I fell to the floor and Dylan stared at me clutching his burnt hand. Out of fear my mom sent everyone away saying that the party was over. Then we were both alone in the sitting room and we both stared at each other until I broke the silence saying "Mom what's going on with me, I don't understand who or what I am again" "My dear please don't be worried we'll get through this together" she said. "Mom what am I going to say to everyone tomorrow?" "Just tell them that it was a fever" "How can I tell them that a fever burnt someone's hand" "What if it never happened" "I don't understand" "Just close your eyes and listen to my voice, picture the faces of everyone who came for the party...". I did so and unknown to me, my eyes turned to the colour of flames. She continued "Now I want you to hack into their minds and erase that memory" "How do I do that" "I want you to remember that memory and reach for any trace of it, then you burn it up in everyone's mind". I concentrated hard enough and I could see what she was talking about and I followed her words to the last and I could feel my body heating up and at that moment, I saw a vision of myself turning into a shadow and my body was on fire and at that moment, I was jolted back to reality only to see myself on the floor with my mom looking over me, "Are you alright my dear?, you passed out during the party" "I'm alright mom", at it was at that point that I knew it worked. I went to sleep and I had the same dream I usually have except that this time I turned into a shadow and we were both covered in flames.
I immediately sat upright panting heavily, and I looked around and saw the shadow man and what seemed like a shadow version of me, dancing round my room. I couldn't make do of the facial expression of the shadow me, but she didn't look happy as well, because she turned her face away from him as they danced. I quickly traced my light switch and turned on the lights and when I looked again I didn't see them again. I tried to close my eyes but I couldn't help but have the feeling that I was being watched, so I didn't feel comfortable sleeping, I decided to go out for a stroll at night, exercising my rights as an adult.
While walking, I passed by a neighbouring house where they had an iron fence with spaced bars which basically gives you a clear view of the surrounding. There was a dog inside that kept barking at me, at that moment I don't know what came over me, I walked up to the side of the house and squatted, I looked the dog straight in the eyes and immediately he stopped barking after seeing my flaming eyes. "You must be a dog whisperer, right?" I heard from the background only to turn around and see a guy, average height, tan skinned, puffy curly afro hair and as I got up and walked further, I could make do of his dark green eyes. "Not really, I think they just like me" "No kidding" he said chuckling while extending his hand, "Hi I'm Austin". I returned the handshake saying, "Hi I'm Tanya" "You must be the birthday girl, right?", I replied with a confused face but still trying to keep my smile on, "Yeah... How'd you know?" "I leave in the neighbourhood, and I noticed the celebrations". At that moment I noticed two things that were off, firstly, how did he know who the birthday girl was exactly? and secondly, I have never seen him in this neighbourhood but I took it that's he's new, but I'll be more reason for him not to know who I was, but I didn't want to freak him out so I just smiled. "So Austin, where are you headed to by this time of the night?" "I'm just going for a stroll, I couldn't sleep" "Same as me... well it's getting a bit too late, I gotta head back home" "Ok... it's nice meeting you, hope we meet sometime again" "We basically leave iin the same neighbourhood, so it's likely to happen" I said smiling, "Ok then... take care" he said waving at me then tucked his two hands into his jacket, "Same... Well, good night" I said waving back, he smiled and turned around and started walking forward, I did same as well and headed home.
When I got home, I decided to go get a glass of water and as I sipped my water, I noticed a figure reflecting on it and I swear I saw Austin, but as I turned, no one was at my back and as I looked again at my cup, I didn't see him again. I went up to my room and layed on my bed remembering the shadow figures I saw as well as the encounter with Austin, I just tried to deny the obvious things going on telling myself that it's just an illusion or something or maybe someone was playing a prank on me. I turned off the light and looked around but there was no shadow, so I closed my mind and I tried blocking out the feeling of being watched I was getting, I reached for my locker and brought out an MP3 player which was given to me by Aria for my 17th birthday knowing I love music and it calms me down. I turned it on and plugged in my headphones and I put them on, and at that moment I felt peaceful and I didn't know when I slept off.
I woke up the next day a it felt like it was all a dream, I got up and got ready for school, Harry-Jone's Academy, final year to be precise, and after having my breakfast, without uttering any word,I kissed my mom on her cheek and I went off to school.
As I made my way through the hallway, my friends immediately rushed over and started checking my temperature "Are you alright?" Aria asked, "Hope everything's okay?" added Jennie. "What happened to you yesterday?, you just passed out during the birthday party and your mom told us all to give you a little resting space" said Charles. "I wasn't feeling too well and I got dizzy that's all" I said. "Are you sure?" Asked Aria, "Yeah" I replied. Just then Dylan passed by me with his crew and smirked at me. I was really happy that no one except for me could recall the incidence which occurred yesterday but I was eager to find out what happened to the burn on Dylan's hand or if he knew the cause, so I followed him and stopped him in his tracks, "I couldn't help but notice that you have a burnt hand, what happened? I asked, "What's it to you, I thought you didn't want to ever see me again. You made it clear yesterday and why are you all up in my face. I know that you have a crush on me so just go ahead and say it and as for this...." he points to his burnt hand, "I was from your dumb oven which couldn't do it's job properly, it burnt my hand when I was tryna get the cookies out for my crew over here, but how would you know when you fainted". I didn't know what to say to do anymore, so I decided to ask my friends what happened and Aria said "When we were done preparing you for the party, we all came out and you had such a great time and after a short while, you were nowhere to be found until you came out with Charles and made it official..." I looked at Charles and he kissed me, I was still in a state of shock when she continued "Afterwards, Dylan came up to you and uttered a few rubbish before you landed him a slap and walked away over to our corner and while drinking and dancing, you started complaining about a woozy feeling and then passed out, then your mom told us that you aren't feeling too well and that we should go home and get some rest for school. But wait are you trying to say that you don't remember anything from yesterday night" "I think it's because of the dizziness that I can't remember everything that happened" I said. "It's ok" said Charles as he grabbed my hands and shortly after, the bell rang and we made our way for class.
At this point I was confused and didn't know how it played out in everyone's mind only mine's and I needed answers to a lot of questions piling up in my head and I wanted to know why I saw myself turning into a burning shadow and most of all, I needed to find out who that man I usually see in my dreams, is as well as the mystery behind Austin and the reason I'm seeing shadows in my room. So I came to a conclusion that it didn't matter what happened in the party anymore, the only thing that mattered was me finding out where my future lies and knowing why I was able to erase people's minds and how my mom knew what to say to me while I was attempting to erase their minds.