My whole body was frozen. I think I was going into shock. Yes, that must be it. Any moment I’m sure I would fall over and blackout—then wake up and realize his return was all a dream. Right? Well, probably not.
I tried to form words, but my mouth and brain weren’t cooperating at the moment. I had so many things that I wanted to ask that I didn’t know what I should say first. He left and now he was back. There's one big question right there. Maybe I should begin with that.
“Malum what the hell are you doing here? Why are you here? You’ve been gone for months and now you decide to show back up?” I tried to stay calm and not let off an angry tone, but I'm not the best at hiding my anger in situations like this. So that backfired.
I noticed that Autumn, Katy, and some of the other students were now staring at Malum and I. My voice wasn’t louder than the music, right? I hope not. Malum briefly glanced around the room and then turned his attention back to me.
“Look, I understand that you have a lot of questions--and rightly so. I will be happy to answer all of them Grace, but not here. This is a...delicate matter. One which others should not overhear, for the time being at least. Can we go somewhere more private to talk? Please.” He gave me a crooked smile. My heart did a little flip. Damn it. He shouldn’t have this effect on me still. I tried my best to move on from him. Or at least, I thought I had. Maybe my best efforts were all in vain.
I glanced over my shoulder to look at Autumn and Katy. The only reason I came to this stupid event was because of Autumn. It wouldn’t feel right for me to leave her here, but Katy was here now too. I guess I should ask if Katy could give Autumn a ride home, since I don’t know how long this will take.
I held up one of my fingers to Malum. “Give me a moment.”
“Of course.” He replied.
I turned around to face Autumn and Katy. “Hey, him and I really need to talk. I’m sorry, but I have to go. Katy do you mind giving Autumn a ride back to her house tonight?”
Katy didn’t look bothered by me asking this. “Sure no problem.” She smiled.
However, Autumn did look a little put out with me. I will need to make it up to her later. I don’t like abandoning her.
“Grace I know what you’re thinking. It’s okay. Just go with him, I’ll be fine since Katy is here. We can go join up with Scarlett and Laura if we get too bored.” Autumn said.
I smiled. They really were amazing friends. “Thank you. Text me later and let me know how the rest of the night goes.” They both nodded and then walked away.
I turned back around and faced Malum. It was time for answers. “Okay Malum, we can go now.”
He smiled. “Perfect, lets go to my car.”
He can drive now too. It seems that him and I do have a lot of catching up to do. Even though him having a car is only a small, trivial detail compared to the other questions that I’m about to throw at him.
When we went outside to the parking lot we didn’t have to walk very far. After passing by three other cars Malum stopped. “Alright here’s my car. Let me grab the door for you Grace.” He said politely.
I was confused--very confused. For two reasons. Reason number one was because he had somehow parked in one of the front row spaces--which was near impossible to get unless you arrive super early. And reason number two was because of the car I was standing in front of.
I by no means consider myself a “car girl,” but my father is a mechanic--and being the daughter of a mechanic, some automotive related knowledge was bound to rub off onto me over the years. So I was very surprised when I realized that I was standing in front of a 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S.
“Malum, is this, your car?”
“Yes, it is. Why? Do you like it? I think she’s sexy.” He said with a wink.
“This car is super expensive and brand new. How did you even afford this? Did your father buy it for you?”
He laughed. “No my dad did not buy it for me. It was a gift from a family friend. A very generous gift.”
“Very generous indeed.”
He walked over to my side and opened the passenger door for me. I slid into the dark embrace of the car and gave Malum a small thank you. Sooner than I thought possible Malum was already in the driver’s seat next to me. I must be really out of it
We drove away from the school and he started to drive towards the outside of the town. The car ride was silent. I didn’t want to have our big conversation here in this car. Honestly part of me wanted to enjoy the ride because I will never be this lucky to ride in a car like this again. However, there was too much on my mind to truly enjoy this ride. Oh well.
After driving for about fifteen minutes he turned on to a side road that I’ve never been down before. I saw on the right that there was a small park. There was a playground and some benches surrounding it. I will admit, it looked quaint and rather cute. He pulled the car to the side of the road and put it in park.
“Okay Grace we are here.” Malum said
“Cool. I don’t want you to get my door for me. I’m perfectly capable of opening it myself.”
He chuckled. “Alright whatever you say.”
After we were both out of the car he led the way towards one of the benches in the park. He sat down and patted on the space next to him—wanting me to sit there.
I rolled my eyes, and he didn’t miss that.
“Is something wrong? You don’t have to sit next to me. I don’t mind standing so you can have the bench to yourself if that’s what you would prefer.”
He was still such a gentleman to me. Even after all this time. I let out a sigh.
“No it’s fine. I will sit next to you.”
He smiled and I planted myself next to him. I made sure to leave a little bit of space between us. I didn’t want any physical contact with him. If that happened I don’t know how I would react. I’m already internally freaking out, and contact with him would most likely make my current mood ten times more stressful.
I let out a sigh and tried to breathe as normal as possible. It wasn’t really working.
“Alright. You brought me here. I’m assuming you want to talk now?”
He looked up at the sky for a few moments. I noticed it was rather dark. There was no moon piercing through the clouds that were above us. He brought his head back down and faced me.
“So, as you know I owe you a huge explanation about everything that has happened over these last few months. Well, I guess, more like everything that hasn’t happened between us during these last few months. I know I suddenly left Walpole without saying anything. That was...necessary. It truly was.”
I rolled my eyes. Why the hell was that necessary? He could have told me anything. Even though we stopped being friends—and I had my heart broken—he could have still confided in me.
“Okay sure. Whatever. I highly doubt it was necessary, but please continue on.”
He let out a sigh. “Grace, I’m very, truly sorry for any pain that I might have caused you. That was not my intention whatsoever. You were, are, very important to me. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you are. Right before I left I said that we shouldn’t be friends anymore—and I did mean that. But, not because I didn’t like you, but because it was for the best. At the time I believed that and part of me still does. Quite honestly I shouldn’t even be here talking to you, but I can’t stay away. I’m done lying to you. It’s not fair and you deserve the truth. I left because of you. Again, not because I didn’t like you or didn’t want to be friends, but because my presence was putting you in danger.”
That was a lot to take in. He left because of me? What the hell does that mean? Did I really mean nothing to him? Was our entire friendship a lie?
I tried to keep my cool and not let my anger seep through my words. “That doesn’t make sense. You left because of me? I wasn’t in danger by being friends with you. We are sixteen year old high schoolers. We aren’t part of the FBI or anything like that. So please Malum, do explain how I was in any danger with you being my friend.”
He had a troubled look on his face. Like the words he had been saying to me was causing him pain. Part of me didn’t care—let him feel that pain, maybe he’d understand what he put me through. The other part of me however, did care. I didn’t want him hurting. I know he was trying his best to explain everything to me.
He let out a sigh. “You were in danger because of what I am. What I have been for millions of years.”
“Malum, what...what do you mean? Cut the crap. You aren’t some crazy serial killer. You aren’t a bad person. I know this to be true.”
He let out a slight chuckle. “I’m most certainly a bad person. Well, technically I'm not even a person, or human. Whatever you’d like to call it. I’m much worse. I’m the embodiment of darkness—of evil. I’m a deity that has existed since the beginning of time. I was born into this world with only one purpose—to destroy everything. Ruin everything. Bring about the end of days, the apocalypse, Ragnarok, all of those made up terms. My very being, my very nature, is dangerous. I could use other words to describe myself, but I’m sure you’re beginning to get the picture. Grace I know what I’m telling you is overwhelming and you may not believe me. I probably sound crazy, but please try to believe me. I’m begging you. I only came back to Walpole because of you.”
My mind was completely overloaded with all of this information. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to believe. This made no logical sense. Maybe Malum was indeed crazy. Maybe I was crazy? He came back to Walpole because of me? The girl who he hurt, the girl who he abandoned, the girl who’s heart was broken because of him? It didn’t make sense.
What else didn’t make sense was Malum telling me he was the deity of pure evil. No, that couldn’t be true. He must be joking. Gods don’t exist amongst men—only in legends they do. Magic, the supernatural, Gods—none of that was real. It was all considered stories and make believe. None of that can actually exist in our world...right?
I turned to face Malum and I noticed that he had a worried look on his face “Grace are you okay? Are you breathing? I think you might be hyperventilating. I’m so sorry. I thought telling you all at once was the best way to do things. Just breathe, it will be okay.”
I tried catching my breath. I needed to breathe properly if I was going to respond to his ludicrous statements.
After a few minutes I was finally able to breathe normally—for the time being at least. Malum was patient and silent during this time. I’m sure he was waiting for me to calm down so we could continue our discussion.
I took a deep breath in and let it out one more time. Okay, I was ready now.
“So you’re telling me that you’re the embodiment of pure evil? That you are some divine being who is over billions of years old? Why on earth should I believe you? For all I know you brought me here to hurt me again. Is this some bad joke? Because if so, it’s not working. You’ve already hurt me once and I’ll be damned if you hurt me again.”
He looked at me for a moment and then turned his head away. “No Grace, this is not a joke. I’m being honest.” He then turned his head back to me and I stared into his eyes. His beautiful, golden eyes. Wait a second.
“Your eyes...what. How do they change color like that? Do you wear contacts? Sometimes they’re black and other times they are gold.”
He laughed. “I knew you noticed that. I’ve had that theory for quite some time now. I’m glad you did notice, because now it makes convincing you that I’m telling the truth a little bit easier.”
It was my turn to laugh. “They are totally contacts. Stop joking with me. Take them out so I can prove that you are lying.”
He shrugged. “Alright, let’s try.”
He held his hand up to his eye and tried removing the contact. Any second it will pop out and that will prove that he was the liar. I waited. A solid two minutes passed and he still could not remove the contact.
I was getting nervous again. I occasionally wear glasses time from time, but most days I wear contact lenses. From experience I know it should not be taking this long to remove them.
He moved his hand away from his eyes and let out a chuckle.“See Grace, they aren’t contacts. I told you I was right. So now this proves that I am not lying.”
I let out a groan. “Okay no. This only proves that you aren’t lying about your eyes. I’m sure you just have some rare eye disorder or something. This proves nothing else though.” I stomped my foot on the ground and started walking back towards the car. I knew I was throwing a hissy fit but I had no idea how to react to this situation right now.
Suddenly Malum was right by my side. He grabbed my arm and turned me so that I was facing him. I had trouble breathing again. We were so close together now.
He raised his hand and brushed some of my hair out of the way of my face. I loved when he did that.
He then took my hands and held them in his. “Grace, do you trust me? Even a little bit?”
Part of me wanted to blurt out no, but I knew that would be a lie. Did I trust him completely? No, I didn’t. However I can’t pretend our friendship at the beginning of the school year didn’t happen. We were friends—and I trusted him back then.
“I-I trust you a little bit, yes.” I looked away but kept my hands in his.
“So, since you trust me a little bit, can I prove to you that I’m not lying about everything? Please.”
I thought for a moment. What’s the worst that could happen right? “Fine.”
He smiled. “Thank you. Now hang on to me and don’t let go. This is going to be weird.”
I nodded and squeezed his hands tighter. Our contact sent an electric shock through my body. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this.
“Here we go.” he said. He quickly raised one of his hands before grabbing back on to mine. Suddenly a large purple cloud of smoke swirled around us—the same cloud that saved me in my dreams. Next thing I knew the cloud washed over us and everything went dark.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
