"Let me know, when you have grown, what you enjoy to do besides to review. I like to consume old stories and engage in all the glories. They're perpetual in one's heart, the chain of time will never rot. As they get ready to convey, so do we get lost in dismay."- Peter Zahn
Goodbye, normal life, hello to a new beggining!
It was Saturday, the clock showing the hour 10 in the morning. The sun was finally revealing its face in what seemed like weeks.
Vivien was in her room. It had been a few days since the last beckoning, her life starting to resemble a lacklustre performance. The mundane work was not doing much from making her snap out of the overthinking.
She kept replaying the moments she traveled in time and how desolated the boy who constantly got on her nerves looked when she went to the future.
As she was lying there, thinking to herself, she heard a knock at her door.
„Vivien! Come out, stop acting like a mole rat!"
„I will!"
She heard Luis leaving. That's when she got up from the bed, only to settle down on the empty chair at her desk. She wanted to finish writing an enlightening speech because she enrolled in a free-speech conference which would take place a few days after her birthday.
Speaking of that date, 19th of January was the day she'd turn 19 years old. The year ahead was going to be difficult, 2027 already marking its way into her callendar that was abounding fullfilments and events.
Though, Vivien didn't even look forward to celebrating her birthday this year.
Her 18th birthday was an absolute blast, she invited her friends to a restaurant and had a wonderful time.
This year felt much different because of the college entrance pressure and the need to be thoroughly organised.
She got up from the chair and stepped out the room. She hadn't eaten breakfast, almost like always.
Her love for food had been at an all time low for a while, it seemed there was no food delicious enough for her.
The girl grabbed whatever she could find in the fridge. She sat down at the table and started eating just to fill up her stomach. A bit later, her brother also joined her.
Luis was munching loudly on a burger as if he had never eaten one before.
„Mom and dad called me yesterday to tell me they'll come back home for your birthday. They wanted me to keep it a surprise, but I figured it doesn't matter to you."
„I'm sure that must be profoundly disconcerting for them. They could stay in Canada and solely wish me a happy birthday from there, I don't mind."
„I spoke to them about it, but they insisted on coming over."
Vivien didn't say anything else in retaliation. She was secretly very happy to hear she'd get to see her parents again, though she wanted to look unfazed in front of her older brother.
Their parents had been working in Canada for two years, and the income received there was really good. They both worked as english teachers, the remuneration allowing them to afford a bit more for Vivien and Luis. Her brother worked from home, and almost all the money was being invested into tuition fees for himself.
Any form of payment for a service must feel like abiding to a rule that has been completed with grace, and now you get rewarded for it, Vivien thought.
After a bit more chatter with her brother, she thought about checking the school's library once again.
The gloomy vibe of the day would not let her stride away from her second purpose. She simply needed to see more of the time traveling.
She grabbed her small journal, the one she didn't want to bring with herself ever again, and got dressed to go out.
She wore a dark green shirt, taking a liking to the color. The girl put on her jacket. She said her goodbyes to her brother, telling him it was a hangout with her friends, and within a few minutes, she was out the door.
Vivien hated wasting time, and whatever this magic was trying to tell the both of them, she had to figure it out as soon as possible.
She took the bus and arrived at Elton High. Vivien didn't want to be seen by the guard, so she had to be sneaky about what she was going to do.
Vivien had never presumed she'd get in that sort of predicament. She had always thought of herself as someone out of character, but not to the point she'd sneak into the school on a perfectly sunny and wonderful day in the last week of November. She hid behind the gate, waiting for the guard to go back inside.
She peeked through a small gap in the gate, noticing all his movements like an eagle eyeing its prey. Once the man turned away and took up a call, speaking with an unknown person in a friendly way, the girl moved inside the yard. She tiptoed all the way inside the school, where she was sure cameras would see her, but there wasn't much she could do and tried keeping the lowest profile she was able to.
Arriving inside the school, she waved and showed a peace sign at the first camera she came across.
The girl moved fast. Looking across the halls of the school, she loved the quietness and emptiness of a place usually so full of light and chatter. It was eerie to observe, but also quite relaxing.
She reached for the doorknob, the purple light flickering from her right hand as it always did. She stepped inside, taking in the few people around.
Some were having conversations, some were looking for books. She walked around and did her best not to bring any unwanted attention.
She stepped out the library, hearing the clock ticking again. This time, it was for the hour 4 p.m. Vivien wrote in her journal anything she saw and thought was interesting. She stopped at a window and looked outside of Elton to the busy streets.
The view was incredible, many people rushing to get to their own assigned places to be. Her eyes would haphazardly go over the motions as a form of distraction.
She felt her phone in her pocket, realising it was Jude again.
That boy lied to her, he knew about her being from the past from the very beggining of the circumstances, so firm trust was difficult to assemble from scratch and to augment between the two.
„Ignoring me, eh? Not a good look on you."
Vivien turned around. She placed her small journal in the pocket of her jacket. He had been standing there the whole time.
„Go away, Jude."
„You had your location turned on, that's how I found you. The app I use suddenly gave me a notification of your presence here."
She kept silent. Vivien was trying to make sense of what he was saying before he started to speak again.
„Since you're so dear to me, I'll tell you why both of your futures look so hopeless."
„I asserted that your insistance to assist me is unnecessary to my requierments. I can find out myself."
„I'll tell you about it, either way. Leonard chose you two to hold the power of traveling in time. When he chooses you and when you gain that power, you get a curse that comes with the price of holding the ability to travel back and forward into time."
„What's the curse, and who's Leonard? What constitutes of this?"
„I'll leave that up for you to find out yourself. You don't need my help, after all."
„What a sack of useless potatoes you are..." , she muttered.
Jude had left before he could hear her angry muttering. This was about to be much more difficult than it looked for Vivien.
...
A few days later, during lunch break, she came to the library once again, trying to learn anything she could about a so-called curse. She looked through every single book that there was, but didn't see anything that caught her eye. Just as she was about to give up, she noticed a legend about „The curse of Althemia- The ascender of the moon."
It was a novel about a curse, and Vivien was more than pleased to notice it on display on the shelf. She took the book in her possession and read a bit from it, or at least what the time she had left of the lunch break allowed her to read. She didn't want to be late for class.
She sat in her usual seat in the reading nook, staring blankly at the words on the pages. Vivien noticed a familiar figure in the distance looking around. Once he saw her, a big and genuine smile sat on his face.
„Heeey, shortcakes is at the library again. Why are you always here? Your friends sent me to check on you since you don't want to pay attention to them anymore."
„Shut up, I need to concentrate fully.", the girl said as she kept shuffling pages through the book she thought of as a precious treasure.
„Not until you tell me why you're so obsessed with reading every single book you see. Has the stress of being in your last year of highschool finally gotten to you? You look like a distressed monkey trying to find a banana it lost. It's almost amusing to watch, if not a bit uncanny."
Sylas watched as she kept reading. He looked with curiosity at the book while admiring her soft features and her hair. He felt he wanted to say something more, but he got caught up in the moment. He stared at her for a bit longer, hoping she wouldn't notice. Then, he sat down next to her. He rested his chin on his palm, his elbow prompted on the table in front of them, deciding to break the tension between them.
„It's fancy to see you here again, Vivi."
The girl didn't respond.
„It's SUCH A PLEASURE to meet you here again, Vivi."
He poked her head to get a response out of her.
„Answer meee, Vivi, why do you read so much? Doesn't your brain feel like exploding? That's if you HAVE a brain right now, it must be short-circuiting after going through all those chapters. Your brain is lifting about 200 pounds this moment, working overtime just because you're too stubborn to stop reaaaading."
„Oh, haha, you're so funny", Vivien looked down, conveying ignorance for the boy and still reading despite all his attempts.
Sylas chuckled at her dejected tone of voice and facial expression.
The girl skimmed through the pages and he noticed it didn't even seem like she was reading, but like she was looking for something in particular. Perhaps a certain chapter or a line? She eventually got a papercut from the fast movement of skimming through the pages and, at the sight of blood, said the word she had a habit of saying each time she felt disheartened, which was: „shucks".
Sylas continued teasing her, enjoying the situation.
„How much do you weigh, if you don't mind me asking? I'm curious if my estimation of 200 pounds is even a little bit close to your weight. I'm hoping your brain can be lifting you up once you're done learning, because you're going to be absolutely exhausted and nobody will take you home."
Vivien didn't look up.
„You weigh 300 pounds, maybe?"
She didn't even make a sound.
„No? 400?"
She chimed in.
„That's not even an accurate assumption. You're spouting random numbers to get on my nerves because you take a liking to it. The world is going crazy bit by bit, and I will still be here to watch as everything goes to waste as a simple passive observer of descent, for ambition alone proves insufficient. Injustices, famines and wars are all happening around us. Everyone is battling with themselves, therefore, what's the point in arguing with you?"
„Good grief, Vivien, what is that you're reading? You're almost like a zombie that's lacking any emotion."
He took the novel from her hands, ignoring her slouched speech concerning a contentious disputation with him.
„Hey, don't bully me!"
„I'm not bullying, it's well deserved. Let's see... What are the first lines in this book you love? „I looked at Sylas and his gorgeous, lucious hair made me fall in love with him. I recommend going out with him anywhere else but the library." Hmmm... very well said. I like this book."
Vivien tried glaring at him, but she couldn't help letting a small smile plaster across her face. His presence became quite enjoyable. She thought about the curse being something they couldn't escape, and that made her apprehensive regarding the matter.
„Alright, alright, here you go. I'm not trying to make you my hater. I already have a bunch of those."
The boy handed her the novel, and Vivien realised he thought nothing of the title. She was glad she didn't have to explain to him about the fact they may have been cursed.
„Don't be so sensitive, it's called messing around."
„What you're doing is indefinitely mocking and I can't stand it."
„My bad."
„I see that you've stopped, so if I may obtain your assent to discuss something important, I'd be more than content."
„Assent? Woah, don't hit me with complex words."
„I will only be speaking like that if you keep mocking my love for books since I know it gets on your nerves."
„Please don't keep talking that way, it's really annoying. Have some compassion for little old me."
„You're a nudnik."
Sylas' face made a very curious expression and his head tilted. He began laughing because he had no clue what it meant, so he decided not to ask her, but to search for the word himself.
He grabbed his dictionary from his schoolbag in complete silence and searched through it. As he did, he stopped at the letter "n" and noticed the word nudnik- a pestering, nagging or annoying person. The boy laughed even louder at that definition.
„You're going to kill me one of these days, darling."
„What did you just call me?"
Vivien recalled he had adressed her that way before, but she took no mind to it and brushed it off when the nickname slipped out of his mouth for the first time. Just then, she could feel the embarrassment from not having realised it before.
„Hmm, Vivi, darling, what does it matter? You know, this could be like a code word just between the two of us, nudnik. Hah, seriously, where do you take these words from?"
„It's a secret."
„Heh, I like you, Vivien."
Her gaze immediately shot up to his blue eyes. He had that usual smirk, but she was sure she didn't hear him correctly. Sylas Jackson likes her? Did he say it just for fun, or meant it as a friend?
She had not realised her face was probably getting redder and redder by the second.
„I'll stop interrupting your reading time. This was a fun conversation, we should do this more often. By the way, don't forget...Rachel and Grace are looking for you."
The boy sat up from the seat in the reading nook and left the library, leaving her feeling incredibly astonished with the way he was acting towards her.