The Academy - Introductions (10 page)

My lips trembled. “Please don’t make me,” I begged. Tears
slid down my cheeks, dripping from my chin.

My mother reached for my hair, yanking it back until my
face was up.

“Okay!” I screamed, “I’ll do...”

The glass was pushed to my lips so hard I tasted blood at
first as my lip split, and then all I could taste was the heat of the acid mix
between lemon and vinegar. I forced myself to swallow, unable to catch a
breath. If I didn’t drink, I would drown.

The liquid slipped past my throat and I felt it burning.
Out of instinct, my hands sought out her arms, trying to push her away. She
held me in place until I drained the glass. When I was finished, and her hands
released me, I collapsed to the ground in a heap. I choked, holding my palm to
my mouth, gasping and sobbing so hard that I couldn’t catch my breath. My lungs
ached as I was trying to breathe and my throat was on fire. Every breath was
painful to my throat.

She threw the glass into the sink and it shattered against
the metal. “Next time a boy calls, it’ll be bleach. Get up and go to your room.
I don’t want to hear from you.” She stalked back to her bedroom and I heard her
shaking her medicine bottle and opening the container.

I felt my stomach lurch. I pushed my palm to my mouth until
I could run up stairs to the bathroom. I knelt at the toilet, my head buried in
the bowl and I heaved.

When I was done, I fell on my back against the carpet of
the bathroom. My body trembled and I tried breathing through my nose and mouth
at different lengths but it was useless. Every little bit of air passing my
throat made the pain sharply return. I forced myself to stop sobbing so it
wouldn’t hurt so badly. I got up, nearly crawling on my knees to the sink,
dipping my head under the faucet for water, but the water’s coolness sent me to
my knees again as it splashed against my throat.

I sensed someone watching. Marie stood in the doorway.
Through the tears in my eyes, I shuttered under my sister. Her brown hair hung
long past her shoulders and her dark eyes looked curious and fearful.

“What was it this time?” she asked. I knew what she wanted.
She wanted to make sure she never did what I had done.

I parted my lips, “Ah...” I coughed. “A boy...” I
whispered. My eyes popped open. I tried again to talk. Nothing. I closed my
eyes, and fresh, hot tears slid down my cheeks.

My mother made sure I couldn’t answer the phone.

N
athan

I dreamed I was lost in a house I didn’t know. There was a
ghost behind me, rattling the windows and screeching so loud that I would cower
in the corners to avoid it as it flew by my head.

I
woke up
in my bed, my heart pounding. When I calmed myself and fell back into the
pillow.

Ever since I was nine years old, I started having nightmares
about monsters coming at me in the night. They took on different forms all the
time. Sometimes it was hairy, brown tarantulas so big they could knock down
trees as they chased me through a forest. Sometimes men in dark clothes with
guns hunted for me in underground mazes. In every dream I had, I was running
from something that didn’t want me to exist, and running toward a place I
couldn’t see. I taught myself not to cry out so I wouldn’t wake anyone else in
the house up. Screaming was pointless.

No one would come.

The next morning, I was out the door at dawn. It was a risk
after the previous day, but I needed to escape. I needed fresh air. My throat
no longer burned but it was sore. I tested my voice a few times but what I
managed to say was raspy. It worried me that perhaps my voice was permanently
damaged. I couldn’t stand to think that was the case. I would be Sang, the girl
with nothing to say and no voice to say it.

I wore a pair of jeans and a simple pink blouse, ready to
walk through the woods a million times to pass the hours. I wasn’t sure if I
should try to visit Kota. I’d been up half the night going over Silas’s words.
Kota had warned everyone to stand by to give me room to relax. Or he had meant
to keep everyone away from me because they wanted to distance themselves from
me? Which did he mean?

With no voice, I wanted to avoid him a little, too. How
could I explain it? I wasn’t sick. Or maybe I should pretend to be sick. It
would be a good excuse. Only it wasn’t possible. What if he tried to call? What
if Silas tried to call again?

The morning air was already warm, and I breathed in the
humidity. It felt heavy and thick as if I was walking through a lake I could
breathe in. I wondered where that chill evening with the rain had gone. I
almost regretted wearing jeans but I didn’t like to walk through the woods in
shorts if I wasn’t sure about the paths. I never knew when I would want to
explore something off the trail and would end up knee deep in underbrush.

The woods behind my parents’ house was a couple of acres in
size. There were more woods behind Kota’s house on the other side of the street
and I tried to find a way into that forest, but the empty lot was the only
place to cross into it without walking through someone’s yard. The lot had a
cluster of trees so thick though, I couldn’t see a path into it.

I cut through the back yard, crossed a small wooden plank
that served as a small bridge over a drainage ditch that separated the yard
from the tree line. I disappeared behind the wall of trees, seeking out the
footpath I had discovered the first afternoon my family had moved in.

There were a handful of trails in this forest and I had
taken a few of them. I found one I hadn’t tried yet and followed it. It wound
around close to where I could see other homes along the street through the
trees. The sunlight filtered through the leaves. The shadows from above casted
an eerie green shade. I felt enclosed and separated from everything, which was
wonderful in the moment. I didn’t want to be seen. Fresh moss and pine scents
filled my nose. A few mockingbirds were awake, one seemed to be following above
me, calling out a tune that resembled a car alarm.

Along the path, a maple tree had fallen across the dirt
trail. The broken limbs, many taller than me, blocked the way.

I considered going back but the tree didn’t look too
dangerous. There was space between branches where I could climb through. I
thought if I reached the center, I could probably get to the other side.

I started to pick my way through the branches. The leaves
were still green on the tree so it hadn’t been down long. I wondered if it fell
after the rain that happened a couple of days ago when I met Kota. My sneakers
sunk into piles of soggy leaves and crunched the smaller branches.

When I was near the trunk, I gripped one of the thicker
branches to step on top of the center and climb over it. I hesitated, trying to
figure out my next move. The branch snapped, I lost my balance and held to it.
There was a loud crack, the sound echoing through the woods. I slipped,
crashing into a mess. I reached instinctively with my hands flailing, trying to
protect myself, feeling light scratches from the branches. It spooked me so bad
that I cried out, which came out a more of a raspy yelp.

I landed under some of the branches. I wasn’t hurt, just
surprised and my heart was racing. I was shaking some leaves away from my head
when a shout echoed to me.

“Someone over there?” It was a male voice, deep. Not as
deep as Silas’s. I didn’t recognize it.

My heart started to pound and my eyes went wide. I couldn’t
let someone see me like this. Still, there wasn’t an easy way out of the middle
of this tree. If I tried to move, it wouldn’t be quiet and he’d for sure hear
me anyway.

“Yeah,” I called out, but it was a stage whisper. I stood
up, hunching over to avoid an overhanging branch.

I heard footsteps coming nearby. I scrambled to get out of
the branches. One of them struck my face and stung my cheek.

The footsteps stopped short of the fallen tree. “Where?”

“In the tree,” I screeched out. I coughed. Trying to yell
to him irritated my throat.

“Didn’t you see it was down? Why didn’t you take the other
path?” The footsteps came closer.

I found a thicker branch to stand on. I climbed for a short
distance until I could see over most of the leaves. A guy with a stern face and
such serious blue eyes looked back at me. He wore a red and white Nike shirt,
the sleeves cut off, and sport shorts in a matching red color. Earbud
headphones hung around his shoulders. His hair was cut short, a mix between red
and brown, leaning more on the red side. His chin was angled and his jaw was
set as he looked at me. The expression was so solemn. This guy could mean
business just by his look. He was about the same height as Kota but it was the
bulk of his muscles that had my spine tingling. He had broad tapered shoulders
and there was a power in his stature that was undefinable.

“Can you get out?” he asked. He dropped a hand onto his
hip, with his head tilted toward me, and a baffled look on his face.

“I think so,” I whispered, not trying to get too cocky with
my predicament. I was already this far. I picked my way over branches and
pushed away leaves from my face.

“What’s wrong? Why are you whispering?”

I took a deep breath in and then patted my throat where he
could see.

“Your voice broke?”

I partially smiled at the way he said it and nodded.

“Move left,” he said.

I turned left, squinting my eyes to try to figure out what
he was talking about because the branches were thick on that end.

“Shit, sorry. I meant my left. Your right.”

I turned around and then pointed to the trunk, raising my
eyebrows.

“Follow it down the tree until you get beyond the
branches,” he motioned toward where the trunk had split, where the branches
stopped. He maneuvered himself to walk around the edge of the tree, picking his
way beyond the path to find where the tree limbs thinned out.

I followed his instructions, hanging on to tree branches
carefully this time. Using the trunk as a bridge, I shuffled my way over the
limbs. It was a slow process but I managed to get to the point where the tree
trunk started to slant upward where it still leaned against the base it had
snapped from. When I was there, I wasn’t sure what to do.

“Can you climb up to the top?” he asked when he saw me
starting to turn around. He was standing by the roots, a hand covering the top
of his eyes as he looked at me against the sun.

I coughed and whispered as loud as I could, “What do you
mean?”

“Just climb up here and then jump down.”

I tried to judge the distance from where he was pointing.
My heart started to thump again. Did he mean for me to jump from that high?

“You’ll be fine. Come on.”

My heart was thudding but he seemed confident in his
decision. I crouched a little on the trunk. Using my hands to help, I pulled
myself up until I was out of the way of branches and I had a clear shot at the
ground. I got up to a point where he was standing under me. He lifted his arms
up, urging with his hands.

“Jump from there,” he said.

I blinked at him. “Back up so I’ve got room,” I whispered.
I was already weary of the distance, but I’d had some training as a kid in
elementary school on how to fall and I thought I could tumble roll when I hit
the ground.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll get you.”

My mouth dropped open. He couldn’t mean he was going to try
to catch me after I jumped down. Wouldn’t it hurt?

He smirked. “Will you just listen to me? Jump.”

I hesitated again, swallowing and considering trying behind
me where he wasn’t able to reach.

“Fuck thinking. Thinking hurts the team. Jump.”

My heart was thudding but I lined myself up and leapt down
to him. If he wanted to get hurt trying to soften my landing, I’d let him.

With his arms out, he seized me around the waist as I fell,
and spun me a little to ease the momentum. My head was pressed up against his
chest, and I breathed deeply from the adrenaline rushing through me. I inhaled
a leather and Cyprus scent from him. My body shook against him.

He didn’t let go. A hand came up at my back, holding me to
him and he rubbed at my shoulders. His chin moved against my forehead so I felt
the gruffness of coarse hair against his face. “It’s okay. You’re fine. You
made it.” He repeated himself a couple of times, softly and assuring.

When I felt I could stand without falling over, I backed
away. My face felt flushed and while my hands still shook, it became too
awkward to hold on to him anymore. The moment was so intimate, I was
embarrassed at having put myself in such a predicament. I didn’t even know his
name. “Thank you,” I whispered. “You’re okay, right?” I asked, swallowing
after. I was worried I had hit something on him on my way down.

He nodded. His cheeks were tinted red but his face was back
to that serious expression. “I’m okay. What made you think you could climb over
it like that?”