Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Mirfield Diner

"You like that, huh?" I heard the man's voice whom I saw with the girl.

"Yeah," she then chuckled which made me so confused. I was still in this other man's hands, making sure that I won't make a foolish move. I could feel him breathing from my back. When we heard the fading footsteps of the couple, he then let go of me.

Oh, it's Zion. The man who helped me earlier.

"Why did you stop me?" I immediately asked him, maintaining a low voice. I already had enough attention on this day.

"From what? From crashing a romantic moment? Or from helping a girl who doesn't need help?" Zion sarcastically asked, fixing his shirt leather jacket.

I scoffed before leaving him. I visited the library before I went home. Before I could enter my room, I heard a scratching sound in the other room. I dropped my bag on the floor before walking toward it. I thought it was locked but it wasn't so I entered and I coughed right away when tons of dirt welcomed me.

Oh, this is Abbie's room.

Abigail Foster, she's the daughter of Aunt Rosie. She died a few months ago. I can see that this place hasn't been cleaned up ever since. I heard a scratching sound again and I figured that it was just a mouse.

The next day, everyone still had their annoying gazes on me. I was reading a novel while waiting for the class to start when someone sat in front of me.

"Hi," she greeted me with a sweet voice.

"Hello," I replied instantly with a smile.

"I'm Lizzy, short for Elizabeth," she introduced herself. Your name is Ivana, right?" she asked me nicely, putting her arms on the back of the chair.

"Call me Ivy," I told her before closing the book I was reading to keep her company.

Lizzy wears glasses and she has medium-length blonde hair. She also has a sense of style in clothes which I don't have. Since yesterday, she's been the only one who talked to me properly.

"Don't mind them, Ivy," Lizzy said, pertaining to the other students. "They're just not used to seeing new people. Nobody has ever transferred to Mirfield College for decades now. You're the only one who did."

Oh, that's an ironic one.

The class started and I was listening intently the whole time. Thankfully, some of my classmates minded their own businesses rather than staring at me for the next few hours of the class.

When I got into the library, I walked to the shelves to find a book to kill some time before I go back home and get bored again. While I was walking, I saw a shadow near the end of the bookshelf. I can see that it was a person's shadow but I don't see someone standing there.

After a single blink of an eye, it was gone. My eyes widened up when I felt that someone was behind me so I immediately turned around and I saw a familiar face. It was the man whom I think was a big fan of leather jackets.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" His voice was cold. He lifted a hand to return a book to the bookshelf.

"Uhm, were you walking? Right there?" I asked him while pointing to the direction where I saw the shadow, just a few seconds ago.

"Oh, yeah. It was me. Why? Did I scare you?" he asked, not looking at me. He had a book in his hand and he was reading it, probably to see if that book was worth reading.

"No," I answered immediately.

"Are you looking for a book?" he asked and raised a brow. I slightly nodded to answer 'yes'. "Here. I'm sure you'll like it." He handed me a vampire-themed book.

"Thanks," I shortly said.

"You're welcome, Ivy," he answered. He knows my nickname? "I do think you're wondering why I know your name. It's not like everyone hasn't been talking about you. I have a strong sense of hearing," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I just don't know why did you call me by my nickname," I told him, raising a brow.

"Oh, about that, I heard Lizzy called you by that name," he said which makes sense to me now. "Are you sure you want to stay in Mirfield?" he asked, looking at me intensely while he was leaning on the bookshelf with his arms crossed on his chest.

"W-Why?" I stuttered, not knowing how to react or how to answer that kind of question.

"Don't you hear a lot of rumors?" 

"I hear a lot. But I'm not the kind of person who believes in everything," I scoffed.

"Oh, I've never met someone so brave. I like that," he said which made me look at him. "I'm Zion."

____

Lizzy asked for my phone number when we were eating at the cafeteria in school. As I expected, she texted me right away when I got home.

From: Lizzy

Hey, how about a hangout in Mirfield Diner this weekend?

I didn't want to be rude so I replied okay. Besides, I wanted to know more about this town where I will be living for the next few years until I graduate college. The week turned out good, nothing scared me like what mom and dad kept on telling me before I left our home. Not even a dead bunny will ever scare an ineffaceable girl like me.

"Don't be late," Lizzy reminded me on the phone call.

"I'm already here." I walked inside the diner, looking around to find a place to sit while I was still holding my phone to my ear.

"Yeah, I forgot to remind you not to be too early either. I'll be there in a few minutes," she told me and ended the call.

I put my phone back inside the pocket of my jacket. I can see that there weren't a lot of people in here.  A few seconds passed and I saw someone enter the diner. I thought he was a customer but he went to the door behind the counter so I figured out that he must be one of the staff. He started walking in my direction while putting an apron on his waist.

"Good day, what can I get for you?" he asked and smiled. He was holding a pen and a small pad of paper. I couldn't answer because it's my first time coming here. "Oh, right. I forgot." He went back to the counter. When he came back, he showed me their menu. "Here's our menu. We don't always provide that but I think you're new here," he said.

"Thanks," I shortly said.

"How surprising," he almost whispered.

"Pardon me?"

"It's just surprising that someone's new in Mirfield," he explained briefly. It must be because they believe that this town is cursed.

"Ahm, I think I'll get a—"

"Ivy! I'm here!" I heard Lizzy shout. The waiter and I looked at her. The look on Lizzy's face when she saw the man standing in front of me was unexplainable. 

"Uhm, hi," she greeted the waiter. "Hi," she repeated. She looked crazy while smiling at him.

"Hello, Lizzy," he then replied to her with a smile too. It wasn’t surprising that they know each other. I wasn't curious about his name but I saw his nameplate on the left side of his chest.

Jace.

We ordered our food and he was the one who served it to our table. He couldn't keep his eyes off of me like he was wondering how I existed too. I held my breath until he was already walking away. I was peacefully drinking my milkshake when I saw someone familiar next to our table.

Wait, is that... Zion?

He was looking in my direction. I didn't assume that he was looking at me so I double-checked my back to see if he was having eye contact with someone but then I realized there wasn't another table behind me. When I looked back, he was… gone.

“Hello?” Lizzy was waving her hand in front of me.

“Huh? I’m sorry, what were you saying?” I asked her. I didn’t quite catch what she was saying. I was a bit distracted by what I saw.

“I said, Jace and I used to live next door until he and his family moved into a village with the biggest houses in town,” she said. “Growing up, we still see each other at school but we don’t hang out like we used to. He had new friends and dated a lot of girls.” A bitter smile appeared on Lizzy’s face.

“Why did his family move?” I curiously asked.

“I don’t know. He never wanted to talk about it,” she told me.

I was about to speak when I saw Zion again through the glass wall. He was sitting on his big bike, staring at me with his dark gaze. I immediately stood up without hesitation and went outside the diner but… he was nowhere to be found.

This is uncanny.