Mythological Truth
Mythological Truth
Chapter One:
Strange Figures from another World
Lockers opened and slammed shut as the teens of Edennoa High poured out of their last period classes.
"Hey BM!," Ravyn Alastair called after her best friend as she made her way through the thronging mass of people. "What ya doin' tonight?"
"Hmm, good question," Kaya Helaku replied shoving her textbooks into her maroon locker and grabbing her backpack. "Mom's on another one of her kicks yet again." Ravyn raised a black eyebrow as if to say "Oh really?"
"We're supposedly going to spend some 'quality' time together tonight," Kay continued rolling her baby blue eyes and flicking her long chestnut hair over her shoulder.
"In other words she's going to drag you to another one of her boring Tupperware parties and then ignore you the whole time, right?" the other sniggered, her jet black ponytail bouncing as she shook her head.
"Probably," the brunette laughed slamming her locker shut. "I gotta go, mom's probably outside with a stop watch waiting for me."
"No doubt," Ravyn retorted rolling her olive green eyes to the ceiling. "Hey, stay outta trouble at the party if ya can!"
"Oh yeah, a lot of mayhem to cause there! See ya later."
"Lata"
Kay twisted, turned, and shoved her way through the herd of schoolmates towards the side exit, shouting good-byes to her friends along the way.
A warm, sweet-scented spring breeze greeted her as she jogged down her school’s stone steps out to the car.
"Where have you been?" her mother demanded when she had climbed into the passenger seat. Mrs. Helaku resembled her seventeen-year-old daughter in almost every way. They had the same brownish-red hair, heart shaped mouth and blue eyes. They even had the same blue crescent shaped birthmark under their right eye which had earned Kay the nickname Blue Moon, or BM for short. But that’s where the similarities ended.
Kay stood 5ft 8, a good six inches taller than her mother. And Mrs. Helaku was a pale, portly woman, while Kay was tanned and athletic.
The one thing that separated them the most, however, was their temperament. Kay was outgoing and quick to laugh. She was always on the go and constantly looking for new thrills. Mrs. Helaku, on the other hand, was a quiet introvert who preferred staying at home (or going to her occasional house parties). "So close, yet so far away" Kay often muttered when her resemblance to her mother was pointed out, which was frequently.
"Uh, in the school," Kay answered sarcastically.
"Don't get lippy with me, you were ten minutes late. What were you doing?"
"The bell rang five minutes ago mom. Do you expect me to move at the speed of light or something?"
"The bell did not ring five minutes ago. It rang fifteen minutes ago."
"No it didn't."
"Yes it did."
"No, mom, it didn't. I go to that school, I should know what time the dumb bell rings."
"Well, then they changed the time."
"Whatever mom." Kay sighed and turned to look out the window of the 1998 Mercury Tracer. This part of the ride home was what Kay liked to call “Let’s Ignore Mom and See How Pissed off She Gets.”
A dark figure standing between Mrs. Helsinki's hedgerow and Mr. Linkon's mailbox made Kay sit up suddenly.
The man seemed perfectly ordinary. He wore a black leather duster jacket over a white button up shirt with black slacks and boots. His rather long brown hair was tied back from his handsome face with black ribbon. There wasn’t a single unusual thing about the man’s appearance. Yet Kaya had the distinct impression that he didn’t belong here; that he didn’t belong to this world. There was just something strange about him. And as people passed by the figure Kay was struck with a thought.
“Why doesn’t anyone look at him? Doesn’t anyone notice him?” For some reason, she highly doubted anyone but her could see him. But that was absurd. Why would she be the only one who could see him? Kay squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. But the man was still there when she looked again.
“Ok, note to self, no more late night snacks of pepperoni and cheese. It’s obviously messing with your mental stability.”
Mrs. Helaku pulled out of the school parking lot now that the traffic had finally cleared and headed home; driving right by the man in the process though Kay’s mother didn’t seem to notice him. As they drove by, the man looked directly at Kaya and nodded as if he recognized her. Then, smooth as a shadow, the man vanished into a nearby garage and disappeared out of sight.
Kay quickly glanced at her mother to see if she had seen anything or even noticed the odd look on her daughter's face, but Mrs. Helaku was watching the road, oblivious to everything else. Shaking her head slightly, Kay turned her attention out the front window and tried to force her mind onto something else, like inventing excuses for why she couldn't go to her mother's Tupperware party. But try as she might, she couldn't shake the nagging thought that the man had been looking for her…
Twenty minutes later the silver Tracer pulled into the drive way in front of a pale blue and white Victorian house. "Why don't you go check the mail for me honey?" Mrs. Helaku asked climbing out of the car.
"Sure, no problem." Kay got out of the car and made her way to the top of the driveway where the swan-shaped mailbox stood. She pulled five white envelopes, a large yellowish envelope, and a small cardboard cube from the swan's stomach.
"Yes! Finally!" Kay exclaimed at the sight of the box. Shutting the mailbox lid she started for the house but stopped dead in her tracks when a peculiar feeling that she wasn’t alone washed over her. Keeping her head bent over her package, Kay took a few faulty steps forwards, her blue eyes discreetly searching the nearby grounds. Somewhere, hidden amongst the trees that lined both the road and her driveway was a pair of eyes that were watching her intently. She could feel them boring holes into her. But where they were exactly, she couldn’t tell.
For a moment she thought that maybe the man from earlier had followed her home. That couldn't be possible though could it? No one could walk all that way and arrive only a few short seconds after her car had pulled in. That just wasn’t humanly possible. Kay strained her senses for any strand of information, small as it may be.
No, she decided, it wasn’t him. These eyes felt different. His eyes had been curious ones, caring and kind. He hadn’t been on some errand to harm her. He seemed to only want to check up on her.
These eyes were cold and hard; full of menace and hatred, though she didn’t think this hatred was aimed at her, at least not at the moment. Still, she couldn’t help but shiver under their surveillance. There was something else there. Curiosity? These eyes seemed to be studying her as if it was trying to figure something out.
Swallowing the lump that had formed in the back of her throat Kay continued briskly up the drive clutching the mail to her chest. By the time she had cleared the trees that lined her driveway, her legs were stretching in a run. Jumping up the porch steps, she whipped around expecting the see some hideously deformed creature stalking her. But the yard was empty. The feeling of being watched had vanished. She swallowed the lump in her throat yet again and continued to search the yard nevertheless.
Nothing.
"This is stupid," she muttered to her self, "You're losing your grip Kay. The Bogeyman isn't stalking you. He doesn't even exist!" And yet, she was sure someone had been watching her. Someone who was dangerous and possibly out to harm her. With an exasperated sigh, she turned around and marched into the house.
Heading through the foyer and into the kitchen, Kay dropped the envelopes unto the counter and proceeded to tear into the cardboard box.
"What's that?" her thirteen year old brother, Blair, asked coming in behind her. He dropped his backpack on the kitchen table then, as usual, began scrounging around for something to snack on.
"My CD's," she answered tearing the tape off the box. "How was school?" Blair, being four years younger, went to Nacelle Middle school in the next town over.
"Interesting, for once." He took some cheese and pepperoni out of the fridge.
"Why? What happened?" She dumped the pile of compact discs on the counter and began to inspect them.
"Nelson and Mitch got into a fight during lunch."
"Again? Didn't they get suspended last month for that crap?"
"Yup, but they're not too bright."
"Obviously, so what was it about this time? Did Mitch eat Nelson's pudding or what?" Both of the bullies were rather round for their age and were well known for their love of anything sugary. Blair pulled a box of crackers and a plate out of the cupboard before responding.
"Somethin' about Nelson was flirting with Mitch's girl"
"Mitch has a girlfriend? Who would date that jerk?"
"Margaret Fardoragh."
"Yikes, talk about an ugly couple!" Kay laughed making a sour face.
"Tell me about it," Blair agreed coming over to his sister with a plate of meat and cheese crackers. "Hungry?"
"Thanks" she said grabbing a few.
"So what CD's did ya get?" he asked around a mouth full of pepperoni.
"Soundtracks mostly," she replied picking up several of the discs to show him.
"Anything I can burn?"
"Probably-"
"Kay, are you ready to go yet?" their mother asked coming into the room with her coat and purse.
"Go where?" her daughter asked carefully shooting a sideways glance to her brother who just shrugged and continue to munch on his snack.
"Sheryl is having a home interiors party."
"Mom, I really don't-" Kay began to protest.
"You're going rather you like it or not young lady." Mrs. Helaku cut in shooting her a look that said "end of discussion."
"But what about Blair? Dad's not going to be home for another twenty minutes."
A few months back, Blair had gotten himself into a lot of trouble after he had been left alone in the house. He somehow managed to light the living room couch on fire without the use of matches or a lighter. Needless to say, the Helaku's still didn't trust their son to be left home alone for more than five minutes.
Mrs. Helaku looked at her son, who flashed a smile full of crackers, pepperoni, and cheese. His eyebrows still hadn’t grown back completely.
"We'll have to wait I guess, since I can't trust you to stay home by yourself," she sighed shooting an angered look at Blair, "I'll have to go call Sheryl and the girls and tell them not to start without us." But before she could pick up the phone to dial her friend's number, it rang.
"Hello?" Mrs. Helaku asked picking up the receiver. There was a pause.
"Uh-uh…" Another pause.
"Fine, fine, just pick up something for dinner on the way home." She hung up the phone then turned to her daughter with an exasperated look on her face.
"Your father is working late tonight, so you'll have to stay home and watch your brother." Kay couldn't believe her luck. She got out of going to the party without even trying.
"OK," Kay said trying to sound just a little bit disappointed, after all, she didn’t really want to hurt her mother’s feelings. She just didn’t care much for her parties was all.
Kay and Blair followed their mother to the foyer to see her off.
"Behave yourself Blair," their mother said as she headed out the front door. "And stay away from the matches!"
"Yes mother dearest!" Blair called from the porch. "Do you think she would be upset if I lit the chairs on fire instead of the couch this time?" he muttered to his sister under his breath.
"I heard that young man!" Mrs. Helaku shouted. She shot him a 'don't-even-think-about-it' look before climbing in behind the wheel.
"My best guess would be probably," Kay giggled. They watched their mother until she disappeared behind the curtain of tall evergreens before heading back into the house.
"I'll race ya for the Playstation," Blair challenged.
"You're on!" Kay accepted bolting up the spiral staircase. The two siblings raced down the second floor hallway and into their large game room. The older one grabbed the paddle before her brother even had the chance of getting in the room.
"Oh man," he whined collapsing on the floor to catch his breath, "not fair!"
"You should know better than to challenge me to a race," Kay laughed dropping down in front of the TV. "There is a reason why I’m on the track team after all. Wanna race quads?"
"Yeah!" Blair grabbed the other controller and settled himself beside his sister.
@}----
"You're going to be late if you don't get your rears in gear!" Mrs. Helaku shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
"BLAIR!" Kay screeched running past her brother's room and into the bathroom. "GET UP!" Blair protest loudly, but slowly sat up in bed.
"What time is it?" he asked groggily as his sister zoomed past his room again.
"7:15," she shouted from the stairs. "Hurry up!"
"Oh no!" he wailed jumping out of bed and running over to his closet.
Downstairs, Kay was frantically searching for a notebook. "Mom?" she called rushing into the kitchen. "Have you seen my notebook?"
"What's it look like?" her mother asked handing her a glass of apple juice.
"It's blue with stickers all over it. It's the one I write my stories in," she said before gulping the liquid down.
"Check the game room and hurry up, you're going to be late."
"Thanks." She handed the glass back and shot out of the room, up the stairs, and into the game room where she found her notebook laying on the Lego table. She grabbed her sunglasses and backpack out of her room before pounding on her brother's door once more.
"Let's go Blair!" she shouted through the painted wood. "You're gonna be late!" She ran back downstairs and grabbed the toast her mother offered her.
"Where's your brother?"
"Still gettin' dressed," her daughter replied with a mouth full of toast.
"BLAIR! YOU'RE BUS IS GOING TO BE HERE IN FIVE MINUTES!" her mother screeched grabbing her car keys off of the foyer table. "And don't talk with your mouth full," she added shaking a finger at her daughter. Kay rolled her eyes as she stuffed her notebook into her backpack. She slung the bag over her shoulder, put on her sunglasses and headed out the door. A yellow bus pulled up at the end of the driveway and honked just as Blair came through the front door, shoes and socks in his hands. Gasping for air, he sped down the drive barefoot and clambered onto the school bus while Kay stood by her mother's car waving goodbye to him.
"That boy is going to be the death of me," Mrs. Helaku muttered jogging down the porch steps to the car. Chuckling, Kay climbed into the car beside her mother.
"Don't forget, I'm going over to the Jordan's' to baby-sit after school," Kay reminded her mother.
"What time are you getting home?" Mrs. Helaku started the car and pulled out of the driveway, heading off towards Kay's school.
"About eight."
@}----
Kay sat in the back of her English class impatiently tapping a pencil on her blank notebook paper. She was supposed to be taking notes on Tolkien's style of writing, but she was bored with note taking. The class might've interested her had Ravyn not already read just about every book by the author and filled her in on his highly detailed world. Kay enjoyed Tolkien's writing, but the way Mr. Rubin went on about it made it seem as dull and dry as reading the dictionary.
Yawning, she glanced down at her watch; ten minutes before the bell rang signaling the end of the day. Her eyes drifted over to the open windows as she began to tune out what was going on around her. For a moment, her mind was clear, empty of all thoughts. But slowly she began to wonder, again, about the cloaked figure and the eyes she had encountered.
Had he really been checking up on her? What made her so sure that he had been there for her anyways? Kay shifted around in her seat before laying her head down on her arms. A vague picture of the man floated before her mind's eye. "Why do I get the feeling that I've seen him before?" she wondered yawning again. Hoping to find a clue as to who he was, she tried to sharpen the picture in her mind so she could inspect the figure closer. But it didn't work. The figure remained barely there. And the harder she tried to recall him, the more vague he became.
The bell finally rang signaling the end of the class and the day. Kay jumped from her chair, grabbed her books, and shot out the door before Mr. Rubin could assign them any homework. Practically sprinting to her locker, which was difficult considering the number of kids clogging the hall, she yanked her locker open and began shoving books into her book bag.
"What's da rush?" Ravyn asked popping her head around Kay's locker door.
"Hey Rav," Kay muttered breathlessly as she fought her bulging knapsack out of the tiny space, "gotta baby-sit."
"The Jordan brats?" Ravyn slammed her own locker shut and slipped her bag onto her shoulders.
"Yup." With a finale yank, Kay's bag flew out of the locker nearly knocking her to the ground. "I gotta get going, they got out fifteen minutes ago. They're probably freaking out right now."
"So let 'em freak," her friend chuckled, "they'll get over it."
"Be nice!"
"Since when am I nice?"
"Good point, anyway, see ya later."
Kay rushed past Ravyn, heading for the exit that would lead her to the playground.
She found the twins on the swings and unfortunately they were all ready fighting. Jennie caught sight of Kay and rushed to her with tears in her eyes.
"God, now what?" she muttered under her breath.
"Kay!" the little girl wailed throwing her tiny arms around her babysitter. Kay sighed and shook her head. This was going to be a very long five hours.
Kay had finally gotten the girls to calm down long enough to figure out that Rachel had hit Jennie because Jennie had stolen her beaded necklace. Grumbling she had reprimanded the two and then forced them to apologize to each other. After which the three of them began their walk to the Jordan’s residence.
As they walked along, the twins excitedly told Kay about their day at school, stopping every now and then in their tales to fight over little details. This time, it was the color of the lunchbox some kid had stolen from another classmate.
“It was blue!” Jennie shouted.
“No it wasn’t!” Rachel screamed not be out shouted, “It was purple!”
“Uh uhhh!”
“Yeah uhhh!”
“Uh uhhh!”
“Yeah uhhh!”
“Would you two please be quiet?!” Kay demanded rolling her eyes.
“But…” Jennie protested.
“Does it really matter what color the stupid lunchbox was? Say it was blue with purple polka dots or something but stop your fighting. It’s giving me a headache!” The girls fell silent though they continued to glare at each other from the corner of their eyes.
They arrived at the grey house without any further arguments and Kay’s headache had thankfully begun to fade. Unfortunately, that didn’t last too long. As soon as the girls were in the house they were fighting again. This time, over what TV program they were going to watch. After about twenty minutes of this, Kay couldn’t take it any more and forced the girls to go outside and play nicely while she attempted to do her homework on the porch. Amazingly, the girls listened. They sat out on the back lawn and played a game of “I Spy.”
“I spy with my little eyes,” Rachel was saying as Kay scanned over her math homework checking for mistakes, “something black.”
“The car?” Jennie asked looking over at the neighbor’s black convertible.
“Nope.” Rachel giggled.
“Uhmmmm, the trampoline?”
“Nuh uh.”
“That man’s coat?” Jennie asked pointing.
Kay’s head shot up. “A black coat?” There wasn’t anything unusual about someone wearing a black coat, yet Kaya had to make sure it wasn’t him. Setting her things down she got up to get a better look. Sure enough, a man with a black coat was crossing between houses. But it wasn’t him. It was merely a friend of a neighbor’s. Both relieved and disappointed at the same time, Kay gave a sigh.
As she turned to head back inside something at the edge of the lawn caught her eye. Standing in the protective shadows of the trees was a figure wearing a black leather duster that fell to the ground. Heart pounding, Kaya narrowed her eyes and took a few steps closer for a better view. Though he was shrouded in darkness, she saw enough of the form to know he wasn’t the one she had seen before. But she knew that the two were linked somehow.
As Kay studied him she realized that he looked to be about her age. His dark hair stood in spikes atop his tanned, good looking face. He wore a light blue button up with black slacks and boots. And aside from his attempt to keep himself concealed nothing about the boy was suspicious. Yet, she got the feeling that he, like the other man, did not belong to this world. As she continued to study him she strained her senses for clues, but nothing came to her. This boy guarded his feelings well unlike the other man whose fatherly watch was all but hidden from her.
Suddenly, as if realizing that he was being watched rather then doing the watching, the boy turned and slipped deeper into the shadows of the woods. With a frown, the brunette stretched her senses. Somewhere deep within the woods the boy spun around in surprise before taking off beyond her reach. Frown deepening, Kaya sighed and turned her attention back to the girls whom had started to fight yet again. With the discovery of the three strange figures following her, Kay found it hard to concentrate on anything else that week.
2 Strange Figures from another World