.
.
“Let me sign you in,” I said. We headed over to the guard at the
reception desk and signed in. Afterwards, I led him towards the cafeteria. “Sorry, Lisa is running late but she’ll meet us in about ten minutes.”
“I don’t mind my current company.” I looked away when his eyes lingered for a moment longer than I could handle.
Something about him gave me warning signs but still drew me to him.
“So, did you know we were on that field trip the day we first met?” I asked.
''Lisa told me you guys were in the area but I didn’t actually plan to bump into any of you.”
I wondered how close they were and why she had never mentioned him before.
“You look like you’ve got a lot of questions for me.”
“I’m just curious.”
“About what exactly?”
“Why Lisa hasn’t mentioned you until today.”
“My cousin and I don’t always see on certain matters.” He shrugged. Just then, I saw Lisa headed towards us and for some reason, I felt like there was more
to this visit than she let on. Her eyes were serious despite the smile she had on her face and when she greeted him, her smile still didn’t reach her eyes.
“Sorry for bothering you.” She said to me.
“Oh, it was no big deal.” I brushed off her apology.
“Um, I’ll see you guys later.”
I turned and tried to slip away.
“Monica,” Charles said before I could take a step.
“Yes?”
“Thanks for your help.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll… see you later.”
For some reason, he made it sound like a promise and I tried to ignore the effect it had on me. My steps felt like hot coals were under my feet and I didn’t slow down my pace until I was out of sight. I leaned against a wall and tried to
calm down. It had been ages since I’d felt anything other than irritation, bitterness, fear and suspicion towards a member of the opposite gender and I tried to convince myself that I felt nothing different for him.
I went to the first place I could think of which was the library and picked up the journal about THE REDS to continue from where I left off.
As I turned a page, I noticed a few words at the bottom of the page that looked like scrawled handwriting. Someone had definitely written those words there. I squinted at it for a closer look and saw a name and date written 1670AD (DARKLORD).
I brought out my phone and took a picture of it since I couldn’t make any sense of it. My phone beeped with a
message from Lisa
We’re going to get some food, are you interested?
I thought about it for a while. Despite my grumbling stomach, I didn’t trust myself to be around Charles. Something about him triggered feelings I had no business with, not after what I’d been through.
Don’t worry about me, you guys should go ahead.
Are you sure?
Absolutely.
As I set my phone aside, I tried hard to ignore the little voice in my head that told me I was a coward for running away from him.
“What’re you up to?” I jumped at the sound of the voice behind me and spun around to find Victor watching me.
“When did you get here?”
“A few minutes ago, why?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t tell me you think I would waste a few precious moments of my life staring at you fiddling with your phone.”
I rolled my eyes at him as he sat down beside me.
“Where did you get that?” His eyes narrowed at the book that was open before me. I realised too late that I hadn’t thought to keep it out of sight when he came.
“It’s just a book I found in one of the History
sections.” He inspected it for a few seconds and frowned.
“You do realise this book is mostly about cults right?”
I didn’t say anything.
“Monica, what’re you searching for?”
“What do you mean?” I shrugged.
“Why aren’t you reading a novel or maybe a textbook.
Why this?” He held the book up in front of me to drive home his point.
“I was just curious, okay?”
“You know what they say about curiosity.”
“Well,” I snatched the book from him. “It’s a good thing I’m not a cat.”
I got up to leave but then I realized I would have to leave the book behind because it couldn’t be checked out of the library.
“Just sit down and hear me out.” I sighed as I did
so. I figure it couldn’t hurt to hear what he had to say.
“You need to be careful, especially when it comes
to matters
like this.”
“I’m just reading a book at the library.”
“A book that contains information about a cult as deadly as THE REDs which was original called ORION. I don’t know if you’ve heard but things are kind of tense around campus and don’t say you heard this from me, but there are rumors that the former leader of THE REDs. descendants of the Dark Lord of ORION is back on the surface after disappearing for so long.
Imagine what changes that could bring about.” He looked around the nearly
empty library before he continued. “Sometimes, playing ignorant is better than acting smart. You don’t know who’s watching.”
His words still rang in my head long after he left and as I walked back to the hostel, I wondered what would happen to those of us who had unwillingly gotten entangled with members of THE REDs.
.
.
.
....