Ink on the Pages

3

Once home, Genesis went straight to her art room to get to work. She stared at the black paper in front of her, facing a bit of an artist's block. She snatched up a pencil and started to draw in the sketchbook—or at least, that had been the plan.

Anything she tried to draw wasn't showing up on the paper. Confused, Genesis tried using another pencil. It didn't work either. Genesis scratched her head and surveyed her art supplies. She then had a moment of realization, eyeing the quill she had found accompanying the journal. She picked it up and drew on the black papyrus. The ink showed up on the page, leaving behind a silver fine line. Genesis continued to draw, outlining the anatomically correct body of a man. She was so emotionally unstable and angry at this moment that she was unable to turn her emotions into some sort of inspiration.

She finished the drawing by filling in the outline and creating the silhouette of a person. However, she didn't fill in two circular areas right where the eyes would have been located. Feeling utterly useless, Genesis scribbled an "X" over each "eye" and then abandoned the drawing, turning to the next page.

Time to start fresh.

She was in a mood to draw monsters, as she occasionally was. So, she created a few. She gave one creature multiple eyes and six legs, while the body somewhat resembled a lizard. The other beast she gave four legs, several horns, and a large powerful jaw, with too many teeth to count. The third monster she made thin and nimble, giving it atrocious wings, a spiked spine and tail, and multiple grotesque abrasions in its flesh. She spent about four hours on this detailed drawing. Amazingly, her quill didn't run out of ink.

"There we go," Genesis snickered at the monsters. "Each one of you represent the bitches I call my teammates."

The next day, Genesis woke up late for school after falling asleep on her desk. Since Ira was already at school and James was already teaching at his college, Genesis had to walk again.

In art class, Genesis decided to show Ira her new sketchbook and quill.

"You just found that?" Ira said, perturbed. Although he didn't mention it, the presence of the journal made him feel uneasy. "In the middle of nowhere? You promise you're not pulling my leg? You didn't buy it from Ben Franklin or something?"

"I swear, I just found it under a tree root," Genesis replied to him zealously. "What's crazier is that this quill is the only thing that works with it."

"That's kind of scary, Gen. And I find it strange that someone would just leave it."

"Everything will be fine, Ira. Sheesh. It's just a journal. Hey, are you coming to my game tomorrow night?"

"Of course," Ira said with a smile.

After school and practice, Genesis came home to find the front door to their house wide-open. Cautiously, Genesis entered her home. Lucky for her, James' car pulled into the driveway at that very moment. He walked in the door with Rya in his arms.

"Late day at the college?" Genesis asked him.

"Yeah," James replied.

"Did you by chance leave the front door open today? Accidentally?"

"No. You were the last one out of the house this morning. You slept in."

Genesis thoughtfully stared at the floor. She glanced down the hallway and then at the kitchen, scanning the area.

"Is something the matter?" James asked. Rya let out a small cough.

"I think someone broke in," Genesis responded.

Genesis wandered about the house cautiously. If someone had broken in, their intentions would've been questionable. Nothing had been damaged, and nothing appeared to be missing. That or their thieving methods were very clean. Even her art room looked exactly the way she had left it. Genesis carefully walked over to her desk, checking on her artwork and materials. James peeked into the room.

"Everything looks to be normal," James commented.

"It does," Genesis replied.

"Well, if a burglar did break in, they're not good at what they do. Left the door wide open and everything."

Later that evening, while Genesis was painting in her art room, she sensed something strange was going on. Her new, mysterious journal still sat on the desk, staring at her.

That's when Genesis suddenly froze in the middle of painting.

Out of the corner of her eye, the girl noticed a slender figure standing outside her window. It was about forty feet away. Genesis slowly turned her head to get a better look. The figure was standing in the middle of the street, motionless. It appeared to be a man. It was also almost two in the morning—in other words, not a good time for this to be happening. Genesis decided to take a break from painting, refusing to take her eyes off the man outside her window. Maybe she was seeing things and just needed to get sleep.

For a moment, Genesis took her eyes off the figure in order to put away her paint brushes. Once she glanced back to check on the situation, she realized that he was about ten feet closer to the house. Making eye contact with him, she noticed his eyes seemed to be glowing. She felt the need to alert James, but something was keeping her from doing so. Before sneaking out of the room, Genesis peeked out the window one more time.

The man had vanished.