Chapter 8: Maya

  Chapter 8 : Maya

It’s Friday afternoon. End of the week. Last class of the day: Philosophy. Professor Kusari is scribbling illegibly on the board as he mumbles about something. But who cares about philosophy, it’s almost the weekend! Normally, I’d be ecstatic about this…but today? Not so much. You wanna know why? Because I have a “date” at my professor’s place today. Ugh, I shudder at the thought.

“Hey, Violet, what’s wrong? You look kinda sick or something,” Laura says to me.

“You have no idea,” I respond without thinking. Great, I’m inviting the conversation to continue.

“So you are sick? What specifically is bothering you?” She says.

Why is she always so damn nosy? Stay out of my freakin’ business, Laura, I think to myself. 

“It’s nothing. Really,” I try to assure her, but as usual, once isn’t enough.

“You sure? Well if you need anything, just let me know,” Laura says before turning her attention back to the professor and taking down notes.

“Sure thing,” I lie.

I don’t bother taking notes. This class isn’t really hard enough to warrant that. I doubt even Laura needs to take notes; she may be annoying and clueless, but she seems like the type that does well in school. Probably because she’s so diligent. I face forward like I’m paying attention to Professor Kusari, but soon give up on maintaining the façade. He’s so boring to listen to. Besides, I’d rather avoid worrying about what may happen after class. Instead, I decide to occupy myself by spacing out and looking around the class.

Only a few students are actually paying any attention to Professor Kusari’s enthusiastic lecture. Most are chatting quietly, spacing out like me, or texting under their desks. I look to my right at Laura; she’s still studiously writing notes down. Her handwriting is neat and the notes are quite organized. How typical of her. Every now and then Laura takes a second to lightly brush some strands of her brown hair from her face. Her green eyes repeatedly switch from darting across her notebook back to Professor Kusari and the blackboard. As she’s thinking, she sometimes raises her free hand and puts the knuckle of the index finger to her lips. She’s wearing a cute light colored dress with flower patterns on it. Looks damn good on her. Man, she’s pretty. I wonder what it’s like to be overflowing with natural beauty like that.

“You sure are ogling that girl, huh Violet?” Atum says from behind me.

“S-Shut up!” I yelp in surprise.

And of course, everyone turns to look at me. I hear someone stifle a chuckle. My face becomes hot with embarrassment. This just had to happen all over again. I hear scattered snickers around the classroom. Professor Kusari holds me with his deadpan glare and says,

“No, you shut up and listen to me ramble.”

I lower my head and stare at my desk, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

More snickers and chuckles around the room.

“That goes for all of you; shut up and pay attention. You think I can’t tell who isn’t listening? Think again. If you all want to fail that badly you’re welcome to get the hell out; I’ll just give you an F in the class and call it a day,” Professor Kusari says all this in his usual cold, even tone.

Everyone promptly shuts up to listen to him ramble. I continue to keep my head down, not wanting to look up in case people are giving me looks. I’ve taken my medication, luckily, so I should be fine, but still.

Atum, you’re an a*s.

“What? Are you seriously blaming me for your outburst?” Atum says innocently as he floats behind me somewhere. I still don’t feel like lifting my head, which is buried in my arms.

You should know why speaking like this doesn’t come naturally to me yet.

I can imagine Atum shrug as he says, “Fair enough.”

Can you please just go away?

“Of course not. I’m your shadow, remember? I mean, I’m shadowing you.”

I didn’t see you on Wednesday or Thursday, so why show up now?

“Just because you didn’t see me doesn’t mean I wasn’t keeping track of you.”

I lift my head and glare at Atum, who is now floating to my right.

What the hell!? You stalker!

Atum shakes his head like a disappointed parent. “Always with the name calling. You really need to learn some manners, Violet.”

Go away A�"

He cuts me off, his expression suddenly serious. “How is your body, Violet?”

W-what?

“Your injuries, have they healed?”

Oh. I had almost forgotten that I had been attacked just this Tuesday. It’s only Friday and I already feel better.

Y-yeah, I feel fine. Is he genuinely worried about my well-being?

Atum smiles and gently rubs my head with his hand. Normally, I’d get angry and try to swat away his hand, but I can’t do that for two reasons.

Atum? I say, allowing the irritation show in my ‘voice’.

“Yes?” he says as he continues to rub my head.

There are only two things keeping me from swatting your hand away right now.

“You mean besides your inferior reflexes?”

Shut up. First, if I were to randomly swat my arm in the air, the people sitting near me would notice. Secondly….I trail off. I struggle to find the right words. I can tell I’m blushing but I decide to power through. I can’t screw up this time.

“What is it, Violet?” Atum’s hand stops moving.

I look directly into eyes and say, Secondly…I’m trying to be nice since you saved my life the other day. T-thank you, Atum.

Atum stops rubbing my head, sets foot on the ground and gets down on one knee. He gently takes hold one of my hands, making sure the movement is unnoticeable by the people around us, and kisses it. He then looks up at me with his grey eyes and smiles.

“‘tis my pleasure,” he says. My face is probably totally red now.

He laughs and goes back to floating in the air.

I hide my face in my hands. I’m too embarrassed to even think of what to say. Never really thought about it before, but Atum is really cute. Because of his strange clothes and behavior, he kind of reminds me of a foreign prince or something.

Feeling the sensation of being of watched, I look to my right, and sure enough, Laura is giving me a quizzical look.

“You sure you’re okay?” she asks, sounding part-concerned, part-amused. I just realized that I probably looked pretty weird the past couple of minutes, reacting to Atum and glaring at him, then getting flustered and covering my face. He was floating right by Laura when I was talking to him. Ugh, Atum, you always screw me over in public.

“Y-yeah, of course,” I try to say nonchalantly, but my voice comes out squeakier than I’d intended.
            For once, Laura accepts my answer the first time and goes back to minding her own business.

“That girl displays quite a bit of concern for you, doesn’t she?” Atum asks as he floats around Laura, trying to get a good look at her.

Nah, she’s just a busybody who acts holy to make herself look good.

“What gives you that idea?”

I hesitate for a second. Why do I think of her that way? She…she just seems that way, okay?

Atum smiles like he knows something I don’t.

            What!?

“Nothing, nothing. It’s that it seems to me like you’re not giving her a fair chance. Or have you forgotten that she escorted you out of the classroom when you were feeling ill and stayed by your bedside for three hours?”

T-that was…

“And, as I recall, that ended with you insulting her and throwing her out of your room.”

Stop trying to twist things so that I’m the bad guy!

Suddenly Atum drops his smile. “But aren’t you?”

I freeze. I don’t want to accept his words.

 Laura is just nosy. She treats me like I’m a charity case, but I don’t want her damn pity. I don’t want anyone’s damn pity! She likes appearing perfect! I just know it! I’m frantically spouting out defenses even though I’m not entirely sure I fully believe any of them. Don’t ask me how I know, I just do!

Atum’s expression turns grim. He folds his arms and stands on the ground in front of my desk. His gaze holds me in place; I’m frozen with fear.

“Listen to yourself. Do you really believe any of that? Can’t you just accept that someone is being kind to you, no strings attached?”

I feel tears welling up in my eyes. I blink them back. I can’t afford to start crying in class. I ignore how terrified of Atum I am right now and meet his gaze. I decide to answer honestly.

No.

Atum’s fierce expression softens to one I can’t quite place. Either way, I don’t want to make eye contact anymore. I look back down at my desk and pretend to be following along with class. I don’t even notice when Atum disappears.

  *        *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         

It’s early evening. I’m back at my dorm room, getting ready for my ‘date’ with Professor Kusari. I think back on my conversation with Atum. I decide not to think back on it anymore.

I turn my thoughts to what lies ahead. What’s going to happen at Professor Kusari’s house? Why would he invite me there? The weird conversation we had in his office on Wednesday is what led him to invite me, but I still can’t guess what his intentions are, even after thinking about it the past two days. Either way, I don’t trust that a*****e. He’s so damn suspicious. Plus he’s an a*****e. Oh, did I mention that already?

I’m wearing shorts and a long-sleeved shirt�"perfect for the weather. I comb my hair and put in a hairband, (I almost always have a hair band in) and then open my door to leave when�"

“H-hi, Violet.” Laura is standing outside my room.

“Uh, hi. What’re you doing here?” I ask.

Laura looks�"hm, what is it?�"shy, perhaps, or maybe apprehensive. What’s bugging her?

She’s probably worried you’re gonna yell and throw her out like last time you idiot.

That…could be true. So what if I threw her out? It’s my room. I think back to Atum’s question: “Can’t you just accept that someone is being kind to you, no strings attached?”

I sigh and say, “Come in, but don’t take too long. I’m headin’ out somewhere soon.”

Laura walks into my room and I notice she’s carrying a bag. MY bag to be precise. I then realize that I must’ve left that behind in the classroom because I was so absorbed in thought and self-loathing. Did she bring it here for me? She’s not saying anything. Just standing there in the middle of my room, eyes downcast.

“Did you bring my bag for me? Thanks, didn’t even realize I’d left it,” I say, trying to break the silence.

She perks up at the sound of my voice. “O-oh, yeah,” she giggles and then, “here you go.”

I take it from her and set it down on the floor beside my desk. As much as I’d like her to leave, she still seems to have something on her mind. Besides, I should probably apologize to her for last time anyway. I was a little rude…

“So, what’s up? Seems like you wanna say something?” I try to ease the issue out of her.

She sucks in her lower lip as she’s thinking then looks up at me and makes eye contact, holding it for a few moments. She’s beautiful.

“Violet?” she finally says.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” she asks. I’m baffled by the question.

“Huh? You’re Laura, obviously I know that.”

“What’s my full name?”

I have to think for a moment, but I do know it, since the professor always calls out our full names for attendance.

“Laura Baker. So what?”

She looks unhappy. “And you’re Violet…Murasaki, right?”

“Yeah.” Murasaki is my family name. Most people these days are such a long line of racial and international mixes that almost no one is fully one race or culture anymore. Even though I have a last name like Murasaki, I don’t look like any particular race. I’m a few mixed together. Pretty much everyone is that way.

Either way, I really don’t get where Laura’s going with this.

“Violet, please try to stay calm as I ask the next question,” she now looks serious; her resolve is firm. Oh boy, I really don’t like the way she has to ask me to stay calm. What could she be about to say?

“I’m only asking this out of concern for you.”

Yeah, yeah. “What is it, Laura? Just spit it out.”

“Answer me honestly,” Laura then swallows and says,

“Have you been taking your medication regularly?”

A chill goes up my spine. “How the hell do you know about my meds?”

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think! More will be coming soon.