New Moon 1 (2 page)

****

I am cold and
feel blood slowing down in my veins. I was not expecting this thing
to raise its ugly head, not again. Back in orphanage, the only
reason of anyone not adopting me was this, the fact that I am a
product of rape! The ugliest and the most brutal thing that can
happen to any women in this world! I say nothing and taking the
toiletries out from the cupboard, makes it to the direction of
washroom, “Tris,” Lyn says, “I am sorry. It’s no business of mine
to intrude in your life, like this, but…,” “Lyn,” I turn, “As I
said earlier, I don’t know who my parents are neither do I want to
know. My mom left me at the doorstep of the orphanage, when I was
at no fault. My dad, the stain on the word of a father, did the
very thing which is an abomination on the very face of human kind.
I want such kind of fate for no one, Lyn. Now tell me, if I am
wrong?” getting up from her bed, with a slight smile of warmth on
her face, she pulls me into an embrace and says, “I am sorry, Tris.
I didn’t mean to make you feel bad or inferior,” “I know,” I smile
and look down, “it’s just that, when someone mentions this thing, I
don’t like it. I don’t want to discuss my personal life with anyone
and especially,” I shrug. Sometime, it is better to leave the
things, unsaid.

*****

It is night
time and I am lying on my bed, trying to fall asleep but failing,
all the same. Tomorrow, it is going to be a new day and a new life
will be embracing me, soon. In the midst of these beautiful,
super-natural humans, I will make more friends and will definitely
try to adjust in these surrounding. Though, for the time being, the
two girls sleeping in the room are not bad, but, you can never
believe on anyone. I have learnt that thing in orphanage, where,
for the sake of survival, you have to be crafty, clever and more of
an animal, than a human. All the glittery, rosy things they show in
magazines and social worker’s website regarding an orphanage, are
just that, glorified stories! The reality is quite
different.

Somewhere, during the midnight, I feel something on my
cheek. Once and then, again! Opening my eyes, I look towards the
ceiling. It’s so misty around me! Misty! Hang on! Why does the room
feels so cold? I can feel humidity and wetness in the surrounding.
Everything is so chilled and freezing! I pulled the blanket tight
around my throat and close my eyes.
Changing my sides towards the side of window, I am startled
at the sight of a dark figure, standing in the corner of the room!
I want to shout and scream, alert Kay and Lyn about this intruder
but, as and when I start to rise from the bed, in a flash, I find
him next to my side. Cold sweat breaks on my forehead and I open my
mouth to shout, when I hear him, “Sshh,” with that, a long dark
finger with a pointed nail, is kept on his lips, the only thing
visible to me through the moon rays. I am going to have a
heart-attack, the thought makes me panic, but, as he raises his
palm, which are pale and shaped by the long pointed nails, the
sight of the hood covering the face, makes a shiver run down the
length of my spine. He sits and caresses my cheeks through the
raised palm, “Took you a long time, didn’t it?” he says, and I am
dumbfounded. Who is he? What does he wants? Is he planning to kill
me? “Tris,” he signs towards the effigy, “He has lots of plans for
you,” Nothing he says, registers. Everything he says, registers.
Though his face is not visible to me but still, the caress is
making me sort of dizzy, as if, I am lulled into the sleeping mode
by him. My eyes are growing heavier by every passing second and
soon, I feel him laying me down on bed, “Sleep, little one,” he
says, and right before, I close my eyes and fall into the deep
slumber, I feel something soft being pressed against my
lips.

*****

The school is
commenced on its given time and soon, I am engulfed in the hectic
run and introductions of the first day. Now and then, my head keeps
on going back to the previous night when that strange encounter
with a strange man had taken place. I am grateful to the fact that,
like me, all are new in this school, I mean, in my class, that is
to say. During breakfast, when all were munching and exchanging the
morning greetings with each other, Kay made me aware of the weird
color of my lips, which was, blue! Shrugging it aside, by the mere
wave of my hand, I had said, “Maybe, I am still tired,” but, my
mind had kept on reeling over the night’s incident. Its lunch time
going on and Lyn is busy telling me about this dance competition,
which takes place every year in the campus. “Kay is there, too,”
she says and giggles. “What?” I ask, “Nothing, name the devil and
she is there…oh!” she answers and then, like some sort of charm
spreading on all of us, the announcement from the speaker stuns us
all. “Students, “fighters” are in the ground. The beginning of the
academic session is going to take place today. Flash mob will be in
the noon, as usual, time is unknown,” “Flash mob?” I ask, amused,
“the dance,” Lyn says, “It is a form of group dance. You will see.
Come, let’s go.” That said, she starts to take me by wrist when I
halt her, “Hey wait. I need to use the lavatory. You proceed,”
Smiling, I proceed to the direction of the place, when, out of the
corner of my eyes, I see the dark cloaked figure in the corner of
the room again. I pale at his sight and turn to call Lyn but, she
has already proceeded to the field. Canteen is getting emptied out
and three girls actually pass his side, without even glancing at
him. What is going on? Backing out, dropping the idea of the
lavatory, spooked to my bone, with the help of the back door of the
canteen, I run to the side of the field. The mysterious kiss from
the night is still fresh in my conscious and I don’t want to
prolong over the thought much. Who is he? My mind asks and I shy
away from the inquisition. Oh God! I don’t want to see him, ever.
Help me, almighty! The group of other girls and boys are running to
see the flash mob but, I am running for quite opposite reasons. In
the midst of the crowd, I locate Lyn and cry out, “Hey, Lyn,” she
turns to my side and wave me with “come here,” sign. Smiling and
wiping my forehead at the same time, hiding my inner turmoil, I go
to her side and see her standing near the iron railing. “Why are we
standing here?” I ask, “Fighters are going to commence the mob
soon,” she says, “So, in this way, they are going to come in their
real form,” “Real form?” I start to ask but at that time, there is
a sound of drums thumping in the background and soon, earth tremors
can be felt by everyone. There are four major gaping holes in the
big ground and out of them; four men jump out, as if, signifying
the birth of a man on the planet. Groovy thumping music soon
surrounds all of us, as I see four of them changing into wolves! My
mouth is about to hit the ground with amazement. Werewolves! A loud
applause and cheers is heard from all the sides, as the student
around me cheers those creatures, “What is this place?” I murmur
softly. On cue, a figure emerges from the swirling of the clouds,
descending down on the ground. “Kay!” I say, without controlling
myself. Adorned with two large white wings on her back, she lands
softly on the ground and following her lead, the major pit which
has been created in the ground, like a shot out of the pistol, a
black, dangerous looking werewolf comes out of it. At Kay’s
entrance, another set of applause, cheers and clapping are thrown
for the encouragement of the performers. “Fighters” turned out to
be the name of the group who are master’s for the commencement
ceremony. They are the popular dance group of the entire academy.
They are also, as I have seen, the pack of wolves! You hear
something new every day! The black and the majestic looking wolf
turn to a man and…I feel everything going into a slow motion. I
swear to heaven, I have never seen such beautiful men in my entire
life. In the orphanage, you will find all the mortals less to their
comparison. These all are…from some other planet. My heart almost
skips the beat, as I see the performance under a sort of
mesmerisation. I am unable to comprehend or make sense of other
people clapping and cheering because I am too focused on the dance.
It is so hypnotizing, all the moves which are being done by Kay
and…that hunk! His other four friends are equally good looking but,
the one in the center! I mean, the one with Kay, the main one, I
have just eyes for him. Hooting and cheering follow the end of the
performance, Alan gives the welcome speech and people disperse for
their respective work. I am done with the classes for the day, and
in a trance state, start making towards my room when Lyn catches
me, “Where to, honey?” “Um, room,” I say. “So early?” “I am done
for the day,” I say and try looking to ground. “Have some tea. You
are looking flushed,”

*****

Next day
arrives much earlier than my expectation. Sitting alone on the
breakfast table, I am still under the charm of the fighter’s. What
grace, charm and strength they had! That black looking wolf! Oh my
God! I am actually mooning over those boys like some crush struck
idiot. Shaking my head, adjusting my glasses back on nose, I finish
my milk when the seat opposite to me is pulled and I see a boy,
making himself a plate and filling his glass with orange juice. As
he catches my sight, I smile and he smiles back. Waving him, I
straighten up from my seat and start towards my first class of the
day. English! It just so happens, that as I keep my bag and adjust
my seat, the seat next to me is filled with the same boy. “Hey,” he
says, “we meet again.” “Yeah,” I smile, “Ian, Ian Maan. First year
in English Major, You?” “Tris,” I clear my throat, “Same course,”
class is started to fill and students are chattering among
themselves. The other seat, on my left side, is occupied by another
boy…sorry…this one is a man! Bald, with a tattoo on his neck,
muscles of his arms clearly showing and the black leather jacket is
actually makes him a hot stuff. “Hi,” he says, and I turn to his
side, “Hi,” “You smell edible,” he chuckles, and I feel heat
creeping on my cheeks, “Umm,” I hesitate, “Stop making her blush,
Ray.” Says Ian, from the other side. Ian has soft features,
beautiful face like the rest of the super-naturals. His eyes are
deep blue and a charming smile makes him more angelic. “This man is
a vampire,” says the man named Ray. Ian is seen to be blushing. My
blood goes slow in my veins as I try to make the sense of what Ray
has said. “This one is a werewolf,” Ian says and just on cue,
teacher enters the class. The conversation is halted there, for the
time being. Done with the introductions, soon, we are taken over by
the ongoing of the classes. Turns out, three of us shares all the
classes together, yes, even the music ones, too. At the starting, I
wanted to take the dance ones but, being poor in my feet tasks, I
have taken music, instead.

Sitting on our lunch table together,
Ian says, “I need to run over for my document
submission. It is still pending,” “Bye,” Ray and I reply. I see
Ray’s gaze linger on Ian’s back, as he turns to me. “So you are
with the fighters group, are you?” I ask, “No,” he shook’s his head
and takes a sip of his juice, “I am of their group, true. But, as
we all know, those guys are too tough and too stubborn to include
anyone in their group,” “I am joining in the mid-term,” I say,
“Tell me something more about this weird school of yours,” “You
find this weird,” he wipes his mouth with a napkin and then clears
his throat, “of course, first human and things…,” he shrugs and I
roll my eyes. “Fine,” he says, “Stay close to me, alright? Let’s
start with that group in the corner,” he says, and I am
automatically turned to the direction of his pointed finger.
“Fighter’s,” he says, “The lean but bad-ass sort of guy that is
Clive. Next to him, very boyish but a shrewd mind guy, that is
Ralph,” I see the mentioned guys are indulged in a very intense
talk. “The third wolf, he is a mind reader, Elmer. Mark, the
closest to the leader, he is the one sitting next to the leader of
the group. And, of course,” he sighs, “Not to forget the man
himself, Ted, the main one,” I don’t need to even look for him.
There he is. Sitting next to the one named Mark. Crooked smile
playing near his lips, he looks like their king with four of them
being his subject! As if we called all of them out loud, Ted, along
with the rest of them, turns to my side. Heated and scared, I
manage to pass a tight lip smile to him. His and others brows are
raised in amusement as if; they have seen some sort of surprise.
Curiosity in the group’s gaze fades, as soon as it had entered it,
because exactly at that time, they spot Ray next to my side and
turn to their talk again. “See,” says Ray, “I told you. They talk
to only high creatures and the intelligent students of the batch.
After all, they are one year senior to us.” “You know them pretty
well,” I say, “Why didn’t they include you in their group?” “I
am…different,” he says, “Moreover, I don’t want to be counted among
the superior ones. I am happy,” I smile, “See the guy sitting there
on the bench? Lonely and indulged in his novel?” “Yes,” I say,
“That is Lee, from Tibet. He is a dragon.” “As in,” I say, “the
shape-shifter?” “Not exactly the shape-shifter but, like half human
and half –dragon!” I have heard so many weird things in these few
minutes that, very less things are amusing me, at the moment. Ray
has a quiet a lot of knowledge about each student. From tigers to
snakes, mermaids-mere boys, wizard, witches and all the other
super-natural creatures residing in this school, to the fact that
my room-mates are the only fairies residing in the school. “This is
like my being Alice in wonderland,” I say, and he bursts in
laughter. “Tell me,” I say, “Do you people really turn into the
creatures you are? I mean…the full moon and everything?” “Myths,”
he says, shaking his head regretfully, “Every one of them. Don’t
believe them, alright? Moon’s power does attract us but we change
by our own will, desire and need.” “And vampires? I mean….Ian and
others; do they really feed on human blood?” “That is the only
truth,” he says and I gulp down my fear, “Though, of course, they
all have been given strict instructions about not doing so. For the
sake of emergencies, their rooms are stalked of animal blood and
for their everyday consumption too.” “Sun?” “Irritates them, that’s
all.” Ray shares quite lot of things with me and I am surprise by
the facts, which are being poured inside my head.