I woke up in the worn infirmary bed, in the back of the Nurse’s office. The smell of alcohol and stale coffee invaded my senses making me wish that I was still unconscious.

But unfortunately fainting without effort was not a talent I had control over.

With no other weapon against the stench, I hid my head under the pillow and tried to assess my situation. Cain was now one of my teachers. But more importantly he was my Advanced Physics teacher. Something I seriously sucked at and needed help in. Not that I’m complaining, not much anyway. The old teacher Physics teacher was over 100 and would drone on and on without pausing to see if anyone understood her.

I groaned and burrowed my head even further under the pillow. I know myself well enough to know when I was trying to distract myself from facing the facts. And the facts were that I would now have to see Cain everyday and everywhere. Why are you running from your destiny? Some area of my brain questioned.

I ignored that voice and refused to believe it. Cain was going to be everywhere and I need to build my defenses. When I’m at home he would only be across the street.

Suddenly a horrible though flitted through my mind. What if he was a peeping tom stalker type? I prayed that he wasn’t it would be very creepy otherwise.

But he wasn’t always that impossible said a tiny voice from that annoying area of my brain.

Before I could stop it that same area pulled images from my childhood. I didn’t have time to stop the flashback before it washed over me, forcing me to remember.

I had always lived in the same house, the same neighborhood all my life. I knew all my neighbors and they all knew me.

And 13 years ago a boy not much older than me had lived across the street, in a big Japanese style house.

There wasn’t much on him in my memories only the lasting feeling of love.

There was only one memory that I could remember clearly, though.

In my memory the boy had no face only a halo of black angelic hair and hands that were strong and rough for a child.

I’m suddenly 4 years old again and crying hysterically

The boy is standing there holding my hands in his. I try to remember his name, but couldn’t, nor could I see his face.
Why am I crying?
Oh. The boy was speaking and the things he said made me sad, lonely, and loved all at once. That was a lot for a 4 year old to handle. No wonder I’m crying.

I shifted my focus to what the boy was saying.
“I have to leave for awhile but I’ll come back for you okay?” His voice sounded so earnest. If I could have seen his face I bet it would have looked honest.

Then suddenly as it had come the flashback ended leaving me breathless. Though the breathless part might have been do to the fact that the pillow had been covering my nose and mouth, smothering me.

I shook off the blanket and pillows; resurfacing only to find the curious and worried faces of Jessie and Lily.

I quickly fixed my hair and plastered a smile on my face. Lily placed her hand on my forehead. Her hand was warm on my ice cold skin.

“Um what are you doing?” I asked shaking off her hand.
“Checking to see if you have a fever.” Lily replied. She looked into my eyes as though she expected to find the answer there.
“Yeah you really scared us.” Said Jessie.

Lily, never the one to beat around the bush, asked “So why’d you faint when you saw Mr. Cavanaugh?”

My mind was racing. Oh God. I haven’t told them anything because they would have wanted to tell the police and I just don’t feel like answering all those questions. S*** what do I do? Wait. Suddenly I realized that Jessie had just said something. What did she say??

“Hey. Yo! Anyone in there? I asked if Mr. Cavanaugh was too hot for you. Talia?”

“Oh, yeah… maybe. I also didn’t have a lot to eat in the morning.” I said after letting out a shaky breath. Jessie and Lily accepted my flimsy excuse. They each helped my get out of bed, handed me my bag, fixed my hair and we went back to our normal routine. Lily lecturing me on the hazards of malnutrition and Jessie making funny faces behind her back.

And thus the danger was averted, at least for now.