Photogenetics

“You like who?” I cringed with disgust. Henry popped his collar and stretched back, satisfied with himself.

“What? She’s hot…” he explained before adding under his breath “and a good kisser.” Vlad stuck his tongue out, “what do you know about her anyway, Jeanette?” I folded my arms across my chest and sat up.

“Nothing other than the fact that she’s a one-night-stand kind of gal,” I informed, “don’t you want more than that?” His best friend tried his best to suppress his snickering.

“Have you met Henry?” Vlad laughed. Henry reached over and smacked him on the back of the head.

We had decided to take a break from cramming for tests and hang out at Vlad’s place. His Aunt Nelly was in the kitchen cleaning up from lunch, and I think Otis was in the other room grading papers. Amenti decided to curl up next to me and use my thigh as a resting place to take a nap. The boys tried to talk me into playing some video game, but I declined numerous times. So instead, Henry thought it would be a grand idea to pester me with information about this girl he liked. I didn’t know her, but she was in my math class, and the one thing I knew for sure about her was that she was with a new guy basically every day. She might as well be the female incarnation of Henry.

“What about you woman? You got a crush on anyone?” Henry questioned. I looked back and forth between him and Vlad for a quick second.

“Of course not.” Bullshit. “The boys at this school are their own level of immature. I’m not down for that.” I looked up at Vlad to quickly change the subject, “We all know who that one is into.” His face turned bright pink before he slunk down on the couch. Nelly finished her cleaning and came through to the stairs, offering a friendly nod on her way by. Vlad seemed to lighten up a little when he realized she was gone.

“I’ve told you guys a hundred times, she’s perfect,” Vlad gushed, hardening up a bit when he realized how soft he was being, “plus, what does it matter?”

It certainly mattered to me, the one changing the subject to hide their feelings.

Henry continued to blabber on about this chick, so I pulled my phone out to play around and ignore his nonsense. A Facebook notification popped up at the top of my screen, which gave me an idea. I hopped up from my seat, scaring the living daylights out of Amenti, and plopped down between my bros.

“Come take a picture with me,” I begged. Henry seemed into it at first, until Vlad was adamantly against it.

“I’m not very photogenic,” Vlad argued. I grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him closer. Henry leaned in hesitantly.

“Only one,” I insisted, “ and I swear it won’t go anywhere.” Before he could pull away or protest, I beamed and snapped the picture. Both of them seemed pretty on edge as I leaned back and pulled it up to check it.

“What’s up with you losers? It’s just one little pho…”

I cut myself off when I took another look at the picture. I was there, Henry was there...but Vlad wasn’t. He was just gone. The space was completely empty, as if he’d never been there. For a minute, I couldn’t look away, couldn’t form words, couldn’t form thoughts. I tried to comprehend what was in front of me.

I heard footsteps come into the room from behind us. I figured it was Otis because there hadn’t been any creaking of the stairs. I didn’t look back, but I saw Vlad do it out of the corner of my eye. He didn’t say anything.

“You kids alright? You’re normally a rather chatty bunch,” Otis observed.

Eventually, I looked over at Henry to see if he would comment on it. He kept silent, his eyes saying that he knew more than he was going to fess up to. I turned to Vlad, who had his face buried in his hand, avoiding any interaction. Otis had taken a seat on the arm of the couch next to us, legs crossed, waiting patiently. When several minutes ticked by without a word from anyone, I decided to break the silence.

“Well...I’m just gonna...yeah…” Rising from my seat, I crossed the living room and grabbed my backpack. Otis rose quickly, his purple top hat nearly falling off his head and landing on Amenti.

“Miss Snow, is there a problem?” he wondered. I had a grip on the door handle, only stopping long enough to turn to Otis.

“I...I don’t know,” I confessed, turning my attention to the boys, “Just...neither of you talk to me for a few days. Please.” With that, I threw open the front door and left, not bothering to stop it from slamming on my way out.

Once I was fully past his house, I booked it up my driveway and locked my front door behind me. I ignored my mom and she called out to me and sprinted up to my room as fast as I possibly could. I threw the door closed and shut my window all the way, making sure it was locked as well. Noticing some loose paper and pencils on my desk, I grabbed one of each and scribbled out the words as fast as I could.

Let the world know that something is very, very wrong with Vladimir Tod.