Troubled

THIRTY SIX

KYLE GARCIA

I'm not even ashamed to admit that I took a huge whiff of her hair while we stood in front of her room, I know she was obviously deliberating bringing me inside her room.

I don't rush her, I know what it means when someone was intruding into your personal life, the whole school did that when the whole thing with the football happened.

Her hair smelled like a mix between vanilla and lavender. Ordinarily I would think that wasn't a good combination. But it does smell good, and kind of like her, what you assume about her is totally different and unexpected from who she really is.

Without warning she turned to stare at me, I was stunned by her beauty once again. She was extremely beautiful. I hear myself gasp once our eyes meet. Her eyes up close drew me in, they were like lightening bolts, shocking me so much that I forget to blink momentarily. Or breathe, I don't breathe for a while.

Her small hand pushes the door open and she takes a step in. She kinds of hangs around the door awkwardly. I want to chuckle, but knowing her she will feel challenged to let me in, like my chuckling was daring her, so I keep mute, allow her to make her own decisions.

"You can come in." She hurriedly picked up a few things from the floor and dump them in a her laundry basket. I take a step in, feeling a sense of honor I guess, she obviously hadn't let anyone else in here, I was the first.

The first thing I notice is the fleece rug. Soft under my feet, black obviously. Her room was filled with drawings, different grotesque drawings covered the walls, if you didn't know you would think she was goth and loved to collect drawings from her fellow goth artists. But I knew, I knew it was her handwork. I stood staring at the drawing that covered every little space of her wall. My mouth dropped at the level of work she put in just to be half as good as she was.

All of the drawings were so grotesque you would wonder how a tiny girl would know that you could slice someone's wrist open with a pen knife. But I was staring at it.

"Wow." I whisper.

She stood there awkwardly scratching the back of her neck.

"You're a genius you know that right?"

She looked at me with her blank expression.

"Genius?"

"Yeah, only a genius can make all of these." I say as I continue to browse.

"Am I supposed to say thank you?"

She was obviously thrown out of her usual life, she hasn't heard someone tell her how pretty her work was. I almost tell her how beautiful she herself was, just to watch her scramble for words, but one thing at a time, today was for her talent only.

I walk towards one that held my attention down, it was by the head of her big bed, it was one that the head was cut of and blood was splurging out of it. It doesn't scare me, as like everything this girl did and will continue to do intrigued me.

I notice that each and every one of the drawings never showed the features. There was no way you could say this was a man or woman, or be able to identify the person, I would like to think she didn't draw them based on anyone.

"No, saying thank you doesn't mean anything, you're the genius here, I should say thank you for taking me into your coven."

I hear her chuckle but she was sitting at her reading table.

"After seeing these, do you still think I need practice?" She asked as she arranged her materials in front of her.

"Yes, I still think so." I cross my hands over my chest.

She peered behind me curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, you are good no doubt. Excellent even. Nobody can dispute that. But after that what else?"

She was turning to look at me now.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is simple Cora, what do you want people to see when they look at your drawing? What do want them to feel?"

Her blank face stared at me in apparent confusion.

"Right now, your drawings are grotesque, but you are holding back on the fright. That factor that will make people talk about your drawing. The one that will make them lose sleep over it but they will still look at it because it's that beautiful."

It was like something dawned on her, her face was as blank as always but I was beginning to see her expressions from her eyes, it was like I cracked a universal code that everyone struggled with, but I was the only one who had. I wanted to do a little victory dance, but I wasn't doing that in front of her.

"You deduced that all on your own?"

"Yes I did, why?"

"I thought playing all those football and hitting each other on the reduced your brain cells."

I let out a short laugh.

"Apparently not all of them died."

I see her eyes smile, I know where to check for her emotions. Not on her face like everyone else, her eyes held her emotions.

"Okay, so I have to focus on showing all of the fright?"

I nod.

"Don't hold back on it, show us what would leave the rest of us mere mortals shaking in fear, wondering if our the things we have seen will haunt us forever or for the first few nights after seeing them."

Her eyes laugh. I don't know how to explain it, but I see her eyes laugh but her face was blank.

The fact I had figured her out excited me so much.

"Okay then, prepare to be scared for life."

She says as she delves into the world only she knows how to navigate.