5 Skeptical

I wake up to the noise of someone banging something.

I open my eyes to see Margaret dusting her bag with a wooden rod near the door. She comes in by the time I sit up on my bed slowly, wiping off the sleep from eyes.

"Good morning! Finally, you're awake! You have no idea how much I was calling out for you since morning. Anyways, take a shower quickly and get ready or you might be late!", she kept blabbering to herself than to me.

I know she's telling me stuff to do, but my mind is wandering.

She moves between the length of our room in hurry. So, I check out the time in my mobile and we still have good one hour before school. Why is she in a hurry then?

"I called you like a million times last night, Margaret! where were you all?", I ask her, a little too impatient for small talk or chit chat.

"You called?", she finally turns and looks me in the eye. "I'm sorry, I didn't know!", she says genuinely surprised.

She takes out her phone and curses before coming near my bed.

"I'm sorry! I just saw. Why did you call?", she asks me fully concerned.

I didn't want her concern. I just want answers.

"I was scared because of some wild animals outside. But that's not the point. I even called Aunt Edith and she didn't pick either. And I came down but nobody was there in the house. Where did you all go? That too at mid night.", I add mid night because this town doesn't seem to have rave parties or anything. I try to keep my point focused, because I get the feeling that she's trying to change the topic.

"We were just in the neighborhood to watch some television. But tell me specifically, Eva. Which animal? Did you see one? You're fine, right?", she comes rushing to my side and starts checking me physically.

"Yeah... Nothing happened to me... But I heard some wild wolf howling, I guess?... actually not one there were many.... I was scared because it sounded very nearby.", I say and try to get out of the situation. It is not going according to what I thought. I'm now more afraid than yesterday because of her focus on the wild animal part.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry. We didn't hear anything, it's probably nothing... don't be scared! I'm sorry I didn't pick my phone... But Eva, tell me this... Did you go to the woods to check on it by any chance?", she whispers the question to me in secret ,which is scaring the shit out of me.

I reply immediately in panic, "Of course not!! I'm not stupid Margaret. I latched the front door and armed myself with this knife.", I take out the knife which I buried under my pillow because who knew what was about to happen yesterday. I plan on leaving this knife under my pillow forever now.

"Good good! See, it's not a big deal unless and until you are in the safety of our house or this town... never ever go into the forest, Eva. It's not safe, mainly for new people like you.....Very few of us who are experienced enough, will venture there, you know? And don't worry! I promise you! From now, whenever you call, I'll answer. I swear!", she smiles at me, making me cringe a little.

She is speaking to me like I'm a small kid. I guess the only thing interesting about this village is that mysterious forest nearby. Otherwise, this is for sure a boring place which doesn't even have a proper internet connection for me to play games. It's so much possible that she's hyping about it just to edify this place to me.

Ugh! Whatever!

I sigh inside but paste a fake smile on my face and nod.

I gather my stuffs and move on to take a shower.

My second innings is about to start and I sure am not ready for it. Making good first impressions are really hard. If I be quiet and do nothing, eventually people will forget me and get on with their lives. That's my motto and that's how I've been surviving till now. I never do anything different or extraordinary for people to take notice of me.

Unlike the rest of this house, the shower is extremely good and the hot water is soothing all the tiredness out of my system. It's the best thing!

I take my time enjoying myself under the blessed hot water and come out of to find an empty room.

Margaret already left? She goes to the same school which I've recently joined. Since I don't know anyone from around here, I thought I could tag along with her.

Now I need to go alone!!! I guess, it'll be a great achievement if I manage to survive today.

I grudgingly get dressed for the day.

I spend good fifteen minutes to just find an appropriate attire, finally end up wearing a black t-shirt and blue jean, which seems a good choice for blending in.

I anyways don't have much clothing options, as most of my wardrobe is either blue, grey or black which mostly consists of t-shirts and jeans.

I toss a notebook and a pen inside my sling bag and wing it over my shoulder. I look at myself in the mirror. My green eyes are clouded with doubt. I straighten my hair for the last time and let out a deep breathe.

'Forget whatever happened! This is your new home and you'll be awesome', I tell myself before stepping out of the room.

Everything is going to be completely fine. I keep repeating this to myself because if I don't do that, I'm sure I'll faint today due to anxiety and nervousness.

But, of course life has its own ways of screwing things up. I just didn't know I was directly heading towards that direction.