A HUMAN IN THE LYCAN WORLD

Vida

New York City, Planet Earth

"Uhm, hello? Earth to Vida?" Tessa waved her hand in front of Vida in an attempt to pull her back from reality.

Vida looked up from the page she was reading and pulled her glasses that were slipping off of her nose. “Sorry, you were saying something?”

Tessa let out a huff and dramatically sat down beside her best friend. “You never seem to listen to me! You always have your head behind that book.” She took the book from Vida’s hand and playfully kept it out of her reach.

“Hey!” Vida giggled. “Stop it, Tessa. You’ll get my page messed up.”

Tessa would not actually lose Vida’s progress in the book. She still sensibly kept her finger where Vida was reading and turned to take a look at the cover. “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief,” Tessa rolled her eyes. “Ugh, again? How many times have you read this book?”

Vida looked up and actually thought about it. Fantasy books have always enthralled her. There is something about these stories that make her fall in love a hundred or maybe even a thousand times.

Ever since Vida was a little girl, her grandfather would always give her books for Christmas and her birthdays. It started out with picture books until she could read and then she was a goner. Out of all the books she has read, it was Percy Jackson who really left a mark on her heart.

“I think, I’ve read it for about four times,” Vida replied.

“Shut up. Don’t fool me, you’ve read this more than four times.” Tessa said as she handed her the book back to Vida. She looked at her friend to gauge her reaction. “They’re not even real, Sades.”

Vida reached for the bookmark inside the pocket of her Burn’s Bar uniform and carefully placed it in between the pages. She took a deep breath and replied. “I know that. I’m just interested about their lives being a demigod, you know?” She knew that Tessa was genuinely curious as to why she was so invested in this book. Nobody actually really knows the real reason behind why she loves to read aside from Tessa. It was her escape from reality. Something she can call home whenever she hops from one apartment to another.

“Besides, wouldn’t it be great if the actual Greek gods of many eons ago do exist in this modern times? I mean you could just imagine how they would be so freaked out about cellphones and computers? But in the book, technology is not a thing that jives well with the Mist. It’s what they call the mystical veil that separates the world of demigods and mortals. Like for instance, that man over there,” Vida gestures towards the man across the street with her head, hoping that she was not too obvious about it. “If we were, let’s say, gorgons with snakes for hair, he would see us as normal girls on our way home from Burn’s.”

Tessa chuckled. “Out of all the mystical creatures in there, why would you compare us to snake-haired gorgons?”

Vida shrugged. “It was the one thing on top of my head! I’m sorry. But no worries, you my friend, are no gorgon in my eyes.”

Her best friend rolled her eyes and gave a meaningful glance at the man across the street. “We never know, he might be the gorgon and we are just blinded by the Mist.”

They both laughed. Vida silently thanks the universe for her best friend. She wouldn’t be able to survive life in New York City if it was not for her.

It was nearing midnight and thankfully the bus arrives as scheduled. Friday nights were always the busiest nights of the week at Burn’s Bar. It was always a given that the girls would be staying for more than 8 hours of duty. And since it was Tessa’s turn to render overtime service, Vida was more than happy to accompany her friend in her shift. It was something Peter, the manager and owner of Burn’s Bar, was grateful for.

Vida and Tessa waited as a handful of passengers got off for this stop. Once it was in the clear, they boarded the bus and swiped their bus passes. Since the bus was not very crowded at this time of the hour, they got the luxury of choosing their seats and those at the very back were their favorite one.