CWRC Anthology

THE HUMAN CONDITION

©2022 by Idowu Kehinde Elizabeth

Brought to you by the Christian Writers and Readers Club
...

Lucius sat at the back seat in class and stared intensely at the girl who sat five rows away from him by his right. It was a terrible habit of his; it has been for the past seven years.

Someone called the object of his muse and said person looked up from the novel she was writing and smiled in the direction of the call.
Lucius' heart involuntarily skipped a beat. He looked away from the bewitching sight.
"Gloria, we're having a tutorial this evening to prepare for the upcoming Calculus test, are you interested?"

Even though Lucius was no longer facing her he could still hear the conversation between her and her best friend, clearly.
"Sure, thanks Clara," Gloria replied.

Lucius imagined her smile litting up her face once again. The thought alone made his heart flutter. Lucius doodled absentmindedly on his sketch pad, before he knew it he had already made a full sketch of her smiling face.
He heard a loud whistle from behind him and almost immediately, his sketch pad got snatched from his desk.

Lucius stood up and faced the perpetrator.
"I've always known you were a freak, I didn't know you were a stalker too." Jake, and his goons of misfits surrounded Lucius. This drew the entire class' attention to him...including hers.
Lucius broke out in a cold sweat.

"Give it back." He said calmly.
Jake chuckled arrogantly. "I don't think so."
Jake began skimming through his sketches and the more he went through it, the more his brows seemed to furrow. Lucius didn't stop him and just kept oddly quiet.

When Jake was done he looked up at Lucius with disgusted eyes. "What a creep."

He knew why Jake was reacting that way. After all, it was a sketch pad that contained all his drawings and daydreams about Gloria; his muse for seven years.
"Give it back," Lucius repeated.

He was surprised when Jake gave him back his sketch pad and walked away from him obviously disturbed.

Lucius was left standing alone in the classroom while all eyes glued to him. As if fate was playing a sick, twisted joke on him, his eyes met hers, for the first time their eyes met and time seemed to slow down.
Her beauty took his breath away.

Her honey-colored eyes looked at him perplexed and bizzare thoughts seemed to plague him. Lucius averted his eyes not being able to hold her soul-searching gaze. He hastily grabbed his backpack and shoved in the sketch pad and his Calculus text book. The bell rang signalling the end of school for the day and Lucius saw that as his cue to leave.

He sped out of the classroom and made his way to the student parking lot where his bicycle was chained down waiting for him. He bent down to unlock the chain and as he was about to stand he felt a shadow hover over him.

He stood and faced the intruder thinking it was one of Jake's minions waiting to beat him up like they always did. But as he stared at the person in front of him, Lucius' hands froze by his sides.

"Um, hi?" Gloria greeted with a smile.

Lucius' heart sped in his chest and for several seconds he couldn't form a coherent word. It was almost as if his brain shut down immediately he saw her.

Never in a million years would he have fantomed that Gloria Haggins would seek him out on her own.
"Hello?" She waved a hand across his face.
Reflexively, he grabbed it and a surprised gasps escaped her lips. He was much taller than her so he was looking down at her.

Gloria looked at Lucius with perplexed eyes. His grip wasn't tight or painful but it'd caught her off guard. His hand was calloused against her soft ones. Her brows furrowed when he noticed his hand was trembling slightly.