Guardians

Chapter 2 - Art Students

A part of me thought about skipping the rest of class and bunkering up with the cute nurse, but the detergent and chlorine stench was getting to me. Plus my stomach was sending me an S.O.S message that the tank needed to be refilled. It took some convincing, but I eventually got her to let me go back to class. I waited till lunch was about to start to head out from there.

 As I strolled down the hall, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was this odd statue I've never seen before just sitting in the middle of the hall. It had pale white skin and painted on black eyes that looked like they were staring into my soul. There were flowers painted along its arms and cheeks in various different colors. Which sort of calmed down the creepy vibe it was giving off. 

“Another masterful piece, by an art student who cracked under the pressure,” I muttered.

 I stepped toward and looked into its eyes again. I poked at its skin and I felt my skin crawl. It felt like real skin!

“These damn art kids just get sketchier and sket-” 

Suddenly the thing’s eyes shot open! Revealing crystal clear blue eyes. If it wasn't a demonic statue moving on its own, I probably think they were really pretty. But no, this was a devil spawn and I screamed like a little girl. I took out my small lead broken pencil and pointed it at its head.

“I-I’ll draw on you!” I stammered out. 

However, the tension faded quickly as I saw the demonic devil spawn statue start dying of laughter. A very familiar laughter...

“Oh my gosh, you should’ve seen your face Eden!” She laughed, holding onto her sides.

“What the hell, Ellie!” I roared.

“Oh, I wish I had my camera!” She snorted. ”That's what you get for making fun of us artsy kids.”

“What are you doing in the middle of the hallway!?”

“It’s a social experiment for my art class today, to celebrate Earth Day.” 

“What the hell does a black-eyed flower demon have to do with Earth Day?”

“You know, it represents life and death and-” She stopped as she could see my bull crap detector was going off. I gave her a stale plain look and she just sighed. “I just wanted an excuse to paint myself and scare kids in the hall,” she admitted, and I shook my head.

“How much convincing did it take to get Mr. Lario to let you do this?”

“Oh you know, I hit him with a rousing speech about plant awareness and blah blah blah.” She put her hands on her hips and I chuckled.

“I'm not even a little bit surprised. So anything else you’re celebrating today?” I asked curiously. 

However, I could tell from the confused look on her face that she had no idea what I was talking about.

“Ummmm- celebrating Aden’s winning touch down yesterday?” She asked with a bewildered look on her face.

I sighed again and turned away from her, continuing down the hall.

“I guess my birthday isn’t as important as Aden’s winning touchdown,” I called out.

 It didn’t take long for me to hear footsteps running up to me.

“Oh my gosh! Eden, I’m so sorry I forgot!” she gasped as she walked up beside me.

“Oh no, it’s fine, it’s not like this is the eighth time or anything,” I replied sarcastically.

“Come on! You're making me feel like a bad person!” she cried.

“Ya know, you never forget Aden’s birthday.”