Voices filled the air as Meara sat amongst the chaos, as the room filled with other students. The professor had not yet arrived, but amidst the chaos, she sat with one leg up upon her chair, the other resting on the ground. Her sketchbook rested upon her propped leg, her hand moving along the page as she drew. A face was starting to come together. An older man, his face covered in wrinkles, showing his old age.
"Okay, everybody gather around in your seats," the professor said as he instructed the students to settle down. Dropping her leg from the chair, she sat up straight, gathering her stuff, but her attention went to her phone resting on top of her desk.
'You have one new message from Dr. Martin.' Reaching out, she pressed the side button, and her screen went dark.
"Hey, Maera?" someone called her name. Maera turned her head, searching for the one who called her among the other students. Maera's eyes landed on the blond-haired, brown-eyed guy, Nick; he stood on the stairs between the rows of seats, a ball in his hands and his bag hanging off one shoulder. She had talked to him a couple of times since the semester started.
"Hey Nick," she greeted softly, not wanting to get in trouble, offering him a smile. She grinned at him, opening her mouth, ready to say something.
"Nick, I know you would like to talk to Miss Ducane, but I am sure you could ask her out after class." The professor called out from the front of the lecture hall, his glasses resting on his nose, his papers in hand as he stared at them, waiting for them to settle down. A blush spread across her face. She faced the front; she felt Nick moving away from her. But she could still feel his eyes on her as the lecture continued.
"Since everybody is seated, I would like to discuss the anniversary of the Dark War, which is coming up. And I guess you all know what your assignment will be about. The Dark War. I want you to write a ten-page essay on the Dark War, but I will help you all out with this one, since I feel like being nice, since you all managed to pass your previous assignment. The university has been allowed to visit the local museum, so all you explorers get ready to explore one of the places where there are many old, scary, and dark objects. . we will go on Friday, so dress comfortably and respectably, please; we don't want to embarrass the school, so remember notebooks to take notes because this is not a free period; you are still learning something. Now off you go and plan," he dismissed the class. Abruptly turning around, grabbing his briefcase and his books, and heading out of the hall.
The chatter instantly filled the room once more as they all got up from their seats, glad that they were allowed to leave early. Standing up from her seat, she grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder, her sketchbook in hand as she left the room.
Ready to meet up with her friends.
Her phone pressed against her ear as she walked along the fairly quiet sidewalk.
"How are you doing, sweetheart?" her mother questioned her through the phone.
"I am doing fine," she answered, a strange feeling growing in her chest. Reaching up, Mwear began rubbing circles on her chest as she continued walking.
"So when is your next appointment?" her mother asked, loud sounds coming from the other end of the phone. The sound of her little brother talking loudly about something and her mother was busy in the kitchen.
"Oh, it's coming up in the next two weeks," Meara quickly answered, knowing how worried her mother was about her and her appointments.
"That is good, okay, you will remember to call us and let us know what they said," her mother reminded.
"I will send love to the others, please," she smiled into the phone. Somehow, she always feels better after having a talk with her. "Of course, dear," the line beeped as the call ended. Meara tucked her phone in her pocket as she walked to the town square, not seeing Fred anywhere since he was usually here around this time, painting; maybe he was running late.
Only a couple of feet away from the cafe, when she stopped in her tracks, a man stood outside, staring at a woman with her hands full of bags of food.
"I know you work for him," he screamed in her face, causing her to drop some of her groceries.
The woman stared at him.
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to give it back; he had made a mistake," staring at the card he held in his hand, only for it to be a ten of diamonds. He was making all that fuss over a card.
"You know what you have been doing; I cannot change his mind once it's made up. You know what you have done," she told him. The man turned his head to look at a car with a woman sitting in it, with a bruise on her face."
It was strange the way one could see things only if one paid more attention. The woman in the car stared at them, only to realize the attention was on her; she quickly looked away, turning her head so the bruise was no longer on display.
"I don't know what you are talking about," he denied arrogantly. She tripped and fell."
"On what you're fist, we all can see what I am talking about; if you have a problem, go see him yourself," she retorted. The woman's gaze drifted back to the woman in the car. The man shook his head over and over.
"he made a mistake; this can't be happening," he muttered. He threw the card at the woman before rushing to his car, getting in, slamming the car door, and speeding off. Meara stepped up, reached down, and picked up the large bone.
"You dropped this?" she said to the older woman, holding out the large bone.
"Oh, thank you, dear," the older woman wasn't even fazed by the interaction she had with the man. She grabbed the bone from her before turning around and heading toward her car.
"You're welcome," she called after her. Watching the woman leave as well.
Well, that was not strange at all.
Entering the café, his best friend was busy wiping tables. When her eyes shot up, landing on Meara, they grew wide.
"You are early; I missed you so much," she said, dramatically throwing the cloth on the table before rushing to her. Throwing her arms around her, she pulled her into a hug.
"Lia, you saw me this morning," she barely got out as her face smushed against Lia's shoulder.
"I know," Lia replied, pulling away, grabbing her free hand, and dragging her to a booth. "Sit; I will be back in a few seconds."
Meara sat down, placing her stuff down, only for her phone to light up again.
"Aren't you going to get that?" someone questioned from beside her. Instinctively grabbing her phone, she looked up at Nick standing next to her booth; her eyes trailed behind him as she watched his friends sitting in the booth across from hers.
"It's nothing important," she told him. "I have been meaning to talk to you, but we keep getting interrupted—"
"Here you go, my bestie," Lia said, interrupting Nick. "Move along, Nick, you had your chance with her the entire day; now it's my time."
Nick stared at Lia in shock, shaking his head before turning around and heading to his table.
Lia slid into the seat opposite her. Placing the strawberry milkshake in front of her before she began slurping on her bubblegum milkshake.
"What a long day," Lia sighed. Meara nodded her head in agreement. She had classes the entire morning and had spent most of the night at work the night before.
"So you have been looking at apartments," Lia told her excitedly, holding out her phone to her. "I found this cute one, and it is not too far from campus and our jobs; it's literally in the middle of everything."
Grabbing the phone, Meara began flicking through the photos of the apartment. "It looks so cozy," she told her, looking up from the screen, but her eye landed on the massive wolf walking across the road, her eyes following the black mass.
"Meara!" Lia called out loudly, breaking her trance.
Snapping her attention back to Lia, her friend's eyes softened. "You are zoning out again. What did you see this time? Was it some hot guy or something creepy?" Lia questioned her, slurping her milkshake as she stared at her expectantly.
"It was nothing I remembered; our professor is taking us to the museum on Friday for our new assignment."
"Oh, that sounds fun."
"Lia," their heads snapped to the man behind the counter; he held a tray full of empty glasses.
"Oops, I almost forgot," Lia quickly stood, heading back to work. Shaking her head, Meara sat, waiting for her best friend.
—
"Hey M, let's go! I want to binge-watch a series tonight." They grabbed their things and headed out. Just then, a group of children ran past. One little girl stopped and stared at me. Her laughter faded, and her eyes narrowed as she looked at me. She took a step closer and giggled. Then she turned around, her soft pink dress flowing in the air. Her two pigtails curled beautifully as she ran off, disappearing.
When they got home, Meara sat at her small desk. She pulled out her sketchbook and started drawing the little girl in the pink dress with curly pigtails, while Lia was sprawled out on her bed behind her, talking to her about her excitement for their apartment.