Arden: The Gift Of Delirium

8. We Meet Again

New Beginnings and Eternal life

***

Zane

Johanna kept staring at me and as the intensity in my body grew, I fought to ignore it. "Zane." She repeated. Her voice was simple, yet sweet. "Um, you're here. I mean, like you're standing right here. I didn't think you would come back so soon- well not come back- I just thought I wouldn't see you around for a while- not that I expected to see you around- or like I wished to see you around- but of course, you don't go here- I learned that the other day-"

Johanna stopped in the middle of her rambling and I'm not going to lie, I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or walk away. I mean, it was cute, but slightly weird. She nervously cleared her throat before pushing her thick rimmed glasses up. "What are you doing here?" She asked quietly.

"It's nice to see you again, Johanna." I stated giving her a simple smile. "I actually remembered our...encounter last week and I thought I could use your help. You're a biologist, right?"

She nodded. "Biophysicist- but, no that's fine- that's okay."

I nodded. I looked around the lab again. I raised my eyebrows at her. "Um, how comes you're the only one here?"

"Oh, well, I had some research that I wanted to catch up on, i'm getting close to which could lead to a scientific breakthrough."

"Really?"

"No, not really." She cringed and I couldn't help but smile at the way her nose crinkled up. "But, yeah, i've been studying the activity of this particular bacteria that only lives in the southeast area of the country." Johanna shrugged and looked down at her clipboard while biting her lip.

I noticed that she was still shy and quiet yet, socially awkward- but the good kind. The adorable kind.

She looked up back at me and caught me staring at her. I didn't care and as her cheeks turned pink, she spoke again. "So, uh, you needed something right?" Her voice was quiet again.

I nodded. "Yeah, like I said, I kind of need your help with something."

"Absolutely." She answered quickly. "I mean sure, what's up?" I smirked and reached into my pocket for the one of many i've seen for the past week. The white skinny feather I held in my hand was stained red at the end.

I walked towards Johanna and held it up for her to see clearly, I watched as she looked at the feather, her face impassive. "A feather?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.

She looked up at me and then back to the feather. "Yeah." I answered. "I thought I was actually out of it but I noticed these particular feathers around the area. I don't recognize them and i'm pretty sure they're not common around here."

Johanna took the feather in her hands and caressed it softly as she hummed. "Let's see." She mumbled. She began moving to the other counter which held a microscope. "I think it might be cockatoo."

I watched as she placed the feather under the microscope and studied it. As she examined the feather, I took time to notice her hair. It was still a shocking bright blonde and like the last time, it was slightly messy, like she's been running around all day.

She stood up straight again and turned to me. "I'm convinced it's the feather of an Indian peafowl."

"A peacock." I stated.

Johanna nodded. She cleared her throat and shifted on her feet.

"What about the blood on the feather?" I asked. I just needed to know the basic facts. I didn't need to tell her about how people kept getting stuck by these feathers and blood is being drawn. Not yet, at least.

Johanna shrugged. "I'm pretty sure it just came from the bird." Her blue eyes staring into mine, almost like she was distracted.

"I think it might be human blood." Johanna shook her head and looked at me weirdly.

"Really?" I nodded. "Oh, okay. Well...I guess we could check..." She turned around and once again looked into the microscope after making a few modifications. "Huh." She mumbled. "I think it is human blood."

She turned to look at me curiously. "Is it yours?"

"No, no. But, i've been seeing these feathers a lot lately. Peacocks aren't really around this area, why do I keep finding their feathers?" I asked.

Johanna pushed her glasses up her nose. "You're right, they don't live around here. That's strange." She muttered looking off in thought. "I'm not really sure why they're around here."

"Me neither." I added. After a while she spoke again.

"Tell you what, I can look into it for you. I mean, if you want I can try to find out why these feathers are all over the place." I nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be great." I told her. I glanced over to the wall and saw that it was almost three in the afternoon.

The other event in my mind came rising back to the surface. The slight anxiousness from earlier rose. As I sat in with Arden and Perri today in the Summit room, although everything seemed alright, Perri and I both knew what was going to happen this afternoon.

I didn't know exactly why Perri was here, but I did know what else was going to happen. Memories and events from a few months ago flashed in my head. I wasn't nervous...

Well for him I was. Okay, maybe I was worried for Arden. And the rest of my friends. I could only imagine how they would react, what would they do?

I knew they could handle themselves though, but everything was going to be fine. At least for them...

*****
I know this chapter is really short- like really short. I'm sorry.

But the next chapter is really good. Its titled 'Surprise, Surprise'. What do you think it is?

And about Zane and Jo?

Haha. Until next time,

-brittany.