Blank: Chapter Three: Red

A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a bit short... but it ends in a good place. Comments are appreciated so I know if anyone is liking this story so far. :)  

***

            Waking up, desperate and anxious, I skipped the shower and dressed, throwing on whatever came to hand, not bothering to see if it matched, but it felt like a sweatshirt and jeans. I left Annie a note that I wouldn’t need of her driving services today, and paced toward the school. Being out so early felt unusual. There were only a few cars on the roads and me the only walker. I had to be at school before Sam-

Obsession…

 And being that he always found it so amusing to sneak up on me a few minutes previous to the bell, we never had the chance to talk seriously. This time I can sneak up on him and ask him the elaborative questions.

            I found myself at the school when I looked up for the first time, and decided to wait patiently for Sam.

Surprising you weren’t run over by an early morning trucker.

 My eyelids started to feel heavy and eventually drooped. I sank into a bench, and rested my head on the side. The last thing I saw was intricate patterns on flakes of ice and snow, plummeting towards earth without a care in the world.

Must be nice.

            “Eneile? Eneile is that you?”

            I unlocked my eyes to Sam’s angled face. His eyes fixed intently to mine, searching them.

            “Huh?” Dazed, I investigated my surroundings, unfocused, failing to remember where I was.

            School.

            My subconscious glares at me-

            “How long have you been sleeping here…?” he asked. Here… my eyes adjusted and a saw the wooden bench, then Airway Prep. Did I really fall asleep and trash my plan of surprise, ninja-style? Guess so.

            Nice.

            “Um, how long have I been out?” I grumbled, groggy and freezing.  I huddled into my sweatshirt and remained to lay there, unwilling to move. Questions tomorrow, sleep now. I don’t care if Sam was standing over me, looking curiously. Then, he heaved a sigh, and unclosed his arms around me, lifting me off the bench. “Come on, let’s get you warm.” His feet started for Airway.

            “Hey!” I said, the sudden movement forcing me to be more alert. “Put me down! I’ll walk.” Even though I enjoyed the idea of him so close to me, I didn’t want to be carted around like a sick petite puppy.

            “Whatever you say,” He kept towing my bag and his around his shoulder.

            “I can carry that myself.” I scolded him, my hands on my hips. I looked up at him, craning my neck.

            “It’s no problem, trust me.” He snickered. “Besides, this bag weighs what, a hundred pounds? It’s not heavy for me.”

            “For you, I guess.” I admitted as I stared at his muscular arms bulging through his long-sleeved shirt. Sam laughed at this and I smiled, but it was short-lived when I noticed Sam’s face abruptly revolve into a scowl.

            “Why are you out here in the cold? Eneile, its ten degrees at the highest. It started to snow a while ago.” Sam gazed at the gray sky. A few snowflakes landed on his nose and dissolved.

            “I…” I whispered, hesitant. I decided to lie. “Family problems…” There. Do with what he will with that. He nodded his head. Did he understand, or could he tell I was lying?

            Well, you’ve always completely sucked at lying, so…

            “Anyway,” I continued, “I need to talk to you,” I pulled the book from my bag he was holding and held it out to him with both hands, like an offering. “About this.”

            He accepted the book, and opened it, scanning the contents, and then closed the hardcover.  “What have you read?”

            “Well, most of it was nonsense, something about powers and Blanks. But I’m not here to answer your question. You’re going to sit down and listen to mine.” I push him down on the bench with more force than intended. I shifted my feet, leaving a dark streak in the snow. It looked like blood. “I want to know how you got those words to pop up on the page.” I said before he could answer, “What’s so special about this thing?” I dangled the book in front of his face. “I’ve been having strange dreams lately, they seem so real.” I tapped the book, as if I could pound out the answers. Hey, maybe they would magically appear on the page like last time. I rolled my eyes.

            Sam’s eyes stuck on to my fingers, speculating.

            “How do the words appear from no where? Invisible ink? What else is in the book? It’s thick see…” I opened it and flipped the pages in front of him, showing the blank spaces. What I didn’t know is that the things he was seeing on those pages were entirely different. “But there are no words on them, none at all, except for an unfinished paragraph, here at the beginning.” Do I sound insane?

            Most likely.

             Sam let out his breath in a huff. “You’re so full of questions. How do you have room for them all?” He smirks at me.

            “I make room.” I informed him. “I need answers and we have time.”

            “Actually,” he leaned his head toward the clock, “We don’t.”

Taking a quick look of my surroundings, I saw that the lot had filled with students and cars. People were even walking right by me, and I hadn’t noticed. The bell rang.

“How?” I shook my head, “Never mind.”

            “Do you want me to walk you to your class?” Sam offered.

            “No. We can skip school.”

            Rebel.

            Sam gives me a warning look that could set a rock on fire. He pads up the slippery stairs of Airway prep to the front doors and holds one open for me. I take it.

            “You seem to know where you’re going,” I stated, “Must know Airway better than me now.” We enter into the school, Sam clearing a path for us by glaring at anybody who’s looking at me.

            “I have an acceptable memory.” 

            “I can see that.” I say when he walks straight to my first class without my telling him where. “But Sam, I don’t think you’ve ever taken me to a class…”

            Sam simply shrugged, and handed me my bag. “I get around.”

            “Interesting.”

            “Good-bye.” He gave me a look that made me feel self-conscious and I blushed, I turned and ducked into the classroom to hide. I counted to five, then peeked back to see him wander away, glancing behind his shoulder every few steps.

            I didn’t wait to see him disappear, as he always did. I sat in a desk, staring at nothing, listening to Mrs. Foreman drone on about chemistry, with the occasional comment about her new cat Ms. Titters. Before I knew it, my class was over and I was in autopilot mode, gliding out of my chair and out into the hallway, taking the same path I use almost every day.

It’s astounding that there isn’t a tunnel engraved in the tiles from your feet.

My mind elsewhere, I wasn’t focused and staggered over someone’s foot that emerged out of nowhere.

            “Watch where you’re goin’ freak!” Shouted a girl. I had stumbled over her six inch Jimmy Choo’s.

 It’s beyond me how you’re still alive.

 She laughed though, so she was not annoyed, just having some fun. Ugh, maybe I’d buy some twelve inch Choo’s and trip her. I kept walking, but someone pushed my back from behind, making me drop the book with no title.

            “Hey!” I yelled at a boy I didn’t know as I bent to retrieve it.

            “Whatever, freak,” He smirked at me. I grimaced, sensing from the incident in Mr. Larson’s class, this wasn’t going to be a pleasant day. I had underestimated Melanie Godfeather’s social status. I was just lucky I left yesterday, before any of the Airheads had got to me.

            “Hello there, freak.” whispered a buff, unintelligent jock. He shoved my shoulder and then I was against a wall. “Glad I finally found you. Never thought you’d come out of your hovel.”

            I pushed back from the wall and started to run, but he grabbed my arm and forced me back.

            “Where you going, darling,” He glares at me and I noticed he was one of the guys who had shrieked like a little princess up in a tower when his desk had moved the other day. “That was some stunt you pulled yesterday.” He glowered at me, but seemed on the verge of laughter. He was enjoying this, I could tell as he tugged on a strand of my hair.

            “Pretty.” He said, “Too bad I’m going to have to let Melanie screw up your face.”

            I winced, and he laughed out loud as I fought back tears threatening to spill over. I raised my fist, getting ready to punch him if he didn’t get off me in about three seconds.

            “Get away from her!” My ears picked up an all too familiar voice coming from behind the menacing balk in front of me. Then, I heard a nauseating crunch, and the shadow over me flew away as I watched with quiet disbelief.

            Sam stood over the jock, who was grasping his arm and screaming so loudly there was no doubt in my mind the whole city heard his cries. Sam lifted his hand, about to deliver another blow, silver eyes sparkling and infused with red.

            “Stop!” Someone shouted, and I scanned my surroundings, trying to find the source of the hoarse scream. It took me a while to figure out it had been mine. Sam’s fist paused mid-way and he stared at me before his face melted when he noticed the expression on my face. The tears had overflowed, spilling onto my cheeks soundlessly.

            “Eneile, I’m…”

            The tortured boy’s screams drowned out Sam’s voice and he looked at the boy’s face, which was twisted in pain.

            “Get out of the way! Out of my way!” demanded the school nurse. For the boy’s sake I’m glad it’s not Ms. Whittler. She shoved Sam, but he didn’t even cringe, his eyes were still glued to mine. I ripped my eyes away to watch the nurse tend to the jock with gentle movements. I had slouched to the ground, staring at the scene through my fingers.

            “Ow! Ah!” screeched the jock as the nurse probed his arm.

            “Broken his hand in at least six different places, a bone in one arm is broken, the other probably cracked in numerous places.” The nurse told herself. She gave Sam a death glare that had me shivering. Sam didn’t phase. “You shall report to the principal’s office immediately.” Sam gave me one last look and then paced off, fists clenched, to the door. No where near the office at all. With a burst of intuition, I knew I had to follow him. I wanted to, but my legs wouldn’t move when I told them to. I told myself I would regret it if I never talked to him again, and my legs shifted from under me, shoving up as I called out. “Sam! Wait. Please.”

            He came to a halt, but did not turn to face me. When I caught up with him, I saw that his eyes were hard, bitter, and luminously red, with no silver at all.

            Point for Sam.  

            “You’re eyes… they’re…”

            “What? They’re what? Frightening? I hope so. Before long, yours will be too -soon enough.” He snapped. His stance was menacing, every part of him tense for a fight.

            Against who?

I take an instinctive step back.

            “What do you mean ‘soon enough’…?” I step forward cautiously, my arm slightly rose, as if to touch his, and comfort him.

            “How much do you know about me, Eneile?” He asked, his red eyes glowing, and my hand dropped in surprise.

            “…Not much,” I admitted, distracted, maybe it was because I kept my eyes down on my converse, staring at the soothing scribbles, quotes, and drawings etched into them, at least somewhere in the world there was reality. “I’ve only known you for a few days.” I added.

            “I’m-” He started, but the patter of running feet guarded in thick shoes interrupted an answer I was salivating to hear, and I saw Principal Burnley running around a corner, obviously rushing to the scene, or trying to catch Sam before he took off. Officer Harold was right behind him; hand on his gun upholster in a very official gesture that was threatening. “I’ll have to show you later.” He ran around the corner and was gone before I had an instant to react.

            “Wait!” I cried, too late. I ran abruptly in his path he left, tripping on my own feet. “Where will you meet me?”

            He abruptly materialized to whisper in my unexpecting ear, “I’ll find you,” I turn around to see Burnley and Harold, no Sam, an empty space where he had just been, leaving me only with a memory of his crimson eyes still blazing in their sockets.

End of Chapter Three.

A/N: OH DAMN! Didn't see that coming? Yes, Sam's eyes changed to red. If you want to know the reason... wait until the next chapter, or maybe the one after that. :)