The Chalk Man

“…I’m the only one who gets to treat you like that, Pearce. You are mine, and I do not take too kindly to those who want to share in what’s mine…” ****************************************************************** Anthony Pearce and Blake Lindell have been locked in a feud for as long as they can remember. The spark that ignited their rivalry? Well, that depends on which side of the clay you ask. You’d think their parents’ constant meddling or the time they spend together on the basketball court would help smooth things over, but nope—this relationship remains stubbornly unshaped. Everything changes, though, when Blake is forced to ditch the court and take up pottery—Anthony’s territory, where he’s the undisputed “King of Clay.” Now, tasked with the mission of getting Blake up to speed before graduation, Anthony has to spend even more time in close quarters with his rival. Will they be able to sculpt their fractured friendship back into a masterpiece, or is their bond too cracked and brittle to repair? And when a buried secret surfaces about the rumor that shattered Anthony’s ninth-grade year, will it soften their hardened hearts or leave them shattered beyond the kiln’s fix? One thing’s for sure—things are about to get messy.

I was touching myself in front of the teddy bear on my bed, because I knew a man was watching behind its eyes. He had sneaked into my home, lay on the bed where I slept, and left traces of himself on my clothes. When I noticed, he watched as I hid in a corner, trembling… not knowing that I had been waiting for him for a long time.

Three years after my fiancé fell off a cliff while on a sketching trip in the mountains, I walked straight into his solo art exhibition by accident. And there he was, the man I hadn’t been able to forget for a single day, gently adjusting the scarf around a young woman’s neck. Every wall around us was filled with portraits he once promised he would only ever paint for me. Yet now, every single one of them was of her. Beside me, Timothy Hansen, his closest friend, the one who had helped me handle the aftermath back then, grabbed my arm. “Lexie, don’t do anything rash. Ethan had his reasons. He was rescued by Jane after the fall. He hit his head and lost his memory. It wasn’t on purpose that he didn’t come back.” I gave a wry smile. “So he lost his memory. Did you lose yours, too? If Ethan was alive all this time, why didn’t you bring him back? You watched me spend the last three years drowning in pain, surviving on sleeping pills. Was that entertaining for you?” Timothy said nothing. He didn’t even dare to look at me. Meanwhile, the girl—Jane Green—shrank back, hiding behind Ethan like a frightened animal. Then, Ethan finally looked at me, his expression cold and distant. “Ms. William, I didn’t come back because I didn’t want to. Jane is the one I love. As for the past, since I don’t remember it, just think of it as something from a past life.”

Living with my aunt and her family was meant to be a temporary, quiet arrangement just helping out and keeping to myself. On the first day of the new year, while everyone else was out celebrating, I stayed home, enjoying the rare silence and catching up on sleep. But when we ran out of water, I reluctantly stepped outside to fetch some, and that’s when I saw him. He stood by the gate of the house next door, effortlessly commanding attention with just a glance. A smirk played on his lips, and a flicker of amusement danced in his eyes behind his blue-ray glasses. At that moment, he was impossible to ignore. Meanwhile, I felt disheveled and barely awake, my hair was a mess and still shaking off sleep. But he didn’t seem to mind. There was something about him an air of mystery that made me wonder who he was and why he was there. Before I could look away, he spoke, “Hi.” Caught off guard, I managed a quick, “Hi,” while trying to pull myself together. “Can I know your name?” he asked. I hesitated but replied, “I’m Clara,” and kept walking. “Can I have your number?” he called after me. “Just as friends.” I almost refused but reluctantly agreed, entering my number into his phone. “There,” I said, handing it back. “I’ll call you,” he promised with a smile, as I turned to leave. What began as a chance encounter soon became an inexplicable connection. He had secrets, but there was something about him that saw through me, understanding things no one else did. The man I met next door wasn’t just a fleeting stranger,he became the reason I started questioning everything I thought I wanted.

I had just gotten home when a parent in my son’s class group chat erupted: [Ms. Zinn, what kind of place are you running? Do you let just any random stray off the street become a teacher?] [My daughter came home, grabbed two forks, and tried to jump off the balcony. She said it was Miss Never who told her to!] The homeroom teacher panicked and denied it at once, insisting there was no such person as Miss Never at the kindergarten. She even posted the official teaching schedule in the chat to prove it. On the security footage, there was not a single trace of this so-called Miss Never. However, later, my son whispered to me in secret, “Mom, Miss Never is an old lady with a cat’s face.” “She says only kids can see her.”

"I'm in love with the new teacher." I announced, and the whole room fell silent. I could barely look at mum. She was in anguish. I had brought those pains to her already fragile heart. I had broken her heart to a point where the pieces couldn't be mended together anymore. The judge cleared his throat, and peered closely at me. "Are you sure of what you just said, Devan Baker?" He quizzed. I glanced at Mum once more, and gave my reply. "Yes I am." I announced, and the whole room fell into uproar. I gazed at their faces. The irony of life. What was good for me, couldn't be good for you. I wasn't a minor any more, and so I could choose who I wanted to be in love with, or maybe I wasn't supposed to? However, I had chosen to fall in love with Ms. Ellen Dudley the new teacher, and the world thought I was wrong? What did the world know? Things had begun to get messy, and I was in deep shit...