Human (2 page)

"So?
You and I will live," he says. "It's a small price to pay."

"Small price to pay?" she
snarls at him, anger distorting her beautiful features. "How can you say that for our son?"

"Melissa.
.." He sighs, looking defeated for a moment. "Is it wrong of me to want you to live?"

"You don't feel anything for me! You care only about yourself! I should have known it." She closes her eyes and he leaps forward at her, grabbing her into his arms. She struggles, but his grip on her arms is way too strong
, and she suddenly feels dizzy and weak. She shouldn't have let him upset her so much.

"I truly love you, Melissa.
" The man looks deep into her eyes, and for a second she believes it. Maybe it hasn't all been a lie... Excruciating pain spreads through her chest like fire. She looks down and sees the hilt of the man's dagger; he has stabbed her straight into the heart. She has only enough time to look for the last time into his dark and unforgiving eyes. Then she falls to the ground, her empty eyes staring into the nothingness.

When I came back to my senses, I realized I was lying on the floor with my head resting in someone's lap, most likely Italia's. She was trying to move my hair out of my face. I slowly opened my eyes. What had happened to me?

"Ariel? Are you ok?" There was an edge of panic in Italia's voice. I blinked, trying to get up, but the world was spinning around me. Ok, maybe I should just stay down for now. A group of students gathered around Italia and me, the looks on their faces varying from amused and curious to annoyed and suspicious. One of the teachers was trying to get through to us, but that wasn't easy at all. I managed to sit up with Italia's help, and my eyes caught a movement behind the gawking students.

Devin stood there, holding the notebook I'd touched in his hand and waving with it, a knowing look in his cerulean eyes. Then he disappeared from view. There was something about him that reminded me of the man I'd seen in my dream. No, not a dream; it was more vivid than that, and I hadn't been sleeping. The teacher finally reached us and helped me up, telling everyone to go back to what they'd been doing.

A few moments later, I was lying on the bed in the school's infirmary. Italia had gotten permission to stay with me while the nurse checked my heart rate, blood pressure or whatever. I tried to find a logical explanation for what was happening to me, but I couldn't. Why would I forget someone, faint and then have a vision of some kind about him? And all that by touching some stupid notebook. No, this had to be simply a long and exhausting dream.

"Is Christina still sick?" Italia asked. "Maybe you got it too."

"Umm, yeah," I said. My younger sister was at home because she had the flu, and our mother didn't want her to get worse, so she was most likely going to stay in her bed for the whole week. I was no longer cold and I didn't really feel like when I had the flu. Oh God, what if it was something serious? What if I had some weird brain disease?

"All right, but you're staying here until it's time to go home," the nurse said, then she looked at Italia. "And you should get back to class."

"Yeah, right." Italia didn't sound too happy about it. "But I'm coming for you later, and my brother will take you home with his car."

"No, I can't..." I protested, but she interrupted me, squeezing my hand.

"No is not an option." She smiled and went for the door. "See you soon!"

I sighed in defeat. When Italia got something on her mind, it was impossible to convince her the opposite. The idea of going home by car instead of by bus was very attractive, but the thought of Italia's brother, Amadeo, driving me home was scary. I could already picture embarrassing myself in front of him.

"Do you need anything?" the nurse suddenly said, bringing me back from my thoughts.

"Umm, are there any new students in our school?" I figured she would know if she had done any checkups recently.

"No," she said. "No new students at this point of the year. It would be impossible to catch up. Unless you're asking for the beginning of the year..."

"No," I said, trying to keep my voice even. "I was just wondering. Thank you."

The nurse smiled at me and left the room. I sat up, my heart threatening to jump out of my chest, my hands sweating. If there were no new students, then how come I didn't know Devin? I slid off the bed and looked around the room. There was a big shelf with all kinds of books, medical stuff and files on it. Right next to it, in the middle of the white wall, was a huge AIDS poster and something about how to prevent it. I glanced at the door, listening for any kind of movement outside.

When I was sure the nurse wasn't coming back, I padded over to the shelf. I picked up a few files, inspecting them for a moment and then carefully returning them to their right place so no one would suspect anything. There was nothing interesting, only some useless files about possible diseases, warnings, prevention and treatment. I was just about to give up when another file came into view. It looked a little bit different from the others, its yellow covers fresh and untouched.

I opened it and found myself staring into Devin's cerulean eyes. It was his file, a small picture of his pretty face attached to it. My pulse sped up as I scanned through the file to find the date of the inscription. I froze. No, it couldn't be. The date was exactly the same as mine. I blinked, stared at the file again, but nothing changed. I couldn't have been going with him to school for three years and not remember him!

The file stated Devin's parents were Valdas and Melissa Teneroli. I frowned. Melissa? The pregnant woman I had seen in my vision? But she was dead and some weird being with red wings. There was no indication that Devin's mother was dead. It was just another stupid coincidence. It had to be, or I was completely losing my mind. Maybe it was time for me to find a lawyer and sue the school for all the stress. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

I looked back at the paper. Apparently, Devin's birthplace was Salem, Oregon, and that didn't mean a thing to me. The current address field was empty. Great, these files probably hadn't been updated. I returned the file back to its place and went to sit on the bed. Closing my eyes, I tried to recall as many things about this school year as I could, but none of my memories included Devin. God, I even knew some of the old exam questions, funny things people had said in the class, titles of different projects... but no Devin.

Was I having selective amnesia? Just thinking about it made me laugh. My life wasn't some movie where aliens visited our planet, kidnapped someone and returned them after wiping their memory clean. I was sure aliens hadn't kidnapped me. Except I wouldn't know it then, would I? Uh oh, and what if Devin was an alien and had everyone else under his spell? Maybe I should go up to him and ask him... and embarrass myself till the end of days. I sighed; I was most likely losing my mind. Yeah, that would be just my luck.

Italia and I walked out of the nicely warm school building into the freezing winter air. No matter how much I pulled my coat tighter around myself, I was still feeling like I had fallen into a lake covered with ice. A snowball flew inches away from my face, and I gasped, wondering why everyone seemed to love snow so much. Italia cursed at the person who had thrown the snowball, taking me by the arm and hurriedly leading me towards the black Honda Civic her brother was driving.

She opened the front passenger door, smiled at her brother and stepped aside. I must have looked completely shocked because she actually rolled her eyes at me.

"Come on! We're going to freeze!" She made a motion with her hand for me to go inside. I couldn't believe she was forcing me to sit right next to her brother. Not to mention I was already embarrassing myself by hesitating. Ugh, she was going to pay me later for this. I got into the car, and she closed the door, trapping me inside with her gorgeous brother.

"Hi, Ariel," he said, a lovely smile stretching his lips. "Heard you passed out. Nice way to avoid class."

"I wasn't really avoiding class," I said, blushing like an idiot. Luckily, I could blame the cold air for the redness in my cheeks. Italia slid into the back, placing our things on the seat next to her. In all the excitement about seeing her brother, I'd totally forgotten she had both of our backpacks.

"Sure you weren't." The tone of Amadeo's voice was telling me he didn't believe me. Oh, well, it would have been so much better if I had been faking it.

"You know where Ariel lives, right?" Italia pushed her head between the seats as I fumbled with my seatbelt.

"Sure, sis," Amadeo said, bringing the engine to life. "Now would you mind putting your seatbelt on?"

"Yeah, whatever." She settled back into her seat. "So, you can get me home first because I need to do something, and then you can take Ariel."

"No prob." He steered the car out of the school's parking lot. I glanced back at Italia, trying hard to calm my jumping heart. How could she do this to me? There was no way I was going to stay alone in the car with Amadeo. Just no.

"Isn't my house in the wrong direction?" I said. "I mean, you'll have to drive back and all?"

"It's fine. I have to do something out of the town, so your house is just on my way," Amadeo said, his warm brown eyes melting away all the coldness I was feeling. Why did he have to be so beautiful? His skin looked tanned even in the middle of winter, his cheekbones high and his lips so kissable. But what I liked even more than his full lips, thick dark eyelashes and brown eyes, was his soft wavy dark brown hair, which always looked like he had just washed it. He was born to do a shampoo commercial. I bit my lip, wondering what it would be like to run my fingers through his hair and pull him in for a kiss.

When Amadeo gave me a curious look, a playful smile curving his lips, I realized I was staring. I looked away, focusing on the scenery outside. Oh my, this was going to be a long ride.

Italia jumped out of the car, grabbing her backpack and saying goodbye to us. She winked at me before she disappeared behind the front door of their huge white house. The car suddenly seemed too small for Amadeo and me.

"Time to get you home," he said, getting the car back on the road. I kept my mouth shut, unsure what to say. Luckily, the radio was on and the music didn't leave space for any awkward silences.

"Is that a compliment?" I smiled, trying to change the subject. I wasn't going to admit to this hot guy that I was becoming a lunatic.

"Yeah. But I still want to know what happened."

Ah, great. I was sure that if I opened my mouth, I'd say something that wouldn't even make sense; a lie that would only bury me deeper into the ground.

"I was worrying too much. It's just... my classmate," I said, playing absently with the lock of my hair. Couldn't this damn car go a little bit faster?

"Love trouble?" He chuckled.

"No!" I was glad that the seatbelt held me in place, or I might have jumped. "Nothing like that. I just can't remember hi... something he said."

"Ah." Amadeo eyed me suspiciously, his face darkening. Had I done or said something wrong? Well, I was saying wrong things all the time, but why would that bother him?

"What's his name?" he suddenly asked. "My sister talks so much about school that I kind of know most of your class. Not to mention they also come to see me perform."

"Devin," I said, carefully inspecting his face for some sign. If he knew the guy, then I might as well start googling my symptoms as soon as I got home. "Devin Teneroli."

"Never heard of him." Amadeo frowned. "What does he look like?"

"Umm, short black hair, dark blue eyes..."

"Impossible. Ita would have told me about him." He tightened his hands on the wheel. "You said
dark
blue eyes?"

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, more like sky blue going to darker in the shadow."

"So you've been hanging out with him?" There was something strange in his voice, but I dismissed it. This day was already full of strange, no need to add to the list.

"I didn't exactly faint
because of him
." I wanted to bang my head against the wall or something. While trying to avoid telling what had really happened to me, I managed to make Amadeo think I was obsessing so much about Devin that I'd fainted to get his attention, or God knows what he thought.

"I know," he said, pulling the car into my snow-covered driveway. "But he must have added to it. Made you more upset than you had already been."