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 Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 8:40 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 8:43 pm
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 5:28 pm
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 11:51 pm
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:40 am
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:29 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 5:02 pm
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 2:53 am
s o l o A Penchant for the Macabre (1292 words)
"Well, that's quite the book to read your first day back."
Shelley glanced above the cover of her novel. "Excuse me?" she said, eyebrows raising. "Do I... know you?"
The girl smiled and shook her head. "You don't," she replied, "but I know you. Shelley, right? Shelley Nickson? Anyway, this book of yours"—she reached up and tapped twice on the hardcover front—"is quite the interesting tale. You have a penchant for the macabre?"
Shelley forced a smile and hesitantly closed her book, The Count of Monte Cristo. She gave a look to it and then back up to the black-haired girl. Presumably, she was her classmate, but Shelley had never seen her before. Then again, she'd been absent from school so frequently the last few months that she hardly remembered any of her classmates' faces. The girl had a charming little smile and the glint behind her frames intrigued Shelley, but she kept her interests subtle.
"Yes and... not particularly," Shelley said. "Can I help you?"
The girl chuckled. "I guess you can," she said. "My name's Lin, I sit in the back of the classroom." She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. "A lot of people don't seem to notice, or even care, but you've been absent from school a lot lately."
"Yea... So?"
"So I want to know why." Lin's smile widened. "I bet you're hiding something."
Shelley's eyebrows rose. "Well, Lin, is this how you make friends?" she asked, tilting her head. "Rudely interrupting people in the middle of reading and then accusing them of hiding something? You must be a thrill at parties."
Lin's smile waned slightly. Settling into the empty desk adjacent to Shelley, she said, "I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to talk to you. Not a lot of people read during lunch time."
"I do."
"Well, you're a peculiar outlier, considering you don't show up for school either."
"So what are you trying to prove?" Shelley asked, propping up her chin. A smile tugged her lips up. "To reap the benefits by exposing me? To embarrass me? If I have a secret, that is."
"To sate my curiosity," Lin said. "You interest me."
"Oh, well, do I now? That sounds a bit like a confession."
Shelley expected her bold little jab to be met with a flush, but instead, Lin grinned. Pushing her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose, she said, "Take it however you please. If buttering you up will help in finding out your secret, I'll serenade you everyday."
Shelley couldn't help but laugh. "Please don't," she said.
Though Lin claimed she was the interesting one, she couldn't help think it was the other way around. Her bespectacled classmate had a nosy quality in her that was quite a rare find.
Maybe I'll oblige her. It seems like fun, Shelley thought.
Lin opened her mouth to continue their brief conversation, but the lunch bell rang and students were filtering into the classroom. Lin let out an annoyed huff, stood from her seat, and cast a glare at Shelley. She, in turn, shrugged a shoulder at her with a wry smile. With that, Lin left her with a sharp jerk in her step and returned to her seat.
The next few days, Lin kept vigil on Shelley and remained by her side at school with restless abandon. She would even follow her home halfway after school everyday; the narrowed eyes at her back burning a hole straight to her core. It crept Shelley out so much that she confronted Lin about it.
"Hey, how long as you going to keep this up?" Shelley suddenly asked her one day during her walk home. "It's been close to a week and you're really getting on my nerves."
Lin, some distance away, stopped in her tracks. "You heard what I said earlier," she said, nudging her glasses. "I'm going to keep eyes on you until I find out your secret."
Shelley sucked her teeth. "Listen, I didn't mind entertaining you for two days or so, but this is getting ridiculous," she said. "I don't have a secret. There nothing going on."
"Then why are you absent so often?"
Shelley rolled her eyes. "Because I hate school?" she said. It was a white lie, but partly true. "So I skip and hang out downtown. Sue me."
Pleased with this, Shelley returned to walking home, but she suddenly stopped after a few steps when she felt something dark. Her eyes traced the signature lurking at the side of the path. Crap, she cursed to herself. Crap, crap, crap. Why'd there have to a youma now?
Knowing she was still behind, Shelley suddenly warned, "Lin. Run."
"What? Why?"
Shelley grit her teeth as the youma stirred closer. "Just listen to me. Get out of here, pronto."
Lin didn't budge. Instead, she closed a fist and pumped the air. "No way, is something going on? This is because of your secret, right? I knew there was something going on!"
"Get—!"
Her warning came too late. From an alley, a wolverine youma pounced from the shadows and onto Shelley, pinning her down. Lin yelped and froze in place, paralyzed by fear.
Shelley pushed up against the snapping jaws of the youma, exchanging glances at her bag that had flown off her when she was tackled. s**t, she thought, struggling against the creature. If it was closer, I could've used a pen or something. I-I have no choice, I have to power up!
Furrowing her brow, Shelley called out to her shell flute, and it materialized by her side. Stretching an arm out to it, she grabbed the the hilt, and the white light that glowed around it encompassed her entire form. Renewed with the vigor of Slievenamon, the squire pushed the wolverine youma off her, and then pummeled it with her weapon. The two went at it for a few minutes before Slievenamon jabbed the youma hard enough to dust it. Glad that one problem was taken cared of, the squire realized she had another to deal with: Lin. She'd seen everything.
"Lin," Slievenamon said gently. Even though she did, the girl clamored up. "Listen to me. You mustn't speak a word of this to anyone."
Lin wasn't sure what to say, so she went with the first thought in her mind, "W-why? You're... Y-you're one of those terrorists, aren't you? Why can't I—"
"Because you said you only wanted to sate your own curiosity, not others," she said. She marched up to the black-haired girl and leered at her. "And besides, do you remember what you asked?"
Lin shook her head hurriedly.
"If I had a penchant for the macabre?"
Lin's eyes widened and she slowly nodded her head.
"Well, I only like the macabre," Slievenamon said, "but if you test my limits, I may grow to love it."
As she said this, she pressed the sharper end of her shell flute at the girl's throat. Lin squeaked and glance down to it before backing away a step, and then another, and then another, before she broke out into a run. Slievenamon narrowed eyes at her back just as Lin did to her for days before.
"Don't you dare tell a soul!" she bellowed, shaking her shell flute at her.
After she was some distance away, Slievenamon's arm went limp at her side and she sighed. "Man, that's not the way I wanted to solve the situation," she said, scratching the back of her neck as she powered down. Returning her flute back from whence it came, Shelley turned on her heel, and continued walking home.
"But at least it got her off my back."
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 3:39 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:10 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:58 am
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