Uncover(On Hold)

3. The Freak in Ourselves

Since he was a little kid, Patrick had always had this different train of thoughts. While other kids his age were engrossed playing with toys and running around, Patrick stood behind, finding more interest in the kids themselves. He had always been fascinated by the human kind, how they behaved, what they felt, what they liked, and children especially were very easy to read, an open book to Patrick’s curious eyes.

He made friends easily; his inner leadership dragged others to look up to him. It was beautiful, having those big expressive eyes to search for his approval. And like any beautiful thing Patrick owned, he wanted to see them wrecked.

During his early days he struggled to keep his destructive thoughts to himself, and he got caught in more than one problem for making another kid cry and even grown-ups when he put his better efforts. But as he became older he started to comprehend, he learned how to tame the beast inside of him and he mastered the art of manipulation.

By the time he was a teenager he was at the top of his world, and during that same period was when he discovered just how special he truly was. He remembered how angry he got when his parents told him that it was forbidden for him to show his power around and by the end of the year he was being sent to Prestton academy.

Deep down he had feared he would lose the empire he built, but of course, he simply built a new one.

Here his money didn’t have any value and his name meant nothing. The respect, admiration and fear that he dragged were purely his, he felt delighted being the focus of both the praises and the hate.  

Inside the walls of the academy everything was his, a training camp until he put his hands in the real world to own it before he burned it to ashes. But it had been a long time ago since he faced a challenge in his little controlled kingdom.

The first day back brought him great delight, the rush of power shooting through his veins once again. The new girl had been an interesting addition. He was totally pissed off at first, pure rage that made him saw red. But then something changed, she had no idea of what was happening and watching how she crumbled in front of him with just the weight of his gaze was by far the highlight of the evening.

He could observe her now, sitting down in a table at the other side of the lunchroom, picking absently at her food, her shoulders were pushed down and the tension that followed her movements made it clear that she could feel Patrick’s stare as he ignored the conversations that surrounded him.

At the opposite side of his seat Charlotte was in the middle of telling a story that apparently required a lot of hands movements, almost hitting poor Nicholas with a fork a couple of times, but Patrick was looking past her, measuring the time it would take for the girl to look up and burst into tears or have a panic attack. Something to spice his lunch.

He was taken by surprise when a pair of eyes finally met his and stared back. They didn’t hold any emotion, not like the time in the main room when they were filled with fear and confusion and rage. No, the brown eyes staring at him were dull, a spark of hostility hid somewhere and even if this was not what he expected, he still managed a grin because he recognized a challenge when he saw one.

She broke the eye contact first, returning to look down at her plate and Patrick brought his attention back to the table, very satisfied with the situation. It was not until he looked up to Charlotte that he noticed that she had stopped her narrative and was now staring at him with that repressive look he hated.

“You know, I had to expend half of my morning in the nursing chatting the girl you almost caused a permanent mental trauma”

“Must have done something wrong if the trauma is not permanent” Patrick held back his smirk and went for a casual tone.