“Oh, seriously ...” Petter looked surprised. “You are leaving the city - Where to?”
“What is wrong with everyone,” Wanda muttered. “I'm not running away; it's a summer break in ...”
“Why do you want to know?” Tutu interrupted Wanda and gave Petter a look that signified she was ready to make his moment with them as hectic as possible.
“Just curious,” Petter replied, ignoring Tutu's frustrated efforts. He turned quickly to Wanda for an answer.
“Paris.” Wanda smiled beautifully.
“All the way to Paris; that's not out of town. You are actually going out of the country. You are leaving Norway.” Petter's surprise was evident in his expression. “I thought you'd be around like during other summer holidays.”
Without noticing the sadness and concern in Petter's voice, elated Wanda continued. “My mum told me several times she and my dad met there. I'm interested in seeing the city of love as they call it and the Eiffel Tower ...” She broke off when she heard Petter's voice, which suddenly brought her back from her reverie.
“Okay, see you.” Petter was already a few steps away like he had gotten the information he needed.
“That was quick,” Wanda, who seemed always to enjoy Petter's company moaned.
“Isn't that what they do? – Boys!” Tutu whined. “They show up and rush off again.”
“What is with you and Petter,” Wanda said and stared at her best friend with a cunning smile.
“What?” Tutu turned away from Petter, whom she was gazing at till he disappeared into the crowd and then saw the sly smile on Wanda's face.
“The way you seem to hate him ....”
“Oh, if I could get him off you ... he's always getting himself into our group every time there's group work ...”
“That's not what I mean.” Wanda's sneaky smile was evident as she raised an eyebrow in curiousity.
“So what are you saying,” Tutu voiced in a fierce look seeing the mischievous look on Wanda's face. “You are the one he's always trying to talk to.”
“You seem to like him....” Wanda's smile broadened.
“What!” Tutu exclaimed out loud.
Wanda held her smile. “You seem to have this – I like you, kind of hatred for him - but ...” Wanda broke off.
“But what?”
“I don't know, you seem always to want him around, and when he comes, you are always attacking him, pushing him off.”
“Seriously, if I had my way, I would break his legs so that he'd stop disturbing us.” Tutu scowled.
“Okay, forget it,” Wanda backed off, knowing Tutu could be very defensive when it comes to how she really feels about Petter. “I know you can break his legs. By the way, Petter is an orphan, so stop stressing him like everyone in school does.”
“Anyway, I have to go,” Tutu said as she tried to steal one more glance at Petter but couldn't see him.
Wanda, who had looked up towards Alfred, suddenly noticed he was soliloquising where he stood some distance away by the road.
“I can't believe Alfred talks alone so casually in the open when people are around. It's weird, isn't it?
“Yes, it is,” Tutu replied and looked in Wanda's direction.
“I really wish he could get better treatment, you know,” Wanda grumbled. She raised her head to look at Alfred again and continued. “Sometimes, I feel bad that Alfred can't be given better ...”
“Are you alright?” Tutu asked the instant she noticed the bizarre look on Wanda's face like she had seen a ghost.
Wanda's tone and speech slurred like her tongue suddenly became heavy. “I am ... I'm sure that man wasn't there before....”
“What man,” Tutu turned towards Alfred.
“The man in the shiny yellow raincoat with the hood pulled over his head. I wonder why he's wearing that in the summer.”
“What, man?” Tutu looked bewildered, wondering who her friend was referring to.
“That huge man,” Wanda pointed straight towards Alfred. She wondered why Tutu couldn't see the man.
The open field in front of the school had started clearing. Only a few students were left; most had been picked up by their parents or left with the first batch of school buses.
“Alfred is over there talking to himself. What other man are you talking about?”
Wanda froze for some seconds, her heart palpitated intensely. She was looking at the person next to Alfred, but she wondered why Tutu could not see him. As she gazed at the person, she began to have a better understanding of the features of the person. The person was huge; the width of his shoulder was unusually wide, with one side bent so low in comparison to the other, a very wacky twist that would have made it impossible for a normal man to stand up straight. The man or thing or whatever it was, turned gently, and immediately it occurred to Wanda that it had a carved out back, which was in a wide-angle, making a big concave curve shape inside the yellow raincoat he had on.
“You know, it's funny what they say,” Tutu spoke out loud with a bit of concern in her voice, but Wanda, who was lost in oblivion, did not notice. “Things that we see are made out of things we cannot see.”
Wanda jerked awake from her seeming daydream of staring and studying the man. The statement by Tutu reminded her of her late father. It was a constant statement from her father; 'things that we see are made out of things we cannot see.'
Unexpectedly, the last words her father spoke to her and her brother flashed back in her memory. A warning her father had given her and her brother like he knew this day would come. He had looked them straight in the eyes as he advised them late in the night before she and her brother went to bed.
“The day you see what others cannot see or you smell what no one can smell,” Marcus said to his daughter and son as they stared at him in amazement of the beautiful tales he shared about fighting beasts and how to overcome them.
“So what would happen on that day dad,” Jason, Wanda's brother, asked with all his senses intensely attentive to his dad like a flower experiencing the rising sun in the morning.
“That day,” Marcus smiled. Beneath the beautiful smile was a warning that Wanda noticed, but Jason was too young to realise it. “You run with all the strength in you.”
“Oh, but dad,” Jason protested in disappointment. “I thought we were supposed to fight them like in your stories.”
“You know, they are only stories, Jason,” their mum, Sofia, added standing by the door with her shoulder by the doorpost.
Their father only smiled at Jason. He turned to Wanda, who was concentrating as intensely as her brother. “Remember when that day comes, Wanda ... You Run!” Marcus didn't have to deny that the things he said were not ordinary stories. Wanda could see in her father's eyes that he was earnest about the fact that she should run.
Remembering those words by her father, Wanda shook her head to clear her vision that was filled with memories of her late dad. She turned away from Tutu, looked at Alfred, and was shocked that Alfred was gone, but the thing in the yellow raincoat was there. It was now staring directly at her. Where his face was supposed to be was only a black hollow space covered by the hood of the raincoat like whatever was underneath the raincoat had no face or eyes.
“Run!” Wanda abruptly heard her father's voice in her head. She turned and began to rush, back up the steps that led to the school entrance. She left her backpack at the bottom of the steps where she had stood while talking to Tutu.
“Wanda! Wanda!” Tutu shouted, rushing after her friend. She was surprised to see Wanda so stunned. She moved very fast and caught up with Wanda just as Wanda stepped into the school. “What is it?” Tutu asked in a frightened voice and held on to Wanda's arm, pulling her back.
“You – You wouldn't understand, Tutu. I have to find Jason urgently.”
Tutu noticed the trepidation in Wanda's voice as her words came out like she was forcing them out. Her eyes had turned red, and tears had begun to gather behind them, collating and rea
dy to drop at any moment.
“Is it Alfred? He is gone. I saw him walk away.”
Tutu's words came out in a rush though she tried to control the way she spoke in order not to scare Wanda, who already was panicking.
“Tutu, let go of me.” Wanda yanked her arm off. “It isn't Alfred – I mean it's Alfred ...”
“What are you saying ... it is not, and then it is Alfred. We can call the school authorities.” Tutu watched her confused friend. “I can get help.”
“Tutu,” Wanda wanted to tell her no one could help now, but she ignored Tutu and started running again further into the school.
Tutu took some steps towards Wanda shouting her name, then like something suddenly occurred to her; she stopped and ran back towards the school entrance. She pushed hastily through the doors in desperation and went back outside.
Wanda ran the length of the main hallway and took a turn at the corner. Wanda slightly missed colliding with a boy and girl who were discussing, standing very close to each at the edge of the turning point. Out of fear, the girl screamed when she saw the speed at which Wanda appeared in front of them. The boy and girl turned and watched as she raced to the end of the hallway. They gazed at her, wondering if she was alright.
Wanda got to the classroom where she was expecting her brother to be, but it was empty. She rushed to the next classroom knowing the school had two classes for each grade, stepped into the classroom, but again it was empty.
Panting, heavily like her heart, was going to drop out of her body. She said to herself, “think Wanda, think!” Then she remembered Jason wanted to take a look at some books in the library and see if he could borrow them for the summer holidays. She moved out of the classroom and straight away perceived the most disgusting odour she could ever imagine. With the smell came a very annoying sound like a rattlesnake signaling her presence to an enemy.
Wanda's entire system paused for a second. She could not fathom what was unfolding. At that moment, she felt like she was in a dream. Slowly, though her entire faculty didn't want her to look in the direction of the sound, she couldn't help it. Wanda needed to find out what she was up against; she turned gently towards the direction the sound was coming from.
At the end of the hallway, another three rooms away from her was the thing she saw with Alfred that wore the shiny yellow coat. It was now standing in front of an emergency exit door that was rarely opened, even during school hours. It was much closer than when she was outside with Tutu. Without moving her body, she took a glance in the direction she came from. The boy and girl that were there before had left, but even if they hadn't, she knew she couldn't have guaranteed what they would have seen or if they would have seen anything at all because she knows humans do not see demons.
The demon hissed again, and this time much louder. Wanda jolted in fear, but she didn't move from her position. She was calculating her options and planning on how to outrun the demon. Wanda turned back to observe the creature, and her eyes began to reveal more to her. What she previously thought was a yellow raincoat was now changing; what was underneath it was revealing itself, or maybe her eyes were adjusting for her to see better. Whichever the case was, Wanda did not wait to find out. She dashed with all the strength in her back in the direction she came from.
Running with her long hair moving from side to side and in her dark blue skinny jeans that fit well unto her slim body structure, Wanda turned gently and could see from the corner of her eyes that the demon had already caught up with her. It leaped, and she saw its actual thin and yellow eyes. The eyes were on the side of its head, at a position that made her know that it could not see very well except sideways.
Wanda screamed at the sight of the enormous thing that was about to land on her. She got to the bend in the hallway, where she ran past the boy and girl who were talking; she bent down hastily, throwing her knees on the floor to avoid the demon. She slid into the next hallway that led to the main entrance and came to a halt as she knocked her body hard on the wall, on the other side. The demon missed as Wanda bent down. It landed on the floor, scrabbling with its talons just to get hold of Wanda as it slid to the other side of the hallway.
Wanda got up quickly without pondering over the pain in her body. She held her left hand to her right elbow. The elbow was throbbing painfully, and she knew she had strained her muscles by colliding with the wall.
There were three students at the entrance looking back into the hallway. She knew they heard her short but loud cry and saw the way she bumped into the wall. She ignored them and walked straight to the stairs that were a few steps away from her. She climbed quickly, knowing the thing would be back at any moment.
She barely stepped into the upper and senior floor of the school building when she bumped into the boy called Eric.
“Are you alright?” Eric asked, and she turned to face him with her back against the wall. The shock of suddenly seeing him and the fear of the thing after her plagued her mind. She froze in her position by the edge of the step leaning on the wall. She stared at Eric, who could see that she was lost in a trance. “Are you alright?” He shouted again, and his voice brought her back to reality.
She gasped for air, abruptly raised her hands, and grabbed at his shoulder as she took in a deep breath. After a moment, she realised she was gripping him by the arm as she looked back at the stairs to her side. She quickly released her grip when she became conscious of it. It was the closest she had been to him though she had noticed him on her school premises for a few weeks. His denim jacket was off. He had a black pair of jeans and a plain blue cotton T-shirt that he wore. His body was built, but he wasn't too big. Wanda could vaguely see the veins in his hands, showing that he was stressed from a sudden run he had just completed. The T-shirt at some points along his waist was tucked into his jeans. At the tucked-in position between the T-shirt and the waistline of the pair of jeans were several shinning and silvery objects. The objects had symbols on them, but Wanda wasn't interested in the symbols as the demon that chased her flashed back in her memory several times.
After about ten seconds, she answered. “Yes.” She was still gazing directly into Eric's deep blue eyes that made him look extremely attractive. They were so blue she wondered if he was wearing contact lenses to aid the beauty shining through his eyes. For a few seconds, she was lost in his attractive looks, and then she shook her head, forcing her eyes to close, and then she opened them again. She wasn't going to be carried away by whatever Eric was using to lure her in. Her father had warned her that demons were good at camouflaging as humans, imitating voices and accents when they are in human form.
Suddenly, she remembered how Eric had stood there staring directly at her and Tutu, then he was gone, and she saw the man in the yellow coat with Alfred. It all made perfect sense to her. There was a connection between Eric and the demon. At the same moment, she realised he was panting softly. She watched as his chest expanded and contracted, like slowly pumping in and releasing air from a balloon. She guessed that he must have had a quick run.
“Who are you?” Wanda asked in a shaky voice, which was a moment away from crying. She knew, without a doubt, she might be standing in front of the demon that had been chasing her.
“That's not the issue now,” Eric replied in haste. His mouth twitched in a funny way, making Wanda know he was shocked that it was the first question she'd ask at such a tensed moment.
'He's only trying to stall you away from the truth,' she thought about his response.
“You keep following me,” Wanda said, watching him as he instantly looked towards the staircase where she came from. He looked back at her while she waited for an answer. He could see she was in pain in her right arm.
“Where is your Praying Méndez?”
“My what?” Wanda enquired in confusion, wondering what he was talking about.
“Your Praying Méndez,” Eric repeated, gazing into her eyes and wondering why she looked so stunned. He continued in a rude tone, “or are you plan
ning to tear that demon apart and have victory with your tiny fingers.” He noticed she pressed on her elbow again and froze the moment he spoke.
“How did you know a demon was after me?” Wanda asked as her voice quivered. Eric ignored her question and looked down, observing the elbow she held on to.
“Did it touch you?” He asked and stretched out his hand to touch her right arm.
She studied him again in silence and could see that he was nothing but a guy, a tough, strong boy that she wanted and would let him hold her while she wept, making the sudden nightmare she's facing fade away.
She shook her head quickly, cleared the unwanted thoughts away, and in haste pulled her hand away.
“How do you know there is a demon following me? How do you know there's even anything called demons?” She asked. He ignored her and continued to stare at her like a doctor trying to examine his patient. “If you don't tell me who you are, I am going to scream as loud as I can.” Wanda began to have a strong feeling that there was a connection between Eric and the demon after her.
Like he could read her mind, Eric maintained his firm look. His eyes focused on her, and his lips looked dry. He moved his body closer to hers, blocking her on both sides with his hand as he focused his penetrating eyes intensely on her.
She could not believe it, but she felt her heart flutter in fondness at his closeness. She realised his hair was actually brown mixed with blond as he bent gently, bringing his face closer to hers. He was not full blond, but his face had striking features that made Wanda's heartthrob. His chin was structured in a very fine manner but looked hard and stern. His lips tightened together in his earnest gaze. Something about his gaze made her uncomfortable, but it wasn't an unpleasant one; it was more of an affectionate one, which made her even more confused in the mayhem she was in.
He looked 'rough and ready.' His muscles were rigid, revealing he was strong and physically fit. His chest continued to rise and fall in a steady manner that made her feel like placing her hand on it to make sure, such a unique and beautiful human was for real.
She was still admiring him when she heard him speak. This time in a very gentle and warning tone, “your chances are very slim if any of the demon's talons have touched you.” For reasons she could not fathom, the warning had an affectionate tone to it, though she could see the seriousness in his blue eyes when he continued, “did it touch you?”
The Healing Mendez (Vitrian Secrets, #1) Page 2
