Chapter 313 Volume V - 31: A Strange Morning

Chapter 313 Volume V - Chapter 31: A Strange Morning

?I turned the stove down slightly and slowly flipped the cracked eggs in the pan. I chopped a few slices of cheddar and added some sausage. After adding a few spices... the smell of the breakfast I had prepared started to tickle my nose and I couldn't help smiling.

I placed the pan in the center of a rather big tray, then chopped a salad, toasted some bread, and added some different things. Finally, I picked up the tray and walked into the living room. The moment I walked in... the person sitting on my couch caught my attention. He must have smelled the breakfast because his nose wiggled slightly for a moment, then his eyes slowly turned in my direction.

A slight smile appeared on his face. His black hair was a little longer than I was used to. His brown eyes, tinged with yellow, were filled with curiosity as he looked at the tray in my hand.

"I only came once... you overdid it, Clara. If you keep this up, I'll want to come here every morning."

I put my hands on my waist and smiled sincerely as I placed the tray on the table in front of the armchairs.

"What makes you think that's not my intention, Paul?"

I sat down on the sofa without saying anything else. Paul, his expression full of curiosity, reached for one of the toasts and dipped it into the fried egg in the pan. When he looked satisfied, I couldn't help smiling again.

Since her sister hadn't returned yet, there was nothing for him to do during his summer vacation. So he had come to my house about half an hour ago, and after breakfast, we were going out for a walk. It was going to be a normal day...

I took some of the salad and looked at Paul's face.

His lips were curled upward, his eyes were on the table. But... in a strange way, he also wasn't focused on it at all. Maybe a normal person wouldn't have noticed, but I wasn't a 'normal person'. It wasn't hard to see that something wasn't quite right.

"Are you okay?"

Paul paused at my sudden question. His eyes left the table with his fork in the air and fixed on mine.

"About what?"

I replied as I briefly raised and lowered my hands.

"Anything... You haven't looked well for almost a month. Ever since the news about my brother spread. At first, I thought you were worried about me... But even though I've more or less recovered now, you're still the same. It's like... something's always keeping you busy. Like there's always one or more thoughts you can't get out of your head."

Paul finally put the fork he had been holding in the air back in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed the thing in his mouth a few times, sighing slightly.

Before I could even realize what was happening, I was frozen in place. I hadn't finished turning my head back, and I couldn't stop myself from seeing it out of the corner of my eye... but I couldn't scream either.

As my eyes reflexively closed, I threw my hand behind my back for the same reason. It was at this moment, just before my eyes closed... that I met the pale eyes of the shadow.

They were yellow. They weren't exactly yellow, they looked that way because they were a quite light shade of brown. But... the important thing was that they felt familiar.

My eyes closed. My hand passed through the void without tripping over anything. Even my knee, which I also reflexively raised, did not hit any object. When I realized this... my eyes slowly opened, and what I found in front of me was... nothing. It was really nothing. There was no shadow in front of me, and Paul was still lying there with the same expression.

I stared at him blankly, the silence of the room enveloping my body, the ticking of the analog clock in and out of my ears.

What happened...? That shadow... that was Paul. I... I'm sure.

Did the Clairvoyance activate? But even if it was activated... what was it trying to show me, to tell me?

I just locked onto Paul's expression. After a while, the ticking became even annoying, but I still didn't move a muscle.

My eyebrows furrowed. I shook my head from side to side as I sighed.

Was it my imagination? Was I tired...? Why did I suspect Paul?

No... it would have been absurd if I hadn't thought that for a moment after the eyes of the shadow. Then...

Oh, no... I'm being stupid. What am I thinking...? I've known him for almost six years.

As I started to get angry with myself, I finally turned around again. This time, I entered my room without hesitation, trying to clear my mind and relax myself as I made my way to my bed.

But... before I let myself fall on my bed, I just stayed where I was for a moment. I don't know why, my whole body stiffened again. I felt beads of sweat forming on my forehead and realized that my fingers were trembling.

My eyes involuntarily shifted to the floor, fixed on the tips of my feet. As the silence surrounded me again in an unsettling way... this time, my eyes began to drift to the right. First, I followed the patterns of the carpet, then the tiles of the floor. Finally, I reached the legs of my closet, then its door. Then... the bottom of the mirror on the same closet door.

I forced myself for a moment. Instead of going up slowly, I gathered my courage, suddenly turned my eyes upward, and looked at the entire mirror.

There was nothing there. What was in the mirror was a reflection of me and my room. Nothing was wrong or strange.

Finally, I let out a deep, really deep sigh... I just let myself fall back on my bed... I attributed this strange moment... to my imagination and fatigue... I simply didn't want to think otherwise... and then... I gave myself over to sleep.