Chapter 7: Stare Shouldn't Be That Hard

Trad always had a natural ability for sports, especially athletics.

When he was 17 years old, Trad joined the annual athletics championship at his high school. Trad used to stand out when running, and since his childhood, people noticed that.

But he didn't care too much about that. He knew he was gifted, that he had something special. But to him, it was simpler because all he could feel when running was the adrenaline.

There he goes, the instructor gives the signal, and they start to run. There are 10 competitors, some bigger than Trad, and others even smaller.

But all he could notice while running were the flashing lights, the cheers, and the air against his face.

Finally, it didn't take much time for Trad to win and feel the pleasure of victory, especially when his friends came along to celebrate with him. For a moment, Trad couldn't think about anything else. Life felt good. For some minutes, he didn't have to think about those problems.

But when high school finally ended, Trad always saw that black car waiting for him at the school's exit, and now, everything came to his mind — his fear of those guys in black suits and his hatred for the person who wanted to take away his own will: his father.

"Hey, wake up!" Trad felt a slap on his face. When he came to his senses, he realized he was lying on the floor, with Uwnrien beside him.

"Ouch! That hurt." He passed his hand over the sore area.

"Why did you decide to take a nap right here?"

"What? I was sleeping?"

"Don't worry, it was my fault," a woman said, coming from behind Uwnrien.

She was extremely pale and was wearing a white dress made of some kind of thick and smooth material, but Trad was almost sure she had been naked before. She had green curly hair falling to her breasts. Her pupils were orange, but her irises had a horizontal shape, giving her an inhuman appearance.

"Oh..." Trad started to remember his awful reaction.

"You know, that was really rude," said Uwnrien.

"Oh, really? I'm sorry," he said without looking her in the eyes. Then he got up and patted his clothes.

"Uwnrien told me your story while you were sleeping."

"Really? What exactly did he tell you?" he asked, still avoiding eye contact.

"It doesn't matter."

"Uhm... why?"

"I have a better way to know a person."

She approached Trad, grabbed his head with her hands with big black nails, and pulled it toward her, making Trad look at her.

She was smiling, and there was some kind of desire in her eyes — not something evil, just something like curiosity.

But then, Trad felt like he couldn't keep looking at her because her eyes looked like an abyss. The more he looked at her eyes, the more they looked into him, and some negative feelings started to come into Trad's mind again.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She released Trad and took a few steps back. "I was just too excited to have such a special visitor here." She laughed after saying that.

"Is it that 'oh, a human!' thing again? At this point, it feels like I'm some kind of celebrity in this... place." Somehow, after she made him look into her eyes, it felt a bit easier to do that.

She smirked.

"Of course you are."

She paused for a moment, her eyes glinting with something between amusement and seriousness.

"Humans... here, they're considered gods."