𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬

10 | Snakes and Fish

          I looked down at the stain on my shirt.

Leftover pineapple juice refused to come off since lunch, a delicious fruit salad that put all others to shame.

I bitterly accepted Ender's role in my currently full stomach.

Riley, Connie, and I were currently leaving our last lecture of the day, conversing about inconsequential matters and colder weather. The two were getting along way better than I imagined, with Riley's natural given kindness contrasting against Connie's built in spitefulness.

'Some people are tolerable, Novalie.' The unicorn didn't even glance behind him. 'I know that's hard to believe, especially for someone like you.'

I glared at the back of his head, cloud-like hair perfectly styled as per usual.

All calm was quickly ruined when the bottom of my shoe stepped on a surface that wasn't leveled with the floor. My sorry excuse of a life flashed before widened eyes as I slipped backwards, propelling arms in some meager attempt to readjust any center of gravity.

The two distant figures were walking ahead, both unaware by how I almost just broke my neck.

My face scowled down at the ground, searching for the cause that made me slip. An item appeared as a small journal, leather bound with decaying string holding the old thing together.

I casually flipped it open, attempting to find a name or initials pertaining to the owner. By its condition, the writer was probably long dead, and this relic should be placed inside a museum or antique shop. Fingers carefully searched though the brittle parchment, ink splotched onto random pages.

I glanced around the hallway in case someone dropped it by accident, with no one looking back, I nosily snooped through the contents.

'𝓜𝓪𝓻𝓬𝓱

𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓼 𝓲𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓴 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓵𝓮𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓹𝓸𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓫𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂, 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪 𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓵𝓮𝓰𝓪𝓬𝔂. 𝓐𝓷𝓷𝓪 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓲𝓮 𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓭𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓼. 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓶𝔂 𝓻𝓮𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮—𝓪𝓽𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓼.'

I frowned at the paragraph, wondering who these people were and what meanings their words held. My gaze traveled to the next worn page, skipping over sentences that were destroyed by age and impossible to decipher.

'𝓙𝓾𝓵𝔂

𝓐𝓷𝓷𝓪 𝓪𝓭𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓘 𝓰𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓪 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓰𝓲𝓯𝓽 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓼𝓪𝔂, 𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓘 𝓼𝓪𝔀 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓭. 𝓞𝓻 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓭, 𝓪 𝓯𝓵𝓪𝔀 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓭𝓸 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓻𝓾𝓲𝓷 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓼𝓸𝓶...'