2
“You ready to get some lunch, man?”
Noah asked without pausing to knock or announce himself.
I stuffed my journal back into my
drawer and scowled at him. “Can’t you learn to give people any kind of warning
before you just barge into their room? I mean, I could have been dissecting a
pig in here.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you were dissecting
something.” He pointed to my drawer, which he assumed was full of dirty
magazines. Noah laughed and backed out of the door. “I’ll just wait down
stairs, then. Me and Kelly were having a nice chat without you, anyway.”
I sighed and jumped off of my
creaking bed. I’d grown again in both length and muscle mass. I immediately
stripped off my shirt and went to my mirror, staring at my dark skin like I was
an exhibit in a zoo. I twisted my torso and flexed, groaning and gagging at the
sight of my abundance of unseemly body hair that was difficult to manage. It
was a shame that I had to get my hair cut twice a week and shave at age sixteen
just so I can look decent enough to leave the house.
I glared at my muscular body with
infamy. The last thing I needed was to put on more weight; my collection of
shirts was wearing dangerously thin, and I wasn’t sure how much more stress my
bed springs could take. Starting at my feet, my eyes slowly scrutinized every
inch of my dark, almond skin. Every single scratch and scar stood out like
blotches in on perfect skin. The enormous gash that ran from my right shoulder
blade to my navel was a particular blotch that I’d love to be forgotten.
As usual, my gaze paused and
completely froze at my neck. Even after a full year, I couldn’t bring myself to
look at my eyes again. The fear of what I’d see ran through my mind, and the image
of the piercing red eyes from my dreams haunted every waking moment in front of
a mirror. I wasn’t going to fold now.
I flung on a tight, red shirt and
bounded down stairs. Noah and Kelly were leaning across the counter from each
other, practically kissing. They spoke in a random pattern of giggles and
incoherent whispers. Despite all the noise I made coming down the steps, they
hadn’t noticed me entering the room until I cleared my throat.
“Oh, you finally ready, huh?” Noah
straightened his back and refused to meet my gaze. He was often embarrassed
when I teased him about his crush on my baby sister. He wasn’t a big fan of
dating younger women, and he definitely didn’t have a problem with getting
older girls.
Noah was a pale blonde with
smoldering golden eyes that matched his curls. He always made it a point to
dress as fancy and flashy as possible whenever he went out, and his teeth
couldn’t have been brighter if he tried. It was a shame his eyes couldn’t
change like the rest of us, though. His life would be close to any kind of
heaven, if times were different.
“Yeah, if you’re done checking out
my baby twin, that is.” I grinned and laughed at the two of them.
“H-Hey, don’t talk like we’re dating
or something!” Kelly stammered and kept her eyes glued to the tiled floor of
our kitchen. She wasn't really good with boys, despite how pretty she was, but
it wasn't like I was going to encourage her going out with every guy that
begged for her hand in marriage.
“Will you just come on already?”
Noah didn't wait for me to follow him out of the kitchen. “I wanted to go to
the mall today to. Maybe something interesting will happen around town, huh?”
I grinned and hugged Kelly before I
left. “It better not. I’m not interested in seeing another group of kids brought
in. My nightmares are already full of my own problems.”
Noah looked at me with soft eyes.
“You’re weird, you know that? Of course I don’t want anymore kids, but what I
meant was scoring a few babes.”
“Are there any that you haven’t
explored yet?” I said. “The Zone only stretches so far, and I swear you’ve
flirted with every girl under the sun. Maybe you should give the freshmen a
shot at all that blonde goodness that is Noah.”
“Stop fooling, Justin! I’m serious!
I’ve been down lately, in more ways than one, and I need a boost. I’m thinking
a beech trip. Just the three of us.”
“You, me, and the next girl you
charm?” I asked.
“You, me, and Kelly, fool. The
triple threat.” Noah stared straight ahead as we walked. His ominous, serious
tone wasn’t something he’d usually practiced in. “I think that getting away
from this depressing setting will help with…coping.”
“How about we go to East Sector for just
a bit?” I realized that I was hesitating with my question, and I glared at him
from the corner of my eye.
Things were silent between us for a
while. Only the sounds of cars and the activity of the city filled the void of
no noise. Before he could answer, the daily news began to play on the Jumbo-Tron, and once again, there was death in our confined city.
