The Exigency

Katherine Desdomona was sitting in her physics class the day her mother passed on,she had gotten called to the office and given the message via a frantic telephone call from her dejected and rather desolate father, her whole world shattered that day, and the once bubbly girl was now a husk of what she used to be. She pushed away all her friends as she grieved and she didn’t speak to anyone about the troubles she was going through, most nights she had dreams that carried her away to a deserted village,where the only sounds to be heard was the howling of the midnight wolves and the croaking of the many frogs from the lake. In front of her was the same figure every time, a boy, a couple years older than her, staring straight at her with his obsidian coloured eyes, she never moved as he made his way closer, she was always frozen in place, yet when he touched her, she felt right, like she was home, the same comforting feeling she’d get from her mom when she hugged her. This boy was a stranger to her,he’d never crossed paths with her before and she’d never seen him, not even in any of those series she had used to watch before the accident. And when he tilted her chin and kissed her, her stomach exploded with a million butterflies that gave her a passion she hadn’t thought was there anymore. And it ended the same every time,the boy holding her would let go, stare at her sadly and disappear into a cloud of swirling darkness, and as Katherine chased it, she ended up falling, falling into that same swirling mass and waking up in a cold sweat. She had gotten exceptionally well at keeping quiet when she had those nightmares, so as to not scare her already spooked father, Katherine had noticed the change in her once brilliant architectural father, even though he still had his intelligence and he still worked hard, the passion to do it was no longer there, it was replaced by a nonchalant attitude in which he worked just for the sake of working, just to keep the roof over their heads, but there was those rare moments, where Katherine dug herself out of the hole she was in, and played her mothers guitar. Her father would stand by the door frame, with a small smile of content on his face and watch his still beautiful but now broken down daughter,Katherine sit with a sad smile on her face as she strummed the guitar strings between her fingers. Those moments were the only times that she had with her father, as he chose to emmerse himself in his work, which only pushed her away even more, for she knew the main reason that she was pushed away was due to the fact that she looked like her mother. But one day her life was going to change and that day was coming fast.

It was the day she turned 18, 2 years after the accident and 2 years since she started having those dreams, Katherine was sitting in her secluded part of the cafeteria,minding her own business as usual when her former friends had decided to take a seat at her table, she pulled back her maroon coloured hoodie to be faced by a mass of swirling colors of pink and too bright baby blue. Her style had dramatically changed from when she was friends with them, she now wore outfits that were questionable to the school and had piercings in places that most girls wouldn’t have had in her prep school, but she still had it, she took great pride in the questioning looks that she was given by her former friends, so imagine to her chagrin, when Vanessa, her ex best friend started talking to her like nothing had changed, over the years she had watched and seen how her friends bullied and pushed girls that they found wasn’t in their sense, ‘beautiful’. Katherine realized that going back to that life wasn’t what she wanted and she looked at her now ex best friend in disgust as she gossiped about thegroup of kids in the corner. “So Cheryl told me, that Nathaniel, that boy with the glasses, has the hugest crush on our dear Macy here.” Vanessa said with a flourish of her baby pink nails, Macy looked up at the table further down from Katherine’s, a boy with horn rimmed glasses and freckles splashed across his nose looked back at her, a small hesitant smile on his face as he waved at her slowly. “Nerd” Macy said, loud enough to make the young man look down in shame as the other girls at the table laughed at his hopelessness. Katherine rolled her eyes in discontent from underneath her hoodie, keeping her gaze firmly on her food, “It’s rude when you don’t acknowledge people Kathy.” came the snide voice of her former best friend, the others around the table laughed or giggled as Vanessa poked a bit of fun at Katherine, pushing the now quiet girl to a boiling point. Do it came the voice in her head, it shocked the girl for a moment, before she listened, Hurt her like she hurts them, her words hurt others emotionally now show her how it hurts physically. Truth be told the voice scared her a little, the calm and eerily familiar way it spoke to her, the haunting yet beautiful calm it had, made Katherine think maybe she was crazy to not agree to helping or acting on the voices requests. But along with that voice came her conscience, her knowing that if she acted on the voices requests, she would be disappointing her father, the one thing she didn’t want happening at any given time.So she kept quiet as she was being jeered at, all the while the haunting voice kept getting louder and louder till it all became too much and she just upped and walked away, she made her way through the deserted hallway to be stopped in her tracks, the boy from her dreams stood in front of her, his obsidian eyes piercing into her soft green irises, this boy was dressed differently to the one from her dreams, instead of the simple clothing she had seen him use, he was dressed in black skinny jeans that showed off his toned and muscled legs, a muscle t-shirt that emphasized the bulges on his body, and a leather jacket that just screamed bad boy, but his face, that sweet and comforting smile from her dream was still present on his face, drawing her in as she walked forward to meet him. His arms around her felt like home, drawing her in as he wrapped them on her mid drift, “I see you feel the connection too mio cara” he said with his slightly accented voice, Katherine smiled, lifting her head to look at the boy that made her feel so much in so little time, even if it was just on a dream, “You still haven’t told me your name” she said with a slight smile, “II mio nome è Giovanni”came his silky reply, Katherine pecked his cheek softly and looked into those dark obsidian eyes, “My name is Katherine.”

Katherine walked back into the cafeteria with Giovanni, a sudden silence hit the room, everyone watching and waiting with bated breath as they made their way to another secluded area in the back, the walking barbie dolls watched them as well, a sick smile on the face of their leader, Vanessa Summers as she beckoned for her followers, her path set on the way to the table her former friend occupied with the new transfer student from Italy. “Hey Kathy” she drawled. Her Texan accent catching everyone’s surprise, for she rarely used it unless she wanted something to go her way, "Who’s your new friend?” she asked, with a slight bat of her new eyelashes. Giovanni inwardly sighed and hid his irritation, feeling the way Katherine’s body tensed up as the girl spoke to her. “My name is Giovanni Templar, it’s a pleasure to meet you perdere?” “Vanessa, sweetie but please call me Ness, Vanessa is so old fashioned.” Giovanni nodded slightly in acquisence not completely agreeing but also not disregarding the girl, his focus totally on Katherine, Vanessa hissed underneath her breath when she noticed the attention wasn’t completely on her, “So how do you know Kathy over here?” she asked, her smile still stuck on her face as she tried to win the boy’s attention, he turned to her once again, “She and I have known each other for the past 2 years.” he said with a soft smile, kissing her hand in a gentlemanly manner,eliciting a smile from the honey coloured blonde. Vanessa’s smile faded at the action,seeing her former friend with one of the hottest boys at school yet again, threw her back to 2 years ago when she was nothing more than a lap dog to Katherine. “Oh so then you know of her depressive and destructive behaviour then?” she said maliciously, seeing the fading smile on her quite friend, Katherine woke from her chair, looking at the girl, her green eyes becoming the colour of seaweed as she spoke,“Stay away from me and from Giovanni or believe me Summers, you are going to regret crossing my path.” Her voice was quiet and soft but the words were a power on their own, Katherine always had a deadly calm way of handling situations and when it came to Vanessa she knew exactly how to look at her and what to say. The ravenette haired girl, took a few steps back before leaving, her eyes full blown in fear,Katherine rolled her eyes, pulling down her hood as she sat next to Giovanni, her eyes sparkling as he placed a soft kiss on her lips, resting her head on his chest.

As the day drew to an end, she bid farewell to her Italian fidanzato as she jumped into her fathers car, her dad looking at her with a small smile, “I see you have met Mr Templar’s son Giovanni?” he asked his daughter, Katherine had a slight blush on her face as she nodded quietly and looked at her father, “Is this the same Mr Templar who is your work friend?” Mr Desdomona nodded and and started the car, “He is one of the most respected architects in the all of Italy, he lost his wifw during Giovanni’s birth and he has raised his son since then. Giovanni is a brilliant boy, very much artistically inclined, he is like you in many ways dear.” Katherine smiled from under her hood as her phone beeped, she looked down to see Giovanni’s name pop up on her screen and she unlocked her phone. Are you home safe darling? Her cheeks flushed red at the simple care behind those words before answering him back, I’m in the car with my dad, he is just telling me how he and your dad are close friends.A smiley emoji was sent back to her as they parked the car in the driveway, “Oh and Kathy dear, Mr Templar and his son will be coming over for supper tonight.