"I don't care if I lose my mind..

..I'm already cursed."

...

Three days passed and I was still grounded, hours and hours of being stuck in my bedroom.

I nuzzled to his neck, stroking his back as I sensed the warmth of his body.

It drove me crazy every time.

The way his warmth made me feel,
It made me feel safe.

He reached his hand to my hair gently stroking it as he rested his head on mine, still stroking my hair.

The room was too quiet that we only perceived the sound of our breath and the cockroaches outside the window.

"When is this going to end?" I broke the silence.

"You mean life?" he questioned.

"No, I mean being grounded." I chuckled at his moronic question.

He sighed. "You gotta stay patient, Eve." he said as he caressed my hand with his thumb.

"I hate patience." I pouted, digging my face to his chest.

I never wanted to be patient in my life, although that's the only choice was capable of.

I just wait.

I wait to be free. I wait to be loved. I wait to be happy.

"As long as you wait for what you crave, as long as it craves to reach for you." he declared.

"Once it craves for me, I'd no longer be giving attention to it." I raised my eyebrows, hopeless.

Ironic, isn't it.

"Life isn't a fairytale Eve, if you crave something, you'll need to wait for it."

Silence filled the room again. We both had words suppressed in our minds that we needed to release but chose not to.

"I hate waiting for you." I sighed with angst.

I caught him playing with my hair as he was searching for the right words to say.

His gaze felt sorrowful.

"There's something that you need to know, Eve." he nervously said, wandering my glowing grey eyes.

"What is it?" I looked at him, anxious a bit.

"The day we met-..."

"Get up!" mom uttered as I shockingly woke up.

"What?!" I gasped, hair falling on my eyes.

Shit, I was dreaming again.

"Get ready, it's your first day of school." she said.

"But you said I'm grounded-.." I tiredly sighed as I rested back on bed, feeling agitated that I didn't get to finish the dream.

If only I was able to know what he wanted to inform me.

"You still are grounded, though that won't stop you from going to school." she daringly stated, leaving my bedroom.

I gave her an irritating sigh as I got up, getting ready to take a shower, wear my outfit, do my makeup and brush my hair.

I can't believe I'm a senior now.

It's scary.

...

I went downstairs as I found mom and dad whispering about something in secret with each other.

They completely went silent once I stomped on the floor as we all quietly blinked at each other.

"Morning?" I broke the silence as I sat on the table to have my breakfast.

"It's a good morning!" dad spat with an awkward smile.

"We don't know that yet." I glanced negatively, grabbing a bagel.

"Don't say that, dear." Mom uttered as she placed the breakfast plates on the table.

I carelessly began to eat as both of them stared at me with a wide smile.

"What?" I paused eating, blinking at them.

"We just can't believe you're a senior now!" Dad smiled, his eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, me either." I continued eating.

"We're so happy and proud of you!" they both said.

I don't know why, but when they said that, I felt like I wanted to hug them.

No, I needed to.

But I never dared. I don't know how to show emotions, it was always too hard for me.

So I just stayed in place, forcing back a tear.

"Thanks mom, and thank you dad." I murmured, receiving a soft nod from them.

We heard a sound of a car pulling up outside the house, and I found mom giggling. "That must be Liam!"

"What?!" I choked on my bagel.

"He came to drive you to school!" she uttered with excitement, and my eyes widened in terror.

You know what, never mind.

I take back all of that.

"Mom, you can't let my ex boyfriend drive me on my first day to school!" I whispered, gritting my teeth.

"Relax! He's here to pick you up as our neighbour's son!" she wisphered back.

I rolled my eyes as dad opened the door for him.

"Morning Mrs Penelope, Mr David." he confidently bowed his head as I sat quietly, regretting my whole life.

My parents always thought that I ghosted Liam because of Mikhail.

The truth is.
That never was the reason.

It was a lot more than any of them could have thought about.

"And morning, Evelyn." he awkwardly said as he twitched his mouth.

I nodded at him with tolerance.

"So, ready to go?" he asked as they all looked at me, waiting for a response.

My stomach ached with nervousness and I felt that I was going to faint.

I couldn't drive with him, and I definitely couldn't let them think that it was by any chance okay to do so.

"Sorry, mom, but I'm not going to school with him." I rested my hand on my stomach as I got up, grabbed my bag pack, leaving the house.

I know my mom wants me to stay on good terms with him, even if we didn't get back together again.

Because technically we were supposed to be childhood friends.

But I'll never forget what he did to me.

And I'll never forgive him for it.

...

As I was heading to my classroom I found Emma, Mia and Olivia standing in the hallway with an exaggerated smile.

"Ready for senior year, girls?" Olivia clapped.

"Nope." we all responded with a laugh.

I suddenly found Olivia grabbing me in a corner and whispered, "I set up a date for you tonight." she paused with a chuckle. "It's a double date actually."

I rolled my eyes as I sighed. "Olivia, I told you thousand times I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone right now!"

That's obviously just a lie I said as silvering.

I'm trying to convince them that I'm not interested in anyone at the moment, until I secretly search for Mikhail.

If anyone knew I'm still trying to find him, I know my parents would put me in a mental institution.

"You know what? Sure yeah, why not?" I went along with it, forcing a smile. "Send me the location and I'll be there tonight."

"Really?!!" she shockingly asked me.

"Yeah, but there's one problem though.." I pouted then pursed my lips. "I'm grounded."

"Oh shit," she placed both hands on her lips. "You can just sneak out without getting caught then, since you used to do that a lot!" she giggled.

"You're right!" I smirked, knowing that she totally fell into my trap.

One thing I know about Olivia, is that when she gets excited, that's the time she spills out a lot of secrets that isn't supposed to be spilled.

I took that opportunity to manipulate her into revealing something that she wasn't supposed to reveal.

I never sneaked out except for when Mikhail appeared in my life, he was the one who encouraged me to sneak out whenever my mom trapped me in the house.

Since Olivia herself mentioned the fact that I used to sneak out before, that means I've never been in a coma, and it wasn't a dream. It was all real.

Mikhail was real, and none of them wanted me to believe that.

So now, I need to find help searching for him since I can't do it alone.

...

Three hours passed as we switched between classes.

I felt bored, sitting on my desk as I kept drawing random circles on my notebook while thinking of a way to find someone who can help me find Mikhail.

But how?

Firstly, they need to be someone who's intelligent enough to figure out all the puzzles.

I know no intelligent people.

Secondly, they need to be someone who's completely trusted and is capable of keeping everything a secret till the very end.

I trust no one.

Thirdly, they need to be someone who's mature enough to take my situation seriously and to be cunningly committed.

I got no matures in my life.

Being distractedly drowned in my thoughts, the volume of my classmate's laughter filled the whole classroom as it buzzed through the hallway.

Their eyes sarcastically wandered the male figure who had been groaning for a while now.

I realized he had accidentally slipped on a banana crust that was purposely plunked down by Liam.

This man's legs could have easily got broken.

As the popular guy in school, Liam has always been pranking teachers and humiliating them. Every student admired him for it, calling him bold and daring for doing such thing.

It was outlandish. These guys have no mercy.

I observed the man's figure as he slowly managed to get to his feet. Acknowledging that he's Mr. Ethan James, our psychology teacher.

I turned to Liam as I mouthed "Not funny." while glaring at him.

Ethan James was about fourty four years old, dark brown hair with dark brown beard and a moustache. He always wore black eyeglasses, formal suits and he was such a clever teacher.

He was tall, handsome and a gentleman as well, except that he was such a humiliating figure to everyone.

He was a copy paste of professor Sergio from Money Heist, always reminded me of him.

He was also an introverted nerd, shy and awkward like him. Everything he did was too clumsy to put into words. Everyone would make fun of him.

And I felt sorry for him, every time.

He got up smiling with an even temper. He reached to Liam, gesturing his hand for him to follow. "I have an advice for you son," he tightly gripped into Liam's shoulder, causing him to groan with pain."..if you ever had the chance to come across a high cliff," the teacher paused, leaning closer to him. "Please don't hesitate to jump off of it." he continued, toughly patting Liam's shoulder as his smile was filled with sarcasm and toleration.

The whole classroom laughed at Liam while he glanced at the teacher with awkward terror. H cleaned his throat and ran back to his seat.

Everyone else were left speechless, including me.

He then walked slowly through the classroom as he was thoughtfully glancing at the ceiling.

"It has always been a mystery to me how people can respect themselves, while they humilate others." he wisely said as he turned back to look at Liam who's been embarrassed for a while now.

This man needs a trophy for humiliating back such a foolish figure to society.

He then started writing on the blackboard as we all went on with noting.

Wait...

What if I asked Mr. Ethan for help?

I mean, he kind of got everything I needed.

Intelligence : check.

Trust : we might work on it.

Commitment : check.

And he's an awkward nerd so he'd properly be useful and easy to control.

So why not?

I also don't know him, so once we're finished solving the puzzle we'll go our separate ways like nothing happened.

The problem is, supposing I told him my story, would he also think I'm going insane?

---

[Fairytale] (n) : Something resembling a fairytale in being magical, idealized or extremely happy.

...

Ps. I suggest y'all listen to every song in every chapter since its lyrics contain a lot of foreshadowing about the story!

Do you think Evelyn's teacher would be a good choice for her to help out with her situation?

I also decided to update chapters every Thursday so that y'all can be prepared whenever it's published!

Don't forget to vote and comment to find out soon enough! xoxo.