Disclaimer: ------ There it is...

Sketch 4~ Startled

The soft breeze rustled Shou's auburn-brown hair. She sat still, looking across Twilight Town from the very tip-top of the clock tower. Her sketchbook sat in her lap, the picture of the little girl on a beach flipped open. Shou's legs dangled off the edge of the tower, however she didn't fear falling off- sure, she had a few scares, but she practiced walking across the edge every Friday night to make sure her balance was in check.

She pressed her lips against the cold Popsicle, the burning sensation that the curry brought melting away under its coolness.

“Gosh, I love this stuff...” She thought blissfully.

After she was sure that her lips were back to normal, she slipped the salty-sweet treat in her mouth and began finishing her sketch.

While riding her bike to the clock tower Shou decided to add the spiky haired little boy in the scene also. “He should be standing behind her, a soft hand on her back- to comfort her...” Shou thought as she sketched the little boy. It seemed strange- not artistically- to draw them this way, but Shou felt that they had a mysterious connection... maybe not at the time, but in the future. It was an odd thought that surprised her, but she brushed it off.

His hair was incredibly hard to sketch, but Shou tried her best at drawing it. Finally, she gave up, and wrote at the bottom, “COME BACK TO!” for when she had more patience to draw the boy's spiky mop. She flipped to a clean page and stared down at the town below, taking the half eaten ice cream out of her mouth. It was almost completely quiet over the shopping district, the stores closed and the trams were all turned off and man-less at the controls. The near silence was pleasant, the only sounds coming from the ticking of the grand clock behind her and the late night shoppers that went in and out at a twenty-four hour convenience store a block away. Sometimes, Shou would bring her MP3 player to listen to. It helped her draw faster or let her thoughts of what she wanted on the paper to flow better. However, there were some nights- like that one- where Shou would let the quiet consume her and her thoughts, drowning out her worries and swiping the heavy stress right off her shoulders in the most delicate manner- completely hushed.

Slipping the Popsicle back into her mouth, she contemplated what she wanted to sketch next. Her painting back at the studio popped into her mind and she decided she would try and draw the boy that was behind the oak tree back at her school.

She was just about to start sketching the hood of his cloak when the most peculiar and terrifying thing happened...

A soft whisper tickled her ear, “Y'know, you capture the look in my eyes just right...”

The sudden voice made a gut-wrenching scream climb out of Shou's throat, causing her sea salt ice cream to go flying...

And along with that, she jumped, feeling nothing but air against her back to face her perpetrator-

Only to realize she had slid off the edge of the clock tower.

((**()**))

Oh noooes! Shou has fallen off the clock tower!? What will happen to our fair maiden? And who is this mysterious visitor? XD I'm sure you all know... Review if you feel like it.

~Leeland