Intrinsical - Lani Woodland [17]
“I’m afraid that might be a distraction, if I tried. I mean, Audrey’s in that class.” He chuckled.
I felt my face flush as I remembered Brent was too. No matter what had happened between us, he was still drool-worthy. “Okay, that one’s out.”
He looked at his watch and started gathering his stuff. “Speaking of Audrey, I’m supposed to meet her in about fifteen minutes. I better get going. You’re going to do fine.”
“Of course I am,” I said sarcastically.
“You sounded fine when you were practicing it.”
“Yeah, but it’s different when you are doing it in front of a friend.”
“Then just look at your friends while you talk.”
“Okay, see, that is good advice. You should write a book.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” he said, standing up to go.
“Tell Audrey hi,” I said. I watched him zip up his backpack and sling it over his shoulder.
“Will do,” he called as he left.
Dropping my head onto the table and sighing, I closed my eyes, mentally repeating the words of my speech. Hello my name is Yara Silva. I. . .
A book from a nearby shelf tumbled to the ground and the pages rustled a moment before settling. I bit my lip, debating. If this was a horror movie, I would be yelling at the stupid girl to run— but I ignored my own advice and walked toward the book.
It was a copy of Pendrell’s Guide to Being a Top Student. It didn’t look threatening, so I picked it up. It was published in the fifties and seemed to be a collection of essays written by former students. I marked the page that had flipped open with my finger as I browsed the table of contents. There were suggestions on everything from acing a test to keeping one’s dorm room clean. The page it had opened to had a small paragraph on public speaking by a T. J. Weld. I read the few sentences aloud.
“When I have to speak in public, I always find it helps to take a few really deep breaths until I am almost dizzy, then close my eyes for a second, and pretend I’m dreaming. It sort of disconnects me from reality and keeps me from over-thinking. I found this exercise to be very helpful and enlightening.”
I frowned. I had hoped this book, brought to me by fairly spectacular means, would be more informative and have the real key to public speaking. I shelved the book with a sigh. I would just have to hope picturing people naked would do the trick.
****
The sun hung low over the hills, striping the landscape with long shadows as I walked back to my dorm later that evening. The heat ebbed to the coming cool night air. It was a perfectly balanced evening that would make the rest of the world jealous. Once again I was envying my shadow’s grace when a feeling of cold made me shiver.
I gulped and swallowed, tasting chlorine in the air. My heartbeat felt like it was tapping out danger in Morse code. I strained my ears to hear something, anything, but all I heard were my own steps. Then an arctic thread of air tickled the nape of my neck. I spun around expecting . . . I’m not sure what. But the whole campus was deserted and I was eerily alone.
Involuntarily, my step quickened and I started to glance around in search of a safe place or other people for that matter. I had the unnerving feeling that I was being followed. I paused for a moment, listening, but all I heard was a deafening silence. My lone companion was my shadow and even it seemed determined to abandon me as it stretched longer and slid further away.
I blinked at my other self. How is my shadow moving if I’m standing still? My possessed shadow raised itself from the ground like a zombie emerging from the grave until it hovered before me. The black mist that had attacked Brent. A geyser of terror erupted inside me, freeing my heart to leap to my throat and my knees to buckle in its wake. Landing painfully on my butt brought back some clarity of thought and my mind registered that the mist was thicker and more massive than I remembered. I scooted backward trying to escape, but its thick