Sharp Eyes

Her thoughts strayed to many things as she descended the school's steps. To her home where she

resided, to her schoolwork, and to the ever approaching Halloween that loomed just around the corner. Her

shirt and sweatshirt stuck to each other with static cling as she bounded down the last step to the sidewalk.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, the sky blue and cloudless above her.

"Phoenix!"

She turned her head at the sound of her name, stopping the addresser in their tracks.

He was a small kid with a shock of red hair and braces that looked too big for the rest of his mouth.

Her sharp eyes cut through him with the efficiency of a girl from a past that no normal kid could

understand. They were like diamonds. Beautiful on the outside, but then again, hard and unbreakable too.

The kid stood there and when he didn't say anything, Phoenix moved on.

The hot blush of embarrassment colored her cheeks. She was used to getting picked on on occasion,

but it always left her with the feeling that people shouldn't be afraid of her; like she was a monster waiting

for just the right push to explode.

Luckily, no one paid much attention to the little encounter and Phoenix walked on, like any other day.

Although it wasn't entirely honest of her, she smiled despite herself. After all, she had a reputation to

uphold. There was a reason people didn't pick on her a lot.

With a dark smile that no one but herself would understand, Phoenix loped across the sidewalk to 

home, her strides taking her faster than any normal human speed. Anyone who looked to the sidewalk 

near the woods would see nothing but a quick flash of darkness and the stir of the air before sunlight

resumed heating the rest of the Earth.

It was almost like she was never there.