ch 3 - unpleasant encounter

Terri could feel the frown threatening to show up on her face again as she asked, “Are you okay?” When Kaiden didn’t immediately answer, she repeated, louder this time. “Kai!”

He quickly recovered. “Yes, Terri, what’s up?”

Terri pushed herself slightly away from the table. “What’s going on with you? You seem distracted.”

Kaiden sighed lightly and stood up. “I just can’t seem to figure it out.”

Everyone at their table had their brows furrowed. 

“What the heck are you talking about, Kai? I know you’re crazy, but this is absurd. You’re okay, man?”

As if just now remembering something, Kaiden nodded curtly and turned around, grabbed his backpack and left the cafeteria.

When he was gone, Terri used that moment to glance around the cafeteria again until she was now staring at the table to her right where three students sat, their attention focused on each other as one of them began laughing at something the others were saying.

Terri rolled her eyes. Did Kaiden know her? Why was he acting that way?

When she heard her name being called, she tore her eyes away from the students she'd been watching and faced Tyler.

“You need to figure out what is wrong with your best friend.”

Tyler squinted his brows. “Why do I have to figure it out? You already know how he is.”

Terri looked defeated. “Just - talk to him, please?”

Tyler continued to stare at her, his eyes locked in hers. And before he knew it, he was placing his right hand on hers. Terri looked from his hand to his face and made a face at him before he quickly removed his hand and cleared his throat.

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

Terri nodded before Tyler turned to the other guys who’d been quiet throughout the whole thing.

“I’ll see you later man,” he said to each of them as he shook their hands before finally standing up to leave.

~~

The gray curtains moved along with the unavoidable breeze. Distant noises could be heard all the way from his room even in his deep slumber as he turned to his left side. The only light illuminating the room was the lamp to his right side, casting the shadow to almost blend with the dim light. But where the terminator met was the fine line that creased his forehead as Kaiden grappled for something. It was only when the noise grew closer and the smell of burning leaves teased his nostrils did he manage to tear his eyes open and realize that he was holding the blanket tightly. As if seeing blood stains in his hands, he quickly let go of the blanket and turned to his right side. One look at the framed photo sent his mind in a strange calm as he picked it up and studied it like he'd done many times before.

The woman in the framed photo had his dad's blond hair, but Kaiden remembered vividly what his dad had told him when he was kid the time he'd questioned the older man about the whereabouts of his mother.

“You have your grandmother's dark brown hair. See?”

Alexander had shown him another framed photo of an elderly woman with hair color like his own. 

“But your eyes are those of your mother's. Brown like hers.”

Kaiden remembered smiling then, but the peace he felt then wasn't so forthcoming now as he laid still in the deafening silence. The noise had ceased now, but Kaiden wanted to get out. To be out of here. 

And so he did just that as he placed the photo back against the lampstand and got out of his bed, grabbed a shirt from the chair across from his bed, and walked out of his room.

~~

“Three steps at a time. Three steps at a time…”

Zara jumped over the ledge and immediately began teleporting, chuckling at herself as another Deer appeared in front of her. She looked around and looked ahead, noticing that the moon was still as bright as it needed to be. Then her eyes found the Deer again and she raised a finger.

“One second, just one - shoot -” she paused when she realized the ledge was tipping.

“Oops, we did that one wrong,” she said to herself as another round of chuckle followed. 

The Deer began walking away and Zara chuckled again. “Oh you got bored, didn’t you?”

She then pointed her finger towards the ledge; and a second later, it was straightening back up.

“Dang you missed it!” she said out loud, her arms spread out as she watched the Deer disappear into the darkness.

As she was about to repeat the same thing she’d been doing with her powers, her phone rang. Quickly, she stepped down from the ledge; and in one zeptosecond, she was on the tree where her purse was hanging.

Bringing her phone out of her purse and picking it up on the third ring, she began to speak.

“Hey!”

“Where are you?! You are missing the fun part,” Melina’s voice sounded in her ear.

Zara looked around before smiling into the phone. Her eyes furrowed when she realized where she was.

“I have no idea,” she said, biting her lower lip. 

“That is what happens when you just wander into the woods at the slightest noise. Can you trace your steps back? Gosh I can’t believe I’m doing this all over again when you are 19. Zara!”

At that moment,. Zara bursted out laughing. 

“It’s not funny! Why do you always do this?” Melina asked, but Zara could tell that she was on the verge of bursting into her own laughter. And as if she called it, Melina bursted out laughing too.

“No, seriously, Zariya -” Melina struggled to speak.

“Oh you sound serious,” Zara interrupted.

“Because I am!” Melina said, and then exhaled hard. “Okay, are you planning on coming to the bonfire?”

Zara looked around again. “Nah, I think I’ll just keep practicing. I want to show Zayn when I go home this weekend that I can harness my powers much better now.”

“Ugh you’re no fun.”

“Says someone who said I had a - what was the word you used a few days ago? Yes, zest. I had a zest for life.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m allowed to change my mind, right?”

Zara shook her head. “I’ll see you back at the apartment. Tell the others to have fun for me.”

“Oh please, like you need it.” Melina said. And Zara bursted out laughing again before the call ended.

Moments later when she felt like she’d practiced enough, she grabbed her purse, placed her phone in it, and began to make her way back out the same way that she sensed she’d come into the woods. But just as quickly as she’d taken her first step, she stopped on her tracks when she heard the faintest sound of inhale and exhale. It was subtle, but given the nature of her powers, she could still pick it up. 

“Oh Zara, don't do it. Don’t do it. Just head on back to the apartment, Z -” she closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, making a tight face as she turned back around and followed the faint sound.

It took her another few minutes before she stumbled upon an empty bench. Leaves lined the areas around the bench, but what surprised her the most was the smell she could sense, like a presence had been there just seconds before she spotted the bench. Sighing, she placed her hands on her waist and muttered to herself, “It’s okay that perhaps you didn’t get it right this time, Zara. Zayn doesn’t have to know this part.” Resignation washed over her as she was about to turn back around to leave when she heard the voice coming from above her.

She looked up to find the same guy she’d seen twice since school resumed, staring back at her, his brown eyes giving away a dim light that made the moon above them seem incomparable.

“Are you going to keep staring or answer the question?” Kaiden asked as he jumped down from the tree. And Zara felt her feet get more grounded. She shrugged, making him squint his eyes as he took a few steps towards her.

“Are you stalking me?” he asked her as he regarded her. She was more petite than he thought, from the times that he’d seen her. Her long hair looked way different from the Ures women he’d seen, with its shiny black making her dark skin glow all the more. He tried not to stare past her long hair as he cocked his head to the side.

“You think I am stalking you? For a Ures, can’t you tell that I was just having fun some feet away from here?” Zara asked as she cautiously looked around.

Her voice made him straighten up. And before he could stop himself, he said, “I don’t sense any powers from you.” 

Zara’s attention immediately returned to him. Then he continued, “If you had one, I’m sure you wouldn't be able to hide it. Unless you are just human.”

Zara surprised him with a laugh as she almost stumbled backwards.

“I’m a Santzan. I thought you would have figured that part out by now, smart guy.” She paused and looked away as she said in a low voice almost to herself, “Weird that I couldn’t really figure out your energy.” 

“You are a Santzan?” Kaiden asked, but when he saw the look she was giving him, he took a step back. From what he’d been told, and from what he knew, a lot of the Santzans had blond hair like the Ures, only that they were much slower in speed. But he’d heard that only a handful of them had dark hair, like the woman standing before him.

She nodded and held her purse more securely to her shoulder. 

Kaiden crossed his arms. “You have no business here then,” he said before turning around, but Zara immediately followed him.

Gritting his teeth, he turned back around abruptly and nearly knocked her down.

“Why are you always so moody?” 

Her question surprised him, and he narrowed his gaze. “What makes you think you can question me?”

Zara made a face. “What makes you think you are unquestionable?”

Kaiden raised two fingers to his temple at that moment and closed his eyes briefly before opening them back up. “Don’t be an annoying kid. Just leave the same way you came.”

Zara folded her arms this time, and Kaiden fought the urge to trace her form with his eyes; so he maintained eye contact.

“Well, if you were smart enough, you would know that I came from that direction.” Zara said as she pointed behind him.

He nodded and stepped aside for her to move ahead of him, but began to feel the annoyance almost consume him when he saw that she wasn’t moving.

“What is this?”

“I just - what did you mean when you said I have no business here?”

Kaiden raised his brows and immediately lowered them in irritation. “You Santzans are weak. But I thought you already knew that.”

Zara scoffed to herself at the words spewing out of his mouth. 

“Excuse me?”

“Just leave.” Kaiden said, already getting tired of the conversation at this point.

Zara stared long and hard at him. His dark brown hair had a few strands that had come to the front of his head, and his eyes had now grown darker, and she wondered how long they’d been talking. She wanted to open her purse and check the time, but she just shook her head instead and released a long sigh. Kaiden frowned when she then extended her right hand to him.

“I’m Zariya, by the way, but all my friends just call me Zara. You can call me Zara.”

Kaiden stared at her small slender hand, the way it looked daring him to take her hand in his, but he cursed the thought. So he looked from her outstretched hand to her face again.

“I’m not your friend.”

“It doesn't matter. But I’d prefer you call me Zara.”

Unbelievable, Kaiden thought. “I don’t care about what you prefer. Leave.”

Zara placed her hand back down and met his gaze again.

“Well, Kaiden, I look forward to us crossing paths again.”

He watched as she flashed him a smile before turning around; and before he knew it, she had teleported.

Forcefully looking down, his eyes fixated on the spot where she’d stood as a name rang loud and clear in his ears.

Zara.

{To be continued…}

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