Chapter Two
It's not like I fainted; I only got this dizziness that made me sit down as fast as I got up, and Enid forgot the stranger, who was still standing above our heads, and shake me by the shoulders, demanding me to tell her what was wrong. But nothing was wrong. I just got all dizzy when I looked in the eyes of this guy.
"Hey, little dude, are you all right?" He suddenly leaned toward to me, looking worried. I couldn't quite understand what was going on around me, why Enid started shaking me even harder or why he asked her if she had some water to splash on my face. It all seemed blurry for a while and I couldn't even hear them as well, when they were both shouting at me to answer them. I couldn't even understand why I almost fainted.
"Yeah… I'm fine…" I finally muttered, and Enid held me tight in her arms, whispering in my hair how I scared her.
"Hey, I am not that scary, even that I might not be the handsome of this planet," he laughed, sounding relieved. "So, what are your names? I'm Chris."
"I'm Enid, and he's Zac. No, sweet, don't talk… God, you've just scared the hell out of me with that thing of yours, don't you dare to move now, just sit and rest for a while." I realized she was talking to me. My eyes studied the appearance of that guy… Chris, who now sat down on the edge of the blanket and stared intensely at me. His eyes, like I've mentioned were deep brown, with long eyelashes - they were exactly like Enid's, except she had blue eyes. They pierced me, went right through me like a sharp needle through fabric, saw me with all my thoughts out on the daylight - well, at least it felt that way. His hair was shoulder-length, wavy, blond. But it seemed like it's wavy because he probably didn't bother to comb it that morning.
"I'm sorry for interrupting you a few moments ago," he apologized, making Enid's white cheeks turn pinkish with the memory of the embarrassment she must have felt when a stranger caught her in the act. My Enid was shy and delicate.
"It's okay, we'll recover," I answered.
"I live over there, just across the woods. Care to take a walk with me, since your ideal scene is already ruined?" he suggested. "I kind of feel awkward about it now."
"I don't really know… I'm not sure…" Enid said hesitatingly, but as much as I tend to always do it the way she wants to, this time my plans were different.
"Yeah, that would be nice," I said quickly, trying to ignore now the look of amazement she gave me. We got up and I folded the blanket, shoving it under my arm; but she said we could leave it and pick it up on our way back.
The three of us walked through the woods, Chris first, then me and Enid, her hand safely placed in mine… And my eyes locked, unmoving, on Chris' back. He must have felt it - some people feel when they are being watched - and turned to me a couple of times during our trip.
We ended up in front of a small house, two floors and an attic, that Chris pointed at and said, "This is my room up there," and there we stopped. "You want to come in, have a drink, maybe?" he suggested. Then Enid's common sense made her refuse, and this time I couldn't protest. This was beyond reasonable, considering the fact we've just met him. He could be a psychopath, for all we knew.
"No, thank you, sir, but I think we'd rather head home. It's Zac's birthday and we have to help with the party arrangements." It was a pure lie she told, cold-blooded. There was no party planned. I thought of spending the day with my sweet, little Enid, since this is the best way for me to have a great time, only then I can enjoy the slow motion with which clouds float on the skies above me and the even slower flow of time… Somehow, with Enid, everything had an enchanting light about it.
"Have fun, then. But you're invited to drop by some other time, though. You know where I live, don't be shy."
"Yes, thank you very much." She was polite, but I knew by the look in her eyes that the politeness covered on the words she really wanted to say, the words of refusal.
We forgot to pick up the blanket from our spot in the woods, since we chose another way to walk home; Enid was close to me, almost pressing her body against mine, her smile faded a long time ago. She was quiet, deep down in her thoughts; I was satisfied with that - my own thoughts were overwhelming me. It's just that I couldn't understand what I was thinking about, it was all a big, blurry mess… One time I saw Enid smiling at me from the blue blanket, inviting me to join her in the pleasure of the flesh, then I saw myself lifting my stare and blinded from the sun behind Chris' back… And all the time the sight of his eyes stood in front of my eyes, like a picture that couldn't disappear or be erased.
"I thought you'd be home earlier," commented Taylor when I stepped into the room we two shared. "So, was Enid's surprise good?"
I left the question unreplied.
"What did you do?" he questioned. Probably there was no other things for him to do at the moment, or maybe Chris was one of his friends and he just called him and told him all about the scene he quit in the middle? Usually, my older brother Taylor doesn't mind not his own business and never requires many details about my hang-outs with my girlfriend. "Zac? You look weird."
"Hey guys…" Isaac came into the room. "Zac, do you feel like a double date with me and Kayla? It's either that, or she would bring one of her friend and try to hook her up with Taylor."
"Yeah, Zac feels like a double date," Taylor answered instead of letting me handle with that. But I couldn't be mad at him - Isaac's girlfriend was a bit obsessive with finding her girlfriends a match. And since Taylor was single, handsome and nice to spend time with, she tried him on her friends as the first choice.
"Today she called me and was so weird," Isaac started telling us about her and her daily talks with him. I didn't mind, though. As long as my replicas weren't required and I was left to only pretend I was listening, it was all good. "She's like, 'today is the first day of the rest of your life', and I go, 'why', then she started bubbling about…"
I didn't hear the rest of his story. He lost me right after the words "today is the first day of the rest of your life". The words echoed in my head non-stop, getting louder and louder with each passing moment; and I had no idea why they were suddenly stuck with me, were a part of me - nothing unusual had happened today to make feel as if my whole life were twisted over, and I was only fifteen years old, not an old guy who hears the destiny from a doctor's mouth - five more months. But I kept hearing those words, now it wasn't Isaac saying them - "today is the first day of the rest of your life" - now I heard Chris' voice in my head.