Alaric's Poison

Chapter 4 - Alaric

Saturday meant no school and no school meant free time. In my free time I liked to paint, draw and sketch, it was my biggest passion, I guess I got that from my grandma who was an artist and taught me the basics, later on I took a liking for painting and here I am. I was currently walking through the forest in search for a calm place to draw and possibly relax.

The forest was calm and beautiful surrounded by bright green trees, colorful flowers, forest fruits and my favorite part - the lake. The water was such a unique blue color, I couldn't even describe it. Nearing my usual spot near the lake where the big rock was, I sat on the soft grass carefully, trying not to slip and fall.

This forest and this exact same place gave me inspiration every time I came here, it almost looked and felt like some magical place you see in the movies, the birds chirping and singing giving it the extra feel to it. Feeling excited about drawing I pulled out my pencil and a sketchbook ready to draw.

As I was opening my sketchbook, the paper fell out of it so I picked it up and inspected what I've created - beautiful chocolate warm eyes adorned with thick long eyelashes and a little twinkle in the left eye. Those eyes have been taunting me since I rushed out of the White House five days ago.

They were just eyes but they felt so special to me.

"You're very talented." a deep husky voice spoke up from behind me, startling me completely. Caught off guard my eyes widened, the pencil falling out of my grip. Turning around to face the person who spoke up, I realized the voice was slightly familiar, as if I've heard it somewhere already. When I turned around I didn't expect Him to be here.

His deep voice matching his masculine face perfectly - from his high cheekbones, straight nose, beautiful full lips, strong sharp jawline and of course, his stunning big eyes. Just like the last time I've seen him at the White House I stared, a bit too long.

He realized what I was doing then his lips stretched into a toothy grin, showing me his white teeth and dimples, one was slightly bigger than the other one. Weakness. Snapping out of my trance I cleared my throat and looked away, praying he didn't know I drew his eyes.

"Whose eyes are those?" taking a seat next to me on the grass and looking at the paper. Before he could look at it more I snatched it out of his hand.

Shrugging it off and playing dumb, I faced away from his warm eyes "No one's in particular, I randomly drew them."

"Those look awfully familiar though." giving me a smug smirk he had to keep teasing me.

Changing the subject I decided to ask for his name but he beat me to it "I never got to catch your name?"

Picking at the grass I told him my name, feeling completely safe around him, I usually never gave out my name to strangers "It's Erica."

After a moment of silence he spoke up surprising me, he knew what my name meant "Eternal ruler, ever powerful - such a beautiful name." while he was speaking he was looking at me with such intensity in his eyes.

Realizing he didn't tell me his name, I asked "And yours?"

"Alaric" such a short simple answer yet so powerful, full of meaning.

I smiled awkwardly, cringing mentally for not saying anything but it seemed like he didn't mind at all. I stood up and turned towards him "It's already late, I have to go." the crickets and the bats could be heard, indicating it was late. For how long have I been here?