Chapter 6 Next day, finals went down as planned. Blake showed up looking like a GQ model in this perfectly tailored charcoal suit. Brittany was hanging off him in some designer dress, constantly adjusting his tie and staring at him like he was Chris Evans, The main screen kept cycling through all the finalist designs. Suddenly, people started freaking out. someone pointed at the signature in the bottom corner, voice shaking with excitement: Holy shit! It really IS Genesis! She actually entered!" Oh my GOD, I'm looking at actual Genesis work! She's my hero!" I heard Genesis never does public appearances-no photos, nothing. Think she'll actually show up?" Il the chatter reached Blake's ears. e straightened up automatically, looking like a kid on Christmas morning. e didn't just respect her talent-he worshipped everything about her. Il her prize money always went to charity, helping tons of people. enesis lived for others, always working to make people smile. le was this shining light he looked up to, the thing that kept him going through dark times. rittany clung to his arm, voice all sweet and fake: lake baby, you're totally gonna win today! Show that loser Skylar who's boss!" ake nodded absently, but his mind kept drifting to how I looked when he left the hospital-like I was already dead inside. is chest felt tight. hile he was spacing out, something on the big screen caught his eye. his one design looked rough as hell-no fancy 3D modeling, no computer graphics, just simple pencil sketches. rick walls, wooden window frames, and on the windowsill were two crooked little marks, exactly like the old classroom window where we used to carve our in-loss tallies. Whose design is this? So basic and ugly!" rittany glanced at the screen with total disgust. Shut up." lake snapped at her, eyes glued to the screen. hat window frame curve, those brick details, even the spacing between the marks on the sill-everything matched his memories of our old classroom perfectly. He frowned, getting this sinking feeling in his gut. Something about those pencil strokes looked so familiar, so stubborn. The anxiety kept building. "And now, let's give a huge round of applause for this competition's most anticipated designer-five time international gold medalist, Genesis!" "Due to health issues, Genesis can't be here in person, but she's prepared a video message for us." Blake's heart was pounding. First time ever being this close to his idol. But somehow he felt terrified too. "No way. Just a coincidence." "Stop being paranoid." Blake muttered to himself like he was having a breakdown. The spotlight hit the main screen. Everything went dark for a few seconds, then lit back up. Instead of Genesis's face like everyone expected, just a hand appeared. A hand so thin you could see every vein, knuckles white from gripping a special pencil, slowly sketching on paper. he drew incredibly slowly, like every line took everything she had. lake's breathing stopped. hat hand had a light brown scar on the palm. lake's eyes went wide. le knew that scar better than his own face. en years ago in art class, that day we fought over the last set of paints, neither of us would back down. uring the struggle, his X-Acto knife sliced my palm. lood everywhere, but I didn't even cry. Just stared at him and said: "Blake, I'm gonna beat you someday!" ater he secretly bought band-aids but was too chicken to give them to me. Just watched me clean it with rubbing alcohol. ever thought that scar would stick around. SKYLAR!" (0) (0)