Bite Me

I had spent the last two class hours avoiding all eye contact in my classes and the hallways. I hadn’t seen any sign of the Malums. By the final hour I was done fretting about it. I had art my final hour and art was my zone. Art was where I was always guaranteed an A+. It was my life, my love, my one and only passion. Art was my sanctuary. I was even on time. I introduced myself to the teacher, Mr. Hale, and was about to take a seat next to Skylar when I saw him. Michael. He was staring at me with that same exact expression of pure shock and fear. My fight or flight instinct kicked in and for once, I didn’t want to pick flight. I clenched my fists, and almost growled. I snapped back to normal when I felt a sharp tug on my sleeve. I looked down at Skye and realized that the rest of the class had already gotten to work. I blushed. That aggression had come out of nowhere. I needed a proper distraction for my hands so I grabbed a hunk of clay from the supply closet Mr. Hale had pointed me towards. I plopped it down on the table and stared at it intently.

“Speak to me.” I begged it silently. “Tell me what you want to be.”

And it did. That chunk of red earth was suddenly very alive in my hands. The mud had told me what it wanted to be, where it wanted to go. My hands moved in a blur as the figure took shape underneath my slender fingers. I felt stillness all around me, as if the world was at a standstill. Suddenly, a chill slipped down my spine and all at once I was very aware of my surroundings. My hair was pulled back in a messy bun. A few stray ringlets, covered in the red clay, spiralled out. The cold wetness on my nose and chin alerted me to the fact that I had clay on them and my cheeks were flushed from the excitement creating a new sculpture had caused. I could still feel the passion ebbing from my eyes as I slowly looked up.

The room was empty; a few stray students were just heading out the door. Even Mr. Hale had disappeared into his office. But not Michael. I knew because as soon as I looked up I found myself staring into his piercing eyes. His eyes were still streaked with alarm, but I could see a new emotion in them. Curiosity.

“Can I help you?” I snarled, my fists clenching again.

The curiosity in his eyes vanished. It was taking all of my willpower not to get up and sock the twat. Without responding, he picked up his bag and disappeared quickly. I sighed in frustration and buried my head in my hands. I had never wanted to hit someone as badly as I had wanted to hit Michael. I prayed that I wasn’t going completely mental. I felt a light tap on my shoulder and jumped up.

“Annika?” I looked into the eyes of Skylar. He smiled when I looked at him and then burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” I huffed. It had been a piss-poor excuse of a day so far. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Skylar anymore than necessary.

“Well…it’s just…here.” He thrust a little shard of mirror at me and then cracked up again.

I looked at myself. I had completely forgotten about the clay that still covered my hands when I had cradled my head. Now my hair was covered in the red mud. I looked a proper mess.

“Well that’s just bloody brilliant.” I mumbled before wrapping my sculpture in a damp towel. I placed it in the cubby clumsily labelled with my name in masking tape. I washed off my hands and grabbed my stuff. All this time Skye had been patiently waiting at the door for me.

“Skye, why are you still here?”

“I’m…waiting for you? That’s what friends do ya know.” He seemed perplexed by my question.

I grumbled to myself and stalked out of the classroom with Skylar at my heels. I was extremely confused. In Liverpool, I had never been one of the girls with a lot of mates. I had my absolute best mate William, but other than that, I mostly just flitted around with random people. Mainly I had acquaintances. For some reason, having Skylar as a mate was just strange.

By now Skye and I had reached the car park. He started walking towards a brand new Prius. I walked the other way silently, towards the town. I got about ten feet away from where I had left Skye before hearing someone call my name.

“Annika! Do you want a ride?”

It was Skye. Of course.

“No thanks, my house isn’t too far from here.”

“Are you sure?” He sounded almost concerned.

“Yeah. I walked here this morning.”

“Okay.” He said warily. I waved and pasted a fake smile on as he turned around and sped off in the opposite direction.

I started walking again, rubbing my temples in a circular motion. I couldn’t tell if I liked having these new mates or not.

I made it about halfway home before realizing someone was following me. I tried to shake it off. It was probably just my imagination. Ever since Da died I’ve been super paranoid about being killed. I walked a while longer before checking to see if the car was still there. It was. There was something familiar about this car though, as if I’d seen it before. I stopped walking and turned around to study it. The realization hit me hard.

“SKYLAR!” I screamed, running towards the car. It stopped and I yanked open the Prius’ passenger side door. Just like I’d known, Skye was sitting in the driver’s seat.

“What the bloody hell are you following me home for?!” I yelled, leaning into the car. Skye seemed surprised I had recognized him and stayed silent.

“I’m waiting for an answer.” I told him, still fuming.

“I have to follow you everywhere, Annika. I’m your Protector.” He answered at once in a robotic manor.

“What the fuck? Are you completely mental?”

“No. I promise you I’m not crazy and I’m not stalking you either. How did you even know it was me? I’m the best Protector around.”

“I just…look I can just tell when I’m being followed alright? Now bugger off.”

“I can’t, Annika. If I stop Protecting you and they get to you before you can be saved I’m stuck here for another century. It’s not like it’s my choice to be your Protector. I was just assigned to you.”

His voice was creeping me out. Something was off about it. It was too formal, too rehearsed. And his posture was all wrong. It was too stiff. This wasn’t the Skye that I had left in the parking lot just 10 minutes ago. Something was wrong.

“Okay, look here ya wanker, I don’t need protecting. I’m a big girl, I can tie my own trainers and everything. What do you think is going to happen to me anyway? Because right now I see two scenarios: scenario one, you’re completely and totally off your rocker or scenario two: there is something major going on and you’re not telling me because you’re a prat.”

“I can’t explain this right now. You’re not even supposed to know that I’m your Protector. You already know too much.”

Before I knew what was happening Skye had pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. It was just a small non-descript black square and at first I almost laughed. Then he shoved it under my nose. I inhaled without thinking and smelled something that couldn’t be described. It was like the air before thunder rumbles mixed with dead rose petals or something. I felt my body sag with exhaustion and I couldn’t stop my eyes from closing under the scent. Skye pulled me so that I was sitting in the passenger’s seat correctly. The last thing I remembered was Skye putting the paper back in his pocket and heading down the street I lived on. Then the darkness claimed me.