Faceless

As I followed Laurie and Colden to the dining area, I was amazed of the enormity of the building. Even though it looked very industrial, it felt safe. There was a large hallway that led to my room and, what I assumed, were other rooms as well. I wasn’t able to count all the rooms but I did count up to almost eight rooms. I was scared to see the amount of people that I was going to be introduced all at once. Past the hallway was the entrance of what looked like a living area and across from it was a room that appeared to be a small kitchen. A few steps from the living area and kitchen room was the dining area. I had imagined a grand kitchen area filled with numerous amounts of people but what I encountered instead was a large dining table that had seven people seated around it. At the far end of the table sat Dr. Beth with her warm smile and beside her was an empty chair. Beside the empty chair was a little boy playing with his legs that hardly reached the floor. Next to the boy sat an Asian young man that looked as if he was around the same age as me and beside him a young woman with red hair. Across from her sat a very pregnant woman with a man who wore a stern face; I presumed that it was her husband. The way he had his hands over hers made me feel anxious as if something wasn’t right in the way he had his hands placed over hers.
“What’s a man gotta do to get fed around here!” exclaimed the Asian young man.
The red headed girl smirked and said, “A man? Don’t you mean a boy?” The pregnant wife giggled a little as her husband stared at them unamused.
“Well if I had help once in a while,” came a familiar voice from the kitchen. Out came a man wearing a leather jacket pushing a tray of plates.
“Hear let me help you,” the pregnant woman was about to get up when the husband stopped her,“No, he can handle it.”
The man pushing the tray shook his head, “Thanks Emily but I got it. Don’t worry.”
Colden cleared his throat loudly so as to grab everybody’s attention. I felt Laurie’s friendly hand on me as a means of reassurance as I nervously stared at the people who turned to look at us. The little boy cried out happily, “Adelaide!” but Dr. Beth tapped him gently and shook her head. He then became silent and slumped back on his chair.
“Oh great, she’s back!” growled the husband.
“Hey!” the man with the leather jacket responded viciously to the husband.
Laurie whispered to me, “He has kind of a grudge towards you because Adelaide kind of beat him senseless. But don’t worry he’s harmless!” I was surprised to hear that. The husband not only had a stern face but was also very large. I couldn’t see my body taking on someone his size but then I recalled Adelaide’s ability.
“Sheesh Mark! No need to be rude,” exclaimed the red head.
“Please hold your frankness Mark and treat our dear friend with respect,” Colden said. From Mark’s reaction I could see why Colden was the leader. “I’d like to introduce you all to Camila as she will be staying with us from now on,” Colden went on.
I glanced at Laurie but she gave me a look that let me know she still understood I had the option to leave.
“What a beautiful name Camila. My name is Emily and it is nice to meet you,” said the pregnant woman softly with the same warm smile as Dr. Beth.
“I’m Mark,” said her husband angrily. “Not like you didn’t know, though,” he faintly whispered. No one else seemed to have heard his remark besides me, so I quickly shrugged it off.
“Hiya! I’m Scarlett but people call me Red, obviously” said the red haired woman pointing at her head.
“It’s nice to see you Camila. Welcome to the family, again! I’m Ty,” said the Asian man with a sincere smile.
My eyes finally glanced over to the man with the leather jacket and I was able to study him more. He had hair that was not quite long but not short either. His hair was lighter than Colden’s. He had a stern face as well but at this moment, looking directly at me, his expression was soft. Everyone seemed to have fallen quieter when he introduced himself. “I-I’m Reed,” he said softly.
Laurie squeezed my hand a little and everybody turned to look at me almost waiting to see if I would react to something. I didn’t understand though. I knew this man had saved me and Adelaide before but was there something more?
He quickly found a way to change the mood of the room by saying, “Hey bud, you need to introduce yourself to her.” The little boy quickly got up from his chair and ran up to me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the empty chair next to him.
“Come on. You always sat next to me Adelaide! Oops, I mean Camila!” the little boy exclaimed eagerly. Even though the boy only looked as old as 6, he seemed like he was a very smart boy.
“Aren’t you forgetting something bud?” asked Reed as he began to serve the plates. Laurie and Colden moved their way to the empty chairs in front of the little boy and Ty. “Oh yeah! I’m Alex,” he said as he sat down.
I sat down slowly and Dr. Beth patted me reassuringly. When Reed served the plate to me, I felt that he was more anxious. When he finally finished serving everyone, they all proceeded to eat and chat normally. Reed sat in front of me and I could occasionally feel his gaze on me as I slowly began to eat. Even though I was practically starving, I couldn’t help but to eat slowly and only look up once in a while when I felt it was safe. I noticed that Red was the one mostly talking, or should I say mostly joking. Laurie seemed to make a lot of small talk to everybody. Ty goofed around a lot with Alex meanwhile Reed seemed to always encourage him to keep eating. Now that I noticed it, Alex looked a lot like Reed except for his eyes and hair. He was most likely his son.
“So, Camila, how are you feeling?” asked Dr. Beth. I swallowed what I was chewing and noticed that everyone else had stopped talking.
“I’m better. Thank you,” I replied softly.
“What can you do?” asked Mark mockingly. Laurie looked at him scornfully.
I was about to say that I couldn’t do anything but that sounded as if I was worthless. I soon found myself not knowing how to answer and almost everyone at the table began eyeing me.
“Camila does not have an ability but it does not mean she cannot stay with us,” answered Colden. I was relieved to have him answer for me.
I still felt a bit awkward so to change the topic away from me, I finally asked a question, “What abilities do you guys have?”
Laurie smiled as she was glad to see me interacting and said, “I can show you.”
Laurie placed her palm on the table and instantly there was a small amount of fire that generated from the palms of her hands. I stayed mesmerized at the fire and gulped as I knew that as each ability that was going to be revealed to me, I would be equally as shocked. This became apparent as everyone began to reveal their abilities. Red teleported not only objects but herself as well, Ty had amazing speed, Mark was able to turn into a ferocious beast that resembled a werewolf, Emily had the ability of invisibility, and Alex, to anyone’s knowledge, didn’t have any abilities at all.
“Let’s just say I’m precise,” Reed answered shortly. I didn’t quite understand but I didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask him to explain.
I changed my glance to Colden. He was already eyeing me. “And yours?” I asked.
Before he could answer, Alex exclaimed, “He’s like Superman! But not even kryptonite can stop him, right Colden?”
Colden chuckled and said, “Yes Alex. Camila, I have been alive for 110 years now.” I couldn’t help but choke on some of the food in my mouth.
“110? B-but how?” I asked stupidly.
“How does Laurie have her ability, or Mark, or Red? We don’t really know how it is we become like this,” he answered.
I nodded pretending to suffice with that answer but in reality, I wanted to dig deep into this, this thing and figure out how or why it happened. Mostly I wanted to do it because I wanted to help these people, who even though had powerful abilities, still seemed almost defenseless to the group that was hunting them down. I felt a sudden thirst for knowledge overwhelm me and with that came one of my first memories. I was standing in front of a building that read “University Library”. A few feet away were some stairs that were strangely familiar. They were the stairs I fell from!
The look I had on my face must have resembled my emotions of recalling this event because Colden suddenly asked, “Is there something wrong?” I didn’t know if it was the right to inform them so I simply smiled and shook my head.
With this new found thirst for knowledge and the need to help these people, I had made my decision. “I will stay,” I simply said.
When dinner had finished, I stayed behind to help clean up with Laurie, Emily, and Dr. Beth. Red and Ty had gone out with Colden to get more supplies, Mark had already gone to bed to avoid frustration, and Alex was being tucked in by Reed.
“I’m glad you have chosen to stay Camila,” said Dr. Beth as she smiled.
I thought this was this the right moment to ask Dr. Beth in how I can help and how I recovered a piece of my memory when in stepped Reed.
“Dr. Beth, is it alright that I can have a word with you in the kitchen before you leave?” he asked.
I can tell that Reed was trying hard not to make eye contact with me. “Of course!” said Dr. Beth as she followed him to the kitchen room.
“Camila, like I said before, we will help you find the answers you need,” said Laurie as she picked up some of the cups and set them on the cart.
“Thank you, again, for everything,” I replied as I set the rest of the cups on the cart.
“You’re safe here, Camila. Colden does his best to keep us all safe,” said Emily reassuringly with a smile as she rubbed her belly.
I smiled and asked, “By the way, how far along are you?”
Emily smiled widely as she lovingly continued to rub her belly, “I’m about six months.”
We finished loading the cart promptly and as they stayed back to finish wiping down the table, I decided that I should take the cart to the kitchen. I stopped a few feet away from the kitchen entrance as I heard the raised voice of Reed.
“We need to find out what happened to Adelaide. She couldn’t have just disappeared,” he said angrily.
“I understand your need to find out what happened with her, Reed, because you did love her but Adelaide is not Camila and vice versa. From what I’ve seen, Camila suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder and Adelaide might have just been one of her personas. Camila is in fact the main persona and as of right now, I don’t honestly think Adelaide will ever appear again. You are just going to have to accept that Adelaide is gone and that Camila is here. At least, in a sense, Adelaide is not dead as we feared,” Dr. Beth said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
Reed’s voice lowered as he said, “That’s bullshit! I don’t want Camila, I want Adelaide. To me, she has died.” Reed stormed out of the kitchen not even noticing that I was standing near there and was able to hear the whole conversation.
I felt awkward standing there so helplessly. Most of all, I felt guilt. I felt as if I had personally killed Adelaide. He had been in love with her. I couldn’t even imagine the pain he must be going through all because I’m not Adelaide. All the confusion and new information that I have witnessed so far had finally brought a headache to me and all I wanted to do was lay down. Dr. Beth stepped out of the kitchen and noticed me touching my forehead with my eyes closed.
“You should lay down, dear. We will finish cleaning up. You’ve had a long day,” she said.
I nodded and was about to walk away to the room I had stayed in when I felt the urge to ask her something. “One thing I have to ask. Is Adelaide truly gone?”
Dr. Beth looked surprised but then realized why I was asking. “I can’t know for sure but Camila, don’t worry about Reed. He will learn to accept you as he accepted Adelaide.” I nodded and had more questions to ask her but realized that my headache was more powerful than dealing with more information.
As I walked slowly to my room, I could see Reed in the distant entering the room right next to mine. I felt an empty feeling in my stomach. The word sorry came into my mind. Maybe I needed to apologize? But for what? I hadn’t actually caused Adelaide to fade, had I? Again, something in my stomach kept tugging me to go apologize. I breathed in deeply before going to his room and knocking. I bit my lip as I waited for him to answer the door. I was too nervous and had started to regret knocking on his door when he suddenly opened it. At first, his expression was that of surprised and somewhat hopeful. Maybe he thought that Adelaide had returned? I felt even guiltier when I knew that this possibility was slim.
“C-can we talk?” I started as my voice cracked. His expression quickly changed to unimpressed and a bit of helplessness.
“Of course,” he was still able to say kindly as he possibly could.
As I stepped in his room I quickly realized how different it was to mine. To start off, his was quite larger than mine. He had two doorways; one, I guessed, led to his bathroom, while the other one probably led to another room, most likely Alex’s room. His bed was also larger than the one in my room and the furniture was set differently as well. Here I thought that this building had designed all the rooms to look the same. He motioned me to sit on the leather reclining seat that was placed near the end of one of the corners as he pulled a rolling chair to sit facing me. This made me feel more awkward. I shuffled as I sat before I began to apologize.
“I-I feel like I should apologize. I kind of overheard you talking to Dr. Beth in the kitchen and, trust me I really don’t want you to feel-,” I started to say.
I could tell that what I wanted to communicate to him wasn’t coming out like I had planned in those few seconds as I waited for him to answer the door. Besides, as he sat there just plainly staring at me, his eyes seemed to intimidate me. I shuffled again in hopes that I could revise what I was trying to say.
His frustration with me must have finally peaked because he suddenly said, “There is no need to apologize. I know you can never be Adelaide because for one, she never apologized or shuffled as she sat. She was always confident. I know what you’re trying to do but today is not the right day for me to get used to you. I haven’t even mourned for her. Just leave, please.” I was speechless and couldn’t move. I felt a sudden emotion growing inside of me. This feeling was strange as if there was a burning sensation running the course of my body.
“Don’t mourn for me just yet, love,” said Adelaide as she got up from the chair and walked over to Reed.
Adelaide sat on top of Reed and kissed him passionately. Reed, unable to react any other way but to reciprocate the kiss, felt a sudden sense of relief. “B-but how?” he barely breathed. “That bitch wouldn’t let me out,” said Adelaide as she continued. “I missed those beautiful eyes!” exclaimed Reed as he picked her up and placed her on the bed. Adelaide’s eyes were a shade of hazelnut. That night, Adelaide and Reed made love more passionately then they ever have done.