Archaic

by Regan Ure

  "I'm Andrew," he said as he leaned closer and looked intently at me. With his friendly smile and expressive eyes, I felt more at ease with him. Normally, I was really shy around boys, but this boy had such a laid-back way about him that I couldn't help but feel relaxed around him.

  "I'm Ava," I replied. With my previous anxious feelings totally forgotten, I smiled back at Andrew.

  A guy appeared beside him.

  "This is David; David, this is Ava," he introduced.

  David. The name sounded familiar.

  "Hi," I said while I tried to remember where I was supposed to know him from.

  "Hi," he greeted.

  "I'll see you around, Ava," Andrew said with a wide smile before he walked away with his friend. I looked back and caught one last look at them before they disappeared down the hallway.

  There was something I liked about him and I found myself smiling as I continued to my class. It was only when I got to my next class that I remembered why David sounded familiar. It was the guy who Stacy had a thing for.

  Later in one of my classes I was surprised to be seated beside Andrew.

  "You bump into anyone else today?" he asked, teasing.

  "No," I said, shaking my head.

  There was something about him that made me feel at ease around him even though I didn't know him. The class started and I pulled my attention to the teacher. After our class finished I stood up and picked up my bag.

  "So what do you think of our school?" Andrew asked patiently, waiting next to me with his bag already packed and hitched over his shoulder.

  "It's okay," I replied nonchalantly, shrugging.

  "Have you managed to see much of the town yet?" he asked casually as he walked me out of the class. I only reached just past his shoulder.

  "Not really. I've been spending most of my time unpacking. I used to spend some time here with my grandmother before I moved here, but that was some time ago."

  "If you're up to it, I could take you out sometime and show you around, if you want?" he asked in a friendly tone.

  Taken by surprise I said, "Okay."

  "Andrew!" someone down the hall shouted.

  "I've got to go, I'll talk to you later," he said.

  "Okay," I said again. He gave me one last brilliant smile and then disappeared down the hall.

  Maybe I was getting better at this 'making friends' thing than I initially thought. Or maybe it was the fact that the students at this small-town high school seemed friendlier than the students in my last high school.

  Later, when I was sitting with the girls in the cafeteria, I mentioned my brief encounter with Andrew.

  "Andrew Parker?" Kennedy asked.

  "He asked if he could take me out sometime and show me the town," I revealed. Then, as if on cue, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Andrew standing beside me.

  "I totally forgot to get your number before," he said as he grinned sheepishly.

  "Oh yeah, of course," I replied as I turned back to search in my bag for my phone. I caught my friends watching our interaction with secret smiles. We exchanged numbers and he promised to call and then he walked back across to his table of friends a few tables away from us.

  "He's really cute," Stacy said.

  "And he's a nice guy," Kennedy added.

  "I'm sure he wants to show you more than the town," Stacy said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. I shook my head at her in disagreement.

  It didn't matter how much I tried to explain to them that he was just being friendly and wasn't interested in me more than a friend, my friends were convinced he was. I liked him, but I wasn't sure if I liked him in that way.

  "Looks like someone saw that," Kennedy said, staring toward the direction of Jared's usual table in the cafeteria.

  I turned to see Jared glance toward Andrew with a strange look before he turned to look at me. I couldn't decipher the look on his face. He looked...agitated. I turned back to my table and shrugged.

  "Interesting," Kennedy replied while she continued to look in the direction where Jared sat.

  I don't know why they kept thinking there was more to this than there actually was--Andrew was just being friendly. Jared and Felicity seemed to be together so there was no reason for Jared to be interested. Besides, it wasn't like he would actually be interested in someone like me.

  Later at home, I was lying on my bed as thoughts of Andrew and Jared ran through my mind. I didn't want to feel anything for Jared, but I couldn't seem to help myself. I just had to look at him, and when I did, weird stuff happened in my body, things I'd never experienced before--like those damn butterflies. Eventually, exasperated with myself for having no control of my thoughts, I decided I was going to go for a run. Running for me was like therapy. When I ran, all I concentrated on was the feeling of my feet pounding against the ground as I listened to my labored breath, and it helped to clear my head.

  With that thought, I got dressed into my running gear. It was getting late, but there was still enough time to go for a decent run since Anne had called earlier and told me she was going to be home late. I headed out of the house and started running down the road. I kept to my route so I wouldn't get lost. I became oblivious to everything except the path in front of me. The rhythm of my feet pounding into the gravel kept me focused on the task at hand. I thought of nothing else. Just twenty minutes into my run, the sun was already beginning to set. I wasn't panicking because I didn't think I was more than ten minutes away from home. My breath labored and the sweat dripped down my forehead as I pushed for the last few minutes of my run.

  As I turned back onto my road, I saw my house in the distance and I slowed my pace to a walk. It was dark now but thankfully the light from the streetlights kept the road well lit. The only ominous sight was the dark forest on the opposite side of the road to my house. I hadn't really ventured into it to explore. I hated camping or anything to do with 'roughing it.' Still trying to calm my breathing, I brushed the sweat from my forehead with the bottom of my shirt. The cool evening air was a relief.

  I scanned the road as I slowly walked to my house. I'd left the porch light on when I'd left, so the light illuminated the front porch and the front steps. Just a few houses away, through the thickly packed trees within the forest, I saw a faint white light for a couple of seconds, and then there was darkness again.

  I stopped dead in my tracks, thinking back to the first time I'd seen the light from my bedroom window. The light was much fainter than the night I had first seen flashes of light in the forest. Had I imagined it? I waited a minute, watching intently, but there was nothing but darkness.

  There was no way I could have imagined that light twice. Deciding to investigate what I'd seen, I walked toward the forest and to where I'd seen the strange occurrence. The path beneath my feet was uneven and filled with plants and rocks. It could be worse--it could have rained, and then I would be trudging through mud. The light from the moon filtered through the top branches of the trees, so I was able to see where I was going. The branches of the trees brushed against me as I pushed deeper into the forest.

  I'd only been in the forest for a few minutes when I looked up and saw the white light filter through the dense forest in front of me. It definitely wasn't part of my imagination. What could it be? Cautiously, I walked deeper into the forest. The sound of my footsteps crunched on the rough terrain. With every slight brush of the branches against me, I felt a shiver of fear. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

  Just then, only a few feet in front of me through an opening in the dense brush, I saw a white light streak quickly from right to left--and then, only seconds later, a white light followed the same path as the first unusual light. What followed that was again complete darkness.

  I crept quietly forward until I got to a row of bushes that bordered an open clearing. I hid behind the bushes and peered cautiously ahead.

  The clearing was well lit by the moon, and I could see, a mere few feet away, Jared. He was flanked by Ty
ler and Danny on the right side of the clearing. Jared looked angry, and Tyler and Danny were both holding him back as he fought against them, trying to break free. I looked in the opposite direction and a short distance from the three boys stood two people I couldn't recognize.

  They looked to be the same age, with builds similar to Jared's. Both had short blond hair and wore jeans and white shirts. From the angle I was from them, I couldn't see their faces clearly.

  What I saw in front of me didn't explain the strange lights. It just looked like a couple of guys having some sort of stand-off. The only thing strange about this whole thing was that this was happening in the middle of the forest.

  I continued to watch for a few more minutes. Words were spoken back and forth between the two groups, but I was too far away to hear exactly what was being said. Whatever it was, though, didn't seem to be calming the situation down. I kneeled down behind the bush, transfixed by what was happening. It looked like there was going to be a fight. Their body language was stiff and all of their muscles were tensed.

  Jared broke free of Tyler's hold and he lifted his arm toward the strangers. A stream of white light streaked from his open palm and flew straight into the chest of one of the fair-haired strangers. He flew back and landed with a thud on his back a few feet farther away.

  My breath hitched as I blinked a couple of times. I couldn't comprehend what I'd just witnessed. White light, and Jared... The white light streaking out of his hand like a lightning bolt... It made no sense. That was impossible. It took a few moments for my mind to try and process what I had just seen.

  It isn't possible.

  I started to panic and as I tried to steady myself, I leaned forward onto a twig and it snapped.

  Suddenly the two groups confronting each other in the clearing turned toward the noise. Through the slight openings in the bushes, I could see them scanning where I was hiding. My heart hammered in my chest as I tried to keep as still as possible. After what seemed like forever, all but Jared turned back. For a moment his gaze swept over me before he turned his attention back to the two strangers in front of him. Had he seen me?

  The stranger who had been struck by the lightning bolt had gotten up and rejoined his friend. He looked completely fine and not at all what I'd expect someone to look like after what I'd just witnessed. The only evidence of the strike was a burn mark in the front of his T-shirt.

  What I'd seen wasn't possible. I had to get out of there before they discovered me. What would they do if they found me? Would they hurt me? Unlike the fair-haired boy, I was pretty sure I wouldn't survive a strike like that.

  As slowly as I could, I began to back away from the bushes. Finally when I was far away enough I turned around and ran like my life depended on it. The path was uneven and a couple of times I fell and scraped my knees, but I kept moving, fearing my life depended on it. I was literally running in the dark and was absolutely petrified. I was scared that they'd seen me and they were going to come after me.

  I didn't stop running until I got to my front door. My lungs burned.

  Panic set in and the air locked in my lungs. My lungs wouldn't open and my breath became short and choppy. I was having a panic attack.

  I rushed into the kitchen to look for a bag. I found one under the kitchen sink. I curled my hand around the opening and put it to my mouth and began to breathe into the bag. After a few minutes, my breathing started to become normal once more.

  Once I had my breathing under control, I pressed my back to the wall and slowly sank to the floor. I hadn't had a panic attack like that in a while. I glanced at my bleeding knees. They looked sore, but I was too upset to feel the pain. Leaning my head back against the wall, I took some more deep breaths.

  Glancing at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall, I realized Anne would be home any minute. I needed to clean myself up because there was no way I was going to tell her what I had seen. I was pretty sure that if I did, it would be a one-way ticket into a nice, white, padded room. No one would believe me. Hell, I wasn't even sure that I trusted what I'd seen.

  Once the adrenaline started to wear off, I started to shake. It took me twice as long to take my clothes off. I stood under the warm stream of the shower, wincing as the water streamed down over my bloody knees. I stood in the shower for a while before the shaking eased to a slight, constant shiver.

  White steaks of energy... Humans just couldn't do that. So my next logical conclusion was that Jared wasn't human.

  And if he isn't human, what is he? I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to that.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Once I was out of the shower, I cleaned the scrapes on my knees with some disinfectant and swapped my pajama shorts for long pants to hide them from Anne. I couldn't smother the fear I felt. Had Jared seen me or not? Surely if he'd seen me he would have confronted me already.

  Anne arrived home just after I'd finished getting dressed. I put a smile on my face and tried to act as normal as possible, but it was hard when I jumped at every sudden sound.

  It was Friday, so we ordered pizza. She telephoned our order to the local pizza restaurant. Thirty minutes later we were curled up on the couch in front of the TV watching a really bad reality show while munching on slices of pizza. With the chaotic events of the day, I didn't have much of an appetite. The knots inside of my stomach made it impossible to eat. Anne raised a concerned eyebrow.

  "I'm not that hungry," I muttered, looking away from her worried gaze.

  "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked with a frown.

  "Yeah, I'm fine, I promise." Then I remembered the party the girls wanted me to go to the following evening.

  "Is it okay if I go to a party tomorrow night? Some guy at school is having a party at his house. I'll be going with Stacy and Kennedy. Stacy mentioned something about sleeping over, but I'm not sure if I will," I said, playing with the thread coming undone at the bottom of my top.

  I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go out, but I couldn't just stay in my house indefinitely. Had he seen me? Surely if he had I wouldn't have gotten away. It made no sense that he had seen me and had done nothing. The thought calmed me down.

  "Sure," she agreed. "Just let me know what you're going to do. I can pick you up if you need me to," she said, taking another bite of her pizza.

  "I will."

  My parents never would have let me go to a party without knowing the parents beforehand and giving me a strict curfew to adhere to. This new freedom would take some getting used to.

  Unable to keep up the pretense that I was fine, I said good night and headed upstairs to my room. As I entered my room, my eyes were glued to my window. The dark night sent a shiver down my spine. I didn't want to put my bedroom light on. In the darkness of my room, I crept toward my windows. I gently closed my window and closed my curtains. I was petrified.

  Too anxious to go to sleep, I climbed into my bed and sat with my back against my headboard and my comforter tucked around my body, keeping my eyes fixed on the curtains hiding my bedroom window. I could hear every little sound, the insects outside in the garden, and the gentle rustle of the leaves from the branches of the trees in the evening breeze. My curtains didn't move, and my window remained closed under my watchful gaze.

  Finally, at around four in the morning, utter exhaustion took over, and I fell asleep.

  I woke up with a start. I was lying in my bed, tangled in my sheets. Sunshine streamed through a gap in my curtains. The clock next to my bed told me it was close to noon. I'd slept practically half the day away.

  Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes as I yawned. When I tried to get out of my bed, I felt the sting on both of my knees. I raised my pants to just above my knees and dreaded what I knew I was going to see. I had scrapes on both of my legs, proving that Jared and what had happened in the clearing had been real.

  How was I going to get through today? Today was the party, and I knew Stacy and Kennedy wouldn't let me live it down if I cancelled, so I had to go. The only com
forting thought was that I would probably be safer in a room full of people than alone in my bedroom.

  The house was quiet when I went downstairs to the kitchen. I found a note on the door of the fridge from Anne telling me she'd gone out to do some shopping. I was alone. It was a good thing I had some time to pull myself together. I was convinced Jared hadn't seen me. And if he hadn't seen me, it meant he didn't know what I had seen and didn't know that I knew he was...different.

  There was no way I was going to tell anybody what I'd seen. For a start, I doubted that anybody would actually believe me. So my only course of action was to act like nothing was wrong. I would continue as I had before and would try and act as normal as possible if I did happen to bump into Jared. Deep down, though, I knew it was easier said than done.

  After a bowl of my favorite cereal, I went upstairs and got dressed in some jeans and a shirt. Stacy was going to pick Kennedy and me up in a couple of hours before the party so that we could get ready together. My current predicament was what I was going to wear to the party. It was nice to be able to focus my mind on something as trivial as trying to pick out an outfit--it distracted me from other, more worrisome thoughts.

  I fished out a pair of black skinny jeans, but after looking through some of my tops, I still couldn't decide. Then I spotted a beautiful blue baby-doll top my mom had bought for me a couple of months ago. I hadn't worn it yet. Happy with the outfit I had chosen, the only thing I needed to settle on was which pair of shoes I was going to wear. Like with my clothes, I didn't have a lot of options. I found a pair of black ballet pumps that would work.

  I packed the outfit I had chosen into my duffel bag and then rummaged through the drawer of my dressing table for lip-gloss, which was the sum total of my makeup. I decided to pack my toiletries and pajamas and a change of outfit for tomorrow in case I changed my mind and decided to sleep over at Stacy's house.

  Still with a couple of hours to spare, I decided to do some cleaning around the house. I started in the kitchen. I did the dishes and wiped down the counters. Then I moved to the living room, where I tidied up a bit. I fluffed up the pillows and arranged them on the sofa. I spent some time on the laptop I shared, checking out my social media accounts. As usual, there was nothing interesting. With another free hour I thought about doing my puzzle, but I knew my mind was not in the right place so I tried watching some TV. But after flipping through the channels, I couldn't find anything that held my attention.