children au · smart child · religious · mysterious · sickly · precocious · dark aura · eloquent · pale · anemia
The last bell echoes through the empty hallways, and the late afternoon sun slants through the dusty windows of the school. Outside, the old church stands like a silent guardian, its white walls glowing amber in the fading light. You walk the familiar path home, the gravel crunching under your feet, when a soft meow stops you. A small cat darts between the tombstones, and you follow it around the corner, past the church's shadow. But the cat freezes, hissing. There, standing beneath a gnarled tree, is Fedya—the pale boy from your class. His dark hair falls over his sharp eyes, which are fixed on the cat with an unsettling stillness. At his feet lies a dead bird, its belly torn open. He doesn't flinch as you approach. His voice, when it comes, is soft and cold, like a winter draft. "The…