Curiouser

(Norman's POV)

"Norman."

Round eyes that sucked me in like an endless void. Skin pale like porcelain that had no trace of scratch, no wounds or bruises. Long dark hair that blocked her angelic face. She wore a grey dress, a uniform that every girl wore but never drew my eyes unless it was her. In her hand was a flower wreath that could fit her delicate head. Her bright smile was both awkward and alluring as she spoke my name.

"Happy Birthday." Her hands brought the wreath to my head, the smell of her clothes next to my nose mixed with the tangy odor of flowers.

I didn't speak. My hand just touched the ring hanging on my head, the small white flowers shaking as I moved.

"Remember when you gave the same flower crown to me? I recently learned the names of those. The yellow ones are dandelions and the small white ones are baby's breath. Aren't they endearing?" Her smile illuminated the tingling flame in my heart, my guilt and my gratitude fighting for dominion.

She then lied to the blanket-covered floor and sighed. "I have a wish for you. But I'll keep them to myself so that they'll come true."

I made a wish too. I wish that, if ever there exists a next life, we'll meet again. I wish to know and have you in every life.

"Happy Birthday again, Norman."

"Norman."

My eyes flashed open. I woke up from a vivid dream. What was that? Where did that come from? What are these emotions I'm suffocating in?

"Norman?" I turned and sat up. Standing there next to the Imo's bed was Ms. Lee. I looked around and noticed that it was still dark, small arrow to four and long to ten in my watch. I stood up to check on Imo.

"She woke up last night when I got here. I made her drink lots of water and gave her food and the fruits you brought." Ms. Lee poured water on the glass and handed it to me. "You better prepare for school, I got it here."

I nodded and set down the glass. "I don't know how to repay you Ms. Lee."

She ruffled my hair and smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry yourself. I'm doing this because it's your aunt. This is my way of repaying everything I owed her. Now go and attend school."

I gave a short smile, bowed and left with my bag. Walking down the hallway, I recollected the images from my dream. Dazed, I could barely grasp them in detail, or recognize the voice of the girl. The only thing I remembered was the feeling in my chest, the fervent desire to meet her again, the inexplicable tightness in my chest that tugged my heart, and the confounding disbelief in my bereavement. All these emotions crippling me after reading that entry. Wait. Entry. The notebook!

Running back, I wondered where I could've left it. Last night I ate three clementines and ramyeon for dinner. I remember eating in between flips, and I'd pause when I thought aloud to myself. When I reached the room, Ms. Lee was holding the notebook as she sat on the couch. She raised her head and met my eyes.

"I believe that's mine." That's not really mine.

I held out my hand and she stood up, walking towards me. "You're gonna be late."

I smiled and retraced my steps in a hurry. Already running late, I headed home to change and ready for school.

.........

ding

'See you at school?'

Gillian sent a message and I replied. After his message last night, he didn't follow up. Maybe they had too much of a good time at her place. Not that I'm curious.

I was just about to leave the bus when I saw Rorim from the window of another bus. From afar, she seemed to be brooding, her brows in a crease and her gaze distant. At first I thought that she was going to stand up and take off but seconds have already passed and she just stayed there. Stepping out, I can swear our eyes met just now. Before her bus took off, her eyes caught mine, her face unreadable. Where is she headed?

Shaking my head, I paced the crossing. Whatever her business was nothing of mine.

Unbothered, I headed directly to my club room. I wasn't alone when I got there. Ian, our club president who was a camera geek, was already showing off pictures to the other two members first thing in the morning.

"Norman!"

"Yo, Hyde!

"Come here, Norman. Come."

I dropped my bag to the nearest seat and dragged my feet to their side of the table.

Ian rested his arm on my shoulder, beaming. "I was showing Neil and Kiko here the pictures I took from my hiking trip this weekend. Caught pretty good snaps that I can't help but show it off."

"This really is dope, bro." marveled Neil, his finger pointing to the camera as he nodded.

"I like the foreground shadow and the focus on the background on this one, it looks moody." Kiko commented, fixing his glasses as he focused on them.

I leaned forward as Kiko raised the camera screen for me, scrolling through the pictures.

"Are these up in your account yet?" I asked, subtly impressed.

Ian shook his head while swaying left and right. "I will later. Busy with gigs the past two days. By the way, I saw this photography contest from Facebook. Wait, actually I'll share it in the group." He took out his phone and started fiddling. I took out my phone as well and checked. There posted his latest share and we all clicked on it.

"Five thousand euros cash prize? Bro.."

"Open theme huh."

"I'm thinking why not join. All of us, I mean. Participants should submit five pictures or more. Why not we each submit entries? One of us could probably win and y'know, bring a name for our club." Ian switched eyes with all of us and shrugged. "What do y'all think?"

I checked again and looked at the rest of the contents. "Deadline is third of November. That's four weeks away."

"We still have time then." Kiko blurted, considering.

"Five thousand.."

"You really just aiming for the money, huh?" Ian slapped Neil's arm and Neil sniggered.

"Hypocrite, you're also aiming for that." Neil spat, rubbing his arm.

"I'm in." Kiko announced, his face serious.

Ian glanced at me, waiting.

I returned to my seat and sat. "I'll think about it." Ian nodded, understanding.

"Do tell us when you've made up your mind." Ian tapped my shoulder and returned his camera in his bag from the lockers. "We'll also share it with the rest when they arrive. I'm thinking that we all can submit our entries together before the deadline, so that none of us would feel pressured."

Kiko sipped from his bottle and spoke. "I think the others will be interested."

ding

'Don't ignore us. We know who and where you are. Return the bracelet or we'll get it from you.'

Brows furrowed, another message appeared.

'You have until today, Hourglass. Return the bracelet to this address. We'll be waiting for you.'

Hourglass? Did they mistake my number as hers? How did they even know her? And how did they get my number? This doesn't make any freaking sense. Is this supposed to be a joke? I don't even have the bracelet anymore.

Ignoring it, I tossed my phone in my bag. Before closing it, the plain notebook caught my eye. And since I didn't have anything much to do, I figured that I could kill some time with reading instead of getting bothered with prank texts.

Skipping the ones I read, I stopped on the new entry and started reading, my impatience growing like a kid excited for the next episode of my favorite show.

To see is to believe, and I guess, in most mysterious, impossible scenarios, that phrase applies. For me, I never believed in reincarnation. Until it happened to me.

Similar to my first life, I had a perfect memory of when I was born. I personally had no idea how reincarnation works but when I woke up, I knew everything was different. I knew immediately because first of all, I had parents. Compared to my first life, I had a real family. I was raised by a loving mother. Her name was Carol and she was different from Ms. Hipher. You can really tell the difference, how a mother loves. Apart from her, there was father, Julian and elder sister Clarence. I had been named Julie and I, despite reserved and timid because of my past trauma, grew up happy.

Things are different when you have a real family. For starters, there's birthdays every year that's celebrated specifically for you. My family wasn't rich unlike the Zhaos but they can afford most of our needs, and wants from time to time. Unlike my past life where I shared birthdays and cakes with other kids, I had my own cake and a little feast. And even if I wasn't really expressive or lively, I spoke with manners and formality that I knew from my past life. Aside from cakes, there was school too. The learning sessions with Ms. Hipher had been a practice for me for my school life. Not to brag but I was a quick learner and a top student. That recognition from my teacher and my parents helped me gain my self-esteem and confidence, slowly, as I grew up. More than those, I felt grateful and fortunate to have a family who loved me and patiently understood me with all my shortcomings. Going back, school was long, yearly. There was this thing in highschool where a few students peaked. I wasn't one of them but I had a good amount of friends I shared great memories with. There was Laura who loved birds like me, Harold who I played chess with even though he always lost, and Jennie who was my neighbor and best friend. Like most friendships, we encountered challenges, especially when the four of us parted ways in college. Laura and Harold moved out to a different city while Jennie missed marks in tests of the school we both applied to. Still, we made sure to keep tabs and make contacts now and then.

"Yo, what's that? A diary?"

I snapped the notebook close and raised my head to him, a fake smile to my lips.

Immediately he raised his hands to the air and stepped back. "Ain't saw nothing."

"Eyes on you, Neil." Still smiling, I brought my bag to the lockers and told Ian that I'll head to the bathroom. I wasn't really going to pee, I was to continue my reading there. And I did, entering one of the cubicles, pushing down the bowl cover and opening the last page I left at.

In college, I studied education. I discovered that I wanted to teach when I was in highschool and my friends asked me to tutor them before exams. I learned that I had passion for teaching when I felt eager to prepare for pointers and practice tests for them, which helped them immensely because they passed every quarter. I was in my last year when I met someone. His name was Finn and we dated. He majored in Veterinary Science and I knew him because of a mutual acquaintance. Finn was gentle, caring, thoughtful and passionate, especially about animals. I guess you could say that was one of the things I loved about him. Mom and dad loved him too. In Clarence's wedding, I went with Finn as my date and I introduced him to them then. At my graduation, he promised me that he'll propose when he graduates and, of course, I waited.

While he had four more years to finish, I took my licensure exam. Lucky me, I passed at the first try. And while waiting for him, I applied as a highschool teacher in a prestigious school. After I got accepted, I was hit by a realization that this life has been kind and peaceful for me. That was until I saw N. Yes, the same N from my past life. And if fate was not satisfied, he was to be one of my students. Of course, as a professional teacher I had to throw my personal feelings aside. It only felt weird and bothersome that I remember him while he had no idea I was the Raven from the past life. Apart from the awkward situation, being a teacher was harder than I expected, especially in handling high school students. That challenge didn't discourage me from performing better. In fact, by half of the school year they were already warming up to me and I to them. Yes, even N. By the time the Parent-Teacher's Conference was held, I discovered that N was adopted by the Zhaos. At that moment, upon meeting them, the pride and persona I slowly built all those years crumbled. I tried with all my might to hide it from them and even if I preserved it painfully, I broke down after.

After that meeting, I slowly regressed to my weak, deprecating self. It affected my work, my relationship with myself and my students. If not for Finn and my mom who visited me, I would not have improved. Even when they didn't understand what caused my withdrawal, they looked out for me. Until I was better. Slowly, I gained my 'better' self back and I returned to work. Having realized the trauma that haunted me, and my fortune for having great, loving people around me, I worried about N. Like I said in my past life, the environment that you're exposed to factors in your outlook in life. I found in my heart to forgive N, considering that he was only a child for choosing his actions in our previous life. And because I had forgiven him, it was only inherent that I felt the need to save him. I then analyzed my plans to approach and confirm my worries. It was awkward at first still, to be intentionally close and concerned towards someone who doesn't remember anything about you (at all). As expected from N, he was smart, capable of grasping the situation immediately. Little did I know that the Zhaos had a connection and inside eye in the school, which alarmed me after seeing N's hidden bruise on his leg. Right then I knew I had to hasten and bring my plan into action earlier than necessary. And so, one day, after faking to give him extra lessons after dismissal, I brought him to my car, in the least suspicious attempt I could manage, and drove, taking him to a nearby restaurant as we waited for the social welfare authorities. Of course, rescuing a poor boy from the hands of the Zhaos will never be easy. I expected to be followed and monitored; what I didn't was the shameless act of violence of the trash's minions on me, out in public. For someone who cares about their fake reputation, they were unpredictably desperate on that aspect, over a child who they only needed as a trophy at their disposal. Despite my fear, I fought back. Maybe it was to repay how N saved me in my previous life. Maybe it was to ruin the Zhaos' life and make sure I did it successfully. Maybe it was to prove to myself that I was more than a weak coward handicapped by trauma whenever it triggers. But I fought back and held on. And even though I was shot and bleeding to the floor, I knew I won. The authorities arrived with a number of police and N managed to run to their aid. To my silent, aching torment, I breathed my last in triumph.

Dazed, I walked back to the club room. Whether this was a diary or just a made-up story, I was overwhelmed by emotions. In awe with the way the writer told their story. Devastated with the series of events, especially every ending, even though it has been just two stories. Will there be any more? It's discombobulating that it just seemed too consistent and contextual to be fake, yet too bizarre and dramatic as if it was straight out of a movie. Disturbing to read the amount of tragedy occurring to the main character. I need to know where this is leading to.

"Norman."

I looked up and raised my eyebrows.

"Your phone has been ringing non stop earlier." Kiko stated, his fingers pointing to the locker I locked my bag in.

Yanking it out, I opened my bag and checked my phone. It was almost lunch and I missed ten calls, seven from Sam and three from the unknown number, just three minutes ago. No wonder most of them were quiet.

I was about to text Sam when it rang again.

"You've been calling?"

"Why were you ignoring? Have you seen Ro? Messaged her? It's almost lunch and she can't be reached. I'm worrying over here so ple—"

"I saw her earlier on a bus. It was heading somewhere."

"And you didn't even call out to her?"

Should I? "It wasn't my business."

"Stupid! Now we don't know where she went. Thanks for minding your own business."

I fumed. Now it's my fault for not caring?

"You're gonna help us find her. This is kinda your fault."

"How—"

duut duut

Call dropped. Wow. Just wow. Women's whims surely are wonderful. Awesome.

"Mom?"

"Girlfriend?"

ding

'You made your choice Hourglass. Your sand's gone, time's up. Remember, we know where you are. You asked for it.'

If this day couldn't be any better.

'Where are you?'

I texted and sent, my unease numbing on my fingertips as I waited for her reply.