The evening sky Kiefer gazed at while sitting atop the edge of the pulsating fountain was a true marvel of nature.
It was painted with a canvas of warm hues, soft pastels, and vibrant colors.
The kind of sky that reminded Kiefer of that painting he once saw at an art auction his father had taken him to, The Flight into Egypt by Adam Elseheimer.
As the sun slowly sank down the sky, hidden by the distant plethora of tall sycamore trees, the sky transformed into a kaleidoscope of pink, orange, and purple, with shades of coral and salmon peeking through the clouds.
Kiefer felt compelled to gasp.
The colors deepened and became more saturated, as though the sky itself was set aflame.
Soft peach tones and mauve shades crept in, calmly and soothing, like a gentle lullaby.
The clouds, tinted with shades of gold and amber, were streaked across the sky like wispy brushstrokes on a masterpiece of art.
He took in the view, bathing in its embrace, as it washed over him like rivers of joyful emotion.
Kiefer was still leaning by the stone edge of the flowing fountain when he heard footsteps from behind him.
Turning around, he realized it was Yaritza, hands in the pockets of a tweed coat, strutting calmly towards him.
Kiefer looked on, noticing her angled cheekbones and the cerulean irises of her otherworldly eyes glistening under the fleeting rays of sunlight of the evening.
His eyes tracking her as she neared him, Kiefer shifted on the edge of the fountain.
'Hey, how's it going?'
Yaritza took a seat next to Kiefer on the stone edge of the fountain.
'I'm quite alright, thanks. How do you do?'
Kiefer glanced at her briefly and returned his gaze upwards, his chin projecting forward as he breathed the cool air.
Yaritza took a moment to observe him.
She looked him up and down, observing his defined jawline and jet black African hair.
'You were quite impressive today, I didn't know you attended fencing classes,' she said, adjusting on the edge of the fountain.
Kiefer glanced at Yaritza and turned his gaze away, touching his neck.
'There's something about your eyes, wouldn't you agree?'
Kiefer was looking at Yaritza now. He noticed how she extended her arm and ran it along the length of her brows.
He quickly deciphered that was a gesture of nervousness.
'Oh... My eyes? Well...'
Kiefer noticed how tense she had become and decided to probe further.
'And your necklace. The design is quite nice, where'd you get it?'
Kiefer stared at Yaritza as she slowly raised her head to meet his stare.
Her eyes were gleaming now, the dark of the evening bouncing off them.
He noticed Yaritza size him up and meet his gaze.
Those eyes were cold, solid and cerulean.
As he held her gaze for a few seconds, Kiefer could feel something shake ever so violently in him.
But what he also felt within him was an innate rejection of whatever was being invoked in his being.
Although he felt his mind tremble, he could swear Yaritza also felt a violent tamper within her being as he locked a stare at her.
He didn't know what he was doing. Neither did he realize what he dug up from inside him as he stared at the black girl.
As the time ticked away, Kiefer could feel his head on the verge of collapse.
That feeling was ever growing with every second that flew past.
The other feeling was like an awakening.
An awakening of something that had lain dormant inside him for so long.
Kiefer could feel the dark fumes that writhed menacingly inside him.
So menacing and dark he thought he would either wither into the shadows or extinguish the turquoise glaze that beamed through Yaritza's eyes.
The tension built up and soon Yaritza screamed in pain.
She backed down from his gaze, turning it down to the pulsating fountain, her hand massaging her temples as though trying to ease a terrible migraine.
Kiefer breathed a sigh of relief.
His chest ached and he felt as though the strings that held the bits of his mind and being together had been thorn apart, then reassembled, only to undergo another ripping.
He rubbed his chest to soothe the rivers of agony that flowed within.
'I guess I'm not the only one here who's painfully different,' she said, picking herself up and strutting away, the very way she had come.
Kiefer stared at the retreating figure in utter bewilderment.
What on Earth or wherever they were had he unlocked?
Now he was forced to believe it.
Yaritza wasn't like the others.
He wasn't like the others
There had to be more people who were like them.
Even though it was just one person, Kiefer had that unsettling feeling that Yaritza and himself weren't the only unique ones out of the lot.
********
Later that day, very much late into the evening at the fleeting midnight hour, an unsightly figure in a cloak opened the door of a room situated at the end of a winding hallway in the topmost floor of the Loreque Male Hostel.
The tall figure stepped out onto the marbled floors of the hallway and closed the door very gently.
Quickly, the figure dashed along the floors of the hallway to descend the flight of stairs as the lifts are usually switched off at midnight.
Running down the seemingly endless flight of stairs, the lonely figure soon stepped onto the floor of the receiving area of the hostel.
The doors in the distance were locked automatically, but that would pose little to no problem.
To the side, two male attendants could be seen playing a board game of chess.
One of them with a conspicuous big nose was obviously failing.
'Hey!!! How am I sure that you're not even cheating? You've had no losses three times in a row!'
Big-nose was visibly angry as he lost the game of chess the third time to his colleague.
The striking feature of this colleague was his very noticeable bulging eyes that seemed to stick out as he spoke.
Bulging-eyes laughed, extending his hand to clasp on his opponent's back as he rearranged the pieces on the board.
'It's mainly strategy, nothing strange,' he said,'up for another round?'
Big-nose laughed, flicking a falling strand of hair out of his face, he said;
'Why of course, I bet you I'll win this time.'
Bulging eyes snickered.
'You wish,' he chanted,'let's begin then. You're white, I'm black. You're up first.'
It was as Big-nose was about to start the challenge that they heard a noise towards the reflective surface of the glass pane that was above them.
Looking upwards almost in symphony, they stared at the glass questioningly.
'What was that?'
As soon they were about to bring down their heads to continue the game of chess, a figure in a black cloak seemed to appear in the reflection.
The figure unmasked the hood and what the attendants saw sent chills down the length of their spines.
********
Those eyes were too gleaming to be real.
They shone with ethereal grace and vulgarity, one would gasp at such sight.
As the attendants peered at the captivating azul eyes that stared at them through the reflection of the glass pane, they felt something shift inside their minds.
Their eyes became heavy and their visions blurred immensely.
Soon a thud was heard as the two male attendants dropped off ther chairs and landed on the marbled floors.
The dark figure diverted the beaming cerulean gaze to the locked doors and soon, several clicks were heard.
As the doors were opened and the dark figure in a cloak rushed out the hostel onto the paved ground, Kiefer, who stood atop the steps of the stairway decided that maybe his roommate was the last person of Yaritza and his kind.