5I'll update this from time to time. can't give specific dates/weekdays, but just know that when I finish a chapter, within a day it'll be up.
One question for the readers. Section: Fantasy? Or General?
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Geoffrey Faulkner
"My name's Geoffrey Faulkner, and I hate humans."
The sub looked at me, startled. It was nearing the end of the second semester, and the stand-in for the math teacher had decided to play a game so he could learn everyone's name. Except that the fool told everyone to introduce themselves. Which they all did, in due course. I decided to make things interesting. After all, this was my second-to-last day of mortal schooling. I could afford to have fun.
"You... why?"
I stood up, then came to the front of the classroom, and began pacing. "Well," I counted off on my fingers, "one, very few of them have skills to speak of. That one, for example," I pointed to the boy who sat next to me, "has not produced a single piece of work worth reading all year. His English teacher gives him zeroes, and he shows them gleefully to his idiot friends, then complains about the school system."
The boy stood up. "You f-ing asshole!"
I looked at him sidelong. "Shut up, fool. I need not add, you will be among the first to die."
The boy was startled, then regained his footing. "The hell you talking about, you little shit?!"
"You'll find out." I shrugged. "Or maybe you won't. By the time it happens, you'll already be unconscious. That is," I added, "if you're lucky."
The students looked at me. Most of them probably thought I was insane by this point, and I reinforced this notion with a particularly maniacal laugh. "I'll find a way, you know. You, all of you, will burn."
The teacher opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"I'm leaving now," I said, and began to do so. The sub took a step forward, thinking to restrain me. I turned and shot him a double-barrel glare, and he froze. "Don't try to stop me."
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The hallway was dreary. Sunlight attempted to stream through the windows, took a look at the dirt caked on them, and waltzed off to find a more deserving place to shed its light. It was still nine o'clock, the third period had run its half course, and I did not intend to return to class. I walked down the school hallway, hands in the pockets of an amusing black trenchcoat I wore to scare people.
I came to a classroom door, and peered in. The students were taking notes, while the teacher stood by the podium, lecturing. Without a word, I opened the door, walked into the room, turned off the lights, and walked out.
This provoked such an amusing reaction from the humans that I did so several more times. Once, the teacher followed me out, attempting to find my motivation. I explained to her, in a kind and gentle voice, that since the humans were all going to die quite soon anyhow, why mightn't I enjoy my last frail moments on this earth, and advised her to do the same. I then laughed quite loudly, stopped abruptly, and walked away.
In this manner I whiled away the remaining half hour of class. When the bell rang, I walked purposefully in whatever direction the crowds were going, stepping on as many feet as I could. There was a congested area at the entrance to the main hall, where the humans were packed like cattle, or those small sardine fish that no one seems to eat, but everyone knows about. I stood in the middle of the pack, taking the wallet from the backpack of the boy in front of me, and unzipping another girl's bag. Then, tiring of the wait, I pushed my way out, shouting, "Psycho, coming through!"
People are not used to this sort of thing.
I came eventually to the library. Here, at least, it was quiet; none of the crowds dared enter this sanctum, lest they be singled out.
I sat at one of the tables in the corner, took the wallet from my pocket, and looked through it. Identification card? Useless. Driver's license? Ditto. Credit and mall cards? Human toys I hadn't the patience to muck around with. And in the largest pocket...fifty-two dollars and thirty cents, paper-clipped together. Good haul, I thought. I'd Seen that the boy had been carrying a lot; his confidence and swagger, even when he was standing still, had given it away. But this was rather more than I expected. Very useful, I nodded. I put the wallet back in my pocket, then lay down on the couch and fell asleep.
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I awoke at the sound of the bell proclaiming the end of sixth period, and stayed lying on the couch. I had no desire to join the jostling crowds. Instead, I remained where I was and listened to them. Snatches of their conversation floated in as individuals passed the open door.
"..it's like y' pass the home ec room, right, and I always wanna eat whatever they're cooking..."
"...No shittin'? You whupped 'im? Sweet..."
"...aw, damn, I got this mofo of a test tumorra, an' then she's givin' us like, what, forty pages? Screw this, man..."
I sneered delicately, then looked at the ceiling and waited for the bell to ring. Once it had done so, I got up from the couch, shoved my fists in my pockets, and walked out of the library.
I went up the stairs and into the classroom where teachers attempted to teach students French but tended to fail miserably. Today was no exception: the teacher droned, the students ignored her. I stood just inside the door wondering if the wreck lecturing beside the blackboard actually had the observation skills, or indeed the brain capacity to notice me. No, probably not. I looked around the rest of the classroom and sneered again; so many fools in one room, their collective IQ had to be less than room temperature.
Except one.
Only one human returned my look. A girl with light red hair and fox- like eyes looked back, and it was not the look of human blankness on every other face. This girl could See, as I could.
She didn't seem to need to blink, and the eyes were yellow-brown, with a flash of violet near the pupil. You're violent (sneer) but not as much as me.
I looked away from the fox-eyes, then fled the room.
The road from the school to the main highway was short, and I turned right at the end. This area of town had taller buildings, killing the sky, which seemed to be a habit common to humans. Instead of walking, as I usually did, out of town, I went deeper in. The buildings became taller, blacker, and I scowled. Too much metal, too much smoke, I couldn't taste the open sky... I leaned against a building, to catch my breath in the smog-filled air.
A man came out of a shop in front of me. He turned right, and began walking-a quick step, but brisk with uncertainty. A weak man. I grinned and caught up, and walked beside him.
"Have you ever thought," I asked, "about how easy it is to kill people?"
"I...what?" The man started, glanced at me nervously, and began walking faster.
"Really. One of the ways is poison. I mean," I added, speeding up my step to stay beside him, "weedkiller? Insecticide? Anything, you can buy it all in a garden store. Could probably kill someone with some of the other things in there, too."
"Oh really?" The man didn't look at me. He swallowed nervously.
"Yeah," I said lazily. "Wire, y'know, around the neck. Kkkck, just like that." I demonstrated, making appropriate noises. "C'd probably kill 'em with a trowel, too, you hit 'em over the head enough times, they lose enough blood." I was enjoying myself. The man was not. "But the real thing..." I stopped. Forced, the man stopped as well.
"Y-yes?"
"The real thing to kill people... is right here." Reached into a pocket and pulled out a knife, showing it to the man. "See? It's sharp. The blade's long enough t'go in, and maybe even through a lung, if you strike hard enough."
The man stood where he was, looking alternately at the knife and my face. "Definitely not allowed in school," I said.
The man swallowed.
I laughed and put the knife away. "What're you afraid of? Afraid I'll kill you, here, in broad daylight? No," I shook my head, "That would be wrong." I released him with a jerk of the eyes. The man looked relieved.
Then I grinned. "I'd wait til night."
The man took off.
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I wandered in the city, casting a disdainful eye on most of the shops, and products, and people as well. The streets were filthy, clogged with mud, dirt, and foul things. There were stains along the walls, and cigarette butts littered the ground, that it was almost as though a snow had come early. Or late.
I ducked into an alley, catching my breath again from the foul smells outside. I turned my head, to look straight ahead, then froze. Glance to the right, at the crowded street, and then left, to the dark of the alley. There was a figure there, and it neared. I edged further into the alley, ducked around a dumpster, and came face-to-face with the fox-eyed girl.
She looked surprised, and I probably did, too. Then she straightened up, raised an eyebrow, and sneered. Exactly as I had done before. "And yes? What are you do here?"
"Walking. Problem with that?"
"Ne. Yes, though, if you foul my air, you filthy falcon."
She knew! I didn't hide my surprise this time; eyes widening, I backed up to the wall. "The city air is foul enough."
"And the ground, and the sky here," said the girl bitterly. "It's against us, and the humans will die, right enough, but only after our kind. Or if we kill them."
"Let me help!"
She raised both eyebrows this time. Then her eyes became slits. "Disgusting bird. An air, with a ground-dweller? You are mad."
"And you are not to be understood. Your fractured thoughts-" She was gone, though, out the mouth of the alley, and into the street, running through a dark doorway. I put my hands in my pockets, then froze again. My knife was gone.
The fox had stolen it.
I shook my head and shrugged my shoulder. I needed to fly.
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PTG: Yeah, like I said: good fun.