The Rise

CHAPTER 3

I could feel bile rise up my throat and the urge to throw up was so strong. I quickly covered my mouth with my hands and ran down the empty school corridor. It was lunch and every one was in the canteen ,where I had to join them. I was just walking down there when this sudden illness struck me.

I rushed in the washroom and opened a stall, resting my hands on the opposite wall as I emptied my stomach's content. Maybe having pizza as dinner was not such a good idea.

I was pretty sure that I stopped only when there was nothing left to throw out. My stomach clenched painfully. I could feel that I was sweating profusely and I had a massive headache.

I turned around and walked toward the mirror. And I screamed.

Fear coursed through my vein as I gazed wide eyed at the women in the mirror who had my face. But her eyes...they were completely black. Totally black. Not even an inch of white. Not my emerald green.

With shaking hand I touched the mirror. And the image followed my action. I was hallucinating. Definately, It couldn't be possible. I ran the tap splashed water on my face blinking profusely and then started roughly rubbing my eyes. I could feel my eyes watering and perhaps they were becoming red. But nothing changed. They were still black. I heard someone yank the door open and I jumped back covering my eyes. An instinct was telling me to protect myself.

"Scarlett", a deep familiar voice said.

Austin.

"What are you doing here? " , I asked in a shaking voice. "You're not..."

"Just listen to me", he said. "Calm down..." And I felt his hands hover  near my face. I peeked from behind my hands to see him reluctantly get a hold of my wrist. As if he was disgusted by me. Strangely, that thought worried me more than it should have.

He yanked my hands away from my face in a sudden motion and I gasped.

"My eyes..." I whispered, feeling tears pool in them.

"They are fine. There is nothing wrong with them."

I glanced at the mirror. And saw my green again. How? They were...

I turned around and yelped in surprise. Austin was not there.

It all happened so fast. I-I....Was I going mad? But I could still feel his touch on my wrist. I couldn't possibly hallucinate all those things? I couldn't.

I didn't know. I was scared and confused, and all I wanted to do was get the heck away from this haunted bathroom and find Steven.

So that is exactly what I did.

"Steven", I breathlessly said as I stood in front of him. I had ran all the way to canteen in fear of encountering something, or rather someone strange. I am such a coward. Or may be just more practical than I thought I was.

Steven took one look at my face which I am sure looked absolutely terrified. And also silly. But that's just how my face is. Can't help.

God, get to the situation at hand !

He got a hold of my hand and pulled me outside the door to the corridors. He facial expressions showed just how concerned he was for me. Which was not at all. At present, he just seemed curious. Great.

"You look pretty shaken up, what happened?", he asked once we had stopped in front of the lockers. Finally a look of concern crossed his face.

"I-I was just in the washroom when...", I trailed off. Would I sound insane if I told Steven that I had just seen my eyes become completely black when Austin barged in, turned them back to green somehow and then - boom bam bam - vanished in thin air? Yes, I probably would.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I just saw a cockroach and got the shit scared out of me.", I said with the most composed expression ever.

He raised an eyebrow. "Funny, as far as I remember, when you were in fifth grade, you had caught a cockroach in the class which you later slipped into Melissa's shirt just in order to get your revenge after she tripped you and made you land on your food in front of the whole grade during lunch."

I winced. God...he knew me too well.

"I have developed katsaridaphobia", I blurted out." The phobia of cockroaches".

I mentally patted my self for my intelligence. Strangely, he didn't seen convinced.

Gratefully, we were interrupted by his phone ringing.

"Mom", he groaned staring at the screen as if his worst nightmare had visited him. But, I would gladly take his place if I could.

"Hey, mom", he greeted slightly turning away from me.

"Yes,yes. Okay, I'll not forget."

Some more babbling could be heard from the other side.

"Okay. Mom I get it. Okay,okay. I GET IT MOM!"

I winced and looked around to check if someone else had heard him. Instead I saw a person walking toward the door to the field. Austin.

Where was he going?

Glancing once at Steven who was still busy talking to his mother, I took off after Austin deciding to play spy, which I always wanted to play. But that is not the reason. There was something strange going and I was pretty sure that he was their when that incident in the washroom took place. I was determined to figure out what was happening.

I am too curious for my own good. After all they say curiosity killed the cat. But I think I go by the principle, Ignorance killed the dog. Don't ask why I said 'dog' because I don't know.

Using my super spy skills ( which, by the way I had obtained from watching all the spy kids movies at least three times), I was able to follow Austin without his knowledge.

He stopped in a dark corner formed by the walls, away from the glare of the sun and stood there, his muscles tense beneath his shirt.

The sound of another footsteps startled me so much that a yelp almost escaped my mouth.

I turned around sensing someone behind me only to be met by a pair of electrifying golden eyes.

" Well...", a deep voice drawled as the pair of eyes snapped from Austin to me. " It seems like you, Uriel, have been able to complete your assignment. Now let us talk to miss Scarlett and explain to her our situation, shall we? After all, howsoever it is against our wishes and principles, we do need her at present."

Uh-oh..