The school bell tinged, announcing the end of the day. I said goodbye to Chris and went to my locker which grudgingly surrendered my books. I looked around, half-expecting Malva to show up with his bubbling energy.
I felt an unusual sense of urgency. That letter. I knew that letter was likely linked to my mum's disappearance even though I wasn't sure what I expected to find in the letter.
I had a simple plan to ditch Malva, head straight to our old house and search every nook and cranny until I found the letter.
Life, as it often does, had other plans for my meticulous plan. As I made my way towards the main gate, Malva showed up as I predicted. He had this grin on his face.
"Daucus, I want you to meet someone". He held my hand and dragged it a bit.
"Who?" I took a glance around.
He stopped for a bit, still holding my hand. "Please, hold on". He took out a pen from his pocket, flung it into his open bag, zipped it and motioned for us to turn back.
I winced. "Malva, I actually have something important..."
"It's that girl I told you about". As we moved towards the pavement, I saw a lady walking in our direction. A guy who I recognized as the one that commented on Malva's resemblance to Uncle Coeus, was standing nearby.
I guess not factoring intrusions like this meant my plan wasn't meticulous enough in the first instance. I couldn't ditch him without breeding hundreds of questions I wasn't prepared to answer.
I braced myself and followed him to meet her.
He swung a hand round her neck and faced me. "This is Tamar".
She had a cute, round face with a cascade of dark, curly hair which sat on her shoulders.
"Hi, Tamar. I'm Daucus". I smiled mildly out of courtesy.
Her gaze flickered over me. Just then, I felt my stomach rumble. Not romantically, of course, but in a chilling way I couldn't decipher. Her initial calm, polite expression shifted a bit.
While I was processing what was happening, she moved close to me, making Malva's hand around her neck fall. She whispered, still focused on my eyes.
"No need to be old to behold". There was awe in her voice.
"Tam, not everyone enjoys your creepy jokes". I faintly heard Malva tease.
"Some storms start with ink, others...with blinks". She continued.
As she spoke, those flashes came but this time I briefly saw my mum's room among other strange scenes. I could also pick a very strange creature from the vision. So, I gasped.
Malva, who had been watching intently all the while, blurted out. "What was that?"
I snapped out of the whole thing. So did Tamar. She stepped back quickly.
A thick and sudden silence descended around us.
She stuttered a bit, trying to find an excuse as Malva stared at us.
I let out a forced laugh. "You're funny".
She got the message and giggled too. Malva chuckled a bit.
"Nice joke. Took me a while to get it". I added.
Malva replied me. "Don't mind her. She has a thing for dark humour, puns and all that". There was this hint of discomfort in his voice. "I didn't really hear the joke though".
"It's not for you". Tamar replied with excess smiles that screamed nervousness.
I held her hand playfully. "It was nice meeting you, T.." I wrinkled my forehead to try to recall.
"Tamar". They both chorused.
"Yeah, Tamar". I faced Malva and spoke quietly. "I have to go".
"Jude's here too". He pointed at the other guy who had been standing a little distance away from us. Jude waved but I didn't care as much.
"Hi". I replied a bit too stiffly and left.
I couldn't go to our old house anymore. As I strolled to Uncle Coeus', I kept replaying the whole event particularly the visions I saw.
What were those unfamiliar places? What creature was that? Also, what she said. What did they exactly mean?
I laid in bed in our room, supporting my head with my palms while looking up. I was trying to make sense of the whole thing.
A few moments later, I heard Malva whistling as he opened the door to the house.
I quickly picked a few textbooks and scattered them in front of me to feign studying.
He walked into the room.
"Hi". He still had some leftover mirth from the day's fun.
"Hi". I grunted without looking at him.
"You have been thinking about what she said". He remarked casually as he took off his cardigan.
I raised my eyebrows to protest. "No, it's not…"
"It's fine. I should have told her you don't do so well with that kind of stuff". He cut in.
"Who are you and what have you done to my brother?" I turned to look at him with a smile on my face. To be honest, I was a bit shocked.
He smiled too.
"You were meant to blame me for acting weird and probably comment on my obsession with superstitions". I commented.
As I said that, he smiled broadly. I turned back to keep up my study act.
I heard him groan after unzipping his bag. "The ink of this pen has soiled my books". He held up some notes and a pen with blotted ink. "Including that letter I got".
As he spoke, it just clicked in my head that what Tamar said had to do with the letter. How I didn't get that earlier still surprises me.
He caught me smiling.
"What? Is it funny or it makes you happy that my notes are painted with ink?" He had his typical sarcastic look.
"I'm sorry". His sarcasm coupled with my discovery made me burst into laughter as I spoke.
I stopped abruptly when I realized I might need to see Tamar for more explanations.
Why did I see those flashes when she stared at me? How did she know I was searching for a letter? Malva didn't know about the letter. Then, storms with the ink?
Malva's chatter was washing over me unheard.
I opined it was best for me to pause my search for the letter and get clarity first. I can't risk "storms", whatever that meant.
I knew there was more to her than just dark humour like the ever-oblivious Malva opined.
Find Tamar, find answers. I resolved.
For the next few days, I attempted meeting Tamar during lunch breaks and school's closing, but she was always around Malva or in the very least, close to where he was.
What kind of love at first sight is this? It's just been few days since they met each other and they both are on the "happily ever after" plain.
It was frustrating. At some point, I decided to act sick to get her to visit. The thought of Aunt Leah's unsolicited medical advice made me change my mind. Besides, Malva would never allow me out of his sight if he knew I was sick. Definitely counterproductive. She might not even be chanced or willing to visit.
One of those afternoons, I stayed around Malva's locker, hoping she'd appear. True to it, she did. She was with Jude and some other guys I had once seen with Malva. Malva was not there.
As I spotted her and was about walking on to her, I felt a gentle tap on my arm from behind.
"Dauc!" Only one other person called me that asides Malva.
I shook my head.
Ignoring my disinterest in whatever he had to say, he requested me to join him in an hangout with his folks. I refused, claiming to have a few things to do. He tutted and joined the others.
I picked at my hair softly and strolled to one corner in the school compound to brood. I was there when Chris came to me.
He asked me jokingly if a huge debt was the cause of my constant worries the past few days.
I laughed and declined.
As always, he had freshly cooked news for me. They mostly began with "do you know…?" or "do you remember…?"
"Do you know Joey in our class?" He didn't disappoint so I chuckled before replying "yes".
"Yeah. Well, a few days ago, she told Ryan's girlfriend that Ryan will soon break up with her".
Ryan's girlfriend was the junior I saw with Joey the other day.
"And…" I was eager to hear more.
"Ryan broke up with her yesterday. The catch is that, they had not had any issues when Joey told her that. The cause of the breakup happened yesterday morning". Chris explained.
I was a bit confused, trying to figure out the point of the story. Chris figured and decided to clarify.
"Guy, Joey claimed she saw visions when she met Ryan's girlfriend".
My ear tingled at the word, "visions".
"Joey?" I repeated, the name tasting like possibility on my tongue.
I felt hope ignited within me. This was brighter than anything I'd felt since Tamar's cryptic words.
Chris nodded. "Yeah. Weird, right? This is not even her first time. We just didn't pay much attention to her before now".
"And they were all accurate?" I asked, trying to keep my voice casual, as if the concept of a teenage oracle wasn't currently rearranging my entire worldview.
"In all I've heard, yes". He replied.
My immediate desire to find Tamar evaporated. I had a new lead.
You could judge me as very unstable, changing desires like clothes. Yet the universe also has its own twisted sense of humour, leading me to answers in unexpected ways.
Yes, answers but who said they were always good?