“Zion’s mathematics competition is the week after his birthday.” Aaron said, glancing up at her as she made her hair into a ponytail. He had aided Zion in doing his homework yesterday and must have seen the school newsletter in the textbook.
“I didn’t know that,” she said, turning around to look at him with a face of surprise.
Unlike her, he didn’t have to hurry up to work. He had the luxury of taking his time and getting ready the way he should. While work for her started at eight a. m. almost every day, his was always nine a. m., giving him more time to waltz around. Most days he’d go by eight, but work started by nine. That was the benefit of owning your own company.
“That’s because you have been much more invested in your work than him lately, but do not worry; I am an awesome dad, and so I’ve got it covered.” She rolled her eyes at his gloating. She felt a little relieved that he was up to date with his son, but she didn’t like how far back she was in regards to Zion’s education and general social life.
“Yeah, I know that, but I should do more. A week after his birthday is still two months away,” she mumbled to herself, but he heard her.
“That’s correct, and it gives both you and him time to prepare,” he said, trying to make her feel better.
“Yes.” She smiled and glanced at him again. “I will make time to be in attendance.”
He stepped towards her, stopping when he got to stand behind her, and he placed his hands on her shoulder. “You better; Zion has an amazing memory, and if you miss it, he will not forget easily.”
She missed the days when Zion’s memory wasn’t that sharp and he would forget things just as quickly as they came to him. Those days are gone now.
“Does that make me a bad mother?”
He pretended not to understand her question, but she knew he knew what she just thought about.
“Aaron.”
He gently massaged her shoulders. “I think it makes you an honest mother, not a bad one,” he answered.
A smile appeared on her face. “Thank you,” she said, staring at him in the mirror.
He does not smile back or reply, and the very second his face became emotionless.
His grip on her shoulders tightened, and she winced. “They are coming for you, Zera.”
Fear gripped her heart, and she pulled away from his touch and rose to her feet.
“What?” she demanded, turning around to look at him.
His eyes narrowed at her. “What?”
“What did you just say?”
“What did I just say?” he asked, getting all the more confused.
“You said they were coming for me.”
“No, I did not say that.”
“You did; you just did.”
“I think I would remember if I said such a thing, don’t you think?” He asked with a raised brow.
She nodded. She did not know why she heard that, and she didn’t understand what it meant. Who was coming for her, and why did she hear that? Why was she hearing things that weren’t real? Was this part of the fate of being a sage? Would she have to get used to living and existing like a crazy being?
It’s been a week since the party fiasco, and she hasn’t experienced another moment after that. Aaron had also asked if she had had any moments like the one she had at the party in the last week, and she had always told him no. She tried to move on and count it as a one-time thing that didn’t deserve much attention, which she had done until now. Perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her, and it wasn’t funny. Perhaps it wasn’t, and this was a message.
She drove to the university and parked her car. She was fifteen minutes early, and she spent those minutes in her car thinking about everything. The messages she got each time weren’t positive either. The first was about her death, and this is now about danger. When Aaron tried to get more out of her, she told him she had to go. In truth, she was a little terrified by the emotionless look she had seen on his face before he spoke. The look was cold, almost as if she didn’t mean anything to him. It wasn’t real, but it still scared her.
She needed to clear her head. Her first class will start in ten minutes, and it would be a disaster with the thoughts in her head. She groaned and banged her head on the steering wheel of the car.
She heard a tap on her window, and her head flew up from the steering wheel. Her hair fell onto her face, and she brushed it back to make it look decent. She exhaled slowly before turning to the window or the car.
She found a young fellow around her age in a grey long sleeve and black tie in the window with keen brown eyes fixed on her. He didn’t look like a student, so she assumed he wasn’t. He had a worried look on his face, and she knew he must have seen her hitting her head against the wheel.
“Are you okay, ma’am?” He asked, his voice not matching his face because his voice came off deeper than she expected.
Cold chills shot through her body, and she shook her head and cleared her throat, saying, “Yes, I’m fine. Just a tough morning. I usually have those.” She answered and flashed him a small smile.
“Oh, okay,” he said, not looking very convinced, but there was little he could do. “I parked opposite yours, and I saw you and wanted to check up on you.” He said this and tightened his hold on the brown suit in his hand.
She placed a hand on her chest and said, “Oh, that’s so nice of you, kind sir.” She reached for her bag and stepped out of the car. She closed the door and slowly adjusted the suit she had on her sky-blue dress.
“Daniel Spears.” He said it with a smile that soon appeared creepy to her.
How did he know Daniel? She could swear she had never seen this man in her life, so there was no way he could have known about her relationship with him.
Her brow narrowed at him, and her fences went up. “What about Daniel?”
“I didn’t say Daniel, I said Davine. My name is Davine Yates,” he said, clearing the confusion with his smile without reducing it. “Not kind sir.”
Then what she had heard him say wasn’t real. It was happening again, just like earlier with Aaron. At this point, she could no longer trust her judgement on things or discern between reality and hallucinations. How would she function during lectures if she was going through mental disintegration?
After a moment of silence, the man named Davine spoke. “I thought this was the part where you tell me your name?”
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head and walked off without giving him one. She knew that was uncalled for and, to an extent, rude, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. Whether she had hallucinated or not, there was something about him that made her weary, and she couldn’t shake it off.
She secretly wishes this would be the last time they meet, but she knows this is just the beginning.
She thought about Daniel on her way to her office and the memories they had made over the years. She once walked these paths with him and couldn’t forget how he had driven her crazy most mornings by just being himself. His fun, annoying, and lively personality were his notable qualities, well until he lost his mother and became a hunter.
He left two years ago after the battle, and she hadn’t seen or heard from him. She thought he would return to the university because he spoke about it, but he didn’t. Yes, they were no longer that close, but he was her friend and a good counsellor. He was there when she needed someone she could trust, and despite being a hunter with a code, he made exceptions. He stood with the Dominio pack when most fled. He would probably say he only fought to take revenge, but she knew it was more than that. She knew he fought because he knew they were not the bad guys; they were the good guys, and they needed his help.
A part of her missed him. She did after coming back. The university wasn’t the same without his presence.
She stepped into her office, and as she placed her bag down on her desk, the desk phone went off.
Perfect timing.
She picked up the desk phone and held it to her ear. “Good morning, Mrs Hart.” The voice of Gordon Cook, the head of her department, came through the phone. “Please report to my office.”
He didn’t wait for her response before ending the call. Gordon just had to be rude in the delivery of his message. He treated the role of head of a department as if it were the presidency. Since becoming the head of the department four months ago, he has taken rudeness to a whole new level. He had reported her to the head of administration, who gave her a query letter because of her behaviour in the past month.
Yes, her absence and mishaps deserved checking, but she believed that as the HOD, he should have approached her instead of taking the case to a higher power. Since she found out what he did, she has steered clear of him and anything that would bring her scrutiny.
This isn’t the way she wanted her week to begin, but it already began this way, and there was nothing to do about it.
She left her office and headed for Gordon’s. She knocked on it, opened it, and entered. There was someone in his office, seated and facing him, but her attention stayed fixed on the man who summoned her here and was now staring at her.
“Good morning, Mr Cook,” she greeted him.
“Good morning, Mrs Hart, and a happy new week.” He smiled, and she smiled back at him, even though it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I wish you the same,” she replied, returning to being formal. “You called me.”
He nodded and said, “Yes, we have a new staff who will be resuming in our department today. He would take Chemistry 101 and 203. I wanted you both to familiarise yourselves and perhaps become friends. You will show him around.”
“That is not my job.” She did not hesitate before saying, “That’s your job, Mr Cook.”
She already had a stressful day as it was, and she couldn’t add anything else to it.
Something flickered in his eyes, and she couldn’t give a damn what it was at this point; she wasn’t accepting a role she wasn’t being paid to do. She also didn’t care if the new staff heard every word.
Gordon nodded, trying to speak in a friendly and understanding tone, two of what he wasn’t. “I know that, but it’s a way to build friends and relationships between staff members.”
Sure, this would be the perfect time to say fuck you too! She cussed in her mind, but stewed quietly.
“You haven’t gotten close to any lecturer since Mr Spears left, which is why I thought this would be perfect. He, just like your old friend, will also lecture the students on chemistry.” He said, Davine and the new lecturer taking Daniel’s class turned to look at her, and he was the same man she saw in the parking lot.
Bloody hell.