Persephone Incarnate [Wattpad Prize 2014] | ✔️

[6] Alexander

I honestly have no idea what to say right now. And I think you guys might like that, since I usually go on and on forever and ever. :D

Anyway, so there's an introduction of a new character in this chapter - Alexander! It's a short chapter yes, but I hope that you'll leave in the comments what you thought of him!

And as always, if you like this chapter, the vote button awaits you! 

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Alexander squinted as he peered up at the setting sun. Now that winter had arrived, with all its brisk winds and nonstop Christmas music, the day got darker, faster. He was lucky that his house was just a street away from his school – he didn’t have to deal with the wind slapping his cheek rosy any longer than he had to.

Shouldering his backpack, he started to walk toward the crosswalk, rolling the zipper of his coat between his fingers as he did. Crowds of guys and girls barred his path occasionally, and he had to either wait for them to move on, or walk around them, if there was enough space. Oftentimes, there wasn’t, and he sighed, a little irritated. He didn’t want to wait longer than he had to get home – today was the day he would get to see his…he struggled for a moment to find a way to describe her. She wasn’t his girlfriend, but to him, she was definitely more than a friend. Finally, he just settled on calling her by her name in his mind.

Today, he would get to see Sophie – it had been almost a month or more since he’d last seen her, at a musical event the two had participated in together. She’d been spectacular as always, and the two had hung out for a while at his house afterwards. They’d joked about music and people and talked about anything and everything and nothing – it was a bunch of trivial chatter, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

The crowds finally slowly dissipated as parents came to pick their kids up, or as the juniors and seniors invited some of their younger friends to get in to hang out or go to some party somewhere.

He sped up as he neared the crosswalk, hoping to make it across before the crossing guard came back. He made it in the nick of time, and thanked the guy for waiting. He just grunted and could’ve said something like “No problem,” but if he had, Alexander had already gone to hard ahead to really figure out what the crossing guard had actually said.

On the other side, the blue and white lights of his house greeted him, and he was instantly soothed and happy. His parents would be home early today, and his sister Kortney would be home in just a while. He would kick back and just chill out with his iPod and listen to a few songs, or maybe pick up his bass and just practice some music he’d just gotten this week. Since it was Friday, the possibilities were endless – he could do whatever he wanted with his afternoon until Sophie came over.

As he approached the front door, he suddenly stopped and frowned. He felt a slight chill, and spun around in the spot he stood at, looking for something – a person or a thing or some animal, he wasn’t exactly sure which. It felt like something had made a noise, and it didn’t sound like the wind.

He thought about it for a moment, shrugged, then turned back around, laughing under his breath at how silly he’d been, thinking that something had been watching him. This neighborhood was totally safe, and he’d never heard of anyone been stalked by some psycho wind. The only people who walked by his street, oftentimes, were just some elderly neighbors walking their dogs, or a few women jogging by, their earbuds dangling and moving around them.

But as he was about to get his key to unlock the door, he heard the sound again. It was like the sound a heat wave could make, if they could make sounds at all – a vibration, low, so low that he wouldn’t be able to feel it or hear it if he wasn’t so extremely sensitive to his surroundings right now. It was so close to him – too close, like it could reach out at any moment and swallow him.

That’s crazy. He rolled his eyes at his own silliness and inserted his key into the slot, ready to turn it, and swing the door open and – the key slid out of the hole and clattered as it fell to the ground. In front of him – just, right in front of him, from – from thin air, appeared three girls. One smiled at him as she threw some kind of cloak or cloth over her shoulder, which another girl folded and stuffed in her backpack. The wind blew their hair gently, lifting strands of black and blonde hair into the air, creating a dramatic, movie moment.

“Who are you guys?” he finally said, as calmly as possible, trying to disguise his rapidly pounding, surprised heart.