Black Hellebore

by Maya Shepherd

  It all gets too much for Lindsay when men start swarming around Lia and rubbing against her like dogs in heat. She rushes to her friend and grabs her away from the hordes of men. This can’t be happening! Lia doesn’t even seem to notice what is going on around her, not seeming to care about her shameless behaviour.

  Lindsay slaps Lia hard on her rosy cheek, bringing her back to reality. She opens her eyes, and Lindsay’s mouth falls open in shock. Lia’s eyes are glowing an unnatural emerald green colour. They are shining way too bright and strong, as if she had put in UV contact lenses or had been abducted and replaced with an alien.Can nobody else see this?!

  Mike has made his way to the girls, and has the same shocked look on his face.

  “What is wrong with you?”

  Her friend can see and hear them, but she seems to have completely forgotten who they are or what language they are speaking.

  “Is everything ok Lia? You look different. Your eyes look really weird. Liandra? Can you hear me?”

  Lia’s heart is beating hard and fast, and it’s starting to frighten Lindsay who can feel it on the wrist she has in her grip. This is just not normal! Maybe that bloody barmaid dropped some drugs into her glass, or maybe some guy slipped a roofie in her drink.

  Mike places his hands on Lia’s face, but he recoils as if he had been struck by lightening. Lindsay is lost for words when she sees a man suddenly standing behind Lia. He is tall and muscular and his eyes are an amazing ice-blue colour. His face is pale and framed by his elegant black locks. He is wearing a dark shirt that is unbuttoned down to his belly button, giving a clear view of his rock hard abs. He looks like a male model or a famous Hollywood actor who has just climbed out of a movie. This must be him; the stalker!

  “Is that him?” Lindsay asks intrigued, following Lia’s fixed gaze with wide eyes.

  Mike grabs Lia’s wrist angrily, but also out of concern for her, and turns her around to him.

  “Damn it Lia, have you taken some sort of drugs? Talk to me!”

  Lindsay is the only one who hears the desperation in Mike’s voice, because Lia doesn’t seem to hear anything at all. She only has eyes for this stranger, who casually holds out his arm to her. He seems to notice the other clubbers just as little as Lia does. As if by some magnetic force, Lia tears herself away from Mike and glides into the arms of this beautiful creature. Their lips fit perfectly together as they passionately kiss.

  Lindsay’s mouth falls open as she watches the scene unfold. All she can do is watch while they make their way out of the club, without Lia giving so much as a glance towards her friends. She seems to have completely forgotten them. Like a wounded puppy, Mike furiously storms out of the club. Maybe this is the chance that Lindsay has been waiting for so long, and she runs quickly after him. In her haste, she bumps into a girl dressed head-to-toe in black by the exit.

  “Hey, watch it! The girl growls and pushes Lindsay out of her way.

  “Why don’t you watch it!” Lindsay hisses in exasperation. She recognises the girl from Lia’s class; her name is Tru if she remembers correctly. She forgets about that for now and stumbles out of the club. Just as Lia and the model guy had done, Lindsay turns left out of the club almost as if she is planning on following them.

  - 6. Mike Chapman -

  ‘How can anyone be so stupid?’ Mike asks himself as he leaves the club in a jealous rage. He has been in love with Lia for years, and as long as he has known her, he has also known that she only sees him as her loyal, slightly silly friend and that’s all he will ever be to her. Still he hopes for something more in his stupidity, just because she asked him to accompany them to a club. Lia will never be interested in him, and who could really blame her? He knows he is not exactly the kind of person to inspire sleepless nights, but still he held out hope that - as mean as it sounds and as much he is ashamed of himself for thinking this way - that Lia wouldn’t be too picky. If she would just give him one chance to show her that not all men just want one thing from her, like Bradley, that idiot. He would bring her breakfast in bed, and go for walks with her in the park. He would treat her like a real gentleman should, kissing her on the hand and being there for her when she is sad. He wanted to show her how beautiful love can be, but Lia is not interested in him, or the love he has to give.

  “Mike, will you please wait!”

  He can tell straight away that it’s not Lia, as he could always recognise her soft, tentative voice. But this voice is firm and confident, if not a bit brazen. Lindsay stops in front of him, slightly out of breath

  “Are you going to act like Lia now too?” she asks in a fake angry voice, but her smile gives her away. Mike doesn’t find any of this funny at all.

  “Don’t talk to me about Lia. I have had enough for today! Let her get screwed over by those guys for all I care.”

  Mike continues towards West Street, taking quick, disgruntled strides; anything to get away from the stupid Bar Street and all of the partygoers, with the sound of Lindsay’s clicking heels relentlessly following him.

  “I don’t mean to defend her or anything, but she was acting so weird! She didn’t react to us at all, as if she couldn’t even hear us!”

  “I don’t care” Mike says abruptly. He couldn’t care less right now what Lia does or doesn’t do. She is a big girl, and he is not in the mood to let her trample all over his feelings anymore.

  “Oh come on, you know that’s not true. Maybe she is on drugs?”

  “Did you see her taking any?!”

  “No, and that’s exactly it. She only started acting strangely on the dancefloor, as if she wasn’t all there.”

  “She is obviously too busy trying it on with all the guys,” Mike says through clenched teeth.

  “But she wasn’t even paying attention to any of the men; she had her eyes closed almost the whole time! She only opened them when that hot guy suddenly appeared, as if she sensed he was there. It’s so weird...”

  Mike stares angrily at Lindsay.

  “If you think he’s so hot then why the hell are you here?!”

  Startled and confused, Lindsay just stares at him unable to come up with a good enough answer to his abrupt question, but still she walks him back to his place, which is only a few houses down from her own. West Street looks like the perfect image of suburbia. Beautiful, well-kept gardens frame the red and white brick houses, large verandas perfectly matched with the green painted window sills. Childrens’ laughter can be heard on the streets in the summer, and the neighbours do their gardening on Saturday mornings. Around Halloween, all of the paths leading up to the houses are lined with pumpkins, and in winter snowmen stand proudly in front of windows covered in Christmas decorations. The smell of a freshly baked fruit cake is wafting out of the house where Mike lives with his parents and his younger brother Joshua. Snow falls from the sky, landing on Lindsay’s jet black hair. She inhales deeply, savouring the delicious smell of the Christmas cake.

  “Mhmmmm, fruit cake, that’s making me hungry just smelling it!”

  Mike hesitates and then looks sceptically at Lindsay. Although they have known each other for over two years now, Lindsay has never been alone with him at his house, Lia has always been there.

  “My mother probably won’t mind if we have a piece,” he says as he lets her into his house.

  They quietly sneak barefoot through the house as not to wake anyone, and head down to Mike’s room in the basement. It is the polar opposite to Lindsay’s chaotic room. Nothing is thrown carelessly on the floor, nothing is out of place, even his desk is perfectly neat, not a lose paper in sight. Everything has its place. The walls are not covered in band posters, but are decorated with framed pictures of concerts or pieces of music like Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’. Only one picture stands out from the rest; a huge collage of photos of Mike and Lia throughout their long friendship. It starts with photos from their childhood, in which they are building sand castles, to pictures where their mouths are messy with ice cream and finishes with a
party at school. There is not one picture of Lindsay to be seen in this collage.Only one comes to her attention, because she had taken it herself. Originally the photo showed Lindsay, Lia and Mike working on a school project together, but in his collage, Lindsay has been cut out of the picture. A small lump forms in her throat, but she quickly swallows it with another piece of her fruit cake. The clock strikes midnight at St. Marys.

  Mike is sitting distraught on his narrow single bed, burying his head in his hands. His back is rocking as he gently sobs. Lindsay had never seen a boy her own age cry before, they are all too proud and arrogant. This is why she fell in love with Mike, because he is different to all the others. Lindsay drops down light as a feather next to him on the bed, stroking his shaking back with her small hands.

  Taken aback, Mike looks at Lindsay. It’s funny that she would be the one comforting him now, because to be honest he could never really stand her. She moved here from another city two years ago and everyone in school thought she was a freak because of the flashy clothes she wore. Mike would never have spoken to her if it wasn’t for Lia, who liked her from the moment she strutted out and introduced herself to the class. From then on, their twosome suddenly became a threesome. At first, Lindsay and Lia started excluding Mike to go off and ‘do girly things’ as they always say. To this day he still doesn’t know what they mean by that and it makes him angry and jealous of Lindsay. He hates it when Lia whispers something into Lindsay’s ear and then they giggle like little girls and never tell him what they are talking about. He hates it when they go clothes shopping and he is never allowed to go along. But what he hates most is when they talk about boys, regardless of whether it is about the boys at school or someone on television. One time they talked him into going to watch ‘Twilight’ with them and he angrily left the movie within the first twenty minutes, because Lia and Lindsay were sitting there debating who is hotter; Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner?

  He has been jealous of Lindsay since the day he met her, so it is even more surprising that she is now all of a sudden trying to comfort him.

  “You probably think I am a real loser now that I am crying like a baby”, he says, feeling embarrassed and wiping the tears off his face.

  Lindsay smiles. “Don’t be silly! I like it when men can show their feelings. I hate those ice-cold macho men.”

  “I wish Lia would see it that way.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t always think about what she wants. There are other nice girls out there...”

  “...yeah, but none of them would ever go for a guy like me.” Mike interrupts her.

  “Whoever isn’t interested in you doesn’t know what they are missing out on!”

  “You are just saying that to make me feel better. I know I don’t look like Brad Pitt.”

  “Who wants Brad Pitt? Seriously, you are something special and any girl would be lucky to be with you.”

  Mike looks at Lindsay with obvious uncertainty. Does she mean that? Of all people, Lindsay, The girl who knows the ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ list off by heart? When he looks into her eyes, she seems open and honest.

  “I like you Mike. I like you just the way you are.”

  He shyly pushes his hair out of his face and takes off his tear-stained glasses.

  “And what exactly do you like about me?”

  It takes a moment for Lindsay to answer, but then she smiles, and it is the warmest, most genuine smile that Mike has ever seen on anyone.

  “I like that you are always there for your friends, even when they make mistakes. I like it that you take people for what they really are and don’t judge people by how they look on the outside. I like it when you tell me about concerts, because your eyes light up with excitement. I like it when we are in class and you knock your leg against mine, encouraging me to take part in the lessons. I like it when you tell jokes that make me laugh when I am feeling down. I just like how it feels when you are near me because you bring out the best in me.”

  Her cheeks are glowing red when she finishes talking and she looks nervously at him. No one has ever said such loving, kind words to Mike. He is really touched and suddenly feels closer to Lindsay than he has the entire time they had known each other. For the first time he feels like he is seeing the real Lindsay. He suddenly can’t remember why he never liked her, when she sees so much good in him. Normally Lindsay is bitchy and loud and brazen, but as she is sitting next to him now all shy and quiet, she reminds him a little of the modest Lia. He only needs to move forward a tiny bit to prompt Lindsay to move closer to him. Their faces are only inches apart, as they gaze into each other’s eyes and Mike can see honesty, trust, and affection in Lindsays face. As their lips softly and gently touch, it feels so right. They are both moving cautiously, as to not overwhelm or scare away the other. Neither of them wants to force the other to do anything they don’t want to. There are lots of opportunities to stop what is happening, and yet they both continue and it all seems to happen so fast. Mike’s hands quickly find the strap of Lindsay’s bra and for the first time he doesn’t look foolish. Her delicate kisses give him courage, and before long they are lying naked on top of each other, both stroking the other in places they had never touched before. It feels good to be loved by someone when everyone else seems to shrug you off or ignore you. They are giving each other the one thing they have both been wanting for so long. As Mike slowly and carefully enters her and they both lose their innocence to each other, Mike couldn’t wish for it to be with anyone else, not even Lia. Their first time doesn’t last very long. It was spontaneous and unplanned, but still it was just right for both of them. They came together and made each other feel loved, and it feels right as the fall asleep holding each other tightly.

  The next morning Mike wakes up feeling like it was all a big mistake. Having Lindsay laying there in his arms feels nice on the one hand, but on the other hand it just feels unnatural. He loves Lia, and has done as long as he can remember, something like that can’t just be undone by some kind words and one great night. Lindsay is nice, she is beautiful and honest, and he now sees her in a different light, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is not Lia. She is probably not even in love with him either, regardless of what she said last night. It’s not like she actually said the words ‘I love you’ to him. She said all the things she likes about him. He LIKES her too, but what would Lia say to all of this? What would she think to see her two best friends together like this? Would she feel betrayed, maybe even jealous? Mike suddenly feels guilty. He tries to delicately move Lindsay’s head which is resting on his arm, trying not to wake her, but he does just that. Lindsay’s eyes open and she blinks at him, her eyes adjusting to the light. He black hair is messy and tangled, and her pink streak is sticking up on its own. As she catches sight of him, she smiles dreamily and kisses him on the cheek as he turns his head away.

  “Good morning” she whispers in a husky voice, nestling her head into his bare chest.

  Mike clears his throat and she looks at him tentatively. Carefully, he pushes her away from him.

  “I’m gonna go get dressed,” he says as he finds his clothes on the floor and quickly rushes to the bathroom, without even so much as a glance at Lindsay. He is hoping that she will be gone by the time he returns, or at least that she will have some clothes on. He stays in the bathroom way longer than he needs to, carefully brushing his teeth, washing his face and combing his hair. He goes stiff when he hears a very quiet, timid knock on the door.

  “I need to...” a very self-consious voice comes through the door. He feels terrible for the way he is behaving because he can clearly hear in Lindsay’s voice how uncomfortable she is. As he opens the door she is standing there in nothing but one of his black t-shirts. It almost reaches down to her knees. She stands nervously in front of him.

  “Is everything ok?”

  “Of course, why?” he says far too harshly.

  She shrugs her shoulders, “I just thought... because you were taking so long.”

&
nbsp; “Oh, so now I have to justify how long I spend in the bathroom?!”

  Feeling hurt, she shakes her head, “No, I just...”

  “Didn’t you need to use the toilet?”

  He moves out of the way and holds the door for her. He hears her inhale loudly as she walks through the door. Damn it, why is he being so stupid? He doesn’t want to hurt her; it’s not her fault that he doesn’t know what he wants.

  As Lindsay comes back out, there is a knock on the bedroom door. Normally his family would just come straight in, not waiting for a “come in”, but not today.

  “Yes?” Mike says, audibly annoyed while Lindsay looks shyly towards the door.

  Mrs. Chapman sticks her head in the door. She has a warm, but knowing smile on her face.

  “Good morning you two, would you like to join us for breakfast?”

  Before Lindsay can say anything, Mike interrupts.

  “Lindsay was just about to leave.”

  His surprised mother looks from him to Lindsay, who is has her eyes fixed on the floor.

  “Oh, okay,” she says as she closes the door behind her. Lindsay stays still, unable to look Mike in the eye, who at the moment is acting like the biggest jerk in the world.

  “I think it would be better if you leave, otherwise my mother will start getting funny ideas. She probably thinks that this is something that it isn’t.”

  “Oh yeah, and what would that be?” Lindsay says, defiantly looking at him. He sees the disappointment in her eyes, but also hot fury.

  “Well you know, she probably thinks that we are dating now, which is of course nonsense. We both know that this was a mistake; a one-time thing...right?”