Chapter 3 He is my teacher
Naomi
He stood stark naked, his back to me. The moonlight penetrating the trees, slid over the hardlines of his naked body.
"Come closer, Noami."
My head snapped. How did he know my name? This was our first time meeting.
"H...how did you know my name? And why are you naked and standing in this forest all by yourself?"
Although my mind told me this was dangerous, I couldn't help but take cautious steps towards him.
"Don't you want to come find out?" He demanded, his voice holding a low mockery sound.
Of course I wanted to find out what he was doing in this dark forest.
I took another step forward, but froze when a black stream of water, like coal, cut between us; its current was violent enough to drag me under if I moved again.
My head rose from looking at the water to tell him that I couldn't come over, because of the water. But he was not there anymore.
No boy, no moon, just a dark forest.
“Are you there?” My eyes frantically searched the dark. My hands shot to find support on anything. There was nothing. I was met with heavy silence.
My heart leaped when something crashed next to me.
The forest vanished, my eyes flickered to the spinning blue fan above my bed.
My hand moved to my eyes and I rubbed them. I was in my room.
This was the second time I'd had this dream. I never get to see his face. I shook my head and slid out of bed. It was just a dream.
My hand reached out under the pillow behind me. I brought out my phone to check the time.
8: 30 PM.
I wanted to go back to sleep, but my phone prevented it, chiming loudly in my hand. I sat up and pressed my back against the bed post.
I swiped it open to almost 20 messages from the Scourge group.
A tight lump formed in my throat at the sight of Calix's name. She made me do it. She made me kill them. She locked me in the bathroom and left without even caring about what might happen to me. She left!
I bit my bottom between my teeth and stared at the message. I didn't know how, but she would definitely get her karma.
Calix: “I heard a new teacher would be replacing Mr. Colton.”
My brows rose at the message. A new teacher? Did something happen to Mr.Colton? Was that why he hadn't been coming to school? He was our physical education teacher.
Marshall: “ He better be handsome like Mr. Colton.”
Marshall was one of Calix's friends, although they were rarely seen together.
Calix. “ We can't say that until we see him.”
It was just Calix and her friends texting. She had locked the ground and made herself and her friends the administrators.
Calix. “I'm already rooting for him, Marshall. You should stay off.”
Archer. “Calix, you always get them.”
Archer added a sad face emoji at the end.
I let out a sigh and exited the group.
I had heard that she and Mr. Colton had a thing going on and that she had been the one to approach him first. I guess the man didn't have a choice but to accept. Her father owned the school. She could do whatever. Maybe Mr. Colton left because of her.
It would not surprise if she already had some information of this said teacher who would be replacing Mr. Colton.
Ma'a worked as a cashier at a warehouse in Miamo; the economic city of Teran. She always came back home at 11: 00 PM. I still had some time to lie down and collect my thoughts before she came home. I needed to apologize for what I had said. It was senseless of me.
I laid on my side, my right hand reaching out to my legs to bring the duvet up to my shoulder. I paused, when a familiar scent captured my nose. The smell of earth after it rains. Petrichor. Strong, intoxicating. Alluring.
Forgetting the blanked, I stood up and dashed to the door. Without bothering to put on any shoes, I swung the door open and hurried down the stairs.
This might be my chance to find out whom the scent belonged to. What it belonged to and why was it tormenting me like this?
It came from the woods behind the house. There was a full moon high up in the sky. It illuminated the earth, casting dark shadows of the trees on the surface.
As if the scent noticed I was there, it began to fade. My body felt itchy as though a million ants were crawling on my skin, pushing me to trace it.
I wanted to go, to find it. Yet, I knew how dangerous it was at this time of the night. I shook my head and decided to go back inside.
I turned to leave, but it felt like someone pushed me from behind. My feet stumbled and I fell with my butt on the grassland opposite the house.
A groan left my mouth.
My hands reached for the dark, sandy soil beneath me for support.
A sharp prickled at my left hand made me pull away to stare at what could have harmed the hand I had been trying to protect. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for what I was about to see.
My eyes widened and my heart almost stopped beating at the sight on my hand. I lifted the hand up towards the light of the moon, to make sure I hadn't developed a fault in my sight. But it felt like that was just a provocation for what I was seeing.
The fluid-filled blisters seared like a needle stabbing under my skin. Then, the first glowed; a sickly yellow-green color.
I stood there motionless, transfixed, tongue tight watching what was happening to my hand.
However, I suddenly found my voice when the second blister started to glow.
A brilliant green, the kind of light emitted by fireflies.
"Ma'a!" A loud scream tore from my throat as I darted towards the house.
Ma'a had no idea what happened yesterday. I hadn't told her. I had only struggled to apologize.
She had accepted my apology and told me that I had the right to be mad and to ask her all the questions. I didn't have parents. The werewolves had killed my mother. She had no idea who my father was. My mother had gotten pregnant out of wedlock.
I fumbled with the pen in my hand. My eyes stared at the blank page of the book opened in front of me.
My thoughts were a blur each time I tried to figure out what happened yesterday. Yet, nothing was adding up. Was it another dream? Or hallucinations?
The noisy class went silent. My eyes moved to the door to see our disciplinarian at the door: Mr. Bechen.
He walked around like a lion and the students feared him.
He strode leisurely into class. His hands behind his back. His black eyes scanned the class like he was looking for something that was out of place.
“Well, I came to you to introduce to you , your new Physical education teacher. Mr. Colton took a short trip.”
He turned to the door. The students let out low murmurs. When he turned back, they stayed quiet.
“Mr. Rex would be taking you from now on, alongside Julian until Mr. Colton returns.”
A tall broad shadow casted down on the floor before the figure walked in.
He stood next to Mr. Bechen. He wore a coffee-brown shirt tucked into gray pants. He had dark rimmed-glasses on and his hair was in cornrows.
I tilted my head to his direction. He looked familiar. I must have seen him somewhere.
Mr. Bechen must have asked him to introduce.
He began to talk. I heard the voice. I saw the gap tooth.
My eyes found his face. When they did, he was looking at me.
The guy who asked me about Xylos.
The same guy at the ravine.
And now he was in my class.
Rex.