~ Episode Thirty ~
An Impending Honesty:
Isa’s True Feelings
Joey Ramone filled her ears to the brim with the lyrics to Blitzkrieg Bop. The combination of New-York-City-thick vocals mostly drowned out by the thumps and blares of heavy punk rock suffocated the unwanted new town around her. Suffocated the confusing thoughts in her head. Suffocated everything except for Isa’s angry journey home from school.
Just the way she liked it.
Isa leaned into the high volume of song. It suffocated everything – all thoughts and feelings – except, of course, for the bliss of a beloved mix tape. A going away present. The Ramones – her big brother Brandon’s favorite band.
Her idol’s favorite band.
And – by extension – hers, too.
Isa shifted her backpack over a shoulder as the song’s bridge came into full swing. The air felt wet with the threat of rain overhead. Not that it really mattered. She was used to damp, overcast days. The risk of getting caught in a shower, without an umbrella or coat, calmed her agitated nerves.
She hated Shorebrooke already and hadn’t even lived here a whole week yet. But the weather was like a piece of Vancouver had stopped by for a visit today – as if to assure her everything was going to be okay.
And maybe it would be. Hating Shorebrooke completely – that was a heart-guarding lie. There was one thing about this place – one person – that made it pretty okay so far.
Even if she did look like a vampire.
Isa pushed through the swell of warmth between her lungs and crossed over to Holland Street from Fletcher, towards the Four Corners. She tried not to focus on strange memories that couldn’t be more than just a fever dream: Cute girls wielding giant war hammers. Killer birds straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Kids swooping around the basketball court on the backs of magical flying dogs. She hit the fast-forward button on her walkman, stopping on I Wanna Be Sedated midway through its chorus.
Just then, something rustled out the corner of her eye.
Isa swung around in an instant with fists ready to deflect a jumping. But the shadow she meant to face down was nowhere in sight. Only a patch of trees between two century homes swayed before her in the cool wind. Their leaves shimmered like emeralds.
Isa blinked.
“…Weird.” She turned away, lowering fists, and continued along Holland Street.
For a few days now, Isa felt like somebody had been on her tail wherever she went. Today was no different, and it was pretty obvious now who the culprit was.
The pad of her thumb rolled along the volume dial to bring Joey Ramone’s voice down to a near whisper. Isa’s auditory senses flexed around high-pitched tinnitus to acknowledge the birdsong, the traffic, the lawnmowers around her. She then tugged a hair band free from the collection wrapped within the dual fringes that cupped her face and put the rest of her locks up into a quick ponytail.
A strip mall plaza appeared about fifty feet ahead. Isa made calm strides towards it, without looking back. She crossed the street, into the parking lot, and ducked around the back of the plaza.
Her number one fan wouldn't leave her straying for long.
Isa sidled up against the wall, nudging her headphones down around her neck to listen for nearby footfalls against the pavement. Her ears flexed against the sound – long, purposeful, strides. Somewhere, a bird chirped.
A shadow spilled around the corner of the building. Isa made her move.
It was over in an instant: she grabbed him by the arm and wrist, flipped him clean onto his back. Her knee dropped into his sternum and she pinned both hands overhead in a single grasp.
Isa’s fist hovered inches away from Shinji Izuma’s face.
“Why are you following me?” she demanded.
He wheezed. “You know martial arts. Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Why are you following me?!” Isa repeated, sharper. “You’ve been tailing me ever since I got here, and I wanna know why!”
“You noticed.”
“Of course I noticed! We live on the same street! What do you think I am, stupid? Who are you, anyway? A sicko? You got the hots for me, or something, kid?” Isa ground her knee into his chest, causing him to yelp. “What’s your deal, huh?! Your girlfriend, the vampire, got you spying on me?”
“My – who?? Aggh – Please – let me go – I can explain—”
Isa’s hold remained. “So explain. What the hell happened at school today?!”
“The – the birds that attacked us…?” Shinji cringed. “Nnff—Well, you know Eri Seruma, right?”
“Eri...?” Isa fought past the flood of heat in her face. “What about old vampire-girl?”
“There was a creature – a Monster,” Shinji continued behind gritted teeth. A drop of sweat rolled down his temple, into his ear, as he struggled to keep his head up to talk. “It attacked the school because it wanted Eri Seruma. Nobody except us remembers, because when we defeated it an automated spell reversed all the damage and wiped the memories of everybody who saw it.”
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“Then why ... why do you remember it?” Isa demanded. “Why do I?”
“Be – because we’re supposed to. We remember everything. Too much.”
“Answer the question for real, or you’re dead.”
“I am!” He grunted, wincing. “You remember because you’re one of us!”
“…One of what?”
“Let me up and I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
Isa stared at him for a long while. Her grip on Shinji relaxed. Both kids rose to their feet.
Shinji reached into his jeans pocket, eyes locked on Isa. He withdrew a folded piece of scrap paper and passed it to her. “Here.”
Isa looked down, surprised by the slight weight of it in her grasp. Hidden between the folds of what was obviously Shinji’s phone number was a translucent pendant strung on a thin golden chain. The whisper of a perfume fragrance accompanied the gift – Strawberry Dreams.
She frowned. “Listen, kid, I’m not in the mood for any stupid crap. Go hit on someone else.”
“What?” Shinji blanched, busy fumbling with a red scrunchie that had fallen out of his pocket. “I’m – no, it’s not like that! You’re—”
“Don’t jerk me around!” Isa snapped. “I’ll kick your ass.”
“I don’t doubt it.” He flinched, hedging backwards towards the Four Corners. “But I’m not your enemy. My name is Shinji Izuma. Give me a call when you’re ready to talk.”
“Wait!” Isa called after him. “I wanna talk now! This isn’t some stupid prank, right? I’m not going crazy, right? All those birds? Red-eye, with that giant hammer? You guys flying around on those dogs?”
“You’re not going crazy. Trust me.” Shinji turned away with hands stuffed in his pockets. “I have to go deal with something now, but call me later tonight. I’ll explain everything then.”
“Wait—!”
But, without another word, he was gone.
~
The Keitels’ new apartment loomed off the end of Libra Road – the main floor of a raised bungalow with access to their landlady’s basement unit exposed out the front. Isa took a deep breath, nodding a quick hello to Mrs. O’Doyle getting the flowerbed ready, and jogged up the steps.
She banged through the screen door on thoughts more confusing and invasive than ever before and dumped her stuff onto the nearby mat cluttered with recently-unpacked footwear. Isa trudged up steps that opened to resentment for her new home and paused at the top of the landing.
The sounds of after-school cartoons came from the living room to her right. Her little brother Max sat in their dad’s recliner in front of the TV, totally engrossed by an episode of Medabots.
Isa formed a weak smile at the sight. “Hey, Newt-face – That crap’s gonna make your brain ooze out your ears if you’re not careful.”
Max threw a glare at her over the armrest. “Shut up! Medabots is cool!”
“Yeah. But so’s toe jam, your favorite snack of choice.”
“Mo-o-o-om!”
Their mother called out from up the hall behind Isa, “Izzy, that you?”
“Yeah. There’s mail for you.” Isa sidled up against the recliner and kissed Max on the top of the head. His flinch of disgust made her snort with amusement. “Hey, how was school? You make any friends yet?”
“I have lots of friends! Go away, you’re making me miss my show!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Isa backed away on a gaze that lingered quiet affection. “If anyone gives you trouble, let me know, okay?”
“Go away!”
She headed up the hallway towards the bedrooms, where the scent of fresh paint ravaged any sense of smell. Her mother was in the master suite, painting the walls an obnoxious shade of Anne Rice Red.
“Here.” Isa tossed her parents’ mail onto the bed and headed back out into the hall, towards her bedroom.
“Hey! Wait a sec!” her mom called out. “Are you home the rest of the afternoon? I need you to watch Max so I can get your Androcur refilled – Izzy, I’m talking to you!”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Baby, please don’t start. I’ve had a long day.”
“Yeah, you’re not the only one, Deb.”
“Isabella Eve. That’s enough.”
Isa sighed, hesitating outside her bedroom. “…Yeah. I’ll – I’ll be around.”
She ducked inside, clicking the door shut behind her, and leaned against the frame. Isa squeezed her face in both hands. Memories from that day’s impossible reality opened up before her mind’s eye.
“Isa! You have to come with me!”
…Red-eye…
The thought of that ginger-haired girl made her feel so weird. Something Isa hadn’t anticipated, moving here. But the nervous warmth she felt had been present ever since they laid eyes on each other that first day of school. Just looking Eri’s way, just the thought of her, made Isa’s guts flutter.
Kind of like how Sensei Oji always did.
Isa squinted through a pang of sadness in her homesick heart. “Don’t call me Izzy. Only Sensei can … call me … urgh.” Her hands fell away to find rainfall outside a window across the clutter of an unpacked bedroom.
“I can protect you!”
Isa crossed the room and slid the windowpane up to let the blast of fresh air hit her face. She folded arms across the sill and buried her chin in the crooks of her elbows.
“Protect me from what?”
After a time of contemplation, she took up Brandon’s old acoustic, the only unpacked item of her new room, and lowered to the foot of the bed with it cradled against her lap. She tuned the strings, strummed a few easy chords – shifted her weight and felt something poke through her back pocket.
Isa frowned. She scrounged around for the necklace Shinji had given her along with his crumpled up phone number.
He was friends with Red-eye and Bilbo. There was that other kid, too – the black kid who sang everywhere he went. Always calling everyone “man” – regardless of gender. Isa shuddered.
She thought back to seeing them fly through the basketball court during lunch recess. Shinji had spotted her in mid-air through Class 208-B’s window – had stared at her.
…Because you’re one of us…
The necklace gleamed between her fingers, the smell of Strawberry Dreams in her nose – the same fragrance as Red-eye’s smell. Another bout of nervous warmth swelled between Isa’s lungs.
She studied the translucent little pendant attached to the golden chain – a dark orb enveloped by a spiral of silver tendrils. Like energy, almost.
“Spirit,” Isa murmured, intuitively.
…What did it all mean?