Act 1 | Chapter 13

Over the next three week, I spent my time planning my art project. As each day went by, I would work on it more and more. Though, by the end of those three week's, there still had been little progress done. Every time I thought I had a good idea, I would always stop and question it. My trash can was full of rough drafts at this point, each one looking the same, but with slight differences. More of the face showing, or more of the flower, perhaps more detail in the background. None of them were working for me, however.

As I worked on this, I always had my phone off to the side. Ever since that night at Riley's, my interest in horror films started rising. I still couldn't figure out what it was about them that was so intriguing to me. I probably watched over a dozen movie's I found free on YouTube, which is probably illegal, but I don't care. They were my new source of entertainment. One of the things I was starting to like about them was the survivors. Somewhere smarter than others, and it started becoming a guessing game on who the 'final girl' would be. Aside from that one surviving person, everyone else would usually meet a grizzly end, though none of their deaths seemed to be bothering me anymore. It's like that feeling where if you watch something enough, you just get used to it, and it becomes normal.

Before, if I was to see an alien burst from someone chest, and kill them, I probably would have been sick to my stomach, but now, it just looks different. It's still shocking to see someone die, but 'seeing' how they die is starting to feel less and less impactful. It also helps when you don't care about the character who gets there head dunked in a tub of liquid nitrogen. It makes it all the more satisfying to watch, knowing that there gone and you don't have to deal with them anymore. I honestly feel a bit different. I'm glad Riley showed me that one movie in the theaters, and I can't believe I have avoided some of these movies for this long. I never thought I would like them.

Closing the door to my house, I walked down my driveway to meet Riley at her car. It was just starting to snow in Bate's County, so people were bundling up, and wearing their winter gear as they walked out and about.

"Mornin." Riley greeted me like always. She too was bundled up in a thicker black jacket, unlike me who was simply wearing my usual bright colored winter coat.

"Good morning," I replied back to her, putting my backpack between my legs and shutting the door.

"Still working on that drawing?" She asked me, pulling out of the driveway and onto the street.

"Yeah, but it's more of a painting than a drawing. I just need to finish sketching out all the details before I actually begin to paint anything."

"Well the contest is in like, three weeks from now, isn't it? You might have more than enough time."

"Yup, I have tons of time still."

A little later, I was sitting in my first-hour class, and sketching away with our usual daily assignment. Instead of drawing how we felt though, I found myself sketching out a scene from another film I had watched the previous night. I was drawing it from the perspective of the killer, with a woman running through a snowy forest, with the bottoms of her feet bleeding. I had to shade everything to give it some kind of color without giving too much away, but redrawing that scene was fun.

"What are you afraid of?" Mr. Mcvay asked me, looming over my shoulder.

"W- What?" I turned to look up at him. "Oh, that's right." I thought. It hit me then, that I wasn't doing the actual assignment. "He must think that I'm feeling afraid of something?"

"Oh." I started, "I'm not scared, well, I am scared of a couple thing's, but I'm not scared now."

He stared at me for a long time in silence before replying.

"Zoey, talk to me after class." He finally replied and stood up to start the day's lesson. I let out a small sigh and closed my sketchbook. The class went on, and I could see Maria still glancing at me out of the corner of my eye. One thing she had done last week was that she cornered me in the bathroom. Maria threatened me and basically told me to not enter the art contest, but even then I said I would. I'm a little nervous, to be honest about what she will do to me now that I said no to her. I haven't actually done that before.

"Miss Morgan." Mr. Mcvay called my name as the final bell rang an hour or so later. I stood from my seat and shuffled over to him.

"Yes?"

"It's about your drawing Zoey."

I gulped.

"Over the last few week's I've been noticing a slight shift in tone. Your drawings have been getting more and stranger. Is there something going on in your life where you need any sort of help? Is Maria harming you in any way?"

"W- What? No, I'm fine, really."

"Then could you explain the picture you drew today for starters. Your usually a very happy person, so seeing that image has me concerned."

"I'm just." There was no way to dance around it, I might as well tell him I wasn't doing the assignment. "I'm just kind of getting into a horror movie. I've been watching a lot so that's what's on my mind."

"Oh! I see. So the drawing wasn't the starter topic?"

"N- No, sir. I'm sorry." I looked up at Mr. Mcvay as he took in a deep breath and gave me a nod.

"It's understandable. New interests take over the mind for a bit. Just be sure to follow the topic next time."

"A-Alright. I will." I gave him a nod, and turned to leave, "Sorry, again."

"Right, get to your next class. Sorry to delay you."

"It's alright," I replied and ran off. The rest of the classes that day, again, went about as well as you would expect. On my way to the lunchroom, I grabbed another flyer for the art contest and sat down at my usual spot. I just wanted to double-check some of the requirements printed onto it, to make sure I'm doing everything right. Riley walked up behind me and sat down a moment later.

"Hey, Zoe." She said and started eating her lunch. I could feel her looming over my shoulder and looking at the flyer with me, "No wonder people are so competitive." She commented.

"Yeah." I nodded in agreement, "Maria doesn't want me to enter it."

"But you are, right?" Riley whispered, looking over at Maria and her friends a few tables away.

"Of course, I already put to much work into it. I'm not going to just give up on it."

"You better not." Riley smirked and bumped my shoulder with her own, "I wanna see that drawing when it's done!" She said to me in an encouraging voice.

"I'm sure you will." I took another bite out of my food, and looked back to her, "You wanna hang out tonight?"

"Why not. Where do you wanna go?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders.

"The movies?"

"Again?" Riley looked at me, tilting her head a bit.

"Well, did you have anything else in mind?" I asked.

"Nothing really. Just didn't think you'd want to go back to the movie's so soon."

"It's been like a month, I'm fine now." I chuckled.

"Alright." Riley smirked, "There is this new action movie out that kinda looks interesting."

"Then let's go see that."