Somewhere Between Hell And Heaven

02. Exchange Of Stories

        He was wrong. I knew it wasn't a nightmare when I woke up this morning. All day I've been thinking about yesterday.

'' Are you all right, dear ?'' Aunt Sue asked, when a cup slipped from my hands for the second time today.

'' Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry.'' I collected all the broken pieces and quickly retreated into my room.

I sat on my bed and thought about that boy. The one with the sword. I was familiar with all the boys around here, but he was none of them. Who the heck was he and who was the other one? I didn't have answers to any of that and I hated not having answers.

I worried if I was starting to see things. I considered telling someone what I saw. But what kind of person with a right mind would believe me? I can't tell about it to Aunt Sue. She'll just laugh. Or maybe she'll take me to the nearest doctor. My parents were out of the question and I wasn't talking to Eira. Now that she has more out going friends, she seems to have forgotten all about me.

I scowled impatiently and took my phone out of my pocket. I opened my playlist and hit 'play'. I walked to the door and locked it. I grabbed two lollipops from my table and collapsed on my bed.

After a few minutes, my phone buzzed with a message.

''HEY, G. ELEANOR HERE. TWELVE TONS OF HW. CARE TO HELP ?''

We had exchanged numbers before we parted yesterday. I'd forgotten that I promised to help her with her math homework.

I typed a quick reply and hit 'send'.

                                                     * * *

'' Find the X, always the X, why do we always have to find the X, Andrea ? '' Elle groaned and buried her face in her math book.

We were sitting on my bed. Between us was a tray of chocolate chip cookies Aunt Sue brought in. She looked happy to find me hanging out with someone other than Eira. I knew she didn't approve of her.

'' Well, they don't always ask us to find the X. Sometimes it's the Y.'' I smirked.

'' Not the point of my complaint. ''

'' Fine. But this one's easy. You're just too lazy to think it through. '''

'' Right. I'm too lazy '' Elle took a cookie and broke it in half. '' Then why don't you think it through for me ? ''

I sighed as I solved the problem and handed it to Elle.

School was never a problem for me. Test papers almost never offered a question I can't answer. It was one of the things I wanted to be proud of. But unfortunately, perfect marks in tests would mark me as a nerd. So I always wrote a few answers wrong in every test. I didn't like drawing attention to myself.

Elle straightened and started copying the answer into her book.

'' You, ma'am, is a genius. But this doesn't mean that you know all the answers to all these questions, you know ? '' She wriggled her fingers at me.

I laughed. It felt good to laugh for real once in a while.

                                                       * * *

What if he stole it from a museum ? Or maybe he is very rich and wanted an Assassin's Creed theme birthday party. Maybe he and the other boy was working on a joke and wanted to test it on a stranger.

 My brain was trying to fit all the pieces into something that made sense. Anything that made sense. But how in the world can a person disappear into thin air ?