Forgotten [Raakshyan Series Book 1]

Chapter 4

Chris smiled at me. "Oh! Aathiray! It's you." He was standing right next to me now. I stared into his green eyes which were absolutely gorgeous. He had dark brown hair and a perfect face. He was a mixed child and they always say that mixed kids are gorgeous. His mother was Canadian and his father was from Trinidad.

"Hi!" I squeaked.

Kero continued to growl in my arms.

Chris ignored him. "Sorry, my friends thought it would be funny to throw a snowball at me... and then I ducked and it hit you."

I smiled. "It's ok."

"You aren't hurt, are you?" He asked.

I shook my head. He wasn't a bad boy at all, sure he hung out with losers but he wasn't like them. I looked over his shoulder at his friends who were, as expected, being stupid and pushing each other down into the snow. Yup, he was definitely not like them.

"Well, it's a good thing I ran into you." He said.

"What? Why?" I felt my heart flutter; he wanted to talk to me?

He hesitated. "Well, actually... I was wondering if you wanted to spend Christmas with me." He put his hand behind his head. "I heard your parents left for the break, thought you might not like being alone."

I felt like I was dreaming. I was about to say 'of course' when Kero stopped growling.

'No!' He yelled.

I looked down at him.

'You will not go.'

"This is your cat right?" Chris asked.

I looked back at him. "Yes. His name is Kero! Wanna pet him?"

'NO!' Kero yelled.

I ignored him.

"That mark on his forehead is cool." He said as he reached out to pet him.

Kero lifted his head up and bit him.

Chris jumped back. "Ow! s**t!" He yelled.

I heard his friends burst out laughing.

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!" I looked at Kero, lifting him up to my face. "Bad boy! That was not nice at all!" I glared at him.

Kero frowned and stuck his tongue out. 'He tastes like... crap.'

I never knew Kero could be so immature.

"Hey, it's ok." Chris said. He looked at his finger, which was bleeding. "Wow, sharp teeth."

"I'm sorry! He's not normally like this." I said, feeling so bad.

"It's ok!" He thought for a second. "You can make it up by hanging with me on Christmas."

'No.' Kero said again.

I frowned. "Hold on a second, let me ask, um, my brother."

Chris nodded.

I walked a little far from Chris and pulled out my cell phone. I wasn't really going to ask my brother, I just needed something to make it look like I wasn't talking to my cat. I put the cell phone at my ear. "Why?" I asked, angrily.

'Listen to me Aathy. No.'

"I want a solid reason" I said.

'We have plans.' He said.

"No we don't."

'We will.'

"What exactly are those plans?" I asked.

'I can't tell you now. I'll tell you when we get to the mall.'

I frowned. "Kero, that is not fair!"

Kero sighed. 'If you really want to spend time with that fool then ask him if another day is good.'

Well, it was better than nothing.

I closed my cell phone and walked towards Chris. "I'm sorry Chris, I already have plans on Chri-"

"How about New Years?" He asked, before I could even finish.

I hesitated.

Kero sighed. 'Fine.'

I smiled at Chris. "Yeah! Sure!"

"Awesome!" He smiled. "Ok, I've got to go. I'll call you a day before to remind you, ok?"

I nodded.

"Thanks." He said.

"For what?" I asked.

"For saying you'll come."

I laughed. "No problem!"

He waved and I watched him walk off to his friends. I then realized that maybe I shouldn't have watched him walk off when his friend called out to me. "Hey babe! Wanna come over to my place too?"

I rolled my eyes and walked away.

'You should have said no to Chris.' Kero said.

"You shouldn't have bit him." I muttered.

I couldn't believe that Chris had asked me out. I was now extremely excited, I couldn't wait for New Years. Maybe we would watch a movie? Or just talk. Whatever it was, I didn't mind. I was totally happy that I was spending New Years with Chris. The guy I've had a crush on since grade ten.

When I made it to the mall, I put Kero on a bench and stood in front of him. I quickly looked around to make sure no one was looking at me and then looked back at Kero. "Ok, now tell me, why are we here?"

Kero smiled. 'I don't want you to be sad.' He said.

"I'm not sad..." I tilted my head, confused.

'Well, I mean about Christmas. I know how important Christmas is for you. I don't want you to have to have a bad Christmas. So I had an idea.' He smiled. 'Just because your aunty isn't hosting a Christmas party, doesn't mean you can't throw a party. Make cake and cookies and buy presents and whatever you need for Christmas.'

I started to grin. "You are amazing. Have I ever told you that?" I asked as I picked him up and gave him a big hug. "I love you. You're always thinking about making me happy, aren't you?"

Kero smiled and licked my cheek. 'Of course I am.'

I kissed his nose and then placed him in my purse, letting his cute head stick out so he could breathe. I lifted my purse up and put it over my shoulder, "Comfortable?" I asked.

Kero nodded.

And then, the shopping started. I used the money that I had saved up from working at Chapters last year to buy the gifts because I felt that it wasn't right to buy my aunty and everyone else gifts from the money that she gave me.

I ended up having to call my brother and asking him to pick Kero and I up because there were too many shopping bags. Thankfully, he seemed quite excited with Kero's party idea too.

I thought while I petted Kero. "I think we should have the party on Christmas."

My brother nodded. "What are you going to do about decorations?"

"Well, I bought a bunch of things. I'll help you put up the tree."

Aathavan sighed. "You want me to do everything else?"

I grinned. "Hey, I'm doing all the cooking."

He sighed again. "The things I do for you."

I leaned over and kissed his cheek. "That's why you're the best brother in the world."

He raised an eyebrow. "Thank you?"

I laughed.

My relationship with my brother was, according to my friends, weird. Normal siblings don't act like this. But I guess my brother and I aren't normal siblings. He really was the greatest brother a girl could have. He was the dream brother (and boyfriend) of every girl who has ever met him. And of course, I'm proud to have an awesome brother.

When we got home, we got to work right away. I decided not to cook today but cook when the day nears, so I helped my brother with the Christmas lights and decorations.

I started to have this strange feeling that this year's Christmas holiday wasn't going to be as bad as I thought.

I spent the next few days preparing for the big Christmas party. Celebrating Christmas wasn't something that most Hindu's do. But even though most of the my family follows Hinduism, we celebrate Christmas because it's the day that our whole family can get together, buy each other gifts and have a lot of fun. Plus, my Aunty Seretha has celebrated Christmas since she was a kid, so her tradition seemed to have rubbed off onto our family.

I started the actual cooking on Christmas Eve. Cooking was something I loved to do, so I had not a single problem with it. I baked a huge cake and covered it with icing. I also made cookies in shapes of Christmas trees, stars, ginger bread men, and angels and decorated them with icing as well. I made cupcakes too, and put red and green frosting on them.

It was a really busy day and my brother kept going on about the fact that he got dragged into work on a holiday. I laughed. I knew he was just trying to annoy me. What I've learned about Aathavan in my 17 years of life was that he didn't have a single problem with helping me.

Kero even helped with a lot of stuff, like neatening up the house and reminding me to do a bunch of things that I forgot to do. Like call my friends and family and actually invite them.

I walked into my room and sat on my bed, phone in my hand. I dialed my aunty Seretha's number first. I waited while the phone rang, three times... four times... five times... "Hi! You have reached the Aaron's residence. We are unable to pick up your call right now. Please leave a message after the beep!" I cut the phone before the beep. I called again and again, but I only heard my Aunty Seretha's motherly, recorded voice.

'What's wrong?' Kero asked.

"She didn't pick up..." I said.

'She must be out. Call the other people.'

I nodded and dialed my uncle Aaru's house number. The phone rang for a while and then, "Hello, we are unable to pick up your call right now, please leave a message after the tone." My uncle's deep voice said. I cut the phone before the beep.

Kero raised an eyebrow. 'Uncle Ayan?'

I dialed his number. After a few rings, "Hey, this is the Ayan residents. We're not home right now, so please leave a message after the beep." Said my uncle's perky wife, Dilna.

I stared at the phone. "Where is everyone?"

Kero shrugged. 'Try your friends.'

Beginning to freak, I dialed Lila's number. There were a few rings and then. "Hi! Sorry, I'm not at my phone right now! Leave a message and I'll get back to you ASAP!"

I then tried Ivana. "Sorry, not here right now! Leave a message and I'll get back as soon as I can!"

I then dialed Chanu's number. "Hello! I'm not here right now! Please leave a message and I'll call back."

Nivea was next. "Hey! This is Nivea! Sorry, but I can't get to my phone right now. Leave a message at the beep!"

My eyes widened. "Are you kidding me?" I was then pleased when I remembered that Tiana always had her phone with her. I dialed her number.

"Hey!" She squeaked.

I was so relieved. "Ohmygosh! Do you know how many times-"

"Hold up..." She said, she sounded a little tensed, like she just realized something important. "Oh gosh! I gotta go! I'm sorry, call me back later ok? Love you!"

"Hold on!"

The line was dead.

I began to panic. "Oh my god, Kero! The party is tomorrow and no one is at home! What do I do?"

'Don't worry. I'm sure they'll be home soon. Call them later.'

"But it's nine P.M.!" I squeaked.

'So? They'll get home eventually.'

My brother then opened the door and walked in. "Did you tell everyone?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No one picked up, except for Tiana and then she said she had to go and cut the line."

My brother's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" He asked.

I nodded.

He frowned. "I guess I did all the decorating for nothing." He scratched his head.

I shook my head. "No, don't say that. Kero's right, they'll get home eventually. When they do, I'll call."

Aathavan sighed. "Yeah. Ok." He looked at my clock. "Wanna watch a movie or something while we wait for everyone to get home?" He asked.

I nodded. I guess it would be a good idea to get my mind of this misfortune for now. I picked up Kero and followed my brother.

We spent the rest of the evening watching Valkyrie. I ended up really liking that movie, even though it was scary and sad. I cried in the end of the movie and my brother laughed at me.

Kero seemed to like to movie too. I was a little surprised when he said, 'This wasn't that bad.'

My brother ended up cooking that night and he promised me that he would help me cook the chicken for tomorrow's dinner.

I tried calling all of the guest again at about eleven, and again, no one picked up. "Oh no! Something's wrong! Where would everyone be at eleven p.m.?" I yelled.

'Why don't you leave a message?' Kero suggested.

I paused. Wow, why didn't I think of that?

After calling again and leaving the messages, I decided it was time to sleep. Assuming that all the guests got my messages tomorrow was going to be an amazing and busy day.

Kero was already fast asleep when I was done changing into my pajamas.

I turned off the lights and then went and rested myself next to him. I watched as he breathed softly. If he wasn't so beautiful, I might have been afraid of him. His fur was as white as white could be and the blue stripes seemed to make him look heavenly. I traced the blue crescent moon on his forehead. Sometimes I wondered whether this was real, I wondered if he was really sitting, standing or sleeping in front of me or whether he was actually talking to me. Sometimes it's so hard to believe that he was real. I mean, what happened to the reality that broke my heart when I was seven, the truth that said that animals don't really talk and SpongeBob isn't real and fairies don't exist. Well, I guess the SpongeBob and fairy things are the truths but hey, I now know that animals could talk.

I then began to wonder what would have happened if I had never met Kero. Well, first off, I wouldn't have such a close friend who knows more about me than anyone. Second, I would have made some serious mistakes if he wasn't there to guide me. There were tons of reasons but the one that seemed the most important was that if I had never met Kero on that terrifying day, I would have probably died.