Pink Walls

Roses

❄

Throw my woes into

The deep dark sea

Of eyes that'll be

A crystal shade of blue

❄

I had my eyes on the roses the entire time, that's why I didn't notice the scarf slipping off my neck.

At least, that was what I kept trying to tell myself. One moment I was talking to Arleen and the next moment I wasn't.

I just barely remembered Kayden's scarf leaving my neck, just barely remembered Daniel taking my hand and dragging me away. And in my next moment of clarity, I realized that my ankle didn't hurt anymore and I was running down the alleyway.

I yanked my hand from Daniel's grip and my ankle flared with pain so strong it ceased my limbs of all motion. I fell to the ground, my chest heaving from a sprint I had no memory of and my eyes wet with unshed tears.

Arleen stopped running and turned to me, confusion painted over her face. "Olly?" She pressed her hand to the side of her head. "What? What are you doing on the floor? Where are we? Wait..."

When she pulled her hand out of Daniel's, he let out a sigh and clapped his hands and she turned to him with a blank expression and empty eyes. "Look," he tugged on the zipper of his duffel bag, "we don't have time for delays. We need to put distance between the danger and us."

Slowly, I felt my panic ebb away but my heart didn't stop racing. I felt jittery and scared but I didn't know what I was so afraid of. We are running because there's danger. We have to run. Get up and go, a voice in my mind whispered harshly. Run!

I shook my head and shut my eyes, trying to remember what I knew I was forgetting. Daniel, Arleen and I ran to the flower shop. We bought roses. We ran... because of the gunshots?

"I know that your ankle hurts, Olly," I heard Daniel say, "take some aspirin and let's get going. You can rest when we're safe."

When I looked up, he was standing right in front of me, a bottle of water stretched out to me with a gentle smile on his face and a kind expression.

I found myself smiling back. Daniel had been pretty nice to me at the grocery store. As invisible as I tried to be, he still noticed me. The fact that he had to leave today made me dread going shopping on Saturday and facing McGrath and his scathing comments even though I had been doing it for years.

Abomination, he would hiss, loudly too for everyone to hear. They would all start murmuring and just like that my cloak of safety would be gone.

Daniel touched the bottle to my cheek and its coolness woke me up. I took it from him and offered him another smile. "Thanks."

I set the roses on the ground to get the aspirin out of my pocket.

"I'll always come back to visit," Daniel said as I swallowed the painkillers, "this city is very interesting. Too Interesting for me to just walk away and forget it all."

Was it? I had lived here for years and nothing-

Danny sucked in a sharp breath but I wasn't really there to hear it. I didn't buy the roses, I don't have enough money. I didn't buy the aspirin, it isn't new, it's half full. Kayden's scarf didn't fall while I was running, someone took it.

Someone... someone?

Why can't I remember?

Kayden. Where?

"Where... Where is Kayden?" I got to my feet in an attempt to put some space between me and Daniel. I turned around and tried to keep my train of thought intact. Any second now and it felt as though I'd forget what was so important about this question.

Just accept them...

The roses were Kayden's apology for being too busy to knit our friendship bracelets. Right?

They had to be.

And the aspirin... My gaze drifted to the empty pill container still clutched in my fist.

Bruises... The water bottle fell from my hand. Uncapped, the liquid gushed out of it, melting the pills that had spilled on the pavement and my shoes.

He's hurt. He's hurt.

A sharp pain lanced through my thoughts and scattered the fog obscuring the truth I had been fighting to remember.

We left him.

We left him behind with gunshots and murderers and terrorists.

And... I turned back to Daniel and saw the flowers at his feet... he gave me roses.

❄❄❄

End of part two.
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