ELLIOT STREET_1877

"NO! No no no no no NOO!" A distraught angry growl resounded the impoverished alleyways of Elliot street.

"How could this be!" A pale looking handsome man grouched out as his strong fists collided with the grimy walls of the Elliot alleys in rage; all the while staring at the same murky red carriage passing by the dusty road which lay there like a black velvet ribbon draped over the dilapidated neighborhood; now for the tenth time.

"How... HOW do we keeping coming back to the same time!" The handsome lad was so pale that even in the dark one could see him, like a shining beacon. The white creamy tone of his skin reminded one of whipped milk as moonlight shone upon him. One couldn't help but wonder if they reached out, would they only graze air. As if he were nothing but a ghost. And he was so blond that his hair brought memories of golden wheat fields, of those many-hued stems that danced in the autumn light. Coupled with his good-looking angular features, he looked like a blond God gracing his presence on the banal land of humans under the moon's shimmer.

"I believe we are stuck in a time loop Leo." Contrary to him, the dainty girl beside him, though thoroughly pale with a champagne hue, her hair flowed down her back like black ink of a tilted piece of parchment. Her eyes were foxlike and had an icy greyish green hue like the first sprouts of plants in the snow while she pouted her equally pale pink lips in a sardonic playful tone, much like mocking a stupid old fool who doesn't know right from wrong.

"Shut up Juliet, do you take me for a fool as if to not realize that already! I am the Time Seer for goodness sake." The lad's intimidating voice was enough to say he was looking for blood. "Is that Ian Benjamin the cause of all this?"

"Not likely, that pretty idiot is busy counting his last remaining days in fright. Desperately chasing the skirt of some human he thinks can help him escape his fate." The girl called Juliet, giggled as if it was the most hilarious joke she ever came across.

"Then why, how is this happening? You know if we don't find the one with the Sterling Heart everything I had worked for would be for naught." The man, Leon clamored in distress. Anyone could see the anxiety in his bearing.

"Settle down Leo, I'd rather you think this through than go around dancing berserk in madness." The girl sighed. "Now, who do you think would be powerful enough to counter a Time seer and bind him in an endless loop?"

All of a sudden, Leon's brows knitted in knowing frown, "...A Time seer." He mumbled under his breath.

"Bingo! There you have it my slow-witted seer, a seer just as yourself. Only one that is more powerful than you obviously." Juliet shrugged playfully.

"Careful Juliet, you don't want to provoke my wrath." Leon eyed her dangerously as his eyes shown with a vicious flash.

"Oh? When have I, in the last 400 years ever stopped myself from insulting you to your face Leo?" The girl but let out an inciting smirk; as if she didn't give a damn about Leon's murderous intent.

"Shut your mouth Juliet! If it weren't for you, we would never have been in this situation." Leon but growled.

"Oh? Who was the one that came knocking at my door to kill me in the middle of the night that time? Dont try me Leo, if it weren't for you, we would never have been in this situation in the first place." Juliet couldn't help but speak in bitterness, as if her words carried pins and knifes while looking aggrieved in the face. In all these years, she never forgot that night. The night her fate was sealed. The night she lost her everything because of this man standing right in front of her today.

For a flicker of a moment, Leon looked mortified, almost guilty in the face, but that look receded from his face so fast no one could even realize he had such a look on in the first place.

"Enough of this! Dont try to blame me for everything that happened so long ago. You were equally responsible for what went down that night." He grumbled in a rugged tone. "And if we stand arguing about such worthless matters here, we shall be stuck here for good. Let us go, our perpetrator might just be hiding around the corner watching us quarrel with a smug face." With that, Leon left an ugly-faced Juliet while he walked on ahead.

A moment later, Juliet gathered her emotions together and attained her Devil-may-care attitude and quietly followed behind her partner, "All things aside, do you think rowdily running about in a wild goose chase can really unravel our perpetrator?" She scoffed at Leon's stupidity.

"Of course not." Leon couldn't help grouse, "I'm not trying to lure him out. I know I can't lure him out just like that after going around in circles for ten times already. I'm looking for clues."

"Clues?" Juliet frowned.

"Yes clues. I want to know why our perpetrator choose this one time and place to trap us in a time loop." He mumbled more to himself than to Juliet. "And why is that every time we try to jump into another timeline, we end up here, in this exact time and place. I want to know it all." There was a dangerous glint in Leon's face as he roamed around the busy roads of Elliot street.

Every time they ended up running around in circle in this place, Leon would get more rattled with anger than usual. For Leon, he could tolerate about everything other than being made a fool out of. For he was arrogant in what he did. And now, when someone with such power who could trap him, the Time seer of Cronos in a mere time loop appeared before him, he was frustrated, flustered and beyond angry; for how could he admit let alone to himself than to any other that he was tricked into the oldest trick in the book.

So, the first few times he travelled back here, he didn't pay much attention to any details around him. He was rather focused on venting out his anger. But now, this being the tenth time he was being played, he started focusing. He was looking for loopholes. Every time loop had loopholes. They were very hard to find once you were trapped in the loop, but nevertheless, they were there. He just had to find it and exit the blasted cycle. If only he could find it.

As he was mulling over the matter, he dashed into a woman in a hood. The collision might have not been strong but Leon was a sturdy youth with a stalwart built. The woman, who was rather petite fell crashing down to the ground due to the impact, as such her dark hood fell off revealing her moon-kissed face. Leon glowered at the girl on the ground before him. The beams of the moon light pouring down caught in her hair, made each of her dark curls seem as though it was alighting with passion. She was a delicate brunette, and looked deadly pale, like her heart would stop at any given moment. She looked up to see Leon staring at her with an intense frown between his brows. And for a minute, she made a face like she had seen a ghost; all the while gaping at him like a half-dead carp. Leon's frown intensified to that, and he stared harder.

What's with this woman. Had he met her somewhere before? She had pretty blue eyes; the kind of oceanic blue-green hue that carried fathoms deep emotions within them. She was not overly beautiful, at most pretty. There was nothing outstanding about her, like if she were to walk past him, his eyes wouldn't really be drawn to her; but the more he looked at her, the more he saw how anomalous she seemed compared to the surrounding around her. And her blue eyes, like liquid burning sapphire, felt as if they were gazing into his tainted soul; like she, a total stranger understood everything about him. For some enigmatic reason she seemed like a mysterious soul gazer who could read him like an open book.

He didn't like that look. In fact, he hated that kind of look. Because, if one were to really understand Leon, they would see him for what he actually was under that tough arrogant demeanour of his; a scarred lonely soul constantly fighting for existence. Scared and conflicted with the very aspect of life and death. A lost being.

"You...who.." But before he got to interrogate the girl, she bumped past him and quickly took to her heels. He had the mind to follow the girl but suddenly a piercing pain stabbed into his chest.

He crouched forward in sheer pain as he looked back to see Juliet sprawled on the ground, winching in the same pain. "Gnuhh...Leo, It's time to go." She uttered through her clenching teeth.

"...Yes." He silently nodded; and with a swipe of his hand he opened a time portal. It was time to leave, as such, both Leon and Juliet walked into the gleaming sunlit portal that opened up before them. Leon was all powerful and mighty but even he couldn't toy with time as he liked. His travels through time lasted as much power he would put into the chronograph he held in possession. This time travel of his was short because he had been flaunting out his energy and power carelessly in innate anger due of his recent failed travel attempts. After all, what was a Time seer if not a traveler of time. Due to such humiliating failed attempts, he couldn't help himself being infuriated. And thus, was the consequence.

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Present time_ SARAPHINA.

Stare.

That's all people do these days, stare at the things they find amusing. In other words, ME.

I was the current high-end topic of the daily Veronan populace, not that I was bragging but I was forced into being conceited due to my recent rendezvous with popularity.

I wilted into a scorching shrivel of goo under the brazen gazes of the Veronans.

I looked at Eric with resentment and fear in my eyes, like a damned soul in purgatory might look at Satan passing in regal splendor through the seventy times seven-folds circles of hell. Do not speak anymore, I pleaded with my eyes, all the while wishing I was invisible. I had once been told that I had the kind of face that you forget even when looking directly at it. It hurt when I heard such comments, more-so from a guy I had a crush on. Maybe he said it so he could grasp his dominance over me, or maybe it was to just plainly and painfully reject me. But at that time, I was going through puberty and hence my appearance meant a lot to me. So being so blatantly told that I was a same-old same-old plain Jane was hurtful. But when I came to Verona High, oddly so I was relying on my appearance of this plain Jane to dissolve into my surrounding. I had found out through hard lessons that attention brought nothing but trouble. So, I wanted to be an inconspicuous nobody here. Sadly so; I was deprived of this little yearning of mine by my partner in crime Eric Warnard constantly.

After a while, it wasn't much of a big deal to me that I was the center of attention from now and then, but the constant stunts that Eric pulled was what got on my nerves. Like for example now, he could've easily said what he'd yelled out to the whole world in a whisper. But, no! Eric Warnard needed attention. Undivided attention. And now, half of Verona thought I was a slut who was suddenly deprived of creeping into Eric's bed anymore. That's what their sneaky stares seemed to be screaming.

"Would you please quite down a bit?" I uttered with clenched teeth. He frowned to that. "I don't know what's going on in your head but please, refrain from saying misleading stuff."

"Whatever do you mean?" He frowned deeper and I wanted to place a sounding slap on his charming face.

"Nothing, just...stop speaking all together."

"Now it's me who don't get what's going on inside that head of yours but please, listen to me and abstain from going into my room for a while." He grumbled in a grave tone. But I was not amused.

Rather I was speechless. I never knew Eric could be the dense type when he was normally so quick to catch onto my foul moods. Guess I really forgot that he was the standoffish type. Or maybe he was not really oblivious, but just ignoring the obvious?

Whatever maybe the case, his was really maddening. I glared at him as if trying to suck the soul out of him, whereas consequently he stared back hard. "What?" He shrugged and I really wanted to commit first degree homicide just then.

"I hope you rot in hell." I swore at his face and took off in a spree.

♣°°°°°°°°°°°°♣

As I moved from a class to another, I came to a halting realization that I was the worst candidate for fame. This gawking session had been going on since yesterday and I was already feeling my phobia acting out again under the judgmental eyes of these people. Seemed like the news of me being Eric Warnard's bed warmer spread throughout school like wildfire.

Normally, in an ordinary school hooking up with people around was considered normal. But not here in Verona because of its strict rules and regulations. Yeah you can get out of the dorms to go somewhere or book motels and do the deed but not in the dormitories (Oh and you gotta come back before the dorm curfew, sucks I know). But boys were not allowed in the girls' turf and vice versa.

Also, being able to set foot into the holy grounds of Eric Warnard's room also had to do with the morphing of the Veronans into green-eyed jealous monsters.

As such, you can only imagine the animosity and envy of the Veronan populace, which apparently were directed towards me at full force.

I could handle the occasional whispering and stares but not the current constant ogles I was receiving as I walked around the hallways of the school. While they scrutinized me with criticizing eyes, I suddenly felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in my abdomen. Tension grew in my face and limbs, my mind replaying the last panic attack. My breathing had become more rapid, and shallower. Not being able to handle their gawks any longer, I scampered down to the lavatory as fast as my feet could take me.

I hurriedly got inside a toilet cabin and shut slam the door all the while taking ragged breaths. My heart was hammering inside my chest like it belonged to a deer running for it's skin. All kinds of thoughts were spiraling inside my head; I wanted them to slow down so I could breathe but they wouldn't. My breaths came in gasps and I felt like I would black out at any given moment. I could hear people coming in and out of the lavatory; girls talking, gossiping and whispering about routined matters. But I was not confidant I could actually call out for help, least I didn't want anyone to see me like this.

The place span around me and I squatted down on the floor, trying to make everything slow down to something my brain and body could cope with. I felt so sick. Having no other way out, I hit speed-dial for Lena, no answer. I called again, my heart racing faster - no answer. Again - no answer. Again -no answer. No Lena. In panic, my eyes scanned my other contacts and the dread grew, for I had only one other contact in my phone; someone I did not in any circumstance want to call. But seconds later, I changed my mind when another wave of panic attack hit me hard.

I quickly dialed Eric's number and after about three consecutive rings he finally picked up.

"Hey buttercup, did you finally flipped off your bitch switch? You know you should've been born with a warning sign. I can never guess your mood swings."

I wanted to scream at him to go to hell but all that came out of my mouth were silent sobs.

Hearing my whimpers Eric's goofy voice took a 180 turn for a grave one. "...Phina! Where are you?"

As much as I was finding it hard to make a sound, I knew I had to talk to let him know of my location. "...Lavatory," I somehow managed between my trembling frame and shaky voice while the salty tears darkening my sleeves.

"I'm on my way." He said and hung up.

And there I waited, unaware of the passing afternoon; I could feel the darkness taking over. Sweat drenched my entire body as I laid rolled up on the floor in a foetal position.

I could faintly hear loud footsteps, the squeals of girls and thudding and slamming noises. And finally, I lightly opened my eyes to the softening light blinding my vision from the outside; and a tall figure shadowing the rest of the bright light with his outline.

I knew then, Eric had come for me.

He got down and nimbly picked me up in a swift movement and whispered in my ears, "Phina are you alright?" I didn't make a sound, but slightly nodded.

Without saying another word, he walked off the girls lavatory with me in his arms. I wanted him to take me to my room instead of somewhere else like the infirmary. So, I faintly opened my eyes to tell him to take me to my room, but a scene of Eric's unnatural face piped down my struggling voice.

He didn't really look any different from his usual self; the cool, collected and detached Eric Warnard. But it was his eyes which unsettled me. Eric had a look in his eyes I'd never seen before, it was almost wild. It doesn't belong on his face and it scared me somehow. And his trembling hands holding me, which I noticed just now as they shook slightly while carrying me. If I wasn't struggling to breathe and could move my body, I would've placed my hands on his eyes to make that look go away.

While I was juggling between my turbid thoughts and my unkempt breaths, suddenly I felt all weightless, like flying, or maybe falling. And in the next minute, I watched myself falling headfast to the ground since Eric stumbled midway while heading towards his destination.

Sometimes I feel like I was born under some evil black sadistic star.

TO BE CONTINUED...