Falling From Eternity (A Paranormal Love Story) by Megan Duncan

“Yummy.”
    “ It’s coming along
nicely,” I commented on her canvas as she set it on the floor
beside her so she’d have room to eat.
    “ Yeah, it’s not that bad. There are some
areas I want to touch up though,” she replied, pulling off the
apron she wore over her clothes. It caught on the brush poking out
of her bun, pulling it out and sending it falling into her salad.
She giggled at her clumsiness as her hair tumbled out around
her.
    I reached out to snag the paintbrush
from her lunch just as she did, and our fingertips touched. I froze
for only a moment, watching her fingers against mine before tugging
my eyes upward. She was staring at me, her small heart-shaped lips
drawing into a smile.
    Fearful of how much that slight
physical contact was making my heart race, I quickly plucked the
brush from her food. “Sorry about that,” I said awkwardly, handing
her the brush. My eyes dodged back and forth between her and my own
untouched bowl of salad. Her smile promptly vanished, as she went
about stabbing her fork into the crisp lettuce leaves.
    Just as I popped open the lid to my
lunch, a thought struck me like a bolt of lightning. She didn’t
think I said sorry because we touched, did she? I hadn’t meant it
like that. I meant…well, I hadn’t meant anything by it. I suddenly
felt overcome with the urge to correct myself.
    “ I didn’t mean I was sorry
for…I just…I stuck my fingers in your food without even thinking…”
I reached out to touch her without even realizing it, and quickly
pulled back, again. What was I doing? I must have looked like a
total idiot! I wanted to be near her, but I wanted to keep my
distance too.
    “ It’s okay,” she shrugged
me off, taking a sip of her lemonade. “What’s with you today?” she
asked, eyeing me suspiciously with her knowing, emerald
eyes.
    “ What do you mean?” I did
the best to collect myself, leaning back in my seat and getting my
nerves in check. Keep it cool. I needed to keep it cool.
    “ You seem
different.”
    I looked down at myself them back at
her. “How so?” I didn’t see what she was seeing. I looked exactly
as I always did, and always would. Then again, I’d definitely
changed on the inside since meeting her. But she couldn’t see that,
could she?
    “ You tell me,” she said,
curiosity in her tone, as she picked at a small cube of chicken
with her fork.
    And then my body betrayed
me. I snorted. A deep, chuckle bounced out of me like a stampeding
animal. I just couldn’t stop my mind from playing out the scene if
I had answered her question. How was I
different ? I could almost see the salad
flying in the air, the screams streaming out like raging waves, and
the fear bleeding like an open vein. The answer to that question
was as dangerous as it was deadly.
    “ Did you just snort?” she
asked, sniggering slightly.
    “ No.” I cleared my throat,
shoving a mouthful of salad into my maw to stop myself from saying
anything stupid. Seriously, what was happening to me? This nervous,
love-struck man wasn’t who I was. Yet, here I was, sitting across
from an angelic beauty, praying I didn’t say the wrong thing. Dear
god…was this what it felt like to be human?
    “ Yes, you did!” Autumn
smiled wildly at me, pushing her salad aside so she could lean
forward and get a better look at me. She analyzed my every feature,
searching my eyes so deeply I thought for sure she would find every
secret I ever had. Was she starting to suspect how different I was
from everyone else? How I hardly ate, how I never got sick, or how
quickly I could move? What would happen if she discovered the
truth? I would have to leave, there was no other choice.
    “ You’re nervous,” she said
with solidity, sitting back into her chair; a triumphant smirk on
her face.
    “ What?”
    “ I can see it in your
eyes,” she said, before sipping at her lemonade, her pinky wiggling
in the air as she did so. “Does it bother you that much to be
around