Crimson
The weekend after the first game was Labor Day weekend, which meant we would get Monday off school. My friends and I had a fun-filled weekend planned. Sleepover on Saturday, mall day on Sunday, and hiking up at Madera Canyon on Monday. Mom had insisted on spending some time with me over the holiday, so I appeased her by going out with her to a movie and lunch on Saturday; that made her happy. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy hanging out with her—on the contrary, I enjoyed spending time with her more than any teenage daughter should—but this was my last year of high school, and I wanted to live it up, with my friends.
Mom dropped me off at Amber’s just before sunset on Saturday evening. Amber opened the door and welcomed me inside. Reina and Robert were already lounging on the couch.
“Now that Crim is here, we can really start having fun,” Amber said. “I’ll go get the nail polish!”
She skipped off to her room, and we all gathered on the floor. When she came back, she put a big basket of nail supplies in the center of our ill-formed circle. We each chose the color we wanted and paired up to do each other’s nails. Since Robert was the best at such things, I pulled him away before anyone else could beat me to it.
“Can you paint my nails, too?” a small voice asked from the hallway. Abby had snuck out of her room and was looking at us all hopefully.
“Abby, it’s past your bedtime,” Amber said, getting up to shoo Abby back to her room. “Maybe next time, okay? Now go to bed.”
“Aww,” Abby whined but obeyed.
I always admired what a good big sister Amber was. We all knew that her parents had problems. On the surface, they were good working parents, which is what my mother saw. But her dad was a bit of an alcoholic, not the violent type, just kind of sluggish, and her mother wasn’t very involved, she would rather hang out with her girlfriends than spend time with her kids. So, for years now, Amber was the one taking care of her little sister. That was why she had the tendency to be bossy, she needed to be in control. Watching Amber and Abby often made me jealous that I didn’t have a sister.
When Amber had returned from tucking in Abby, we got back to the task at hand—literally, our hands.
“You know, I haven’t painted my nails in a while,” Robert said as I started on his. “It’s been, like, three months.”
I smiled at how wonderfully self-assured Robert was, to be so happy with himself and unafraid of what others might think. Often, it was quite empowering to be his friend. I remembered the day Robert and I became friends, back in middle school. I was so soft-spoken back then, an easy target for the bullies of the school. One of them, a boy named Mike, was teasing me about being so quiet and pushed me down to get a reaction. Robert came by and helped me up, telling the boy to back off. Even back then, he was a bit effeminate, and many of the other kids in school didn’t like him. Mike turned his viciousness on Robert and called him a slew of nasty names, but Robert shrugged them off and told Mike he was just jealous because we were better than him and he knew it. When Mike finally went away, Robert assured me that as long as he was my friend, he wouldn’t let anyone mess with me. We had been the best of friends ever since, and I had become stronger and more confident because of it.
After I was done with Robert’s nails, he started on mine.
“Dang, Robert, you are way too good at this,” I said, admiring my shimmering nails after he had finished.
“I know,” he said haughtily.
While our nails were drying, we picked our places around the living room and lounged there, watching TV. A few hours, a bag of popcorn and one twelve pack of soda later, everyone fell asleep. But I couldn’t fall asleep so easily. For some reason, every time I closed my eyes, my mind would flip back to Friday at the football game. I kept seeing that Asian guy, how he had glared at me, how impossibly his eyes had shined, how he had been there one minute and gone the next, and how the mere sight of him a few feet away from me had given me chills.
So, I quietly flipped through the channels until I was distracted enough to sleep.
I woke to the smell of frying bacon and chocolate-chip pancakes Sunday morning. I could hear the voices of the others in the kitchen, along with the sizzling sound of bacon being fried.
I thrust myself off the beanbag and stretched, arching my back therapeutically. Then I went into the kitchen to see what the others were doing. Amber and Reina were gathered around the stove with pancake flour all over their hands and shirts and even some on their cheeks, struggling to flip the pancakes in the pan without making a mess.
“Breakfast looks great, ladies,” I greeted. “Where’s Robert?” I asked, having not seen him in the kitchen or living room.
“Right here,” he said as he emerged from the hallway. “Just had to make myself pretty in the bathroom.”
When the food was done, we all began to chow down.
“So,” I said through swallows. “What’s the plan for today?”
“Well, we thought we could take the bus up to the north side and go to Funtastics,” Reina said.
“Yeah, and it’s right across the street from the Tucson Mall,” Amber said. “After we have our fun playing laser tag and bumper cars and stuff, we can go eat at the food court and then do some major shopping.”
“Awesome,” I said before stuffing the last piece of pancake into my mouth. Then I went to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
“Alright, let’s hit the road,” Amber said. “If we don’t catch the nine o’clock bus, we’ll have to wait another half hour.”
We gathered our things and went to the bus stop down the road. Shortly, Bus 6 came around the corner and stopped in front of us, and we climbed aboard.
When the bus stopped at the Tohono Center on the other side of town, we hopped off and got straight to business—or fun rather. We spent a few hours at Funtastics, shooting each other in the laser tag arena and then crashing into each other with bumper cars, then wandered over to the mall across the street where we ate at the food court and then indulged in several hours of window shopping.
Our last stop was the bookstore. Robert went to the counter to flirt with the cashier, and Amber and Reina were crouched down at the end of the manga bookshelf, fawning over volumes.
I paced by myself along the other side of the manga section, idly looking over the different series. I noticed a guy standing in front of the revolving bookshelf staring at me; I could feel his gaze on the back of my neck.
I chanced to look at him. He was about my height, dressed in well-fitting black pants and a black Abercrombie & Finch shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was black and spiked, standing up an inch and a half, with the tips bleached blond. His skin was pale white, whiter even than mine, making me certain he wasn’t a native of Tucson. And his eyes were pitch black, a sharp contrast to his pale skin. There was something very strange about him, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was.
When he saw me look at him, he smiled. I smiled back, but when he didn’t uncomfortably look away as most people habitually do, I got uncomfortable and turned away, pretending that something on the shelf had caught my eye.
I saw him approach me out of the corner of my eye. When he was too close to ignore, I looked at him again. His eyes were fixed unblinkingly on mine.
“Sorry for staring,” he said. “But you have the most remarkable eyes.” The whole time he said this, he didn’t break his stare.
“Oh, yeah, I know, I’m weird,” I said. My eyes had always been a cause for approbation. They were bright serpentine green, but circling the pupils were thin spears of red, opening like a flower around the black hole.
“Interesting,” he said, the stare becoming even more intense, paralyzing me.
“Oh, Crimson, come over here, you gotta see this!” Reina called.
Her voice broke my paralysis, and I let my eyes fall away from his. I went around the bookshelf to where Reina and Amber were still kneeling, and, half-listening to Reina, I watched as the boy I’d been talking to strolled idly down another aisle, still unable to take my attention off him.
Amber and Reina soon checked out, and we dragged Robert away from the flirtatious cashier and out of the store.
“Oh my God, I totally got that guy’s number!” Robert said.
We left the mall, walked across the street and waited at the Tohono Center for the bus. We weren’t the only ones to exit the mall and go to the bus station; joining us were a rowdy couple super into public displays of affection and another guy in a hoodie.
The couple got on Bus 16, but the other guy waited and got on Bus 6 with us.
The girls, Robert and I sat at the front of the bus, and the other passenger went all the way to the seats at the back. He was fairly attractive, with short black hair and silver eyes, a somewhat Asian look to his face. And his skin was really pale, too, just like that other weird guy who’d talked to me at the bookstore.
I tried not to stare at him, but I couldn’t help myself. He looked so familiar. His eyes found my face every now and then, but he would look away as soon as he saw that I was looking at him.
After the bus left the Ronstadt Center without any new passengers and turned southbound on First Avenue, I realized what was so familiar about him.
That can’t be right… And yet it was! That was the same guy I had seen at the football game, I was sure of it! Those were the same strangely glossy silver eyes!
What were the odds of that? He didn’t go to our school; I would have seen him at least once around campus. So, what had he been doing at our football game on the home side of the bleachers?
Maybe I was just paranoid. And surely it was a coincidence that he was on our bus right now.
We got off at the Park and Irvington intersection. I strode anxiously away from the bus but slowed to take a look back. To my heightened paranoia, the Asian guy stepped off the bus after us.
My heart was hammering in my ears as we crossed the street. I was dreading the corner where the others would continue straight, and I would turn to walk by myself. It wasn’t like me to be afraid to walk the streets alone at night, but this guy did frighten me.
The moment came, and the others all hugged me goodnight and continued on their way. I could see in Reina’s eyes that she noticed the angst on my face. I smiled a fake smile and turned down the dim and silent side street that would lead me toward my house.
I walked a few yards, then tentatively looked behind me, and I saw that the guy had turned with me and was walking a few paces behind me. Crap! I kept walking straight, getting more and more anxious with every step and trying so hard not to look behind me again. I turned left on the next road, walked a few more yards, then stopped and pretended to tie my shoes as I stared at the road I’d just come from. Silently and slowly, he emerged from the road and started coming my way once again.
Holy crap, he really was following me! Why? He hadn’t seemed too threatening on the bus, and it was obvious by the looks of me that I didn’t have anything he’d want to steal. But he most definitely was following me.
I had to act cool. I just had to make it to my street. I would be safe if I could just make it that far…
As soon as I turned the last corner, I broke into a sprint and didn’t stop until I was in my driveway and under the protective darkness of my porch. Then, as quickly, and yet as quietly as I could, I slipped my key into the doorknob, unlocked it and went inside.
“You’re home late,” Mom said from the couch.
She noted the frayed expression on my face, and I tried, too late, to compose it.
“Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” I lied. “It’s just been a long day.”
“Well, just make sure you get enough sleep tonight, sweetie,” she said.
“Good thinking,” I said. “I think I’ll go to bed right now.” Before I left, I locked the front the door, both the knob and the deadbolt.
I went into my room and locked that door, too. After a few breaths, I dared a peek out the window, terrified that I might see him standing outside. The street was empty. I crept into bed and tried to get comfortable, but I knew that it was all in vain because there was no way I’d be able to sleep tonight.