After we talked about our next move, we parted ways, heading back to our houses, keeping up the appearance that everything was normal. Fine. Ordinary. But it wasn't, and I didn't think that I'd ever be the same as I once was. Before I knew about Supernaturals, or shapeshifting, or magic.
Sitting on my window seat, I stared up at my dark ceiling, contemplating my thoughts. I was having an internal dilemma. I was mad at my father for lying to me for seventeen years, depressed about finding nothing in any of our houses, finding my powers cool, but spiteful that it hurts like hell when I shift, and finally, surprised that the ordinary world I had grown up living in and learning about could be filled with this many unknown qualities.
It confused me, to say the least, but I think I was okay with that. Or I would try to be. There was nothing I could do about it, so I might was well accept it.
It was dark out, but I wasn't tired yet. I had been reading a book, but had lost interest. After that I had clicked off my lamp and busied myself with my thoughts. Then they drifted back to our previous conversation at Shawn's house, after we'd found the encoded messages.
"Who do we investigate next?" Autumn asked.
"Not that I think it will go anywhere," Isabella started, "But we could check my house."
"But what should we do about these papers?" Sakura asked, gesturing at them, still clutched in Shawn's hands.
"We should probably put them back where we found them. We don't want your dad to find them missing."
Shawn nodded.
"Then we should also put the attic back in order," Isabella suggested.
"Agreed," Shawn said, flattening out the encoded papers and sealing them back up in the folder, then closing the box.
Footsteps outside my door brought me back to the present. My father, my thoughts alerted me. I didn't have enough time to make it to my bed, not without him seeing me move. I slumped down on the window seat and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep just as my father pushed my door open, creaking on its hinges.
He came in, saw me asleep, and how I wasn't in my bed, and chuckled deep in his throat. He came over and brushed my hair back from my forehead. I tried not to tense up, and I think I succeeded, as he then retreated out of the room. Only after I heard his footsteps fade away and turn into his own room, did I open my eyes, lifting myself up.
I resumed my sitting position and stared out the window into my backyard. The wind was blowing through the trees, rustling the few leaves still attached, creaking the trees limbs. The moonlight shone through the woods, illuminating it in a magical glow.
It was vexing, how long it was taking to find the answers I so desperately wanted. I needed to know everything about my powers. How they work. What will happen when I get older. Will they get better? Worse?
I needed to know. I deserved to know. It was the truth, and I wasn't stopping until I got it.
Then I really had fallen asleep at my window seat after that. I was going to transfer myself to my bed, but I guess my body hadn't wanted to wait; It had wanted to sleep. Then a loud noise had woken me up about two hours after I'd fallen asleep.
I awoke with a start, my head jerking up from the window pane it was slumped against. I blearily blinked my eyes open, rubbing my neck as I did so, having slept on it at an uncomfortable angle.
I glanced around my room, unsure about what had woken me up. I looked around my room again, but couldn't see anything that may have fallen. Just as I was about to retire to my bed and go back to sleep, the same noise broke through the heavy silence of night. It was coming from outside.
Unclasping the latch at the base of my window, I pushed it open, and saw Sakura standing under my bedroom window, flashlight in hand, wearing a zipped hoodie against the cold November wind.
"Sakura?" I stage-whispered, leaning my head out my window.
She waved from her spot on the ground. "You gonna let me in or not?" she stage-whispered back.
I shook my head. "I'll open the back door."
I closed my window, left it unlocked, and jogged down the upstairs hall, down the stairs, and through the kitchen, and in my sights was our set of double doors, made of wood and glass. Sakura was already waiting on the other side for me, the doors much closer to to her than they were to me.
Unlocking the doors with a satisfying click, I pulled them open and let Sakura inside. She walked by me, the cold emanating off of her. Despite the season, it was still sticking to warmer temperatures during the day, only cooling off at night.
I closed and locked the doors behind her, praying my father wasn't hearing any of this. I turned around and stepped into my kitchen. "Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?" I stopped at my kitchen counter, across from Sakura.
Sakura shrugged her right shoulder, tilting her head to the side. "I needed to talk, and I figured you'd be the one to actually hear."
Understanding, I nodded at her, pushing her to continue, leaning on the counter, resting my forearms on the smooth marble.
She started talking then. Well, really more of a vent of feelings, and I had just let her talk until she stopped, letting her lift it off her shoulders.
"I just feel that we're putting a lot of blind trust into this idea that we have that we can actually find anything. Or that our parents know anything. Or if your theory on the town is true either. I mean, We did find some pretty incriminating stuff at Autumn's house, and some shady crap at yours and Shawn's, but what if they don't know anything, and it's just you three who have the powers? I'm just… conflicted."
I glanced down, taking in her words. "You're right, we are putting a lot of stock in our theories." I looked back up, making eye contact with her. "And I've been where you are. You know that. I've had a very similar talk with Shawn, and I was taking your stance. And now I'll take his; Too many strange things don't add up, enough for us to be suspicious. And then there's us three Supernaturals. How did we, and our families, for generations, for that matter, all come to live in the same place?" I paused. "That's too much of a coincidence for me to chalk up as nothing."
Sakura nodded.
"Now you don't have to share my opinion," I started, picking myself up from the counter. "But it's how I see it."
Sakura bit her lip. "It's just… I'm not ready to really think that my mom," Sakura paused, choking on her words. She sucked in a deep breath before continuing, "that my mom would hide something as monumental as this from me for my entire life."
Crossing the kitchen, I gave her a hug. She hugged me back, closing her eyes and tucking her head into my shoulder.
She pulled back and I let her, stepping back.
"Sorry," she started, her eyes watery. "Here I am going on and you're having the same problem, for even longer than I've been having mine."
"It's okay," I assured her. "Just because I'm dealing with it too doesn't mean that I can't listen to you."
She nodded. "Thanks."
I nodded. "I know this is hard. That's why I didn't want to pull you into it."
"But I insisted," Sakura reminded me.
I laughed. "True."
"And I'm glad I did."
"Seriously?"
She nodded. "Because if I didn't know, I'd be living a lie right now. Granted, I still partially am, but I've cracked the illusion. And soon, I'll break it."
Sakura left after that, the sun coming up in a few hours. I went back up to bed, slipping under my covers, and attempting to return to the world of sleep. I closed my eyes, but my mind didn't settle down.
But, thankfully, it did after a little while, letting me fall into a dreamless sleep; something I hadn't had for a very long time, Sakura's words still circling through my head.
***
The bell rang, but it felt distant, like I was hearing it through a hazy fog. Collecting my books, I held them close to my chest and exited the classroom, my head in the clouds. I'd been tired all day, since I had stayed up late and gotten a midnight visit from Sakura. And during world history, one of our two class together, Sakura was looking the same as I did; disconnected from the world.
The day flew by, a flurry of classes, jogging down the hallway to reach my next class before the bell rang, and exchanging glances with Isabella, Shawn, Sakura, and Autumn, as if we were silently sharing a secret that the rest of our town didn't know. And when the day ended, I was endlessly grateful. I hurried to my locker, anxious for what was coming after. We were all meeting up after school to search Isabella's house.
I zipped up my backpack, swinging it over my shoulder. Walking down the hallway, I left the school grounds through the courtyard, heading down the sidewalk towards my house. The air was crisp and cool, tinged with the smell of oncoming heat, a wave of it heading our way.
My sneakers crunched the leaves under me, crinkling like old paper. The sky was full of clouds, along with the feeling of rain approaching. Cars whipped by me, wheels spinning, leaves blowing, the sound of the many engines heard from a few blocks away.
After walking for about another five minutes, I reached my driveway, since my house was really part of any neighborhood. Sakura's house was the same way. Both of our houses had just floated in the trees, close to other neighborhoods, but not technically in them.
I walked up my long driveway, which is a long arc, slowing twisting to the right. Trees lined my driveway, causing my driveway to be covered in leaves, crunching under my footsteps. But soon enough, my driveway came to stop and my house came into view.
I jogged the last couple feet, through my garage and through the door. I entered my kitchen, set my backpack down in one of the chairs, and unpacked my lunchbox, throwing away any leftover trash and setting it up in a bin, out of the way.
Everything was normal. And boring. I thought about the crazy twist that my life had made. Then I realized that, in a way, I was glad that it did. Because if it hadn't, I'd be the same as everyone else. Ordinary. And I wasn't sure I wanted that anymore. I used to. I used to fantasize an ordinary life, with two parents, maybe a sibling, a father who knew me. The real me. But in that perfectly ordinary life, I wouldn't be Supernatural anymore.
I constantly thought of this as I brought my backpack upstairs and unloaded it into my room. I shrugged my jacket off and hung it back up in my closet. Then I turned and scanned myself in the mirror I had hanging on the inside of my closet door. I was wearing a pair of jean shorts and a short sleeve shirt, the color of the night sky. It had been warm enough for shorts that day, so I'd decided to bring them back out. And since we'd be searching, I decided to pull my hair up in a parted medium ponytail. I was only able to wrap the hair tie around my hair twice, since it's so thick. I've always had that problem, or struggle, really.
After I was done, I gave myself a confident nod in the mirror and left my house, taking a shortcut through the woods to Isabella's house. I slowly but surely made my way to her house, deciding on taking the more direct route instead of the most cleared one. The cleared one took longer, but you didn't have to worry about snagging a foot in the underbrush of duck low hanging branches.
That day I chose the rough path.
After a few more minutes, I saw the back of Isabella's house through the trees, the midday sun glowing off of it. I realigned myself, as I was starting to walk past her house, and started walking again.
I emerged from the woods and into Isabella's backyard. Crossing the yard, I stepped up onto their back patio and rapped on their back door.
After a few moments, Isabella answered the door. She pulled it open and stepped aside all in one fluid motion, letting me pass. I stepped inside her house.
Her kitchen was small and welcoming, filled with a golden glow. We moved to her family room and sat on the couch, talking until the next person came knocking. And soon enough, someone did, but this time on the front door, like a normal person, as Isabella reminded me as she left to answer it.
I twisted around on the couch and craned my neck to see who was at the door, but I could see nothing. After a few moments, Isabella came back with Shawn trailing after her, looking worse for wear.
"Shawn? Are you okay?" I asked, scooting down on the couch to give them both room.
"I was wondering the same thing," Isabella said as she sat down.
Shawn sounded a nervous laugh. "Well, I woke up this morning, and I felt… off. That��s really the only way to describe it. I felt dizzy but also like I was walking differently, a feeling in my chest. Then when I was outside, I started shifting."
"Seriously?" Isabella asked.
Shawn nodded.
"In broad daylight?" I questioned, wincing internally.
He nodded again, a bit more somber than the first time. "I can't explain it. I started running, of course, booking it through the woods, getting farther and farther away from town. I found a place to stop, which was just as well, because the second I stopped running, my legs gave out under me, starting to shift themselves. But I shifted successfully again, which was good."
"If only it didn't hurt so much," Shawn and I said in unison.
We made eye contact, and I felt that I could see the pain in his eyes at the mention of it. And I thought he could see them in mine, too.
He nodded.
Then the doorbell rang, loud and alarming. Isabella sat up from between Shawn and I and went to answer the door again.
"Is it ever going to get easier?" Shawn asked aloud.
I didn't know if he was just thinking aloud or asking me a question, but I answered him anyway.
"I don't know. It doesn't feel like it for me."
Then Isabella came back, with the last of us walking along after her. I assessed them, and saw large bags under Sakura's eyes, like she hadn't gotten much sleep lately. Autumn looked tired too, but at the same time she looked excited. I shook my head, not knowing how that combination could even be possible, under the circumstances.
But as soon as everyone was here, we started our search. Isabella's house is fairly small, so we didn't have a lot of ground to cover, which was good.
"Okay," Isabella started, "So I thought this out. There are really no room's down here where they could hide anything, so we should check their room first."
We headed up the stairs, our feet climbing up and echoing off the hardwood flooring. Her parents room was the first bedroom, second door on the left. I knew this, as I've been here for as long as I could remember.
Isabella opened the door, and right away I had this feeling in my chest. It was tightening, like a rope around my chest, cutting off the circulation to my heart. I guessed I was just stressed, but that had never happened to me before. I shook it off and joined my friends in their search.
We searched the entire room, turning out sheets, emptying shelves, checking under carpets, along the ceiling, even, but we found nothing. So we had put everything back into its correct place in their room.
I felt a little defeated at this point. We had searched about half of our houses, and found next to nothing, Just few mysterious that could be connected to nothing. It was hard to keep your thoughts positive when there's nothing left motivating you. And I could tell I wasn't the only one.
I could tell by the looks on some of my friends faces when we switched rooms, heading down to her father's office, the last room in the hall. The look of defeat Isabella and Shawn were trying to suppress was transparent; I could see it all, etched into their faces. It was just them, but they held the most disappointment out our group. I wasn't quite sure where I fell into that, but I knew what I felt. But I tried to project a happier attitude as we entered Isabella's father's office.
It was similar to my father's office, with a desk in the middle of the room and storage along the walls, but there was much more clutter in here than my house. There were a lot of papers flying around, things on the ground, and unkept drawers.
We started again, and we split up again. Shawn and I went straight for the desk, while Isabella and Sakura checked all the storage spaces. Autumn was checking on top of the door, seeing if there was a key up there, or a small piece of paper.
The desk was full. A computer sat in the middle, a pad and pen next to it, a desk lamp on the corner, two picture frames near it, one a wedding picture of him and Isabella's mom, and the other was one of Isabella and Austin smiling while laying in the grass, mud circling their legs. I let a small smile poke at my lips. I remembered that day. It was when they had gotten an ATV, or all-terrain vehicle, for their fifteenth birthday. Long story short, they drove it in the mud, and got completely covered in it. I was there when Isabella's father took that picture. I was behind the camera, making silly faces at them.
I went back to the task at hand and rifled through the papers, finding nothing of interest and barely anything I understood. The I joined Shawn in looking through the drawers. But we found nothing.
Neither did anyone else.
We left the office, going back downstairs. After everyone had jumped down off the stairs, Isabella said, "This might be a long shot, but we do have storage space under the staircase. We could check there?"
Everyone agreed, so Isabella opened the door and pulled on the light's string, illuminating the space.
As we started searching under the stairs, the sound of keys turning in a lock echoed throughout the house. I snapped my head up and peered around the corner just as the front door opened.