The Curiosity of The Enigmatic

Suffice to say I was extremely angry, for lack of better words.

“This...This is impossible!” I half shrieked, half hissed.

“How can it be when I’m sitting right here?” Eric still looked sheepish but his usual antagonistic attitude had returned.

“Okay then, let me rephrase that: HOW is this possible?” I stood up shakily; the bus was going quite fast.

Somehow I made it to the seat across from Eric’s and plomped down with my rucksack and pillow. I sighed and swept a few stray locks of hair from my eyes that had escaped from my ponytail.

"I'm going to the same school as you are, that's how it is possible," Eric said rolling his eyes.

I folded my arms and sat back not looking at Eric but at the trees that flitted by us. Strange, the way towards the airport was through the city and from what I have seen of it, the city is grey and dirty, not this abundant greenery.

But my curiosity got the better of me.

“So what are you in for?” I looked sidelong at Eric.

“You make it sound like we’re criminals,” he replied accusingly and closed the book that had been open on his lap. I caught a glimpse of the title, “Superman, fiction or not?” before he stuffed the book into his backpack.

“You are...for being such a liar,” I huffed and frowned pretending not to have noticed the book.

“Liar? I never even said anything-”

“Precisely,” I cut in but he ignored me and went on.

“This whole Academy thing is very confidential, you should know that already. They’re very serious about keeping it as much as a secret as possible. So what if I’ve been attending it? I had no reason before now to tell you so. You were obviously very normal until a while back...Weren't you?”

“What do you mean?”

“How long have you had the 'power' you have now? When did they ‘Awaken’?”

“Err...A few weeks ago roughly, I guess. My life’s been a bit busy since,” I muttered and looked away, and started to count the telephone poles that swept by us.

“I can guess.,” Eric said. There was a strange quality to his voice but I was too sulky to care. “How did your parents take it?”

“They didn’t know what hit them,” I continued in the same tone, nearly choking on the amount of bitterness.

“It didn’t go as smoothly as you wished it had right?”
I turned towards him about to yell at him to stop nosing into my business. But his face clearly told me he was genuinely interested in what I had been saying and the words of retort died from my lips. Besides I would be a huge hypocrite to accuse him of being nosy when I was so much worse.

“So,” I said. “What’s your...err...power,” I blushed slightly. It felt so silly to say it like that. It sounded like we were in a magic-girl anime.

Eric raised his eyebrows and said half amused, “You mean my ability right?”

“You know what I mean,” I replied snottily.

“I can’t tell you...”

I unfolded my arms and squawked, “What!? Why not!?”

“Not unless you give me a kiss,” Eric said trying hard not to laugh at my reaction.
I glowered at him. “You are not worthy of breathing air much less of being answered.”

“I was just joking,” he chuckled.

Suddenly, at that precise moment we passed under a cloud and were cast in slight shadow. In a very serious and creepy voice Eric said, “The school forbids us from revealing our powers until they allow us to.”

I rubbed my arms and shivered. Okaaay. No, that wasn’t dramatic.

“I wonder why they don’t...” I whispered and looked at Eric. But he had whipped out an old fashioned portable CD player with these huge ear muff like headphones and had proceeded to sit back and listen to some tunes.

I wonder why he just doesn’t get himself a new music player. But that was Eric for you. Totally unexpected at times and very enigmatic most of the time even for all his teasing and fooling around. You didn’t have to be quiet and moody to be mysterious.

I fell asleep propped up against my Minney Mouse pillow. And in the background I could hear the sound of “I can see clearly now” issuing faintly from Eric’s CD player.

I was jolted awake by the bus coming to a sudden stop . I hit my head on the headrest in front of me and moaned, clutching it for balance.

When I looked up I could see the driver, an intimidating man with a wild black beard and a cap pulled low over his eyes. Right now he was talking furiously into his cell phone but I couldn’t make out anything specific from the heated conversation. Obviously he wasn’t very happy at what he was being told.

Are we there yet?

I looked over at Eric and snorted. He was asleep with his pillow propped up against the windowpane and there was a clear wet patch of material right where his chin was resting. He was fast asleep and had curled up onto his seat. Obviously the jolt hadn’t woken him.
And just as I was about to stand up and shake him awake the bus jugged back to life, reversed at full speed, and did a sharp U-turn.

Eric woke up just in time to see me lose my balance and almost knock myself out on the floor of the bus.

“This isn’t a playground you know,” Eric muttered and went back to sleep.

I ignored him and stumbled my way to the front of the bus.

“Is everything okay?” I asked gripping onto the steel banister near his seat. My hands shook a bit and so did my voice. The bus driver’s appearance didn’t exactly instil peace of mind. He looked a bit like Hagrid from those Harry Potter movies. But I suspected he didn’t have the heart of gold that went along with the association.

He actually deigned to answer me. “Last minute pick-up. We’ll be an hour behind schedule so sit down and be patient,” he growled and I quickly went back to my seat.

Last minute pick-up? I was nervous enough as it was and now this?

I was just replying to a few frantic messages from my friends who were worried about where I was. I told them simply and to the point that I had needed to transfer to a boarding school suddenly and I couldn’t explain. I didn’t want to be rude but I really couldn’t say more than that.

I was just about to switch my cell phone off when the bus screeched to a halt (could he drive any more recklessly?!) and the doors swung open.

Two children climbed on, probably about my own age although they managed to look older with all their dark clothing and dark heavy makeup.

I was used to the strict dress code of my school so I wondered how these two would ever get away with such appearances. I have a few strange clothing obsessions myself but these two were in a league of their own.

They looked like identical twin brothers, both had chokers around their necks, heavily pierced ears, spiked Edwards Scissor hands like hair and tight fitting black clothing with a lot of zips, random buttons and buckles. The one had a hand painted T-shirt on that read, in messy red paint, “I see dumb people.”

I found that quite creative actually and the one wearing it had the decency to smile and nod in my direction before sitting across from his twin near the front seats.

But I sat stunned, not having had the courage to smile back. The guy had had no pupils. Nothing. Zilch. Niks. Just milky white eyes.

I sank down further into my seat and pulled my pillow over my head. What have I gotten myself into?