Skin flowers [reverse-harem]

The Pied Piper

"Not everyone can smile after crying all night"

I wonder if it'll come a day when the sun won't rise. When it will explode in a hundred million pieces leaving all of us in total darkness. Someday Earth will become a blind planet. And I hope I'll be dead by then, I really hope not to be a powerless spectator of such a catastrophe. I can't fathom a life without heat and colours. A life with artificial lights, because somehow the Sun is my family. It's my only and dearest friend. The sun wakes me up every morning with a caring caress and sends me to bed with a goodnight kiss. 

I empty the can of red beans in the old pan. I add some dry herbs and salt before heating my dinner. I stare out of the window, tired and bored of this routine. The wind shakes the vivid leaves of different shadows of green. The birds sing joyfully, but today their cheerful concert irritates me. I take a wooden cutting board and kick the open shelf. I am too young to live this kind of life, but old enough to be grateful for what I have. I put the hot pan on the board and sit on the small chair.

I own this old and broken down cottage with two rooms. And despite the small holes on the roof and walls, the absence of a bathroom, the super-old furniture and everything, I am somewhat proud because it's all mine I guess. I found it by chance while I was aimlessly on the run. It's been years since I moved in here. Maybe three, or perhaps four and nobody has ever come. That makes it mine, doesn't it?

The cottage is deep in the woods, on the peak of a green mountain. Not really a mountain, it's more like a hill than Mount Everest or whatever, but it's high up enough to stop whoever tries to climb up just for fun. I'm half an hour away from the nearest living human-Gras the carpenter and forty-five minutes by foot from town Bay.

I check the empty cupboards as I finish the beans. I quickly wash the pan with the rainy water of the bucket and leave it on the table outside to dry. I put on a grey hoodie and take the backpack before closing the door behind me. Today I really need to go to town for some cans of food and drinking water. I have postponed this chore for far too long.

I run through the trees. The fresh air burns in my lungs and sets fire to my cold body. I kick some rocks, loose balance and steady myself, again and again. My knees hurt with each hard impact. My legs barely keep up with the dangerous speed and I give up trying to slow down. I get into town while the sun is still up in the sky. 

Indeed, I tend to have my dinner pretty early. I eat my lunch at 11 and from time to time I allow myself to dine shortly after. Well, there happen to be days like this one when the stomach-cramps are unbearable and I can't persuade my conscience to resist the hunger till the next morning. It's especially when the shelves are full, that I can't control myself, but today seems to be an exception. I'm so weak. I'm a starved and scrawny person. However I always find energies to run. If I didn't, I wouldn't have survived for this long. 

Boiling air leaves my dry lips. The heart hammers against my chest and only when I hear the first voice over the rhythmic beat, I stop on my tracks. I carefully hide my hair and face under the hood before stepping out of the woods. Light on my feet, I walk towards the small shop.

I pass the beggar with crooked and yellow teeth and spot the old lady who watches from behind the curtains of the small window. Everything is like usual. There is a young couple making out against the sidewall of a shady building. I slow down to peek discreetly not really wanting to get caught. I follow their impatient and ravenous hands, the way they push and pull while their mouths devour each other.

I've seen the boy plenty of times. I believe he is the "popular one" here in town. He is built and tall, handsome in a classic way. Charming smile, massy hair and stylish clothes, he has it all. He has everything the girls seem to want, I think.