Lurking In The Dark 4

I composed myself, my back straight. "Does it harm you?" I tried my best to copy the aura he could make as he speaks.

He shook his head. "It doesn't."

I caught him glance at the untouched food on my plate so I gave it to him, I'm not hungry. Then I disappeared to my room after I told him to wash the dishes. He didn't reply.

My room is spacious but I don't have a lot of things. I only have a bed, wardrobe, and a study table that faces the forest across the house. Everything is neat and in order just the way I like them to, and I always make sure it smells of lavender. Nuvian's room on the other hand was full of scattered clothes on the floor including crampled papers, which I was curious to read one and realized some of them were actually a love letter for a girl in his school named Lily Kaler.

I was not sure of who Lily is but once I went to Nuvian's school after he got into a fight and my parents couldn't make it because they were in Hashek for a business proposal. Then there was this short girl with elfish features who was very worried for Nuvian, so I guess that was Lily Kaler. I mean I don't care much about Nuvian's "love" interest but it seems funny to me because --- BOOGSH!

I hurried down the stairs, almost stumbling upon my steps. "What was that?" I yelled running to the kitchen to find Drev with pieces of broken ceramic plate on the floor. "You're gonna drive my Mom crazy!" I yelled again.

I once broke a ceramic plate and Mom made me kneel down on salt as a punishment, so I absently picked up the pieces out of panicked, hoping Mom wouldn't notice that another one was broken. She is sentimental and this was a wedding gift from her sister, who passed away a couple years ago, that's why.

Drev helped me. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Ok--" I pulled my hand to my chest as I gashed myself, I was too occupied by worry that I panicked upon picking the broken pieces. I checked my wound and hurried to the sink to wash it, I winced softly as it stung. I turned to Drev, he was gasping with his hands wrapped around his throat as if dying to scratch the inside of his neck. "Drev, are you okay?"

His arms kept him from falling off the floor. I could hear his breathing through his mouth. "I don't know. My throat burns." There were sweat beads around his forehead despite the cold air after the rain. He let out a throaty growl and dashed to the fridge, looking for something to drink. He retrieved a soda and gulped it down in short second. "I'm okay," he said, still holding his throat.

I rolled my eyes and went back to wash the gash in the sink. I bit the side of my wounds for pressure to stop the bleeding and when I made sure it won't bleed again, I went back to cleaning the mess. I eyed Drev as if asking for a hand so he helped me, gulping every second.

I caught glance of his hands, trembling softly, and eyed how visible his veins were underneath his pale skin. Bluish green and purple. Despite of his paleness, he doesn't have a freckle. Relis Schalbam from my hunt class has freckles sprinkled evenly on his nose and cheeks, I wonder what it would look like on Drev.

When his noisy gulping got into my nerves I exhaled loudly. "Are you really okay? Don't lie." I waited for his reply impatiently which he only gave when he was on the last broken piece.

He shook his head. "My throat is burning, I don't know why."

"Burning. Not sore? Otherwise, you would have sore throat and you could take a small tablet for that. It would go away." I took the broken pieces that he picked, careful not to gash myself again and threw it to the pit at the backyard that was intended for the leaves only. I made sure it will go unseen.

When I returned, Drev was sitting on the kitchen floor with his eyes staring at the cupboard door. He seemed to be thinking of something deep that I had to clear my throat to get his attention. He looked up to me in silence, waiting for what I was about to say.

"Uh." I fidgeted on my heels, uneasy of what to do. "Do you want to take the sore throat med?"

"I don't know. Do I have to?"

"No but nevermind, I'll get it for you." I didn't wait for a reply, I went to my bathroom where I kept medicines in a mirror cabinet, then I jogged down downstairs to hand it to him. He didn't ask for further questions, he just took it in.

He looked at me, his face crumpled in disgust. "It doesn't taste good." He spat out the tablet on his hand and stared at it with a frown. "Like lemon grass and dung."

I held myself from laughing, no way I would let myself get along with him. "Idiot. You take it with water."

"But you didn't say."

"I thought you're one of those psychos who take meds without water."

After he was finally able to take in the tablet, I did the dishes instead and he went to the living room to watch the television. He doesn't know how to wash the dishes. When I took the work from him, the plates were a mess. I asked him why there was still blue washing liquid on the plate and he said that it was to keep the fragrance. He didn't even know that there was supposed to be bubbles involved in this work.

"Grassi?" A voice called. I turned, holding a soaped plate with my hands full of bubbles. Drev is standing with the remote on his hands. "How do you turn on the thing?" He asked, jerking the remote to the direction of the living room.

I sighed, wiped the bubbles off my hand with the back of my jeans, and took the remote from him. "You have to plug it first, okay?" Then I demonstrated. "Just make sure you don't touch the metal part of the plug," I added when I remembered I once told Nuvian to plugged on the TV and he got electrocuted, it wasn't that serious. "And on." I clicked the red button of the remote and handed it to Drev as the TV flicked and an old actress appeared on the screen.

"Res." A small smile crawled out from his lips. His smile always looks like a sad one, like the one you give to someone who lost a family member and you smile in sympathy. "Thank you in Tualian," he added when I frowned in confusion.

"You speak Tualian?" I asked, trying my best to sound bored and unsurprised.

He glanced at the screen as it played an upbeat music from an advertisement, then he turned to me again with his head bowed down, looking down on his fidgeting fingers.

"Yes," he replied. "I didn't know I could, it suddenly popped out that I know how."

My school will start within two days and last week I received my class schedule together with the requirements. I have Tualian for my language class and I have even bought the required book for the class so I felt excited when I found out he knows Tualian. Maybe I could ask help from him, make use of him as he lives with us, right? It's negotiating.

"You learned it?" And I felt stupid because he didn't reply, reminding me that he doesn't remember everything.

He glanced at the TV. "Can I have that video please of a girl with short hair and weird teeth and a guy who drives nice car?"

I took the remote as he handed it and I flicked to the channel of the show he was talking about. "It's called show, not video. I mean, yeah, it is a video but anyways, the title is Hamster Ville." I handed back the remote then he said "Res" again before taking a seat on the couch.

His eyes were instantly glued to the channel and I thought, that was it for today so I went back to the kitchen to continue washing the dishes.

It was around seven in the night when my parents asked me to show Drev to The Focus as part of showing him around the town. At first I protested but Dad promised me he will let me go with them to Eutle to deliver oranges tomorrow so I agreed since Eutle was a very nice place. They had big fields of sunflowers that I always wanted to go to but the trips were always cancelled due to important school projects that I had to finish in time. I prioritized my studies over trips after all.

I wasn't sure why the place was called The Focus, but anyway, it was a big land surrounded by clustered trees that formed into a circle like it was meant to be planted there a long time ago just to give shape to the place. It was a big one, like an Atruf stadium. And there usually go hundreds of families on weekends to watch the night sky together.

Before the clock hits ten, there were activities like movie marathon - a movie projected on a large white cloth while the viewers sit on each of their own picnic setups they prepared and eat and so. After the movie was a big bonfire participated by everyone where you could make new friends or talk to a stranger about your whole life which to be honest I so much prefer, as long as you make sure you wouldn't meet the stranger again because that would be awkward.

It was the three of us - Nuvian, Drev, and I. But Nuvian excused himself in the middle of the movie to sit with his friends but when I followed him with my gaze and watched him excused and apologized for blocking the view, he stopped beside a girl and sat with her.

I shook my view, amused of what happened then I returned my attention to the movie. I glanced at Drev, his expression was unreadable but I thought I should at least say something. "What do you think of the movie?"

His eyes glittered as it reflected the lights coming off from the screen, oblivious of the stares from the girls next to our setup. They were giggling to each other and I was girl enough to know that they were talking about Drev, looking at the way they whisper to each other's ears as they steal glances at his face.

"It's sad," Drev answered but he seemed not to mean it, his tone was lifeless and bored. "You didn't tell anything about this place."

So I told him everything I know about the place including what I don't know (why it was named The Focus). When I was finished he didn't react, he just stared at the screen with dead eyes though there was a hint of wonder. And when I asked him if what I said was enough, he nodded and stretched his neck to stare at the sky. His adam's apple and slender neck were pronounced and maybe it was attractive because the girls stirred louder giggles.

"I can't wait for the movie and bonfire to end so we could just look at the stars."

"Uh-huh," I hummed to agree. I said in lower voice, "If those girls didn't think I was your girlfriend, they'd be talking to you already." I hid a finger, pointing at the giggling girls. "No, don't look!" I hissed in whisper when he turned at them for a moment, causing the girls to elbow at each other.

Drev didn't throw a flirtatious glance nor a smile at them. He just frowned at me. "Girlfriend?" Then the corner of his mouth turned up slightly and neither of us talked again because the movie had ended and it was time for the bonfire.

Drev stayed by my side like a kid throughout the bonfire. The giggling girls were just behind us and I could hear their whispering about joking of saying "hi" to Drev, but they were still hesitating due to my presence which made me laugh manically in my mind. I was familiar with the behaviour for I had done it with my friends so I came to understand the girls.

"Aren't you gonna make new friends around?" I asked, watching people create a bond with just shared drinks and friendly smile. I glanced around for Nuvian but failed to find him and just let him slip off my mind since he was old enough to go home alone.

"How about you?"

Of course, I didn't talk to anyone I didn't know since I don't have a problem to be spilled out and I wasn't desperate enough to make friends. Or maybe because I had been here when I was around ten and I made friends with a couple of kids and they borrowed my wand thing and never returned it. Though there were guys more charming than Relis Schalbam in different ways - in a hot, goofy, or cute way - I didn't approach or joined in the group of girls who were swarming around them. It was no surprise while lots of teenagers love to go to The Focus.

After what felt like years of hesitance from the girls they finally talked to Drev when I went out for a moment to pee. I could feel the observing gazes on my back as I made my way to the comfort room. When I came back they quickly scrambled away with an alarmed look, which left me with a smile on the face as I watched them returned to their spot and I sat next to Drev who was frowning at the girls behind over his shoulder. I found the whole situation funny so I just let them assumed that Drev was in a relationship with me.

"So what did they say?" I said, tossing chips at him that I purchased on my way back. The comfort room was located outside the circular perimeter of the trees and nearby were several food stores. Like popcorns, taco, burritos, mostly fast foods, et cetera.

"I don't even know what they're talking about," he said, chewing loudly and looking at the package of the chips and turning it around with a look of surprise. "Wow, this is good. What type of food is this?"

He didn't seem to see me frowned at his remark because my face was covered with my hand as what I did to keep the heat of the bonfire from roasting my face. "Uh, junk food?" It came out as a question because I wasn't sure of what to answer, maybe he was asking if either it was a healthy or an unhealthy food. Everyone knows that it was junk foods but not everyone knows that junk food is unhealthy especially kids. Which unfortunately, he feels like one although he looks okay enough to be a teenager.

He nodded. "I love it." It started as one-by-one but then he started shoving a mouthful of the chips and chewed them with his cheek bulged. I just watched him in surprise since he didn't eat like that at the table. Oh well, maybe we all have a monster to a certain food. When he had swallowed the chips he said, "So what is number?"

The guy beside me left so I moved farther from Drev. Most of the people were singing songs with the two guitarists of identical lengthy beard, they were sitting right across us and by now few woods were removed from the bonfire to reduce the life of the fire. I was guessing it was almost ten so sooner they would completely put it out.

I answered, "One, two, thr ---"

He cut me off. "I mean yes, I know what numbers are. But what do they mean when they asked if they could have my number?"

"Oh, telephone number. And what did you say?" I asked. We only have one telephone in the house and it was for business matters so he better say he didn't have a telephone. It wasn't like he knows what our telephone number was and clearly he didn't even know what a telephone was, just like his ignorance of the TV.

He shrugged. "Telephone?"

"Ask Nuvian when we get home."

He nodded. "Well, I told them it's 16." He eyed the crowd, I assumed he was looking for Nuvian which now I had found and was now talking with his friends. Silly, they all have the same hairstyle.

I chuckled. "What?" I looked at the girls, they had given up stealing glances from Drev. Maybe they realized Drev was actually stupid and wasn't worth it. "Drev, you high?"

He threw me a confused look. "I'm, high?"