Minutes to Midnight. (discontinued)

Art, Thursday. Chapter 3.

Annika bounced around all morning, finally leaving around seven with Blake. i could go work on my Art project in an hour, but for a half hour--at least--i could sleep some more.

in the art room, i took my place near the back--by the windows--and i mixed some dark colors so i could start painting the second painting for my series of 3. my assessment was based on the medieval rulers, King, Church&religion then death. pessimistic i know, but the paintings were meant to be glamorous yet chilling for 'maximum effect' as our supervisor said.

Suddenly, the wooden doors burst open, and white-headed boy fell through under the weight of his bag. i recognized him from History, as the only other calm person in the room. he looked embarrassed--he did make everyone's head turn--as he stumbled through the room to the only free space.. beside me. he plopped down his huge bag, and began to gather some clays from the back bench. i appreciated his choice of greek clay, a classic one that was hard to use, and turned a shining black color when it was done.

he looked a little confused, looking around for some newspaper to put it on and the tools. after he eventually found them, he must have felt my eyes trailing after him--only with curiosity--and he turned his head towards me--i mean it, im just curious about what his story is--making me snap my face back to my painting. i gave myself a mental slap for being so out of character--though something about him was disarming.

a ways into the day, the sun finally came up, after one of the long dawns that kept this country from completely freezing over. i was using some bright blues and reds to finish off the stained-glass window, when i felt someone digging their eyes into me. when i turned around, the white-haired boy was standing milimeters from my shoulder. i jumped back, wondering how i hadn't heard him.

"thats really good." he smiled,

"what is?" i said dumbly,

"your painting?" he looked at me oddly,

it took me a second to recover from the shock,

"umm.."--boy i sounded smart--"yeah thanks.."

i looked over to his desk, i saw a perfect vase, very greek, with flawless carvings of some figure i didn't recognize. the only thing it had left to do was get hardened in the oven in the next class.

"um.. g-g-going to put your vase in the kiln??"

he looked back towards his vase,

"its a practice."

i looked at my watch, "its been only three hours!! how did you do that?!"

"practice" he smiled.

"wow.." was all i could manage.

the cathedral window was done, and i could do the courtyard tomorrow--having already finished a dramatic religious group of people and tithe collectors. i put my things away--under lock and key--to maybe get away from the eery setting that was starting to smother me. i felt like heading to the library?

"well thats me done" i turned around, "im heading off now--"

"me too" he smiled, this time with a disarming innocence. he already had his bag over his shoulder.

this was scary--an emotion i dont often feel--so i decided to lie.

"um.. i-im going back to my room.." why was i born a terrible liar..

"really?" he seemed dissapointed, "well then ill be seeing you."

i looked away for a moment--picking up my bag--and when i looked back, he was gone.