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Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series

Page 18

by Vaiya Books


  Time passed--it was past eleven thirty. Ian’s eyes drooped, his shoulders sagged, his stomach twisted in knots. Will’s blaring shouts, which occurred whenever he did anything remotely good, which happened way too often, were mostly responsible for this condition. Staying up late again didn’t help either. The rich food lodged in his stomach filled in the gaps. The only highlight of the evening was that he’d taken his many losses at Wii Tennis surprisingly well, and had actually not felt very competitive at all, in spite of William’s boastful and overconfident persona, which could even rile up a garden gnome.

  Ian attributed his acceptance of such failure to the fact that he’d never played the game before in his life and because these weren’t the typical friends he hung out with. If either of these factors had changed, he imagined he’d be steaming right now. Shaking his head, he wondered why he’d ever respected William for his competitive nature.

  As Jimmy parked the vehicle, Ian said goodbye as he walked over to his house. Opening the door, he went inside, shutting it gently behind him, the darkness once again unnerving him. After climbing the staircase quickly, just wanting to make it into his room, Ian stopped short, as he stared at his room up ahead. Light was coming through the closed door and he heard giggling and laughter.

  In an instant, he felt his anger rising, quickly replacing his former fear, as he marched towards the door. Reaching the threshold, he briefly paused as he sought to get a rein on his temper, before flinging open the door.

  It was just as he’d expected. Rowan and his sister were sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at him with mischievous eyes, suppressing their smiles.

  Before he even had time to scold them for invading the privacy of his room, Rowan spoke up, a cunning glint in her eyes.

  “You sure stayed out late.” She smirked as she moved his pillow back to its proper place.

  Now more aggravated than ever, he didn’t even acknowledge her statement, nor did he care to be polite. “What are you still doing here, Rowan? Shouldn’t you be home by now?”

  She smiled. “Mel invited me over to spend the night. Aren’t you happy to see me?”

  “Not really,” replied Ian crossly. “Especially since you’ve invaded my room.”

  “Ah, you’re awfully grumpy tonight,” Rowan said, her face beaming with amusement. “I think you should wear your princess gown again …. I’m sure it’d cheer you up.”

  Ian gave her an icy glare, feeling none of her cheerful spirit. “That’s enough. I’m too tired to talk right now.” He paused, before giving Melinda an evil frown. “Both of you need to leave … pronto.”

  At his sharp command, both of the girls scampered off the bed and out of the room, Rowan turning back and giving him a parting word before she closed the door behind her. “See you at breakfast, Ian.”

  Locking the door with a fiery zeal he hadn’t known for a long time, Ian then collapsed onto the spring mattress bed, his emotions seizing control of him.

  In all honesty, he was frightened by his anger towards Rowan and Melinda. Sure, they’d entered his room without his permission, disheveled the sheets on his bed, and left two pink Barbie dolls on his nightstand, but still, he’d dealt with worse from them before and hadn’t gotten half this mad. Besides, he’d promised himself just yesterday that he’d be nicer to his sister. How quickly he was failing this resolution.

  Face buried into his pillow, he kicked off his shoes, as his thoughts turned down an even darker path. He felt the ice on his hands again, heard the blowing wind, and felt the air slowly being sucked out of his lungs. If it weren’t for William, he might be dead. Curling his fingers, he rolled out of bed, and stepped into his private bathroom.

  Nothing seemed the same; nothing seemed real. And the worst part was he couldn’t tell anyone, because they wouldn’t believe him … and who could blame them? If Eddy had told him two nights ago that he’d been taken to another planet, he would have laughed him to shame. No, there was nothing for him to do but to just suffer alone.

  Completing his nightly routine with weariness, he left the bathroom, pulled off his socks, and flung himself onto his bed. Just what was his life becoming? He’d previously thought this experience in the other world was a one-time occurrence, and that his life would return to normal, but now just the opposite seemed true. Was this going to become a daily routine whenever a storm hit?

  Reaching over, he turned off the lamp on his nightstand, the full moon shining through the glass dome ceiling above him, casting shadows throughout his room. He saw a multitude of stars sparkling at him, as if beckoning him closer. Yet this brought him no comfort, only fear, uncertainty, and the feeling of falling, falling into nothingness, blackness.

  Rolling onto his side to avoid the eerie stars, he shut his eyes. Moments later, being very tired, sleep grabbed him and dragged him to its lair. Once he was in its domain, a vast array of nightmares awaited him. When he wasn’t tossing and turning, trying to convince himself that the shadows lining the walls weren’t alive, or sitting on his bed with all the lights on, imagining the Barbie dolls on his lampstand were staring at him, he was dreaming of polar bears, deep crevasses, and the wizard Saruman along with his partner Sandler, torturing him with ice spells and terrorizing him with ghastly threats. It was a night not soon to be forgotten.

  Chapter 14

  Waking up on Wednesday to the gnat-like buzz of his alarm, Ian stretched out his arm, banged on the clock once with his fist, rolled out of bed, took a warm extended shower, dried himself off, and changed into his school clothes. Once he’d slipped his cell phone, a packet of spearmint gum (as he had a different flavor for each day of the week), and his new leather wallet into his jeans, he traipsed downstairs into the kitchen, his eyes, a portal for zombies to peer through, his shoulders, drooping under the weight of two invisible goblins, and his hands, as limp as a manikin's.

  As he emerged into the kitchen at a slumbering giant pace, a particularly vivid dream of Kenn locking him up in a creepy basement and then leaving to go on a date with Hazel rearing up in his mind, his mom, standing by the oven, eyed him nervously. “Ian, what happened? You look terrible.”

  “Late night,” he mumbled, sliding into a chair around the table, while his mother placed a pan of ham and egg casserole in the center of the table. “I had a good time though.”

  A warm smile formed on her face, causing her anxiety to lessen somewhat. “I’m glad you had fun, Ian, though you really need to get more sleep… you look terrible.”

  “Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” he said tiredly, an unfinished grin on his face, as he watched her return to the stove to check on the blueberry pie. After resetting the timer, she briefly checked on the cooked sausages before pouring batter into the waffle maker.

  Done staring off into space, he unevenly cut a slice of the casserole and plopped it onto his plate, too exhausted to even care about the protocol of only eating once everybody was there.

  Yet before he could touch the food, his sister skipped up to him like a ballerina, Tinkerbell sprightliness on her face, with her friend trailing close behind her. “Rowan told me all about your little surprise at the party, Ian. Care to explain?”

  His tone turned slightly edgy, as he perked up, hoping Rowan wouldn’t notice how exhausted he was. “After what happened last night, I don’t think so.” Ian took a huge bite of the warm casserole, half expecting the discussion to end--it didn’t.

  “Oh, come on,” Rowan joined in, smiling. “We were just having a little fun.”

  “Well, I find your sense of humor very bothersome,” remarked Ian. “How would you like it if Eddy and I trashed your room?”

  “Trashed?” blurted out Melinda, her cheeks a blend of red and pink. “We barely touched it.”

  About to get angry, he remembered his promise to be nicer to her and so ended the discussion by simply taking another bite of casserole.

  As if sensing her victory, Melinda quickly moved back to the former topic, a mischievous grin on her fa
ce. “So what’s this about you wearing an elven costume to a party, Ian? It just doesn’t sound like you.”

  Ian inwardly sighed. Back to this again. He tried to look relaxed as he forked another bite of casserole. “Ok, I know it was kinda weird, but I just had to do it. The look on people’s faces when they saw me wearing it was simply priceless.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you wore an elven costume. Here I always thought you were freaked out by fantasy.” Melinda removed a bottle of red fingernail polish from her Asian-styled purse, which lay on the floor beside her as she brought up an incident from the past to strengthen her point. “Remember that one time in Myrtle Beach? That mermaid sand sculpture totally--”

  “Mel, quit bringing that up. That was ages ago,” cut in Ian. “Besides, I was only seven, and it had sharp teeth, a devilish smile, and evil red eyes. You know that’s not normal. That’s the kind of stuff that can really scare kids.”

  “You were scared of red seaweed.” She laughed, as Rowan all too quickly joined in her laughter. “And you didn’t even know what kind of creature it was. You thought it was a fish monster. Obviously, you never watched the Little Mermaid.”

  “Apparently not,” he said, hating the recollection of this embarrassing incident. Melinda had a real talent at turning old events into humiliating experiences. That Rowan was here only made it that much worse. He could all too easily imagine this story getting to Hazel in some exaggerated even more embarrassing form.

  As he hesitantly poured himself a glass of apple juice, Rowan quickly edged herself into the conversation. “I never knew you were scared of mermaids,” she said, chuckling. “Now I know exactly how we can get back at you.”

  Ian frowned in confusion. After what the girls had done to him last night, he’d thought they’d be completely satisfied. Apparently, he’d underestimated their evil hearts. “Get back at me? For what?”

  Rowan only smiled as she turned to Melinda as if to let her do the job of explaining.

  Applying her fingernail polish, Melinda curved her lips into a golden smile, her dark ocean blue eyes brimming with sarcasm. “Remember what you told Rowan when she wore that pink fairy costume last Halloween?”

  Now where was she going with this tangent? “Not really--it’s been a whole year.”

  She laughed. “Well, I do. You said that she looked like a mutant butterfly wearing a brown wig and lots of sparkly makeup.”

  Ian snickered as he looked at Rowan, suddenly visualizing her in that costume with the same dejected look on her face after he’d insulted her. “Yeah … your point?”

  Grinning deviously, she replied sharply, “She hasn’t forgotten and plans to even the score this year.”

  He burst out laughing. “Really? So she’s waited a whole year to get even with me? That’s awfully patient of her.”

  “It’s called calculated revenge,” replied Melinda, a clipped smile on her face. “Obviously something you wouldn’t understand.”

  But Ian ignored her insult. “Oh, now I’m really scared.” He shuddered mockingly. “What’s she gonna do, make me wear her old costume?”

  “Of course not. There’s no way it’d fit somebody as fat as you.” She chuckled under her breath while Rowan, already deeply amused by this conversation, remained silent except for her continual laughter.

  “Real mature, Mel,” he muttered, wondering what secret pleasure she enjoyed by calling him fat when his body clearly failed every definition of the word. “If I wanted to look like a giggly, glittery girl, I’d have no trouble fitting into her costume, other than the fact that her costume would come up short on me … three inches short to be exact.”

  “Oh, it’s on,” said Melinda, as she stared at him with wide-frenzied eyes. “Come Friday night you’ll have wished you never said that.”

  “Go ahead.” Ian shrugged, pretending to yawn, as Rowan just grinned. “Give me your best shot.”

  “Oh, we will. We will. You can’t insult my best friend and expect nothing to happen.” Seemingly satisfied with her threat, she poured herself a glass of apple juice and scooped a piece of casserole onto her plate, before going to the refrigerator and grabbing a jar of real maple syrup. Once she set it on the table, she gazed at Ian, as she stuck her hands in a bowl of ice water so the nail polish would set. “So, Ian, will you let us check out your elven costume?” she asked casually, as if the former conversation had never happened. “I hear it’s really amazing.”

  Ian gave her a weird look, and then, sensing that she had moved past bothering him and would actually be nice now, simply murmured, “Yeah, sure, but not now.” He filled up his glass with orange juice and drank half of it. Drowsiness began to overcome him again, and his eyelids sagged.

  She nodded eagerly. “Will you help me shop for my costume tomorrow since you got such a cool one?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Ian replied, not really knowing what he was saying.

  Her face lightened up even more. “So, do you think I’d look better as a fairy or a mermaid?”

  “Do you really want me to answer that?” asked Ian sarcastically, while drizzling maple syrup on a waffle, which his mother had placed in front of him, hoping to shake himself awake from his tiredness. “Because you know I’m not partial to either.”

  She took her fingers out of the ice water, and dried them off on her napkin. “Ok then, what costume should I get?”

  “I’m thinkin’ a vampire one. It’d go well with your red nails.”

  Melinda nodded her head slowly, thinking over his advice, before adding, “Anything else?”

  “Although it’s cliché, you could try a princess costume.” He smiled thoughtfully, as Rowan gave him an intrigued look. “I know I’ve never told you this, but you make a great princess.”

  “Thanks, Ian.” She patted him on the shoulder, an endearing look in her eyes, a radiant glow about her. “You’re awfully nice today. I think you’ve just spared yourself some of our wrath.”

  He shrugged, embarrassed by her compliment, and was just about to murmur a weak reply, when his older brother Erik slid down the railing, his mode of transportation down the stairs, and strutted towards the table.

  Pulling back his chair, Erik slumped into it, seemingly not even noticing Rowan, and then faced Ian, a swindler’s grin on his face. “Wanna help me with my homework tonight, bro?”

  “Which class?” asked Ian, as he picked up his waffle and took a huge bite out of it, trying not to get too much syrup on his hands, but failing all the same. Since the silverware wasn’t on the table yet, and he was too lazy to get them himself, he had to make the best of the situation.

  “Chemistry; I never figured it out in high school and it’s carried on to college,” he replied impassively, without even the faintest trace of shame over this deficiency.

  “Sure, I’ll help.”

  Erik nodded his head gratefully and then stared at Melinda, who was applying a second coating of red nail polish. “At the table? Really?”

  “Why not? At least I’m not some barbaric warlord who stuffs his face with his hands.” She gave Ian a harsh, but humorous glance.

  “Now, kids.” Their mother quickly silenced them and then set a pan of steaming hot sausages, drizzled in ketchup and a zesty barbecue sauce, on top of a wooden rack on the table, before getting out silverware for everybody. After taking a spot near Rowan, she glared amusingly at Ian, who was eating the waffle. “Ian, breakfast hasn’t even officially begun yet.”

  “Yeah, I know, mom,” he murmured, setting down the half-eaten waffle. “But today, I just couldn’t wait.”

  Smiling, while shaking her head at him, his mother rang the breakfast bell.

  Ten minutes later, Ian finished his breakfast, which consisted of a helping of egg casserole, one waffle, three sausage links, a piece of blueberry pie, and a glass of orange juice. After brushing his teeth and sending a quick text to Eddy asking him if he wanted to eat out with Jimmy and him today, thinking that it’d be best to just act as if this was
normal rather than unusual, he raced downstairs, waved goodbye to his family and Rowan, who gave him a suspicious smirk, and then headed off to school in his shiny blue Cadillac.

  As he turned into the school parking lot and parked his car next to an orange Ford Mustang, he checked his phone, soon reading the short text from Eddy: yeah im fine with that. With so few of words, it was hard to tell whether Eddy was mad, confused, annoyed, surprised, happy, or a combination of those emotions. Surely, if the idea of hanging out with the fantasy freak, as Eddy frequently called him, was so revolting, he would’ve showed it in his reply.

  Puzzling over Eddy’s response, Ian just shook his head, realizing that he was just wasting time trying to decipher Eddy’s emotions. He’d just have to find out when he talked to him.

  With those thoughts in mind, he headed into the school building, pulling open the heavy school doors, before hurrying downstairs to chemistry class. Not watching where he was going, he sharply turned a corner and bumped into a girl he instantly recognized … Hazel.

  He blurted out a hasty apology: “Sorry, Hazel.” Cheeks on fire, he stepped out of her bubble, reconstructing his casual mask to hide his embarrassment.

  Hazel gave him a muffled laugh. “You’re gettin’ careless, man,” she teased him, her violet collared shirt and nice pair of jeans perfectly complementing her natural beauty. “Didn’t you just run into our cross country coach on Monday?”

  He nodded, pained that she’d heard about the incident or perhaps had even seen it. “Yeah, that was pretty bad.”

  Hazel laughed, then gazed at him keenly with her light blue eyes, as if she were an astronomer discovering a new galaxy. “Not enough sleep last night, Ian?”

  “Not nearly enough,” he said, glad for the change in topic, yet a bit disconcerted by her keen observations. “I stayed out late again.”

  “It seems you have a habit of that.” She brushed back her long blonde hair, which fell evenly over her shoulders, as her friends Tianna and Amanda joined the conversation, whispering excitedly to Hazel.

 

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