The morning light was warm and welcomed, as I sat up in bed, yawned and stretched. It was my first day of class, and I was well rested and excited to get ready. Glancing at my phone I noticed that I had woken before my alarm, and I chuckled at how that would never happen again.
Last night I had laid out my outfit, and packed my bag. I'd even forced Jess and Kiera to come with me as I walked through my schedule on campus. I had of course had to ironically watch both "The Kissing Booth" and "After" with them afterwards but it was worth it to spend the time with them. My alarm started to blast and I heard Jess grumble from under her blankets.
"I swear if you don't shut that fucking thing up..." she muttered from under her pillow.
"Sorry babes, I've got to get to class." I giggled as she groaned some curses at me.
Jessica wasn't much of a morning owl. Last night I had heard her tip toe in around 2 am after spending another night with Kiera. I had no idea what they'd been getting up to this past week, but I hadn't gotten a chance to press Jess for the juicy gossip just yet.
I yanked on my jeans and my grey sweater, and made sure my hair looked acceptable for the day. Then I put on my mascara, concealer, and brow gel and felt ready for class. Grabbing my jacket, my bag and my water bottle I went over a mental checklist to guarantee I remembered everything. I left Jess's full water bottle and a bottle of Tylenol on her bedside table, just in case. I patted Jessica's head and wished her a happy first day before I slipped out the door silently and padded down the stairs to the front door.
As I opened the door, Kolt was pushing it and we basically collided into each other.
"Hey dude! I haven't seen you since orientation," I smiled warmly and asked him where he was headed.
"Oh, um, I'm just looking for my friend, I thought I might find him in here but I guess not," Kolt awkwardly looked around and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well I was about to walk over to my lecture, you're in political science too, don't you have the same class now?"
Kolt checked his watched, glanced into the main hall of my dorm once more and then smiled at me gently.
"Actually you're right. You want to walk there together?"
We arrived at the lecture hall just in time, and we grabbed seats in the balcony towards the back in a relatively empty area. I pulled out my lap top just as the lights dimmed and the Professor introduced himself and the course. It was a history class, required for all social science students, and it focused on the Silver Lake history and folklore.
The Professor began a slide show of depictions of the town as early as the ice age, with drawn wolves hunting on the frozen tundra. I felt Kolt tense, physically tense up beside me, and I turned to see if he was alright. I didn't know people actually did that. Then the slide changed to a cave scene, one where those same wolves became warnings for the townfolk. It warned of vicious packs of these creature that stalked the forest surrounding the lake, each pack vying to be the strongest. The slide changed once again to an actual photograph of the town, seemingly from the late 19th century, with no more depictions of wolves but instead the university. It had been around for decades before this photograph, but this one was different than the others. Something about their posture and stances struck me as strange. I couldn't place my finger on it, and before I could ask Kolt if he felt the same the Professor moved on and a painting was on the screen.
I stopped breathing for a minute. I don't know why, I don't know how, but I couldn't think for a moment as a stared at the painting in front of me. The painting wasn't breathtaking itself, it was just of a valley, lined with red and orange trees. The scene was captured right at the beginning of autumn, just as the trees were outside today, and the sunlight was perfectly positioned in the work to highlight the clearing. It looked so tangible, so familiar, I wanted to get out of my seat and jump into it.
I vaguely heard Kolt asking me if I was alright, but I didn't even know if I was. I knew this painting. Not like I'd seen it before, I felt as though I was there when it was painted. My palms felt clammy, and my imagination ran wild. I could smell the damp, fallen leaves, I saw and felt the sunlight filter through the canopy of trees above. I felt a presence next to me, the presence that painted the scene. I was not the artist but I felt the painting so distinctly, it felt as though I was truly there when it was created.
Suddenly the doors to the balcony opened and the painting was flooded in harsh light. As I was snapped from my vivid, and slightly concerning daydream, I eyed the source of the disruption. The culprit walked through the doorway and the doors closed behind him. I want to say he sauntered in, like he swaggered through the rows and down to my row. But he didn't. He walked with the ease and confidence of someone who didn't need others to know it, for he was completely self-assured. He waved at the Professor and I was brought back into reality as the Professor said:
"Hello Mr. Arenthe, I hope this will be your first and last disruption of the semester."
This Mr. Arenthe, while still standing and looking down towards the Professor, winked and flashed a warm smile, to which the Professor chuckled softly. I heard the group of girls behind me sigh and giggle obnoxiously until I turned slightly and gave them a snarl. I wouldn't have been so annoyed if this random guy hadn't interrupted my daydream.
Mr. Arenthe. Mr. Arenthe. Oh shit. The realization hit me quickly. Arenthe. This was the Mayor's son. Not to mention a legacy of about a hundred years. No wonder he was so friendly with the Professor. He had probably known him his whole life.
Just as my realization hit, Kolt reached up his hand and waved Mr. Arenthe over to our empty section. I'm not sure why I became so nervous, maybe because I wasn't great at meeting new people, maybe because Mr. Arenthe was way too attractive for a college freshman, but I suddenly forgot how to speak. He came right over and sat directly next to me, as Kolt began to introduce us.
"Wick, this is Rose. She's from New York. Rose, this is Wick. He's been my best friend for about a decade now."
Wick extended his hand towards me and I was struck by how attractive this guy really was. Like, trust me. I've watched the teen dramas and the romantic comedies, I've read the lengthy descriptions in books about how beautiful and ruggedly handsome guys can be. But none of those things prepared me for this man sitting next to me. He had dark, curly hair that looked ridiculously soft. His skin was smooth and tanned, as though he'd somehow found sun to tan in the Maine fog. His lips were full and- I don't even know how to describe lips without just saying... nice. I'd only ever seen noses like his on a statues of Greek Adonis's in the Met. And his eyes. His eyes. They were silver and with whorls of blue, and his pupils dilated slightly as I narrowed my gaze directly into them.
I extended my own hand, unfortunately self conscious of my sweaty palms and I fit my hand into his own. Confusion and doubt crossed his eyes as his brows furrowed and then it was gone. He shook my hand gently and then released it slowly.
"Nice to finally meet you, Rose."
After the lecture Wick said a quick goodbye to Kolt and myself and disappeared in the crowd. Kolt said he had to go take care of something and followed Wick into the flowing students.
I leisurely packed up my things and decided to take a walk before my next lecture. I drifted through the campus, admiring the buildings and the vibes, until I found myself approaching the beach.
The weather was nice today, as nice as it could be I supposed. The sky was still coated in fog, and the wind harassed my face, but it wasn't cold yet. I let myself be carried by the wind towards the sand and then right to the water's edge. This was my happy place. The waves crashed right by my feet as I stared out into the foreboding lake, there was no end from this spot, the water just continued until you couldn't see past the fog. I took a seat in the sand a few yards back from the waves and relaxed for a bit.
I texted my parents to tell them how my class was, and then I texted Jess to tell her how I had met the college's golden boy. Just as I put my phone away and was about to stand, I noticed movement in the forest to my left. I was far enough away, and there was a road way, albeit empty, between me and the woods. But there it was.
I could make out it's ears and it's lean legs. Then it's snout, sniffling the air. And it's eyes... were looking directly towards me. I should have been afraid, logically that would have made the most sense. But I really wasn't. And just as I locked eyes with it a car zoomed past and when I looked back to where I'd seen it, it was gone.