Chapter 2
|3 Years Later|
No.
No no no no no no no no.
No no.
No.
I continued to scribble furiously onto my skin.
No no no.
The black ink making it's way up my arms and onto my shoulders.
No.
Just no.
Over and over and over again. No meaning, no reason. Just no.
I didn't even know why I was doing it, but soon my whole arm was almost covered.
Different sizes, different variations.
All of the word no.
And if in the end, this black venom ends up poisoning me, I won't care.
Because at least it looks pretty on my skin.
I admired my art work, smiling softly to myself. It was like a silk void encasing me, my body littered with the word. It looked nice, it felt nice. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, when-
"Boo." a smooth voice almost as silky as my semi-reality snapped me back into existence.
I took a sharp breath, turning around and lightly hitting the figure behind me,
"Peej!" I nearly screeched. I tried to stare him down with a glare, but failed in my attempts as we both ended up in a fit of giggles.
Manly giggles. Of course,
"You need to stop zoning out like that, it can't be good for your health." he told me with a smirk,
"Oh, shut up."
He chuckled, then frowned as his eyes landed on my right arm,
"Dan!" he gasped.
I just rolled my eyes. PJ always nagged me about how I shouldn't draw on my skin. He was afraid that one day I'd go too far.
Yeah. Okay.
Says the one who covers himself with paint on a daily basis.
PJ huffed a breath,
"You ready to go?"
"Yeah," I said, "Just, uh, give me a minute."
"Alright, I'll be outside when you need me." PJ flashed me a quick smile, then left to go wait.
Then, I was alone. Every breath seemed to echo off the walls, bouncing back to where I stand and caving me in.
So I took a deep breath.
Then another.
And another.
And one last one, because if I took anymore I was certain I would burst.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop any tears from flowing, but to no avail.
It was where I was, standing in the doorway of my home.
Scratch that.
Ex-home.
I changed my mind. I didn't want to leave. I wasn't ready.
I was scared, I was worried. I was terrified and upset and anxious and maybe a little bit excited all at once.
Because I was finally moving out. I didn't really actually have a choice on whether or not I wanted to move out, but because of the circumstances.. well. I just couldn't stay.
And as I stood in the doorway, tears billowing down my cheeks. I could only think of one thing.
I don't want to go.
I don't want to go.
I don't want to go I don't want to go I don't want to go I don't want to go I don't want to go.
Everything seemed to spin and turn and crash down on me. My head was pounding, my throat burning. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go.
And soon PJ was here, and he was holding my arms. He was wiping my tears and telling me,
"It's going to be alright, Dan." How was he so calm?
He told me I needed to stop screaming, I needed to calm down. I needed to let go.
Could I?
But I didn't want to. I didn't want to let go. I wanted to stay here.
I wanted to come home in the winter from work and drink some hot chocolate or tea, maybe watch a movie with my mum.
And another wave of tears rushed out as I thought of all the things I'd never get to do.
Again.
Ever.
PJ pulled me towards the door, closing it one last time; he wrapped his arms around me.
The whole way to the tube I was quiet.
It was only when we got on the train, did I speak,
"I don't even know him." it was barely a whisper, but PJ seemed to hear,
"Yeah mate, I know," he said soothingly. It was strange how caring and comfortable it was to be around him, considering his Facult was something to do with creativity, not compassion,
"Chris says he's a nice guy. Says they went to school together. I'm sure you'll be fine." he smiled weakly and rubbed my shoulder.
Too many thoughts were running through my head. I couldn't even think of all of them, and each time that I tried to, I'd just get lost in some sort of never ending labyrinth of questions with no answers.
I glanced up. It didn't surprise me that people were staring. Someone of Omniscence sent a wave of loathing towards me.
I already felt horrific, no need to increase the mood.
The tube came to a halt, but it wasn't mine and Peej's stop yet. As people began to board the subway, the seats began to fill. All except for one.
The one next to me.
I didn't know how obvious it was that I was ordinary, but it must not of been hard to find out, because a little boy was suggested to sit in the seat next to me. To which he replied,
"Ew mum, no! I'm not sitting next to that." the boy scrunched his face up real nasty like. I just glanced down, ashamed. I usually just let these things happen. There's no point in trying to stop it, but apparently PJ had other ideas,
"He has a name, you know." PJ glared up at the child, receiving an even colder glare from the boy's mother,
"Are you actually standing up for this ... abomination?" she sneered, in disbelief, "especially for someone with your kind of talent. I can't believe.." she shook her head and tksed. I was hoping for Peej to leave it alone, now. But as I expected, he didn't,
"He's just as much of a person as you are!" PJ retaliated. She scoffed,
"I will never understand you people with the creative Facults. Psh, Innovascence? Too much compassion, it seems to me."
PJ opened his mouth to reply, but I gave him a look clearly telling him to "knock it off". He grumbled something incoherent, then sat back down next to me,
"Why didn't you just let me handle it, Dan?" he hissed,
"I don't want to draw more attention to myself then there already is." I mumbled. PJ just shook his head.
We remained silent for the rest of the trip.
Fuck.
Hell.
Shit
Crapfuckshitfuckhellshitfuckcrapfuck-
"Dan!" PJ slapped me upside the head.
I yelped,
"What was that for!?"
"Control your fucking language, pal." he said.
It hadn't occurred to me that I was speaking my thoughts. That seemed to happen a lot.
The perks of being a flawed human being.
I sighed. Apparently all my belongings had been delivered to the flat already. The one that I was going to share.
With a guy.
That I didn't even know!
It was actually the best offer I could get. Truth is, I can't afford my own place. I'd have to split the rent with someone else, and since PJ couldn't take me in due to the fact that he already had a flatmate..
Well, now I'm living with a stranger.
It was someone Chris had requested though. (He is PJ's flatmate, just to clear somethings up).
Chris said he was good friends with the guy, all the way up to the ceremony. They didn't see each other much after that. Mostly because the guy became super famous or some shit due to his "rare Facult."
And, well, being someone who has no Facult, I guess you can understand how horrifically frightened I am to be living with this guy.
The reason I had been swearing earlier, in case it interested anyone, was because me and PJ were currently standing at the door of my new flat.
We technically are still standing here.
I'm just too scared to knock on the door.
"Dan. Seriously." PJ urged.
I gulped, brought my knuckles up and rapped three times onto the hard cement.
From inside there was a loud shuffling, footsteps on stairs, and then finally a click. The door swung open, and I nearly fainted as I saw the person inside.
Dark hair. Blue eyes. Dazzling smile.
It was the guy I had been thinking about non-stop for three years.