B A E T H A N

Darkness paved the way before me as I strolled towards the library in order to find a book that my friend had recommended. I approached the entrance, surprised to find that the library was still open at one a.m. I quietly opened the door and whispered a greeting to announce my presence into the silence of the building. Seeing no one in the main room, I started exploring like the curious person that I am. I found every room to be dark but one. Slowly approaching the soft glow of light like a moth towards a flame, I rounded the corner and peeked inside. Thinking to find an old lady sleeping, I gasped in surprise when I found instead, a girl about the same age as I but possibly younger, with the most enchanting eyes I've ever seen. I quietly get closer while still hiding in the shadows as I notice her reading a book that appeared to be a dictionary. Smiling to myself, I started thinking in my head," Smart and beautiful."

I watched almost with fascination as she flipped another page of her book, the moonlight and small lamp illuminating her features to me as I stared at her shamelessly. She was the definition of beauty with a perfect oval face, eyes so vibrantly purple they seemed like contact lenses - yet I knew they were not, silky tumbling tresses of straight black hair reminding me of the darkness of the night sky and pale skin the same hue of the moonlight streaming through the window and allowing me to stare at the beautiful creature before me.

She took no notice of me and continued to skim through the book, her legs crossed primly underneath her and her back straight in perfect posture.

I couldn't help but blink again and shake my head, almost uncertain she existed and was gracing my presence. She was a goddess sent from above to bless the people - I was sure of it. Again, she paid me no mind even though I was tempted to reach down and touch her soft hair to see if she was real. Since I didn't want to disturb her, I contented myself with reading whatever it was she was so interested in. Straining to make out the words on the page, I was shocked to see what I read.

Death
/deTH/
noun
The action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism.
synonyms: demise, dying, end, passing, loss of life;

Mur·der
/merder/
verb
To kill (someone) unlawfully and with premeditation
synonyms: kill, put to death, assassinate, execute, liquidate, eliminate, dispatch, butcher, slaughter, massacre, wipe out

A small delicate finger adorned with a band of a ring skimmed down the page as she searched for something, her brow furrowed in concentration that I longed to smooth down but I was terrified of scaring her away. I found that I couldn't even move; tortured to stand so close but not close enough to the beauty residing in front of me.

She looked up and met my eyes and for one moment, everything was blissful before I felt my joints tear at the sockets and a searing pain traveled through the middle of my body, effectively ripping me clean in two.

I snapped upwards, still dressed in what I had worn yesterday night yet I couldn't help but press my hand to my sternum, feeling for any haggard edges for my fingers to catch on. What kind of sick dream had I experienced? Her face materialized back behind my eyes and I smiled at the memory. There was no need to cling to the fragments of my imagination that my brain had conjured up while I slept. With a final sigh, the girl's face disappeared and faded out of my vision.

Due to my strange dream last night, I was late getting to school. When the bell rang, I had just sat down in my chair near the window. Mr. Kirkland, my teacher for English, shot me a stern look, but I just smiled back at him as though I had done nothing wrong.

I stared through the window watching the rain pour down while our teacher introduced a new student. Who would transfer this late during the semester? Sighing, I turned my head to acknowledge the new student only to gasp at what I saw. A cold chill ran down my spine even though I could feel my face start to heat up. "Hello, it's nice to meet you," said the new girl standing in front of the class. Only . . . this girl looked strangely familiar.

Mr.Kirkland pulled her aside after assigning some work to keep us busy while he chatted with her. I couldn't make out the words as he whispered to her quietly by his desk.

I had watched her as she walked slowly back to her seat, almost as if she were contemplating something quite important that had stolen her attention. She glided down the class as smoothly as a fish through water, capturing the view of many of the students who like I, couldn't help but watch her. As she slid into her seat, I turned away embarrassed at my actions of blatant gawking, and continued to watch the rain stream down and collect on the window. She never turned around and I found myself drumming my fingers loudly on the table in hopes that she'd look at me - but she doesn't even twitch at the insistent tapping of my nails hitting the wooden table, so I stopped.

My nose tickled as the smell of Spring flooded the area around me. She smells like Spring after the rain. I closed my eyes, simply breathing in her perfume.

Stop. What kind of freak am I? She'll never want to talk to you if you act like a creep.

Yet, I find I cannot stop noticing the tiny things about her like the way she swept her hair to the side when she wrote, the way she kicked her feet under her in frustration and the way her laugh seemed to tinkle like bells in my ears. If this continued on, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the class.

That was exactly what happened.

***

@Xiaojoeun
@RedmoonBluestar

My apologies for any differences in writing style or weird parts that don't make too much sense. There was some confusion and we worked on the chapter together.
Please vote and give this book a chance for a few more chapters :)