You Must Be Thursday

fifteen

A shed. In the middle of the woods. He doesn't make this easy. After we left the class we followed Xavier out here. I honestly didn't think he would come straight to a secret hideout, but he did. He had gone in a couple of minutes ago, but now we were just waiting for him to leave so we could go in and look around. 

A few minutes later the door opened and Xavier walked. He looked around at the woods, I had to move behind the cedar tree so he didn't see me.

"We need to do this," Wednesday whispered. I started picking at my cuticle as I watched his figure disappear. "Xavier didn't get those scratches from fencing. He's hiding something." She added.

"Yeah, but why would the monster scratch himself?" I voiced. "It would be too obvious." Wednesday walked past me most likely ignoring me.

"Unless that is exactly what he wants, to make it seem like there is no way he could be the monster." She pulled the door open, I looked over my shoulder making sure he didn't come back.  It was dark, but I could see there were drawings everywhere. Pinned to the walls and he had several canvases around the small room. Wednesday stepped forward pulling the chain to turn on the light.

"Uh," I looked around seeing that every drawing in here was of the monster. Every single one. It was drawn in great detail like he has seen it up close. 

"I suppose every artist needs a muse." Wednesday picked up a few of the loose drawings on his stool. I stepped watching as Wednesday picked up two pictures. "Xavier just became that much more interesting." She pulled the chain moving back towards the door. I looked around the dark room once more. He didn't believe us about the monster, yet his little art studio was covered with images of the monster. I closed the door behind me. 

"We should get back to the-" 

"Wednesday." I stopped watching as Xavier came around the corner. "Branwen." He approached me.

"Xavier." I mummbled.

"What are you two doing?" He asked looking towards Wednesday, then scanning the woods.

"Nothing," Wednesday answered. "She just saw you come out this way." 

"What is this place?" I asked gesturing to the shed.

"It's kind of my private art studio. I cleared it out and fixed it up, so Weems let me use it." He explained. That sounds normal, but the art inside his studio was anything but.

"How very entraprenial. We would love to see inside." Wednesday added. I glared at her over my shoulder. She wanted to be around him now because she thought he was a monster, a serial killer. "Give us a tour?" 

"Not right now. It's a total mess." He shook his head. We had caught him off guard. 

"I shadowed a crime scene photographer last summer. I'm not easily fazed." She pinched my elbow.

"It would be interesting to see," I added not looking up at him.

"Another time. Why were you looking for me?" He asked. I tried to step back, but Wednesday kept me there.

"She wanted to go over Ms. Thornhill's homework assignment," Wednesday added. I looked at her.

"She didn't give us homework," I whispered.

"She didn't give us homework," Xavier said once again. I remembered that, but she didn't. I also didn't know why she was forcing me into the center of this conversation. "Remember? Why are you really out here?" He asked. I tightened my jaw, feeling my face flush. He smiled. "Is this about a certain dance?" He asked.

"I will meet you later," Wednesday said moving away from me. I wanted to yell at her to not leave me with him. Not because I was scared, but because I didn't know what to do. She wouldn't either, but at least we wouldn't know together.