Legends: The Folklore Trilogy Book 2

Chapter 3-Where There Are Many Tears and Much Rolling of Eyes

Saying goodbye to my family was harder than I thought. It was short, but the emotion was intense and tears were plentiful. Tears make me uncomfortable. I never know what to do.

Aasha was crying harder than when she broke her arm last year. My mom looked like she was still in traumatic shock, tears rolling silently down her face. My dad wasn't crying (thank goodness) but he looked grave. Shreya was crying, but part of me suspected it was for show. It wasn't like I was dying or anything. That's the only time Shreya would really mourn my absence.

I let Mr. Marquez take me away with little resistance. I had no energy left. Ironic. The tears had sucked me dry of energy.

I sat in the backseat of his black, nondescript car. Part of me couldn't believe this was happening. Part of me couldn't breathe. I lay my head against the window.

"You doin' all right back there?" Mr. Marquez asked softly.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"You're taking this better than most," he added.

"Is this your entire job?" I asked after a moment. Usually I find people hard to talk to, but Mr. Marquez was so...chill.

He laughed. "No, no, the majority of my job is teaching."

"What do you teach?"

"Ah...foreign studies."

"Oh. Like, other countries?"

"Um...sort of. You'll see."

The car lapsed back into uncomfortable silence. Mr. Marquez started humming a song I sort of recognized. I felt like...was it from Carmen? Not like it mattered.

I stared out the window, watching the world whiz by, when it started to rain. As it rained harder, raindrops would conjoin with others, and together as a bigger, thicker drop, they would slide down the window, gathering other bits of water on their way. Subconsciously, I started playing a game I had played a lot as a little kid. I pretended that the raindrops were racing each other, silently cheering on the one I wanted to win.

When I realized what I was doing, I flushed with embarrassment. And then I realized I didn't care. And played again.

Only this time, two of the racing raindrops joined with each other. So there was no winner. Or maybe they're both the winner. I don't know. That wouldn't happen unless you were a raindrop.

We finally made it to the airport. It was still raining hard, so we had to run to get inside. I didn't have any bags, only the clothes on my back: jeans and a simple red t-shirt. In the few seconds it took for us to run from the car to the awning, we were completely soaked. I brushed my long, messy hair out of my face. It was dripping water in my eyes. I sighed. Why rain? Why?

Mr. Marquez, however, was laughing. "Wasn't that fun?" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Um, sure. It totally wrecked your suit."

"Oh, that's not a problem," he said laughing, "it isn't even mine."

"Doesn't that make it...more of a problem?"

"Probably," he said, his laughter finally beginning to abate. "Come on, let's get you on that plane."

Making the plane wasn't an issue. It was waiting for the plane to take off. For SOME REASON, there seemed to be a million and a half issues to stop the plane from taking off. I felt edgy. Mr. Marquez wasn't with me, and the longer the plane delayed, the more I was worried.

Finally--FINALLY--the plane started moving. I let out a breath. And then I wondered why I was nervous. Shouldn't I be dreading coming to this new school...hospital? After all, he did say I'm insane.