CODEX Part 3: Between Heaven and Hell

Zoe walked out and went straight into the women's bathroom. She leaned her head against the door and sighed.

That happened before; maybe too many times.

"Hey, Zoe!"

The teenage girl looked up from her notebook curiously. Two of her classmates were staring down at her with a mix of amusement and curiosity.

"Is it true that you used to go to that high class school before you moved here?"

Zoe didn't find that necessary to hide so she nodded.

"I did, yes. But only for the first two years." She stated since it was better to have that out of the way.

"But you came here on the second semester. Where were you during the first?"

Zoe froze. For some reason she couldn't think of anything that could cover her semester in the Asylum.

"Now, now, girls, leave the new girl alone. She has enough on her plate. Better go do your homework before the bell rings,"

The girls nodded and left.

Her savior was none other than the one who was soon going to become her worst nightmare.

Her teacher was a nice man, very handsome as well and he was that kind of teacher who was loved by everyone but girls especially fancied.

That day, he asked Zoe to stay behind after class so he could have a word.

"Zoe Lestrade. You came here in the middle of the year and have a lot to recuperate,"

She nodded, "I know that, sir. I'm working on it."

He smiled and patted her head. She couldn't help but feel warm and blush at the contact.

"Teacher?" The door opened and one of her classmates poked her head inside, "We have an appointment today, remember?"

Zoe tilted her head curiously at what that girl meant, "An appointment?"

The teacher rubbed his neck nervously. He didn't expect Elena to remember that especially because he only said he was going to teach her a lesson for cheating on a test. He wasn't sure the student understood the meaning the same way he did.

Zoe's mind clicked and she glanced at the awaiting girl. She bowed her head and left the classroom quickly, not even a sketch of surprise; it was like she couldn't care less.

One week passed and Zoe was getting better at literature. The teacher gave them free assignments, which meant they could write anything based on their desires and dreams; it was their last years, after all. Most of them wrote essays about their future lives and careers.

One student didn't. Zoe wrote about something completely different and weird.

"Zoe, can I have a word?" The girl was stuffing her books inside her bag when he asked her.

She nodded and walked to his desk, "What is it, professor?" She frowned when she remembered the homework she gave in that morning,"Is it about my essay?"

He nodded, "What do you want to do after you finish high school, Zoe?"

Her response came really fast, "Free myself," That was not the average response.

"Can you give me more details? What is freedom to you?"

She tilted her head to the side and rubbed her arm nervously, "Having your own life, without someone telling you what to do and when,"

He clicked his tongue and got up from his desk, "Do you know what kids your age want? They want to get a job and have happy lives. You already have freedom, Zoe. You are free to do anything you want."

She shook her head.

"I don't. I didn't choose my life or my parents. I didn't choose anything that happened to me but I want to. I want to be able to choose,"

The teacher stared at her for a few minutes before he smiled. Her mind was working in a twisted way and remembered that Zoe was from a strict family and needed to feel like she could do something on her own. She needed to be on her own.

He was wrong.

Zoe explained in a vague way but she gave subtle hints of what her life has been like. She wrote about people that restrained her from seeing the world as it was; she was talking about the asylum and the demons. She wanted freedom because she wanted to live.

He didn't understand that. He only understood what he wanted: she was in need of affection and the professor gave it to her, subtly at first. He took care to be nicer to her and pat her head when she was doing a good job. That changed drastically when he saw her alone in the classroom, watching her classmates having fun in the yard.

"Alone again?"

She didn't seem surprised by his sudden appearance behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them slightly. She tensed right away.

"You are an introvert. You don't like to speak to others because you are afraid what they may think of you. You are afraid to show yourself to the world because you know their friendship and attention can easily backfire. But you shouldn't be afraid, Zoe."

The girl chuckled,"Is that how you see me?"

He nodded and turned her around before leaning in with a smile, "You can make me your anchor if you want. I can connect you to the world and keep you there for as long as you want."

She stared blankly at him, "I don't need an anchor. I need a miracle."

He chuckled and leaned even closer. He was young and handsome but he wasn't her savior; he was just another human who could never understand the pain she had to endure.

"I can make you feel better, Zoe. Make you see the world in a different light."

Her eyes became colder and one of her eyebrows started to twitch, "In your bed?" She hissed.

The teacher looked deep into her eyes; something about them was abnormal but he couldn't quite point out what.

"Anywhere." He whispered.

He was ready to kiss her when she slapped him across the face, really hard since his nose started to bleed. Her hand left an imprint on his cheek, which made her feel quite good about herself.

"Don't touch me ever again." She added coldly before she left.

That was the beginning of the harassment. He started with insignificant things, like fake love notes addressed to him or about him; of course, she didn't write them.

Then, students started to say they saw her flirt with the teacher. It got to the ears of other teachers and she got sent in the director's office. He gave her a warning and let her go but Zoe couldn't believe how annoying that person was. It was worse than having demons harass her.

But that was a long time ago. Now, Zoe was older and had a lot to think about, at a larger scale than that petty human.

"That was the human who harassed you?" Gakhas appeared when she last needed him, "Why didn't you punch him?"

She sighed and grabbed a hand through her hair, calming down gradually, "It doesn't matter anymore. He was right. I slapped him before he got the chance to do something to me. It's in the past,"

Gakhas frowned, "That's not how a demon should act; not one like you."

She chuckled and patted his head. He blinked in astonishment. She was showing some kind of kindness to him and it made him feel weak.

"I'm not a demon, Gakhas. Just because I am who I am doesn't mean I lost my heart," She smiled softly and walked down the hall, "But thanks for showing compassion!" She added at the end.

Gakhas was left dumbfounded in the hall for the first time in his existence.

“Zoe? Is that you?"

Zoe didn't expect to meet someone so fast. She scrunched her eyes but couldn't register the face. The person hurried over and hugged her long forgotten friend.

"What-"

The girl pushed her former classmate slightly and smiled widely.

"It's me! Robin! It's been a long time~You changed a lot. I almost didn't recognize you,"

Now that Zoe looked closer, she did remember someone with dimples and very thin features. Except the age, Robin was pretty much the same; grown up, but the same.

Since not many classmates arrived early, Robin decided to walk around and reminisce the old times.

"I remember you were really good at literature," She started, among other subjects,"Did that work well for you?"

"In some way, yes," Zoe didn't want to give many details but Robin's big and bright eyes were impossible to resist, "I majored in psychology."

Robin nodded in appreciation, "That's nice. So do you have your own office?"

Zoe bit her lip and shook her head, "Not exactly,"

"Well, if I ever need help, I hope you won't forget me on the waiting list," Robin joked, trying to animate the atmosphere.

Even in the past, Robin was a merry girl with a bright future ahead. She used to work in a dance studio and even participate in dancing contests. She worked hard for her career and it seemed everything worked well for her.

"I work as a dance instructor on weekends but I am a real choreographer. It doesn't pay extraordinary but I enjoy it,"

Zoe smiled seeing her talk with so much passion. If only she could get back that glint of happiness; but that was impossible now.

As they were sharing stories, they noticed someone talking around the corner. It was teacher Leopold. Robin's smile dropped and Zoe wasn't sure why; Robin wasn't on his list. If anything, he ignored her for the whole semester and even now, when he saw them walking by, he still ignored her.

"There he is. Looking for a prey, like always," Robin's tone was cold.

It wasn't a secret in their school days and it definitely wasn't a secret in the present. Teacher Graham Leopold was a wolf, theoretically speaking of course. He liked to crawl under their skin and make them depend on him. He was friendly and pretty much an example for other teachers until his mask would drop. He never had any sexual relationships with the students, at least from what Zoe knew but he liked to imply it. He liked to play with their minds and break them. The girls would eventually have no other choice but to succumb to his needs, which weren't sexual at all; if anything, it was about the desire to control. He was a freak and probably had some psychological issues.

"Is he the reason why you majored in psychology?"

Zoe blinked her memories away and looked questioningly at Robin, "No. That would make him important in my life. I had other issues that led me towards that."

Robin nodded and sighed. She looked down at her hands before she looked back to her former teacher. He left yet for Robin his old self was still there, looking at her with those cold eyes.

"He used to play with us like we were nothing but puppets," Zoe couldn't deny that, "We fought for and against him but no one ever believed us. We were just some girls. His word was more precious than our cries."

"Did he ever do something to you?" Zoe asked uncertain. She couldn’t help but be curious.

Robin's eyes widened for a moment. The choreographer probably figured she said too much.

"Did he tell you that he could show you the world?"

Robin looked to the side and avoided the answer.

Zoe wasn't expecting an answer, though. She already knew from her reaction; besides, she could feel the angst radiating off her. It looked a lot like smoke, in her eyes.

Zoe took a few more steps forward when Robin heard her mumble, "He did."

Zoe looked over her shoulder at the thin woman. She was a woman, indeed and didn't have to dwell on the past.

"He told me the same lies he told everyone and I believed him. I wanted to be close to him and even have a relationship after graduating," Robin added.

"But it never happened. It was always only words and no act," Zoe continued.

Robin nodded before she looked into Zoe's eyes, seeing a glint of something she had never seen before. Those blue eyes were incredibly intense for some reason. They weren't bright but not dark either; they looked empty.

"Did he kiss you?" Robin asked softly.

Zoe stared intensely at her. She could see the darkness in her heart; no matter how much she tried, he left an empty spot in Robin's heart and that spot has been filled throughout time with envy.

"He didn't." She decided to leave aside the fact that she slapped him, "Anyway, that's in the past. Let's just go and show him just who he messed with," She smiled and stuck her hand out.

Robin blinked quickly before she glanced at Zoe's hand. It was amazing how much confidence she gained over time.

The ride took longer than they thought and when they got in front of the theater, they found a crowd. As people were gathering inside, Zoe couldn’t help but look for someone. That person used to be her shelter.

She never told anyone about her troubles and never hid her familial background. Many children thought she was stuck up and wanted them to know who the one with power was but with him, it was never like that. He was the one who introduced her to people. He was the one who introduced her to a normal life.

“I’m right here. You don’t have to search for me,” The voice wasn’t his. She rolled her eyes and waved Gakhas off, “Who are you searching for?” He pestered.

She ignored him completely. Zoe didn’t want to make a scene with so many people around; besides, the theater wasn’t exactly big. They could hear her whisper to thin air and figure something was weird.

“Zoe?”

The woman turned around quickly but didn’t meet the person she wanted to see. Unfortunately she lost Robin once they entered and she had no one to back her up.

“Remember me? I was the class president when you transferred!” That girl was too energetic to be real.

“I remember. Carley Watson. You showed me around on my first day,”

She nodded eagerly. Zoe’s eyes moved on the person she was with. He looked out of place so he was probably her husband or boyfriend.

Carley noticed the attention her partner got, “Oh, right. You don’t know each other. This is my boyfriend, Conner. Conner, this is my former classmate, Zoe. She transferred in the last moment,” She laughed like it wasn’t a big deal, “Anyway, a lot of people came! Aren’t you excited?”

Zoe’s excitement was high but not even close to Carley’s.

“Have you seen Jacob?” Carley chuckled and patted her shoulder fondly, “We all noticed how much you two were hanging together. We made the math and ended up figuring you were going to last even after graduation,”

Zoe's eyes widened and she started to stutter, "You-You thought we were in a relationship? We weren’t,” Zoe added quickly.

“Are you sure? It certainly looked like you were. I mean, boys don’t just take your side because they are nice. I’m sure I saw his eyes scanning you from head to toe once.”

Zoe blinked quickly and started to fidget. She suddenly became aware of how uncomfortable their meeting was going to be.

“Damn. I never thought about it like that,” She moaned.

She needed to take a seat and think about her past.

“I didn’t notice. Fuck.” She couldn’t even lookup.

Zoe might have not seen him but he definitely saw her. It was really hard not to since she had a certain charm around her.

“Am I interrupting you?”

She froze. Zoe raised her head slowly and met a pair of kind brown eyes. She gulped and thought quickly of a response. She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

He raised an eyebrow and sat on the chair next to her, “Are you alright?”

“No.” That word just flew out of her mouth without thinking. She felt like slapping herself for being stupid.

“Oh. Then you’re lucky I decided to come. I saw you talk to Carley. Your relationship didn’t change at all," He chuckled at the memory, “Even back in school, you seemed blinded by her positive attitude,”

Zoe spotted the bright woman in the crowd and blinked, “She’s radiating. I’m not used to seeing this type of people.”

Jacob leaned towards her –action that made her lean back- and stared into her eyes, “What type of people do you see?”

She looked into his sincere eyes and gulped. Zoe was feeling really bad for lying to people but she especially felt like scum for lying to him. If she could ignore everything bad in the past, that was impossible now.

“Disappointed, sad and over all broken people. I am a psychologist, in the end," She lied through her teeth.

One of the emotions she had seen the most in her new line of work was probably hatred. Being in her recent state, everything she could see was darkness.

“Oh! I never thought you’d end up working with people. You used to judge everyone back then,”

They both laughed as they remembered her past behavior.

“I didn’t mean to. I was observing them.”

Jacob’s eyes widened slightly and looked at her with amusement, “Is that what you were doing? Sorry, I misunderstood you then. I swore you were judging me harshly when we first met,” He joked.

Jacob was emanating a brightness that she wasn’t accustomed with. It wasn’t blinding but it was making her forget what she was; she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Once he came over, he didn’t leave her side. His weird and fun personality made her feel better about herself and enjoy the festivity. They found Robin in the process of having fun and they started to talk and joke about old times. They drank and laughed and Jacob started to tell them a story of a beautiful place he had seen. He even started to show them how the leaves of a coconut tree were swinging with the wind. Zoe glanced at Robin and started to laugh.

Gakhas was a few feet from them. He noticed more people talking to Zoe but she didn’t seem to be uncomfortable anymore. His eyes narrowed on that particular man. He didn’t seem to be anything special yet he was something for her.

Gakhas sighed and leaned against the wall, his eyes scanning the whole room yet no one had any I’m-trying-to-kill alarm. They were humans and-no, that was all.

“I came for nothing,” He mumbled before he walked towards the punch table.

“Remember when we hid in the bathroom and scared the girls? That was priceless!”

Zoe was surprised how many people stopped and started to talk to their little group. Jacob’s friends came over and glued to that side of the theater.

Surprisingly, she actually knew them and talked to them when they were students. Richard used to be the so-called prince of the class. Girls were infatuated with him but he still lost to the teacher.

“You should have a rematch with him. He got old but you got fine,” Carley said bluntly.

Richard started to laugh and wrapped a hand around her shoulder in sign of friendship. Her boyfriend was smiling but he was not amused. Zoe shook her head bemusedly and leaned back enjoying everything.

“I’m glad I came,” She mumbled out loud.

Both Robin and Jacob heard her and squished her in between.

Time passed really fast. It was almost midnight and a large group of her classmates left. The ones who couldn’t find the need to leave were Zoe, Jacob, Robin, Carley and her boyfriend, Richard and the other group; the group of people Zoe never interacted with.

As in any normal school, there was that certain girl that worked her way up and wasn’t keen on approving of anyone she didn’t know. That person was Dana. She became a lawyer and was working at her father’s firm so her life was perfect from every aspect. She was the rich girl before Zoe transferred. She was also the one who bullied the girl who committed suicide.

“Hey! You guys remember how there was a rumor that Nova never left this building?” Carley whispered because she didn’t want the spirit to hear her.

Zoe bit her lip in order to contain her amusement.

“Yes. It’s a rumor, remember? Rumor," Robin stated without a glint of amusement, “Maybe we should leave,” She grabbed her purse and got up but Carley pulled her back.

“But what if it’s true? I mean, we never bullied her. She doesn’t have a reason to hurt us,”

Richard rubbed his neck and whined, “But we didn’t help her either. We just stood there, watching her like she was a freak show,”

Zoe’s interest rose instantly, “Why freak show?”

They glanced at each other and nodded.

“We’re old now and know that it was stupid but back then, people saw her talk to herself a lot. They found out that she was working part time in an occultism shop and it triggered rumors.” Carley explained.

Zoe frowned, “What kind of rumors?” She already had an idea –after all, she’s been there before- but she wanted to know if that girl had the same issues as her.

“Nothing too serious. They just started to say she was into witchcraft,” Jacob continued; he saw her before and she had that kind of feeling around her, “But she wasn’t,” He stated firmly.

“You don’t know that. She had weird things in her backpack,” Carley interfered.

Zoe tilted her head to the side and listened closely.

Jacob scoffed, “She didn’t. Those were things you can buy from any shop,”

Carley rolled her eyes, “She had a book about demons. I know because I bumped into her at the library and she dropped it. I tried to help her but she pushed me away harshly. I can still remember what the title of the chapter she was reading was.” The group leaned in curiously, “The secret child of the Devil.”

Zoe’s eyes widened felt exposed even if they were talking about someone she has never met.

“That’s irrelevant,” Jacob mumbled, “She wasn’t a witch,” He continued.

“Then why don’t you ask her, huh? If the rumor is true, she’s still in here,”

Zoe’s head snapped to Carley, “That’s not a good idea. Seances are dangerous.”

Carley scoffed and brushed her off, “I dare you. We can come here tomorrow or we can do it tonight. You choose.”

Robin gulped and moved closer to Zoe who was standing there without sketching a single emotion on her face. The last time something like that happened, she had to be sent to hell to regain her consciousness.

“This is a bad idea,” Jacob didn’t want to admit it but he was freaked out of that idea, as well. Invoking spirits wasn’t exactly his idea to satisfy his curiosity.

He glanced at Zoe and saw her looking down at her hands. He grabbed the signed hand and squeezed it encouragingly. She glanced at him but his eyes were set on Carley.

Zoe forgot a small detail, though. Gakhas was there and his eyes were locked on hers and Jacob’s entranced hands. He smirked evilly and started to think just how exactly he could destroy their bond.