Deathless [ON HOLD]

Chapter 1

"Him? A teacher?" Claire snorts. "More like eye candy."

My face flushes in embarrassment. "Quiet," I whisper, "What if he hears you?"

She smirks. "That was the idea."

I shake my head and focus on my water color project. I wish I could speak freely like she does. Maybe there'll be a day when I can, but I doubt it.

Art. My only escape.

With every brushstroke I feel lighter. I let my hand glide across the canvas, my emotions surfacing through a simple painting. The canvas bleeds a variety of colors and stains my hands.

"Interesting." A male voice says at a close distance. Too close. The trance is broken and my heart jumps. My substitute teacher is staring intently at my painting, his face dangerously close to mine in his observation. He has long eyelashes and smooth skin. I should be a little bit jealous.

Mr. Nobley glances at me and my face heats up, nerves kicking in. My instincts are telling me to be extremely cautious. "Is this the car accident from this morning?"

I glance back at my painting and nearly jump out of my seat. Without knowing, I've painted the scene of the car crash! Even worse, I painted the scene with my own vision – demons and all. My jaw hangs open and I struggle for words. "How did you know?"

He points to a certain car, two cars away from the accident. "That's my car. You have a good memory." I feel his eyes burn into me, as if all my secrets have been laid out on the table. "But these little creatures...what are they?" His mouth curves in a smile but his eyes flash with coldness.

I hear my pulse pounding in my ears. He knows. He knows about me.

I shake away the thoughts. I need to calm down. Racking my brains, I try to think of a convincing explanation.

He sees my uneasiness and chuckles lightly. "I guess it's open to interpretation." He pauses, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Still, I feel like the art piece is missing something. Perhaps...it's incomplete?"

I let his words sink into my memory as he leaves me to my thoughts, clammy hands gripping my arms defensively.

Something missing? Ah, the man from the car crash. But there's no way he could know about that. Of course, there's no way.

"Lucky you," Claire teases once Mr. Nobley is out of hearing range. "He seemed really interested in your painting. Look, that girl is glaring at you." Many of the girls have become rather infatuated with him within the past hour, vying for his attention by asking a lot of questions.

My lips part for a soft laugh. "I'm anything but lucky."

She curiously eyes my painting and a brow lifts. "Whoa. Morbid much?" I nod my head, as if agreeing with her. This painting is proof of my curse – my ability to see demons. It needs to be destroyed.

"You're right. I'm going to trash it."

Her eyes widen in shock. "Wait, no! It's beautiful! A masterpiece!"

When class ends I make sure to properly dispose of the painting, despite Claire's protesting.

Throughout the day, I find myself running into this art teacher of mine several times. I can't even count the amount of times our eyes have met. Whether it be in the hallways or the cafeteria, he's always nearby. Can such a coincidence occur?

Apart from the awkward eye contact, the rest of the day goes by smoothly.

"I'm home." My voice echoes throughout the house. Nobody's home but I say it anyway.