Rey pov
It's been a week since that blondie demigod troublemaker arrived and I'm already getting eyebags. And that when I'm already avoiding him like the plague.
"Jace, mind answering the board?"
Ms. Smith calls him whilst boredly tapping the old chalk, someone would probably have to change soon.
"That... uhhh.."
He stammers, as his eyes were fixed on a shadowy figure just outside the windows that were bathed under the sunlight just a moment ago, Now seemingly foggy.
I couldn't help but sigh. He was attracting monsters left and right, day and night, for the whole week. It was getting on my nerves.
"Does Ms. Smith mind if I steal this one?"
I tell the teacher as I glared at the monsters outside when I stood up and just as then they quickly disappear.
"Very well, Rey. Next time Mr. Klawthorne, I expect you to pay better attention."
Ms. Smith replies as I begrudgingly went towards the board. Klawthorne was staring at me as my dull grey ones met with his warm brown eyes that were as if oak in the summer sun. I glared at him not trying to hide a single bit of my irritation from having to chase out and sometimes run from monsters that were quickly finding a home in this town.
I didn't want to bother with more than necessary. Even if I was avoiding him, he was already causing more trouble than I liked. Why is he even here? I don't think he's unaware of the monsters following him around.
...
I failed to notice Thea's gaze at me whilst complaining in my head.
"Rey, meet me at the cafeteria."
Thea suddenly grabs my hand to my surprise. She says that as my eyes landed on her bright blue eyes seemingly worried about something.
That's odd... she's usually so happy go lucky she wouldn't even care if she failed the next mock exam. What got her so caught up?
"Rey, what's taking so long?"
Ms.Smith calls me as I was brought back from my thoughts.
"Yes, coming Ms. Smith."
I tell her awkwardly as I continued walking to the board but I took the time and looked back to give Thea a nod.
...
(Later...)
I can't exactly say waiting wasn't a particular pet peeve of mine and my head was already boiling over for the lack of sleep. I could only guess the hard scowl in my face as I felt a warm hand on my shoulder all of a sudden as I was gazing at the rowdy kids inside this shabby cafeteria.
"Wrong side of the bed today, Rey? You look like you were about to murder someone. You've been scowling all day long."
A familiar voice suddenly says.
In my half lidded eyes that were itching to shut, I saw a familiar boy the same age as me with those memorable strawberry brown locks and the smell of apple tarts on his sweater probably from helping out in his dad's bakery.
Lawrence Kent...
He gave me a subtle smile as he sat down beside me on the dilapitated bench just outside the plastic faded blue door connecting the cafeteria to the tiny courtyard that barely spread a mile.I let my anger dissipate with that sweet smile of his that tended to charm a lot of girsl in our neighborhood. He was right. I should'nt let my emotions get over my head.
"No, it's nothing..."
I reply to him as I bit back on my irriitation that was still trembling under my skin with my migraine that never seemed to go away. Fortunately, he just shrugged and did'nt bother to ask. I've known him since second grade and he knows me too well for that.
I then noticed the bright red smudge on his face that smelled pretty sweet almost like sugar and fruit. It made him look pretty silly since he did'nt seem to notice it yet. I could'nt help but hold a chuckle that was coming in my throat as he gazed at me still without a clue that there was strawberry jam on his face that ironically was just a tad bit like the color of his hair.
" Tough day? Should'nt I be asking you that? I just noticed there's jam on your face and flour stains on your sweater. What happened to you?"
I ask him with a grin as he rolls his eyes while rubbing the smudges off his skin with his palm. Which honestly seemed to make it worse with that disgusted expression scrunching his face when he realized the jam was too sticky for wear.
" Yeah, touche. Tim, i think you remember him he works with my dad at the bakery, had to visit his mom at the hospital so I had to fill in the missing shoes until he gets back."
Lawrence says as I had enough of watching him make a fool of himself as the stains did'nt seem to go away like it was a rabid dog lockjawed on his shirt so I handed him my drabby checkered handkerchief. He took it with a grateful nod.
"Well,what happened to him?"
I ended up asking him as I watched him rub his cheeks red, the circulation stuck. At the rate he was going he was gonna bruise himself, he's always been a bit brash but he means well. He's a boy I grew up with that somehow always found himself stuck on the chicken coops after running around for hours without ever stopping, ever catching a breath. He takes deep sigh as he takes a piece of smushed strawberry jam stuffed bread from inside his pocket.
"Before that though...Share? I think I took the wrong flavor? I can't exactly say it looks pretty but the taste is'nt too bad."
He says as his warm brown eyes under the subtle light barely covered by the clouds just above as he gave me an awkard smile. On his hand was a peanut butter filled sandwich. What a dork...He's always been endearing this way. There were still jam stains on his face...
"sure..."
I reply absent mindedly taking the peanut bun as he began munching on that ugly strawberry filled one, a bit of the red and sticky stuffing on his cheeks which was going to be a nightmare to wipe away later. He's always been a klutz...even all those years ago..
A memory plays in my head as I lose to my thoughts whilst taking a bit of this soggy peanut butter bun. It's too sweet..
...
I was four years old when I first met a monster. Before that, I lived four years in bliss fully forgetting the past since I was somehow born again as someone else.
I remember that day my mom left for work so he let me stay with Lawrence and his dad for a playdate. Me and the strawberry brown haired boy didn't exactly always come to terms but we could still have a good time if we wanted to.
he's always been rowdy...in the end we decided that he could play on his own looking for bugs and I was going to stay in the samd box building a sand cage for his bugs.
I boredly watched him jumping around the wide backyard of his house like a wild grasshopper. He hopped around chasing bigs that I could almost mistake him for a big himself.
His clumsy hopping put Mr.Kent's carefully arranged garden tools in absolute chaos.
"Rey! Lookie lookie it's a gold beetle."
He exclaimed as he excitedly ran towards me.
"That's yellow..."
I replied to him listlessly but like usual just tue next second he wasn't listening.
"Hey! look! A dragonfly!"
He yells in excitement that put him so distracted he dropped the sunlit yellow beetle on the sand box. As soon as the tiny thing eeky crawled towards me, I felt a shiver of disgust down my spine. I quickly smooshed it with my sand bucket and sighed as I watched the brat with me running around.
It made me wonder if he ever gets tired...
As soon I hate that thought, I smelt a the apparently not a beetle but a stink bug's scent that made want to barf out today's breakfast.
My face scrunched like I ate a lemon as it smelt like five day old farts and rotten eggs that mom forgot to clean.
"Lawrence! Get back here!"
I yelled trying to run after the tiny brat who threw a stink bug at me.
Somehow that day I found the door fence of the backyard swinging open as I saw Lawrence running outside with his tongue out mischievously.
"Too slow, Rey!"
My petty anger overcoming my hesitation of going outside the fence like Mr.Kent said not to had me rushing to the brat.
"I'm sooo telling on you, Lawrence..."
I mumbled with my teeth gritting as hard grind with my baby teeth.
Slowly or swiftly I couldn't tell but as I watched the neighbor's fences and dog walkers fade, I found myself chasing Lawrence to the forest just near the town.
As he disappeared in the shrubbery with that annoying speed, I realized I was lost.
Around me was thichk oak trees under the summer light and the sun that was slowly setting as the night arrived. In other words, it was getting dark and I was getting scared.
"Lawrence... Lawrence...this isn't funny.."
I yelled as my voice echoed in the space but without a reply. Despite my fear trickling in my veins, I walked the forest trying to find the boy.
I couldn't see anything soon. I don't know how long I was wandering in the dark but then...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
I heard a scream not so far from the bushes and despite a part of me telling me to run I ran towards it and found Lawrence.
I couldn't say I wasn't relieved.
"I'm so telling, Mom and Mr. Kent it was your fault..."
I told him as I looked at the dark and starry night sky which means my mom probably got home already.
"Rey...n-no...look!"
He stuttered out pointing to the distance just past the cold most that began to rise from what I thought was the cold.
"We need to go back now, Lawrence. Mom and Mr. Kent are probably worried."
I said with a sigh but the boy's eyes remained wide open shaking in fear as I felt a ahiver the cold. Oddly enough, something smelled weird. It was odd.
I feel like I've smelt it before but it always faded away just as quickly as it arrived. This was the first time my nose could fully recognize it so clearly.
In a peculiar sense, I let my eyes follow the direction he was pointing as I squinted my eyes on the thick mist hiding in the shrubs.
As I was about to say there was nothing there, I saw a figure looming darkly by the trees.
The mist dissipated as it walked towards us. Out of the mist, I could hardly describe what I saw.
"My, my...what lovely things...Are you lost my dears?"
The figure in the mist said with a voice that felt like a hissing snake. The figure had long hair even more beautiful than that of my mother's and oddly her chest was bare.
That wasn't the weirdest thing about her. It was the fact that I heard slithering on the ground as I slowly realized she had a snake's body instead of legs.
"Don't be scared my loveliesss..."
She says in a voice that was almost a whisper as her long snake like tongue hissed. Her voice echoed in the almost empty space her hands slowly reaching forward.
I froze. I didn't understand it but something in my nerves just told me she was dangerous. My nerves were shaking tremoring even but my body was still as ice.
"G-go away...!"
The strawberry brown haired boy yelled holding his toy sword that was actually just a tree branch he found lying around.
"My that'ssss very rude...!"
She says as she slowly pushed the wooden branch out of his hand and his body froze under tbe trance of her gaze.
I felt as if I was freezing as if something was crawling down my spine. I couymo e as if I had invisible chains holding my form. For the first time in my life, I felt a terror that seems piercing on my smim. I was almost sure I was gonna die.
"Lawrence! Rey! Are you there!?"
I heard a familiar voice says in the not so distant call. The atmosphere that brought shivers down my nerves slightly dissipated. At first the snake lady was hesitant but when she heard Mr. Kent's rifle not so far, she tutted as if she lost a meal and swiftly disappeared into the mist.
"Lawrence!"
At that call, I saw worried Mr.Kent with his hunting rifle looking completely exhausted as if he looked for us for hours. His strawberry brown hair just like Lawrence was completely disheveled and had twigs and leaves tangled on it.
Mr. Kent without even a bit of hesitation ran to embrace the little boy beside me who was still shaking in fear.
"Lawrence! You stupid boy! I thought I lost you!"
The man said as Lawrence began to sob as if releasing the fear he couldn't express when he was frozen under the snake woman's trance...
I went home that day. Luckily, my mom was running light so Mr. Kent just bribed me witreats so I wouldn't tell her. I can't deny it she would've strangled him.
...
As soon as my little flashback ended, I realized Lawrence had led me into the locker room. The Blue eyed blonde, Thea, was already waiting as she leaned on her locker door.
"I thought you guys were gonna take forever..."
Thea sighs whilst taking out a notebook from her open locker full of silly stickers.
"Very funny... You're the one who was running late. We were supposed to meet at the cafeteria!"
Lawrence replies pointing at her with irritation. He never really liked the locker rooms. It always smells stuffy in hear although the things he's probably most worried about is the fact that it was always a little cramped.
"How was I supposed to know that Ms. Smith was going to make me do remedials! That's why I texted you!"
Thea answers as rolled her eyes and set the notebook that I noticed was messy and full of papers sticking out on the table.
Lawrence only had to stare blankly fot her to get the message.
The blonde simply huffs and brushes it off. When I was getting a little tired of dallying, I went between them as I opened the notebook she set on the table.
"What's this about?"
I asked as I flipped through the messy pages with several pictures clipped and several printed files and newspapers closed in.
"Okay...I guess we should get to the main matter. Lawrence, mind guarding the door? You're the biggest one."
Thea says as the boy simply nodded and took a few steps back to make sure his hand was firmly on the door's handle.
"Okay... Rey..Have you seen the news so far?"
She asks me whilst flipping a particular page in the notebook.
"Not much... there's hardly anything interesting about countryside news. The best report we had was when George Barns accidentally set all his family's cows free cause he forgot the fence."
I tell her trying to act oblivious as I slowly felt uneasy where she was getting at with the serious gaze in her blue eyes.
"Done act dumb, Rey. You know it too. Things have been getting weird."
Lawrence says from behind me as I wanted to swear under my breath but I knew I had to hold my tongue.
"How so?..."
I muttered trying to hide my apprehension to this.
"How so? There's been incidents everywhere. Just yesterday, after a house somehow caught fire, four people were injured. Fire doesn't come from nowhere."
Thea tells me in a serious tone as her clear blue eyes my own.
"Just last week, they found somebody dead and looked like they've been mauled by a bear. We don't have bears here. We don't get fires here miraculously, Rey. Something's weird."
Lawrence states as a matter of factly and I felt myself gulp holding my breath. This isn't going good. I'd rather not let them know about what's behind the mist. They don't need to be demi gods for this to end up in shambles. More so...how would even tell them about 'that'?
"You two... did you guya stay up too much playing Amario bros? I think you're over thinking this. Calm down. Coincidences happen. Maybe someone lit a cigarette at the wrong place. You're being a bit delirious."
I explained to them as I sighed. Fortunately they don't seem to know enough. I should be able to convince them out of this if I say the right words.
"I would have thought that too..."
Thea says exasperatedly as she blankly gazed at her notebook that was still open on the table.
She then takes in her hands flipping the pages swiftly but then stops as she pulls a singular photo that seemed almost ominous at that very moment.
The blonde then flips the image to my view as she looked down on a particular page that seemed to have pieces of newspapers glued to it. I didn't see what exactly the photo was at first. It was blurry covered by the thick fog buf as I squinted my eyes I saw a dark tall figure watching at the distance of the image and it certainly wasn't human.
I knew I would never say it but that familiar inhumanely menacing stature and one eye that peered through the lens...It was a cyclops.
She somehow got a picture of cyclops that I often seen lurking around here. Not good...
"Until I saw this...I took a picture just last week with my camera. I was just out looking for something good on the school journal club assignment but I think I got something way better."
Thea says with a glint in her eyes as she looked hawk staright as if staring at the cyclops eyes in the image she took.
"Come on...you can't be serious. There's hardly anything there. It could be anything. It's really foggy. You're creeping me out."
I try to reason with her although I'm already thinking of ways to get that cyclops out of town. If whatever evidence she thinks she has fades away, then she might give up on this. I hope.
"Maybe...but Lawrence saw it too... since these few months I think all in all we found eight pieces of evidence."
She says shuffling through her files and laying them out in order. Five news reports, a cyclops, two harpies, and a few others I just call flamy and ugly. Not good...
There's been too many of them since that damned demi god now people are starting to see beyond the mist that hides the mythical world because of all the trouble.
This amount of monsters... what am I going to do..
"Look, Rey. It's hard to believe but I've been seeing them everywhere lurking in the shadows. I know it's autumn but there's too much fog. Somehow we only see these things beyond the fog..."
The strawberry brown haired boy tells me as he comes forward to take a better look at one of the photos.
"That day when Tim visited his mom after she somehow fell two stories high off a building with no clue how...I saw this thing.."
He tells me handing me the photo in his hands.
As soon I grabbed it, I saw the picture of a harpy flying just outside a fence. Bloody damn this is getting out of hand.. Since there's been too many of them...I wonder how many people are starting to notice.
"There's way too much evidence, Rey. Something weird is happening to this town. You need to look at it!"
Thea exclaimed seriously although I could aee the thrill she's trying to hide. She's always been into fantasy novels. What's worse? She likes mystery fantasy novels with protagonists who usually get killed.
With that look in his eyes, I knew at the very least I have to humor them. If I somehow find a way to make them think that cyclops was a lamp post...
Yeah... I think that might e my only choice..
"Alright... there's been a lot of things happening at the town.."
I admit. The next time I see Jace Klawthorne I'm considering buying torches amd pitchforks. That damned demigod...