Re: Her Guardian (NaNoWriMo)
Chapter 4
The blond-haired teenager was leaning against a streetlight post and holding his forehead in pain. He had made it a block from the school when another sharp headache had hit suddenly and he had almost tripped from the suddenness of it. The headache felt like someone was trying to bore a hole straight into his head. Or, actually, like they were trying to bore from the center of his brain out. Needless to say, it hurt like hell. I hope no more monsters show... up, Alex thought foggily. Those gray monsters from the school had shown up right after his first episode of pain. He prayed it wasn’t going to be a custom.
“Am I safe?” the woman’s voice questioned. Unlike before, it was unsure and nervous in sound. “No one else is here. Where did they all go?” Alex noticed that her predicament sounded extremely close to his. He went on to wonder if this lady was actually in Oakfield at this very moment. It wouldn’t surprise him... too badly. “Everybody in the library just disappeared... Should I just stay here until someone comes back or should I try to find another person? ...No, I’ll stay here. I’d look awfully silly searching for people.”
Library? Well, if she was in Oakfield at this exact moment, she sure wasn’t in Lakewood Elementary School’s library. In fact, she was probably talking about the public library. At least, that was the only library that would be open at this time that Alex could think of. It took a few minutes after the woman’s voice had disappeared for the pain to leave with her. The teenager let out a wisp of air, Would somebody please tell me what’s going on. Someone here has to be psychic or something. He pulled his head back to look up at the white-gray sky, knocking his skull against the pole in the process. It sent a small pain through but he barely noticed. Snow was still falling onto the silent town. However, ever since his encounter in the school, the silence that was pervading Oakfield had taken on a different meaning. No longer was it an empty quietness of a lonely person. The silence had taken on an animal-like quality that something was waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting person. Alex had a hard time not looking over his shoulder every five seconds.
Are you going to go to the public library? his inner voice asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered in a stressed tone, “Last place I went to after following a dream had monsters. And these... headaches aren’t much better than dreams.” He rolled his head forward so that he was now staring at his feet. Small tendrils of mist were curling around his tennis shoes. That struck him as odd. This town very rarely had any foggy days and the nearest body of water that could created fog was several miles away. Then again, Oakfield had never had a day were it was almost completely void of people. Regardless of the weird circumstances, a mist coming in that would further obstruct the town was bad news indeed. I suppose... maybe I should head to the library, he decided and straightened his posture, Though, I kind of wish I had a weapon just in case. Fighting off a monster wasn’t a great prospect in his mind but he supposed he would have to if worst came to worst and he couldn’t just run away. Stretching his arms, panic had away of making him cramp up, and started walking down the sidewalk, leaving his lonely footprint in the school. He wondered if monsters would be able to follow footprints and then shook the unsettling thought from his mind.
Alex Beelz had only managed to walk a little distance before the air changed. Crap, what now, he flinched, ready to run if anything blood-thirsty came at him. The change was hard to describe. Nothing was different, the snow was still falling and the mist was trailing around by his feet. But the atmosphere had taken on a foreign quality almost akin to a dream. The sound of feet soon accompanied. The teenager couldn’t believe what he saw. It was another, normal every-day person. He almost shouted in relief if he wasn’t sure the sound would’ve probably given the stranger a heart attack.
The mysterious person was actually a woman probably around five years older than Alex. She had long, red hair and green eyes that seemed to convey a mixture of fear and fascination. A long, black coat covered most of her form, hanging down to mid-calf. Below that, red slacks and black dress shoes could be worn. A gloved hand, a black, leather gloved that fit the contours of her hand tightly, pushed a bundle of flaming hair behind her left ear. Her face was enhanced with make-up, from her cherry-red lips to the perfect smoothness of her skin. All in all, this woman was nothing short of drop-dead gorgeous. When she had finally laid eyes on the teenager, she stopped in her track with a suspicious look adorning her face. “Who are you?” she finally asked and turned her head upwards with narrowed eyes.
“Uh, Alex Beelz. You?” he replied, his own suspicions of the woman rising as he walked towards her.
However, she smiled at his question, “Cassandra Newwells. I take it your probably wondering what’s happened to us.”
Something about her tone, which was a little too happy for the situation, threw him off. “Yeah, I am. Do you know about what’s going on.”
Cassandra chuckled and closed her eyes, “Something strange is all I know.” She opened her eyes back up and gave the 19-year-old a smile. He could tell right away that the smile was forced and that her answer wasn’t everything. She knew something more.
“So, what are you doing here in Oakfield? You live here?” he asked.
“Why yes, I am a resident,” her voice was rather seductive though he knew she wouldn’t be interested in anybody like him. She looked like the kind of woman that like men with money and power, to hell with love. His dislike for her was rising by the second. “I was just doing some Christmas browsing when... well, when everything went weird. The whole town is empty. In fact, you’re the first person I’ve run across.”
He nodded, “Same here. Though, you aren’t the first living thing I’ve passed.”
She cocked her head, “‘Living thing’? Oh! You’ve seen those strange creatures, too!” Her eyes brightened in fascination again, “I’ve seen them wandering around the town. Thank goodness they never noticed me. I wonder what caused them...” her voice trailed off.
Oh great, so they are wandering around the town, Alex groaned. He really didn’t want to see any of those gray things again.
“Say, what are you doing here?” Cassandra queried, narrowing her eyes once more at him.
“Likewise, I was just wandering around and looking at shops. I fell asleep on a bench and when I woke up, I was only the person around,” he replied.
“Really,” she confirmed and looked him up and down, examining him. “Well, I’m a reporter for the local newspaper. It’s my day off but I seem to have a more interesting story now than any of my regular work days.”
“Uh-huh,” he commented blankly. He really didn’t know what to say to her. Well, there was one thing, “Say, have you seen any ghosts around here?”
She gave him a confused glance, “Ghosts? No, I haven’t seen any. Are you telling me there are ghosts and monsters parading around in this town?” Cassandra’s face had now painted itself a look of intrigue. She even put her hand to her mouth and walked in a little circle while mulling things over.
Alex almost regretted mentioning it, “Well, they weren’t exactly ghosts. They... just played out a scene and then disappeared.” He purposefully neglected to mention the part where those memories had turned into monsters. She didn’t need to know that. He was almost thinking it was crazy himself.
She looked directly into his eyes, her green ones dancing with mischievousness, “Well, they say strong memories can leave a psychic imprint. Maybe that’s what you saw.”
“Oh.” Jeez, I already knew that. Well, that those were memories I was seeing. But, ‘psychic imprint’? I wonder if psychic stuff really is floating around in this town, know Alex started mulling things over much like the reporter.
“You know,” Cassandra added, “Several people have disappeared in this town before. Though, that happened over sixty years ago so almost no one knows about it. But, still, perhaps this has happened before.”
That tidbit perked the teenager’s attention, “People have disappeared here?”
She nodded, “Indeed. ...Well, it was very interesting to meet you, Alex, but I’m afraid I must part ways.”
Even though he wasn’t exactly enjoying her company, her statement still surprised him, “Part ways? But, wouldn’t it be better if we stick together?”
She smiled and chuckled at him like he was a kid that didn’t know any better, “No, I don’t think that would be the best thing to do. Besides, I’m actually interested in what’s going on. I think I might investigate this further. So, I bid thee adieu.” Cassandra made a little bow and then walked off. This time, Beelz didn’t make any attempt to stop her. In fact, he found her rather unsettling. Thought, strangely enough, as soon as she was out of sight, the air seemed to change back to what it was before, the strangeness gone.
She definitely knew more than she was letting on, he decided. The teenager had always had a knack for figuring out if a person was telling the truth or not.
Then again, you didn’t tell her everything you know, either, the inner voice stated, making him feel slightly guilty.
Well, I guess that makes us even, then, he rebuked, trying to lessen his guilty conscience. It didn’t help. Well, he had more important things on his mind than some reporter who was way too interested in what was going on. And those more important things consisted of getting to the library and finding out who was giving him headaches from hell and weird dreams.
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Word Count - 1717