Chapter 4 - Them

My stomach turned and I suddenly felt a little sick when the words "welcome to campus" escaped her lips. Her platinum blonde hair, up in a neat ponytail, shined under the sun as she guided us through the yard, pointing out different parts of campus. A small name tag was pinned on her shirt but I couldn’t quite make out the name. I'm pretty sure it starts with a B though, so let's just call her that.

"Today is the activities fair" she said, almost sang "there are all kinds of clubs and groups you can join, so look around and have fun." I was just about to turn around and walk back to the dorm when Ash appeared in front of me.

"Come on" she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me with her. After I finally got her to let go of my hand, I walked beside her reluctantly. She kept pointing out different groups and I just kept grimacing, and walking off in the other direction. After a while, we sat down on the grass under a big tree.

"So, are you one of those mysterious, keep to yourself, kind of girl?"

"No" I said, looking at her; she smiled, revealing her crystal white teeth. "I just don't like people."

"Oh" was all she said. We sat in silence for a while. I know I shouldn’t have been mean to her when she was only trying to be friendly but I didn’t come here to make friends. I didn’t want to come here at all. I don’t want to be here. Ugh.

"I'm going for a walk" she said. I opened my mouth to say something, anything but nothing came out. Sighing, I pushed myself off the ground and walked to one of the stands. I tried reading the big sign on the back but my view was blocked by two girls in cheerleading uniforms. They both had blonde hair, clearly dyed, and those familiar bright blue eyes, shining in the sun. I had to hold back my eye roll as they smirked and turned, leaving me to stare at their backs. Rule number one, never approach any kind of stand.

Turning around swiftly, I forced my annoyance down but was soon overcome with another emotion when my way was blocked by someone and I, like an idiot, bumped right in to them. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, that someone was no other than the guy who gave me a not so pleasant welcome this morning. And to top it off, the cup he was holding in his hand was now completely empty because to my awesome luck, the incredibly hot coffee spilt all over me. I ignored the laughs as I tried to ease the pain.

"Sorry, that was my fault" he said.

"You think?"

"Let me help you."

"Just -" My voice broke as I looked up and saw the sadness in his eyes. He was genuinely sorry and even though it was gone in a second as his friends pulled him back and playfully punched him, it was still the most sincere apology I've ever gotten.

"Come on" said Ash, appearing out of nowhere, and pulled me with her.

We got back to our room and I dug through my suitcase for a clean top. Rule number two, stay far away from jocks and cheerleaders, as far away as possible.

"Don't worry, you'll get a fresh start tomorrow."

"Yeah, right."

* * *

Have you ever wondered why time moves so quickly when you’re doing something you love but seems to immensely slow down when you’re doing something you hate or can’t stand? Well I have. In fact, I’m thinking about that right now. I swear, every time I look at the clock it seems to move slower. I’ve been sitting here for the past twenty minutes, bored out of my mind, barely keeping my eyes open. Not to mention, I’m so tired I could sleep for a week.

I could still hear the professor’s voice, explaining Shakespeare’s Hamlet as my eyes slowly began to close, I could no longer fight the fatigue. It’s weird, English literature is my favourite subject and I could talk about books for days with no end but today’s just been an odd day. I feel so out of balance, so different, as if I was affected by something and my “powers” have weakened.

The professor began to write something on the big white board and I tried squinting my eyes to make out the words. They all seemed to blur together and soon became one big blob. I switched my gaze to the big clock hanging on the wall. I got even sleepier as I watched the time handles slowly glide from number to number. 

“Miss Beckett!” I slowly opened my eyes and wiped the sweat off my forehead. The blurriness before my eyes finally faded and I could clearly see the professor standing right in front of me. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out, it was as if I lost the ability to speak. The professor shook his head as he walked away and I slid down on my chair, hiding my face with my hair. Everyone was staring at me and whispering amongst themselves. Flipping my notepad open, I grabbed my pen and started writing.

‘I wanted to tell my story, so people would understand. But people are so difficult; they only believe what they want to believe, what’s easy to believe and what’s good for them to believe. I’m different, always have been. I am a reaper. People know only a piece of what we truly are. They believe we take people into the light, when it’s their time. They are not wrong, but they are also far from the truth.’

I stared at what I just wrote for a second and furious, tore out the piece of paper and crumbled it. Steadying my hand, I wrote ‘Them’ in big cursive letters on the top of the page. My breathing slowed down and all I could see in my head were those bright blue eyes. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it definitely wasn’t normal nor was it human. Maybe it was just my imagination getting the best of me, trying to create something out of nothing but I felt something, inside, and it told me that there was more to it than meets the eye. I thought back and I could see it clearer now, the way they walked, the way their feet almost didn’t touch the ground. It appeared as if they glided through the air, like some sort of Gods. I remembered the smirk on the bright eyed girl from the day before. At the time I thought she was just a snobby spoiled brat but what if they actually were superior to us. What if we... are not alone?