Chapter 3

I jolted up onto my feet at the thought of Nani’s special homemade pot roast and tasty veggie salad with homemade strawberry vinaigrette dressing. My mouth watered and I ran into the small kitchen.
“Mmm…” I said and sniffed the food scented air.
“I’ll take that as a yes, you’re awake.” Nani said “help yourself to some dinner. You’ll kill me if I stood in your way, anyway.”
“You’ve got that right.” I said and quickly got a plate and filled it with roast and salad.
“Please save some for me.” Nani said, slowly getting a plate and cutting a portion of roast.
“Alright, but I get the leftovers.”
“Don’t you always?” she asked snidely. I looked at her seriously. She backed up–freaked out–and hit the counter behind her. “S-sorry” she apologized.
“It’s alright.” I said, softening with a smile, “Teasing is a part of being family.” At that Nani got a little pale.
“Yeah,” she said nervously, getting herself some salad. I was going to press her on what was bugging her but decide not to since anything can bug her or make her nervous. Instead I asked a different question.
“Hay Nani?” I asked “what was mo and dad like?”
Okay, I know that probably sounded really weird, but I didn’t know.
Our parents left shortly after I was born to go work overseas. Nani and I were taken care of by our grandmother. But grandma died after I turned ten. Nani really didn’t count as a legal guardian until eighteen but the law force here knew Nani enough to say that if she finishes High School with all A’s then she could watch over me as a guardian until she goes to college.
“You never asked that question before.” She said, actually surprised, “What brings it up now?”
“Curiosity.” I answered, looking away quickly.
“I don’t remember that much. You were one year old and I was five. But I remember them being…different. They were scientists, well, dad was. Mom was an explorer; she kept exotic animals from all around the world. The only ones who died were her eagle and cougar. They were experiments, experimented on by dad.”
I took this all in, and then it popped into my mind, “Wait! Mom had a cougar?!”
“Oh yeah, so? She had pretty much every animal. She even had a monkey, well, a lemur to be exact.”
“Whoa…” I muttered.
“Not really” she said “she took all the animals with her.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Dad wanted to continue experimenting on them.”
“Oh.” I said and finished off my salad, “Delicious.” I laid back in the chair.
“And I haven’t even sat down yet.” Nani sighed and sat down across from me. I got up.
“I’m going for a run.” I said. I didn’t even need to say it. I always went for a run when I was feeling confused or sad. Nani knew this and never pressed me on what’s wrong.
I walked out of the door and felt the wind on me, plus clear droplets of fresh clean water. Heavy rain. I closed my eyes and breathed in. This was my favorite weather. I wished it could last forever. I walked out into the rain and I couldn’t help but laugh and spin around.
I wonder if I got my carefree-ness from mom. I thought. I didn’t want to think of confusing or sad thoughts so I just started running in no particular direction.
I loved feeling the wind whip by me. I felt–if I closed my eyes–like I could fly. I wish I could. I slowed to a walk when I was tired; panting like a dog trying to catch my breath. Suddenly a movement caught my eye and my guard went up, I listened with eagle-like hearing. Nothing but the patter of rain and the howl of the wind. I tried to relax but couldn’t so I sat down on the curb and breathed in the watery, damp air.
“You like this weather?” a familiar voice asked. I gasped and snapped my head in the direction of the voice. It was the violet-eyed boy.
“H-how did you find me?” I asked.
“Easy” he answered, “your scent.” I growled at his answer.
“Aren’t you going to go on with your Hypnotoxicating thing?” I asked, my belly doing flips as he walked toward me, no sound coming from his footsteps.
“No.” he answered and sat next to me, staring at the rain clouds, “Because I love this weather too.” I stared at him till he felt my eyes on him. “What?” he asked. Looking at me from the corner of his eyes.
“I want you to.” I said. This time he turned his head to actually get a good look at me.
“You want to be hypnotoxicated?” he asked with surprise.
“Well…” I started, staring into his eyes quickly, “yes.” He noticed me looking into his eyes and ripped his gaze away from mine as fast as he could. “Who are you?” I asked.
“I can only tell you my name.” He said then was quiet for about two minutes.
“And your name is…?” I asked impatiently.
“Oh! Yeah, it’s Devin.” He snuck a glance at me and ended up staring into my eyes. “You have…” he said “beautiful eyes.” He didn’t mean it as a compliment, or insult. Just a sudden thing he randomly blurted out. But all the same I felt my cheeks heat up. But he was so lost in my eyes that he didn’t notice.
“What?” I said, breaking the silence, “You act as though I’m hypnotoxicating you.” He seemed to snap back to reality.
“No,” he said, looking away. “Your eyes are just plain…hypnotizing.” I giggled. He took some time to look at me, but not directly in the eyes. He gave me an amazing lopsided smile, “You’re beautiful.” I was taken aback.
“Aren’t you after me?” I asked seriously.
“Well…technically yes I am but…” he didn’t finish his sentence when he was once again lost in my eyes.
“But what?” I asked, curiosity rising.
“I can’t tell you.” He said, returning to reality, “I have to go back to hypnotoxicating you now. That’s what you wanted anyway, right?”
“No!” I shouted “not right now, please. I want it but…” I stopped, leaving his curiosity up high.
“But what?” he asked. I smiled and his eyes widened, captivated by my smile. He seemed truly speechless.
“I’m not allowed to tell you.” I said. He knew I was mocking him. I suddenly realized we were soaked from the rain. I could tell he noticed too by the movement of him getting closer to me for heat. The water droplets were freezing cold.
“You teaser” he muttered, very close to me now.
“You’re one to talk.” I said slyly “you hypnotoxicator.” Then the talk ended. He was only inches from me. I stared into his eyes and he stared into mine.