The Ring Of Lies

MARIE

                     Present
I dashed to my locker when the second bell rang. At first, I struggled with the lock and when I finally got it right I got my books for AP English and  as I was about to close the door of the locker something caught my eye, just below the second shelf hanging by its edge. There was a note. Despite the fact that I was late for my first class already I pushed the thought at the back of my head and picked up the note.
It was freshly folded as I took it in my hands.

“Recognise the blood, dearest?
      No? Well, you should.

And, Oh.  Don't get startled by the blood, more is yet to come but don't worry I won't hurt you…”

At the end of the note there was a blood-stained  hand mark.
         Stunned enough to even move a hair I stood there paralyzed by what I just saw.

who is he? Or it is a she? And what would they want from me? I don't even recognise the person. This is bullshit.
Is this a joke? A dirty prank?

With these constant voices in my head I looked around the hallway, searching to find someone hiding behind a wall, waiting to jump out of a corner and yell “Gotcha!”
But none came.

Out of consciousness, my feet started moving down the hall. And despite the fact that my brain kept yelling “Do not do it!!”, my feet kept disobeying its orders and continued down the hallway, then took a left then another left and a right and walked straight three steps then I came to an abrupt halt.

Back facing me, there is a boy or a man perhaps? Standing in front of me, he has broad shoulders, but he is not muscular, he is tall but not too big. He has dark hair, messy but impressively messy. It's the kind of hair you look at and think they are definitely made that way using different types of chemicals when they are actually just ‘messy’ you know?

I could feel my heart sinking, and I was panting loudly as if I’d run a marathon. Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead trailing down my temples,and my palms were sweaty.
     I was loud enough to make the boy sense my presence behind him and turn around. His gaze pierced through me. His eyes were of the colour of mint but- cold. Icy. Sharp. Like needles. His mouth was thin, followed by  a perfect jawline. He wore a black henley in contrast to the grey pants.
     His gaze was intense, boring into mine. I could feel my cheeks heat up. He walked up to me, so close I could hear him breathing, he had a scent that was probably dry, husky and fruity just like- Aventus Creed.

Oh my god! That's like THE most expensive perfume!! Damn he looks rich!

I could tell by the amused expression on his face that he could read me like a book.

Gather yourself up. Marie!

I cleared my throat and took a small step back reluctantly.

What's wrong with me?!? I don't even know this guy!

Forcing my voice and expressions stern I raised an eyebrow carefully, signalling him that he should better start talking. At this very moment I realised there was something in my hand that was probably wet with the amount of sweat my palms were realising. So I looked down to find the note I found in my locker. Which snapped me back to the present. I immediately looked up to the guy who had noticed the shock on my face and pulled out a knife. There was blood on it.

More blood?? That was seriously the last thing I wanted to see right now.

He handed over the knife to me, I noticed that  his hands were big. I could see the veins outlining along his wrist. And as I was staring at it, I glanced up just a little bit to find his eyes staring at me in the eye.

Crap! He caught me staring at his veins! Why do I keep doing this!?

Pulling his hand back he stepped away from me, turned  and began walking. Just before turning around a corner he looked back at me and despite the distance between us, his gaze was clear to me. It was villainous. Dangerous. But deep down, behind the minted curtains, there was love.
The flutter of a bird, sitting on the window sill caught my attention but when I looked back at the boy he was gone. I blinked.

The strange boy was gone.

The bell rang, ending the first class and the students started filing out of their classrooms. I immediately and quickly put the note and the knife in my bag. And followed suit with other students, pushing through the crowd to find Zoë.