Chapter 23 DANGEROUS SUPREME FUN.

MONDAY
We rarely ate so we didn't even need to brush. Just a good gurgling with mouth wash did a surprisingly good job. I remained in my room. I had changed out of my jacket and into a plain black shirt and pants. Nobody had come to check up on me yet. It was five in the morning. I hadn't stopped staring at the documents in the folder. I felt a rising, raging hunger building up inside me to figure out more.
'How did it even get this?' I wondered.
The documents in the folder gave information about me; five foot eleven; hundred and ninety pounds; dark skinned; Leukaemia patient.
The part for my name was torn out but my birth date was still intact—second November 2001. So I was going to be turning twenty at the end of the year. I had gone through the paper throughout the night but I couldn't stop looking at the passport photograph of myself. I was bald; sick looking, bony, my eyes looked too big for my head.
Not able to take the cruel reality of it anymore, I stowed the folder under my bed at just the exact time I heard a knock on the door. My heart skipped a beat. I remembered I had been careful enough to lock the door so I took in deep breaths and tried to calm myself. The last thing I wanted was to hint off any suspicion.
"Who is it?" I asked, in a surprisingly calm and controlled voice.
"It's me..." It was Tia's voice.
I breathed out slowly, got off my bed and unlocked the door. Tia stepped into my room. She was wearing blue pyjamas.
"I thought you don't sleep?" I asked her.
"Just tried it"—her eyes landed on my left arm—"it grew back!"
She took my hand in hers, examining it carefully.
"But how?" She asked to herself.
"I don't really even know myself..." I admitted, still thinking about the possibilities of an arm growth spurt.
"This is good," She said.
"I guess so"I said.
"Jhan said I should take you somewhere," She said. I raised a brow in response.
"Don't worry it's not another forest." We laughed together and the horrific images of those beasts flashed through my mind.
She looked at me and I averted my eyes.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
I tried to take my mind away from the folder under my bed.
"My abilities haven't quite been working since that forest," I said, glum.
"Oh. You should have told me I could have helped you..."
Tia was no Supreme but she did he'll figure out how to vampire run so I guess she could help me with this... If that made any sense.
"I may not be a Supreme but I do have some tricks up my sleeves," She said.
"Sit," She said.
I eased my weight gently onto my bed.
"Okay, try this," She said.
"Close your eyes."
I looked at her sceptically.
"Trust me," She said.
I closed my eyes, focusing on the darkness in front of me.
"What do you see?"
"Darkness... I guess,"
"What do you feel?"
"Nothing,"
"Okay, imagine that time you fought the tyrants. How angry you were..."
I focused all the emotion I had into that fury that was burning in me. I stayed perfectly still but, nothing.
I opened my eyes, "It's just not working," I said in defeat.
"I know," She said, "I knew it wouldn't work."
I beginning to get agitated.
"Then why did you make me do it?"
"I just missed the way you look when you are calm and quiet," She said, "lately you've been looking shaken, like a child that just barely outran a rabid dog."
I smiled.
"I see what you did there," I said chuckling.
"You know... Maybe next time I'll carry you." She brushed a finger against my neck and took it to my hair, pulling at the strands gently.
"You might fall," I said, looking straight into her eyes.
"I want you to touch me this time Kaldar, touch me everywhere..." Her voice trailed off as she leaned in closer to me. I was already closing my eyes to kiss her but then...
"What's going on here!?" Jereum barked, looking so angry it was like he had caught us stealing his special face care ointment, Leya makes for him, and that seemed to be making him somehow more handsome.
"Err... It's nothing—"
"I was about to kiss him, and maybe have sex with him," Tia barked back, and I felt guilty for trying to divert the truth. She looked ferociously but not at me, at Jereum.
"Don't you dare raise your voice at me Tia!" Jereum hissed and I saw the red glint in his eyes. His features seemed to morph, making him look more demonic than human.
Tia was frowning so hard I thought she would lash out on Jereum and spit fire on him or something. But surprisingly, her face relaxed and she hung her head slightly lower.
"Just as I thought..." Jereum hissed. His eyes returned to their golden colour and he gazed upon me.
"The sun is about to come up, if you are gonna take him there make it quick." He left without another word.
Silence fell in the room again.
"You can't just let him intimidate you Kaldar. You are not a child and sometimes you gotta stand up for yourself!" She didn't sound genuinely angry but I still felt ashamed.
"I'm sorry Tia," I said.
"It's okay," Her voice was very alluring now. "Just don't do it again okay?" She leaned in and started kissing my neck softly. I resisted the urge to hold her down and touch her like she asked.
"Tia!!!" Jereum shouted from the parlour.
"We're going, we're going!" She stopped kissing me, stood up and made for the door.
"Crop top?" I asked her.
"What else do you catch me wearing?" She kissed the air to me and left.
Jhan had given me a bunch of black shirts, both long sleeve and tee shirts. I wore a black long sleeve and my trademark one armed jacket.
Tia appeared at the door frame. Wearing a stripe pink and white crop top, black joggers and white sneakers.
"Let's go," She said.
"Where are we even going?" I asked.
"You'll see." She had a mischievous smile on. But I hoped where ever she was taking me would a secluded area.
I wore my black boots, I requested from Jhan for more of the strapped boots. We walked out the main door, and then down the streets.
"So... You are like seventy seven?" I asked. I knew starting up this conversation may make things weird between us but I wanted to come to terms with it if it meant I'm going to be with Tia.
She glanced at me, frowning.
"I have only actually aged for seventeen years Kaldar," She said. She looked at me. "Once you are impurified—for teenagers that is—you can only age for a number of years. Most people stop growing at eighteen. I was impurified when I was sixteen but I still experienced changed in terms of my physical development until I was seventeen."
I looked at her too.
"I've lived for seventy seven years Kaldar but I'm basically still a seventeen year old. You like kind of get paused—no—time seems to run slower... Haven't you experienced it? The effect of aging doesn't affect your mind as it is supposed to, you can remember events and things you've seen ten years ago, like you had just seen it yesterday."
And she was right, I had actually realized that my memories were sharper—no—un-aging. In fact, my whole mind seemed to be un-aging.
"So although I have lived older than you... You are still mentally older than me."
I understood all what she had told me very quickly it was all just... Messed up.
"Oh, it's right here..." She pulled my arm and we turned a left corner—not the same left corner I had turned, one way further down the street.
I was met by a loud ruckus, one so loud it should be heard for miles. And I saw a large open ground. No houses, just a large sand field. Many large tires were on the ground. And I saw two—heavily buffed—vampires wrestling themselves in the middle, throwing blows and jabs ferociously at each other.
"The watchers make sure this place remains invisible to passer-by's—no one can see it or hear it unless you are a vampire."
"Whoa..." Indeed I spotted several vampires—not shadowy but blending in with their environment—at certain corners.
"This is a playground," She said smiling.
"I don't know Tia this looks pretty dangerous." I had just seen one of the wrestling vampires step on his opponents back and ripping off his left arm—and this only made the crowd to cheer even louder.
"Oh, come on. You can't be scared of a little fun," She said.
"I don't know... Doesn't look like fun for me." I spotted a black haired girl, looking about seventeen, approach us. I turned my head to the side and pretended to be interested in a vampire that was practicing a high leap.
Tia also did not seem to notice the girl.
"Tia?" The girl asked.
"Oh, Annie," Tia exclaimed and she embraced the girl. The girls name was pronounced like 'Ay-nee' instead of 'Ah-nee'
I zoned out their conversation and attempted to stroll away. Tia grabbed me by the wrist and swung me around. She was strong; I reeled around to face her.
"Annie this is Kaldar, Kaldar meet Annie." Tia introduced us to each other with so much glee.
I locked eyes with the girl. Her dark eyes and light skin complimented each other. She was grinning.
"Oh, you are that...err...that Supreme!" She said with excitement.
"Oh, that guy." Pfft, "I'm not that guy but I do get it a lot."
It was either the girl didn't hear me or my act of denial was just too fake to be considered true and I ended up sounding pathetic.
"EVERYONE WE HAVE A SUPREME IN OUR MIDST!!!"
It was really that easy to get their attention. A low hubbub grew and the next thing I knew I was surrounded by big and bulgy eyes all over.