Chasing Shadows | ✓

Part Two: Chapter Twelve

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you dared to brush your fingers

over the stars

but no one told you they burned

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MY THOUGHTS WERE WHIRRING AROUND IN MY HEAD.

The familiar hallways of the school came into view as I pushed the front doors open. A tired sigh left my lips - having stayed at home for a few days, coming back suddenly felt so draining. All I wanted was to run back home and hide in the safety of my blankets, but I had already missed a few days and I couldn't afford to stay home any longer.

The cold from outside moved in only to meet the warmth of my blood, my defense against such ice. I felt it wash over my skin, again and again, only to be met by the beat of my heart, again and again. As I peeked outside, the sky was a rolling blanket of cloud, the colour of wet ash, and the ground was its dank reflection.

Even still, my feet trudged against the tiled floor, every step feeling like I was carrying the weight of the world. I knew dark bags lined my under-eyes, but at this stage, I knew they were a permanent feature of my face. I gnawed on my bottom lip thoughtfully, as one thing had been bugging me the entire weekend, ever since Travis had left.

Natalia.

That name. Who was she? Why had Travis been dreaming about me? And moreover, why did he call me Natalia, and not Natalie? Had I simply heard him wrong?

. . . But what baffled me more, was that even in my own dream, the name I had heard wasn't Natalie.

It was Natalia.

Was it just a coincidence? Was I slowly losing my mind, thinking I had heard the same name, when I hadn't? How much could I trust myself to remember my own dream clearly? Was I just completely overthinking everything for no reason?

"Natalie!"

I jumped when a loud voice called out my name. Whipping around, I saw Noah saunter towards me, hands stuffed in his pockets. He had a bright grin playing on his lips as he came to a slow stop in front of me. Strangely, I found that I had to almost force a polite smile on my face to him. All of a sudden, I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise, and a cold flush ran through my veins, chilling even my bones.

"I was waving at you, didn't you see me?" he frowned.

The boy standing in front of me looked like Noah, but for some reason, he didn't feel the same as he did before. . . Something was different. I stared at him for a few seconds, my lips unable to move to from a coherent sentence. My feet shuffled back a step unconsciously, hitting the edge of my locker.

"Noah hi," I blinked, "Sorry, I was out of it for a second, I didn't see you. My head is kind of all over the place at the moment."

The corners of his lips tilted up into a grin, while his eyes crinkled. The edge of his lip was pushed up, scrunching his one eye up, making the brown iris appear black. His lips parted a centimeter, making it seductive to many, yet the faked smile on his pristine face made him appear all too arrogant.

"It's okay, but how are you feeling?" he asked, "I texted you, but you didn't reply."

"Right, sorry about that," I flustered, "I haven't really looked at my phone. I got a little distracted with other stuff."

"Oh," his tone dropped, "That's okay. I just wanted to know if you were okay I guess."

"I'm feeling much better, don't worry," I smiled up at him, "The few days off really did me good."