She was sitting down in Ethics, curling strands of her now short dark hair with her finger, as the teacher rambled on about the mass incarceration problem and the moral problem of the death penalty. kill them all = no more problem
Her previous education made this degree pathetically easy, but Willow had acquired the scholarship and right now she didn't have the monetary funds to leave either her dorm or her degree.
While unsure of her studies, her new mask had been carefully created over the past three months. If her previous self had been perfect, this one was a marvel. Her previous self had been a fox, tricking people to see what they wanted while being silently amused at the reactions she got. That perfection, she now deduced, had been what made that teacher see her. No human was perfect all the time, unless they weren't normal.
As such, Willow wouldn't be perfect and she had carefully planned which flaws to show. If she had been a fox, now she was an alligator. Quiet and nice, until she wasn't. Defensive, until she wasn't. Smiling with sharp teeth, until she was biting down. Willow was a swamp child after all, perfection would be easily seen as fake. alligators are swamp creatures
It was liberating- to not be perfect all the time - and being able to be mean and frosty when people tried walking all over her was satisfactory. She was poor and it showed- in her clothes and her lack of expensive objects. Teenagers were emotional creatures, and putting down others made them feel great about their tiny little realities. they weren't worthy of her attention, but being able to spit out venom with her poisonous tongue was amusing
She had been training her new powers, trying to find ways to control them instead of being controlled by them. She could admit that sometime it was overwhelming, especially in large crowds. The first day of classes was like a hurricane- a large amount of students feeling nervous, happy, excited, homesick and God knows what else.
After putting Clara in her place, with carefully selected words and some emotional manipulation, the girl had been a great benefit. She had used Clara as a mood board, focusing on only one helped. Clara, the little citric lemon that she was, had learned how to behave while being less annoying, and was turning out to be an interesting experiment.
Clara liked and hated her in equal measure, she didn't want to be alone in a new place and as such she liked Willow's company; but the fact that her new friend was a swamp pauper made Clara hate her, because she wanted to join the cool rich kids and Willow would be unnecessary baggage. meanwhile Willow was intrigued how long she could play with her new doll
She could now read emotions easily, she didn't even need to look in the eyes of the person itself. But she knew she could do more, she just needed more practice and time. She also needed a few more experiments to create, it seems it was time for the alligator to make new friends.
"Willow, let's go home yeah?" Clara said, nodding her head towards the exit of the bar. They had come with a few colleagues for drinks after finals, the first year of college was done and while she wasn't one to overindulge she did appreciated a good drink once in a while.
Willow looked at the dorm mate, and determined that the girl was feeling uncertain, jealous and frustrated. Her brow was pinched, and she had been biting her lips for comfort. Willow looked at her friend, and saw slightly deeper.
She wanted her all for herself, she didn't want to share. She wanted the attention, she needed it. She wanted to ground her, to be all that she needed. Uncertainty clouded her judgement, but Clara wanted to pin Willow down into her mattress and have her moaning out her name, like a sweet whisper. 'I desire very little, but the things I do consume me', indeed
Willow almost wanted to smile, experiment 01 was going exactly has planned. She had been testing if controlling the emotions of others was in anyway feasible, it only took her almost a year but she had manage it. She had turned Clara's hate and like into love and obsession, a pure and flammable emotion with no control or boundaries. Clara wasn't even sexually attracted to females, but she burnt only for her. her ego was singing her praises, creating love for herself was like a painter creating portrait of himself - narcissistic
"Sure." Willow replied with a soft smile towards her friend, grabbing on to her purse and turning towards their other colleagues. "Bye guys, let's meet up sometime next year, yeah?"
They said their goodbyes and left the pub, the cold summer air greeting them as soon as they walked out of the door. Both girls silently walked towards their dorm, although Willow could tell that Clara wanted to say something but before she could they noticed the police sirens at the end of the street.
"What do you think happened?" Clara asked, pushing her hair behind her ear while biting the corner of her lip. Her lack of skills in seduction was noticeable, but Willow decided to ignore it. just because she wanted a canary in a cage to play with, didn't mean she wanted to eat it
"Let's check it out." She replied, nodding towards what seemed like a crime scene. They silently walked towards to yellow tape, and looked at was in front of them curiously. Clara let out a gasp, covering her mouth in silent horror.
There was a body covered on the ground, the blood still hadn't dried. It was a woman, the victim was a woman, Willow could tell by the size of the corpse and the expensive bag still on the ground. She could imagine a woman silently floating in a pool full of blood while looking at the full moon.
Willow was only looking, and then she was seeing.
You traitor, you cheater, you broke my heart. You destroyed me. I want you to see me, as I cut into you. I want to see you, as I cut into you. I want you to feel my pain, my hate, my everything. I love you, I love you, I love you. You are everything, I'll make you nothing. I want your fear, I want your pain, I want your everything. I watch the life disappear from your beautiful eyes, I am pleased. I was the last thing you ever saw. I'll keep a piece of you forever and that's enough. I'll leave your corpse here because you no longer matter, what I want I have- the second your heart stopped beating I was seeing you and you were seeing me. That is my design.
"Willow, are you ok?" Clara asked, touching her arm and pulling her back down to her. She made sure her face was calm, before looking down at her hands- her fists were both closed, her nails were tearing at her palms and small specks of blood could be seen.
Her own blood woke her up from that high, because feeling a murder was the most tantalising thing she had ever felt in her existence. It was both a torment and a tease, it was feeling love and hate. It was kissing and gutting, it was salvation and despair. it was sinking and swimming, it was beautiful
"I'm fine Clara, thank you." She replied like noting had changed.
She was Willow the alligator and after a night out with friends she was going to go home, take a shower and hope she won't have a hangover in the morning. She started walking in the direction of the dorm, Clara following a few steps behind her.
Then her casually calm expression changed - a sharp smile on her lips, reminiscent of a vampire or a shark, tainted her face.
except everything had changed