CHAPTER THREE: PAST AND PRESENT

Dreda was right. Something about the stranger made her a little wary of him. Back there on the field, when he’d gotten so close, she felt an unholy energy encircling him, the kind meant to shut things out. And his warning—stay away from me—was just so condescending.

Natasha never recalled showing any sort of interest in the cold stranger. She was confused why he would warn her off so sternly. Perhaps this has something to do with her bumping into him earlier. She tried to choke back her anger when she remembered that her phone was still broken.

She walked in through the front porch of the big bungalow into the lounge. There she saw her little brother knocking himself out on a video game. The moment he saw that she was home, he quickly tossed the control pad and trotted towards her, announcing her return with a loud scream. “Natasha is home!”

“Cut it out, Damien.” She smacked his head, walking past him.

“Ouch!” He held his head, frowning at her. “What did you do that for?”

“Oh, please! Not now, Damien.” She said and left the room.

Just as she was about to enter her room, she met William at the passageway. “Hi, dad,” she greeted, forcing a weak smile.

“Natasha.” A line appeared between his brows. “You don’t look well. Is everything okay?” He cupped her cheek, checking her temperature.

“I had a terrible day, that’s all.”

Concern grew over his face. “Why? Did something happen in school that I should be aware of?”

“Nothing serious,” she droned, and was tempted to add, “Just some random guy who thinks he can make my life miserable.”

He squinted at her uneasily. “Is someone bothering you in school?”

“No, no. Not at all.” She wore a smile to keep him from worrying. “If a guy was bothering me, you’d be the first to know about it, and besides, nothing I can’t handle.”

Natasha didn’t want to stick around before he continued with his grill. “Got to change up now, dad. See you at dinner.”

She turned the knob back down and quickly dashed into her room, closing the door behind. She latched the door and shifted her weight against it, sighing heavily. Then she threw her bag on the wooden table across the room and kicked the shoes off her feet.

Natasha fell on the bed effortlessly and turned to face the ceiling, and exhausted, she fell into a restless sleep. Fifteen minutes into the nap, Natasha came awake to the sound of her phone ringing. Her eyes opened blearily, and she groaned curse words not so loudly.

She ignored it and returned to sleep, but the phone remained persistent and continued ringing, unwilling to stop until she answered. Slowly opening her eyes, she turned to her side, staring in frustration at the phone buzzing on the nightstand.

“Christ, what does a girl have to do to get a good sleep around here?” she muttered under her breath as she rolled over the bed to pick it up, pissed at whoever was calling. She checked the caller ID and saw that it was Madelia.

“Some of us are trying to catch some sleep, you know,” she tattled as soon as she answered.

“His name is Kevin,” came the reply.

“What?” Natasha asked, momentarily confused.

“The stranger. His name is Kevin.”

“Oh my God, Madelia?” Natasha recoiled in shock. “The day is barely even over and you already know his name?”

“I figured it wouldn’t bite to know his name,” Madelia chuckled, “Especially after what he did today.”

Madelia was 21, only a year younger than Natasha was, yet didn’t act her age. She lived with her mom on the outskirts of the city, and didn’t talk much about her dad. Natasha wasn’t even sure if he was dead or alive, and it had never bothered her to ask.

“Are you alright, Natasha?” she suddenly asked.

Natasha thought the question was condescending. “Why wouldn’t I be?” she answered.

“After what had happened back there on the field, I was really worried that you’d—”

“I’m fine,” Natasha said, stifling an eye-roll. “I have to go now. Your call is bugging me.”

“See you tonight.” She hung up.

Natasha threw her phone on the table and went back to bed. Closing her eyes for a few minutes, she drifted to sleep.

###

After he got off, he watched the Jetta drive off until it disappeared into the next street. Then he walked up the mini-stairs sitting on the facade of the manor condo. Each step he took towards the door brought back painful memories—memories he longed so much to forget.

He could still hear the loud screaming in his head, the sound of blood dripping, flesh tearing, and painful sobbing. The flashbacks stopped when he reached the door. Slowly raising a hand to the doorknob, he closed his eyes, and the final painful scream of the girl he’d once loved filled his head. Even though his eyes were shut, the tears still flowed through.

It was almost a year since she had been murdered, but the memories made it feel as though it happened just a few days ago. The tears in his eyes blurred his vision, and he wiped them off with his arm.

He twisted the knob and pushed the pewter grey door, revealing a dark room filled with a dead light. The room inside was large and gave off a distinctly dusty smell of an old cabin. He stepped inside and dropped his haversack on the table before proceeding to turn on the light.

“You took long enough,” came the deep voice of an elderly man from the shadow.

He turned on the light, and the room became flooded with fluorescent light, revealing the face of a man in his late sixties, who sat on the couch across the room. His eyes were fixed on him. “What kept you?”

“You asked that I should go out there and socialize,” he answered without a glance at him. “Make new friends, you said, and so I did.”

He glanced at his watch. “You’ve been gone for sixteen hours. Where have you been?”

“I got myself enrolled in a college downtown.”

His brows drew together. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to go out, socialize, and get yourself some new friends.”

“What exactly did you have in mind when you asked that I go out there and socialize?” he asked, glaring in defiance. “You know what, Cedric? I’m done listening to you. I’m tired of letting you decide how I live my life.”

“You should as well be tired of me saving your ass all the time,” he said. “The last time you refused to listen, you almost lost your life, and my house was burnt to ashes. I lost everything.”

He noticed that Cedric’s eyes made a repetitive, uncontrolled movement as he spoke—that was nystagmus kicking in. It happened whenever Cedric was either angry or emotionally stressed. Right now, he’s feeling both.

Kevin felt his angry heart crumble. “I’m sorry.” He lowered his head, staring down at the floor. “—for what’d happened back then.”

“You’re always sorry, but you never learn. You know perfectly well that we left Fallout City for this one to stay under the radar. If this city discovers what we are, we’ll burn for sure,” he berated him. “Enrolling yourself in this college all in the name of socializing—” he paused, his lips trembled as words tried to form in his mouth. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Kevin placed a thoughtful hand on his shoulder and forced a smile, bringing himself down to Cedric’s height. “He killed Loretta right in front of me, and he almost got me too. He burnt your house to the ground and killed everyone we ever cared about. What more do we have to lose? We have nothing more to fear from T-Murek.”

Kevin lost the will to keep the smile on his face, so it just faded. “Enrolling in this college is just a minor distraction I’d found to make me forget about her. I’m sure you understand.”

To be honest, Cedric wasn’t sure he understood. “Just be careful not to make any friends—unless you want to watch them die miserably, the way she did,” he warned.

Stay away from me.

The warning he’d given to Natasha still echoed aloud in his head. He wasn’t pleased with his earlier abruptness, but it was necessary to keep her away, especially if she was planning another apology. He had to make it clear that she cannot be around him. No one can.

He let out a disappointed sigh as he turned to look at Cedric over his shoulder. “I know!” he answered finally, walking away into his little room.

He pushed the door, and it opened, swinging into the darkness of his room. As he stood in the doorway, examining his dark, silent room, the pitch darkness brought back unpleasant memories. Visions of the past slipped into his consciousness.

He opened the door to his old darkroom and observed a mistily human figure watching him from the shadow far across the room. He neared for a closer view. Slipping his hands into the pocket of his jacket, he pulled out his phone and turned on the light. He was startled when the light fell on the face of a masked figure standing in the corner. It held a shovel in its hand, gazing at him coldly. Kevin opened his mouth to scream, but then felt the shovel slam hard against his forehead, knocking him unconscious. A thud sounded after he collapsed, and his phone scattered beside him. The room whirled before his eyes as he lay motionless on the cold marble. He felt a tight grip on his left leg as he was being dragged out of the room, and then his world went blank.

He had never been the same after that day—for that was when his troubles began. Kevin had developed a deep hatred for darkness after the masked man had kidnapped him from his room. Was it hatred, or fear?

Kevin reached for the light switch and turned it on, brightening the room. He took off his shoes and placed them carefully under his reading table, then threw himself on the bed. For a moment, he kept staring at the ceiling, then his eyes slowly closed, and in a jiffy, he was back to his horrible past.