13 - The Other.

Bart nearly fell off his seat. Mallory didn't budge an inch, as though she already anticipated the boy's reaction on the matter.

The matter being, another Mallory Nelson stood beside the original.

"Took you long enough," said Mallory with a smirk. She released her hold on Bart's hand. The latter inconspicuously glanced at his surroundings - no one even noticed what Mallory made him do.

Some backwater cafe this place is.

"You.. were expecting me to see?"

"She was standing pretty close to me. I thought you would notice her in an instant," Mallory quipped, frowning.

Bart adjusted his seating and squinted. No doubt about it, it was an exact duplicate of Mallory save for a few distinct features. The 'other' Mallory wore an expressionless face, downcast eyes and stark-pale lips. Instead of a college uniform, she wore a black collar adorned with chain patterns, leather strap-wear that indecently covered her bust in an X pattern and exposed much of her pale skin, arm-length gloves that sleekly wore up to her elbows, and a matching miniskirt and leather boots. Behind her was the most inhuman feature in the picture: a pair of leathery wings half her body size and a arrowhead-ended tail.

It was the literal picture of a demon. A demon with the face of Mallory Nelson.

"Hey."

Mallory grinned haughtily at Bart. "Don't tell me you're getting the hots for her." She pointed at herself. "If you want to ogle at someone, the real deal's right in front of you."

"N - No, I'm not." Bart replied in a huff, lowering his head to hide his embarrassment. He didn't want to admit he was staring in length.  It felt like his eyes were unable to part from the sight of -

"!"

At once, Bart straightened up and eyed Mallory.

"...she's the one making me look, isn't she?"

Mallory clasped her hands together. "As expected from B Class's 10th Place Achiever. You catch on relatively quick. "

"You told me you went through the same thing," Bart stated as he placed a hand on the table. "You experienced the hellish feeling under the lunar eclipse. That place in your chest you showed me... that's where you caught fire that night. I guess you must've dreamt about the gate in the middle of nowhere and that unholy chant in Latin." Bart shuddered as he recalled what happened as vividly as possibly.

"So if you and I indeed went through the same experience.. you would've have also gained a stalker. " Bart pointed at the other Mallory. "Which, in this case, the Mallory look-alike next to you."

"Hmm..."

Mallory placed a hand under her chin. "You almost hit the nail on the head. The only thing that didn't happen to me there was the dream part. What did you say you dreamed about?"

"..."

Bart turned his head to the side. "Nothing. Probably something out of stress."

"...alright. I won't press you for that." Mallory placed her fingers under her lips and beamed at Bart. "Still. To have explained that so profoundly... I was right to be interested in you."

That last sentence sent a warning flag in Bart's head.

"T-There's nothing you should be interested about me. I'm a gray existence compared to you." Bart professed. "I have no friends, no interests, and certainly no desires for attachments."

"In short, a loner."

Mallory pushed the hair flowing by her ear aside. "You purposely push people away because you don't want to associate with them. In turn, you expect people to do the same with you." She hopped in her seat. "Doesn't that give a sort of 'alpha' vibe on you? You totally look like the type to be doing some nasty, higher-end stuff behind people's backs that they shouldn't mess with."

"Wh.. what are you even going on about?? We're getting off-topic.."

The waitress approached the table with Mallory's cafe au lait and Bart's capuccino orders in tow. Setting them down gently, she also placed shortcakes for the two of them. She bowed and giddily left. Bart glanced and sipped his drink.

"So you found out about what happened me from Chitter?" Bart asked, mentioning the name of the city's social networking site. With its media-sharing features, real-time news posting and access to thousands of contacts throughout Eldridge and its neighboring areas, Chitter is definitely nothing to sneeze at with regards to sniffing out anything happening in the city.

"Well, yes." Mallory shrugged. She sipped at her drink and took a bite out of her shortcake. "The people there dubbed you 'the boy who cried fire'. A dumb title, if you ask me. Didn't you see that yourself?"

"I don't use Chitter."

"Really?"

It wasn't really a lie. In times when he had an assignment sent there by his professors or if he had to get in touch with his uncle, Bart would be forced to using Chitter. But if he had no reason to lift his phone, he wouldn't use the site in the slightest.

Speaking of Chitter...

Bart thought of his uncle. He must've already heard about the incident through Chitter posts. The hospital probably told him about Bart heading straight home instead of opting for medical confinement.

Even with the school fiasco.. it'd probably take a few more days before the man gets out of work and reprimand him head-on about all those issues.

Such is the life of a sought-after photojournalist. Often knee-deep in work to even remotely worry about others.

"Bart?"

It took Bart a split second to realize Mallory was inch away from his face.

Bart jerked his own head back, nearly spilling the capuccino in his hand. His face flushed a beet red. "C-Can you stop getting close to me??" He exclaimed.

Mallory placed a hand over her mouth, giggling. "I can't help it. You just look so easy to tease." She leans against her chair. "Yes, you were the first incident caught on social media. A few hours later, all the news feeds pointing to you were taken down. I guess the admins wanted to protect your identity as a student of the city's renowned academic institution. They thought that would be the end of it."

Mallory stabbed the center of her remaining shortcake with her fork. "What they didn't know, was that you were not the only person seen raving about a part of your body on fire that same night. Other posts spread like wildfire, mentioning incident mirroring to that of yours. Thankfully, not one of those mentioned me. Mine happened somewhere far from prying eyes."

Bart placed his capuccino down, perturbed. "How many?"

Mallory forced the cake in her mouth and chewed briefly. She gulped her food down. "In Chitter alone, there were 3 others. If I count yours, 4."

Bart tried to relax his tense shoulders. Unfortunately, all he could do at the moment was fret.

"Have you heard from any of the others?"

"No." Mallory admitted in a heartbeat. "Just you. After all, you're the closest. The others sounded a lot like rumours. Also... you've already caught my eye from the very beginning."

...

At this Bart found his own eyes locking on to the girl before him.

"Why?"

Mallory calmly sipped at her drink and stared back. "Because unlike everyone at school who only saw me with admiration, lust or contempt... you never had that."

Her hand crept towards Bart's.  As she placed it on his, he didn't pull back.

Rather, he couldn't.

He was too fixated at her. As if caught under a spell.

"You were the only person I knew in school who lived life ignorant of others. A phantom among the rest. An existence that cared of nothing but your own because of the fear of what happens if you ever did care."

Mallory smiled in a bewitching a way.

"...and if you ask me, it's something that begs to be tainted."

Bart snapped out of his trance. He pulled his hand away.

This girl.. wasn't like the bullies that simply threw him aside after he did what they wanted.

This girl is dangerous.

"...if you think I would let you have your way with me, don't even consider it. I have my own concerns to worry about, and I don't want to get involved with anyone else. Also... I want to make this clear."

Bart glared at the other Mallory. "Tell her to stop."

"Stop what, exactly?" Mallory tilted her head. Bart's voice cracked under his evident annoyance as he forced himself to look at the ceiling.

"I can't stop staring at either of you. Something about her is forcing my eyes to glue on to you both."

Mallory flashed a wicked smile - and snapped her fingers. To Bart's surprise, the other Mallory vanished. The heavy feeling that tugged at him vanished with her.

"She has a name, you know. Mary."

Bart looked to the girl in puzzlement. "... you named her?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want her going around without one. Did you name yours?" Mallory twirled her shortcake-fork to the direction of the entity outside the shop watching them. The being angled its head to Bart.

"With everything that has been happening, do you think I have the luxury to?" Bart said sarcastically.

There was a length of unease from Bart as Mallory grabbed for a sugar and a chocolate pack on their table and ripped them open, dumping the contents on her cup.

"You obviously know what something like Mary is capable of doing when she's around."

"...it's because the thing she's doing is no different from... this guy." Bart said in reference to his monster-stalker outside the window. "The energy is different... but they are nonetheless, of the same nature."

Bart balled the fists on his lap. "My question is... what are they?"

Mallory smirked.

"... didn't I mention it before? Demons." Mallory stirred her drink with her fork. The contents swirled a dark hue, as if mixed with something ill-begotten. "They're beings that don't belong to this world. But they belong in ours."

Mallory's eyes were cruel as she spoke again.

"They're a symbol of something that lurks deep within us both."

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NOTE: Author here! Writing has been a bliss and a wonderful experience. Bart is inching close to a realization. This creature.. isn't so far from him after all. Then again, will he realize it, or will he have the usual protagonist dum-dum?

Ciao for now! Got some things to take care of. Stay safe and take care, all. xD