Bloodied Paws [BP Book 1]

Oddities

[Addie]

The natural silence was filled with the chirping of birds flying overhead and the whisper of leaves in the tree that loomed over the bench Katherine and I sat on as we both doodled on a piece of paper. The wind occasionally upturned one of the corners as it caught a flat side, forcing me to run my hand over it to flatten it. Still it didn't hinder my drawings, or Katherine's.

Only yesterday was Grace's death, but it felt like much longer. A darkness still lingered in the back of my mind, threatening to slash claws across this remarkably decent day, but I held it back the best I could.

Though every few minutes, tears would sometimes threaten to rise and choke me.

I shook away my sadness once again as a loud BANG reverberated through the air. A gunshot. It didn't concern me. A few feet away, another one of my friends, Tucker, held a pistol aimed at a target about fifteen meters away. His dark hair was concealed by a red beanie, with the tip of the front visible from behind.

Gosh, that was... louder than usual...

I shook my head. Nope. Not concerned about anything weird. Just try to have fun. Nothing strange at all going on here.

That same, cold feeling from yesterday still settled in my mind. Nonexistent eyes stuck to me from all around. I turned my attention away from the sensation, focusing back on the drawing.

Katherine and I were page fighting. Again.

There was a line in the middle of the paper dividing it in two, one half my drawings and the other half Katherine's. In the center of each half was a sketch - her's obviously more thoroughly shaded than mine - of each of us in some kind of idle pose/offensive/defensive position holding a pencil. Around each was random blob drawings and words that really had no context whatsoever but made it more entertaining. Things like "I use the power of color" and "eats popcorn as chaos ensues."

BANG!

The gunshot sounded again, the bullet piercing a hole into the target about twenty meters away. This time I flinched away with a yelp of surprise, rubbing my ears as they now rang.

"Addie? Are you okay?" Katherine asked me. I barely heard her. I registered her words after a moment and replied,

"I-I'm fine, that was just kind of loud." I put my pencil back to the paper, tapping it a bit to think of something to doodle onto the page.

BANG!

"AHH-" A cry erupted from my throat, my face twisted into an expression of distress.

"Addie!" Katherine put a hand on my shoulder. My voice was loud enough that Tucker stopped shooting, turning around with brown eyes filled with confusion.

"You okay?" He said. I flinched back a bit more at the loudness of his voice, gritting my teeth and willing for my ears to stop flatlining like a heart monitor.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." I chuckled nervously, shaking my head a little. "Damn, did that gunshot get louder to anyone else?"

Both Katherine and Tucker looked confused. Katherine spoke up. "Um... no?"

Out came another chuckle of nervousness. "Oh. Just me then, hah hah."

Tucker glanced at the target, raising the gun and pulling the trigger once more with a BANG!

NOPE, NOPE-

I cried out in pain again, the sound cutting like a knife into my skull.

"Tucker!" Katherine exclaimed to him angrily.