FRED

CHAPTER IX

As soon as I got to school, I urgently searched for Molly again. I had to talk to her, apologize, and then ask her to give me more information about Frederick and his origin.

I started looking for her through each of the halls, in the high school yard, in the main entrance, in the bathrooms, in the cafeteria, in every corner of the place and I could not find her. Apparently there were no signs of her. I did not know who her classmates were, in fact, I knew almost nothing of her besides his strange obsession with Frederick.

I tried to concentrate and think about where she might be. And of course, there was only one place I hadn't gone, the place we met, how come I didn't think about it before? The library! I began to head there, with long and pressurizing steps, however I felt someone take me slightly by the arm preventing me from continuing on my way.

"You met him, right?" I stumbled upon Nathan's face as I turned to see who had taken my arm.

I didn't know how to react. It seemed that he was really upset that I met Frederick, for my part, he only kept an expression of confusion on my face while I was thinking about what to answer. It was really weird how out of nowhere these two boys, Frederick and Nathan, feeling that they have some power over me when I didn't even know of their existence. Very strange. 

"I didn't do it intentionally, I just slept and all of a sudden I was with him. But, how do you know that?"

"He told me."

He? Did Nathan have contact with Frederick?

"Have you contacted him?" I just asked him.

"Listen to me Adara, he's going to drag you. Stay away from him, all I want to do is protect you. You don't know the kind of person he is or the intentions he has with you."

"And you do?"

"He doesn't need to tell me to know. I know him too well. More than what I'd want, actually. I don't know exactly what does he has in mind, but I know it's not good. Nothing that comes from Frederick can be good."

His words made me fear. From the beginning Nathan described Frederick as the worst being in the earth, as a selfish being who didn't care what happened around him as long as he's okay. Molly briefly described him as an unscrupulous killer who sold his soul to the most powerful sorcerer. What am I supposed to think? I had just had an approach with Frederick so I couldn't already express an opinion about him. Some things were very obvious in him, such as his arrogance, his sarcastic humor and his narcissism.

But could really a face so beautiful as Frederick's be stained in blood? Worse, blood from innocent people? I found it hard to believe, maybe Frederick had me bewitched with his eyes, because since I woke up I hadn't stopped thinking about him at every moment and his crystalline eyes staring at me. 

"Can you tell me how do you know Frederick right now? What are you? And why are you my savior?" I said to Nathan a little stressed by the confusion.

"All those questions are solved with the same answer. The story of how I got to Mitoja. It's a long story..." I interrupted him.

"Well, I think I've got enough time, so you better start talking".

He began to think while his gaze was on the ground. He let out several sighs as if he were trying to gather courage and began to speak softly.

"I'm human, just like you. Or well, at least I was before. The story here is that later, to be more precise, the day I turned 21 years, strange things began to happen. My mind began to have strange visions of of unknown people, of unknown places, of unknown creatures. At first I thought it was all in my head. I went to several psychiatrists thinking I was going crazy, but then I started seeing a tall blond boy, blue eyes and golden curls everywhere. He was chasing me in my worst dreams, in my thoughts, and even after he started chasing me in real life. He wouldn't leave me alone. One day, fed up with all that, I decided to face him, ask him who he was and why he wouldn't leave me alone, just like you did. The difference was that I completely did not know the existence of magic. He told me coldly that he came from a different world and that I did too. That I was living a life that was not mine, and that I should return to my true home: Mitoja. Does any of that sounds familiar to you?" he asked.

All he had said was exactly what was happening to me, which made me frighten even more than what I already was. The worst part was that he wasn't done talking yet.

"Frederick explained to me that the visions I was having were more than just that. They were visions of my life, from when I was just a child that was totally blocked by some kind of spell my mother had asked to be done to me. That's how I discovered that I'm a freak, that I belong to both worlds, this one and Mitoja, but for some reason I cannot fit in neither of them. At first I struggled to maintain a normal life, the life of a common 20-year-old guy who cares about the parties he will go on the weekend and not to know what world he will be in the next day, but Frederick... He's a bastard. He dragged me to Mitoja, next to him. I could almost say he kidnapped me. He wouldn't let me go, he threatened to hurt my family if I didn't do the things he wanted. So here I am. Being at his service."