Gael has always been an outcast and a weirdo - but when he moves to the small town of Imperium, he finds himself in the middle of a supernatural community, he didn't know he needed, or existed. It only becomes more interesting when the local hot vam...
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"Did you hear the news?" Creek asked as he sat down with his and my coffee at the stone table. It was becoming a stable that we'd all meet up here at the tuk-tuk with terrible coffee every morning, if we had early classes.
"What news?" I asked and took off the plastic lid on the paper cup, letting the hot beverage cool off a little before I was ready to more or less gulp down the whole thing in one sitting.
"There's been another murder."
I frowned. "Huh?"
"Yeah, out in the forest. They think it might be the same person who's behind this murder too."
"You alright?" I asked a little tentatively. I wasn't sure how deaths actually affected them and their family.
He rubbed his chest and grimaced, bopping their head from side to side. "It's like heartburns, you know? And it doesn't stop, even after the scream. My dad's the same way. It takes us a while to get over it. Like it's there under the surface and we've already screamed, but I feel the need to do it over and over."
"That doesn't sound very pleasant," I tried, in lack of something better to say.
It did bring a smile forth on Creek's face though. "It's not. Thanks for asking though."
"We could always go somewhere remote, if you need a good scream. I know of some places since I usually shift there."
"You know, I'd actually quite like a bit of a hike and scream into the void sounds nice. What're you doing this weekend?"
I felt giddy. I was still not used to having friends or even having to plan my weekends. And the fact that Creek was the one to bring it up? Like I desperately wanted to be their friend. He was cool and nice and really talented, and I had never had any other art friends.
"I'm free this weekend," I said after I had been silent for an awkwardly long time. "Wanna bring some watercolours as well? I've been itching to paint outside ever since getting here and it's so beautiful in the forest."
"You read my mind! We're doing backgrounds next semester and I absolutely suck at environments." They sighed dramatically. "Why can't I just draw portraits of people forever?"
I laughed and took a sip of my now slightly-cooled-off coffee. "And I just wanna paint pretty sceneries until I die. Can I just be that kind of painter, please?"
"Why are we even studying art. We've got this whole thing figured out."
"Because yous need a degree to get jobs," Fred said and dropped down next to me on the stone bench, seemingly coming out of nowhere. I wondered if she knew how to teleport or if I was just massively unaware of my surroundings. "What're we doing?"
"Creek and I are going hiking this weekend and we'll be bringing some painting materials to paint the scenery," I said all excitedly.
