DUSK by Esther Machethe (top books of all time txt) 📕

We know your real mother found you and sent those men on Saturday. I don’t know when she’ll attack again. I’m sorry Chloe but there are so many organizations that would give anything to control you or to get that chip, be careful with who you trust.” Dad finally stopped talking and tried to gage my reaction again.

“So you mean I will be hunted down all my life?” I asked the only thing on my mind at the time making dad smile.

“No, when you turn eighteen, only you will have access and control over Dusk, though it will be like having a weird voice in your head. Which brings me to the next thing; no one can know about Dusk, not even your friends until you are sure you can trust them.” He said in a firm voice. For the first time in forever, dad looked tired, like he had aged a hundred years. This was too much to bear; it was too tense in here.

“So I won’t turn into a robot slave or a cy-zombie in the future, am I? I mean, if there was to be a possibility of cyber invasion in the future it would be great if I didn’t turn into a cy-zombie so that I can…you know…” I trailed off, realizing what my mouth had just said. I really need a filter.

Dad threw his head back and laughed and mom smiled at me. He looked relieved.

“No Chloe, there’s no chance of that.” Mom assured me, an amused smile on her lips.

“Are you guys sure because if there’s any chance of that then I will blame it on you.” I tried to sound serious but my voice was high and squeaky making me laugh at myself. I could say my life was really fucked up but to be honest, it really wasn’t. It just turns out my life is like a movie, one of those cool James Bond movies, except am not a man, am not old and I don’t say “name’s Bond, James Bond”.

I was so busy thinking about myself that I didn’t even hear my phone ringing.

“Honey, are you going to answer your phone, it’s been ringing for quite some time now.” Mom interrupted my mind-rumbling. I flipped the cover open to find Emma’s name flashing.

“Hello?”

“Open the bloody door Chloe; we’ve been here for five minutes already.” She answered without even a greeting and hang up without even waiting for my response. I took that as a sign that she was pissed off and a pissed off Emma was never a good sign.

“What the hell is wrong with you, why didn’t you tell me that you were sick in the morning?!” Em yelled at me while still standing at the door. Sapph and Ash were standing quietly behind, everyone was afraid of a pissed of Emma.

“Hi to you too, I’m doing great thanks and please come in, there’s plenty of room inside.” I retorted sarcastically and rolled my eyes at her. I turned and walked in as they followed.  We all sat down in the living room; Ash and Sapph sat together on a sofa opposite the one which I was sitting on and Em sat on the palm-shaped chair, the air around us was seriously tense but I guess it was because we were waiting for Em to finally explode.

“So, what happened at school today, you seemed fine at lunch?” Ash chose to break the silence. The girls’ eyes turned to me curiously. This was harder than I thought. I was about to create a stupid story when mom chose to come in at that precise moment carrying a tray of freshly cooked food.

“Make sure you eat this time, we don’t want a repeat of what happened at school, do we?” she placed the tray on the table and turned to the guys.

“She won’t eat alone so I made food for everyone, make sure you all eat.”

“Sure, thanks, mom,” I tried to sound okay but Ash gave me the ‘cut the crap’ look as usual. I swear that guy was a natural lie detector and could sniff a lie from a mile away. After mom left, he turned back to me.

“Chloe, tell us what’s going on, you know we won’t tell anyone.” I was about to open my mouth again when a thought occurred to me, and might I add, it was the best idea ever.

“I will when you tell us why you choose to focus all attention on us when you could have any girl in the world but you never pay any attention to them?” I asked. I wasn’t really sure about the answer but I was just stalling.

Em came and sat next to me so that she could look Ash in the face. He shuffled slightly and ran his hand through his hair, a sign that he was either nervous or frustrated but I chose to go with the former.

^^^^^

It was an hour after Chloe was taken into the nurse’s office and I was told to go back to class but I just couldn’t leave, I couldn’t walk away without knowing what happened to her. She just fainted after I mentioned Dusk and does she even know what happened to her on that Saturday? She killed people, not just one but two people who were too huge for her, how can she just act like she doesn’t know what happened unless she really is clueless.

“Young man, you will wear out your shoes if you keep pacing like that.” A voice startled me out of my thoughts. I almost jumped but I didn’t luckily, that would have been a weakness on my part. I turned my head, ready to yell at whoever that was but I came face to face with principle Jacobs.

Now don’t get me wrong, he is one of the best principles ever only if you don’t get on his wrong side.

“What’s on your mind son,” he asked, concern lacing his thoughts.

“My girlfriend, I mean a friend of mine was just brought here, by me, but the nurse asked me to go to class an hour ago. She still hasn’t come out and am just concerned what is taking her so long,” I blurted out. Girlfriend? Seriously what is wrong with me? I broke up with her.

“Well, let me see if I can talk to the nurse so that she can at least tell you how she is, what’s her name?” He smiled reassuringly at me. See, he’s the coolest principle ever. I felt myself smile.

“Her name is Chloe sir, Chloe Jade.” I sounded too hopeful. His smile faltered for a bit and I would have missed it if I blinked. He nodded then went in, closing the door behind him. He didn’t even last a minute before he came out, a tight smile on his lips.

“She went home; the nurse had called her parents to take her to the hospital since she wasn’t able to make out what was wrong with her. Try to relax then after school you can talk to her parents and maybe go see her.” He said as he tried to reassure me. After the talk I just had with her mom in the principal’s office, I doubt she would want to see me again. I sighed in defeat and nodded, it wasn’t worth it.

I walked to the gym, trying to think of a way I could know how she was doing. The coach was mad at me for being an hour late to practice and made me ran laps around the field and placed me on water duty for the next two weeks of practice, so much for being caring. After practice I was walking towards my car when a thought occurred to me, maybe I should talk to her friends since obviously they knew where she was and how she was doing. I switched direction and walked towards their side of the parking lot but I was too late, I saw Emma and Ashton drive off and I would have almost left if I hadn’t seen Sapphire.

I quickly walked towards her, “Hey Sapph, where’s Chloe, is she alright?” the questions flew out of my mouth before I could filter them.

She raised a questioning brow at me; “Why do you care so much and yet she isn’t your girlfriend?” she challenged me. I was speechless; I didn’t have an answer to that.

“I honestly don’t know but I just care, so tell me, is she alright?” I just decided to wing it, hoping that my tone would convince her.

“She’s alright and at home, her mom said that it was just an effect of the flue she suffered this weekend and she missed her meal, the medicine she’s on is too strong.” She sighed. I wanted to ask if they knew anything about dusk but I held back, Chloe wasn’t sick on Saturday but I wasn’t going to tell her that so I just nodded, mumbled small thanks and walked towards my car where an impatient Angeline was waiting for me.

“What the hell Alec, why were you talking to that nobody’s friend?” she screeched; sometimes I wonder what I saw in her.

“I wanted to make sure Chloe was alright, she fainted earlier in class and went to the hospital, but she’s okay now so we’re good to go.” I tried to sound casual and I guess it worked. I opened her door and walked over to the driver’s side and got in.

“Where am I dropping you off my lady?” I tried to lighten the mood but she shot down my joke with a glare, this can’t be good.

“Do you know what today is?” I just gave her a blank look, “It's shopping day, so you have to take me shopping at the mall and help carry my bags.” She said slowly like she was talking to a child. I resisted the urge to face-palm myself. Times like this I just wish I was with Chloe instead; she never made me do things like this. I put on a fake smile and turned the engine on before turning away from her.

“Of course babe, how could I forget?” I put an emphasis on the ‘could’ and ‘forget’ hoping that she gets my sarcasm but she just smiled smugly at me. Without another word, I headed towards the mall and found a parking spot despite her constant complaints that we should have parked the car close to the mall so that she didn’t have to walk far.

Two hours later and almost twenty shopping bags later, we walked out of the mall with Angeline still complaining that she didn’t get exactly get what she wanted. I almost asked what was in these bags but I could only hum my answers. I just wanted to go home, take a warm shower and sleep but before that, I had to drop her home and help her to put her things in her room which was on the furthest corner of the right side of the hallway. As soon as I placed the bags on her floor,