Hybrid

by Melissas Writings

  “I …. get this….. tingly feeling along my stomach or even in my diaphragm whenever you say something?”

  “Is something wrong with me?”…..“Yesterday also this had happened and now too…”

  May be this was the reason why people kept some distance from me.

  “Should I go and tell this to Sammy?”

  His dark blue gaze fastened on me again.

  “There’s nothing wrong with you. Almost everyone on this planet gets that feeling for someone and in some cases for more than one person...”

  “You too?” I wanted to know whether I was not the only one having this strange feeling.

  His face was now perfectly blank. “Didn’t I say everyone feels it for someone, and I too live on this planet, so yeah I do get that feeling for someone.” As soon as Zach said this, I felt like my heart was skipping a beat and was going to beat out of my chest!

  Like how I felt when my parents and brother stayed away from me.

  It was a similar feeling. I felt rejected, even though his answer should have made me happy.

  ***********

  “Hey Ash. I want to show you something” I looked at her. She gestured her hand towards a blond guy. She was fidgeting and also her breath was smelly, exactly like mine.

  “You know that guy over there. He was my first crush.” Her voice was so sad… I wanted to suck that sadness out of her.

  Suddenly Lucas came out of nowhere. Lately this was becoming his habit.

  And did nothing to soothe her. In fact he even made it worse. “You should have seen her when she dated him. Her heart used to beat so fast, that everyone in our class could hear that.”

  “Shane,” she whispered. She sounded on the verge of tears as she tightened her grip on me.

  I hated Shane. How could he hurt someone like her.

  I wanted to hurt him like he hurt her.

  He needs to pay.

  HE.

  NEEDS.

  TO.

  PAY.

  This kept repeating in my head. Over and Over again.

  “Hey Lee!! This is not the place to get angry.” Lucas whispered in my ear. “Your eyes are changing color. Control yourself.”

  I had to make sure she never cries again.

  Lucas grabbed my arm and started steering me away from the crowd.

  SHANE WILL PAY..

  HE HAS To.

  But it seemed Lucas wasn’t strong enough as I got out of his hold and started running towards Shane..

  But before I could reach him, I sensed some thing so tempting that my mind left Shane for a second.

  And it was then that Blake came and offered me a drink. It was like an aphrodisiac, so tempting that I couldn’t resist it.

  I gladly accepted that...

  hYBrID XXI

  You know the moment when everything seems like a dream, for me this was it. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I doubted whether this actually happened or was a part of my imagination.

  Even though my head was aching really badly, my mind went through all the times when the outside world was normal except me,

  like my heart racing at random hours,

  or the way I was drawn to that transparent liquid last night.

  Just thinking about that is making my heart beat faster with each passing second.

  Just thinking about that has got my heart beat pounding wildly.

  It was getting louder and I wanted it to stop.

  This has become a habit lately.

  I yelled again internally as my tongue was not co-operating at all. It was like mouth had been sealed and tongue got plastered to the roof of my mouth.

  I couldn’t even open my eyes.

  The worst part was I couldn’t scream like before, I tried to bite my tongue with teeth still not one muscle moved. I tried to shift from my position.

  Dread filled me as I thought of various ways in which I could die.

  If my heart stopped on its own accord, which was currently beating like a sledge-hammer.

  Or If I became blind and my dumb, my parents will ship me to some island where I will eventually die from isolation

  Or it could also happen that they find me obsolete so they think of killing me instead of sending me to some island.

  NO…

  Not again.

  What could I do??

  This was not in my hands. This feeling of helplessness, impuissance…

  Atleast in earlier cases I could scream and someone would come and save me..

  Lily----I wish you could save me again. Even though some part of me still doesn’t believe that she was my savior.

  I feel like I had no control over my body. It didn’t feel like mine. Even my breathing was accelerating.

  One thing was constant in all this and that was the images of that liquid were flashing across my mind in every two seconds.

  I wanted it.

  More than anything I have ever wanted in my life.

  Calm down, the voice in my mind whispered. Or perhaps it was my imagination.

  All of a sudden, my limbs eyes and mouth started working.

  Panicky, I flung out from the bed and land straight on the floor.

  Ouch. I rub my back to ease the pain.

  I look at the rug and notice that this was not my room.

  How did I come here?

  I waited, petrified, and only when everything felt okay did I allow myself to take in the room. It was huge – much bigger than the one I had slept in. All the walls were wood-panelled, and an all-black, wrought-iron four-poster dominated the one side and a fireplace the other. Above the mantle, which was strewn with magazines, there hung a painting of a man and a woman. The man resembled Zach, although he looked older. I took a guess that it was his father in his younger days. The woman beside him must be his wife, Zach’s mother, judging by the hand of the man placed on her bare shoulder. She sat upon a stool, her emerald dress hugging a curvaceous figure, dark chestnut curls tumbling down to her waist, which was so tiny it must have been encased in a corset. Her eyes were wide and bright, full of the same colour and sheen as her dress. But what really caught my gaze was her skin: whilst her husband’s was pale and papery, her skin had a tinge of olive in it, although the sunken sockets of her eyes were encircled by deep purple rings .

  I trod as softly as I could around the bed, almost tripping over a guitar that poked out from under the bedstead. A breeze stirred my ankles and, as I neared the fireplace, the black drapes that hung around the open French doors moved. A feeling of unease crept up my arms. Doors are left open when someone is not far away. The lamps dotted about the room had been left on too, although first light was beginning to filter through the trees and across the grounds.

  Forcing myself to be calm, I reached up on my tiptoes and ran a finger across the canvas of the painting. It was thick with dust and as I wiped it off it floated away in clouds, smelling heavily of musk mixed with that of expensive cologne, which already hung in the air. I waved my hands in front of me, coughing and spluttering. I can see – or rather smell – why they left the doors open. I grabbed one of the magazines to try waft the dust away, but took one look at what was on the cover, blushed, and dropped it, realizing just who this room must belong to.

  ‘Crap,’ I breathed, backing away towards the door. I didn’t bother to check whether anyone was outside as I practically fell out of one door and through another into the bathroom. It slammed behind me and I was relieved to find it had a chunky bolt for a lock, which I slid across.

  Turning, I was once again struck by the grandeur. The whole room was almost entirely made out of red marble, even the bath. The shower was of the same larger-than-it-needs-to-be proportions and would fit three and still leave room to move. It was spotless too: there wasn’t an old toothbrush or squeezed-to-death tube of toothpaste in sight.

  I fiddled about with the shower dials for a while, confused by the settings until water poured from the shower head. I began to strip down, but caught sight of my r
eflection in the mirror and stopped. I was not a pretty sight.

  My hair looked as though electricity had been passed through it and bits of twig clung to the knots. Tattoo was still very much there at the same spot and had darkened tenfold.

  But it was my eyes that looked the most pitiful. They looked old and weary, as though they had seen a hundred years of suffering, not two days.

  I shook my head and turned away, disgusted and angry. I continued to strip down and stepped in, letting the water run over my sore muscles.

  I got out when the water ceased to feel warm on my skin. I grabbed a towel, dried myself and got dressed, slipping back into the large T-shirt and jeans hanging there. I wrung as much water as I could out of my hair and darted back to ‘my’ bedroom, freezing as I noticed somebody had been in and tidied up.

  Outside in the corridor, things were still quiet, although I sensed that wasn’t because everyone was asleep. I passed the double doors, unnerved at the fact the room must belong to Zach. When I reached the top of the staircase, I leaned over, thinking I could ask the butler where Lily was. Just as I did, Alex emerged from the downstairs corridor. I jumped, trying to scamper back into the shadows but he spotted me and froze.

  “Why are you in Zach’s clothes?”

  “I took shower in his bathroom, that’s why. ” I didn’t like his tone but I kept this thought to myself.

  He questioned again “What were you doing in his room when I left you in your room?”

  Flashback came and a shiver ran through my body.

  “You okay Ashley? You don’t seem fine.” No. I am not. Something is wrong with me. But I can’t tell him, he might tell Sammy and then they will try to get rid of me. I shuddered just thinking about the options that my mind had conjured some time back.

  I didn’t reply but eased back towards the banisters, eyeing him with caution. ‘Hungry?’ he asked.

  The mention of food set my stomach off growling again and he chuckled. ‘Guess so. Come on, I’ll find you something.’ He gestured for me to follow him and started walking towards the living-room door. When I didn’t follow him, he paused, smiling again. ‘I’m not going to do anything to you. I promise.’

  The picture of him getting punched from my brother hit my mind. I muttered “I know that, unless you want to get killed by my brother.”

  “You want me to die, Ashley.”his voice raised slightly in a teasing way. “What did I ever do to you?”

  “Don’t exaggerate.” I laughed.

  And he stared at me for a while.

  “What?”

  “You should smile more often.”

  I don’t think so when things are getting so strange.

  He looked sincere enough and I scrambled down the stairs until I caught up with him. He opened the door and led me across the living room and through another door. It was like stepping through a time portal. Whereas the main entrance hall didn’t look as though it had changed in hundreds of years, the passage we walked down was thoroughly modern and, as we entered the kitchen, I was again hit by an array of stainless steel and glass counters, cabinets and tables, although the floor was made of the same marble as the entrance.

  Alex rounded the breakfast bar and began searching through the cupboards. ‘Do you like toast?’ he asked, his head popping up above the counter. I nodded, hoisting myself up onto a stool. ‘Toast it is then,’ he said, dropping a couple of slices of brown bread into a toaster. I watched him as he pulled a plate from another cupboard, fascinated by his fluid movements. He met my gaze.

  ‘Hey, I know I’m inhumanly hot, but you don’t have to stare.’ A huge grin appeared on his face and he winked.

  I blushed a tomato red and my eyes hit the floor before bouncing back up to him. ‘I wasn’t staring.’

  He put his hands in the air. ‘Sure,’ he chuckled. ‘Good to see you talking though. You don’t strike me as the shy type.’

  He’s right, I thought. I’m not usually shy, but then again, I don’t really know what to say

  I continued to watch him as he pulled his key and the door of the fridge opened and took the butter out. Then he closed it and locked the door.

  ‘I’m sorry I can’t do anything nicer than toast, but we only keep snacks in here,’ he nattered, spreading the butter on the bread, which was burnt around the crust. ‘The servants usually cook downstairs when we actually want food and not blood.’

  He was saying this as if he knew my house better than me which seemed to be case considering he must have lived here more than me.

  He slid the plate towards me, took one look at my face and then spoke again. ‘Okay, you have questions.’

  I nodded, biting on my lower lip. ‘Can I ask anything?’

  For a second, a flicker of doubt crossed his face, but it soon disappeared. ‘Of course,’ he replied. I didn’t speak for another minute or two as I rehearsed what I wanted to say in my head. He said nothing, pouring a glass of juice and pushing that in my direction too.

  "It’s real, all of this, isn’t it?"

  He placed his elbows on the counter and rested his chin in his hands, watching me with as much fascination as I had watched him. ‘Yes. Why?’

  “Last time when I came here no one was here ever. I was mostly left alone. But this time things have taken a U turn. Not only I find myself surrounded by you all, but also sometimes I feel so different.” I tugged on a strand of hair, picking out patterns in the marble floor.

  I promised myself that I will call Simon after this conversation.

  “How so?” he questions, his arch furrowed in confusion.

  Then I tell him about my flashback as much as I can starting from Chloe to waking up in Zach’s room. And by the time I end his muscles have gone taut which is so unlike Alex when he is with me- always smiling.

  I shouldn’t have told him and whatever this is it seems bad.

  hYBrID XXI

  You know the moment when everything seems like a dream, for me this was it. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I doubted whether this actually happened or was a part of my imagination.

  Even though my head was aching really badly, my mind went through all the times when the outside world was normal except me,

  like my heart racing at random hours,

  or the way I was drawn to that transparent liquid last night.

  Just thinking about that is making my heart beat faster with each passing second.

  Just thinking about that has got my heart beat pounding wildly.

  It was getting louder and I wanted it to stop.

  This has become a habit lately.

  I yelled again internally as my tongue was not co-operating at all. It was like mouth had been sealed and tongue got plastered to the roof of my mouth.

  I couldn’t even open my eyes.

  The worst part was I couldn’t scream like before, I tried to bite my tongue with teeth still not one muscle moved. I tried to shift from my position.

  Dread filled me as I thought of various ways in which I could die.

  If my heart stopped on its own accord, which was currently beating like a sledge-hammer.

  Or If I became blind and my dumb, my parents will ship me to some island where I will eventually die from isolation

  Or it could also happen that they find me obsolete so they think of killing me instead of sending me to some island.

  NO…

  Not again.

  What could I do??

  This was not in my hands. This feeling of helplessness, impuissance…

  Atleast in earlier cases I could scream and someone would come and save me..

  Lily----I wish you could save me again. Even though some part of me still doesn’t believe that she was my savior.

  I feel like I had no control over my body. It didn’t feel like mine. Even my breathing was accelerating.

  One thing was constant in all this and that was the images of that liquid were flashing across my mind in every two seconds.

  I wanted it.

&n
bsp; More than anything I have ever wanted in my life.

  Calm down, the voice in my mind whispered. Or perhaps it was my imagination.

  All of a sudden, my limbs eyes and mouth started working.

  Panicky, I flung out from the bed and land straight on the floor.