|| Arabella ||
'The destiny which has been written by the devil cannot be changed. Whatever the devil has predicted shall come true, come what may," said out loud a voice out of nowhere, freaking me out more than I already was.
'That's bullshit, Annabelle," Theo said, dragging me out of the haunted house by my hand.
"Bu-but you were the one telling me scary stories about it before coming—"
"I was joking, okay? I don't believe in such things."
"I don't either, but its predictions are never wrong. I'm going to have a car accident tonight. I'll die."
"No, you won't. The ouija board is all science, nothing paranormal," he reasoned.
I yanked my hand from him once we were out. "I'm going home alone tonight."
"What?" Theo looked at me incredulously.
"I don't want to risk you getting involved in my accident." My mom died in a car accident too, and just the word alone was freaking me out.
"Annabelle," he sighed.
"You know what? I'm going home right now. I don't want to stay here any longer," I said and started making my way towards the school gate.
But Theo followed after me.
As he now walked on the pavement beside me, I asked, "Why are you tagging along?"
"It would be pretty shitty to leave my roommate, who recently went through a traumatic experience, alone on a night when crime rates spike up ridiculously," Theo said casually, and my chest warmed up.
A smile formed on my lips as I lightly punched his chest. "Hey, you have a heart in there."
He rolled his eyes. "I thought you figured that out in the last few days."
I nodded and kept smiling as we strolled through the dimly lifted pavements. The night was mildly cold and the sky was full of stars. It was beautiful. Somehow, the unexpected company of Theo made it even better.
There were tons of drunkards on the way who tried to hit on me, but when Theo glared at them and pulled me into his chest to make it look like I was his girlfriend, those men walked away in defeat.
I went back to gazing at the sky and many thoughts clouded my head, totally forgetting about the ouija board's prediction. Subconsciously, I blurted out, "They say Halloween is the night for the dead to come to life. I wonder if my mom will come to see me."
"What?" Theo looked at me weirdly.
I shook my head, realizing that I was creeping him out. "Sorry, that was a weird thing to say."
"No, it's fine. I have accepted the fact that you're a weirdo a long time ago," he said.
I chuckled. "It's alright. I have just got a lot in my mind. You will only be bothered by my random thoughts."
"I won't be bothered if it's you," he said so confidently that I almost spilled out whatever that was going on in my head instantly.
But I wasn't comfortable enough. I had no idea how to talk about myself and my grief. I didn't know how to put them into words for someone to understand. So I resorted to teasing, "Why, because I'm the hottest girl you know?"
"That's exactly why I don't want to be nice to you," he grumbled, increasing his pace.
I caught up with him and said, "Okay, okay, sorry about that." He gave a grumpy glare and slowed down. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. I just…"
"Don't know how to put it into words?" he completed for me, and I was stunned.
"How did you…?"
"I have been through that."
"Oh."
Right, he also lost his mother, just like me. He would understand if I talk about it, wouldn't he? Maybe I should give it a try, and if he didn't understand, I would never bring it up again.
Taking a deep breath, I started, "Sometimes, I just miss my mom so much." I almost shuddered as he gazed at me. It made me nervous, but I wanted to continue, "I always wish that she were here with me. I try to keep it down. Not think about her death at all and pretend she's all good. But sometimes, it gets too much. At that time, all I want is to run into her arms. But she's not there anymore."
Tears are already sprinkling out of my eyes. But it was comforting to know that Theo was listening. He rubbed my back, saying, "I get it. It's hard."
"Do you ever get that feeling? I mean, your mom is…" I trailed off.
He smiled sadly. "No, it's the opposite for me. I want to run away from her."
"What? Why?" I looked at him in shock.
He huffed. "Let's not talk about me. We are talking about you."
"But—"
"Continue, Annabelle," he said sternly.
"Okay, fine." I sighed. I stayed silent for a minute, trying to compose my thoughts again. "I guess I still haven't been able to accept her death. She meant so much to me. She used to work so hard for me. She was my only family. My world revolved around her. I was all about doing things to make her happy and not doing things that would disappoint her. It was such a big loss. You know, I blacked out when I first got the news of her accident…"
I started telling Theo about that day. It was a normal day at school when I got the call from the hospital. I was devastated by the news. Days were a blur after that. Only recently, I had started to come back to life. Maybe it was the chew gum incident that did.
"... Now, I wonder if I'm disappointing her right now," I concluded.
"No, I'm sure she's proud of you," Theo said.
"How do you know that?"
"I just know." He shrugged like he was a genie or something.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes playfully. But I was really grateful to have him here with me. "Thanks for hearing me out."
"Don't worry about it. I'll always listen as long as you are willing to speak," he said, just above a whisper.
I smiled wholeheartedly and looked up at the brightest star in the sky.
Mom, look, I found my listener. He's a bit annoying, but trust me, he's really good at heart.
After conversing with my mom, I was about to rub my cheeks that were stained with tears. But before I could do so, a piece of soft fabric was already touching beneath my eyes, patting my skin to wipe the tears.
"You should have had this look before you went to the party. You would have scared the shit out of some people," Theo joked.
I grinned and responded, "Then I guess it's to scare you especially."
"I'm honored," he snorted and retreated his hand once he was done wiping my cheeks. "Well, it seems like the prediction was false. No accidents yet."
"Yeah, I guess." We were already around the corner of our block, and nothing happened. Yet.
Just as we rounded the corner, a screech of tires came.
I instantly closed my eyes and pushed Theo to the side because I didn't want him to get hurt, but Theo pulled me along with him. We both collided into the wall behind us.
When I felt no pain, I peeked through my eyelids to find that the car didn't hit me, rather it crashed into a lamppost. Instead of getting relieved for not getting hit myself, I panicked and ran to the car to check if the driver was alright. I helped him out along with some other people, frantically asking if he was alright.
Thankfully, the driver didn't get too hurt and someone volunteered to take him to the hospital for his injury.
Once that was over, I turned back to Theo who was waiting for me.
"The ouija board is pretty darn accurate, huh?" he commented, and I laughed.
"Well, thank goodness it didn't say death by accident."
He hummed in response.
As we reached the elevator of our building, he asked all of a sudden, "Just now, why did you push me when you heard the tire screech?"
"I don't know. It just came instinctively to me," I said half-honestly. Now I thought about it, my first thought was for him not to get hurt. I wonder why. "But why did you pull me as well?"
He shrugged. "Instinct like you."
We entered the elevator, and I said, chuckling, "It's ironic, isn't it? We usually want to throw each other in front of a car. And when the time came, we both tried to save each other."
"As much as it's disturbing to admit, I think we both might be starting to care for each other."
"Maybe," I agreed. The idea of caring for Theo wasn't as revolting as I used to find it before. "But that doesn't mean we have to stop our wars."
"Oh, that's not stopping anytime soon. I have a lot of plans for you." He grinned dubiously.
"Should I be scared?" I looked at him skeptically.
"You should be."
I gave him a flat smile and got out of the elevator. "I wonder how it went with Coral and Wyatt," I mentioned when Theo was unlocking the apartment door.
"I completely forgot about them. I only texted Wyatt that we were leaving the party without the car."
I hummed and threw myself on the couch after we entered the apartment. I was ready to doze out when Theo said, "You have a text from Coral."
I raised my head to find him peeking at my phone that I dropped on the coffee table. I opened the text and squealed seeing the first sentence.
I jumped up on the couch and exclaimed, "Oh, my God! Wyatt confessed to Coral!"
"What, really? Our plan worked?" Theo asked, and I nodded excitedly. "That's great. But did she accept?"
"Oh, I didn't read that far."
"Idiot," Theo muttered.
My expression turned down as I read the whole text. I gave a puppy look to Theo.
"I'm guessing she rejected?" he asked, and I nodded sadly. "That was expected. You did say she has commitment issues."
"I can't believe we failed as cupids," I murmured, lowering myself down on the couch.
"Who says we are done yet?" I looked at him, stunned. "This is far from over. By the end of this year, my cousin's going to have his crush as his girlfriend, and that's a promise," he declared.
Was it wrong of me to think that he looked incredibly hot right now?
"... Are you in, Annabelle?"
I didn't hear what he asked, but I just said, "Yes."
I couldn't help but wonder if what I was starting to feel for Theo was only care. Or, was it something more?
