World

Reward, completion, cosmic consciousness; also change, travel.  

I felt the mist returning to my eyes. Why was I crying so much lately? As if that question needed answering right then. I grabbed the front of Dylan’s robes, and half shook, half punched his chest screaming at him. “What’d you do? What the Hell did you do?!” I yelled at him again and again, the same question over and over.

He wouldn’t answer.

          Finally I stopped, and just went limp, still loosely holding his robe. “What’d you do?” I whispered it now, exhausted. “Please, what’d you do?” Now the tears leaked down, only a couple escaped, probably the last tears in my body. He touched my arm, as if to get me to let go of him. As if he couldn’t just magically get out of my grasp if he wished it so.

          Seemingly giving up on making me release him he moved his hand to my down turned face. I felt his fingers gently touch my chin, and lightly lift it up. I didn’t refuse him, I was just too tired. I looked back to his worried eyes, and didn’t see any answer in them. “What’d you do to her?” My last attempt to get an answer was so pathetic that I just knew he wouldn’t answer. But then his velvet voice finally entered my ears.

          “Nothing.” His eyes started to seemingly burn, as if a fire behind them was igniting itself. But at the moment I cared little for this strange happening, and was more enthused with his prior response. Nothing. He did nothing to her. Nothing! She was okay, she was alive! Alive! I felt myself fill with a strange sensation, a mix of pure joy and energy. I released my grip from his robe and threw my arms around his neck. I felt him stiffen for a moment, no doubt shocked by this outlandish display, but I cared little.

          After a moment I released him, and just looked at his now blank eyes. I knew something was wrong, and the euphoria had faded enough to realize it. “What?” I asked, once again feeling defeated. “I can’t see her any more, right? Or you’ll have to kill her, right?” My voice was starting to crack, this pitiful drug-happiness-was putting me up, and letting me crash far too much these past two days.

          “No.” One two letter word. That’s all that needed to slip from his taunt lips to send me back to a near high. But before I was again allowed that mountain peak euphoria I was nailed to earth once again. “I can’t kill her, it’d be screwing with the bet they made.” His voice was low, almost silent. Resigned. As if someone was possibly pulling even this great being's strings.

How is that possible?

          How could a being be more powerful than him? ‘They’? They who? More than one all mighty being above Dylan for sure! But what creature could hold so much power? What could possibly surpass the death bringer himself? What thing had the power to surpass mortality? But before I could ask, before I could bombard Dylan with these pilling questions he lightly kissed my forehead, and vanished. But as I stood seemingly alone I heard his voice whisper from the seeming nothingness around me.

“Our little secret.”

          And so once again I was left alone, only to be accompanied by more questions than answers. More troubles then solutions. But then I remembered one thing, I wasn’t completely alone anymore. I had one allowed friend.

A girl with black and magenta hair.

~       ~       ~

          I left for work some time later; when I got there it was the usual, orders-dishes-tips. By the time I left my feet ached. I took off my black flats, and walked bare foot home. The pavement was cold, and the sun had set. A small breeze flitted by my face, stealing a few strands of hair from my ponytail, brushing them in my face. The stars had just started to shine in the coming pitch darkness. Truly a beautiful night.

          When I walked up my driveway, and finally came in sight of my house I saw a crouched figure stand, straighten, and come running towards me. My legs locked, bare feet standing on crumbling, cold and cracked concrete. My heart raced, was this person going to harm me? Was it Miranda come to claw my face again? Or maybe that new boy coming for his initiation?

I braced for pain.

Then quiet.

        I could now tell for the breathing that it was a female standing only a short distance from me, catching her breath, standing still. I was still frozen, my heart now beating harder, anticipating, waiting. I couldn’t hear her breathing any longer, my pulse racked my eyes incessantly. Finally I felt her touch.

Please don’t hurt me.

          I shivered at the thought in my head; I don’t think mentally I could take more pain. But then I noticed the hand on my shoulder wasn’t harming me, just gently shaking me.

“Hey! Hey, what’s wrong?”

          My eyes flung open, and in the darkness I could see her face vaguely, and my body melted back to complacency, and I touched her arm and she removed it. “You okay?” she asked, worry coating her face. I nodded as a heavy sigh of relief allowed the stale air out of my lungs.

          “I’m okay.” I reassured her as the worry hadn’t subsided with only a nod. She smiled seeming to believe me. Then a thought jumped into my head, pushing away all the anxiety of only moments prior. This girl with black and magenta hair… well I knew her as nothing else! Only then had I remembered I didn’t know her name! “Uh… What’s your name? I mean if you don’t mind me asking…” I asked it quietly as I looked at my bare feet in the dim light from the stars. I had forgotten the pleasantries over the years, didn’t remember much of human interaction. After all Mr. Green and his wife hadn’t token to conversing with me, and Dylan… well I needn’t speak for interaction with him. I felt so rude asking like this, but what other solution was there?

“Isabella Asha.”