Guardians - Angely Cruz (best motivational books to read txt) 📗

My head felt like it had been sitting on a rollercoaster seat for five hours. I rolled over, smiling gently, feeling the comfortable bed under my body. Last night had been a blur, but I remember how my feet felt like they were on fire after running for miles and miles from the park to my house with Georgia, my best friend, running behind me like a crazy person.

I opened my eyes and sighed. The clock, on the black nightstand beside the bed, marked 5:00am. My hand swam to open the first drawer, feeling around until my fingers gripped a little notebook, pulling it out. Seating cross-legged with a pillow in my lap and the notebook opened to the middle, my eyes moved around the room looking for a pen to outline the number twenty-five on the big list I wrote inside the notebook. The desk in the corner next to the door, on the other side of the room, said hello to me. I looked at it, and I saw the pen I had used three months ago, sitting there waiting to be picked up. Pushing the pillow to the side, I stood making my way to the desk feeling like I was walking on air. My index finger reached for the pen to look at it, with a wide smile making its way to my lips. I walked back to the bed to position myself like before. I outlined 25 on the list, be part of the Annual Not-Usual Summer Party, before rolling my eyes to number twenty-six.

26. Meet a non-human.

Reading it for the second time, now that I’m a first year college woman, I began to laugh hard. “What was I thinking when I made this list, oh right. I was in the ninth grade; of course I would think it’s immature.”

Suddenly, I felt like time stopped, when an unexpected rush of cold air made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My mind wandered to movies like Twilight and Underworld, and then to Paranormal Activity. I laughed nervously, knowing those things weren’t real. I was just being stupid and naïve thinking my life was going to be a vampire, werewolf or ghost story.

Summer started two days ago. Georgia and I had been doing my bucket list since last August, and until now everything seemed to be going fine, except for that weird happening this morning at 5:00am in my bedroom. Georgia called me asking what was next on the list. She was going on and on about how pumped she was to do the next ‘dare.’ My voice trembled when I said those words.
“April dear, you have to stop this obsession with zombies and fallen angels,” she said, the smile evident in her voice. “You know what, never mind.”
Georgia was crazy, she’s obsessed with zombies and fallen angels, not me-

“April, we’re leaving in two weeks,” She said to my astonishment.

I didn’t know where we were going or what we were doing, but I knew my plans for this summer had officially been ruined.

She smiled, “You forgot silly, we’re going to the summer house in Miami Beach.”

My mind went blank.
I love my brother and everything, but why would I want to leave nice and cold Canada for sweaty and hot Miami Beach?

"Mom, I'm not going."

Besides, how would I tell Georgia I was leaving her for Miami Beach?

"April Serenity Cipriano, that's no way to talk to your mother," her face turned red and I knew I had said the wrong thing. "You want to or not, you’re going, start packing."
She turned left the room. I took my phone from under my pillow and dialed Georgia's number. She picked up after two rings and hell, she sounded happy. Well, her voice grew more upset with every word I said.

~

"I can't believe you're leaving me in three days," Georgia sipped some of her coffee.
"This summer meant everything to me, April."

"Georgia, it's not my fault, you know how Mom is; besides, I can't just leave her hanging. She’ll kill me."

Eleven days had passed and we spent every moment together, with Georgia trying to hook me up with guys to help me stay, it didn’t work. Looking out the Starbuck’s window, Georgia sighed.

I followed her gaze, seeing a man standing on the other side of the street wearing a black coat and black jeans; he was looking directly at us. I turned quickly to Georgia, to see if she saw what I saw, but she was staring at some puppy eating pieces of ham.

I drank the rest of my caramel macchiato, finding myself staring at the guy again. His hair was up in a guiff with dark shades covering his eyes. I looked more intently trying to memorize the way his neck moved to the side and how his knees would bend a little every time someone passed in front of him.

I turn back to Georgia again, but she was fixated on the puppy licking his paws. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up again. I grabbed the cardboard cup so hard that the remaining coffee splashed out to run down my fingers. My vision drifted back to where the suspicious guy stood, but he was gone. Shocked, I dropped my cup on the table making Georgia look back at me.

“Huh, what?”

“Georgia, you should know,” I licked my lips. “You looked really weird watching that puppy.”
She laughed so loud, that the old man sitting at the table beside us turned his head to stare. “Oh please April; I wasn’t looking at a puppy.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Georgia, let’s go, we still have to go to the mall.” I stood, looked at the other side of the street, shaking my head

~

"Call me everyday, okay?"

I nodded, "Of course, Georgia. Now let me go, the plane's going to leave me here!"

She laughed, her green eyes sparkling with sadness and happiness at the same time. I waved and turned around, looking at Mom desperately stomped her foot in the ground.

"April, move. We're going to be late!" she screeched and grabbed my hand, pulling me away with her.

After five minutes, we were inside the plane, sitting completely apart. I swear the air hostess hated me right now. I don’t think I was being annoying, but I had not stopped asking for her to move me beside my mom. She continued declining my offers with such amiability; I just wanted to cut her head off.

About three hours later and almost losing our bags, we were out of the airport waiting for my brother Ethan to pick us up. Mom hasn't stopped talking about how kind the woman who sat next to her was. Meanwhile, I had to spend three hours stuck beside a fat man snoring like a whale, typical, right?

~

A black BMW with tinted windows parked in front of us and a guy with short spiked black hair and eyes just like mines got out. It took me a few minutes to realize it was Ethan. My mom squealed immediately and ran to hug me. I stood there watching the scene and waited for them to finish so I could just put my bags in the trunk and go to sleep. Ethan let go of mom and turned to me.

"If it isn't Ms. Antisocial," he smiled mockingly.

Ethan is two years older than me. When I had my 18th birthday he bragged that his was better. His definition of better was getting drunk out of his mind and hooking up with half a room.

~

When we arrived at the summer house, thirty minutes later, I had already slept for what felt like hours. I woke with someone shaking my left arm, and my eyes met with Ethan’s. He smirked.
"Come on, pretty girl. It's Showtime."

I moved slowly and got out of the car following mom and Ethan, who opened the door with his key.
"Welcome ladies," he said in a fake British accent.

I took my bags, and without a word, climbed the stairs to the last door to the right. My room was the same, no new bed clothes, no new curtains. Even the posters of my favorite bands still hung on the walls.

My mind wandered and brought up a picture of the guy outside of Starbucks. His dark hair and his arms, covered by the deep black coat he was wearing, when suddenly the same cold feeling wrapped around me once again.

I felt my mind go blank and my body moved on its own as I walked over to my window.
It faced the adjacent window to the house next door.

I could hear more clearly the sound of the waves crashing on the sand and noticed how hot it was. I moved the curtains aside and looked down, that’s when I saw him. The same guy. His quiff was still there, his coat hung on one arm, while he just stood there looking behind him. Suddenly, he looked up and our eyes met for the first time. I wondered what he was doing here, was he following me?

My mind went blank once again. I tried to speak but nothing came. He broke our eye contact and just like that he walked inside the house and disappeared. I let out air I didn't know I was holding and turned around with my mind in knots. I was confused, I couldn't deny that, but who was he?

I reached for my bag and took out the notebook and the pen. I read over number twenty-six on the list with my heart in overdrive, and just like that, everything went black.

~

It was around 9:30pm when we arrived, tick-tock-tick-tock, but now looking at the clock on the wall it read 2:30am.

I knew I was not sleepy when everything went black, then my mind picked up all the pieces that had fallen over the last five hours. I remembered the guy with the hazel eyes and black tight jeans and how he looked at me and made my mind go blank.

I stood up and rushed to the window, I remembered wasn’t left opened, looking down and then up.

The first thing I noticed was there were no stars in the sky. I looked directly in front of me and there he was, again, he was looking at me intently, like he was trying to decipher something.

But then the corner of his lips came up and he smiled.

He looked down and opened his window and I was petrified. I didn't know how to talk to guys, let alone attractive, creepy ones.

He smiled again, "I’m glad to have neighbors again."

He looked at me, waiting for an answer but it never came. He nodded, "I covered you up with a blanket. See you soon."

His hands moved up to the window and pulled it down.

He turned and walked into the darkness of the room.

Like always, my mind went blank. Everything I wanted to say and all the things I wanted to ask were gone.