Crimson Angel

by Yume

  Forth turn

  The Unnatural

  For the entire morning and afternoon, plenty of butterflies were swirling in my stomach but Len was still reading his Twilight saga! He seemed to sense neither danger nor my anxiety at all. And what really got on my nerves was the way he read books. He could finish a book within two seconds, just by flicking the pages. I was dubious at first but when I interrogated him about the contents, he could retell every single detail. I was beginning to feel deceived. Perhaps Len had read Twilight before.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” Len showed me that pathetic look of his which at once fill me with guilt.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to believe you.” I clarified. “It is just hard to do so.”

  “I see.” Len didn’t say much afterwards and for a minute I supposed he was angry.

  “Len, I…” I was about to apologize when Len stopped me.

  “Don’t you worry, Alice. A scratch won’t do any harm to me.”

  And I knew he was talking about the fight after school.

  “I am not worried about you!” I lied, trying to hide my nervousness. I didn’t want him to think I cared about him that much but of course; my voice was not convincing enough.

  Len just smiled though he could have caught me lying. I must have looked so stupid.

  “Len, where do you live?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “It’s alright if you don’t want to tell.”

  “It’s a secret. I can’t tell anyone.”

  “Anyone? Not even me?”

  “I am sorry, Alice.”

  “But why? Will you be robbed if you expose your home’s location?”

  “You think too much.”

  I hated people say I thought too much. Whenever I suspected Edmond, he told me that and my theory always turned out right.

  I had had enough of it. There were so many things I required an answer.

  “What about your family?”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “Why?”

  “Alice, I can tell you everything about me except my family and the place I live.”

  Len was still reading. I groaned.

  If the first two questions I tried on Len were already some top secrets of his, then I was sure if I tried buying a lottery that day, I would have won the first prize.

  “It’s not that bad.” Len put down Breaking Dawn and patted on it. “The way they portray vampires is cool.”

  “Do you like this kind of things?”

  I saw there was no way for him to avoid this question.

  “Not really. I am just curious how you people think about vampires. Why do you call them vampires anyway?”

  “Pardon?”

  Why did we call them vampires? Len also call vampires “vampires”.

  “Haha, nothing.”

  “Len, are you aiming at Harry Potter next?”

  “If I have time.”

  Time? He didn’t need much time to read a book. By my calculation, he could finish the whole series of Harry Potter by eighteen seconds with no delay.

  “You think I am strange?”

  “Wholly.” I spit the word out straightforwardly.

  “Quite normal to think that but…” Len lowered his voice. “I want to try something”

  Len moved forwards to me and my heart was hammering. It was pumping so fast that I dreaded it might jump out at any moment.

  Stop. I wanted to shout. He was killing me.

  Len must have detected my embarrassment because he stopped. He took off my glasses and put them on.

  “How do I look?” He asked playfully.

  My heartbeat dropped drastically as I breathed in relief. I could have died of heart failure!

  “Give me back, Len, I can’t see properly.”

  “Didn’t you wear contact lens before?”

  “Yes, but I don’t, now.”

  “You still haven’t told me how I look.” Len insisted.

  “Handsome! Are you happy?”

  “I have never tried on glasses before. Everything looks…so blurred.”

  “That’s because you don’t have short sight.” I said and reached out. “Come on, stop messing around.”

  He returned my glasses under my command.

  “Glasses aren’t that bad. I think they are cool.” Len confessed. “People like me will never get a chance to wear them.”

  Everything he said was a question to me. How could he guarantee it would never come to a day when he had short sight? That was weird enough.

  The lunch passed on with Len chatting with me. I still couldn’t see Len had any pressure. He really didn’t feel it was a hassle to fight with Edmond, did he?

  But one anomalous thing did happen during lunch. I cut myself carelessly with the scissors and blood was spilling out from my small wound. All of sudden, Len went sensitive and turned on. In the beginning, his glare was horrendous. He looked as though he would eat me. It was a desire, a thirst.

  The next second he kept himself away from me.

  “Len, give me some tissues.” I demanded.

  It took him a minute to react, which was too slow compared to the speed he read books.

  “Sorry, Alice.”

  He didn’t even dare to touch me when he handed me the tissue. I wrapped it around my finger and it soon stopped bleeding.

  Len was gasping and all. I didn’t have the heart to figure out why though it was too strange.

  “Are you scared of blood?” I asked.

  Len thought over and nodded. “A bit.”

  “Oh.” I had heard people who developed unusual fear towards blood. They became as terrified as if they were at the edge of death.

  Only when he ensured he could see no more blood from me, he sat back next to me.

  “You smell good.” Unconsciously, Len said it and I shot him a doubtful gape.

  Instantly, he corrected himself. “I mean your hair smells good.”

  “Really?” I couldn’t understand why. I was using the same shampoo all this time and he only scented it right now. That would be too strange again.