Free The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) by T. Rudacille Page B

past this! You claim society is g oing to object but it’s just you! It’s just you and her parents! We don’t even live in the south!”
                  They had tried to say that down in the southern states, we would face the worst of it.
                  “Good thing we’re not planning on moving to Texas, then, right?” I h ad laughed at the sheer ludicrousness of it all. They were out of touch and they just didn’t like her, for no reason I could pin down in certainty.
                  “Besides, Quinn, you shouldn’t be asking us if we know what year it is. You should be asking the people who will give you a problem over this.” My dad had reasoned. “It’s not right and it’s not fair, but it is reality. You understand that, don’t you?”
                  “It’s not reality! You two and her parents have no idea what you’re talking about! And it doesn’t matter what you say, okay? We’re going to be together.”
                  A teenage boy proclaiming his undying love for his girlfriend with all the naivety and idealism in the world is hardly front page news. Our parents projecting a completely ridiculous notion of racial prejudice t o keep us apart was hardly a new tactic of division. But the situation we found ourselves in that night was so out of the ordinary that to tell anyone about it would surely have guaranteed our swift departure to separate mental hospitals.
                  “I just don’t wa nt to see it again, okay?” Alice whispered to me and I looked up at her, seeing the darkness reflected on her face now instead of the fading streak of light I had seen before. We both  turned our heads to the window.
                  “I don’t think it’s out there.” I repl ied after standing up.
                  “Quinn!” She exclaimed, grabbing my arm. “Just keep the blinds closed. Please?”
                  I nodded and we sat back down, waiting for any sign of its presence, be it a scratch, a heavy breath, or its blood-chilling voice.
                  “We’re being so stu pid.” I told her as I laid on her bed staring up at the ceiling. The sun had gone down two hours earlier.
                  “Do you think so? Do you think it really was just a stupid kid in the neighborhood?” She asked, her eyes moving between me and the window.
                  “Or it wa s a group hallucination.” I replied, grinning.
                  “Shut up! It was not a group hallucination!” She laughed as she smacked me with a pillow.
                  “It was. You’re just in denial.”
                  “I am not in denial. Let’s just go to sleep.” She told me, still smiling. “It’s fre aking hot in here. I’m opening the window.”
                  She grabbed the blinds and pulled them down slightly so that they flung up.
                  We both gasped, her covering her mouth to prevent the scream that rose quickly in her throat.
                  The thing was outside again, staring in at us with the faintest trace of a smile on its contorted mouth.
                  It was playing with us.
    XXX
     
                  She buckled after that second night. She tried to call her mom and dad. When we’re afraid as children, the only people that can soothe the fear are our parents . Alice was grasping at that straw, thinking that if they came home, the creature would be frightened away.
                  “My dad will shoot it if it tries to get in, Quinn! They’ll protect us both!”
                  Somehow, I doubted that they would be willing to lay down their lives for me. My parents liked Alice as a person but did not approve of us as a couple. Her parents felt exactly the same way. That level of affection was minimal, to say the