Languish for you (My soulmate) (9 page)

I hugged myself when the door bell rang one more time. I didn't know what to do. In the end I decided that nothing really bad could happen to me and I opened the door widely, meeting that stranger with a big and friendly smile on my face. Not to mention that I was wearing my pyjamas. Yea, I knew how to make fun of myself.

“Hello,” I said and looked straight at the girl in front of me. She was somewhere around m
y age if not younger. After all
,
girls matured quicker than the boys and sixteen years girl could look like she was twenty. She had short, black hair in which I could see a white lock. Her eyes were slate blue color. Her face was nice to look at.

“Hi,” she said in playful voice. “I am Agnes. I live next door. My father told me that this flat finally ha
s
some living beings, who are actually my age. So, I decided to come here and introduce myself,” she lifted her hand for me to press it. I hesitated, but in the end pressed her hand.

“Nice to meet you. I am Vanessa,” I said, still smiling widely.

“Nice to meet you, too,” and she tipped a bit on her fingers to see over my shoulder, deeper into the flat. I laugh in my mind. That really wasn't a clear sign that she wanted to walk into my home.

“Would you like to come inside?” I asked, moving away to make her space to walk in.

She nodded.

“Yes, sure,” she stepped forward. “I am sorry if I have woken you up.”

I closed the door behind her and shook my head.

“No, I was awake,” I said, following her forward. We soon were in the spacious living room. Agnes seemed astonished to see so splendidly equipped living room. I wasn't so amazed by this room. Yea, it was really something, but I wasn't from those people to whom money was the most important thing in a life.

“Your parents are rich,” she stated the fact.

I shook my head as she took a seat on one of the sofas in the living room.

“No. My parents are...dead. I am living with my... friends,” I ended. In my mind a made a mental note to ask Avery and Christopher, how should I call them in front of other people. I could guarantee that they wouldn't like to be called protector and tutor in front of the strangers.

“How old are you?” she seemed curious to find out more details about me.

“Eighteen,” I said reluctantly. “Would you like a tea or something?” I asked only to be polite, not because I wanted that she could stay here longer.

“Yes, please,” she nodded.

“Okay. I will go the kitchen. Make yourself at home,” I said and left her alone in the living room. I knew that I should go and change my clothes first, but I didn't want to waste my time with her. The sooner I will give her the tea, the sooner she will leave me alone. But did I want to be left alone. Even if I was a loner, I needed to have some friends. Maybe I could really make her my friend. It would be easier later to adapt to
this entire
new world.

I didn't need hours to find the tea, two cups, sugar and some sweets in the kitchen. So, soon I was back in the living room with my new friend Agnes. She was comfortably sitting on the sofa now. She seemed relaxed.

“So, how long are you planning to live here?” she asked, taking a cookie in her hand.

“I can't answer to that question, because I don't know,” I said openly. I didn't even have a clue how long this flat could me my home. Neither Avery nor Christopher was a talkative person. They only answered to my questions if they seemed proper enough for them to answer. In other words, if I didn't asked them something, they wouldn't tell me that thing.

“Oh,” she seemed sincerely chagrined.

I took a seat on the other sofa, trying to find the topic about which we could start talking, but I didn't know anything about this period. I felt right now like a stranded fish on the shore.

“So, do you have brothers or sisters?” I decided to ask about her family. It was the safest topic, which I could start at that moment.

“Yea...no. I had a sister, but she die during the birth. Something with week lungs or heart. I don't really want to know,” she turned her face away from me, like she didn't want to show me that her words were telling lies. She wanted to know the truth, but maybe no one told her.

“I am sorry,” I said quickly. Maybe the topic
Family
wasn't such a good idea after all.

“And you?” she asked when she gripped herself.

“Me? My parents are dead. I don't have neither brothers nor sisters. Only... Christopher and Avery are ... the most nearest people to be my family,” I said with a smile on my face, although... what did I try to fool here? Smile? Really? I was talking about death.

“Sorry,” Agnes said. “When did...they...you know?”

What should I say now? I asked myself. That my parents were dead, was the only logical explanation
why
I lived without them. But what should I tell if someone asks me something like Agnes was doing now?

“Two years ago,” I told her what Christopher had said to me when I woken up the first time after the graveyard accident. “But I really don't want to talk about that,” I quickly added to save myself from other questions related to my family.

“Okay,” she nodded. “So, Christopher? Right?” I nodded. “Is he that guy with the British accent?” I nodded again, already knowing what could happen next. Surprisingly, not much had changed during these years when the subject came to boys. “He is only your friend?”

“Yes. He is twenty one years old,” I said, adding and some extra information which she was dieing to find out.

“He...is hot, if you don't mind me saying that.”

I shook my head. Christopher was really a nice person to stare at. I had admitted that almost the same minute as I saw him in front of me for the first tie.

“I don't. He is really handsome. It is strange that he doesn't have a girlfriend.”

I knew why he didn't have. After all, those two were kindly enough to tell me more about themselves and the situation in which I was.

“Really? I would have never thought that,” she grinned.

I rolled my eyes in my mind. Yea, definitely nothing had changed. Girls were girls when they saw a handsome guy.

“So, you are still at school or...”

“School,” she cut me off. “Last year and then I will enroll into university. You?”

“University. The English language and literature.”

“Oh. Interesting subject. I like to read, but I wouldn't want to study that. And English... I am not good at foreign languages. It isn't my thing, you know,” she took another cookie and slowly ate it.

“What are you planning to study?” I didn't care, but I needed to keep our conversation alive.

“Maybe management,” she shrugged. “I don't really know. I have one year to make up my mind.”

One year, I though bitterly. The same thing I had thought too. But surprisingly, that one year managed to
slip
through my fingers like sand.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” I asked, taking a cookie in my hand, too.

She shook her head.

“No, but I am trying to. There is one guy which is from family with whom my family is friends. We know each other since the birth, but I my family had to move when I was twelve. But lucky for me, he came here to study... strange, but he will study the same thing you ...”

“I will start studying it this year,” I narrowed my eyes a bit.

“Yea, he too. Strange, right. I have two friends now who will study the same thing. Maybe you will meet him. After all, there isn't many universities which offer the same studies.”

I shrugged.

“Maybe. What's his name?” I asked only to be polite and show that I really listening to her.

“Tobias,” only one word but it was told with so much love. But not the way how it was told forced my eyes to double, but the name itself. Tobias? For some reason this name liked to echo around me.

I didn't know what to say. No, it couldn't be
that Tobias,
who had stalked me. Maybe it was another guy with the same name. After all, Tobias was a quite nice name for a boy.

“Actually, he is planning to come tonight for dinner. My mother is coming back from
France
. So, he will come to greet her. Maybe you would like to come with your friends and meet my parents,” she offered.

“I don't know.”

“Please. Come. My parents would be trilled to meet the new neighbors,” puppy's eyes appeared on her face.

“I need to..” and the front door opened. Christopher and Avery came inside. I stood up and took some steps forward. Agnes did the same thing. I noticed that her mouth opened a bit when her eyes looked at Christopher.

“Vanessa,” he said, noticing our guest.

“Hi. This is Agnes. Our neighbor. She came to introduce herself,” I explained and move one step closet to him. “Agnes, this is Christopher and Avery. Avery and Christopher, this is Agnes.”

“Nice to meet you,” Christopher said quickly and looked at me. “You are in your pyjamas,” he declared, like I didn't know what I was wearing.

“Thank you, detective. I didn't know that,” I said in a mocking tone.

“Vanessa,” Avery said not my real name in cold tone. “Your manners.”

I stole a glance at Agnes. She seemed confused.

“Avery is not only my friend. She is my governess.”

Avery frowned, hearing my declaration. But really, she was it.

“It was nice to meet and talk with you, Agnes,” I said and moved to my room, leaving them alone. I heard when the front
door was
closed. Also, I heard steps to my room. Then I saw Christopher and Avery. From their faces I could only guess that I did something bad and this time.

“What?” I asked. I had already changed my clothes. So, they couldn't tell me that I was wearing not the right clothes right now.

“You know, those eighteen years didn't change the courtesy. Why were you wearing your pajamas when the guest was in the flat?” Avery asked in steady voice. Her face was wearing a porker face.

Yea, a volcano which is waiting for that right moment when it could erupt, I said mentally.

“Sorry, but I didn't have time to change my clothes. I thought that someone was in the flat, so, I didn't hurry to change my clothes, because I like to be in my pyjamas in my bed when I write. Then I hear the door bell. I wanted to be rude, even then when I remembered you warning me about mysterious bad guys...well, I decided to risk,” I said casually.

“She said she is a neighbor,” Christopher said, crossing his arms against his chest. His intensive stare was burning holes in my body.

“And?” I didn't understand.

“She seems to be your age,” he continued.

“And?” I repeated my question. What did he want to tell me by mentioning all those things?

“You need friends,” Avery said. She also didn't seem eager to play games. “She said she had asked us to the dinner tonight.”

I looked at Avery, then at Christopher. I tried to read their faces and stance. But nothing. They were professionals at hiding their emotions and thoughts. I didn't like that. I wanted to know what was going on in other person's head.

“And you would like to go?” I asked uncertainly.

“You need friends, Vanessa,” Christopher said frostily.

“Trinity to you,” I corrected him, scowling. I didn't like that name and his tone.

“You are Vanessa. Trinity is dead,” and that was Avery's turn to disgorge into this battle. “Get use to that. Agnes seems to be a sweet girl. So, I think her parents will be the same. It would be only for the best for you to have friends. We are invited at six o'clock. You have four hours to learn some manners.”

They are strange, a thought crossed my mind. All my new life seemed to be like a forest. The deeper you went, the more trees you saw. Right now, the more days passed, the more questions I had in my head. Why were they acting like this? What did they want from me? What should I do?

“Make up your minds. One minute you want me to sit at home and write, another you want me to make a bunch of friends?” I sat on my bed. My arms were crossed against my chest. I didn't hide my irritation on my face.

“Christopher, please, leave us alone. I need to teach my student some things,” Avery asked politely. Christopher stole a glance at me and reluctantly nodded. After a minute he was out from the room.

I shot an intent look at her. She smirked, seeing my face. She took a seat on the chair.

“Please, don't start this conversation like this;
I know it is difficult for you. You were dead and now you are alive. But you need to understand that not everyone gets a change to live again
and so on,” I said, striking an attitude.

“Okay, I won't say those words. Instead of telling them to you, I order you to forget them. We don't have time or mood to play games with you. You will go to that dinner, make some new friends and so on.”

She stood up and walked to the door, but here she stopped and looked at me.

“Please, put that green dress which is in your wardrobe. You will look adorable in that thing,” and she walked out. I was confused. Really, who could act like this?