Chapter 27: The Chameleon Who Died

Rakiza cried harder as she picked up Charm from the floor, lifeless. Her little body was flattened by maybe a human foot. Perhaps Nikolas had inadvertently stamped him. But there are no footprints on the floor that could point out Nikolas's visiting her the other night.
"Oh, no, my poor little Charm. What happened to you? "
Chin moved closer to Rakiza and said, "Maybe a cat had secretly discovered Charm inside the jar and wanted to eat Charm."
Muriel commented, "Don't overreact to that poor little reptile, Rakiza. You can still find another one. By the way, you hadn't told us where that reptile came from. "
"As far as I know, that kind of chameleon was rare to find, "Chin again showed her expertise. I read an article about a chameleon. Some of their habitats are in Asia, Africa, and Europe. "
Susan reacted to Chin's clinical explanation, "I thought you liked to become a botanist, and now you are already an expert in zoology."
"Let her be," Muriel cut in and turned to Rakiza. "You have to throw that away before it smells.
Ambrosia knocked on the half-open door and said, "Rakiza, the boy Theo was looking for you. He's on the veranda.

Fresh air filled the veranda when Rakiza appeared at Theo's back. It was a sunny morning, but Theo's expression was gloomy. Rakiza knew that he was bringing additional bad news, or even worse than expected. And she wanted to keep Charm's death from him but couldn't. Instead, she broke her bad news before Theo could say a word. "Charm is dead."
Theo frowned upon hearing the news, "Where is she?"
Rakiza pulled out a small box from her dress pocket and handed it to Theo.
Theo accepted it and opened it to see the dead chameleon. His expression was distant. "Life is too short," he whispered, "I should bury her in the woods."

They buried the chameleon under a broken bench in the abandoned plaza. The place was peacefully tranquil, and both Theo and Rakiza felt the contentment of listening to the soft wind rustling the trees. They were sitting on one bench next to each other, silently.
And then Theo started a conversation, "They found several animal footprints on the ground where Alex's mutilated body lay."
Rakiza turned to stare at Theo, waiting for him to continue.
"The cops suspected a dangerous animal at a loss. Up until now, they've been trying to track the animal. At first, they thought that it was a dog, but after a veterinarian's confirmation that the footprints they presented weren't a dog's footprints, they got confused. And what the vet told them was unbelievable. "
Rakiza asked thinly, "What did the vet tell them?"
"It's more than a dog. It's a werewolf's tracks. "
Rakiza was silent with Theo's revelations and was afraid to ask more.
Theo's face was sad as if he was carrying a burden, and he said, "Rakiza, promise me to stay inside the dorm during the nighttime. Can you promise me that? "
Rakiza nodded, "I'll try, but I have some errand to do that requires me to go to the mall anytime and at night, which was more convenient for me."
"Give me your schedule, and I will accompany you."
"Thank you, but I can manage myself," Rakiza said. "I don't want to bother anyone else. And I don't want to put you in danger like Alex."
"Stop that heroism. You're playing Rakiza. You have to take it seriously. One man had died, and maybe more if we ignore Alex’s death, "he sighed. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Rakiza."
"Don't play that heroism thing with me by acting as my guardian, Theo. You have a girl in your cottage waiting for you." Rakiza snorted. She was still thinking of Ajella as Theo's live-in girlfriend. And she couldn't stop her heart from feeling envious.
What happened to me? She thought.
Theo said seriously. "Don't get jealous of her."
"I'm not jealous."
"Yes, you are. Don't lie to me. I'm good at reading others' minds and expressions. And the way you spoke to me about Ajella revealed what you felt.”
Rakiza rose to her feet and mumbled, "Maybe I should go back to the dorm. These conversations aren't doing well for us. "
"It does well when you're honest enough to say what you feel," Theo hit her ego.
"And now you say, 'I am not an honest person.' How dare you judge me like that? "
"Okey, let me change the word honest to pride. You have the pride that was too high from all the women I have ever encountered. "
Rakiza said sharply, "Everybody has pride, even you."
"I don't have pride, only secrets nobody has the right to know," Theo declared.
Rakiza was astounded by his frankness and vented her anger, which had been at peace a while ago, and complained, "You are so hard to understand, Theo. You sounded concerned minutes ago, but now you're arguing with me about your unrealistic point of view." Rakiza moved fast to leave him, but Theo was quick to grab her hand and bring her closer. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry, not accepted. You're the most quickly-shifting mind creature I ever met. "
Theo's gaze was fixed on her. "Just say you love me," Theo said.
"What?"
"I said, tell me you love me."
Rakiza couldn't move and felt an icy feeling at her nape. She didn't see it coming.
"Tell me the truth.” Theo was persistent, “Show me your feelings towards me. "
Rakiza was angry and yelled, "You want to know the truth? Okay, I... hate you, "then she ran back to the dormitory crying.

"What's wrong, Raki?" Muriel was startled by Rakiza's slamming of the door, leaning on it, crying. Muriel walked towards her, "Who made you cry. Was it Teri?
"It was Theo, but don't worry, I squared with him with hurtful words."
"But then, why are you still crying?" Muriel didn't get it.
"I don't understand," Rakiza mumbled.
"What you didn't understand?"
"The way Theo treated me. In one moment, he was compassionate, and then in the next, he was so mean, purposely making me angry by insulting me. "
"Maybe he's on drugs," Muriel declared. “That’s a red flag, Raki.”
Rakiza silently sat on her bed, her face still confused with Theo, and said, "But why do I feel this anger towards him, and am I not able to ignore him? Every word he says affects me, Muriel.”
Chin butted in and exclaimed, "That's what they call love, Rakiza," as she entered the room, with Susan following her.
"Stop that nonsense analysis, Chin. That's a crap notion," Muriel opposed.
Susan added, "Sorry, Muriel, but I agree with Chin. Sometimes you misread hate for love. "
Muriel argued to her friends, "How could that be? Hate is an ill feeling, while love is a divine feeling. How come you misread hate feelings as love? "
Chin stood in her perspective, "You cannot hate and cry for a man without feeling the love."
Rakiza was just silent, hearing the exchanged words of her friends about her feelings toward Theo.
"But sometimes you must hurt someone to protect them from harm. Hurting someone you love shows concern and worry about something, "Chin explained dramatically.
Susan added, "And concern means responsibility.”
"Showing concern sometimes is a mask, to show off egoistic motive," Muriel argued back.
Chin giggled. "And if a man kisses you in the middle of an argument, that means he wanted to comfort you, to tell you how much he loves you, even if you're acting like a fool or a spoiled brat," Chin giggled.
Rakiza frowned as if she was being hit by a tornado, by Chin's last analysis. She remembered Theo kissing her in the middle of their arguments. And every time he kissed her, she melted in his arms. And then Theo's mood changed so quickly that she couldn't understand why. That's what made her angry with him when he changed his mood at the peak of their romantic excitement. He turned her on and then snapped off.
"How stupid," Rakiza mumbled.

A few minutes later, she was alone in the room, wondering about what she had just heard from her friends. All her friends' points of view were rational and weighed a lot on her. But it was Chin's point of view that taught her to understand Theo's attitude.
Rakiza found Theo more mysterious as time passed.
***
The night had come, and as Nikolas promised, he would visit Rakiza at night and invite her for a stroll. He took Rakiza on a bay walk. Millions of stars were spread in the sky that illuminated the shore romantically. And walking by the sea with the handsome Nikolas at her side was romantic. But Rakiza's mind wondered whether Theo was watching them at a distance. Was he committed in his words that he would always be watching her from a distance to guard her?
"Is there anything that's bothering you, Rakiza?" Nikolas asked.
"Not really, it's just my job and my studies." She lied.
"What about your job? By the way, mind you asking, what job are you working on? " Nikolas asked solemnly.
Rakiza smiled, trying to toss away Theo out of her mind, "I am now working with the Reign-Bridge Book Publishing Company. I'm one of their novelists. " Rakiza smiled.
"Well, congratulations," Nikolas smiled. "What is your ongoing story?"
"The Bloodstone of Sheba." That's the title of my story, "Rakiza smiled.
"What's it all about, I mean, the bloodstone?" Nikolas asked solemnly.
"It was a tale my grandfather had told me, my favorite bedtime story. It is the bloodstone of Queen Sheba that will give vampires protection to face the sunlight without burning. "
"And do you believe it?"
"I told you, it was just a myth. Vampires didn't exist, "Rakiza smiled.
"You should believe that vampires exist, Rakiza," Nikolas stated.
Rakiza turned to Nikolas and saw his eyes look like dark blood.