Tainted Beings

Chapter five

Posted- June 5, 2017
(unedited)

Adrian was an art major, transferring the thoughts in her mind onto paper as images. She loved to draw, well to be specific she loved to sketch. she was infatuated with how messy and unrefined it looked. Almost like herself and the life she had lived up till now. Every stroke of her pencil was meant to harden the image but only gave the illusion of something that was solid. None of her sketches had hard lines, she wanted them to look indefinite because that's how life was. Of course being an art major meant that she couldn't spend all her time sketching. That's why she was sitting in front of a canvas with an array of paint in front of her.

It was a simple painting of some fall trees, a flock of birds flying across the sky. Although if you looked closely, hidden under a layer of paint was a geometric pattern. A pattern that most people associated with the 20s. It was incredibly cliche and funny to her, she enjoyed hiding a bit of her past in all the work she did. It was like an inside joke that no one here would know that the prime of her life was spent in the roaring 20s. She pulled her brush across the canvas as she continued painting the colors of the sunset. Such an average painting, definitely not her best work. Of course her medium was sketching so she didn't beat herself up too much over it.

Although art was what she loved it was definitely not a suitable way to earn money when she was young. She paid for her meals and her home by singing in a popular night club. That was when she had first cut her hair short, so she could properly embrace the flapper lifestyle. Of course had she known that not long after that she would have been turned she wouldn't have cut her hair. Now that she was technically dead her hair would never grow out. Fortunately for Adrian she didn't mind the short hair and managed to live with it thus far. Sometimes though, like today, she briefly wished she could have long locks to braid or run her fingers through. So she added a girl to her picture, herself, although she would deny it to everyone else. It was just the silhouette of a girl no real color to her except flaming red hair that spread out behind her in long waves caught up in the wind. Adrian let a small smile grace her lips and set down her supplies. She took her canvas over to the drying racks and then gathered her things leaving her class for the day.

She made her way across campus quickly, she wanted to get back to her room while Evangeline was still at dinner. Adrian had one more class after dinner would be over but she wanted to write something down in her journal before she forgot. She expertly weaved throughout the students walking on the sidewalk and entered her dorm building in a flurry. Skipping every other step to the second floor and throwing herself into her dorm room locking the door behind her. She threw her bag on her bed and pulled a small leather bound journal out from the bottom drawer of her dresser. The journal was weathered from age as it was a couple years old. This was journal number 27, she had a whole collection of books recounting her life until now. Adrian always started them off with a brief recount of the day she was turned. She wasn't sure why, maybe she felt it appropriate since her life truly started then.

She flipped to a new page and wrote about her life so far in college. The last time she had written in this journal was half a year ago when she had something interesting to say. That was the day her coven parents had tried to get her to engage in the war and do her family proud. It was a dark day for her because she was almost shunned, not that she would have cared much. She wrote about Evangeline and how she was pretty and frail. How she wanted to keep this girl safe from the ugly world even though she had already seen so much ugliness. They had both grown quite close talking about their days to each other and sharing their hopes and dreams. She wrote about her classes and how she enjoyed creating so many wonderful pieces of artwork and how her choir director had exclaimed they had never heard a voice as beautiful as hers. Lastly she wrote down the names of all those she had fed on since she had come here. She added these names to a list she had folded up and placed in the back of the book. She wanted to remember the sacrifice these people had made so that she could continue living. Adrian supposed it made her feel a bit more human although she could never forget what she was. She liked who she was and what she was, she just didn't want to believe that what she was made her a monster. This was why she never killed anyone if she could help it.

Adrian jumped as the door opened, she cursed silently and slide the book under her comforter. She turned around to face Evangeline who had walked in the room and was staring at Adrian strangely.

"Sorry if I was interrupting...I was just..."

"No no it's fine," Adrian interrupted, "How was dinner?"

"Oh...it was alright, they had sushi tonight but I knew better than to trust that a cafeteria could make good sushi" Evangeline let out a soft laugh causing Adrian to smile in response.

"Well that's good, wouldn't want you to get food poisoning or anything."

"Yea I suppose, Don't you have another class to go to?" Evangeline asked

Adrian glanced at the clock on her phone and swore.

"Yea I do, thanks for reminding me, I'll see you after yeah?"

Evangeline nodded in response with a smile and Adrian grabbed her bag and jogged out the door. Why Adrian's choir class was at eight o'clock at night was a mystery to Evangeline. With Adrian gone she placed her bag on her desk chair and opened the first dresser drawer to find some pyjamas. She changed out of her cut up jeans and sweater and put on an extremely oversized T-shirt. Evangeline climbed into bed and pulled out her laptop deciding to watch a movie until Adrian got back from class. It had become a routine that Evangeline would stay up until Adrian was done all her classes so that they could talk about their days. Of course Adrian was always up until at least four in the morning and slept almost all day. Evangeline always managed to pass out by midnight and always got up early for her classes. Sometimes she would wake up to Adrian leaving the room all dressed in black and would wake up almost an hour later when Adrian came back. Evangeline wasn't sure if these were dreams or if they actually happened. She supposed that Adrian probably just wanted a little fresh air or something.

Evangeline glanced over at Adrian's bed and took notice of the book shaped object that was obviously under the other girls comforter. Evangeline's curiosity peaked but she didn't dare get up from her bed. She forced herself to continue looking for a movie and erased all thoughts of Adrian's journal from her mind. Being a girl living on the street she wasn't above going behind backs to learn a thing or too. She wouldn't do that to Adrian though, the other girl was nothing but nice to her and she had no reason not to trust Adrian. Even if she was to read the girls journal she wouldn't do it now. She knew Adrian to be very observant, she would know if Evangeline had touched the book.

Finally settling on a fairly decent movie, Evangeline got comfortable and let her mind get lost. Adrians class was about two hours long so she needed a good distraction to pass the time. Maybe if she woke up to Adrian leaving tonight she would leave too, but only to walk in the opposite direction so she could stretch her wings.