“Oh, you know,” I sighed, thankful to be on my way home.
“ Actually, I don’t know.” Aunt Syl gave me a longer look, and I realized she was looking for assurance that I would be allowed back tomorrow.
“Well, I didn’t set anything on fire,” I smirked, keeping the exploding fern episode to myself. Aunt Syl smiled sweetly; she always put up with my sarcasm.
“Well did you make any friends?” she questioned further, very maternally.
“Um, yeah, one. Her name is Lilly Mason; we sit by each other in most of our classes,” I prayed she wouldn’t ask about the rest of my class; I had no idea what I would tell her.
“Well, that’s nice,” she paused, glancing at me quickly. “What about the boys?” a mischievous grin flashed across her face, and I couldn’t help but smile too.
“Oh, I don’t know…. There are some good looking boys, but they all seem too immature.” Kiran’s perfect face passed through my mind, but remembering his antics, I shook it out quickly.
“Sounds like high school to me,” she laughed, “So what do you want to do for dinner?” I realized then, that she was dressed nicely, in a light-blue short-sleeve blouse and black, pencil skirt with killer heels, precariously pressing on the gas. It was a nice change from the doctor’s scrubs she was usually in.
I sometimes found it hard to believe we were related at all. Aunt Syl, or Dr. Sylvia Matthews, was very tall, very tan, and very blonde. I was naturally tan as well, but only moderately tall. As blonde as her hair was, mine was black. She made me keep it long; she claimed it was something about my natural color and volume being a crime to cut short. I didn’t mind; at least I could hide behind it. Likewise, my eyes were black, very black; hers were crystal blue. She looked like the stereotypical California beach babe, and I looked like the Adams family. How we both could be related to my mother was beyond me, but since I’d never even seen a picture of my mother I guess I didn’t really know how it was possible.
“I’m in the mood for steak,” I sighed whimsically.
“Steak it is. But first, pedis, unless of course you have homework?” Only Aunt Syl would put a pedicure and steak dinner before homework.
“No, nothing I can’t finish later,” I lied; but honestly who really expected me to learn the entire French language in one night? I looked down at my beloved backpack filled with so many odious books. I had enough homework to last me several weeks; a few hours of procrastinating would not get me any farther behind than I already was.
“Great,” she headed in the direction of her favorite nail salon and I laid my head back against the seat and completely relaxed, for the first time all day.
–-
After a pampering spa pedicure, and a giant steak dinner at our favorite Omaha steak house, I sat down to what looked like hours, maybe days, of homework. Aunt Syl had been called to the hospital, as usual; I had the house to myself. Her on-call schedule gave me a lifetime of freedom; I enjoyed the solitude and independence.
My house, a cozy Tudor style, four bedroom, three bath, sat in the middle of one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Omaha. All of the houses, built in the same style, looked uniquely different. The tall trees embellished this part of town, and overshadowed most of the houses and streets of our mid-town, Happy Hollow neighborhood.
Although Aunt Syl made enough as an ER doctor so that we could live almost anywhere in town, she preferred it here, as did I. The neighborhood was safe and since there was only the two of us, we didn’t need anything bigger.
Sitting at the desk in my room, overlooking the street, I could see my yellow Land Rover looking back at me. I stared back longingly; one day I’d be able to drive it again, hopefully one day soon.
I was never the child that needed much discipline and Aunt Syl wasn’t the type of adult to administer much anyway. I did, however, lose my car after being kicked out of the third prep school; I couldn’t really blame her.
I rapidly tapped my pencil on the desk, knowing I should get to work, but lacking the will power. I did everything I could to avoid French; but I was running out of options. I did the dishes, even though we ate out. I worked through my yoga DVD twice and I even finished all the other homework I had, which was a considerable amount.
French was too overwhelming, and after just finishing Calculus, my brain was fried. Besides, I really needed a tutor. A pit began to form in my stomach as I remembered the students in my French class, mentally picking them off one by one. I learned from Lilly during 8th hour Chemistry that French 101 was an underclassmen class, and the majority of the students were freshman. So not only was I unable to function normally at school, I now needed tutoring from a freshman…. awesome.
I could ask Kiran…. or Talbott. My stomach tightened at the thought of asking either one of them for help. Talbott seemed harmless enough, but his devotion to Kiran was disturbing. The way he followed Kiran around and could be so protective of him was not normal. I thought of Lilly and hoped that eventually his loyal energy transferred to her.
That left Kiran. Barring the fact that he wouldn’t talk to me again after I threw him down the hallway with my inexplicable electrical powers, we didn’t exactly get along. Something about him both excited me and terrified me.
With swirling thoughts of all of his exciting and terrifying qualities, I drifted off to sleep at my desk. I couldn’t escape him; he was even in my dreams. Subconsciously I knew that I was dreaming, but there he was staring at me, as real as anything else.
He moved closer to me; instantly I felt the electricity coursing through my veins, but because it was a dream, it was even more intense. I turned and ran away, but he chased me. I could hear him only steps behind.
We were running in a forest of thick trees and uneven ground. In my dream, the night stars shone bright enough to light the landscape despite the thick canopy of the trees.
Although I was running, I wasn’t scared. I knew that I was running because Kiran wanted to ask me a question, and I didn’t want to answer it. But, he was too quick for me.
He grabbed my arm, and the force of the electricity from his touch pulled both of us to the ground. I found that we were now laying on our backs in a meadow, looking up at the million stars lighting up the sky.
I wanted to get up and run again, but I couldn’t. My limbs felt weak and although the electricity hadn’t left my body yet, a dull humming kept me very conscious of Kiran’s hand intertwined with mine.
My hair fanned out around me; I noticed that I wore the shorts and tank top I was in while I did my homework. A warm breeze swirled around us, lifting my hair off the ground and then laying it gently to rest again. I could feel Kiran’s eyes on me.
I looked over at him, unable to speak a word. I was transfixed to the ground, but it was not an unpleasant feeling. Kiran reached over with one hand, still holding my hand with his other to brush the hair away from my face.
“Eden,” he whispered in a hypnotic voice. “Will you please tell me what you are?” he smiled sweetly. I couldn’t help myself; I wanted to tell him what I was, because I knew that I was something, something different, even though I didn’t know what it was.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He leaned closer to me and I inhaled his intoxicating aroma, something earthy, something herb-like, but something sweet as well. He placed the palm of his hand against my cheek and electricity surged from his touch. The feeling was heady and overwhelming.
I wanted to struggle, to get away from him, but I couldn’t move. Someone was invading my mind, my soul, or both. The intensity of the pulsing confused me. I trembled under the force of it.
Suddenly a deep and commanding voice spoke, “Eden, wake up.” I lifted my head to see Principal Saint standing at the edge of the meadow, dressed all in black and with a terrible, foreboding expression on his face.