I don't know how Dilyla Adwell could keep up with her favorite hobby of stalking Eric Warnard amidst this epidemic of anxiety that followed the death of Rudy, the janitor, but she managed.

Rudy's sudden death had an unwanted official reaction and the school became extra vigilant and strict while cops lurked around the premises from time to time spreading around chronic stress. At the moment, the populaces of Verona High were fragile and agitated; like a flock of doves scared by the scream of a hawk.

While my executive functioning was down to walking quickly and I couldn't function without checking twice over my shoulders. If they didn't know me better they would think I'd screwed up and pissed off some gangster I shouldn't have.

And to think she had the time and energy to stalk Eric. How mentally obsessed with Eric was this girl!

I ran my hand through my hair, teeth tugging at my lower lip and looked at her weird but I didn't think she got my message to just leave me alone, so I sighed out loud and said, "I don't know how you know these things about Eric but business between Eric and me are none of yours. And honestly Dilyla...I would really appreciate it if you don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong." I sounded angry and honestly, I was. When you are paranoid and scared and you just add up a stalker to the equation, you don't even need to do the math.

It seemed as if she finally got the massage as she casted her eyes away from me, looking guilty and said, "I'm so sorry Sara, I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I was just passing by when I overheard you guys talking." She might seem guilty but in no way did she look apologetic. And to overhear our conversation she would have to wake up early at six and wander around the school premises that was hounded by fear and paranoia at the moment. It didn't take a genius to know that she was lying to my face.

I offered her a loop-sided half awkward smile and took off. Dilyla Adwell gave me the creeps and I wanted to get away from her as soon as possible.

I was cooped up in the library with my favorite classic Pride and Prejudice, sitting on the floor at a secluded corner of place, engaging myself with a wasted attempt to get away from all this pent-up anxiety, but it was to no avail. I couldn't really concentrate on anything at the moment. My mind kept on going back to the scenes of that wretched night.

The voices...; over these past few days I had been trying but constantly failing to get those voices out of my head. I knew it was just my delusion and the recent horrific events acting up as a catalyst but I couldn't keep the memory of those voices at bay. It's as if they were right beside me and they would jump me at any chance they get. I was always on my guard and never felt this cornered in my life before. I needed a release. I would go crazy like this.

"This is how you take revenge huh. Pretending that I don't exist when I am standing right in front of you." Eric Warnard's voice broke me off my stupor and I raised my head to look square at his handsome face. Sigh! How could I ever forget the existence of an ass.

"What do you want Warnard? I thought we were over." I sighed all over again.

"Hmm. Baby, we never even started to be over yet." He passed me a loop-sided nasty smirk and I wanted to chuck my pride and prejudice at his face but I loved my book too much to do so. Hence begrudgingly so, I was about to get up and leave the ass's company when he woahed, "Woah woah woah! Please wait." He grabbed my shoulders and made me sit right back in and he sat beside. "Listen Phina, I know things got a little out of hand the last time we talk and..."

"A little!" I frowned.

"(Sigh) Okay yeah, a lot out of hand, but there's no reason we can't talk about it." He looked at me intently, but I decided not to let him off the hook, so I looked away.

"Come on Phina, let's do this like two sensible adults, shall we?" He sighed in frustration.

"Sensible adults!" I scoffed, "Where did this sensible adult go when he was throwing a tantrum like a five year old toddler just the other day."

He shook his head in aggravation. He turned towards me and tried to make me look at him but I refused, "Phina, please..." I did not want to give him the benefit of a doubt. It's not that I was a person who held grudges, it's just that I had, before. But he blew it off. So, I did not want to trust this guy again. How could I? A guy who deliberately hurt my feelings and was shameless enough to come back and not even offer an apology, how could I trust someone like that? In my head, I knew I couldn't; But there was something about his voice, the way he said 'Please', it just stuck me.

So, unwillingly so, I looked at him. And he...looked jaded. As if he didn't have a single clue about what he was doing or what he should do next. "Phina, what should I do for you to listen to me. " He said. He looked desperate, but then again, when did he not. But this time, he also looked guilty, like he knew he did something wrong.

Good. At least he was aware.

"Phina." He called again. I turned towards him and stared back, he seemed a little hopeful but I was not about to let it go so easily yet. "You want me to listen to you? Okay fine. But you gotta do something first."

"What. What is it?" He asked impatiently.

"Apologize."

"What." He seemed puzzled at first. Acting as if he had never heard of such a word.

"I said apologize." I repeated. If he wasn't even going to give me an apology then he can forget about this talk.

"Apologize! For what?" He frowned as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

"Huh! For what! Are you really asking me that?" I was getting angry now and I think he felt it too.

"No, I –I mean, what do you want me to apologize for. I don't get why you are so pissed Phina. Agreed, I might have said some things out of line. But I never meant any of them. You know that. I don't understand why I should apologize for things I didn't mean." He had the gall to shrug!

"Right. Of course. How could I forget, you are The great Eric Warnard, whose ego is the size of a dinosaur. Why would such a great personality waste his apologies on some meager commoner like me when he said bad things to her which he didn't really mean. Doesn't matter if she got hurt. As long as Eric Warnard is right everything is peachy." I glowered and I think he squirmed. Or maybe I was just imagining things blinded by my anger.

"What! I never..." He shut up when I glared at him like I wanted to pulverize him right there and then.

"God! Why am I even expecting anything from you." I huffed and was about to get off and go when he grabbed me by my arm to stop me, "Wait." He said. "Give me some time."

Time! I frowned. He needed time to apologize?

He made me sit back down while he looked like he was ready to bolt. He seemed almost like an eel twisting in discomfort. Was mouthing out a sorry that hard! Apparently for Eric Warnard, it was mission impossible.

"I...Ahem...I... I guess I'm sorry." He muttered in a small voice. That ought to have got the job done, but I was somehow was not satisfied.

"What? I didn't hear you." I pretended to not have heard a thing. After all he put me though, it was only right that I made him a little uncomfortable.

He let out a frustrated huff and said, "I am sorry Phina."

"Hah! You know Warnard, that was supposed to make me feel better. But I don't feel better at all. Weird huh." I shrugged at him just like he did at me.

"Honestly Phina, what else do you want me to do?" He gasped in a frenzy.

"Eric, to move on, I needed an apology; which you gave me. But to be with you, I need some truth. I need to know what's going on. I can't trust you like this." I said.

"...I can't Phina." He shook his head in vehemence.

"Why?" I couldn't help asking.

"(tsk) I just can't. This is personal, please understand." He sighed.

"Oh? Then my secrets were not personal? You made me open up my scars and now when I ask of you the same you're acting like a victim while I play the bad guy!" I was aggravated at him. "Trust goes both ways Eric. How do you expect me to trust a person that doesn't trust me?"

"Phina, it's...it's not like that, it's...," sigh "It's complicated."

"Try me." I challenged.

"...I don't remember most of my past life Phina." He muttered in a small tone, "And through you...I think you are the key for me to unlock my forgotten memories."

"Me!" I was shocked. Okay, scratch that, I was beyond shocked. Who knew Eric Warnard had amnesia. "How am I the key?"

"Phina, I have to compose my masterpiece. I need to. And you are the only one who can help me with that. I think it's somewhere right there in my work. I need to find them Phina. And I am short of time. That is why I am so desperate. That is why I need you to play for me so badly."

"Why are you short of time?" I asked. As much as Eric Warnard opened up about himself he became more of a mystery.

"...That...There is someone waiting for me for a really long time. And I need to find her." He spoke in a constricted voice and I didn't have the courage to pry, but he continued, "I don't remember how she looks or where to find her. Hell! I don't even remember her name." He scoffed bitterly. "But I know that I need to find her."

For a while, I didn't say anything. The library was really quiet and this quietness was gradually becoming unnerving. But what does anyone say to something like that. Not to mention Eric Warnard was actually professing to have a potential lover that he would go crazy about! Where did that even come from? Eric and love didn't really go well together and plausibly so, it felt as if he was speaking a language I couldn't understand. I could only stare at him with wide eyes as a thousand thoughts whirled around inside my head.

"...What if...she isn't waiting for you anymore?" Oh God! Have I gone crazy! Why did I say that? Of all the things in the world to say. It's confirmed, I had gone bonkers.

"What!" He abruptly turned to me, his stance cynical and his guard up, "Why would you think that?" He frowned, looking very offensive.

"I...I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that. It was not my place to say that and I'm really sorry about it." I panicked; I didn't want Eric Warnard to close himself back into his hardcore shell again. I was hardly successful in opening up a crevice in his shell; I didn't want all my hard work to go to waste.

"I know she is waiting for me. She promised me." He muttered, more so to himself than to me.

"...How will you recognize her if you ever see her again?" I just couldn't seem to keep my mouth shut. Something was really wrong with me today.

"Hmmm..." Now he was staring into space and smiling by himself. Thank God he didn't revert back to his usual angry demon form, "I'll just know. I remember what she smelled like, always tangy."

"Is she pretty?"

"...Maybe. I don't remember, but...in the back of my mind I think I found her irresistible. I've been in love with her for as long as I can remember." He said, and it seemed like he was drowning into an oasis of nostalgia that provided him mirages over mirages.

I wanted to snap him off his trance but at the same time I was reluctant. I had never seen Eric Warnard wear an expression such as this for as long as I had known him. It was somehow, strange and intriguing. A love sick Eric Warnard.

"You must love her a lot." I mumbled, looking into the same space he was staring into.

"Hah! ... I'm not very good at talking about it but, my love for her is boundless. Time and space has no meaning for my love. I may not remember her name or her face, but I never forgot about my love for her. I remember... whenever I tried to express the emotions whirling in my soul to her, my throat tightened blocking me from saying anything. So, I was never really able to clearly express my feelings for her. I should have, I know. If I had, I wouldn't be feeling such regret right now." 'Sad' sounds so childish, like something flimsy, something one should be able to cast off with a happy reflection or the smile of a friend. But 'sad' is nothing of the sort. It sits inside like the germ seed of depression, just waiting for the right conditions to grow, to send out roots to choke the hope out of your heart. And Eric Warnard looked too sad right now, he just sat there; as still as a statue while the magnitude of his loss swept over him again and again. Watching him, made my heart sink.

I didn't know what to say to him to make it all go away. I knew I couldn't. But I had to try anyway. "I think she will remember you." I spoke quietly, "After all... she made a promise to you."

He looked back at me and smiled a little smile, not the kind of everyday-jerk-Eric smile, but a nice genuine smile. It was a first, but it was something.

I smiled back at him and for the first time since I met Eric Warnard I felt, we were finally at the same page.

TO BE CONTINUED...