Brea and I had visited the waterfall so many times yet somehow it still amazed me each time, it's fresh clear waters fell elegantly as the sun's rays hit the surface making it sparkle, and the green provided by the trees together with the vibrant colors from the flowers that lined around the lake it formed made it look even more enchanting, honestly, this was one of my favorite places on earth
The splash of water was soon heard as our friends dived into the cool waters, laughter filling the space, bouncing off the trees. I had my feet dipped into the waters, looking at the people before me now engaged in a game of water polo, which was just an excuse for them to bonk each other
"Not joining in," a voice said from behind me, and I turned to find Anson staring down at me
"Not now, I need a well-functioning brain for the exams," I said just as Luke hit Ethan on the head, "see."
"Oh yeah, the finals," he said, sitting beside me, "you nervous?"
"A bit, but I'm confident enough."
"mmhm, any plans for after?"
"I'll be taking a gap year to just live and do some exploring."
"So, where will you be exploring?"
"Not sure I'll plan it out when I'm done with the exams, you in college?"
"Yes, we're done for the semester, so my brother and I decided to travel."
"You two close?"
"Yes, he's practically the only blood relation I have left."
"Oh...aah…I…Sorry?"
He chuckled as I stumbled for the right words, his eyes sparkling brighter. I had seriously never seen such blue eyes in my life. They were what I imagined a sea of stars looked like, such a deep blue with little stars sparkling in them. There was no way they were real
"Do you wear contacts?"
"What"
"Your eyes…you wear contacts, right? I just have never seen such deep blue eyes."
Anson tilted his head slightly, looking deeply at me as though I had just said something peculiar. He studied me for a while and then said curiously
"Describe my eyes."
The statement surprised me, and it was now my turn to stare at him, but he waited patiently, and I realized he was serious
"I'm sure you've looked in the mirror before."
"Yes, but I want you to describe them."
"Is this some ego thing, will that somehow help stroke it?" I said, scoffing at the ridiculousness, but he only smirked and waited
"Fine, they're an intense and dark shade of blue, something like Sapphire or cobalt blue, but they aren't just plain dark, they sparkle like there are little stars in them."
He took in my words seemingly deep in thought, and I wondered what was there to think about in what I just said, did he not know his eyes looked that way, or was it something else? I had once heard of people with rare genetics that made their eyes a deep shade of blue, so I didn't completely put it off as contacts, and the sparkle could be the effect of the sun-kissed waters reflecting on his eyes
"What?" I finally decided to ask
"I'm just wondering why my eyes look like that to you," he simply said as a matter of fact, and what did he mean by to me? Did everyone else see them differently?
I only sighed. He was definitely strange, either that or something was incredibly wrong with my eyes. I decided to join my friends in the water, and after hours of playing around and trailing in the forest, it was already getting dark
Brea was so exhausted that she immediately went to sleep as soon as we entered the car, while Anson sat in the back in silence. He hadn't interacted much with us since our talk, and I wasn't complaining, but it got me curious. There were times I spotted him deep in thought, and other times he seemed to be on high alert, looking around cautiously. I had to admit, though, he played it cool enough that unless you were focused on him, you wouldn't notice, so I shamelessly admit that my eyes were constantly on him
After safely dropping off Brea, Anson insisted that he would walk the rest of the way, but I rejected his request, although the guy was a bit strange, he was still new in town, and it would be heartless of me to let him walk in the dark, so here I was driving to their rented house
.
.
The rest of the weeks went on swiftly too focused on the exams to think of anything else by the time I was sitting for my last exam the exhaustion that had been building up made me almost collapse as soon as I was done emotions running wild through me, I was relieved but also nervous of my performance and before those thoughts took me over completely I shut them down it was no longer in my hands I convinced myself
I reached home, barely staying awake, and slowly dragged myself up the steps to my room. My mother had been the one dropping and picking me up during these past weeks, heavens bless her soul. I heard her chuckle from behind me at my poor state as she went on to say I was exaggerating a bit, which I only scowled at, okay, perhaps I was, but my body was begging for sleep, and since when was my room so far
As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was gone, and I only woke up 4 hours later, my stomach growling loud enough to wake the dead. My feet moved to its command, and soon, different aromas hit me. I found my mother and brother arranging different meals on the dining table with the help of Fridah, who came in to help with the chores every day
"What are we celebrating?"
"Isn't it obvious did the exams melt all your brain cells?"
"Josh!" my mum called sternly in warning
"Sorry" is all he said, darting his tongue out at me, and I did the same
"You're just jealous Mum made a feast for me, poor little Joshy."
"Don't call me that."
"Will you two stop that? We have guests coming."
"Guests?"
On queue, the doorbell rang and my best friend and her family came; of course, Mum would invite them, I thought, smiling brightly at her in thanks. The rest of the evening was filled with laughter and chatting, washing off all the stress we both experienced
Brea and I decided to binge for a few more hours as everyone decided to head to sleep her mother and little brother occupying the guestroom, it was not until four hours later that we headed to my room, she immediately threw herself to the bed and I only chuckled as I went to the bathroom for my usual night routine, I then forced a sleepy Brea into the pajamas she had in my house and can I just say there was no difference between drunk and sleepy Brea they were both exhausting
Today was a new moon, so the absence of its brightness was replaced by the stars shining brighter; it was only now that I noticed the dim lamp on the side of my bed was on, the rest of the light being provided by the stars. I walked to the windows, admiring the sky as it wrapped its glorious glow around us, making me smile. That's when I heard movement below, and I looked to the garden to see a set of glowing yellow orbs aimed at me, the same ones I had seen the other night.
What even were those, fireflies? But what about the noise? It was clear something had been knocked over; was it perhaps a cat? That seemed like the most logical explanation, I said to myself as the set of eyes still spied on me in the shadows, but just as I went to close the curtains, it moved, and I could have sworn I saw something long and slender like a bony arm with claws before it disappeared