Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
She woke up with a splitting headache and noticed that Kyle was beside her bed. Tapping his shoulder lightly she began to wonder how long she was unconscious “Ann!” he brightened.
She smiled in response while signing with her hands ‘What happened?’
Kyle shook his head “I’m not sure. You just fainted. It’s been three days.” Ann turned to him with a bewilder expression “The doctors could not determine the cause of your dizzy spells. But you were shifting a lot in your sleep, the nurses even said they heard you say something incoherent.”
Anna raised her brows ‘Really?’ she gestured. She was born a mute, while everyone had a larynx, she was born with a damaged one and was told that she would never recover from the syndrome. She had accepted her fate since she was a little girl but she never imagined one day someone would tell her that she had spoken in her sleep.
He nodded in reply “They said you had a temporary brain lapse. What happened before you blacked out?"
She looked away, trying to recur the memory and slowly her hands began speaking for themselves ‘I heard sounds and then it became deafening. My head began to hurt and became so loud that I could not take it. I covered my ears and the last thing I heard was you calling my name.’
“That’s bizarre.” He knew it was unexplainable and it gave him more reason to pry as he was a man that wanted to know everything “What sounds did you hear?”
Ann didn’t want to tell him about her special gift, instead she shook her head and motioned ‘It was just a really bad headache.’
“I see.” He nodded slowly, not buying her story but he didn’t want to press “How are you feeling now?”
‘Better.’ She smiled ‘Can I check out now?’
“I’ll help you.” He offered while getting up to get her the forms. Ann’s smile faded as she thought about the voices and the ear piercing cries of a creature beyond this world. She knew it was not an average animal.
************* Two Months Later**************
Alex was sound asleep in her bed, dreaming that she was on stage with thousands of fans cheering her on. It was a goal for her to be famous for she loved to be in the spotlight but she did not have special acting or singing skills. But in her mind, she had it all. Fame and fortune with thousands of people who adored her.
Kevin was ready and packed to go as he came to her home early that morning. The maid advised that she was still sound asleep. Sighing, he climbed the stairs and entered her room without knocking “Alex?” he started softly “Alex.” He approached her bed and noticed she had on a smile “Alex!” he shook her violently, startling her.
“What? What?” she saw him and was instantly reminded the dream was just a dream “Why do you always wake me up at the wrong time?” covering a yawn with her hand.
“Don’t you know what day it is?” he was stunned by her short term memory. He had only reminded her a hundred times last night that they were leaving for Europe the following day “Summer day…full moon…” he hinted.
She raised her brows at him innocently “What did you say? Sorry, I wasn’t listening.”
“Alex…”
“Oh no, not the fatherly tone!” she covered her ears menacingly “No, I want to sleep!”
Kevin reached for her hands and yanked them away from her ears “You can sleep after you have demolished evil and return victorious!”
Alex narrowed her eyes mischievously “Why are you so determined to help me? That legend did not mention a goofy sidekick. Do you want the prestige that bad, Kevin? Would you kill to be in my shoes?”
His eyes widened in horror “I…I can’t believe you would say that.” Letting go of her hands as he turned away from her.
The grin appeared quickly as she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck from the back “I’m just teasing Kevin. I know you would never harm me, because you love me!”
Kevin turned his face towards her and smiled from her childish grin “As long as you know that.” Giving her a friendly kiss on the temple as he pushed her off the bed “Now come on, we only have two hours until the flight takes off!”
“Two hours? That’s how long it takes me to do my hair!” she rushed towards the bathroom while his chuckles followed her down the hall.
With Kevin rushing her, Alex was done in less than an hour “See, you look just as beautiful.” Ignoring the hasty smear of lipstick on the edge of her lips.
“You’re just saying that because you want to go early and be the first dork on the plane.” She snickered as she snapped the hand mirror that he pried from her hands.
“Better safe than sorry.” Kevin reminded her. Picking up her luggage as he pulled them downstairs, She had three in total and they felt heavier than ten bricks trapped into one “Jesus Alex! What do you have in here?” he asked after the second luggage.
She followed him downstairs while rubbing the lotion around her bare arms “Just a few necessities.”
“Your manicurist is not in here is she?” he said with sarcasm.
Alex threw her head back with a comfortable laugh “Of course not. Anyways, the woman is a little chubby, it’ll take two luggages to fit her.”
“Why do you need so much clothes anyways?” he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
She winced with disgust while reaching into her Louis Vuiton bag to get him a bag of tissues “If I’m going to fight evil, I might as well fight with style.” He laughed at the ridiculous response as she looked offended “You think it’s funny? What if we win this battle and be discovered by the people. I want to look my best. And if we die, I’ll still look my best.”
“We’re not going to die.” He concluded firmly.
“You don’t know that.” Alex said reasonably “Now come on, let’s get this over with.” The ride was comfortable in the limo but the minute she exited the car, she was whining again “I just hate summer don’t you? It’s sticky and humid and just way too hot. I can’t believe I let you talk me into this journey Kevin, you know that you’re cutting into my vacation time. I always go to Hawaii during this season…” she faded when she noticed he was not by her side. Turning her heels, she saw him struggling to pull along three luggages. Smiling as she tapped her shoes against the floor “Let’s go, we only have half an hour left, all the best seats are gone.”
His hands were red from pulling as he finally caught up with her “Is this payback from that one day I didn’t help you at the Temple?”
“Oh please, Kevin. I don’t hold grudges.” She said casually with a laugh.
He flicked a brow upwards “Really? Funny that you should still remember the time I pulled your pigtails when we were ten.”
She flipped around and pointed at him dangerously “That hurted! You made me cry and the teacher had to fix my braids and she did a horrible job. I was laughed at the rest of the day!”
“I’m sorry…” Kevin was surprised she had taken it to the heart.
But as quick as her anger came, it fizzled from his apology “Oh it’s okay. I don’t even think about it anymore.” He stared at her strangely while they got in line for check in which took another fifteen minutes. By the time they were boarding, they had become the last people on the plane “See, look at all the geeks.” She leaned in closer to whisper to him.
Kevin shook his head with a silent smile as they were escorted to their first class seats “You even have to fly in style. You can’t just take coach?”
“Ew. Don’t say that word to me. Ever.” She winced in disgust.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to ask you all to put on your seatbelts. We are ready for take off. We will try our best to make you comfortable for the 22 hours flight.” The flight attendant’s voice came over the speaker box.
“Twenty two hours?!!” Alex exclaimed, “You told me it would only be ten! You lied?”
“Did I?” he asked after buckling his belt and leaned over to help her “I can’t remember. Oh well…”
“Oh well?” she shook her head in shock “That’s it, I’m not talking to you for the rest of the flight!” throwing a tantrum with her arms crossed as she turned away and into the window as she watched the plane take off from the airport. After a good ten minutes, Alex turned to Kevin as she patted him excitedly on the arm “Look, Hong Kong harbor looks like a little puddle of water!!”
He grinned teasingly “I thought you weren’t talking to me?”
“Oh right, thanks for reminding me.” She spun her body away and crossed her arms making him laugh. Alex turned to him slowly “Truce?” she couldn’t hold being silent for the whole trip.
“I was never mad at you, there is no truce.” He knew what to say to make her grin grow wider. She leaned comfortably on his shoulder while he pulled out a book to read.
Alex felt his hands shifting as she turned over and found him reading “Is that what you’re going to do the whole trip? Bore me for death?” he rolled his eyes “You have to entertain me, this is all your fault, you’re the one that talked me into going.” She reminded him.
Kevin gave up as he closed his books “Okay, Peachie, what do you want to do?”
“Talk. You have to talk to me for the whole flight.” She declared. His head fell limply from the request as he snored away. Alex shook her head as she used her hands to lift his face “Uh uh, you’re not getting away that easily. Okay, start from your childhood. Or better yet, talk about the time that we were separated. What did you do? Who did you do?”
He couldn’t help but smile from the latter question “I didn’t do anyone. And I already told you this story. You were nodding off after five minutes.”
“Well that’s good. At least I’ll be asleep and I won’t bother you until I wake up. You know how deep of a sleep I get into.” She reminded him.
He nodded “Good point. Anyways, I was only fourteen—”
“Thirteen.” She corrected.
He scratched his head “Right…Thirteen. My family moved to Au Mun and I grew up there going into my first year of high school and--”
“Shouldn’t it be your last year of middle school?” she interrupted.
“Do you want to tell the story?” he asked annoyingly.
Alex sat upright with a grin “I thought you’d never ask. Anyways, I was only thirteen when I entered my last year of middle school. It was amazing how popular I had gotten within just one year…” he smiled while she rambled on and on about her story. At least it kept her comfortable for the next few hours of the flight.
She only paused when breakfast, lunch and dinner were served. Even then, she was not finished with her story and Kevin soon found it was easy to block out someone’s voice while they talked. He always thought it was difficult. In his mind, he was laughing at the thought of Alex finding out he was not listening. His eyes moved to the back of the room after he realized a person had walked through. His heart gave a little jump, she was the same girl in the restaurant that saved them from a flaming dish.
His brows ruffled curiously when she made hand gestures instead of speaking to the flight attendant. She was mute. Alex’s hand forced him to turn away from the girl as he began nodding ever now and then and made agreeing sounds while she talked.