The moments passed as they sat in silence. Ariel had a thousand things running through her head that she wanted to say but nothing would come out. She really didn’t know the guy sitting beside her, but she wanted to. To do that, she had to talk.
“You know, life would be easier for you if you weren’t so grumpy with everyone,” she started, holding her breath for his reaction. “Some people are just trying to help you.”
“Nobody can help me.” He continued staring at nothing.
“And you just know that?”
Gabe nodded. “I’ve known for my entire life.”
He was either a world class dramatic actor or he really believed his own words. Ariel didn’t know how to react or what he was talking about. She had to understand more.
“Everybody can be helped, every problem is only temporary. The guidance counselors tell us that every opportunity they get.”
Finally, he turned to look at her. At least, she thought he was through the sunglasses. The sun shone on his face, giving her just a peek through the glasses. He looked like he had beautiful eyes.
“I’ve had eight guidance counselors in the past two years,” he said solemnly. “Not one of them could help me. That only proves I’m right.”
Eight was a big number, did that mean he had been at eight different schools in two years? Cassidy told her his family moved a lot but that was a seriously big number.
“Why do you move around so much?”
He turned his head away again. “Because I’m dangerous to be around. We have to keep moving.”
“What do you mean? You don’t seem dangerous to me.”
“I am. You shouldn’t even be here.” He looked at her again. Even without seeing his eyes Ariel knew he was sad. His mouth was set in a grimace, his jaw tense. His voice though, it was soft, like he didn’t want to say the words to her.
“I think right here is exactly where I should be,” she replied. He wasn’t going to scare her with warnings of being dangerous. Not once had Ariel seen him do anything remotely menacing. She didn’t even think he had it in him.
They sat there staring at each other as the moments ticked by. She studied every part of his face, his slightly crooked nose, his perfectly pink lips. The only thing left was his eyes. She had to see them.
Ariel reached up slowly, placing a hand on each side of his sunglasses. She had to see into his soul and couldn’t do that with the barrier between them.
His hands shot up to rest on hers, stopping her from removing the glasses. “It will be okay, I want to see you,” Ariel whispered. They were frozen in place, she could hear his breath as it caught in his throat.
“I’m not-” She stopped him before he could protest any more. They were beyond that now.
“Shh. It will be fine.”
Slowly, he dropped his hands. With an equally slow pace, Ariel slid off his sunglasses. The first thing she noticed were his eyelashes, they were long and thick. Any girl would have been jealous of them.
As the sunglasses came free from his face, she got her first look at his eyes. And she gasped.
CHAPTER 4
Gabe took the sunglasses from Ariel’s hands and put them back on again quickly. She let him, unable to function for a moment as what she was seeing processed in her mind.
His eyes were black. Not just the colored iris part, but the entire eye. He had no whites, just a sea of black pools occupied the space where his eyes were.
He wouldn’t look at her, fidgeting with his jacket and staring at the creek again. “I shouldn’t have let you do that.”
Ariel returned to reality again. Even though his eyes were not what she was expecting, they were still beautiful. They were even more than that, they were enchanting. She could have lost herself in those black pools.
She reached out to touch his face and guided his head back to look at hers. She wasn’t going to let him feel ashamed for being different. Having something unique about you was a gift, he shouldn’t let it ruin his entire life.
“Your eyes are beautiful,” Ariel said, forcing him to look at her. She wished he had kept the sunglasses off, she wanted to see his eyes again just to make sure she hadn’t imagined it all.
“My eyes are deadly.”
“What?” Was he just being poetic now? Ariel didn’t know how one person could confuse and captivate her so much at the same time. “What do you mean?”
She let go of his head so he didn’t have to face her. He could have swatted her away at any time, but he didn’t. It was kind of sweet.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this. You shouldn’t have seen. I should go.” He started to stand but she grabbed his arm, hoping he would see that she wasn’t judging him.
“Gabe, it’s okay. Just tell me. I’m not one of your guidance counselors, I’m not going to tell anyone.”
He resumed his seat on the rock and sighed. It was the most emotion she had seen from him in the week she had known him. “Have you heard of the Black Eyed People?”
“I’ve heard of the Black Eyed Peas,” Ariel joked, trying to lighten the mood. Surely it couldn’t be as dire as his tone of voice suggested.
“The Black Eyed People were a tribe cursed centuries ago by a witch who said we killed their daughter. She vowed that others would know the pain she felt. We have this compulsion to hurt people. We target someone and go to their house. It’s always the same, we ask to come inside. Once they let us in, we have to kill them.”
Ariel wasn’t sure whether he was joking or not. Judging by his serious demeanor, she got the feeling he wasn’t. She didn’t know what to say as the hair stood up on the back of her neck. If what he was saying was true, she was sitting in the middle of a forest with a killer.
Ariel couldn’t form words with her mouth, it wasn’t connecting to her brain. She didn’t know what to say to his confession. Did she just laugh it off or did she run as fast as she could to get away? She just didn’t know.
Gabe made the decision for her, he stood. “I’m sorry,” he muttered before leaving her there.
She let him go. For the first time since Ariel had seen him in the school corridor, she didn’t want to know more about him. She didn’t want to believe his story about the Black Eyed People, it just sounded absurd. She had never heard of them before, they couldn’t be real.
Even seeing his black eyes couldn’t convince her. Gabe wasn’t a killer. He was moody and insolent, but that didn’t make him a murderer. It just made him a teenager.
Finally, Ariel got up from the rock by the creek bed and started the walk back to school. Her legs were a little shaky, they threatened to trip over every twig on the ground the entire way back.
By the time she returned, History class was over. She found Cassidy at her locker on her way back to the classroom for her things.
“Here, I’ve got your books,” she said as she shoved her textbook and pencil case into her hands. “Where did you go? I was about to send out a search party.”
“I went for a walk.” It wasn’t a lie, Ariel just happened to be stalking someone on that walk. “Was Miss Perry mad?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think she noticed.” Good, that was one thing she didn’t have to worry about.
Ariel didn’t see Gabe for the rest of the day. She was kind of glad she didn’t, she had no idea what she was going to say to him. Should she apologize for being speechless and shocked? Should he apologize for telling her a scary story like that? Perhaps the best thing Ariel could do was just stay away from him. He obviously had problems.
* * *
As it turned out, Ariel’s resolve to stay away from Gabe was far easier said than done. Every waking minute was spent thinking about him. He ditched school nearly every day, making the occasional appearance in a random class now and then. If he was hoping to get kicked out of another school, he was going the right way about it.
Their paths never crossed and she didn’t seek him out so didn’t get a chance to say anything to him. She still wasn’t sure wha
t she was going to say anyway.
Ariel tried Googling the Black Eyed People during Computer Science class. It gave her plenty of hits and the stories were all the same – exactly how Gabe had described them. They asked to come inside your house and then killed you once you invited them in. There didn’t seem to be a reason for their attack, they just did it. Almost like a compulsion to kill, just like Gabe said.
People told of their encounters with the Black Eyed People, each one had refused them entry into their home and survived. There were no tales from people that had actually let them in. They all described feeling threatened and terrified of the people as they approached, like they knew they were evil.
But that didn’t describe Gabe. He was intriguing and mesmerizing, Ariel didn’t find him threatening at all. Even when she was alone with him in the forest, she felt safe with him. Up until he told her the story of his compulsion to kill, anyway. But they were only words, he didn’t back it up with actions. Ariel was certain he was different.
The pep rally was that Friday night, it was usually something Ariel looked forward to. She would cheer on their team from the stands and Cassidy would flirt with every guy in the vicinity. It was a tradition.
Ariel tried to be in the moment and forget about Gabe. She tried to make conversation with Cassidy and pretend she was still normal. But she couldn’t even convince herself. She had changed somehow and feared her obsession was taking over. She just didn’t know how to get over him. It was like she was possessed or something.
“Is that boy bothering you again?” Cassidy asked, after having to repeat herself several times because Ariel was lost in space.
“I haven’t seen him, actually.”
“Well he hasn’t been kicked out… yet. His family are still living across the road.”
“You’ve seen him?” She asked, too eagerly. She caught herself but hoped Cassidy didn’t notice.
“Yeah and he looked just as weird as normal. You have to forget about him.” Cassidy was her usual sympathetic self. “He’s not good for you.”
“What if I can’t forget him?”
“Try, girl. Look around, there are so many better candidates for your boyfriend. Check out Spencer.”
Ariel looked around as she had instructed. All she could see were sixteen year old boys that were boring in comparison to Gabe. None of them were are as hot or captivating. They all merged into Gabe’s shadow. She was doomed.
CHAPTER 5
Like all of Cassidy’s advice, Ariel decided to ignore it. She wasn’t exactly Gandhi when it came to life’s insights. When she left the pep rally, she didn’t go home. Instead, Ariel found herself standing outside Gabe’s house in the dark.
There were lights on in the double storey home but the curtains were closed. The windows glowed with the light from within. It looked like every other house in the street, she didn’t know how his family could be different to any other. Gabe may have spoken about a curse and she saw his eyes, but she couldn’t believe in the evil he spoke of.
Ariel gathered up all her courage and approached the front door. If she stood there on the pavement and just stared any longer she could have fallen deeper into stalker territory. And she didn’t want to be Gabe’s stalker, she wanted to be his friend. Okay, perhaps friend was an understatement, Ariel wanted to be his girlfriend. She could admit it only to herself.
Knocking on the door, she waited patiently. Her ears strained to hear for footsteps, for the now familiar shuffle of Gabe’s feet. She thought about what she was going to say to him, how she would convince him that she was different and not judging him. Ariel wanted to have the perfect words formed by the time he answered. But she was only confronted with silence.
The lights were on so she knew they were home, but no matter how many times she knocked, nobody was answering. Perhaps that was Gabe’s way of saying he didn’t want to see her. He wasn’t going to school anymore, perhaps he had decided to give up on them all – including Ariel.
She eventually had to face the fact she should give up. She turned and left the stoop, returning to the street. She gave one last look to the house and thought for sure she saw the flutter of a curtain on the second storey. It could have been her imagination, it could have been the wind, but Ariel thought for sure it was there.
She walked home with much less enthusiasm as her walk had been to Gabe’s house. She wished she could follow Cassidy’s advice and just forget about him. She was right, he was bad for her. Ariel felt sick when she thought of him, her stomach was constantly fluttering with his image, and now she was about to cry because she knew he thought she didn’t like him.
If only she hadn’t let him leave the forest that day, Ariel should have told him everything she was feeling instead of being too stunned into silence. She should have found the words, even if they were difficult or embarrassing. He had shared his deepest, darkest secret with her and she had only given him the reaction he was expecting. She should have done better.
Ariel reached her house and entered, noting it was still in darkness. Her parents normally liked to have a date night if she was going to be home late. She guessed they didn’t realize she would leave the pep rally early so she could stalk a guy that claimed to be under an evil curse.
She let herself in and turned on the television, at least that would fill the void of silence. She didn’t feel like eating the meal her mom had left in the refrigerator for her so she sat on the lounge and tried to focus on the sitcom. It wasn’t long before she was engrossed in the story.
A knock on the door jarred her back to reality. Ariel checked the clock – it was just after eight. Nobody came visiting at that time of night. She carefully crept to the door, involuntarily wondering what time her parents would be home.
She could see the familiar outline through the glass door, she didn’t know whether it was her mind playing tricks on her. Perhaps Ariel would see Gabe everywhere until he was out of her head. She opened the door, hoping anyway.
“Gabe, what are you doing here?” She tried to play it cool, after all she was certain he had ignored her at his house. She was tired of playing games.
“I saw you… at my house.” If he didn’t have his sunglasses on, she thought for sure she would see regret in his eyes. It was definitely in his voice.
“Yeah and you didn’t answer the door. It’s not that hard, I did it just now with no problems.”
“You shouldn’t come around,” he said so quietly Ariel had to strain to hear. “I’m dangerous, you can’t see me anymore. It’s not safe.”
Here he was, going again with the whole doom and gloom speech. Ariel didn’t care about his words, she cared about his actions. He wasn’t dangerous, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. That was what she should have told him in the woods.
“Gabe, you can talk all you want but I’m not going anywhere. I trust you.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
“There’s nothing to understand,” she insisted. It was like speaking with a drama queen. She wanted to throw her arms around his chest and tell him she didn’t care about any of it. All she cared about was him.
“Listen to me, Ariel, you can never let me into your home. Do you hear me? Never. Even if I beg, you can’t let me in.” He stood stoically on the porch but she could see his hand shaking slightly. He was upset, she didn’t need to see his eyes to know that.
“Gabe, please come in,” Ariel said defiantly and stood back from the door, waiting. He didn’t scare her, he couldn’t.
He stared at her but she wasn’t going to move until he came in and proved to himself that he wasn’t going to hurt her. Ariel already believed it, it was time he did too.
“Ariel-”
“Gabe,” she interrupted. “You won’t hurt me.”
He took a tentative step, carefully placing one foot over the threshold of the front door. It landed safely on the ground and he managed not to murder her. They looked at each other in triumph. He took another step.
When
two feet were planted inside, Gabe stood rigidly with his hands at his side. He was standing like a statue as if he didn’t trust himself to move.
Ariel stood in front of him, grinning from ear to ear. He was inside her house, there was no curse. Whatever medical condition was affecting his eyes and turning them black, it had nothing to do with a stupid witch’s curse.
She reached up slowly and took off his sunglasses. She honestly didn’t know how he walked around in them in the darkness of the night. He let her remove them without moving, not even speaking.
She carefully placed the sunglasses on the side table and looked into his eyes. This time, Ariel wasn’t looking with fear or surprise, but love. The black pools were like a glass surface, shiny and alive. There was no evil there.
He moved his hands so they could rest on her waist, the warmth of his hands burned into her skin. She took a step nearer so their bodies were pressed against each other. It was closer than Ariel had ever been with a guy before. It felt good, like their bodies were made for each other.
He leaned down and their mouths met. His soft lips covered hers and made them tingle. She hungrily kissed him back, thinking she would never want to stop. Everything about him, his hands, his lips, his chest all filled Ariel with warmth and sparked a passion she never knew would feel so wonderful. It was like the rest of the world didn’t exist, just the two of them in that moment.
Kiss after kiss, she didn’t want to let him go. Her arms snaked around his neck, silently begging him never to leave her embrace. He belonged there, just like she belonged to him. They were meant for each other, the sparks flying between them like fireworks told her that. Every inch of Ariel’s body buzzed with anticipation.
Gabe’s hands grew tighter around her waist, pulling her even closer than she was before. Ariel was now completely at his mercy, unable to move even if she wanted to. But she didn’t want to. He could hold her there forever and she wouldn’t have cared.
Dark Eyes: Cursed Page 2
