D a y d r e a m s

i m m o r t a l s

He took a drag of his cigarette and watched as the smoke furled in the air in front of his eyes. His eyelids fluttered close and he could imagine, in that short moment, that he was back in the woods a few hundred years ago, hunched in front of fire, watching as the smoke curled and twisted into shapes before his eyes before vanishing into the night. 

Adrian really needed to quit smoking. 

Laughter rang in his ears and the murmur of the crowd crescendoed into a roar as Adrian opened his eyes and returned his mind to the real world. Away from memories of the forest. Back to the brick wall he was leaning against, the uncomfortable dress shirt tucked into his jeans, the disgusting smell of what the world had become--trash, dirt, and smoke. 

Adrian tossed the cigarette onto the ground and stomped out the light with the heel of his dress shoe. Then, he fixed his black blazer onto his body and stepped out of the dark alleyway. The sunglasses was tugged off the collar of his shirt and sat on the bridge of his high nose, shielding his eyes so that the July sun would bother him no longer. 

As he walked, the crowd parted ways to make his path clearer, smoother. Adrian didn't smile, but a sense of satisfaction spread throughout him. Immortality had made him stronger. People could recognize the power that clung to his body, the wisdom that came with living centuries, the confidence that trailed him. 

Of course, part of their avoidance was also due to subconscious fear. Because there were only two reasons Adrian could've stayed alive for so long. 

He had never met his soulmate. 

Or he had killed his soulmate. 

One of those two was the correct assumption. 

Adrian moved with ease. No one bumped into him, no one stood in his direction. Oh, how he loved immortality. 

Then Adrian turned onto another avenue and saw a group of girls standing right smack in the middle of the sidewalk. No matter. They'd move the moment they'd sense him. 

So Adrian kept walking, his head held high, the confidence in his steps never once faltering. And to his expectancy, the girls began stepping back, some even apologizing for being his way. A few giggled as he approached, eyeing him lustily. Of course they would. Adrian was something everyone wanted in a soulmate. Charm, style, confidence, money, power. 

As he stepped away from the group, he noticed a girl running straight towards him. Adrian stuck his path, walking with no intention of moving. She would step out of the way in the end, struck by shock at the aura he emitted. 

But she ran straight past him, her shoulder brushing roughly against his. An electric jolt flashed through Adrian's body, stimulating every nerve and bone underneath his skin, and he could feel his blood run through his veins with a renewed warmth. 

"Watch where you're going," the girl snarled. "You can't just stand in the way of someone running."

It took a minute, but Adrian finally recovered form his shock and turned around, staring at the group of girls. It was too late, though. Now the crowd was straying away, laughing and chattering as they rounded the corner and disappeared. She had disappeared into the mass and he had paid absolutely no attention to what she had looked like. 

That had been a mistake. 

He had seen one thing--one of the girls had donned a university t-shirt, its emblem printed across her chest. Had it been her? Or was it the one in the polka-dotted dress? 

Adrian forgot that he was already almost late to his job, but he hurried after the girls. Yet the pack had vanished into the city, and Adrian stood on the sidewalks, running his hand through his hair as he thought about what just happened.