#FridayFlash bonus - Doodles

Here's an extra treat for everyone.  Short little story, right to the point.

And yes, I am a doodler myself.  Used to draw crocodiles on my less than/greater than homework.  My teacher didn't dig it too much.

***

She filled the yokai's mouth with curling teeth, replaying the lecture from English.  Mrs. Everhook had made her stay after class, even though Kate had to be in Biology.  Hard eyes glared at the sophomore over tortoise-shell glasses.  "This is unacceptable."  Mrs. Everhook had held up Kate's homework.

Kate had frowned.  "But the answers are correct."

"Not your answers, young lady.  The doodles."

Even remembering the derisive way her teacher had said doodles set Kate to seething again.  Doodles were what silly people with no skills did.  Doodles were stick figures and lame cartoon jokes.  Kate created art with each pen stroke.

Mrs. Everhook couldn't appreciate what Kate did.  Generations of artists had passed their talent to her, from both her Irish and Japanese sides.  Yokai and oni played in intricate knots, illuminating every page Kate touched.  Sometimes she made scenes of light and beauty, sometimes of vicious demons craving human souls.

She grinned to herself, adding the finishing touches to the bear yokai she had just crafted.  Her six page vocabulary homework bristled with demons and monsters.  Oni sat beside chimera, giant serpents slithering amongst the trolls.  Kate had even Googled new creatures just to show Mrs. Everhook what real art was about.

With the help of her kuromiko grandmother's eternal ink, Mrs. Everhook would never call Kate's work doodles again. The yokai winked at the girl, lying in wait.