Love in the Dark

"She's so weird," Abigail didn't even bother whispering as the students made their way into the high school art room. Seth followed his girlfriend's stare and felt a shiver of guilt run up his spine. The weird person she was talking about was Laura Remmington, a girl he'd grown up with. He and Laura were close friends up until junior high. But now, in their senior year, when they passed in the halls Laura kept her eyes on the floor and Seth pretended not to see her. Even though they weren’t friends anymore, it still bothered him when people teased her. He wrapped his arm around Abigail's shoulders and steered her toward the art table they usually shared. He couldn't help glancing over his shoulder at the back corner where Laura always sat. Laura often stopped what she was doing and stared off into space. She had epilepsy and the staring was some kind of mini-seizure. Laura had confided in him when they were small that she saw things when she had seizures. Call them visions or dreams, premonitions, or whatever. The things she saw had a weird way of coming to pass. Still, she was a pretty typical kid, up until her mother died. After that, it was like she stopped even trying to fit in. She withdrew from the few friends she had, and she dressed in big, baggy clothes. She started drawing and painting strange, dark images and talking about crazy things. Seth was sorry Laura's mother had died, but it annoyed him that she acted creepy all the time and didn't even try to be normal. Seth had zero interest in art; he could barely draw a stick figure. However, he needed an art credit to graduate, and the fine arts teacher, Mrs. Knox, was famous for an easy A. As long as you made an honest, creative effort, she didn't care how much talent you had. Seth had already mapped out a plan for his life that didn’t include art: graduate high school, attend the state university where he would obtain a degree in criminal justice, and then the police academy. "Okay, class!" Mrs. Knox clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. All eyes turned toward the middle-aged woman. She wore hand-made hippy clothes and had her graying hair tied back with a colorful scarf. "I want everyone working on their projects. Remember they are due next Friday!" Seth's project was a comic book. He had finished the drawings and was now working on the lettering and the inking. He spread his pens out in front of him. Beside him, Abigail was working on some kind of collage. She was cutting pictures out of old fashion magazines and rearranging them on a poster board. He once again cut his eyes across the room to where Laura sat hunched forward over her easel like she wanted to fall off the stool. That girl had serious artistic talent. She could draw or paint or even sculpt just about anything, and make it look as real as a photograph. The art department always had her paintings on display, and some of her work had been sent to the Charter Gallery in town. When he looked back a third time, Seth found Laura staring off into space, her paintbrush dangling in midair in front of the canvas. He tried to angle his head to get a glimpse of her painting, but he couldn't see it from where he sat. Her seat was near the trash can. With a furtive glance at his girlfriend, he ripped a page out of his sketchbook and balled it up. Then he slid off his stool to go throw it away. He only meant to take a quick peek at the painting, but once he saw it, he froze in place and couldn't look away. It was easy to recognize the location. It was a familiar storefront from downtown. The doors had been broken, and people were looting the store. One man had a flat-screen TV over his shoulder, while another was carrying four jugs of water, and had a bag of bulk cereal in his mouth. To the left, a car was burning, and to the right two women were fighting over a canister of baby formula. One of the women had a head wound and blood was dripping down her face. Seth couldn't help but take a step closer, as he scrutinized the face of the man carrying the TV. "Is that... Matthew?" He asked out loud. His voice startled her out of her trance. She turned to look at him over her shoulder. Instead of answering his question, she just stared at him with a dazed expression. "It's coming," she whispered. He felt a shiver of apprehension as their eyes locked for a moment. He didn't ask what was coming. It was just more of her crazy talk. Mrs. Knox looked up from her desk and glared at him. He cleared his throat and shuffled over to the trash can to throw away the wad of paper before he went back to his seat. "What are you doing?" Abigail hissed at him, her voice slightly accusatory. Seth shrugged. "Just looking," he said carelessly as if he hadn't just been looking at a picture of his little brother looting a local store. Except in the painting, instead of a pimple-faced teenager, Matthew was older, and he had a beard. Seth swallowed and glared down at his comic book. Why did Laura have to be so weird?