Three.....what is make believe

Argent, I’m not trying to scare you or anything, and I’m taking a chance here but I’d like to give you some information. You’re going to change, your body is, you might faint or hallucinate, get angry and hostile and perhaps experience a seizure. No doctor will find anything wrong with you, and in truth there really isn’t. When this happens we’ll probably meet each other and I’ll tell you what’s going on and you’ll have a choice, you can tell me to leave you alone forever or we’ll become companions for a very long time. All I’m trying to say is don’t panic, the truth will reveal itself.

Ivory, a friend.

 

Don’t Panic. Ivory, the girl who died in her arms has now messaged her telling her not to panic. What does she mean we’ll meet each other? In death? And there it was, Genny was panicking, how could she not? She just couldn’t imagine how the girl could live if she was never admitted to hospital, or how the girl knew her name and found her profile despite her account name being Genny Norwood. Nor could she imagine how the other girl could know what was going to happen to her. Going to? She’d fainted the day before, right after a short hallucination, just like the dead girl foretold.

Genny also couldn’t help but notice she didn’t mention falling out of that building at all. And that there was no way for her to know this was the same Ivory.

“Why does she know who I am?” Genny whispered to the screen, “What the hell is going on?”

She repeatedly refreshed the page, checking that this wasn’t a hallucination " but hoping against hope it was. The message remained unchanged, each time from facebook user Xin Ivory, no profile picture.

Genny clicked the name, and found either she’d been blocked form viewing anything on her page, or more likely the account had been deactivated. Once again she ceased to exist. She had an impeccable ability for vanishing without a trace, Genny thought, almost in awe.

 

“Call the police; they might be able to retrieve the IP address it was sent from,” Eden suggested.

“If she could be traced she probably would’ve advised me against that, or threatened me, she probably sent it from an internet cafe. Also if the police think she’s dead they’ll just assume it’s someone from school messing with me,” Genny replied.

“What if it is? They’ll certainly be able to tell if they sent it form their own computers,”

Genny realised how rational this sounded, but the message was so strange, undoubtedly not what she would’ve written if she were playing a joke on someone.

“Yeah but, she called me Argent, Jay knew me as Argent in school, you too now. Just Jay and, and Marni...” Genny trailed off. There was a time Genny could remember when Marni and Genny had been close friends, and both applied to CAA, only Marni got in for freshman year. And suddenly she was too good for Genny " and her boyfriend at the time. When he broke up with her, Genny got the blame. When Genny joined CAA in September, she was determined to make the new kid’s life hell

“Oh wow,” Eden knew what this meant.

Genny wasn’t so scared anymore; all she wanted to do was rip the backstabber’s trachea out of her throat and watch her suffocate. Realistically to suffocate her she’d need a pillow, maybe a folded jumper after gym " Wait, I’m not really going to kill her! Genny thought to herself, derailing an all-consuming train of thought that was held more aggression than she was sure she felt. You might get angry and hostile. The words flitted across her mind.

 

***

 

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Eden said, eyes flicking away from a game of 2-player taptap against Freddie on his iTouch

The air was diminishingly cold and at a quarter to five the sun was pretty much set, but they’d long since made the 3 adjacent benches in the south side of Humboldt Park their own.

“Of course she wants to do it, there’s nothing funner than an uncalled for gatecrash, except a called for gatecrash " which this is, so like double the fun,” Jay said, his legs up on the table before him, one headphone in his left ear.

Genny’s plan was to turn up to a party in which exclusivity had been stressed and duly noted around the school; Marni’s and Antonia’s double sweet sixteenth. Paige had landed an invitation " most likely to remind Genny she wasn’t coming " and would open the fire door from inside, when Genny would pull Marni aside confront her and maybe shove some cake in the girl’s face, before gracefully making their exodus and hopefully proving they have better places to be.

“I’m sure, she thinks I’m an easy target, and she needs to learn I’m not before this escalates,” Genny replied to Eden

“And you’re sure she’s the one who inboxed you?” Freddie asked.

She’d let them know she received a fake message from Ivory using the non-shortened version of her name only Jay and Marni had known but left the any details of the original note the real Ivory had.

“If it wasn’t Jay, it has to Marni,” Genny said adamantly.

“Seems a bit silly though,” Paige noted, hugging her knees to her chest, her parka zipped up over them, “Calling you a name only she knows doesn’t really seem smart, she’d know it would come back to her,”

“She’s not a smart girl,” Genny replied to close the subject. She wasn’t allowing herself to think of the alternative to it not being Marni, she refused to acknowledge the three hallucinations she’d had since receiving the message, she thought if she believed it hard enough the rational answers would be right.

“And you need to do this at her party?” Freddie asked, always the cautious one.

“No, I don’t, this is just for fun you know, for the hell of it,” she replied, not wanting to hide the fact she was looking forward to it.

“Okay dude I give,” Eden said to Freddie, ending their game of taptap, “you win, my fingers are freezing off, and I need to get home soon,”

 

Genny had found it particularly hard to fall asleep that night, she tried soothing music, angry music, and even no music before she finally found rest, which is why it was especially annoying when a jolt woke her up. She rolled over and pulled her phone out from under her pillow, it was barely even midnight, so she shut her eyes again.

Once more she felt the jolt, followed by a burning sensation on the end her nose, stronger than before.

“Child of the Dark, child of the Dark, awake, awake I say,” a soft voice whispered.

Immediately she sat up, after pulled on her glasses, her eyes strained to see through the dark. And then it appeared in front of her, she couldn’t tell what exactly, except she could see moonlight bouncing off giant wings, like a huge moth hovering in front of her eyes.

“Dark one, apologies for awakening thee, I’m not used to travelling this far west but our lands have been taken by the Alizarin Nixes and I’ve been split from my flock in unfamiliar-” she blurted quickly.

“Stop talking,” Genny said blindly to the air, barely able to focus on the fluttering translucent wings before her. I’m dreaming... or hallucinating, I must be because fairies don’t exist.

“You can’t see me?” she said, “oh dear, you’re before the change aren’t you, not Dark yet,”

“What are you talking about,” Genny said before instantly regretting it, “You know what? Forget I asked, I just want to sleep,”

“No no no, I need to get to the Goldwyn palace please Dark one please, you have to help,” she pleaded desperately.

“There is no Goldwyn palace around here, not as far as I know,”

“Yes there is, there is, my flock was headed there, I split from them not long ago " and the nearest ultra-energy I could sense led me here, to you Child of the Dark. It’s in a region the humans call Humboldt, a vast plain and a forest, and on the north westerly side is Goldwyn Palace,”

“You mean in Humboldt Park?”

“Yes, yes, you know it!? Take me there, you simply must, I’m alone in unfamiliar lands and I have no idea how often Alizarins frequent this area. I could be dead by morning if you don’t,”

Genny sighed, she was well and truly awake now, and her eyes had adjusted to the dark, she was staring at a little person with wings the size of her hands. She also had no feet, just stumps at the end on her long legs and a tail. She had her hands clasped together, pleadingly.

“I guess it doesn’t look like I have a choice,” she muttered, crawling out of her bed and feeling the deep winter chill. Quickly she pulled on two pairs of over sized sweatpants and her parka.

The miniscule creature, to her curious surprise, flew through the wall and waited outside her window, which Genny opened and precariously climbed down the trellis to the low roof below. But before she could gather her bearings her sneakers slid on the ice and she tumbled into the garden. Lying perfectly still she waited in case anyone had heard her, before remembering she was still in her room asleep.

“Are you coming Dark one?” question the little fairy.

“It’s Genny actually,” she replied stand.

“Of course, so rude of me to not ask. I am Bergeot, a Cerulean Nix if you couldn’t tell, hence my distaste to the Alizarins,”

“What’s a Cerulean Nix,” Genny said once they were on the road.

Bergeot stopped and looked at her, “Have you been visited by your Defender yet at all Dark " I mean Genny?”

“I’m gonna say no?”

“Well lets just say the Nix are Fair creatures, closely related to the fey people, but we do not feud with your kind as they do, as you will soon find out. We had nothing to offer, so when time began, for the Other kind, we weren’t involved, it takes more than devouring us to consume our magic,”

By now Genny was entirely lost but nodded on, forcing herself to believe this was all a product of her own imagination, nothing more than a lucid dream.

“Well you’ll understand better later, all you need to know are the Fair were the first to inhabit this world, from the dawn of time, before humanids and humanics came and ran it rampant. Not to say that we haven’t had our share of wars, it’s the reason territories unknown to us cause so much fear...” she continued talking not caring seemingly if Genny was listening, clearly she liked the sound of her own voice too much.

“Bergeot?” Genny interrupted once they reached the park gates, of which Genny knew she’d need to be climbing,  “North west end you said right?”

“Indeed! Oh Caldorin will be so happy to see me alive! And mother and Bettidot,”

“How did you get split from them, Bergeot, anyway?”

“An attack of course, we veered off course some ways back and ran into Alizarins, Caldorin made me run while they fought, I’m carrying his spawn you see and he’s a second prince so they’ll be little royal Nixlets,” said Bergeot, and spun around so that Genny could see the little gooey sack attached to her back by a thin skin.

“Wow, you’re pregnant and married to a prince,” Genny feigned awe to the spry Nix’s joy.

“Yes he grew up in Pearlescent Castle but it’s been sacked can you believe it? The great Pearlescent, and the King is dead now. So we’re here now at the Goldwyn, and the new king shall be coronated, and I’ll bear my spawn, they’ll regroup and take back the castle. Luckily the King of Goldwyn lives so near, and he’s a great warlord too, Caldorin’s cousin, we’ll be in Pearlescent by spring,”

“Where is Pearlescent Castle?”

“Umm, humans, they call the region, Lincoln, the Lincoln area,”

“Ahh, Lincoln Park, of course,”

“Oh we must be here!” Bergeot beamed, fluttering higher, as far as Genny could see they were by the edge of the lake, no Palaces in sight, even Nix size ones, “Thank you so much Genny! I would invite you in, but you’re before the change and you might drown,” she laughed, in an manically high pitch, “But when you do, call upon me, we’ll have gallios punch and chirrins, and should you ever need a favour, I shall aid,” Quickly she placed a peck upon Genny’s cheek, “Genny, is that all they call you?”

“Genny Norwood,”

“Bergeot Pearlesc, don’t forget my name. Thank you again Dark one,” her voice whistled along the air before she zipped down into the lake, without causing so much as a ripple.

It wasn’t long before the memory of the little flying creature felt faint and distant, and imagined. In her exhausted and freezing state she let herself believe that if it was unlikely any of that happened, then it probably didn’t. Either way it didn’t matter, she was too tired to tell.

 

***

 

“Guys, come up,” Paige called down into the shadowy alleyway where Eden and Genny waited below the fire escape of the Buddha Bar. Antonia’s uncle owned it apparently.

Eden helped hoist her friend up the metal staircase which was almost two metres off the ground, and Genny pulled the other girl up after her. At the top Paige was in a purple dress, and her ringlets were spilling from a bun on her head. Her doe-eyes peered down at them darting up the stairs.

In contrast Genny was in her doc martens, pattern tights and ripped shorts under her parka, and Eden was dressed accordingly, they looked somewhere along the lines of rebel angels Genny thought.

“Did you bring me cake,” Genny grinned at the Paige who nodded, “great, now let’s get inside before someone sees us,”

Inside the room was lit with a faint orange glow and music blared through, there were couches around and people dancing, and the odd couple kissing clandestinely in corners.

Pulling off their jackets they drew more and more attention and they swam through the crowds. Genny felt as though the word different was tattooed on her head, and lighting up, but she didn’t care. And then they spotted Marni, in a gold bandeau dress with a train, at the bar laughing with her ‘bff’ Antonia.

“What gives you the right to mess with me?” she said sternly without hesitation.

“What the hell are you doing at my party? Who let you in?” Marni exclaimed.

“I said what gives you the right to mess with me?” Genny replied with even more aggression.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Xena,” she replied mockingly, “I want you out, now!”

“You sent me that message, from ‘Ivory’, but know it was you, only you know me by my full name,”

“Ivory? God Genny, you’re insane. What did you do, sneak in through up fire escape? Oh my god you did didn’t you,” she said laughing.

“Genny, if you wanted an invite so bad,” said Antonia beside her, in a condescending tone, “Then you should’ve played nice, then maybe you could’ve gotten in through the front door,”

“Ivory is the girl who fell on me,” Genny said in a quieter voice, staring at her with the full force of anger she could emote through her eyes, “you know that, and you need to stop playing games with me, like you have been for ages, ever since Dillon broke up with you,” the crowd grew silent, “You need to get over it, he wasn’t cheating when you moved school, you just changed, but we were 13 and you need to get over it, I never so much as held his hand,”

“Get out of my party Genny, before I call the police,”

She stifled a laugh.

“Yeah run home,” Antonia added, “maybe practise a little, we’re sick of hearing your whiny voice ring through the halls, we’re just too nice to tell you,”

Ouch. “This wasn’t meant for you Antonia, but God I can’t stand your stuck-up a*s,” she said before pushing up her glasses and launching the cake at her.

Spinning around to the sound of the gasp, she stormed out. She was going to let no-one in school was going to get to her again.

Outside in the frosty night air the three looked at each other for a second, before they spluttered out laughing.

“I guess it’s on to mine for the movies,” Eden shrugged.

“Nice touch with the cake, bad girl,” said a voice from the door way, almost derisively.

Around their heads spun, and their eyes landed on Will and 2 of his friends coming out.

“You were there?” Genny said incredulously, “I didn’t realise you were friends with them,”

She knew she should’ve guessed, it was very much like Antonia and Marni to invite as many hot guys as she could.

Will shrugged, “Antonia kept buggin’ me and we had nothing better to do, for a bit. But it’s always better to be with the gate-crashers than at the party as invited,”

“Will you stop making fun of me?” she said, “So it’s a bit out of character for me to go all rebel,”

“Hey I’m not,” Will replied, holding his hands up surrender, and flashing a brilliant smile, “With cake all over her face, Antonia never looked better,” he laughed.

Her hand went up subconsciously to the emerald teardrop pendant at her neck.

 “Yeah,” said one of his friends, he had flawless brown skin, Eden noticed, and dreadlocks past his shoulders, “we came out to hang out with you lot,”

“This is Travis,” Will introduced the one who spoke, “And Hunter,”

“I’m Genny, this is Paige and Eden,”

“Anyone up for some unhealthy midnight pizza?” the one called Hunter said.

She looked at her friends and smiled.

 

“So was it good call, or should we tell them we have to leave?” Genny said in the bathroom of an all night pizzeria.

“Brilliant call Genny, they must all hit the same gym or something, they’re so athletic,” Eden said dreamily.

“Yeah it’s a shame Will has Naomi, and the other two are single, otherwise the night would be, you know, perfect,” said Paige while reapplying eye-liner.

She’d been avoiding thinking about that all night, but it seemed Hunter liked Paige and Eden was cosying up to Travis, while she was awkwardly trying to maintain personal space from Will.

Returning to the table all the plates were gone.

“We got this one,” said Hunter, “And we wanna know if you wanna watch some movies, like, at Will’s of course,”

“We do, but we’re supposed to be staying at mine, my mom will call,” replied Paige.

“Tell her you’re staying at Genny’s instead,” Will suggested.

“What? And stay at yours? We’re not stupid,” Eden said.

“No one’s saying that. Summer’s out, with Min I think, when she’s back you can all camp out in her room like girls like too,”

“Will she be okay with that?” Genny asked.

“If she’s not, take a guest room,” he shrugged.

“Will there be popcorn, and ice-cream, if there isn’t that might be a deal-breaker,” she smiled at Will.

“In my kitchen, you can get anything you want,” he grinned back at her.

“Don’t try anything stupid,” Eden said defensively to Travis, who grabbed her playfully around the waste.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied.

Genny spied Paige boldly take Hunter’s hand as they exited, while she and Will brought up the rear. The second they stepped out of the pizzeria, he lit up a cigarette and she remembered just how much smoking disgusted her.

 

She’d never seen such a big house before, three floors, plus a loft and basement which had both been converted to the comfort of Landon and Penn. There were 2 guest bedrooms, a living room and a lounge, and heated flooring everywhere. It would be perfect for a family Genny’s size, she couldn’t help but think, absolutely perfect.

About halfway through the movie a taller replica of Will appeared in the doorway with another guy.

“Donnie Darko?” Will’s older brother said, “good film,”

“Ummhmm,” he replied, not even glancing up at them.

The other boy was staring at her, scanning her face it seemed. Feeling newly self-conscious Genny began to fiddle with her pendant.

“Who’re your friends?” the wiry one with the green eyes said, still looking at her.

“Genny, Eden and Paige,” Will gestured toward each girl, “This is my brother Landon, and Ty, his friend,”

Landon showed no signs that he cared in the least. Ty let a huge smile break across his face, eyes gleaming, before the two turned to leave.

To lighten the mood following the first movie was over they were putting on ‘American Pie’. After putting in the blu-ray, Will went out into the garden, for a smoke no doubt. Paige and Hunter were in the kitchen getting more popcorn, and Eden was curled up on Travis on a sofa. Common sense told Genny to go join Will.

“So what if I told you photography wasn’t a real art?” she said to him, peering down at the camera which was once again in its place around his neck.

He was sitting on the edge of a patio chair by the empty pool in a thick Ralph Lauren gilet.

“I’d take you to a photography gallery, stand you in the middle of the room and ask you to say that again,” he said through a breath of smoke.

“And if I did?” Genny replied.

“Then I’d say our personality differences are too strong for us ever to be friends in any way Gen,”

“Really?” she said curiously, pushing up her glasses.

“Yes, and no. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s art or not, what is art? You just need to appreciate it, to let yourself feel stimulated by the visuals composed for you, like you would with any painting of piece of music,” he replied before taking another drag.

“So what makes you so different from everyone else out there with a camera, or a camera-phone?”

“A shining brilliance, with an unquestionable and highly desired talent,” he said, looking outwards.

“Oop, there’s that ego again Will,”

“What?” he replied, now looking up at her, “You can’t see what I see, I have a third eye for natural beauty. And creating beautiful things,”

“You’re so full of it,” Genny said to him

“I’m really not,” he replied, smiling at her. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to how devilish he looked when he smiled.

To her surprise he got up and instead of heading back inside, he made his way out of the garden.

“Where are you going?” she called, standing there awkwardly she had no idea whether or not to follow.

“I’m taking you on an adventure,” he said as if it should’ve been obvious to her, “How often do you hang out on Gold Coast?”

“Often enough,” Genny replied, choosing those words as a suitable substitute for ‘never’

He took her around into the massive garage, in which resided a sleek looking Mercedes Benz and a top-of-the-line Hyundai. Will went for two of the bikes.

“You know how to ride right?” he asked, rolling a black BMX to her.

“How can you ask me that?” Genny replied proudly.

“Landon hasn’t ridden this since he got the Ducatti,” he got on the bike, looking at her one side of his mouth curled up in a smile, “Follow me Gen,”

It was insane and she knew it, just veering off on some random adventure as he called it and ditching their friends. Maybe it was for the better, maybe they were revelling in the privacy, nobody had rung her up asking where she was just yet. But she had to admit it felt pretty awesome just riding bikes through the richest part of the city underneath the street lights. She felt a strange sense of freedom tonight that she wasn’t sure she’d ever felt before.

But fear coursed through her veins when going down North State Street she thought she saw a swarm of little fairies, Nixes like Bergeot, but red this time. They were going in the opposite direction and she thought she saw Will’s head follow them too.

Don’t be stupid, you’re probably hallucinating, she thought, brilliant, hallucinating on a bike on a Saturday night, I’ll be lucky not to be hit by a drunk driver.

Eventually it became evident to her where they were going, and she couldn’t help but wonder why on a cold January night. When they arrived, she hadn’t expected Oak Street Beach to look so peaceful. She shivered.

“Oh s**t, I forgot how cold- how cold it is,” Will said to her, dropping the bike in the sand.

She just pushed up her specs and looked at him incredulously.

“I mean I get used it, that’s all,” he said, taking a seat beside her, “Should’ve brought blankets,”

Genny looked at him, wishing she could see him better, like with the Nix, just so she could be sure he was really there. “This isn’t a date Will,” she said in reply, but more to herself than anyone else.

“I didn’t realise you found blankets so strictly romantic. Maybe we should make it one sometime though,” he said, taking her gloved hand in his bear one.

She raised her eyebrow but doubted he could see. “You forget you’re single,” Genny replied, annoyed now, his playful flirting was becoming irritating because she knew it would be too dangerous to flirt back.

“Can’t we just forget for once,” he said, bringing his face closer to her.

Suddenly Genny didn’t feel as though it were winter. As much as the urge gripped her to press her lips against his while they listened to the waves of Lake Michigan crash in the background, she fought it. Instead she used all the force she had to push him into the sand.

“It’s the ultimate disrespect to Naomi,” she said, “I’m not gonna do that,”

He sighed, “You’re right, I’m sorry,”

She said nothing.

“Still buds Gen,” he said nudging her, “C’mon, we’re gonna be buds for life,”

“Don’t take the piss out of me,” she replied.

“Again, not taking the slightest piss. Just saying, technically we’re life-long buds, bffs,” he laughed.

Genny looked at him, and couldn’t help but laugh too.