Page 79 of Eternal

“How sweet.”

“I’m not sweet.” I bite her lip again before pulling back. “But I’m not lying either.”

“So what are you saying, then? You want me to date you for real now?”

“I want you to admit this was never actually fake.”

She looks up into my eyes, working through what I’m asking. “Not until you do.”

Of course she does.

Teal is incapable of not putting up a fight. She’ll go down swinging before she’ll let me see her vulnerable.

“Fair enough.” I step back.

“Where are you going?”

“The only place that can give you the proof you’re looking for, Tealene Donovan.”

“And where is that?” she asks as I walk away.

“You’ll see.”

23

Never Whole

Teal

Music hums through myveins as my paintbrush sweeps over the canvas. A sea of darkness has taken hold, and yet, I find myself reaching for a shade of tangerine. I paint with gold and amber.

Happy colors.

Light that blooms against the gray and draws hope into the painting.

There was a time when I could only create nightmares. Twisted faces. Tormented figures. Haunted hearts.

For three years, figures crept around in the corners of my mind, tainting every work of art I’d create. But now, a light sweeps the canvas. Music floods my bones, and I find something buried in the darkness.

A whisper.

A flicker.

Headlights.

Sunflowers.

A loud buzzing rings out in my studio, and I jump back so I don’t mess up the thin lines I’m painting on the canvas. I pull out my earbuds and reach for my phone as it rings again.

I thought I set it to silent as usual, but I must have forgotten.

Picking it up, I see the administrative office is calling.

“Hello.”

“Tealene Donovan?”

“Yes.”