never even seen him look at another girl besides Vanessa.” the second girl giggled.

    “Maybe he’s gay and he’s not into girls.” she teased. 

    “Or, maybe he just doesn’t find me attractive.” Nina said. “It’s okay. It was silly of me to ask him. A good looking guy like him is sure to have better options.” 

    Dylan walked around the corner as the girls were nearing the end of the corridor. They were surprised to see him, almost nervous, afraid that he had heard what they had said. He did, but he wasn’t going to let them know that.

    “Speak of the devil.” the first girl whispered. Nina nudged her and smiled at Dylan.

    “H-Hey Dylan.” she said. 

    “Nina, I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

    “Looking for me? What for?” Nina’s friends smirked at each other, walking ahead to leave them alone. 

    “We’ll be at the entrance if you need us.” the second girl said.

    Dylan rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed at what he was doing. “Are you doing anything later on tonight?” he finally asked. Her face flushed and she began tugging at the edge of her skirt. 

    “A-Are you trying to ask me out?” she asked, her voice shaking in excitement and disbelief. “I thought you didn’t like me.” 

    “I never said that. I wasn’t thinking right earlier, there were a lot of things on my mind. I shouldn’Look, t have turned you away. I’m sorry. So, if you want, I’d like to make up for it by taking you out on a date.” he felt guilty, but he pushed it down, convincing himself that he was doing the right thing for Nina and Vanessa. He only wanted to make sure she was safe with Darren, he told himself. Nina smiled excitedly. 

    “Yes, I’d love to. What time?”

    “Let me see your phone.” Dylan said, holding his hand out. She handed him her phone. He typed something and gave it back to her. “This is my number. Text me your address at six and I’ll come pick you up.” Nina's friends called her from around the corner. 

    “Thanks, I’ll see you tonight.” she waved at him and took off toward the entrance.