Chapter 3 : Man with Discolored Eyes

I went through the rest of my classes without anything interesting happening. Since it was the first day, most of them were just going over the semester schedule and other boring things. Luckily, I didn't get lost a second time.

"Hey!" I jumped at the voice behind me, but then I realized that it was Darren, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "How was class?"

"You scared me!" I put my hand over my heart and he laughed. "And they're good, not too bad." He hummed in response and put his arm around my shoulders. "You want to grab some food and go back to your place?"

"Ugh, I can't. I have to meet someone at the library for a project."

"Ew, who's that?"

"Cole Spencer," I said casually, but he gave me a weird look. 

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just… I always get a weird feeling about this guy."

"Do you know him?" I asked him. It was possible that he had interacted with him before.

"Not really, he's like a friend of a friend. But there was something odd about him."

"Odd, like what?" I asked him.

"It's not that he's a weirdo or anything, it's just... he's always trying to distance himself or hide something." I just nodded my head in agreement with his words. Well, it's true what Darren said, he does look like a bit of a loner.

"Well, it's just a project, so it shouldn't be too bad," I said, shrugging my shoulders, and he just nodded.

"Want me to take you there?"

"Sure."

The two of us walked down the small street together, joking and talking about silly things. When we reached the building, I looked at my phone. It's a little after three. I hope Cole isn't waiting for us. He stops and turns around.

"So, I'll text you later?"

"Yup." I smile and Darren continues on his way. 

I pull out my phone and start typing,

"Hey, this is Rayline."

"Are you at the library yet?"

Then it wasn't long before my phone vibrated, showing an incoming message notification, which was Cole's reply : 

"First desk on the right."

I sighed quietly. I hadn't expected him to be more polite over text than in person. I opened the door and entered the large building, looking around for a moment before I noticed the dark figure at the table on the right. I waddled over and sat down, setting his bag aside and looking up.

"Hey," I said cheerfully, trying not to make the situation too awkward.

"You're late," he said as he flipped through the pages of the book on the table.

"Yeah, sorry, I lost track of time for a second." It's not like I'm terribly late—maybe five or ten minutes?

"Mhm." He pushed his book aside and looked at me. "Is that your boyfriend?"

I tilted my head to the side, wondering to whom he was referring. Then I looked out the glass window and realized that he must have a perfect view of me and Darren.

"Darren? Oh no, we're just friends," I said casually as he continued to stare at me. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"Alright!" I dropped the heavy book, trying to change the subject. "Did you read the assignment?"

"Uh, yeah, we have to pick a mythological belief and talk about it or something?"

"Yeah, do you have a preference for what we pick?"

"Not really," he shrugged.

"Well..." I turned the page. "We could do Greek or Roman mythology, but I think a lot of people would do that." He nodded. "Oh, what if we did something like Heaven and Hell?"

"You think that kind of thing is interesting?" He raised his eyebrows.

"That's pretty cool, right, more interesting than math."

"Right," he nodded. "By the way, what are you majoring in?"

I smiled a little. It was weird that he was the one who started the conversation and not me, who couldn't come up with a topic to force myself.

"I haven't really decided yet. Even though I like science, I don't know if I'm smart enough or dedicated enough. Even though I love astronomy, stars, planets, and other things that are always beautiful, I'm leaning towards something more realistic like marketing or business." I looked up, our eyes meeting for a moment before I looked down. 

"What about you?" I flipped through the pages.

"Uh, same thing, trying to stick to something realistic, something that makes money." He replied as he nodded.

"So no passion or anything?" I ask and Cole pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue as if he's embarrassed, probably because we just met. "You don't have to say it." I look down at the book.

"Music, maybe." I shrug, but he looks away now, and I smile to myself. "That's really cool."

Cole looked back at me, his eyes seemed to reflect a golden color, and I gave him a genuine smile. I went back to my work, but I knew he was still watching.

"Have we ever met before?" he asked suddenly, and I had to furrow my brow in response.

"No, not until today, why?"

"You just look familiar."

"I mean, I've been on campus with my friend before, but that's about it," I shrugged.

I started to feel a little uncomfortable as his eyes remained fixed on me.

"Okay, I found the chapter." I shifted my chair next to him so I could see the page, maybe a little too closely, because I saw his body tense up for a moment. 

"See? Here they start talking about archangels, then a few pages later they talk about demons and hell." I pointed at the pictures followed by the long paragraphs. "They look so pretty," I said as I looked at the page with the beautiful white creatures, then at him, and his eyes lit up again, but this time they were yellow.

"How—how about demons?" he stuttered a little, and I turned to the next page.

"To be honest, they're kind of scary." I looked at the pictures of dark and deformed creatures. They had big, bat-like wings, long claws, and animal-like faces that gave me the creeps. "Of course, we'll never know what they really looked like, but it's cool to imagine a world where creatures like that exist."

I looked up to look at him, but his expression was blank, his eyes glued to the page. When he finally came to, his face turned to mine, now only inches apart, and his eyes sparkled blue.

"Why–why are your eyes like that?" I stuttered, and was stunned when the color of his eyes changed.

He gasped, and this time his eyes flashed a hazel color. "You must have seen something."

I blinked as he slid back, staring down at the floor as he continued to stare at me. I thought I said it in my head, but I must have said it out loud without realizing it, I shook my head.

"Y-yeah, you're probably right... Stupid." I turned around and started rummaging through my luggage.

After a long period of silence, I caught him staring out the window, and I turned my head to follow his gaze. A young man was standing in front of the library. I couldn't see his face, but he had jet black hair and wasn't very tall, but for some reason, Cole became very agitated.

"I-" He stood up suddenly and grabbed his bag. "I have to go."

"Wait, what?" My eyes darted around as he started to walk frantically towards the back door. "Are you okay?" I reached out and grabbed his wrist, and he stopped, his eyes flicking to my hand, then to my face.

"I'm fine."

There he was again, hazel color flashing, and I slowly pulled my hand back. He headed for the back door, leaving me standing in confusion. I glanced at my things and back at the door as he stepped out, and without thinking, I started packing everything as fast as I could to follow him.

I stuffed my things into a bag and slung it over my shoulder before running after him. But when I pushed open the big door, there was no one there. I turned around to see where he had gone. There was only one road leading in either direction, and there was only a forest right behind the building, so he wouldn't be out of sight in the short time it took me to get my things.

I sighed and let my arms fall to my sides. I looked down at the ground, the wind brushing the side of my face, when I saw something strange— a large feather blowing past my feet.

"What kind of feather is this?" How strange, I thought to myself. I bent down and picked up a black feather. It looked very unusual, about four inches long, and very soft when I touched it. I twirled it between my fingers, trying to understand how it got here. Could the trees in the forest have something else?

Suddenly I had the feeling that someone was watching me. I looked around, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. But in the middle of this quiet forest, there was only the sound of the wind and the leaves rustling. Maybe I was too paranoid after the strange incident earlier.

Shaking my head to get rid of this strange feeling, I made my way out of the forest and back to the campus. Even though I tried not to think about the incident, the feather was still a mystery. And what was even stranger was that Cole's eyes had suddenly changed color. What's going on here?