Chapter 1: I’ll See You
I stalked up the front steps and pulled open one of the two entrance doors of my school and stepped into the cold building. The halls were long and high-ceilinged, and big windows lined the corridors above the rows of gray-blue lockers that stood a handful of inches taller than I did. The floors were a stylish high-gloss gray concrete, and the sheen covering them made the fluorescent lights in consistent flow down the middle of the white ceilings gleam wildly off their surface. My school was nice, but for all its tasteful decor it was uncomfortably bright. Though, a small part of me was thankful.
Bright lights distorted the spirits I saw and made it easier for me to tell the difference between them and my school mates, but usually there were never many dead at school to begin with.
I squinted and looked back down to the gray floors that glistened under the too-bright fluorescents, and wondered if I'd ever escape myself.
"Will I always be like this?" I wondered, and the voices quieted for a moment, intrigued by the thought, before all mumbling their own replies.
I sighed and pulled my earbuds from my pocket, needing music to drown out the voices while I walked the last few minutes to class. Looking down at my phone I selected a song and, just as I looked up, crashed into someone. The impact twisted me to the side and, thrown off center, I lost balance and tripped over my own foot. My bag fell from my shoulder landing with a thud on the floor, and I followed roughly behind it hissing in pain when I felt my right wrist twinge and sprain.
I gasped and clambered to grab my phone as it hit the floor. I stopped fumbling abruptly, however, when I realized I could hear the footsteps of the many students making their ways to class with an unfamiliar clarity along with the voice of whoever I had bumped into. He was mumbling his apology and holding my aching wrist in his cool hands when I looked up at him.
"I didn't see you. I'm sorry.", he said quickly, before pulling me up and leading me in the opposite direction of my first class so quickly I had no time to object.
The urge to protest against the stranger popped into my mind before it was snuffed out immediately by a wave of calm washing over me, the sensation was so jarring it was almost debilitating.
"I-", I paused to clear my throat, "I have to go to class.", I said quietly, and I thought it was strange: hearing my own voice without the interference of others. I could've cried at the feeling the mental solitude induced, and I thanked whatever magical force had allowed me a free mind.
When the boy didn't answer and only continued walking down the hall with me half cradled against his side, I looked up from where my eyes had been downcast out of habit and studied his features rather than continuing to wait for a reply.
His skin was lighter than my own in a warm olive complexion and healthy in appearance. His hair was curly and black, and it fell over hazel eyes that were framed by straight, long lashes.
His nose was strongly bridged and a bit crooked, and his lips were thin in a delicate way—the bottom one slightly fuller than the one above it, and his jaw was well-defined and mature like the rest of him; though, his lack of facial hair made him look what I assumed his age was—close to mine, if not the same.
The slight swaying of his gait distracted me from my thoughts, and I found my self studying him consciously again, and he was very attractive, to say the least.
I looked away and realized that we were back at the front of the school which had become empty due to everyone dispersing to class, and I sighed as we walked through the side office door that led straight to the nurses’ office where he knocked on the gray door labeled Nurse.
It opened a second later to reveal a short, plump woman with light brown hair fashioned in a french twist with a few strands framing her face. She was dressed in navy blue scrubs, and over her heart was a white name tag decorated with pink butterfly stickers situated on either side of her name. Terry.
I watched as her eyes immediately filled with worry at the sight of me and the guy beside me, and she ushered us in with barely contained urgency.
"What's the matter babies?", she asked, and her voice was so kind, I found myself speaking willingly for once.
"I hurt my wrist.", I answered, then I averted my eyes in misplaced embarrassment. I was out of practice when it came to interacting with others on an impromptu basis and, so far, I'd interacted with two people in less than ten minutes.
That was a new personal record.
Mystery guy remained silent as Nurse Terry honed in on how I was cradling my right wrist and gently pried my fingers away.
She compared the swollen appendage to its unscathed twin, tsked out her disapproval, then carefully tested the mobility of my injury. She moved my wrist up and down, and I felt almost no discomfort, but then she moved it side to side, and I winced, pulling away from her, surprised by the amount of pain I was in.
She frowned at me apologetically, and then motioned for me to let her continue. Reluctantly, I did, and she changed her strategy from moving to feeling, and began prodding at my wrist cautiously while she monitored my expression. I kept my eyes down as her fingers reached the outer right side of my wrist, pushing down on the area gently, but before she could get to the bone, I winced and bit my lip to contain any pained noises as my wrist began to throb and pulse deeply.
She sighed.
"Well, the good news is that it's just a sprain.", she informed, and then she stepped over to an ice machine and took an ice bag from a plastic bucket brimming with them and filled the bag with ice. When she was done, she turned and handed me the bag, before stepping over to a tall display cabinet filled with various medical items. She rummaged around a bit before letting out an Ah-hah when she found what she'd been looking for: a roll of some kind of stretchy bandage material.
She eyed my wrist with a very concentrated expression, her thoughts no doubt weighing something over in her head, then nodded when she came to whatever conclusion, and snagged a pair of scissors from a netted pencil cup. She snipped some of the fabric from the roll which she replaced back into the cabinet, then rifled around for gauze and some kind of cream before closing the cabinet door with a click.
She pulled a stool from next to her desk to the side of a medical bed where she sat before motioning for me to sit down on the bed. I complied and braced myself when she reached for my still-pulsing wrist, wary of the discomfort even her gentle touches brought.
Noticing my skittishness, she tried her hand at distraction. "So?...", she started, pulling a small thing of germ-x from her pocket and applying some to her hands liberally. "How'd it happen?", she asked, and then she was pulling antibacterial wipes from another pocket; I wondered how many she had.
A second passed, then the voice of mystery guy startled me so badly, my heart began to race. He'd been standing so silently I'd forgotten he was there.
"It was my fault.", he said shortly, offering no other explanation, and he answered with so much finality I almost didn't feel comfortable adding anything else to his words. However, Nurse Terry raised an eyebrow at me while she applied a cream she'd grabbed, communicating how unsatisfactory she'd thought his answer, I felt obligated to further explain.
"We bumped into each other in the hall and I fell.", I offered.
She nodded in understanding, then warned me to brace myself as she slid the spandex-like bandage material over my wrist.
I bit down on my lip as the tight cloth disturbed my injury, but the pain faded quickly when the compression of the fabric set in. Paired with the cooling and tingling effect of the cream she'd applied, the only sensation left was a slight throb, and pressure around my wrist.
I exhaled in relief.
She then used gauze to create a make-shift brace for me and secured the loose ends with medical tape. When she was done, my wrist was held securely in place so I couldn't disturb it.
I frowned as I realized I wouldn't be able to write anything down for as long as it was wrapped and felt myself grow worried, but the feeling was shortlived, as Nurse Terry launched into more distracting words, applying more hand sanitizer as she spoke.
"What's your name sweetie?", she asked lightly, stepping over to the computer on her desk.
"Viridia Wilson.", I answered, and she typed and clicked around for a bit befire she stood.
"You're in luck!", she announced. "You're allowed to be administered pain killers.", she told me, then slid what looked like ten tablets into a tiny ziplock bag and handed it to me.
"Take one or two every three to four hours if the pain gets to be too much. They're two hundred milligrams a piece, and I've given you less than the recommended maximum dose for adults to take within a twenty-four hour period, so don't worry about getting sick if you take all of them today.", she instructed, then handed me a little water bottle from the mini fridge by her desk.
"I'll write you a tardy slip and a pass for those pills in case a teacher wants to know where you got them from, and I'll write you a slip as well, mister."
Moments passed as Nurse Terry wrote our notes, and, then, what felt like only a short moment later, mystery guy was holding the door to the Nurse's office open as I walked through before he trailed behind me out of the front office.
We left main hall and got closer to where we'd collided earlier, and just when I thought he'd remain silent, the boy spoke.
"I'm sorry."
My steps faltered slightly and I blinked, surprised by his random apology.
"Um...It's okay.", I replied quietly, and looked down at my shoes as I walked. I was caught between attempting to make small talk to be polite and not speaking at all so as not to disturb the new silence, but I didn't have to worry about it for long.
"I'm Alexander in case you were wondering.", he informed, and I looked over to find him already staring.
I slowed to a stop.
He was oddly stoic as he stared down at me, but his expression wasn't unkind.
"I'm Viridia.", I offered, and he nodded as his eyes became amused, though, other than the slight raise of his eyebrows and his barely upturned lips, his expression remained unchanged.
Watching him, I remembered a moment too late that I'd said my name in the nurses' office.
"Um.", I stammered.
He shook his head. "It's okay. Besides, I knew you before today."
With that, he started walking again only to stop when we came up to where I'd fallen.
Someone had taken the liberty of propping my bag next to one of the classroom doors. They'd even placed my phone and earbuds neatly into the side pocket of my book bag.
Alexander leaned over to pick it up, and slid it over his shoulder.
Disconcerted, I reached forward in silent protest, but he leaned away before I could touch it. "It's the least I can do." I nodded, accepting his kindness, and continued walking with him until he asked what class I had.
"English in B Hall.", I answered, and he replied saying that he had class on the hall next to mine.
"I'm already late. I may as well be a gentleman and escort you to class.", he said, and his eyes were mutedly playful while he looked down at me.
Quickly, I looked away.
He chuckled. "You're very shy."
I shrugged, unsure of how to answer back.
My lack of social comfortability didn't seem to bother him, though. He only laughed once more as we turned down my hall and approached my classroom, stopping at the door, I moved to take my bag again, but he evaded my reaching, handing me my phone instead, then opened the door and walked in ahead of me.
Embarrassed for the second time that morning, I followed behind, and when I was close enough he turned and took my tardy slip.
Mr. Huey stopped instructing and looked over at us in surprise.
"Mr. Campbell. What can I help you-", he cut himself off when he saw me standing behind Alexander's broad frame, something like worry flashed in his eyes.
"Viridia?"
Before I could explain to Mr. Huey what was happening or really process the look he'd dawned, Alexander handed him my tardy slip.
"We ran into each other earlier.", he told my teacher, and I expected the man to want elaboration on the vague excuse, but he demanded no such thing. Instead, he nodded once and gestured for me to find my seat. I complied, moving down the middle row and to my desk in the back, and Alexander followed with my things. He set my bag down at my feet before kneeling to whisper; although, I knew everyone in the quiet roo could still hear him. "I'll see you.", he stated, and my neck grew warm as he stood and stalked away.
