Statuelike

A teacher and a passer-by

"Alright, that would be everything for this lesson. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in the next one."

Right as the teacher said that all of the students started packing their things, getting on their feet and rushing towards the door as if their life was dependent on getting out as quickly as possible. It was the last lesson of the day after all.

The teacher himself remained sitting at the desk. He sighed and slowly put his head into his hands and rested it there for a while. He then looked up again and started packing his things too.

The man had brown hair to the ear length, some of his many curls covered his forehead as his hair was messy after a long day. The eyes that were scanning the classroom, making sure all windows were closed and there was no mess left, didn't have their natural white color. Now his eyes were just ordinary brown and his skin seemed perfectly human. He was wearing brown trousers tight in the waist and a checked shirt with long sleeves.

He grabbed his notebook and a history book together with a pen from his desk and got up. When he was locking the door, someone approached him from behind.

"Mr. Hayes?" someone mumbled behind him. "Could I have a word with you?"

"Oh, Helen!" he smiled widely, showing his slightly crooked front teeth as he recognized his new colleague. "You surprised me, of course you can. What's the matter?"

"I need help with one student, Mr. Hayes," admitted the woman. "I've noticed you're really good with them."

"I've asked you to just call me Nekt," he reminded her gently. He preferred when his colleagues were adressing him by his first name. He then sighed, "Which student are we talking about?"

"Joe Walls from year nine. I can't get him to focus in my class and he constantly disrupts everyone else," she sounded frustrated.

"Ah, Joe. He's been quite troublesome," he paused pretending to be thinking. "I suppose you could try motivating him positively. Someone told me he likes watermelon gums," he smirked. Of course he knew what to do, he had to deal with Joe for the whole of last year.

"But that's just bribing!" she called out, frowning.

"You call it bribing," he pointed at her and then at himself. "I call it showing children that if they're good, something good happens to them in return. I consider it quite clever," he shrugged. "Might disappoint them a few times in the future but overall it's fine."

"You're joking right," she scoffed looking at the wall behind him.

"Definitely not," Nekt assured her. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you, Helen, but I'm afraid I shall be going now," he gave her a quick smile and started walking away. He could hear her confused goodbye behind his back.

As usual he stopped by at his office to pick up his personal belongings and to leave the work notebook there and then walked out of the school building.

As he was walking he put out his earphones and connected them to his phone, opening Spotify immediately. That was something he was looking forward to the whole day. He smiled in satisfaction. Now he only needed to stop by at a bookshop to buy himself something to read in the evening.

He was so lost in his thoughts and drown into music that he kind of forgot to look out for people around him. He had to apologize to one old lady for accidentally almost tripping over her dog and then he had to quickly run away from the middle of the road because he hadn't noticed a red light.

He didn't mind his absent-minded state at all, sometimes it just happened and he found it rather silly. He felt more human thanks to days like that.

He was just walking past a bus station when suddenly he collided into someone. He could feel the hard push into his chest and a hand accidentally touching his. He gasped as they both hit each other with force and took a quick look at the other person. His good mood decreased.

He was looking at a man dressed in black jeans and somehow even more black looking leather jacket. His hair had the exact same color as his clothes and was tied in a ponytail.

"Welcome to Doveton," Nekt formed a slight smile on his lips. He hid his earphones in his pocket.

The stranger looked confused for a while, he was probably trying to figure out how did Nekt know he was new to the city and then he looked at his own suitcases with realisation.

"Thanks," the man nodded. "Is this a local way of welcoming one in their circles?"

"I can assure you it ain't," Nekt chuckled in answer. "But you can consider it that from my person only."

"Sweet," uttered the newcomer. "Could I ask you for a favor? Do you have any idea how to get to a street called 'Carpenters'?"

Nekt did have an idea, actually the street was located just a few streets away from where he lived. He frowned. "Oh sure, I do. Just get on a bus number 945 and get out on a stop called Falstone road," he took a while to think about other directions. "Then seek out a church, you can't miss that one. You should turn right once you walk past it, the road leads down for a bit. Watch out for street signs as you go, one of them should be the one you're looking for."

"Thank you," the stranger smiled gratefuly. The way the corners of his mouth weren't pulled up entirely and stayed on much lower level than was usual for a smile, making it look more like a grimace, caught Nekt's attention. "I should hurry up then. It was nice meeting you, I'm looking forward to seeing you again in the city," the man winked at Nekt.

"Pleasure to meet you too, bye," Nekt murmured and quickly turned around. He continued walking in the direction of the bookshop he intented to go to before the accident happened.

He put on his earphones again and changed to a different song, a one that would fit the atmosphere better. This time he tried to be more careful about where he was going and who was around him, not that it would work any spectacularly.

Finally he stood in front of an old architecturally significant bulding looking into its window taking a look at new books. He was hoping at least one of them would be worth his attention.

Nekt loved old books more but he had already read all of the really good ones, most of them in their first edition right when they came out. That was one of the perks of living for centuries. However in the 21st century it became quite frequent that Nekt slipped and bought a book that wasn't really worth the price, nor worth reading.

He entered the shop and carefully approached the shelves offering the newest pieces. He was looking for something of good quality. Every Monday he lurked around this particular part of the bookshop, fast reading snippets of the books and somehow expecting to discover something great.

"Mister Hayes, you're here later than usually." A woman with her hair neatly tied into one braid and with reading glasses on, wearing leggins and a shirt with flower pattern approached him. She was the owner of that bookshop and she had known him since he started going there regularly, which he had been doing for at least ten years already.

"A few people held me up but now I'm finally here," he smiled with honest joy. He wouldn't trade his Monday book seances for nothing.

"Can I offer you some coffee?" she asked, her voice sweet.

"That would be lovely, thank you Mrs Evans," he joined his hands together in a gesture of gratitude.

While she went to a backroom to prepare the coffee for him he continued looking through the books. They estabelished this dynamic together a good while ago.

At first, he didn't like the idea of her making coffee for him whenever he visited her shop but he got used to it. After all he had spent a big part of his teacher salary in this bookshop. They also got to talk a bit as he was too worried about the books to drink near them, so he'd do that close to the cashier desk.

He then proceeded to grab three books he expected to be at least interesting. One was a biography of just another member of the royal family, one was a poetry book and the last one seemed to be some kind of a tragic romance.

"You've already picked your favorites today?" Mrs Evans lightly gestured for him to put the books on a desk as she handed him a cup.

"Indeed, listened to my instincts today," he smiled and took the cup in his hands.

In reality, his instincts were telling him something completely different than which books to pick. The decision to ignore them was purely his to make.