Thread:Swampcloud51/@comment-38701854-20190304215551/@comment-38701854-20190323015718

Chapter Nine:

}{Falcon}{

Falcon couldn't hold it in anymore. She wanted to sing, so she opened her mouth, closed her eyes, and just let the words fall out in a peaceful melody.

At first it was only audible to those sitting next to her, but they paused their conversations to listen. Falcon began growing more confident with each word, so she sang louder and louder until just about everyone could hear her. It felt so nice and comforting to Falcon. That is, until she realized what she was singing, at which point she shut her mouth tightly and opened her eyes to look around.

Please, please, please don't let my curse take action, she pleaded, covering up her up her worried looking with a forced smile as people cheered for her. Falcon spotted Faith clapping too, but when they made eye contact, she stopper and her smile morphed into a worried frown. Mouthing the words “one second,” Falcon began heading over to her sister.

Are only a couple steps away from her sister, someone crashed on the floor behind Falcon, and she froze. ''Nononononono, not my curse! I have no idea what the lyrics meant! I just found them in an old book in the library.''

“Argh, sorry about that,” a voice said from behind Falcon. She turned around slowly, relieved to see it was just a boy with bright red wings and the name of Julius. He was trying to fight his feathery wings, but to join avail. “Stupid curse,” she heard him mutter.

Chuckling nervously, Falcon resumed her walk over to Faith. “Yeah, stupid curses,” she agreed.

“What were you singing?!” Faith whispered urgently as Falcon, who stole one last nervous glance at Julius, sat down.

“I really don't know. I found the lyrics in a book in the library,” Falcon explained, biting her lip.

“In a book?! What was its title? Falcon, you just sang abou--”

“I...I know. And, it didn't have a title,” Falcon recalled. If she remembered correctly, the book had a brown leather cover and yellowed pages. If at any point there was a title, it must have worn off.

“Did it at least have an author?”

“No. And most of the pages were blank.”

}{Paradox}{

Paradox knew there was something wrong with him, but he didn't know if anyone could help.

Images kept flashing in and out of his mind, and he couldn't help but scream every time he saw one. The images were terrifying. Especially the one where he kept seeing a girl.

She had red hair, and her back was always facing him. She would always be wearing a white nightgown and she held a candle in one hand, seeing as it was dark. The “dream,” as Paradox liked to refer to it to, always ended with her turning to face him right after he had reached her. Then she would scream, and Paradox always found himself panting, sweating, or even muttering things that didn't make any sense to him.

Although he could tell Atom and a few of his other friends such as Lisa were concerned, Paradox didn't want to tell them. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, but he really didn't want them to worry about something neither he nor they could control. Of course, be was starting to wonder about how much longer he could keep his lies up.

After about an hour of rest, Miss Nealson decided to let him go to the next period. Feeling a bit relaxed, Paradox left and headed to math, only to be confronted by Lisa.

“Ok, what's going on?” she asked, jumping in front of him with her black hair bouncing once. Paradox yelped in surprise.

“N-nothing! I'm fine!” be lied, panicking inwardly.

Lisa's eyebrow rose. “Oh? Then how do you explain what happened in science?”

“I--wait, who told you about that?”

She shrugged. “Atom told me, and word spreads fast around here. I would have figured out soon enough. Besides we're worried about you. I'm worried about you.” for the briefest moment, her eyes shone with affection, and then they resumed their harsh glare.

Paradox his face heat up, and he turned his head away with the clearing of his throat. “I-I should get to class.”

“You will,” she promised. “After you give me an answer.”

Laughing nervously, Paradox sloh back up until his back was pressed up against a wall. Lisa followed him and placed her hands in either side of the wall trapping him. She met his eyes with a cold glare. “Seriously, what's going on?”

“I…” Paradox began, his eyes darting around. Finally, he sighed, closing his eyes. “Fine. I'd didn't want to say it like this, but my mom... She was sick with an unknown disease the last time I saw her, and I haven't been able to write to her or any of my family yet this year. And it's making me really worried.”

Lisa's hands return to her side, and a rare expression of pity appeared on her face. “Oh. I'm sorry. I just... Just... Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

Nodding, Paradox watched as she flashed him in apologetic smile and walked off. Paradox sighed and scurried over to his next class trying just shrug off the guilt of lying to Lisa.

''}{Ishmael}{ ''

Ishmael was turning a corner when he heard an unearthly scream. The sudden sound made him jump and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He didn't bother to find out what exactly had made the sound, but when he had told his friends about it later that day, they all told him that there wasn't any sound. Slowly, a desire to know what it was began to form in his heart.